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)
2ND ATTEMPT AT TRUMP ASSASSINATION.THESE LIBERALS WILL NEVER STOP.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a
witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have
heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that
great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment
come.(IN 1 HR THE STOCK MARKETS WORLDWIDE WILL CRASH)
17 For in one
hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all
the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood
afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping
and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich
all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one
hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast
their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be
removed:(CONFISCATED) their silver and their gold shall not be able to
deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy
their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the
stumblingblock of their iniquity.
MARK OF THE BEAST (engraved microchip in your hand or forehead)
REVELATION 13:16-18
16
And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, (SLAVE) to receive a mark in their right hand, or in
their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the
beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred
threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 16:1-2
1
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels,
Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the
earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth;
and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the
mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
I
KNOW THIS MARK WILL BE A MICROCHIP IMPLANT UNDER THE SKIN. LETS LOOK UP
WHAT THE WORD MARK SAYS IN REVELATION 13:16-18, 14:9,11, 15:2, 16:2,
19:20, 20:4-ALL THESE VERSES FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION SPEAK OF THIS
DICTATORS MARK. NOW LETS SEE WHAT IT MEANS FROM STRONGS EXAUSTIVE
CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE. UNDER MARK PAGE 684.MARK UNDER MARK. THE OLD
TESTAMENT IS UNDER HEBREW AND THE NEW TESTAMENT IS UNDER GREEK. SO WHEN
WE LOOK UNDER REVELATION 13:16-17 WE SEE IT IS UNDER GREEK, SO WE GO TO
GREEK IN THE BACK SECTION AND GO TO 5480 TO SEE WHAT IT SAYS THIS MARK
WOULD BE. SO LETS GET TO IT.MARK IN STRONGS GREEK 5480 XAPAYUA CHARAGMA,
KHAR-AG-MAH: FROM THE SAME AS 5482: A SCRATCH OR ETCHING, I.E STAMP (AS
A BADGE OF SERVITUDE), OR SCULPTURED FIGURE-(STATUE):-GRAVEN, MARK FROM
5482 XAPAE CHARAX, KHAR-AX; FROM XAPAOOW CHARASSO (TO SHARPEN TO A
POINT; AKIN TO 1125 THROUGH THE IDEA OF SCRATCHING); A STAKE, I.E
(BYIMPL.) A PALISADE OR RAMPART (MILITARY MOUND FOR CIRCUMVALLATION IN A
SIEGE): - TRENCH FROM 1125 YPAPOE GRAPHO, GRAF-0; A PRIM. VERB; TO
"GRAVE", ESPEC. TO WRITE; FIG. TO DESCRIBE:-DESCRIBE, WRITE (-ING,
-TEN).G5516-GO TO G4742-666 - STRONGS NT 4742: στίγμα - στίγμα,
στιγματος, τό (from στίζω to prick; (cf. Latinstimulus, etc.; German
stechen, English stick, sting, etc.; Curtius, § 226)), a mark pricked in
or branded upon the body. According to ancient oriental usage, slaves
and soldiers bore the name or stamp of their master or commander branded
or pricked (cut) into their bodies to indicate what master or general
they belonged to, and there were even some devotees who stamped
themselves in this way with the token of their gods (cf. Deyling,
Observations, iii., p. 423ff); hence, τά στίγματα τοῦ (κυρίου so Rec.)
Ἰησοῦ, the marks of (the Lord) Jesus, which Paul in Galatians 6:17 says
he bears branded on his body, are the traces left there by the perils,
hardships, imprisonments, scourgings, endured by him for the cause of
Christ, and which mark him as Christ's faithful and approved votary,
servant, soldier (see Lightfoots Commentary on Galatians, the passage
cited). (Herodotus 7, 233; Aristotle, Aelian, Plutarch, Lcian, others.)
THE INVENTOR OF THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT-CARL SANDERS MICROCHIP ENGINEER LEADER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgH9D6n4ZWo
THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD.
LEVETICUS 19.28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
FAMINE
EZEKIEL 5:16
16
When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be
for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will
increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
REVELATION 6:5-6
5
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say,
Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him
had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the
midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three
measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the
wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For
nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there
shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and
there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines
and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and
pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from
heaven.
DEUTORONOMY 28:24
24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
LOCUSTS (DEMONIC) TORTURES SINNERS 5 MONTHS
REVELATION 9:1-6
1
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the
earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he
opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as
the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by
reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke
(DEMONIC) locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the
scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that
they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing,
neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in
their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill
them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment
was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Philippines,
World Bank examine impact of national ID program-PSA warns against
unauthorized ID card printing-Sep 12, 2024, 1:02 pm EDT | Abigail
Opiah
The Philippines remains actively engaged in strengthening
its national ID system, and the push is evident in recent initiatives
and warnings from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), alongside
an international context that emphasizes secure identity offerings.The
PSA, in partnership with the World Bank, recently conducted a workshop
aimed at evaluating and promoting research on the impact of the
Philippines’ National ID system, also known as PhilSys. The initiative
underscores the importance of assessing how the National ID system
affects sectors such as financial inclusion, social protection, and
public service delivery. In the workshop, experts discussed how data
from the national ID system could be utilized to streamline government
processes, enhance service delivery, and foster a more inclusive
economy.The workshop also served as a platform for sharing global best
practices on identity systems and fostering collaboration among
researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The event emphasized
the significant role that PhilSys plays in achieving the country’s
development goals, particularly in enabling digital transformation and
reducing inefficiencies in government services .PSA issues warning on
unauthorized printing of ID cards-Amid growing reliance on digital
identity systems, the PSA has issued a warning against unauthorized
printing of national IDs. The agency clarified that only official
government channels are authorized to print official ID cards, urging
the public to refrain from using unauthorized services that may offer
these printing services.The PSA stressed that using unauthorized
platforms compromises the security of personal information and can lead
to identity theft or fraud. The warning comes as the PhilSys ID
continues to gain prominence in everyday transactions across the
Philippines, and as the government moves towards fully implementing the
digital ID system. The PSA’s cautionary message highlights the need for
vigilance in safeguarding personal data, particularly in the rapidly
expanding digital landscape.
Biometric authentication invaluable,
set to further enhance security in Africa-Hackathon webinar explores
recent and future gains-Sep 15, 2024, 7:17 am EDT | Abigail Opiah
A
webinar held during the Digital ID Hackathon for Africa organized by
Upanzi Network and Microsave Consulting in partnership with MOSIP,
uncovered the advancements and challenges in biometric identification
technologies, with a particular focus on iris recognition and its
application in Africa. The presentation highlighted the strides being
made in digital identity (ID) systems, which are increasingly being
adopted across various sectors.Identity verification based on iris
recognition has emerged as a popular method due to the modality’s high
accuracy and minimal false rejection rates. Modern iris scanners are
capable of capturing images swiftly and precisely without physical
contact, effectively managing variations in lighting and eye movement,
notes Edwin Mensah from Microsave Consulting. Despite its effectiveness,
the technology faces challenges, including the high cost of capture
devices and potential discomfort for users during the scanning
process.The discussion also covered the broader implications of
biometric authentication systems in Africa. Digital ID systems, which in
Africa variously include iris recognition, facial recognition, and
fingerprint scanning, are proving to be invaluable for enhancing
security and efficiency in various sectors, presenters observed. These
systems offer substantial benefits, but also face hurdles related to
cost, infrastructure, and user training.An example shared was Ethiopia’s
initiative to streamline financial transactions through the use of
their national digital ID. Launched in 2023, the Ethiopian government
has partnered with the National Bank to integrate this ID into banking
processes, aiming to reduce the time required for identity verification
from days to mere minutes. This initiative represents a significant step
towards modernizing the financial sector and improving customer
service.The webinar emphasized that while digital ID systems present
clear advantages, such as faster service in banking and more efficient
verification in healthcare and public administration, there are ongoing
challenges. Issues like high costs, infrastructure limitations, and the
need for comprehensive user training are crucial barriers that need to
be addressed to maximize the benefits of these technologies.Participants
in the webinar also explored various use cases for digital IDs beyond
financial services, including their application in healthcare, public
administration, social protection, and education. These systems are
essential for verifying identities and accessing services, thus
improving efficiency and inclusivity.Digital ID hackathon-The hackathon
was detailed by Andrew Amstrong Musoke, research engineer for Upanzi
Network, alongside peers Anshul Saxena and Mensah. During the webinar,
Musoke explained that the hackathon is part of a larger push for digital
transformation on the African continent, where open-source technologies
and digital public goods will play a pivotal role.Moke provided an
overview of the Upanzi Network, describing it as an Africa-based network
of engineering research labs primarily focused on securing and shaping
the next wave of digital transformation on the continent. Upanzi aims to
achieve this through the design, implementation, and experimentation of
various open technologies. The organization operates from Carnegie
Mellon University in Rwanda, working under a “hub-and-spoke” model to
collaborate with other universities across Africa and Carnegie Mellon
University in Pittsburgh, U.S.The hackathon specifically targets the
development of open-source digital identity tools, with the Upanzi
Network focusing on creating technologies for the public good. Moke
emphasized that these systems must be locally developed and maintained
to ensure sustainability.Saxena, representing Microsave Consulting,
added that the company has been deeply involved in the digital systems
space in Africa for over 25 years. Microsave Consulting focuses on ID
systems and data-sharing tools across the region. The company will play a
role in guiding participants during the hackathon to develop use cases
built on top of digital identity platforms.The hackathons will conclude
at the ID4Africa 2025 General Meeting being held May 21-23, 2025 in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.MOSIP and its importance-A significant part of the
hackathon revolves around the Modular Open-Source Identity Platform
(MOSIP), an open-source project developed by a university in Bangalore,
India. MOSIP serves as a foundation for developing national ID systems
and is especially valuable for developing countries due to its low-cost
implementation.Musoke explained that digital ID infrastructure is
critical for countries’ futures, but the value of such systems lies in
the practical use cases developed on top of them. The hackathon aims to
encourage the creation of these use cases, which will enable citizens to
benefit fully from digital ID platforms in various sectors, such as
agriculture, education, and healthcare.Mensah added: “We can all agree
that identification is a crucial element for the functioning of modern
societies. It allows individuals to prove who they are which is
essential for accessing a wide range of services and exercising their
rights as citizens as such IDs address a certain number of issues that
we encounter in Africa.“In many African countries, a significant portion
of the population lacks formal identification which excludes them from
accessing essential services such as healthcare, education and financial
services. Without an ID, individuals cannot open bank accounts, obtain
loans, or receive government benefits leading to financial
exclusion.”Mensah mentioned that transitioning from paper-based to
digital IDs represents a significant opportunity for African countries
to enhance their identification systems. While each ID type has its
role, digital IDs offer the most promise for secure, efficient, and
inclusive identification.
Saudi Arabia’s Absher boosts digital ID delivery, financial inclusion-Sep 14, 2024, 10:15 pm EDT | Ghulam Shabir Arain
The
Absher platform in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has emerged as the core
pillar of the country’s efforts towards digital transformation by
providing various digital services to its citizens, residents, and
businesses. The platform started operating in 2010 under the Ministry of
Interior, and now it is considered a one-stop multi-faceted digital
government service, from new national ID issuance to passport renewal.
In line with the goals of Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification,
“Vision 2030” in part, the Absher system supports the modernization of
public services and increases their availability in the Kingdom. The
system’s expansion into the sphere of finance, particularly through
digital identity services, is its main contribution to the new digital
economy, and is intended to improve user experience and protect data.The
beginnings of Absher platform-Absher initially focused on enhancing the
efficiency of civil registration, passport issuance, and traffic
management; the platform has since expanded its scope to include a wide
range of government and private sectors. The advancing solutions and the
use of automation within the applications are intended to improve the
user experience with the application to bring higher reliability,
security, and efficiency.A research study published in 2020 by the
European Journal of Economic and Financial Research examining the Absher
system acceptance in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, using the technology
acceptance model, revealed that maximum users provide positive and
higher attitudes towards the usage of the Absher systems. Similarly,
there is a positive relationship between ease of use and customers’
attitudes toward using the Absher system. Additionally, the study found
that the majority of survey participants think that using the Absher
system is useful for them.Absher’s services enable visitors and citizens
to renew digital ID cards using face biometrics, arrange residency
permits, and even process driver’s license services from home. Millions
of transactions have been moved by the platform. By simplifying
administrative procedures and promoting financial inclusion, Absher has
established one of the highest digital government platforms in the
Middle East through constant innovation and growth. This has contributed
to Saudi Vision 2030 to achieve settled economic diversification
goals.Growth and integration of Absher-Absher is now integrating beyond
its initial scope and has spread to the private sector, where it is
serving the financial industry, permitting digital identity verification
for financial transactions.A key milestone in the development of
Absher’s advancement was the processing of over 7.7 million worth of
digital transactions alone in July 2024, supporting broader adoption. It
indicates that over 5.2 million transactions were executed through the
Absher Individuals platform. Including identity verification, renewal of
digital ID cards, family member registrations, open data service usage,
residency permits, and processing of driver’s licenses, the services
offered by Absher have become essential to millions of users. The
success assisted Absher’s reputation as one of the leading digital
government platforms in the Middle East. Its continued innovation and
spread have led to Saudi Arabia’s digital transformation struggles,
aimed at improving efficiency and enhancing the user’s experience across
the Kingdom.Absher’s role in financial inclusion-Observers say Absher’s
integration of digital identity services with the financial sector has
been significant in driving financial inclusion in Saudi Arabia. Absher
has improved consumer comfort and reduced fraud by streamlining
financial transactions through secure digital identity verification. The
Financial Sector Development Program, which attempts to modernize the
Kingdom’s financial ecosystem, has benefited from this integration.
Because of this, 94 percent of adults currently own digital wallets and
bank accounts.In an interview with Arab News, Saudi economist Talat
Hafiz emphasized that the goal of financial inclusion in Saudi Arabia is
to make financial services accessible and cheapest to everyone,
consistent with the government’s initiatives to increase financial
inclusion, economic participation, and digital literacy. Encouraging
access to more reasonable and secure banking solutions is a primary goal
of the Financial Sector Development Program, which operates under
Vision 2030. Saudi Arabian policymakers have also implemented robust
policies to ensure and enhance financial inclusion since it has been
recognized as important to economic growth.Absher’s impact on financial
transactions-Absher’s digital identity infrastructure plays a vital role
in supporting protected and profitable real-time financial
transactions, mainly in transnational remittance systems like the
Raast-Buna payment linkage. By integrating with international financial
systems, for instance, the Arab Monetary Fund’s Buna network, Absher
enables unified and inexpensive remittance transfers between Saudi
Arabia and other Arab countries. This integration supports digital
identity to enhance transparency and security, reducing fraud risks.
Furthermore, Absher’s digital identity services are anticipated to
expand into global financial systems, strengthening Saudi Arabia’s role
in international payments and trade while contributing to the nation’s
digital and economic development goals.Economic and social impact-With a
95 percent reduction in license and review times and savings of nearly
SAR 23 billion (US$6.1 billion), Absher’s digital services have
increased efficiency. Absher has transformed service delivery for
citizens and communities by reducing bureaucracy and streamlining
government processes, making interactions with the government easier and
faster. Through the promotion of a more effective, connected, and
accessible public sector, this digital transformation contributes to
improvements in general quality of life and is aligned with the larger
objectives of Saudi economic diversification set out in Vision 2030.
Beyond just being expedient, the platform is significant because it
represents a significant advancement in the Kingdom’s continuous efforts
to modernize its economic and governance framework.The World Bank
report shows that in Saudi Arabia, 74 percent of adults now have a bank
account, and considerable progress has been made in increasing financial
inclusion. There are still issues, though, since an estimated 6.7
million people do not have a bank account. The percentage of people who
use digital payments is rising to 73 percent. However, gender
differences exist; as compared to men, fewer women utilize these
services.Mobile phone infrastructure is critical in facilitating this
expansion, with mobile subscriber identity rates reaching 132.4 percent
and near-universal internet use. Regulatory frameworks for digital money
and digital ID systems have assisted in making financial transactions
more secure and efficient. Despite these advances, disparities in
financial access remain, particularly across urban and rural areas and
across income levels. Continued efforts are required to close these gaps
and ensure that all citizens benefit from financially inclusive
services, especially through laws that encourage equal access to digital
banking.Saudi Arabia’s financial system stability assessment-According
to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) report, September 2024
Financial System Stability Assessment for Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom’s
financial sector is strong despite the rapid economic transition under
Vision 2030. The report emphasizes that banks are well-funded,
profitable, and resilient to major macroeconomic shocks. However,
concerns remain, notably in controlling the risks linked with expanding
credit and real estate markets. To address severe lapses, the IMF
advises boosting systemic risk monitoring, increasing the supervisory
authority of the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), and improving data
collection. In addition, tighter macroprudential tools and legislative
frameworks are required to ensure long-term financial
stability.Challenges and future stance-As Absher grows, issues in
infrastructure, security, and public acceptance are expected to arise.
The platform’s success is dependent on a strong digital infrastructure
that must be constantly maintained to keep up with changing
cybersecurity risks and expanding user expectations. Public trust in
digital services is critical; thus, continuous efforts to improve
transparency and security will be required. Absher will contribute to
Saudi Arabia’s journey for the entire digital transformation, which
aligns with Vision 2030. Its connection with global financial systems
holds the potential to boost the participation and position of Saudi
Arabia in the global digital economy.
Malawi begins biometric voter registration pilot to test new system-Sep 14, 2024, 9:31 pm EDT | Ayang Macdonald
A
trial voter registration process will begin in Malawi tomorrow
September 13 to put the country’s new Electoral Management Device (EMD)
system to test.The Chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC),
Justice Annabel Mtalimanja, made the announcement recently in a press
conference in which she gave details on preparations for the September
2025 general elections.The EMDs are hand-held biometric devices acquired
to replace the Biometric Voter Registration Kits deployed for the
country’s 2019 and 2020 elections. They will be used for key activities
including voter registration, voter transfer, voter verification, and
results transmission and management.Mtalimanja explained that the pilot
voter registration will take place in selected centers and councils
around the country, but the data collected will not be added to the
final electoral database.Malawians who are 18, or will attain that age
by the day of the election, are eligible to participate in the exercise
and the MEC says it has advised “political parties to mobilise their
followers in the targeted areas to participate in this exercise.”Once
the trial voter registration exercise is over, the actual process will
begin where eligible citizens around the country will be expected to
enroll their names on the electoral register, she told Malawians. The
actual voter registration will take from October 21, in three phases,
the last of which will close on December 11.The first phase of the
biometric voter registration pilot, which targets four councils, is
scheduled for September 13 and 14, while the second phase will run from
September 18-19, targeting another four.“The primary purpose of this
pilot exercise is to test the newly adopted voter registration system
using the Election Management Device (EMD), identify any operational
challenges, and ensure that all logistical and technical arrangements
are in place for a successful national voter registration process,” the
MEC Chairperson said in her address at the presser. She did not mention
the company supplying the new system.Mtalimanja went on that for the
purpose of the pilot, the elections agency will accept three categories
of credentials as proof of identity, and they include a valid national
ID card, an expired national ID card or a system-generated receipt
issued by the National Registration Bureau (NRB) which bears the unique
national identification number of the person.In the course of the pilot,
the MEC says NRB teams will be handy at registration points to promptly
address all concerns relating to the identification of registrants,
except issues of fresh registration.“The Commission has engaged the NRB
to deploy a team at every registration center for this pilot voter
registration. The NRB teams will be available to address any challenge
that might arise with the identification document of a potential
registrant. The NRB teams will be able to produce a system-generated
report bearing details of the registrant which will be used for the
voter registration,” said Mtalimanja. The MEC has insisted in the past
that only national ID cards will be used for the actual voter
registration, a decision which has sparked criticism.Ahead of the pilot,
the MEC says it has held talks and made engagements with all relevant
stakeholders in the country, including political parties, council
executives, civil society representatives and the media, to ensure that
the process unfolds smoothly.
Biometrics firms pitch privacy in
age assurance ahead of US court battle-US Supreme Court faces deciding
case-Sep 13, 2024, 3:43 pm EDT | Masha Borak
The U.S. is
facing its first constitutional debate connected with age verification
in 20 years: The Supreme Court will have to review Texas’ adult content
age-verification law which requires that websites implement age
verification to prevent minors from accessing inappropriate sexual
material.More than 20 states in the U.S. have passed similar
legislation. The ruling on the Texas law, known as the Free Speech
Coalition Incorporated v. Ken Paxton case, will affect the
constitutionality of them all.As legislators, free speech organizations
and representatives of the adult industry share their arguments,
biometrics, digital ID and age assurance companies such as IDVerse, Yoti
and Incode are busy pitching their solutions.“Particularly now, the
demand for age verification is extending well beyond adult content and
is particularly important for social media,” says Iain Corbin, executive
director of the Age Verification Providers Association.The organization
has 30 members who supply the technology that either does traditional
age verification or more novel age estimation techniques. Some of them
presented their solutions at a webinar this week, from ID document OCR
reading and facial recognition through selfies to more novel and unusual
approaches such as facial estimation and age assurance with the
movement of the hands.“We think that facial biometrics is a crucial link
that ties digital identity directly to a real-world identity,” says
Yoon Kim, Incode senior manager for sales strategy.Many people, however,
shy away from showing their real-world identity when accessing
pornography, according to Terry Brenner, IDVerse’s head of legal, risk
and compliance for Americas.“As far as it comes to adult entertainment,
porn sites, even social media, documents are not commonly used as part
of the verification process,” says Brenner. “At IDVerse, we believe that
is probably the most laser-sharp method of determining with accuracy
the age of an individual, but we realize that there are different
contexts in which it may or may not be appropriate.”Accessing
age-restricted content anonymously-While Incode showcased how liveness
detection helps spot deepfake videos and images that can fool human eyes
and IDVerse discussed the arrival of computer-generated, synthetic ID
cards, Yoti and Privately explained how age assurance can be done
anonymously – even without revealing a person’s age.“[Facial estimation]
gives consumers an accessible, fast, privacy-preserving way to prove
their age, says Omari Rodney, chief product engineer at Yoti.
“Everyone’s got a face. Everybody can use it.”Yoti, which works on age
assurance with companies such as Instagram, uses a neural network
trained to recognize age by practicing on millions of faces. To build up
this AI, the amount of data required is extensive and the firm has
spent a long time acquiring data with user permission.“It’s really,
really hard to get hold of good data,” says Rodney “It’s really, really,
really hard to get hold of good data in an ethical way.”Yoti claims
that their technology reduces the probability of somebody being
estimated in the wrong age group to 0 percent. An age check takes one to
two seconds on average while the images are not stored, shared with
third parties, or checked against pre-existing databases.The firm has
performed over 600 million age checks across sectors like the adult
industry, retail, telecoms, social networks, dating and gaming. The
technique is also used by law enforcement to assess the ages of victims
and perpetrators in CSAM and to support charities in the help of the
removal of non-consensual content.Yoti has recently released its facial
age estimation white paper, showing that the True Positive Rate (TPR)
for 13-17-year-olds correctly estimated as under 21 years is 99.3
percent, while the TRP for 6-12-year-olds correctly estimated as under
13 is 99.5 percent.Swiss company Privately takes Yoti’s privacy concept
to the next level. The facial image used to execute the age check never
leaves the device, explains the company’s CEO Deepak Tewarey.“The only
signal going out of this age check is whether the camera saw a person
who’s an adult or not and this changes the game,” says Tewarey. “If you
think about how we can scale this technology, how it can be deployed
across millions and millions of age checks, cost has been a big concern
of the industry. If we were able to use the processing power in the
device of the user to roll out age estimation quite broadly, this
presents a great opportunity.”Privately has created a multimodal
solution relying on face or voice biometrics or a combination of both.
Its voice-based age estimation technology, deployed by the adult
industry in France to detect whether someone was below 15 years of age.
Its anonymous age estimation technology was also embraced in
retail.Giving a hand to more unusual age assessment-The last age
estimation technology presented at the webinar required some thinking
out of the box. Jean-Michel Polit, chief business officer at Needemand
introduced a creative new way of age assurance which is done by
analyzing the movement of hands.“It’s not magic, it’s physics or,
really, it’s physiology,” he says.Medical research has linked the
movements of hands with age and the company has developed AI models with
machine learning that leverage the age-specific features or certain
hand movements. A user only needs to do a few hand movements and their
age is verified.“The first benefit is obviously that there’s no personal
data in any way, shape or form that is required – not even metadata,”
he says.The second benefit is 99 percent accuracy, Polit adds. The
software can detect attempts to fool the age assurance system with
recordings of other people’s hands, hand mannequins and gloves.Other
event participants introduced alternative ways of confirming a person’s
age. VerifyMy presented its email address age estimation method which
detects age through user behavior, while Envoc explained how the U.S.
state of Louisiana’s mobile driver licenses (mDL) can be used to access
adult content anonymously just by typing a challenge code inside the mDL
app.More age verification solutions could be on the way as the U.S.
Supreme Court deliberates on the Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton case.
The decision is expected next year while interested sides can file
amicus briefs until the 22nd of November, 2024.
Google announces beta test for digital IDs based on biometrics and US passports-Sep 13, 2024, 3:40 pm EDT | Chris Burt
A
new type of digital ID based on U.S. passports in Google Wallet has
been introduced ahead of beta testing. Users scan the chip in their
electronic passport, and match their selfie biometrics with a short
video.Google Wallet VP and GM Jenny Cheng calls this type of digital ID
an “ID pass” in a blog post on the pending beta program.The biometric
identity verification process is complete and the digital ID ready to
use a few minutes after the verification data is submitted, according to
the post.TSA checkpoints that accept digital IDs will accept Google’s
ID passes. TSA has posted a handy digital ID map that shows it is now
accepting digital ID at 28 airports across 21 states and Puerto
Rico.Google also plans to expand the use cases for passport-based
digital IDs, like account recovery, IDV and car rentals. Google Wallet
has also introduced support for public transportation and “commuter
benefits” cards in the U.S. public transit tickets in Germany, and will
soon add equivalents in Taiwan and Hong Kong. A separate blog post
explains Google’s position on the advantages of digital identity over
physical ID documents and building an ecosystem to support them
broadly.The expansion of Google Wallet also includes dozens of banks
integrated in June, and the company tipped its plans to support a wide
range of applications while previewing the ID pass in July, with mDLs,
passports, and “everything else,” like hotel keys.Cheng refers to a
recent Pymnts report that says digital wallets are now used by 70
percent of people in the U.S. and four other countries. Most Americans
still only use them for payments, however.Google introduced support for
state-issued digital IDs, which are mostly mobile driver’s licenses
(mDLs), last July. Support for California’s mDL was added to Google
Wallet in August, and Iowa, New Mexico and Ohio are next, with rollouts
“in the coming months.”Cheng also notes that Colorado has released an
mDL reader within the MyColorado app to expand acceptance of its digital
IDs to more businesses in the state.
EU AI pact sets new
standards for ethical AI use across Europe-Sep 13, 2024, 2:15 pm EDT-By
Tony Porter, Chief Privacy Officer at Corsight AI
The European
Union’s AI Pact marks a crucial step towards forming a comprehensive and
ethical framework for Artificial Intelligence within the member states.
This initiative stands as a proactive call to organizations, urging
them to align with the impending AI Act, which emphasizes mitigating the
risks associated with AI, particularly those impacting health, safety,
and fundamental rights. By committing to the AI Pact, participants agree
to implement measures that enhance transparency, manage risk, and
foster an environment of trust in AI technologies. These commitments are
preparatory steps for the broader regulatory changes anticipated with
the enactment of the EU AI Act, aimed at creating a unified regulatory
framework across all EU countries.The importance of such a pact cannot
be understated. It represents a collective European response to the
global challenge of managing AI’s ethical implications. As AI technology
weaves itself deeper into the fabric of daily life, the necessity for a
robust, ethical framework becomes more apparent. I take great pride in
announcing that Corsight AI is the pioneering facial recognition vendor
to join the AI Pact. The AI Pact helps set high standards for AI usage,
ensuring that technology advancements do not come at the cost of human
rights or safety.Moreover, the AI Pact serves as a model for the rest of
the world, demonstrating how large coalitions of stakeholders can
collaborate to guide the development of new technologies along ethical
lines. It encourages a shift towards more transparent and accountable AI
applications, promoting a safer and more trustworthy deployment of AI
technologies.As the landscape of AI continues to evolve, the foresight
shown by the AI Pact in anticipating regulatory needs and ethical
concerns will undoubtedly position Europe at the forefront of ethical AI
development. This initiative does more than just set standards—it
fosters a broader understanding of the importance of integrating ethical
considerations into the fabric of technological innovation.This
proactive engagement with ethical AI, as outlined by the AI Pact,
highlights the critical need for an ongoing dialogue among AI
stakeholders across industries and sectors. It underscores the
importance of a unified approach to AI governance that prioritizes human
welfare, ensuring that AI serves as a tool for enhancing public good
rather than a source of risk.As we continue to navigate the complexities
of AI integration, the principles and commitments of the EU AI Pact
will be instrumental in shaping a safe, responsible, and inclusive
future for AI technology. It exemplifies the kind of leadership and
collaboration necessary to ensure that AI develops within a framework
that respects human values and fosters public trust.About the
author-Tony Porter, OBE QPM LLB, Chief Privacy Officer at Corsight AI,
previously served as the Surveillance Camera Commissioner for England
and Wales under the Protection of Freedoms Act. He was Vice President
and Head of Physical Security Intelligence at Barclays and Assistant
Chief Constable at Greater Manchester Police before leading the North
West Counter Terrorism Unit.
New research explores AI manipulation attacks on face biometric systems-Sep 12, 2024, 7:12 pm EDT | Masha Borak
A
pair of new research papers address sophisticated fraud attempts on
biometric systems using AI, in one case to carry out morph attacks, and
in the other using synthetic data to carry out template inversion
attacks.The Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences, known as Germany’s
Silicon Valley, has released a paper on training algorithms for
Morphing Attack Detection (MAD).The paper proposes two different methods
based on transfer-transfer for automatically creating digital
print-scan face images and using such images in the training of a MAD
algorithm. The method can reach an Equal Error Rate (EER) of 3.84
percent and 1.92 percent on the FRGC/FERET database when including our
synthetic and texture-transfer print-scan with 600 dpi to handcrafted
images, respectively.The paper was authored by researchers at the
Biometrics and Internet Security Research Group and published on
ArXiv.Anticipating synthetic data attacks-Another research paper,
published by the IEEE Transactions on Biometrics, Behavior, and Identity
Science, proposes a new method for template inversion attacks against
facial recognition systems using synthetic data. Among the authors of
the paper is Sebastien Marcel, head of the Biometrics Security and
Privacy group at Idiap Research Institute in Switzerland.“Our
experiments show that the trained model with synthetic data can be used
to reconstruct face images from templates extracted from real face
images,” the paper notes.The method outperforms previous methods of
attacks against facial recognition models on four different face
datasets, including the MOBIO, LFW, AgeDB, and IJB-C datasets. It also
outperforms methods on high-resolution 2D face reconstruction from
facial templates and achieves competitive results with SOTA face
reconstruction methods, according to the study. The generated face
images were also tested in practical presentation attacks against facial
recognition systems.The results of the paper and materials to reproduce
it are available on Gitlab.Idiap has worked extensively on template
inversion attacks, while work on face morphing attacks continues in
various venues, including the European Commission’s iMars project.
Socure takes IDV solutions global, available in over 190 countries-Sep 12, 2024, 1:52 pm EDT | Abigail Opiah
Socure
has announced the expansion of its identity verification offerings,
which provides coverage for all International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO)-compliant travel documents, including passports,
most EU national IDs, and other IDs equipped with Near Field
Communication (NFC) technology.The company’s services are now available
in over 190 countries across Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, North
America, and South America.According to the company, the move comes in
response to growing customer demand for more comprehensive digital
identity verification that works across borders.Johnny Ayers, founder
and CEO of Socure, highlights the difficulties global businesses
encounter when trying to manage multiple identity verification systems.
“For too long, global businesses have been forced to manage a multitude
of identity verification and compliance solutions to meet varying
geographic requirements. This results in unwieldy operational overhead
and, worse, inconsistent performance,” adds Ayers.“We are laser focused
on delivering our best-in-class solutions that allow businesses to scale
globally and streamline consumer onboarding, compliance and transaction
risk scoring across all of their business lines. Many of the world’s
leading global companies now rely on Socure’s integrated compliance and
identity verification controls to scale their businesses by saying yes
to more good consumers, even as they drastically reduce fraud.”Socure’s
international offerings are built on a platform that integrates AI,
machine learning, and multiple data sources to assess whether applicants
are legitimate or potentially fraudulent. The platform includes eight
modules, all accessible via a single API. These modules cover areas such
as electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) verification, document
verification, global watchlist screening, and digital intelligence.The
system supports a range of languages and offers document verification
localized into 25 languages, using machine learning and computer vision
for the verification process.Additionally, Socure’s technology provides
identity coverage across 44 countries, with penetration in economies
such as the UK, France, and Italy. The platform sources data from
various government, tax, and commercial records.AI and fraud detection
capabilities-One of Socure’s features is its AI-powered global watchlist
monitoring system, which leverages identity graphs and natural language
processing to resolve potential matches.Additionally, the company’s
document verification system, DocV, offers coverage for local IDs and
other credentials. By using machine learning models, DocV is used to
adapt new document types and formats for identity verification.The
company launched its selfie biometric reverification tool to its DocV
product in August 2024.Socure’s digital intelligence suite analyzes user
behavior, device profiles, and network patterns to detect fraudulent
activities during account registration, login, and transactions.
WARN THE PEOPLE-WW3
EZEKIEL 33:1-6
1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2
Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them,
When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man
of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:
3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
4
Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not
warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon
his own head.
5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not
warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall
deliver his soul.
6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow
not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and
take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but
his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.
DANIEL 11:40-45 (WW3 BREAKDOWN)
40
And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at
him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM
HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with
chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter
into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall
enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be
overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab,
and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43
But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and
over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the
Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the
east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS
LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he
shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away
many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the
tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy
mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
ISAIAH 24:1
1
Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste,(NUKES
USED) and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants
thereof.(WORLD IMMIGRATION)
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel
of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a
son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(ARAB/MUSLIM) because the LORD
hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he will be a wild
man;(RIOTS-BURNING-MURDEROUUS RAGE) his hand will be against every
man,(ISLAM WANTS WORLD DOMINATION) and every man's hand against
him;(DEFENDING THEMSELVES) and he shall dwell in the presence of all his
brethren.(ARAB/MUSLIMS LIVE WITH ISRAELIS)
ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe
to thee that spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed)
and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee!
when thou shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be
spoiled;(destroyed) and when thou shalt make an end to deal
treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19
Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than
thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not
understand.
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the
synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think
that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF THEIR MOON GOD
ALLAH)
ISAIAH 14:12-23
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer, (SATAN) son of the morning! (HEBREW MEANS CRESCENT MOON
ANGEL-ISLAM OVIOUSLY)(SATAN IS THE GOD OF ISLAM) how art thou cut down
to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said
in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in
the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Ecclesiastes 9:10
10
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the
realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor
planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
EZEKIEL 31:10-17
10
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself
in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his
heart is lifted up in his height;
11 I have therefore delivered him
into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal
with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.
12 And
strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left
him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen,
and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the
people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
13 Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:
14To
the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for
their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither
their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they
are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the
midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.(HELL).
15Thus
saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a
mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods
thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn
for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him.
16 I made
the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to
hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the
choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in
the nether parts of the earth.
17They also went down into hell with
him unto [them that be] slain with the sword; and [they that were] his
arm, [that] dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
18To
whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of
Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the
nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the
uncircumcised with [them that be] slain by the sword. This [is] Pharaoh
and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
EZEKIEL 32:17-32
17
It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth [day] of the
month, [that] the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18 Son of
man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, [even] her,
and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the
earth, with them that go down into the pit.
19 Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised.
20
They shall fall in the midst of [them that are] slain by the sword: she
is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes.
21 The
strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with
them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain
by the sword.
22 Asshur [is] there and all her company: his graves [are] about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword:
23
Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round
about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused
terror in the land of the living.
24 There [is] Elam (IRAN) and all
her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the
sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the
earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have
they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit.
25 They
have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her
graves [are] round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the
sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet
have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put
in the midst of [them that be] slain.
26 There [is] Meshech,
Tubal,(RUSSIA) (GERMANY, TURKEY) and all her multitude: her graves [are]
round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though
they caused their terror in the land of the living.
27And they shall
not lie with the mighty [that are] fallen of the uncircumcised, which
are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid
their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their
bones, though [they were] the terror of the mighty in the land of the
living.
28 Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with [them that are] slain with the sword.
29
There [is] Edom,(JORDAN) her kings, and all her princes, which with
their might are laid by [them that were] slain by the sword: they shall
lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.
30
There [be] the princes of the north, all of them, and all the
Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they
are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with [them that
be] slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to
the pit.
31 Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all
his multitude, [even] Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith
the Lord GOD.
32 For I have caused my terror in the land of the
living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with
[them that are] slain with the sword, [even] Pharaoh and all his
multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
EZEKIEL 38:1-23
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.
8 After many days thou shalt be
visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is
brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against
the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is
brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of
them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a
cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with
thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall
also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy
mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt
say,(RUSSIA-ARAB-MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled
villages;(ISRAEL) I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely,
all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12
To take a spoil,(OIL IS IN SPOIL) and to take a prey; to turn thine
hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the
people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle
and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and
Dedan,(SAUDI-ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(SPAIN) with all the
young lions thereof,(ENGLAND,AND ALL ITS ASSOCIATES-CANADA,AUSTRALIA-NEW
ZEALAND, USA, AND WESTERN ENGLISH SPEAKING NATIONS) shall say unto
thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to
take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and
goods, to take a great spoil?(OIL IS IN SPOIL-I BELIEVE THATS WHY
RUSSIA,ARAB/MUSLIMS MARCH TO ISRAEL)
14 Therefore, son of man,
prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my
people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15 And
thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many
people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a
mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel,
as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I
will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I
shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
EZEKIEL 39:11-22
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)
13
Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it
shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified,
saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual
employment,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to
bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth,
to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15
And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s
bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the
buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of
Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)(EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN
THE JORDAN VALLEY)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17
And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every
feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY
SPRING,FALL) 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 THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM
ARMIES)
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.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)
REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that
sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given
unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with
sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE
DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18
By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the
fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their
mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE
17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS
KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE
BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND
DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in
that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN
WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4
billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37
And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto
them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered
together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against
Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten
by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE
SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE
CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH
IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)(50% OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.(ON EARTH)
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.(ON EARTH)
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
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 32:18-29 (NOTICE ALL THE COUNTRIES LAND PROMISED ISRAEL BY GOD ARE IN THE JORDAN VALLEY BURIED)
18
“Son of man, wail for the multitudes of Egypt, and consign her and the
daughters of the mighty nations to the depths of the earth with those
who descend to the Pit:
19 Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and be placed with the uncircumcised! (IN HELL FIRES)
20 They will fall among those slain by the sword. The sword is appointed! Let them drag her away along with all her multitudes.
21
Mighty chiefs will speak from the midst of Sheol about Egypt and her
allies: ‘They have come down and lie with the uncircumcised, with those
slain by the sword.’
22 Assyria (SYRIA) is there with her whole company; her graves are all around her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword.
23
Her graves are set in the depths of the Pit, and her company is all
around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—those who
once spread terror in the land of the living.
24 Elam (IRAN) is there
with all her multitudes around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen
by the sword—those who went down uncircumcised to the earth below, who
once spread their terror in the land of the living. They bear their
disgrace with those who descend to the Pit.
25 Among the slain they
prepare a resting place for Elam with all her hordes, with her graves
all around her. All of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword,
although their terror was once spread in the land of the living. They
bear their disgrace with those who descend to the Pit. They are placed
among the slain.
26 Meshech and Tubal (RUSSIA) are there with all
their multitudes, with their graves all around them. All of them are
uncircumcised, slain by the sword, because they spread their terror in
the land of the living.
27 They do not lie down with the fallen
warriors of old, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose
swords were placed under their heads, whose shields rested on their
bones, although the terror of the mighty was once in the land of the
living.
28 But you too will be shattered and lie down among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.
29
Edom (JORDAN) is there, and all her kings and princes, who despite
their might are laid among those slain by the sword. They lie down with
the uncircumcised, with those who descend to the Pit.THIS IS RIGHT FROM
93:
SECOND ANGEL: MIDDLE EAST
Then I saw that the second angel
had a sickle in his hand, such as is used in harvesting.The second
angel said: "Harvest time has come in Israel and the countries all the
way to Iran."I saw those countries in a few split seconds."All of Turkey
and those [inaudible] countries that have refused me and refused my
message of love shall hate each other and kill one another."I saw the
angel raise the sickle and come down on all the Middle East countries. I
saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of Georgia - Iraq, Syria,
Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor - full of blood. I saw blood
all over these countries. And I saw fire; Nuclear weapons used in many
of those countries. Smoke rising from everywhere. Sudden destruction –
men destroying one another. I heard these words:"Israel, Oh Israel, the
great judgment has come." The angel said, "The chosen, the church, the
remnant, shall be purified. The Spirit of God shall prepare the children
of God."I saw fires rising to heaven.The angel said: "This is the final
judgment. My church shall be purified, protected and ready for the
final day. Men will die from thirst. Water shall be scarce all over the
Middle East. Rivers shall dry up, and men will fight for water in those
countries."The angel showed me that the United Nations shall be broken
in pieces because of the crisis in the Middle East. There shall be no
more United Nations. The angel with the sickle shall reap the harvest.
PSALMS 83:1-8 (GODS LAND PROMISED TO ISRAEL)
1 O God, do not remain silent;do not turn a deaf ear,do not stand aloof, O God.
2 See how your enemies growl, how your foes rear their heads.
3 With cunning they (ARAB,MUSLIMS) conspire against your people;they plot against those you cherish.(ISRAELIS)
4 “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more.”
5 With one mind they plot together;(TREATIES) they form an alliance against you—
6
the tents of Edom (JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites, (EGYPTIAN ARABS SO
CALLED PALESTIANS) of Moab (JORDAN) and the Hagrites,(EGYPT)
7 Byblos,(HEZBOLLOH) Ammon (JORDAN) and Amalek,(SYRIAN ARABS IN THE SINAI) Philistia,(ARABS) with the people of Tyre (LEBANON).
8 Even Assyria (SYRIA) has joined them to reinforce Lot’s descendants.
GENESIS 6:11-13
11
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with
violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the
earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and,
behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
1 OF 3 GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO
1-PROMISCUOUS SEX AMOUNG EACH OTHER.
ROMANS 1:24
24
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of
their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: (THE
60S FREE SEX)
2 OF 3 GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO
2-SODOMITES - MEN LUSTING MEN, AND WOMEN LUSTING AFTER WOMEN.
ROMANS 1:26-27
26
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their
women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned
in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is
unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error
which was meet.
3 OF 3 GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO
3-A DEPRAVED MIND-ANY SIN GOES.
ROMANS 1:28-31
28
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God
gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate,
deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO THESE 3 DEPRAVED ABOMINATION SINS?
OH OH NOAHS DAY. WHAT HAPPENED IN NOAHS DAY. THE WHOLE WORLD WAS JUDGED BY WATER.
GENESIS 6:7,17
7
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face
of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the
fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
17 And,
behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy
all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every
thing that is in the earth shall die.
GENESIS 7:4
4 For yet seven
days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty
nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from
off the face of the earth.
GENESIS 8:16
16 And the bow shall be in
the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting
covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is
upon the earth.
WELL THE SODOMITES PICKED THE RIGHT SIGN OF A RAINBOW
FOR JUDGEMENT. THE SODOMITES TRYED TO STEAL GODS SIGN THAT THE WHOLE
EARTH WILL NEVER DIE FROM FLOOD WATERS AGAIN. BUT THE JUDGEMENT THIS
TIME IS GOING TO BE BY FIRE.NOT WATER.
2 PETER 3:7
7 But the
heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in
store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of
ungodly men.
EZIKIEL 38:12-13
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA
ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions
thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING
shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered
thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away
cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? (AGAINST ISRAEL)
14
Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, (RUSSIA AND HER
MUSLIMS HORDES)Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of
Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
GENESIS 12:1-3
1
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I (GOD) will
shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3
And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY)
him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of
the earth be blessed.
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.
ISLAMIC DEATH CULT AND FAKE MOHAMMAAD AND FAKE MOON GOD ALLAH WHICH IS SIMPLY SATAN IS THE LEADER OF ISLAM.
LEVITICUS 26:16
16
I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you( sudden)
terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes,
and cause sorrow of heart:(WARS AND DEATH) and ye shall sow your seed in
vain, for your enemies shall eat it.(CHINA CONTROLS AMERICAS ECONOMY BY
BUYING UP DEBT)
ISAIAH 33:1,18-19 Woe to thee that
spoilest,(destroys) and thou wast not spoiled;(destroyed) and dealest
treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou
shalt cease to spoil,(destroy) thou shalt be spoiled;(destroyed) and
when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal
treacherously with thee.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19
Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than
thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not
understand.
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the
synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think
that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF THEIR MOON GOD
ALLAH)
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto
her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call
his name Ishmael;(ARAB/MUSLIM) because the LORD hath heard thy
affliction.
12 And he will be a wild man;(RIOTS-BURNING-MURDEROUUS
RAGE) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM WANTS WORLD DOMINATION)
and every man's hand against him;(DEFENDING THEMSELVES) and he shall
dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(ARAB/MUSLIMS LIVE WITH
ISRAELIS)
The Family Tree of Ishmael
12 This is the family tree of Ishmael son of Abraham, the son that Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham.
13-16
These are the names of Ishmael’s sons in the order of their births:
Nebaioth, Ishmael’s firstborn, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah,
Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah—all the sons of Ishmael.
Their settlements and encampments were named after them. Twelve princes
with their twelve tribes.
(ISLAM CLAIMS MOHAMMID IS A OFF SPRING OF
ISHMAEL THE FIRST BASTARD CHILD OF THE ARABS WITH A SLAVE MOTHER TO THE
ISRAELIS.DOES ANY ONE SEE THE NAME OF MOHAMMID IN ISHMAELS FAMILY TREE.
BECAUSE I SURE DON'T. I DOUBT MOHAMMID EVEN EXISTS. AND SATAN IS THE
LEADER OF ISLAM HHIMSELF. SO ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION AT ALL. ISLAM IS
NOTHING BUT A DEATH CULT THAT WORSHIPS DEATH. AND WILL BURN IN HELL
FIRE, THEN THE FINAL JUDGEMENT IN FRONT OF JESUS.ONLY TO BE THROWN IN
THE LAKE OF FIRE FOREVER WITH THEIR NEVER DYING BODIES.ISLAM EXPOSED AS A
FRAUD SATAN LIE AND MURDER DEAT CULT.
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the
morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground,
which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars
of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the
sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above
the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF
THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 8:44
44
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of
his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Trump's Suspected Would-Be Assassin Ryan Wesley Routh Had Go-Pro, AK-47.
Latest
attack on Trump a reminder of past assassination attempts against US
leaders-Failed shooting toward ex-president is second in 2 months; 4
presidents have previously been killed while in office, with others
surviving attempted hits-By Kanishka Singh Today, 4:51 am-SEP 15,24
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) — The FBI is investigating what it said was another
assassination attempt on Republican US presidential candidate Donald
Trump.The incident occurred Sunday at the Trump International Golf Club
West Palm Beach in Florida where Trump, the former president, was
golfing.Law enforcement officials said Secret Service saw a man with a
rifle in the bushes and shot at the suspected assassin.The suspect fled
the bushes and was later apprehended on a highway, according to law
enforcement.Previous attempt on Trump-In July, Trump was shot by a
gunman during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in what the FBI said was
an attempted assassination. The former president was wounded in the
ear.The Congressional Research Service says direct assaults against
presidents, presidents-elect and candidates have occurred on at least 15
separate occasions, with five resulting in death.Below is a list of
other previous attempts on the lives of American leaders, successful or
not.Assassinations-Four US presidents were assassinated while in
office.Abraham Lincoln: Killed in 1865 by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s
Theatre in Washington.James Garfield: Shot in 1881 in Washington at a
train station and died of his wounds two and a half months later.William
McKinley: Assassinated in 1901 by an anarchist in Buffalo, New
York.John F. Kennedy: Assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963 in
Dallas, Texas, as the president rode in a motorcade.Leaders who survived
assassination attempts-Four presidents were wounded but survived
assassination attempts, while in office or afterward.Donald Trump: Trump
had just started a campaign speech in Pennsylvania on July 13 when
shots rang out. Trump was shot in the ear. He was rushed by security
officials to a black SUV.-Ronald Reagan: He was shot in 1981 outside the
Hilton Hotel in Washington. Reagan was wounded when one of the bullets
ricocheted off a limousine and struck him under the left armpit.Gerald
Ford: Survived two attempts on his life in less than three weeks in 1975
without being hurt.Theodore Roosevelt: He was shot in the chest in 1912
while campaigning for election in Milwaukee, but insisted on delivering
his speech to supporters before being taken to a hospital.Assassination
attempts on other US leaders-Robert F. Kennedy: A US presidential
candidate and a US senator, Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 by a gunman
in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.Alabama Governor George C.
Wallace: A candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, he was
shot in 1972 and became paralyzed from the waist down.
White
House ‘relieved’ GOP candidate unharmed-Trump safe after apparent
assassination attempt at his Florida golf course, FBI says-Months after
bullet grazed his ear at rally, former US president says he’s well after
man pointed gun some 400 meters from him; Secret Service fires at
suspect, who flees and is caught-By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, Colleen Long,
MICHAEL BALSAMO and Zeke Miller Today, 11:46 pm-SEP 15,24
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The FBI said Donald Trump was the target of “what appears to be
an attempted assassination” at his golf club in West Palm Beach,
Florida, on Sunday, just nine weeks after the Republican US presidential
nominee survived another attempt on his life. The former president said
he was safe and well and there appeared to be no injuries.Palm Beach
County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the US Secret Service agents fired at a
man pointing an AK-style rifle with a scope as Trump was on the course.
Bradshaw said the gunman also had two backpacks hanging on a fence and a
GoPro camera, and that he was about 400 to 500 yards (365 to 460
meters) away from Trump and hiding in shrubbery while the former
president played golf on a nearby hole.The person dropped the weapon and
fled in an SUV after the shots were fired at him, and he was later
taken into custody in a neighboring county.The incident was the latest
jarring moment in a campaign year marked by unprecedented upheaval. It
occurred roughly two months after Trump was shot during an assassination
attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania, and a bullet grazed his ear. Only a
week later, US President Joe Biden withdrew from the race.In an email
to supporters Sunday, Trump said: “There were gunshots in my vicinity,
but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear
this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!”“Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER
SURRENDER!” the former president said.The golf course was partially
shut down for Trump as he played, and agents were a few holes ahead of
him when they noticed the person with the firearm, Bradshaw said. There
are several areas around the perimeter of the property where golfers are
visible from the fence line. Secret Service agents and officers in golf
carts and on ATVs generally secure the area several holes ahead and
behind Trump when he golfs. Agents also usually bring an armored vehicle
onto the course to quickly shelter Trump should a threat arise.Trump
had returned to Florida this weekend from a West Coast swing that
included a Friday night rally in Las Vegas and a Utah fundraiser. His
campaign had not advised Trump’s plans for Sunday. He often spends the
morning playing golf, before having lunch at the club, one of three he
owns in the state.He has had a stepped-up security footprint since the
assassination attempt in July. When he has been at Trump Tower in New
York, a lineup of dump trucks have parked in a wall outside the
building. And at outdoor rallies, he now speaks from behind an enclosure
of bulletproof glass.Trump was returned Sunday to his private
Mar-a-Lago club, where he resides in neighboring Palm Beach, according
to a person familiar with the matter.The White House said Biden and Vice
President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, had both
been briefed and would be kept updated on the investigation. The White
House added they were “relieved” to know Trump is safe.Harris, in a
statement, said she was “glad” Trump was safe, adding that “violence has
no place in America.”In an X post, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham,
one of Trump’s top congressional allies, said he had spoken with Trump
after the incident and that Trump was in “good spirits” and was “one of
the strongest people I’ve ever known.”Martin County Sheriff William D.
Snyder said the suspect was apprehended within minutes of the FBI,
Secret Service and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office putting out a
“very urgent BOLO” — or “be on the lookout” alert — detailing the
specific vehicle sought, license plate number and occupant
description.Snyder said his deputies “immediately flooded” northbound
I-95, deploying to every exit between the Palm Beach County line to the
south and St. Lucie County line to the north.“One of my road patrol
units saw the vehicle, matched the tag and we set up on the vehicle,”
Snyder said, “We pinched in on the car, got it safely stopped and got
the driver in custody.”Snyder told WPTV that the suspect “was not armed
when we took him out of the car.”The man had a calm, flat demeanor and
showed little emotion when he was stopped by police, Snyder said, saying
the suspect did not question why he was being pulled over.“He never
asked, ‘What is this about?’ Obviously, law enforcement with long
rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it,” Snyder
said.US Attorney General Merrick Garland has been briefed on the
situation and is receiving regular updates about it, a Justice
Department spokeswoman said.The post by the Martin County Sheriff’s
Office indicated the suspect was apprehended near Palm City, Florida,
about a 45-mile drive north of Trump’s golf course. Northbound lanes of
I-95 were shut down, the sheriff’s office said.A message sent to
campaign officials seeking information on the security status and
location of Ohio Senator JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, was not
immediately returned.Max Egusquiza, of Palm Beach, described the
emergency response outside Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course.“From
what I saw 5 black unmarked SUVs blocked in a grey Mercedes in front of
the golf course. There were about 20 or more cop cars flying from nearby
streets,” he said.Trump is supposed to speak about cryptocurrency live
Monday night on the social media site X for the launch of his sons’
crypto platform. He’s expected to do that from his Mar-a-Lago resort in
Florida. The former president is scheduled to return to the campaign
trail on Tuesday for a town hall in Flint, Michigan with his former
press secretary, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, followed by a
campaign rally in New York on Long Island on Wednesday.At the end of
the week, he’s scheduled to attend and address the Israeli-American
Council National Summit in Washington, DC and on Saturday hold a rally
in Wilmington, North Carolina.
WATCH: Sheriff Warns How Close
Would-Be Assassin Got To Trump With Rifle, Two Backpacks And A GoPro
Camera-by Infowars.com September 15th, 2024 7:13 PM
“Probably
between 300-500 yards,” said Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.
“But, with a rifle and scope like that, that’s not a long
distance.”Alarming details on the would-be shooter along with his
identity have been revealed.Shortly after the second attempted
assassination of Donald Trump, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office
hosted a press conference detailing how close the suspect was to the
former president at his golf course before fleeing the scene. “Probably
between 300-500 yards,” said Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw
Sunday. “But, with a rifle and scope like that that’s not a long
distance.”The would-be assassin fled his spot hidden in the bushes after
being detected by a Secret Service agent doing a perimeter check. He
left behind an ‘AK47-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks that had
ceramic tile in them and a GoPro camera,’ presumably to capture the
assassination.“[The Secret Service agent] jumped up one hole ahead of
time to where the president was at,” said Bradshaw. “And he was able to
spot this rifle barrel sticking out of a fence and immediately engage
that individual, at which time that individual took off. Now, in the
bushes where this guy was, is an AK47-style rifle with a scope, two
backpacks which were hung on the fence that had ceramic tile in them and
a GoPro which he was going to take pictures [with].”“So, those are
being processed right now.”Police say this is the gunman’s AK-47 along
the fence line of the Trump golf course. pic.twitter.com/qqYDJshMHG—
Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) September 15, 2024-Here is a picture of what
is alleged to be the shooter's gun. It looks like a Dragunov to me.
pic.twitter.com/48JmRzuIqF— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) September 15,
2024-Also during the presser, Jeffrey B. Veltri, the special agent in
charge of the Miami Field Office, made it clear the FBI was assuming the
leading role of the “incident.”“The FBI has assumed the role of the
leading federal law enforcement agency in the investigation of the
incident that occurred earlier today at Trump International Golf Course
here in West Palm Beach Florida,” said Veltri. “We’ve deployed a number
of resources including the investigative teams crisis response team
members, bomb technicians, and evidence response team members as well.
What we need right now is the public to avoid the area around the golf
course.”“We will continue to support this investigation with the full
resources of the FBI alongside our partners with the United States
Secrete Service and the Palm Beach sheriff’s office as well as Martin
County sheriff’s office, and state and local law enforcement.”The
would-be shooter’s identity has been reported to be Ryan Routh, whose
social media activity suggests he is a Trump-hating, Ukraine
war-supporting liberal.Trump has said-REPEATEDLY that he will end the
Ukraine war.The man that tried to assassinate him today is named Ryan
Wesley Routh.People are posting these pictures. Is this the would be
assassin?If so, he's obsessed with the Ukraine war, which is funded by
the U.S. pic.twitter.com/DsXwnyelAY— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸
(@RepMTG) September 15, 2024- BREAKING.🚨Alleged Trump golf course
attacker has been identified as Ryan Routh.The suspect was found hiding
in the bushes, armed with an AK-47 equipped with a scope, carrying two
backpacks, and wearing a GoPro, according to law enforcement
sources.Secret Service agents,… pic.twitter.com/g9u5y9fYxx— Kyle Becker
(@kylenabecker) September 15, 2024-One social media post from Routh says
he’s “willing to die for Ukraine.”“I am willing to die for Ukraine”
pic.twitter.com/0EY37nGsZK— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) September 15,
2024-More posts are highlighting an alarming connection to Ukraine.On
May 4, 2024, would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh posted this on his
Facebook page, which appears to be from the Ukrainian Ministry of
Defense.I asked ChatGPT to translate it, and, uh…
pic.twitter.com/tAvp4JQ7J0— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) September 15,
2024-Ryan Wesley Routh, preso hoje na Flórida pelo o que o FBI trabalha
como a 2ª tentativa de 4ss4ssin4to de Trump, foi entrevistado pela
Newsweek Romênia em 2022.De acordo com o relatório, ele teria ajudado a
recrutar voluntários estrangeiros para lutar pela Ucrânia. Acompanhe.
https://t.co/Edzvt8QsMQ pic.twitter.com/VE4hXPZiEb— No Front Militar
(@noFrontMilitar) September 15, 2024-The shooter was the head of a
foreign fighter unit in Ukraine who attempted to bring Afghan fighters
into combat against Russia— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) September 15,
2024As predicted, the alleged would-be-assassin is connected to
Ukraine. https://t.co/yn3YOA4TxV— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) September
15, 2024-Facebook has reportedly already scrubbed Routh’s page:The
cover-up begins.Facebook just scrubbed the page of Ryan Routh, Trump's
attempted assassin. pic.twitter.com/uhPvrZbuGr— End Wokeness
(@EndWokeness) September 15, 2024
Netanyahu vows to exact heavy
price, cites Hodeida port raid-Ballistic missile fired from Yemen
triggers sirens across central Israel-Houthis say Tel Aviv targeted with
hypersonic missile; IDF: projectile fell apart in air after being hit
by interceptor; shrapnel lands in Ben Shemen forest, nearby train
station-By Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff 15 September 2024, 10:10 am
A
surface-to-surface ballistic missile was fired at central Israel from
Yemen by the Iran-backed Houthis early on Sunday morning.The missile
attack set off sirens across central Israel at 6:32 a.m., with alerts
heard from the east of Tel Aviv to Modiin.According to an Israeli Air
Force probe, the Houthi missile was hit by an interceptor missile,
although it did not manage to completely destroy the target.The missile
had been identified upon launch from northwestern Yemen at around 6:21
a.m., and the Arrow long-range defense system was activated to intercept
it. Several interceptor missiles were launched at the target in
attempts to down it.At least one of the Arrow interceptors hit the
missile, but did not destroy it, the probe found.Instead, the
interceptor caused the Houthi missile to break apart in the air, and the
warhead, as well as other pieces, fell to the ground.Shrapnel from the
missile and the interceptors impacted open areas in the Ben Shemen
forest, close to the community of Kfar Daniel — a few kilometers
southeast of Ben Gurion Airport — sparking a fire.The military also
attempted to shoot down the falling shrapnel using the Iron Dome, which
is usually used for shorter-range attacks.Shrapnel from an interceptor
also caused slight damage at a train station on the outskirts of Modiin,
some 25 kilometers (18 miles) east of Tel Aviv.The IAF found that the
missile, which had a trajectory and did not maneuver in flight, was not a
hypersonic projectile as the Houthis have claimed. The intended target
of the attack was not immediately known.Police said they were
additionally searching for potential shrapnel that may have fallen in
areas east of Tel Aviv.Houthis threaten more attacks-In a short
televised speech, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed
responsibility for the ballistic missile attack.Saree said a hypersonic
missile was launched at an unspecified military target in the Tel Aviv
area, boasting that the projectile eluded the gauntlet of American and
Israeli aerial defense systems, and caused“fear and panic” in Israel.“It
forced more than two million Zionists to run to shelters for the first
time in the enemy’s history,” he said.He warned that Israelis could
expect more attacks and “quality operations” in the lead-up to the
anniversary of the Hamas terror group’s October 7 massacre, including a
response to Israel’s July bombing of the Hodeida port in Yemen, a
lifeline for the terror group, and in order to perform the Houthis’
“religious and moral duty” to support Palestinians, he said.As sirens
went off, passengers ran to take shelter at Ben Gurion Airport, and lay
down on the floor of trains.A worker at the Modiin train station told
the Walla news site that she heard a large blast shortly after she
reached the bomb shelter.“We ran to the protected area and then when we
heard the large explosion, we realized it was here,” the unnamed woman
said.The Magen David Adom rescue service said it treated nine people for
minor injuries sustained as they ran for shelter when the sirens went
off.The IDF said that there was no change to Home Front Command
instructions for civilians, with schools and kindergartens open as usual
in central Israel.Houthi official Nasr al-Din Amer said that the attack
showed Israel was completely exposed to aerial assault.“The [Israeli]
defense systems failed and the Yemeni missile arrived thanks to Allah.
The depths of the enemy are now completely exposed to us. In the past it
was UAVs and now the missiles, and all arrived without interception.
The future holds many things,” he said, according to the Kan public
broadcaster.A second senior Houthi official posted on X in Hebrew saying
the group’s leader would deliver an address later on Sunday.“Whether in
your underground shelters or outside of them, it would behoove you to
listen with close attention this afternoon to what is said by”
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, wrote Hezam al-Asad, a member of the Iran-backed
group’s politburo, above a picture of their leader.Netanyahu says Israel
will exact heavy price-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a
threat to the Houthis after the attack.“The Houthis should have known by
now that we exact a heavy price for any attempt to harm us,” he said at
the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting. “Those who need a reminder
are welcome to visit the port of Hodeida.”Israel launched an attack on
the main harbor controlled by the Houthis on July 20 after a drone
launched by the group struck Tel Aviv, killing a man and injuring four
others.Yemen’s Houthis have fired over 220 ballistic missiles, cruise
missiles and drones at Israel over the past 11 months — mostly toward
the southernmost city of Eilat — saying that it is in solidarity with
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is battling Hamas.The vast
majority of the Iran-backed Yemeni group’s projectiles have been
intercepted by US forces stationed in the Red Sea and Israeli air
defenses and fighter jets, or have missed their target.However, the IDF
has long warned that Israel’s air defenses are not “hermetic.”In July, a
drone launched by the Houthis hit Tel Aviv, killing 50-year-old Yevgeny
Ferder.The Iranian-made UAV traveled more than 2,600 kilometers (1,600
miles) to reach Israel, according to an Israeli Air Force probe. The
modified Iranian-made Samad-3 took a non-direct flight path, which may
have contributed to it not being classified as a threat by air defense
troops, which resulted in it not being intercepted and striking the
residential building.Israel responded to the July drone attack with
strikes against the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida in western Yemen.
The strikes, carried out by dozens of Israeli aircraft, targeted fuel
depots and energy infrastructure at the port, in addition to the
cranes.It was the first time Israel responded to the attacks, preferring
that a United States-led coalition continue to strike the Houthis,
mostly in response to the Iran-backed group’s attacks on commercial and
military ships in the Red Sea.A Houthi official vowed at the time to
“meet escalation with escalation” and a statement last month from the
rebel group affirmed “once again that the Yemeni response is definitely
coming.”Before the July attack on Tel Aviv, only one Houthi projectile, a
cruise missile, had successfully struck Israel, hitting an open area
near Eilat in March.Agencies contributed to this report.
Hamas:
Attack was 'natural response' to Israeli crimes-Border Police officer
lightly hurt in stabbing attack at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate-Other
officers shoot and kill assailant, identified by Hebrew media as
33-year-old from Bedouin town near Beersheba, as he attempts to flee
into Old City-By Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff 16 September 2024, 1:58 am
A
Border Police officer was lightly wounded Sunday evening in a stabbing
attack at the Damascus Gate entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City.The
assailant attacked the officer with a sharp object, before attempting to
flee into the Old City, police said.Other Border Police officers then
shot the assailant, killing him.Hebrew media identified the assailant as
Ziad Abu Sabih, 33, from Ar’ara Banegev, a Bedouin town near the
southern city of Beersheba.Magen David Adom paramedics told Hebrew media
they arrived at the scene and provided immediate medical care to the
stabbed officer, in his 20s, who was fully conscious.He was then taken
to a hospital, suffering a wound to his upper body.Surveillance camera
footage published by the police Sunday evening showed the
stabbing.Surveillance camera footage published by police shows the
moment of the stabbing attack in Jerusalem's Old City this evening.One
Border Police officer was lightly hurt, and the assailant was shot.
https://t.co/4SIV0oom17 pic.twitter.com/uYG8857lnW— Emanuel (Mannie)
Fabian (@manniefabian) September 15, 2024 “I saw a police officer
arguing with an unidentified citizen — after a few seconds, [the
officer] shouted, ‘Terrorist!'” said the officer who shot the assailant,
according to Hebrew media outlets.The stabbing came days after an
Israeli soldier was run over and killed at a West Bank bus stop in an
apparent attack, and one week after a Jordanian truck driver shot and
killed three Israelis at the Allenby crossing, connecting the West Bank
and Jordan.Amid the spate of attacks, the Israeli military is conducting
a major counter-terror operation in the northern West Bank.The stabbing
on Sunday also came amid heightened tensions over the nearby Temple
Mount, a site in Jerusalem’s Old City that is considered the holiest
place in Judaism and the third-holiest in Islam.The Hamas terror group
praised the stabbing on Sunday, calling it “a natural response to the
ongoing crimes of occupation against our people in Gaza and the West
Bank, and to the violations and escalating threats against the blessed
Al-Aqsa Mosque,” referring to the Muslim shrine situated inside the
Temple Mount.The statement, reported by Hebrew media, did not appear to
include a claim of responsibility for the stabbing.Israel has been at
war with Hamas since October 7 of last year, when the terror group
attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251
hostages.Since the October 7 onslaught, Israeli forces have also
arrested some 5,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including
more than 2,000 affiliated with Hamas.
Hamas official says
despite war losses, terror group has recruited ‘new generations’In
interview to AFP, Istanbul-based Osama Hamdan says Sinwar will never
leave Strip, and that Houthi missile attack on central Israel proves
‘even Israeli capabilities have limits’ By AFP and ToI Staff Today,
10:28 pm-SEP 15,24
ISTANBUL, Turkey — A senior Hamas official
told AFP on Sunday that the Palestinian Islamist terrorist group has
ample resources to continue fighting Israel despite losses sustained
over more than 11 months of war in Gaza.“The resistance has a high
ability to continue,” Osama Hamdan told AFP during an interview in
Istanbul, without providing any evidence for his claim.“There were
martyrs and there were sacrifices… but in return, there was an
accumulation of experiences and the recruitment of new generations into
the resistance,” he said.His comments came less than a week after
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists that Hamas, whose October
7 attack triggered the war, “no longer exists” as a military formation
in Gaza.“The number of casualties… is much less than what is expected in
a battle of this size, level and breadth,” Hamdan claimed on
Sunday.Israel says it has killed some 17,000 Hamas combatants in battle
and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. On the eve of
the war, Hamas had an estimated 30,000 fighters in its forces, according
to the Israel Defense Forces.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry does
not differentiate between civilians and fighters in its unverified tally
of people killed in the war so far, which currently stands at over
40,000.Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and
stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting
from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
Since the start of Israel’s ground offensive, 344 IDF soldiers have been
killed fighting in Gaza.Months of negotiations aimed at securing a
truce — mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar — appear to have
once again stalled.Israel’s announcement this month that the bodies of
six hostages had been recovered from a tunnel in Gaza after Hamas
executed them spurred an outpouring of grief and anger, leading to a
brief general strike and large-scale demonstrations that continued in
Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Saturday night demanding a deal be reachedIn
the interview on Sunday, Hamdan said the United States, Israel’s most
important military backer, was not doing enough to force concessions
from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach an agreement.“The
American administration does not exert sufficient or appropriate
pressure on the Israeli side,” Hamdan said. “Rather it is trying to
justify the Israeli side’s evasion of any commitment.”During two press
conferences after officials announced the deaths of the six hostages
earlier this month, Netanyahu said it was Hamas who refused to
compromise and vowed “not to give in to pressure” on remaining sticking
points.Israel ‘not immune’ Hamdan said the Houthi ballistic missile
attack against Israel on Sunday showed the limits of Israel’s ability to
defend itself, including its oft-touted aerial defense system.“It is a
message to the entire region that Israel is not an immune entity,”
Hamdan said. “Even Israeli capabilities have limits.”Hamdan also
reiterated Hamas’s view that a terror attack earlier this month in which
a Jordanian truck driver shot dead three Israeli guards at a border
crossing underscored widespread anger at Israel in the region.As for
Arab leaders who have normalized diplomatic ties with Israel or are
considering doing so, Hamdan said they should ask themselves how they
would feel if their countries were occupied and the world stood by and
watched.“If you see Israel as a blessing and a gain… give them a piece
of your country,” he said, jokingly adding that it could be called “the
new Israel.”‘Day after’ planning-Hamas has ruled Gaza since it took over
the enclave in 2007 through a violent coup, but with Israel calling for
the group to be eliminated, it is unclear what form it will exist in
after the war.Hamdan said in the interview that it was impossible to
imagine a scenario in which Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar would leave the
besieged territory.Sinwar and other leaders “are ready to be martyred
thousands of times in Palestine rather than leaving it because
everything he is doing is to free Palestine,” Hamdan claimed.Sinwar —
who was released from Israeli prison in 2011 among 1,026 others in
exchange for captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit — is considered the
mastermind behind the October 7 massacre, which saw terrorists
infiltrate southern Israel and kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians,
and kidnap 251.Hamas has demanded a complete Israeli withdrawal from
Gaza, including the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land along
Egypt’s border that has emerged as a key sticking point in the truce
talks.Hamdan said that Hamas wants “joint Palestinian rule” in Gaza,
adding that Hamas officials and representatives of other Palestinian
factions would meet soon in Cairo to discuss their post-war vision.“The
day after the battle is a Palestinian day,” he said.
34 female
prisoners hunger strike in Iran for anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s
death-Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi’s foundation says strike
is ‘in solidarity with the protesting people of Iran, against the
government’s oppressive policies’ By AFP Today, 8:34 pm-SEP 15,24
PARIS
— Thirty-four female prisoners went on a hunger strike in an Iranian
prison on Sunday to mark two years since protests erupted against
clerical authorities, the foundation of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges
Mohammadi said.“Today, on September 15, 2024, 34 female political
prisoners in Evin Prison have gone on a hunger strike in commemoration
of the second anniversary of the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement and the
killing of Mahsa (Jina) Amini,” it said.Amini was a 22-year-old Iranian
Kurd whose death in custody after her arrest for allegedly violating
the strict dress code for women sparked the demonstrations.The prisoners
had abstained from food “in solidarity with the protesting people of
Iran, against the government’s oppressive policies,” the foundation
added.Mohammadi, who has campaigned against the compulsory wearing of
the hijab and the death penalty in Iran, has been in Tehran’s Evin
prison since November 2021.She has spent much of the past decade in and
out of jail and has staged repeated hunger strikes.“On the second
anniversary of the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ movement, we reaffirm our
commitment to achieving democracy, freedom, and equality and to
defeating theocratic despotism,” Mohammadi said in a statement on her
official X account. “Today, we raise our voices louder and strengthen
our resolve.”Mohammadi’s children received the Nobel Peace Prize on her
behalf in 2023 while she was incarcerated.According to her family, she
was on hunger strike at the time in solidarity with the Baha’i
community, Iran’s largest religious minority, who say they are targeted
by discrimination.UN experts last month accused Iran of denying
Mohammadi proper healthcare.She “was reportedly subjected to physical
violence” in Evin on August 6, during which she “allegedly lost
consciousness, and sustained injuries to her ribcage and other parts of
her body,” the experts said.Iranian authorities acknowledged a
confrontation had taken place, but blamed Mohammadi for “provocation”
and denied any prisoners had been beaten.Women-led protests erupted
after Amini died in custody on September 16, 2022.The protests rattled
Iran’s leadership that autumn and winter, but authorities crushed them,
with rights group Amnesty International saying security forces used
assault rifles and shotguns in the crackdown.Human rights groups say at
least 551 people were killed. Thousands more were arrested, according to
the United Nations.
EU operation to tow oil tanker struck by
Houthis proceeding ‘at very slow pace’European Union’s Red Sea naval
mission says ship being towed to a ‘safe location,’ escorted by three
frigates, helicopters and a special forces team-By AFP Today, 5:25
pm-SEP 15,24
ATHENS, Greece — The towing of an abandoned tanker
struck by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in August, threatening environmental
disaster, is proceeding slowly for a second day, a Greek military source
told AFP on Sunday.The operation to tow the Greek-flagged Sounion which
began Saturday “is proceeding at a very slow pace,” the source said,
adding that it was “initially headed north” without revealing a
destination.The tanker was hit on August 21 by the Iran-backed Houthis
with missiles off the coast of Hodeida while carrying 150,000 tons of
crude oil.After the initial strike, the Yemeni terrorist group returned
and detonated charges on the ship’s deck, setting off new fires.Damage
to the vessel had threatened a Red Sea oil spill four times the size of
the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.The operation is being
overseen by the European Union’s Red Sea naval mission, Aspides, which
said on Sunday that the tanker was being towed to a “safe location.”“The
salvage of the MV SOUNION is a complex operation and consists of
various phases,” the mission wrote on X.It added aerial shots of the
tanker escorted by two warships, one dated Sunday, in which it is still
emitting smoke.Greek state news agency ANA said the tugboat was escorted
by three frigates, helicopters and a special forces team, without
disclosing the states of origin.Fires were still visible on board in
Aspides pictures posted on X dated Saturday.“When it reaches safe
mooring there will be an attempt to put out the fire and preliminary
steps will be taken to secure the cargo from leaking,” the Greek source
said Sunday.Update on the MV SOUNION salvage statusThe salvage of the MV
SOUNION is a complex operation and consists of various phases.The tug
boats have successfully connected to the vessel and the towing of the MV
SOUNION to a safe location is in progress.By providing protection to…
pic.twitter.com/FX47QOsJLq— EUNAVFOR ASPIDES (@EUNAVFORASPIDES)
September 15, 2024-The ship’s radars have been turned off for security
reasons.The tanker had been anchored west of the rebel-held port city of
Hodeida, midway between Yemen and Eritrea.The Sounion’s crew — made up
of 23 Filipinos and two Russians — was rescued the day after the attack
by a French frigate serving with the EU mission.The EU naval force was
formed in February to protect merchant vessels in the Red Sea from
attacks by the Houthi rebels, who have waged a campaign against
international shipping that they say is intended to show solidarity with
the Hamas terror group in its war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.The war
broke out when Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel on October 7,
killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251. Since
November, the Houthi attacks have caused the sinking of two ships and
the deaths of at least four crew members.The Houthis have been firing
drones and missiles at ships in the vital commercial route, saying they
are targeting vessels linked to Israel, the US and Britain.They have
also attacked Israel directly. A Houthi drone in July killed a civilian
in Tel Aviv, and a ballistic missile fired by the terrorist group on
Sunday morning landed in an open field, triggering sirens throughout
central Israel.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
After
unauthorized flyers dropped, IDF says there’s no south Lebanon
evacuation order-Military says brigade commander did not have approval
to distribute leaflets calling on civilians to leave area used by
Hezbollah to launch attacks; flyers dropped by drone-By Emanuel
Fabian-Today, 4:45 pmUpdated at 7:57 pm-SEP 15,24
The Israeli
military clarified on Sunday that there was no evacuation recommendation
given for civilians in southern Lebanon, and that flyers dropped in the
southern village of Wazzani calling on residents to leave had been
distributed by a brigade commander without permission.The military said
it has launched an investigation into the incident.The flyers called on
Lebanese civilians in highlighted zones close to the border to evacuate
by 4 p.m. due to Hezbollah activity in the area.The area that was
highlighted has been used by Hezbollah to launch numerous attacks at
northern Israel in recent months.However, according to military sources,
the move was carried out by the commander of the 769th “Hiram” Regional
Brigade, Col. Avi Marciano, but without receiving permission from the
head of the Northern Command or other senior officers.A small drone
operated by the brigade was used to drop the flyers, rather than the
Israeli Air Force, a military source said.Flyers are frequently dropped
in the Gaza Strip by the IDF as a way to call on civilians to evacuate
from certain areas and are used to seek information on hostages held in
the enclave. However, they have not been used in Lebanon to address
civilians during the past 11 months of fighting in the north.The flyer
incident came after a barrage of some 40 rockets was fired from Lebanon
at the Galilee Panhandle and Golan Heights on Sunday morning.Some of the
rockets were intercepted by air defenses, and the rest struck open
areas, sparking a number of fires. There were no injuries reported in
the attack.Hezbollah claimed the barrage, claiming that it had bombarded
an Israeli military base with dozens of Katyusha rockets in response to
recent IDF airstrikes in Lebanon, including an alleged drone strike on
Saturday on a motorcycle in the coastal village of Sarafand, south of
Sidon.Later in the day, the IDF said some 20 Hezbollah rocket launchers
and other infrastructure were struck by Israeli fighter jets in southern
Lebanon’s Jarma.The military said the launchers “posed an immediate
threat to Israeli civilians.”Meanwhile, two drones launched from Lebanon
impacted in the northern Golan Heights, lightly injuring several
soldiers.The IDF said the soldiers sustained minor injuries as a result
of the blast and were treated at the scene by military medics. None of
the soldiers required hospitalization.The IDF launched airstrikes deep
in Lebanon on Saturday, after the Hezbollah terror group bombarded
northern Israel with over 60 rockets, including a barrage launched in
the early morning hours.Also on Sunday, an explosive-laden drone
launched from Lebanon impacted near the northern border community of
Metula. No damage was caused to the town, and there were no
injuries.Meanwhile, the IDF said it carried out a drone strike overnight
in southern Lebanon’s Shebaa, targeting a cell of what it called terror
operatives.Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli
communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis,
with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war
there.So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the
Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 20 IDF soldiers and reservists.
There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any
injuries.Hezbollah has named 440 members who have been killed by Israel
during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria.
Another 78 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and
dozens of civilians have also been killed.
UAE vows it won’t
take part in Gaza’s ‘day after’ without Palestinian state-Hamas said to
tell ceasefire negotiators it will accept Israel remaining in
Philadelphi Corridor, on condition a date is set for when it would leave
and war ends completely-By ToI Staff and Agencies 15 September 2024,
9:20 am
The United Arab Emirates will not play any role in the
“day after” the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip unless a Palestinian state
is established, its Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed said
Saturday.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition
partners staunchly oppose creating a Palestinian state after the war in
Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian terror group
Hamas led a massive attack on southern Israel from the coastal
enclave.“The United Arab Emirates is not ready to support the day after
the war in Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state,” bin
Zayed posted to his X account.It is not the first time the UAE’s top
diplomat has set red lines over the country’s potential involvement in
Gaza. Bin Zayed in May denounced a suggestion by Netanyahu that Abu
Dhabi might assist local Palestinians in managing Gaza after the war.Bin
Zayed at the time tweeted a denunciation of Netanyahu’s proposal that
his country “participate in civil administration of the Gaza Strip,
which is under Israeli occupation.”“The UAE stresses that the Israeli
prime minister does not have any legal capacity to take this step, and
the state refuses to be drawn into any plan aimed at providing cover for
the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip,” he added.The war in Gaza
erupted when Hamas-led terrorists rampaged through southern Israel,
killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages to Gaza while
committing brutal atrocities. Vowing to destroy the terror group and
free the hostages, Israel launched a wide-scale military operation in
Gaza.Washington has repeatedly urged Israel to craft a realistic postwar
plan for Gaza and warned that failure to do so could trigger
lawlessness and chaos as well as a comeback by Hamas in the Palestinian
territory.Netanyahu has indicated he is considering options that revolve
around enabling groups unaffiliated with Hamas to manage areas of the
territory with the assistance of Arab states. However, after the prime
minister addressed Congress in July, a top US general said Israel has
not shared much of its “day after” planning with Washington.Palestinians
have previously said only an end to Israeli military rule and the
creation of a Palestinian state will bring peace.The US, Egypt, and
Qatar have been mediating talks for a potential three-phase ceasefire
deal that would include the release of hostages. However, the
negotiations have been held up with Israel and Hamas blaming each other
for adding demands to a framework promoted by the US at the end of
May.Netanyahu, for his part, has insisted that he would not agree to a
deal that required Israel to withdraw from the so-called Philadelphi
Corridor, which runs along the Gaza-Egypt border, citing the need to
prevent Hamas from smuggling in weapons under the boundary via
tunnels.Bin Zayed’s remarks came as Hamas was said to indicate it would
relinquish a demand that Israel pull out from the Egypt-Gaza border
during the initial stages of a proposed ceasefire deal, thereby removing
what is seen as a key obstacle to a deal.Whereas Hamas in the past had
demanded that a ceasefire deal include a complete Israeli withdrawal
from Gaza, Haaretz reported Saturday that senior officials in the terror
group recently told Palestinian factions in Gaza they would agree to
Israel maintaining a presence along the border on condition that the
deal specifies when it would eventually leave and includes a complete
end to the fighting.In addition, they said they would agree to similar
conditions for Israel to retain control of the strategic Netzarim
Corridor, which bisects Gaza east to west. Israel says it needs to
control the route during the phased ceasefire under discussion in order
to prevent Hamas from moving its fighters to different areas within
Gaza.The Hamas officials reportedly said they raised the arrangement
with Egyptian and Qatari negotiators.Unnamed senior Palestinian
officials who spoke with Hamas representatives in Qatar said that the
terror group believes Netanyahu has no interest in actually signing a
deal to end the war and pull out of Gaza and is prepared to drag out the
fighting until after the coming US presidential election in November,
according to the report.That assessment led Hamas to soften its stance
on the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors on condition that Israel
agrees to completely end the war.Netanyahu has recently stressed the
importance of controlling the Philadelphi Corridor, including during a
recent prime-time press conference when he insisted on the need for
Israeli troops to remain on the territory during the initial phase of
the proposed deal. Though vague about the later stages of the ceasefire,
Netanyahu was seen as indicating that Israeli forces would retain some
kind of presence along the corridor for the foreseeable future.Despite
his comments, reports say Israel has told the US it is prepared to
withdraw from the corridor under the right circumstances.On Saturday,
hundreds of thousands of Israelis gathered at locations across the
country to demonstrate against the government and call for a hostage
release-ceasefire deal.Demonstrations calling for a hostage deal have
taken place on a near-weekly basis following the October 7, 2023, Hamas
terror onslaught.The protests surged in numbers at the start of
September, following the recovery from a tunnel in southern Gaza of the
bodies of six hostages, who autopsies revealed had been shot by their
captors just days before Israeli soldiers reached them.
US, UK
concerned Russia may be assisting Iran with nuclear weapons program —
report-Concern grows after alleged shipment of ballistic missiles
delivered to Russia for use against Ukraine; Tehran dismisses impact of
Western sanctions, calling them a ‘failed tool’-By ToI Staff and
Agencies 15 September 2024, 5:40 am
The US and UK are concerned
that Russia has been helping Iran develop its nuclear weapons program in
exchange for the recent delivery of ballistic missiles it was provided
by Tehran for use in its war against Ukraine, according to a report
Saturday that cited sources familiar with the matter.The issue of
deepening ties between Russia and Iran was a matter of concern during
meetings between US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Keir
Starmer in Washington, DC, on Friday, as well as during talks between US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy
earlier in the week.According to the Guardian newspaper, however, the
two countries aren’t just focused on the ballistic missiles supplied to
Russia by Iran, but are also concerned about what Russia may provide in
return.Citing British sources familiar with the high-level talks last
week, the news outlet reported that the two countries believe Iran may
be working with experienced Russian specialists to streamline its
manufacturing process as it grows its stockpile of enriched uranium and
prepares to make its own nuclear weapons.Iran has pursued nuclear
enrichment just below weapons-grade level ever since the collapse of the
2015 nuclear deal with world powers following the US’s unilateral
withdrawal from the accord in 2018.Western powers say there is no
credible civilian reason for that, while Iran claims its aims are
entirely peaceful despite its officials warning recently that the
Islamic Republic could change its “nuclear doctrine” if it is attacked
or its existence is seen as threatened by Israel.In August, the United
Nations nuclear watchdog found that Iran had further increased its
stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade level. As of August
17, Iran had 64.7 kilograms (363.1 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60
percent, an increase of 22.6 kilograms (49.8 pounds) since the IAEA’s
last report in May.The country has continued to dismiss the impact that
Western sanctions are having on the country, including those recently
imposed by Britain, Germany and France due to the alleged arms exports
to Russia.Iran has repeatedly denied sending any weapons to Russia for
use in its war against Ukraine and vowed to respond to the latest in the
long string of Western sanctions, which Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas
Araghchi on Saturday dismissed as a “failed tool” to influence Tehran’s
politics.The state-owned news agency IRNA quoted Araghchi as saying:
“It’s surprising that Western countries still do not know that sanctions
are a failed tool and that they are unable to impose their agenda on
Iran through sanctions.”The top Iranian diplomat called sanctions “a
tool of pressure and a tool of confrontation, not a tool of
cooperation”.Araghchi added, according to IRNA, that Iran has “always
been open to negotiations” and “constructive dialogue” with other
countries.“But the dialogue should be based on mutual respect, not
threats and pressure,” he said.For its part, the foreign ministers of
the Group of the Seven condemned on Saturday “in the strongest terms,”
Iran’s export and Russia’s procurement of Iranian ballistic missiles.The
G7 is made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Great Britain,
and the United States.“Iran must immediately cease all support to
Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war against Ukraine and halt such
transfers of ballistic missiles, UAVs and related technology, which
constitute a direct threat to the Ukrainian people as well as European
and international security more broadly,” the ministers said in a
statement.Word of the alleged transfers emerged last weekend after the
US and its allies warned Iran for months not to deliver ballistic
missiles to Moscow.The move was decried as an “act of escalation” by
Germany, France and Britain, in a statement warning that the development
was “a direct threat to European security.”
PM said to warn
Israel faces ‘large-scale confrontation’ with Hezbollah in near
future-Gallant cautions that operation in Lebanon could harm chance of
freeing Gaza hostages, report claims; Hezbollah second-in-command says
war will cause ‘large losses on both sides’By ToI Staff and AFP 15
September 2024, 3:36 am
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was
said to have warned security chiefs during a strategic discussion on
Thursday that Israel was facing a “large-scale confrontation” with
Hezbollah in the north of the country, a possibility that he contended
would not diminish the military pressure on Hamas in Gaza.According to
Channel 13 news, Netanyahu believes that Israel is headed for an
inevitable all-out confrontation with Hezbollah, as a diplomatic
solution that could bring an end to the near-daily cross-border clashes
with the Lebanese terror group remains elusive.Citing an unnamed
Netanyahu associate, Channel 13 reported that no timeline had been
established for the expected confrontation, which has been promised by
top officials for months, and as such, it could be in weeks or months
from now.The assessment that the skirmishes with Hezbollah on the
northern border, which have led to the displacement of tens of thousands
of Israelis, would not be solved through a diplomatic solution was
shared by the security chiefs, the report stated, and as such it was
agreed that a military operation should be launched as soon as
international legitimacy and IDF manpower allowed for it.However,
Channel 13 reported security officials were concerned that a wider war
in the north could mean severely reducing manpower in Gaza, and so for
that reason, are hesitant to proceed with any actions that could
escalate the situation in the north any further.The Kan public
broadcaster reported on Saturday that Netanyahu believes a full-on war
in Lebanon wouldn’t diminish the IDF’s ability to place military
pressure on the Hamas terror group, but Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
was said to be less certain.According to the report, Gallant has
contended that while the IDF is indeed ready to take on a war against
Hezbollah, it would require a reduction of forces in Gaza and could harm
the chance of freeing the hostages, of whom 101 are believed to still
be captive in the Palestinian enclave.Nevertheless, Jerusalem is
readying to lobby countries to boost international legitimacy for a war
in Lebanon, Kan reported, and will work to persuade the US that
everything has been done to try and reach a diplomatic deal that could
avoid war, and that all attempts have failed.Washington is hoping to
delay full-blown war, however, until at least after the November 5
presidential elections, the report stated, adding that to that end,
Middle East envoy Amos Hochstein will soon present the progress that has
been made with Lebanon on efforts to avert a war — efforts which
Israeli and foreign sources were quoted as saying were insufficient to
resolve the current tensions and daily skirmishes.Meanwhile in Lebanon,
Hezbollah’s second-in-command warned on Saturday that by launching an
all-out-war, Israel would not only fail to return some 100,000 people to
their homes in areas near the Lebanon border, but would end up
displacing “hundreds of thousands” more.Naim Qassem, number two in the
Iran-backed Lebanese terror group, was responding to comments made by
Gallant last week, when the defense minister told Israeli troops that
the country was “preparing for anything that may happen in the north.”In
a speech in Beirut, Qassem claimed Hezbollah had “no intention of going
to war, as we consider that this would not be useful.”“However,” he
continued, “if Israel does unleash a war, we will face up to it — and
there will be large losses on both sides.”“If they think such a war
would allow the 100,000 displaced people to return home… we issue this
warning: prepare to deal with hundreds of thousands more displaced,” he
added.Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli
communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis,
with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war
against the Hamas terror group there.So far, the skirmishes have
resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the
deaths of 20 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several
attacks from Syria, without any injuries.Hezbollah has named 440 members
who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in
Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 78 operatives from other terror
groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been
killed.
Katz again accuses Borrell of antisemitism, trades jibes
with senior EU diplomat-FM accuses Borrell of acting in a way
‘reminiscent of history’s worst antisemites’ after being told not to
‘play with big words’ as the two spar over Palestinian state, Gaza
war-By ToI Staff and AFP 15 September 2024, 2:22 am
Foreign
Minister Israel Katz again accused European Union Foreign Policy Chief
Josep Borrell of “antisemitism” on Saturday, after the top diplomat
expressed outrage over Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip last
week, in which the UN said six of its staffers were killed.Borrell had
said on Thursday that he was “outraged” by the Israeli airstrike on a
Hamas command center inside a school-turned-shelter in the Nuseirat area
of central Gaza the day before, which rescuers said had killed 18
people, including six UN staffers. The IDF later named nine of those
killed as Hamas operatives, including three UNRWA staffers.In response,
Katz took to X on Saturday evening, charging that the senior EU official
“is an antisemite and Israel-hater who consistently tries to pass
resolutions and sanctions against Israel in the EU, only to be blocked
by most member states.”“There’s a difference between legitimate
criticism and policy disagreements, which are normal among friends, and
the anti-Semitic, hate-filled campaign Borrell is leading against
Israel,” Katz continued.Borrell, who said the Nuseirat strike showed a
“disregard of the basic principles” of international humanitarian law,
was behaving in a way “reminiscent of history’s worst anti-semites,” he
charged.Katz has repeatedly leveled accusations of antisemitism against
the European Union foreign policy chief, who has consistently spoken out
against perceived Israeli abuses in Gaza and the West Bank.The strikes
in Nuseirat on Wednesday flattened part of the UN-run Al-Jawni School on
Wednesday, leaving only a pile of charred rebar and concrete.Gaza’s
civil defense agency and the United Nations said at least 18 people,
among them women and children, were killed in the strike, while the IDF
said it had targeted Hamas operatives.UNRWA said six of its staff were
killed in two Israeli strikes on the school.It was the deadliest single
incident for the agency in more than 11 months of war and drew
international condemnation. UNRWA has said that at least 220 members of
its staff have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which was
triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October
7.On Friday, the agency for Palestinian refugees announced one of its
employees was killed during an Israeli raid in the West Bank, the first
such death in the territory in more than a decade.UNRWA has more than
30,000 employees in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere. The
organization has been in crisis since Israel accused a dozen of its
employees of being involved in the October 7 attack.The UN immediately
fired the implicated staff members, and a probe found some
“neutrality-related issues” but stressed Israel had not provided
evidence for its main allegations.Katz’s latest spat with Borrell came
on the heels of a meeting in Spain on Friday, in which officials from
several Muslim and European countries called for a clear schedule to
implement a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.After
the meeting, Katz blasted Borrell for taking part, writing on X that
the diplomat supported “establishing a Palestinian terror state
controlled by Iran, and the axis of evil against Israel, moderate Arab
states, and Europe.”“This is Borrell’s legacy – antisemitism and hatred
towards Israel,” he added.Borrell hit back against Katz’s accusation in
the wake of the meeting, saying that “accusing those who disagree with a
government’s position of antisemitism makes no sense.”“There have
unfortunately been examples in history of what it means to be
antisemitic, and I don’t think we should play with big words that have
had a tragic dimension in history,” Borrell added.
Salvage
operation underway for stricken Red Sea tanker hit by
Houthis-Greek-flagged Sounion was abandoned in August with 150,000 tons
of crude oil, sparking warnings of potential environmental disaster-By
Vassilis Terzakis and John Hadoulis 14 September 2024, 11:33 pm
ATHENS,
Greece (AFP) — An operation to tow an abandoned tanker struck by
Yemen’s Houthi rebels in August, threatening environmental disaster,
began Saturday and is ongoing, a Greek defense ministry source told
AFP.The Greek-flagged Sounion is being towed northwards under military
escort, the source said.The tanker was hit last month by Iran-backed
Houthis off the coast of Hodeida while carrying 150,000 tons of crude
oil.“(The tugboat) Aigaion Pelagos has begun to gradually tow the tanker
northwards, escorted by military vessels,” the defense source told AFP,
adding that the ships’ radars had been turned off for security
reasons.The official added that a rescue team had boarded the tanker and
attached tow cables, overcoming “adverse conditions.”Once the tanker is
safely out of the area, the source said that an update would be given
on the operation.Greek state news agency ANA said the tugboat was
escorted by three frigates, helicopters and a special forces team,
without disclosing the states of origin.A Greek fireship also stood
ready to lend assistance if required, ANA said.The tanker had been
anchored west of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, midway between
Yemen and Eritrea.The European Union’s Red Sea naval mission, Aspides,
said earlier Saturday that the salvage operation of the Sounion “is
essential in order to avert a potential environmental disaster in the
region.”“To achieve this, several public and private actors are working
together,” it added.Oil spill fears-The Sounion was hit by missiles off
the coast of Hodeida on August 21.After the initial strike, the Houthis
returned and detonated charges on the ship’s deck, setting off new
fires.Damage to the vessel had threatened a Red Sea oil spill four times
the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.The Sounion’s
crew — made up of 23 Filipinos and two Russians — was rescued the day
after the attack by a French frigate serving with the EU mission.The EU
naval force was formed in February to protect merchant vessels in the
Red Sea from attacks by the Houthis, who have waged a campaign against
international shipping that they say is intended to show solidarity with
Hamas in its war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.Since November, the
Houthi attacks have resulted in the sinkings of two ships and the deaths
of at least four crew members.The Houthis have been firing drones and
missiles at ships in the vital commercial route, saying they are
targeting vessels linked to Israel, the US and Britain.A salvage
operation had been attempted earlier this month, but Aspides at the time
had said that “the private companies responsible for the salvage
operation have concluded that the conditions were not met to conduct the
towing operation and that it was not safe to proceed.”On Friday, the
mission said it stood ready “to facilitate a new salvage operation in
the coming days.”The vessel was still on fire on September 12 but there
were no signs of an oil spill from the main cargo hold, Aspides said
Friday.
IDF orders evacuations in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya
after rocket attack on Israel-Airstrikes target Hamas operatives in Gaza
City school-turned-shelter and other buildings used for weapons
manufacturing; IDF says it killed 100 gunmen in Rafah in recent days-By
Emanuel Fabian-14 September 2024, 10:36 pm
The Israel Defense
Forces on Saturday called on Palestinians in parts of the northern Gaza
city of Beit Lahiya to evacuate, following rocket fire from the area
aimed at the southern coastal city of Ashkelon.Two rockets were launched
at Ashkelon earlier in the day, with one being intercepted and the
other impacting the sea.The IDF in recent months has repeatedly issued
evacuation orders for areas from which terrorists launched rockets at
Israel.Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman,
published a map on of the zones to be evacuated, saying “the specified
area has been warned many times in the past.”The area is “considered a
dangerous combat zone” following repeated rocket attacks on Israel,
Adraee said.Also on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City targeted
a group of Hamas operatives using a school-turned-shelter as a command
center, the IDF said.In a statement, the IDF said that the terror group
was using the Shuhada al-Zeitoun School, which has been serving as a
shelter for displaced Gazans, to plan and carry out attacks against
Israel and Israeli forces.The IDF added that it took steps to mitigate
civilian harm in the strike and noted that Hamas “systematically” uses
civilian sites for terror.First responders in Gaza reported five dead,
including two children and a woman, and several others wounded.The
bodies “were pulled from under the rubble after Israeli warplanes hit
the Shuhada al-Zeitoun school with two missiles,” said Mahmud Bassal,
spokesman for the Hamas-run civil defense agency.Israel says Hamas
regularly uses schools and other civilian sites for its operations.In a
separate airstrike Saturday, the IDF struck two buildings used by Hamas
in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, also close to a
school-turned-shelter, the military said.The military said the buildings
were used by Hamas operatives for various attacks and to manufacture
weapons.The IDF denied some Palestinian reports that the strike targeted
a fuel facility in the area, near the Dar al-Arqam School.Gaza’s
Hamas-run civil defense reported five dead in the strike.Meanwhile, the
IDF said Saturday that troops had killed more than 100 gunmen during
operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah’s Tel Sultan
neighborhood.Soldiers also located rocket launchers, weapons caches, and
other infrastructure belonging to Hamas, the military added.Agencies
and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Iran says
it launched satellite that West fears may advance ballistic missile
program-Tehran claims satellite built to ‘test hardware and software
systems for orbital maneuver technology validation’By Nasser Karimi and
Jon Gambrell 14 September 2024, 10:32 pm
TEHRAN (AP) — Iran
launched a satellite into space Saturday with a rocket built by the
country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media reported,
the latest for a program the West fears helps Tehran advance its
ballistic missile program.Iran described the launch as a success, which
would be the second such launch to put a satellite into orbit with the
rocket. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the launch’s
success.Footage later released by Iranian media showed the rocket blast
off from a mobile launcher. An Associated Press analysis of the video
and other imagery later released suggested the launch happened at the
Guard’s launch pad on the outskirts of the city of Shahroud, some 350
kilometers (215 miles) east of the capital, Tehran.The launch comes amid
heightened tensions gripping the wider Middle East over the ongoing
Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, during which Tehran launched an
unprecedented direct missile-and-drone attack on Israel in April.The
vast majority of the 300 rockets and drones were shot down by Israel and
a US-led coalition and the only casualty was a young girl in Israel who
was injured by shrapnel and later recovered.Meanwhile, Iran continues
to enrich uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels, raising concerns among
nonproliferation experts about Tehran’s program.Iran identified the
satellite-carrying rocket as the Qaem-100, which the Guard used in
January for another successful launch. Qaem means “upright” in Iran’s
Farsi language.The solid-fuel, three-stage rocket put the Chamran-1
satellite, weighing 60 kilograms (132 pounds), into a 550-kilometer
(340-mile) orbit, state media reported. The rocket bore a Quranic verse:
“That which is left by Allah is better for you, if you are believers.”A
state-owned subsidiary of Iran’s Defense Ministry and experts at the
Aerospace Research Institute built the satellite with others to “test
hardware and software systems for orbital maneuver technology
validation,” state media said without elaborating.Gen. Hossein Salami,
the head of the Guard, praised the launch in a statement and said
scientists successfully overcame “the atmosphere of extensive and
oppressive international sanctions.”The US State Department and the
American military did not immediately respond to requests for comment
over the Iranian launch.The United States had previously said Iran’s
satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on
Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of
delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic
missile program expired last October.Under Iran’s former president
Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic slowed its space program for fear
of raising tensions with the West. His successor, hard-line late
president Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei who came to power in 2021, pushed the program forward. Raisi
died in a helicopter crash in May.It’s unclear what Iran’s new
president, the reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, wants for the program, as he
was silent on the issue while campaigning.The US intelligence
community’s worldwide threat assessment this year said Iran’s
development of satellite launch vehicles “would shorten the timeline”
for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it
uses similar technology.Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used
to deliver nuclear weapons. Iran is now producing uranium close to
weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world
powers. Tehran has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear weapons
if it chooses to produce them, the head of the International Atomic
Energy Agency repeatedly has warned.Iran has always denied seeking
nuclear weapons and says its space program, like its nuclear activities,
is for purely civilian purposes. However, US intelligence agencies and
the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until
2003.The launch also came ahead of the second anniversary of the death
of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, which sparked nationwide protests against
Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, law and the country’s Shiite
theocracy.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Pope
decries children’s deaths in Gaza, deplores lack of progress toward
peace-Francis says IDF bombing of schools in Gaza under the
‘presumption’ of striking Hamas terrorists is ‘ugly’By Reuters and ToI
Staff 14 September 2024, 9:52 pm
Pope Francis on Friday decried
the deaths of Palestinian children in Israeli military strikes in Gaza,
calling bombings of schools, on the “presumption” of striking Hamas
terrorists, “ugly.”On a flight back to Rome from Singapore, the pontiff
expressed doubt that either Israel or Hamas, now at war for 11 months,
were seeking to end the conflict.“I am sorry to have to say this,” the
pope said. “But I do not think that they are taking steps to make
peace.”Francis was speaking in a press conference with journalists after
a demanding 12-day tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania. He said he
speaks on the phone with members of a Catholic parish in Gaza “every
day” and “they tell me ugly things, difficult things.”“Please, when you
see the bodies of killed children, when you see that, under the
presumption that some guerrillas are there, a school is bombed, this is
ugly,” the 87-year-old pontiff said. “It is ugly.”Israel says Gaza
terror groups regularly and systematically operate from within schools
and other civilian sites, using innocents as human shields with the
express purpose of increasing civilian casualties during the war. It
says it takes steps to ensure its strikes on such sites are precisely
targeting the combatants and to limit harm to civilians.The pope, who
has supported calls for a ceasefire in the conflict and for the release
of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, said: “Sometimes I think it’s a war
that is too much, too much.”The Israel-Hamas war was triggered by
Hamas’s attack on October 7, when the group’s terrorists murdered some
1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages, according to
Israeli tallies.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 40,000
people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the
fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not
differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed
some 17,000 combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside
Israel on October 7.The United Nations said on Thursday that the war has
left Gaza’s economy “in ruins.”The pope spoke about a range of other
issues during the 40-minute press conference. He criticized both former
US President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies and
said US Catholics would have to “choose the lesser evil” when they vote
in November, without elaborating.‘Happy’ with China deal-Francis also
said a Vatican deal with China over the appointment of Catholic bishops
in the communist country was showing good results, indicating it will
almost certainly be extended when it comes up for renewal this fall.The
pope said the results of the 2018 deal, in which China gets some input
into the selection of Catholic bishops, “are good.”“I am happy with the
dialogue with China,” said the pontiff. “We are working with good
will.”Conservative Catholics have sharply criticized the agreement as
handing over too much control to China. The Vatican says the accord
resolves a decades-long split between an underground church swearing
loyalty to the Vatican and the state-supervised Catholic Patriotic
Association.The deal has never been published, but only described by
diplomatic officials. The Vatican says the pope retains final
decision-making power in appointment of Chinese bishops.Paris,
Argentina, clergy abuse-The pope also firmly denied a French media
report that he would go to Paris in December for the reopening of Notre
Dame Cathedral.A small French outlet had reported the pope would go for
the cathedral’s planned December 8 reopening ceremony, five years after a
devastating fire. The pontiff also said on Friday he was still
considering whether to travel this year to Argentina, his home
country.“I would like to go,” said Francis, who is the first pope from
the Americas and before becoming pontiff served as the archbishop of
Buenos Aires. “But it is not yet decided. There are some things to
resolve first.”The pope said that if he did go to Argentina, he would
like to make a stop on the way from Rome in the Canary Islands, an
autonomous Spanish territory off the coast of northwestern Africa. It
has become an increasingly popular destination for migrants braving an
Atlantic crossing to try to reach Europe.Caring for migrants has been a
key theme of Francis’ 11-year papacy. He made his first visit as pope to
the Italian island of Lampedusa, also confronting an influx of
migrants.“There is a situation there with migrants, who are coming by
sea,” he said of the Canaries. “And I would like to be close to the
government and people.”Francis was also asked about Catholic clergy
sexual abuse, and the case of a French priest, known as Abbe Pierre, who
was long celebrated for his work with homeless people but was later
revealed to have been accused of sexually assaulting at least seven
women. He died in 2007.The organization Pierre founded, Emmaus,
disclosed an additional 17 testimonies against the late priest on
September 6.The pope said he did not know when the Vatican had first
become aware of the allegations. “Certainly, after his death, surely,”
said Francis. “But before, I don’t know.”
IDF strikes deep in
Lebanon after Hezbollah bombards Safed area with over 60 rockets-Terror
group claims attacks in response to previous IDF strikes in southern
Lebanon; Hezbollah weapon depots in northeastern Lebanon destroyed in
strikes-By Emanuel Fabian-14 September 2024, 3:01 pmUpdated at 11:28 pm
The
Israel Defense Forces launched airstrikes deep in Lebanon on Saturday,
after the Hezbollah terror group bombarded northern Israel with over 60
rockets, including a barrage launched in the early morning hours.The
rocket attacks marked the second day in a row that Hezbollah has
targeted the Safed area, though the terror group has claimed to have
targeted nearby Israeli military bases.Safed lies some 13 kilometers
(eight miles) from the border with Lebanon, and unlike many communities
nearer the frontier, the city of some 38,000 remains largely inhabited,
with attacks that deep into Israel relatively uncommon.In the first
attack at around 1 a.m., the Israel Defense Forces said a salvo of five
rockets was fired from Lebanon toward the Safed area. Sirens had sounded
in the northern city and several other towns.The IDF said air defenses
intercepted some of the five rockets and others hit open areas.Later in
the morning, two barrages were launched at the Safed area, the first
with 20 rockets and the second with some 35, the IDF said.The military
said that air defenses intercepted several of the rockets and others hit
open areas. Some of the impacts in open areas sparked fires.There were
no injuries in the attacks.In statements claiming the attacks, Hezbollah
said that it had launched barrages as revenge for Israeli strikes in
southern Lebanon on Friday, which the IDF said targeted sites used by
the terror group and its operatives.The Iran-backed group claimed to
have targeted military bases near the northern communities of Amiad and
Elifelet, south of Safed.Also early Saturday, the IDF said a drone
launched from Lebanon was intercepted by air defenses after sirens
sounded in the Western Galilee town of Gornot HaGalil.Later Saturday,
two drones launched from Lebanon impacted an area north of Kiryat
Shmona, the IDF said.There were no reports of injuries in the attacks,
also claimed by Hezbollah.A short while after the morning barrages, one
of the rocket launchers used in the attack was destroyed in a drone
strike, the military said. Another airstrike targeted a launcher used in
an overnight barrage.A separate strike hit a building used by Hezbollah
in southern Lebanon’s Kfar Roummane, the IDF added.Later in the day,
Israeli fighter jets struck a building in southern Lebanon’s Blida where
the IDF said it identified a group of Hezbollah operatives.Another
building used by Hezbollah in Blida was also hit, the military added.On
Saturday evening, the IDF said it carried out airstrikes deep in
Lebanon, targeting what it said were Hezbollah weapons depots in the
Beqaa Valley and Baalbek region.Some of the strikes were reported by
Lebanese media near the Syrian village of Hawsh al-Sayyid Ali, adjacent
to Lebanon’s Hermel District, some 140 kilometers (85 miles) from
Israel.Additional strikes targeted weapons depots and buildings used by
Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the IDF added.The military released
footage of the strikes.Earlier in the day, Lebanese media reported
casualties in an alleged Israeli drone strike on a motorcycle in the
coastal village of Sarafand, south of Sidon.There was no immediate
comment from the IDF on the strike.Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces
have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border
on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support
Gaza amid the war there.So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 26
civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 20 IDF
soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from
Syria, without any injuries.Hezbollah has named 440 members who have
been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon
but some also in Syria. Another 78 operatives from other terror groups, a
Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been killed.
Iraqi
and US forces kill top ISIS commander in joint operation-US Treasury
had offered $5 million for info on Abu Ali Al-Tunisi; several other
prominent members of terror group killed; troops seized weapons,
computers, phones,10 explosive belts-By Qassim Abdul-Zahra and BASSEM
MROUE 14 September 2024, 2:02 pm
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi forces and
American troops have killed a senior commander with the Islamic State
group who was wanted by the United States, as well as several other
prominent militants, Iraq’s military said on Friday.The operation in
Iraq’s western Anbar province began in late August, the Iraqi military
said, and also involved members of the Iraqi National Intelligence
Service and Iraq’s air force.Among the dead was an ISIS commander from
Tunisia, known as Abu Ali Al-Tunisi, for whom the US Treasury Department
had offered $5 million for information. Also killed was Ahmad Hamed
Zwein, the IS deputy commander in Iraq.Despite their defeat, attacks by
ISIS sleeper cells in Iraq and Syria have been on the rise over the past
years, with scores of people killed or wounded.Friday’s announcement
was not the first news of the operation.Two weeks ago, an official said
that the United States military and Iraq launched a joint raid targeting
suspected ISIS militants in the country’s western desert that killed at
least 15 people and left seven American troops hurt.Five of the
American troops were wounded in the raid itself, while two others
suffered injuries from falls during the operation. One who suffered a
fall was transported out of the region, while one of the wounded was
evacuated for further treatment, a US defense official said at the time,
speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation
that had not yet been made public.In Friday’s announcement, the Iraqi
military said the operation also confiscated weapons and computers,
smart phones and 10 explosive belts. It added that 14 ISIS commanders
were identified after DNA tests were conducted. It made no mention of
the 15th person killed and whether that person had also been
identified.The Islamic State group seized territory at the height of its
power and declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014
but was defeated in Iraq in 2017. In March 2019, the extremists lost
the last sliver of land they once controlled in eastern Syria.At its
peak, the group ruled an area half the size of the United Kingdom where
it enforced its extreme interpretation of Islam, which included attacks
on religious minority groups and harsh punishment of Muslims deemed to
be apostates.Despite their defeat, attacks by ISIS sleeper cells in Iraq
and Syria have been on the rise over the past years, killing and
wounding scores of people.The US military has not commented on the
August raid.Earlier Friday, the US Central Command said its forces
killed an ISIS attack cell member in a strike in eastern Syria. It added
that the individual was planting an improvised explosive device for a
planned attack against anti-ISIS coalition forces and their partners, an
apparent reference to Syria’s Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.In
August last year, the US had agreed to enter into talks to transition US
and anti-ISIS coalition forces from their long-standing role in
assisting Iraq in combating ISIS. There are approximately 2,500 US
troops in the country, and their departure will take into account the
security situation on the ground, and the capabilities of the Iraqi
armed forces.
Some Iranian women take off hijabs as anniversary
of Mahsa Amini’s death approaches-Defiance comes despite what UN calls
‘expanded repressive measures, policies’ by theocracy; one says her
‘quasi-courage’ is due to Amini: ‘We have to protect this as an
achievement’By Jon Gambrell 14 September 2024, 1:52 pm
DUBAI,
United Arab Emirates (AP) — On the streets of Iranian cities, it’s
becoming more common to see a woman passing by without a mandatory
headscarf, or hijab, as the second anniversary of the death of Mahsa
Amini and the mass protests it sparked approaches.There’s no government
official or study acknowledging the phenomenon, which began as Iran
entered its hot summer months and power cuts in its overburdened
electrical system became common. But across social media, videos of
people filming neighborhood streets or just talking about a normal day
in their life, women and girls can be seen walking past with their long
hair out over their shoulders, particularly after sunset.This defiance
comes despite what United Nations investigators describe as “expanded
repressive measures and policies” by Iran’s theocracy to punish them —
though there’s been no recent catalyzing event like Amini’s death to
galvanize demonstrators.The country’s new reformist President Masoud
Pezeshkian campaigned on a promise to halt the harassment of women by
morality police. But the country’s ultimate authority remains the
85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who in the past said
“unveiling is both religiously forbidden and politically forbidden.”For
some observant Muslim women, the head covering is a sign of piety before
God and modesty in front of men outside their families. In Iran, the
hijab — and the all-encompassing black chador worn by some — has long
been a political symbol as well.“Meaningful institutional changes and
accountability for gross human rights violations and crimes under
international law, and crimes against humanity, remains elusive for
victims and survivors, especially for women and children,” warned a UN
fact-finding mission on Iran on Friday.Amini, 22, died on September 16,
2022, in a hospital after her arrest by the country’s morality police
over allegedly not wearing her hijab to the liking of the authorities.
The protests that followed Amini’s death started first with the chant
“Women, Life, Freedom” However, the protesters’ cries soon grew into
open calls of revolt against Khamenei.A monthslong security crackdown
that followed killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000
detained.Today, passersby on the streets of Tehran, whether its tony
northern suburbs for the wealthy or the working-class neighborhoods of
the capital’s southern reaches, now routinely see women without the
hijab. It particularly starts at dusk, though even during the daylight
on weekends women can be seen with their hair uncovered at major
parks.Online videos — specifically a sub-genre showing walking tours of
city streets for those in rural areas or abroad who want to see life in
the bustling neighborhoods of Tehran — include women without the
hijab.Something that would have stopped a person in their tracks in the
decades following the 1979 Islamic Revolution now goes
unacknowledged.“My quasi-courage for not wearing scarves is a legacy of
Mahsa Amini and we have to protect this as an achievement,” said a
25-year-old student at Tehran Sharif University, who gave only her first
name Azadeh out of fear of reprisal. “She could be at my current age if
she did not pass away.”The disobedience still comes with risk. Months
after the protests halted, Iranian morality police returned to the
streets.There have been scattered videos of women and young girls being
roughed up by officers in the time since. In 2023, a teenage Iranian
girl was injured in a mysterious incident on Tehran’s Metro while not
wearing a headscarf and later died in hospital. In July, activists say
police opened fire on a woman fleeing a checkpoint in an attempt to
avoid her car being impounded for her not wearing the hijab.Meanwhile,
the government has targeted private businesses where women are seen
without their headscarves. Surveillance cameras search for women
uncovered in vehicles to find and impound their cars. The government has
gone as far as to use aerial drones to monitor the 2024 Tehran
International Book Fair and Kish Island for uncovered women, the UN
said.Yet some feel the election of Pezeshkian in July, after a
helicopter crash killed Iranian hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi in
May, is helping ease tensions over the hijab.“I think the current
peaceful environment is part of the status after Pezeshkian took
office,” said Hamid Zarrinjouei, a 38-year-old bookseller. “In some way,
Pezeshkian could convince powerful people that more restrictions do not
necessarily make women more faithful to the hijab.”On Wednesday, Iran’s
Prosecutor General Mohammad Movahedi Azad warned security forces about
starting physical altercations over the hijab.“We prosecuted violators,
and we will,” Movahedi Azad said, according to Iranian media. “Nobody
has right to have improper attitude even though an individual commits an
offense.”While the government isn’t directly addressing the increase in
women not wearing hijabs, there are other signs of a recognition the
political landscape has shifted. In August, authorities dismissed a
university teacher a day after he appeared on state television and
dismissively referred to Amini as having “croaked.”Meanwhile, the
pre-reform newspaper Ham Mihan reported in August on an unpublished
survey conducted under the supervision of Iran’s Ministry of Culture and
Islamic Guidance that found the hijab had become one of the most
important issues in the country — something it hadn’t seen
previously.“This issue has been on people’s minds more than ever
before,” sociologist Simin Kazemi told the newspaper.
IDF: UNRWA
staffer killed in West Bank raid was hurling explosives at troops-Army
accuses Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad of being a known terror operative in
the Fara’a camp, after the UN agency says he was ‘shot and killed on the
roof of his home by a sniper’ By Agencies and ToI Staff 14 September
2024, 4:38 am
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Friday
that one of its employees was killed this week during an Israeli raid in
the West Bank.UNRWA identified the slain employee as Sufyan Jaber Abed
Jawwad, who “worked as a sanitation laborer” in the northern West Bank’s
Fara’a camp and “is survived by his wife and five children.”According
to UNRWA, he was “shot and killed on the roof of his home by a sniper”
and that it was “the first time an UNRWA staff member has been killed in
the West Bank in more than 10 years.”The Israel Defense Forces later
said Jawwad was throwing explosives at troops in the camp and was a
known terror operative, issuing an English language statement accusing
the agency of “not telling the full story.”IDF spokesperson Nadav
Shoshani said that during an operation in Fara’a, a suspect was
identified hurling explosive devices that posed a threat to the forces
operating in the area. IDF troops opened fire toward him to remove said
threat, and he was killed.“The terrorist was subsequently identified and
it was discovered he is also an UNRWA employee named Sufyan Jaber Abed
Jawwad. It should be noted that after receiving his details, it was
found that the terrorist was known to Israeli security forces and he had
been complicit in additional terrorist activities,” Shoshani said.“This
is yet another example of an UNRWA employee taking active part in
terrorist activities against Israel, as has been proven in several other
cases in the past, including employees who participated in the October 7
massacre,” he said.In an earlier statement, the IDF said troops
“conducted a 48-hour counter-terrorism operation” in the areas of Tubas,
Tamun and Fara’a, killing “five armed terrorists” in an airstrike and a
sixth in “exchanges of fire” with “a terrorist that hurled explosive
devices.”Mourners on Friday carried Jawwad’s body through the streets of
Fara’a, with his blue UN vest resting atop the Palestinian flag that
covered him. Funerals for Palestinians killed in the airstrike were held
in nearby Tubas, with images showing gunmen among those in attendance —
including one wearing a Palestinian Islamic Jihad headband.The incident
came days after UNRWA said six of its staffers were killed in an
Israeli strike targeting a Hamas control center at a
school-turned-shelter in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, with the IDF later
saying three of them were members of the terror group.The UN denounced
Israel over the strike, saying the school had been “deconflicted” and
calling it the highest death toll among its team in a single
incident.The IDF said Hamas was using the school to plan and carry out
attacks against troops and Israel, and that it carried out “many steps”
to mitigate harm to civilians in the strike. The military also said that
it identified nine of the 18 people reported killed in the strike as
Hamas operatives, including the three UNRWA staffers.UNRWA head Philippe
Lazzarini said after the school strike that at least 220 members of the
agency’s staff have been killed in Gaza throughout the war sparked by
the Hamas-led October 7 massacres. Israel says Gaza terror groups
regularly and systematically operate from within such sites, using
civilians as human shields with the express purpose of increasing
civilian casualties during the war.UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all
aid into Gaza, has been in crisis since Israel accused dozens of its
employees of being involved in the October 7 attack.In January, UNRWA
said it had fired an unspecified number of staffers, after Israeli
authorities provided information that pointed to their active
participation in the onslaught.Earlier this month, the UN announced that
nine UNRWA employees “may have been involved” in Hamas’s October 7
attack on Israel and will be fired from the organization.The accusations
by Israel led numerous countries to suspend their funding to the
organization, but many have since renewed it, citing the difficult
humanitarian situation in the Strip.
UN-appointed experts accuse
Iran of stepping up repression of women-Independent fact-finding
missions particularly concerned by ‘apparent new pattern’ of sentencing
to death women activists who oppose hijab requirements-By AFP 13
September 2024, 9:08 pm
GENEVA, Switzerland — UN experts accused
Iran on Friday of “intensifying” its repression of women two years after
Mahsa Amini’s death in custody sparked nationwide protests, including
an apparent pattern of sentencing women activists to death.Amini, 22,
was an Iranian Kurdish woman who died three days after her arrest in
Tehran in September 2022 for allegedly breaching Iran’s dresscode which
requires women to wear a headscarf.Two years later, “Iran has
intensified its efforts to suppress the fundamental rights of women and
girls and crush remaining initiatives of women’s activism,” the
independent UN fact-finding mission on Iran warned in a statement.The UN
Human Rights Council appointed the experts to investigate the deadly
crackdown on nationwide protests that rocked Iran after Amini’s
death.“Although mass protests have subsided, the unabated defiance of
women and girls is a continuous reminder that they still live in a
system that relegates them to ‘second class citizens,'” said the
experts, who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.In a fresh
update, they said repression had stepped up noticeably since April.State
authorities had “increased repressive measures and policies” through
the so-called “Noor Plan,” which encourages sanctioning rights
violations against women and girls who flout the mandatory hijab, they
said.“Security forces have further escalated pre-existing patterns of
physical violence, including beating, kicking, and slapping women and
girls who are perceived as failing to comply with the mandatory hijab
laws and regulations,” according to the statement.They also warned that
state authorities have enhanced surveillance for hijab compliance,
including in private spheres like vehicles, and with a range of tools,
including drones.At the same time, a new “Hijab and Chastity” bill,
which is in the final stages of approval, provides for harsher penalties
for women who do not wear the mandatory hijab — including soaring
fines, long prison sentences, and travel bans.In their statement, the
experts express particular concern about “an apparent new pattern of
sentencing to death of women activists… following their convictions for
national security offenses.”“Over the last two years, the death penalty
and other domestic criminal law provisions, in particular those related
to national security, have been used as instruments to terrorize and
deter Iranians from protesting and expressing themselves freely,” they
said.
IDF finds under-construction tunnel in West Bank’s
Tulkarem-Tunnels are rare in the region, where the Israeli army operates
regularly to dismantle terror infrastructure-By Emanuel Fabian-13
September 2024, 7:33 pm
The Israel Defense Forces said Friday it
had located a short underground tunnel near a hospital in the West Bank
city of Tulkarem amid an ongoing counter-terrorism operation.The tunnel
had an entrance but no exit, the military said, indicating that it was
still under construction.The IDF said troops would investigate the
tunnel and then destroy it.While Hamas built a vast tunnel network under
the Gaza Strip, the dismantlement of which has been a key challenge of
the ongoing war there, tunnels are rare in the West Bank, where the IDF
regularly operates to demolish terror infrastructure.The military
resumed its major operation in the northern West Bank on Tuesday after a
lull of a few days. The operation, dubbed “Summer Camps,” was launched
on August 28.Since the operation resumed, the IDF says it has killed 10
gunmen in clashes and drone strikes.Also Friday, police released footage
showing members of the elite Yamam unit detaining a wanted Palestinian
in a hospital in the West Bank city of Halhul early Thursday.The
Palestinian suspect had been wounded in an attempted car bombing attack
in Halhul a month ago, police and the Shin Bet said.Police release
footage showing members of the elite Yamam unit detaining a wanted
Palestinian in a hospital in the West Bank city of Halhul early
Thursday. https://t.co/muZfV8SD2P pic.twitter.com/crmNsvbjtC— Emanuel
(Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) September 13, 2024-Since October 7,
troops have arrested some 5,000 wanted Palestinians across the West
Bank, including more than 2,000 affiliated with Hamas.According to the
PA health ministry, more than 670 West Bank Palestinians have been
killed in that time. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen
killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops or
terrorists carrying out attacks.During the same period, 33 people,
including Israeli security personnel, have been killed in terror attacks
in Israel and the West Bank. Another six members of the security forces
were killed in clashes with terror operatives in the West Bank.Times of
Israel staff and Agencies contributed to this report.
Man shot
dead in Arab city of Tira, motive looks criminal-Police arrest teen
suspect in deadly Ramle blast; 500 cops conduct raids-After 4 killed and
9 injured, residents of Ramle say violence in the city is ‘unbearable;’
local councilman says police unmotivated when it comes to Arab victims
of crime-By ToI Staff 13 September 2024, 4:05 pm
Police on Friday
arrested a 17-year-old on suspicion of involvement in the previous
day’s blast and fire in the central city of Ramle that killed four
people and wounded nine others.Authorities said the attack is believed
to be linked to criminal activity in the city, and was not being
investigated as a terrorist attack.Police said the teen, a resident of
Ramle, was detained following both overt and covert investigations.
Other details of the probe remain under a police gag order.Some 500
police officers carried out raids early Friday morning in the cities of
Ramle and Lod as well as in the unrecognized Arab village of Dahmash in
connection to the deadly car blast on Thursday.The police forces were
joined by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who vowed on
Friday that the police were “going to war” after years of turning a
blind eye to organized crime in the Arab community. Ben Gvir has been
accused by critics of neglecting Arab crime since entering office and
shelving a plan by the previous government to tackle deadly killings in
the community.A preliminary investigation into the deadly vehicle blast
on Thursday, which sparked a fire that spread to two nearby stores,
indicated that it was the result of a grenade stolen from the Israel
Defense Forces and possessed by someone already known to police, Channel
12 reported on Friday.The attack is thought by police to have been tied
to an ongoing dispute between the Jarushi and Abu Zaid crime families,
and the car and nearby stores are believed to be connected to the
Jarushis, according to reports in Hebrew media.The four victims killed
in the explosion were identified by Hebrew media as Daa Abu Halawa, 50,
and her two children Sila, 14, and Muhammad, 10, as well as Leen
Mugrabi, age 24.Mugrabi’s two-month-old son was critically wounded in
the attack and doctors said on Friday that his injuries remained
life-threatening. The Kan public broadcaster said the attack had
targeted Mugrabi, who was the daughter-in-law of Kamal Jarushi, head of
the crime family.Police said Friday they had seized weapons during the
early morning raids, including one Glock handgun. Several people were
arrested on suspicion of possessing illegal weapons, but most were later
released due to a lack of evidence against them, the Kan public
broadcaster reported.Police also arrested dozens of West Bank
Palestinians who were in Israel without a permit, they said.Elsewhere in
Israel, a man in his 40s was shot dead Friday in the central Arab city
of Tira, in an incident that police said also had an apparent criminal
motive.Paramedics said they discovered the man lying unconscious on the
road, and pronounced him dead at the scene.On Friday morning, several
Ramle residents wrote to Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, telling him
they felt “deep frustration and harsh disappointment in your management
of matters related to our personal security.”“In the last few weeks, our
city has become a playground for criminal gangs that threaten
residents’ safety, Jews and Arabs alike, with unfathomable cruelty,”
they wrote, according to Channel 12.“The situation in the city today is
unbearable. How can it be that residents of a city in the heart of the
State of Israel are forced to live in constant fear?”Ben Gvir entered
office as security minister in late 2022 vowing to crack down on Arab
community crime, but homicides have continued unabated, with 109 members
of the Arab community killed in violent crimes in the first half of
2024, according to the Abraham Initiatives nonprofit.Many Arab Israeli
community leaders have accused police of failing to crack down on
powerful criminal organizations and largely ignoring the violence, which
includes family feuds, mafia turf wars and violence against
women.Speaking at the scene of the attack on Thursday, Ben Gvir laid the
blame on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, for refusing his request
to use powers of administrative detention against criminal suspects.The
practice — which is used to hold Palestinian and Jewish terror suspects
without trial for extended periods of time — is highly controversial,
and the notion of using it to fight crime has been met with pushback
from security officials.“If we could go tonight and arrest all the crime
families, all the criminals, it would change the situation,” Ben Gvir
said. “We know exactly who they are, we have lists of them, which we
presented to the attorney general a year ago and six months ago — it’s
the same people.”In an interview with Kan news on Friday, Rais Abu
Sayyaf, a member of the Ramle city council, accused police of
indifference when the victims of crime are Arab, and took issue with
claims that locals don’t cooperate with investigations.“There are no
police in Ramle, there’s chaos. And some of them try to say that Arabs
don’t cooperate. It’s not true. All the information to get to an arrest
is there. But there’s a lack of motivation,” he said.“The job of the
police is to protect my life and yours. You see patrol cars and police
officers, but the moment it’s Arabs [who are victimized], there’s no
motivation. Otherwise, how do you explain that last year there were 246
murders?”
North Korea offers first glimpse into secretive uranium
enrichment site-During tour of facility, Kim Jong Un urges workers to
produce more materials for tactical nuclear weapons, says it is vital
for confronting threats from the US and allies-By Hyunsu Yim and Josh
Smith 13 September 2024, 2:30 pm
SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) —
North Korea for the first time showed images of the centrifuges that
produce fuel for its nuclear bombs on Friday, as leader Kim Jong Un
visited a uranium enrichment facility and called for more weapons-grade
material to boost the arsenal.The state media report on Kim’s visit to
the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a production base for weapon-grade
nuclear materials was accompanied by the first photos of the
centrifuges, providing a rare look inside North Korea’s nuclear program,
which is banned under multiple United Nations Security Council
resolutions.The photos showed Kim walking between long rows of metal
centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium. The report did not make
clear when the visit occurred or the facility’s location.Kim urged
workers to produce more materials for tactical nuclear weapons, saying
the country’s nuclear arsenal is vital for confronting threats from the
United States and its allies.The weapons are needed for “self-defense
and the capability for a preemptive attack,” he said.The North Korean
leader said “anti-DPRK nuclear threats” from the “US imperialists-led
vassal forces” have crossed the red line, according to the report.South
Korea condemned North Korea’s unveiling of its uranium enrichment
facility and will never accept Pyongyang’s possession of nuclear
weapons, the South’s unification ministry said.North Korea is believed
to have several sites for enriching uranium. Analysts say commercial
satellite imagery has shown construction in recent years at the main
Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, including its uranium
enrichment plant, suggesting possible expansion.Uranium is a radioactive
element that exists naturally. To make nuclear fuel, raw uranium
undergoes processes that result in a material with an increased
concentration of the isotope uranium-235.International Atomic Energy
Agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday that the U.N. nuclear watchdog
had observed activity consistent with the operation of a reactor and
the reported centrifuge enrichment facility at Yongbyon.New
centrifuges-Kim stressed the need to boost the number of centrifuges so
as to “exponentially increase” North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, and expand
the use of a new type of centrifuge to strengthen the production of
weapon-grade nuclear materials.The centrifuges seen in the photos appear
smaller and shorter than the types previously believed to be used by
North Korea, suggesting it had developed its own centrifuges to enhance
separation capabilities, said Lee Sang-kyu, a nuclear engineering expert
at South Korea’s Korea Institute for Defense Analysis.The photos also
confirmed that the North is using a cascade system where large numbers
of centrifuges are interconnected to achieve highly enriched uranium, he
added.The new type of centrifuge shows North Korea is advancing its
fuel cycle capabilities, said Ankit Panda of the US-based Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace.“Kim also appears to suggest that
North Korean tactical nuclear weapons designs may primarily rely on
uranium for their cores,” he said.This is notable because North Korea is
more able to scale up its highly enriched uranium stockpiles, Panda
said, compared to the more complicated process for plutonium.‘Increasing
arsenals’North Korea invited some foreign scientists to view a
centrifuge facility at Yongbyon in 2010, but Jenny Town of the US-based
Stimson Center said Friday’s report is the first and only photographs of
the equipment.“It shows how advanced their enrichment capability has
become, which gives greater credibility to both their ability and
commitment to increasing their nuclear weapons arsenals,” she said.It
could also be meant to influence the US election and send a message to
the next administration that denuclearisation is no longer possible and
it should recognize North Korea as a nuclear state, said Hong Min, a
senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification in
Seoul.North Korea has previously shown photos of what it says were
nuclear warheads. It has conducted six underground nuclear tests between
2006 and 2017.Estimates of the number of North Korean nuclear weapons
varies widely. In July a report by the Federation of American Scientists
concluded that the country may have produced enough fissile material to
build up to 90 nuclear warheads, but that it has likely assembled
closer to 50.Kim also oversaw the test launch of a new 600mm
multiple-launch rocket system on Thursday and visited an army training
base on Wednesday, according to separate KCNA reports.
Breaking
silence again, Hamas head Sinwar thanks Hezbollah chief for attacks on
north-In second missive in days, terror leader tells Nasrallah group
will keep fighting Israel until it is gone, praises Iran-backed
‘resistance axis’ as heart of Palestinian unity-By ToI Staff 13
September 2024, 2:06 pm
Hamas head Yahya Sinwar thanked the
leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon for its
support in fighting against Israel, marking the second statement issued
by the mastermind behind the October 7 attack following a long period of
silence after being appointed leader of the Gazan group.In the message
to Hassan Nasrallah, published by Hezbollah’s media arm, Sinwar praises
the Iran-led “axis of resistance” of armed groups in the Middle East
which have repeatedly attacked Israel since October 7, calling it the
“heart” of Palestinian efforts to destroy Israel.The letter, dated
Monday, came in response to a condolence message set by Nasrallah
following the assassination of Hamas politburo head Ismail Haniyeh in
Tehran on July 31.The Gaza-based Sinwar, who is in hiding amid a massive
Israeli manhunt for him, was appointed shortly afterward as Haniyeh’s
successor, bringing both the terror group’s military wing and its
politburo under his control.Hamas did not immediately comment on the
letter, and Hamas-affiliated media initially appeared to wait before
reporting on the missive.His letter to Nasrallah referred to attacks on
Israel by Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies as “blessed acts” and
called the war in Gaza, sparked by the massacre of some 1,200 people in
Israel and kidnapping of over 250, “one of the most honorable battles
for the Palestinian people.”Sinwar vowed that Hamas will remain loyal to
Haniyeh’s positions, indicating he will push ahead with the apparent
tightening of ties between Hamas and Tehran under the former terror
group head.“[Hamas] and its fighters will continue to follow [Haniyeh’s
positions], foremost of which is Palestinian unity on the choice of
jihad and resistance, and the unity of the nation, with the axis of
resistance at its heart,” he wrote.The message vowed that Hamas would
remain dedicated to its cause “until the occupation is defeated and
swept away from our land, and the establishment of our independent,
fully sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
The message is
the second public statement made by the terror chief in recent days,
after Hamas on Tuesday published a statement in which he congratulated
Algeria’s incumbent President Abdelmadjid Tebboune as the winner of a
disputed election.In that message, Sinwar similarly stressed Tebboune’s
support for the Palestinians and said “the Palestinian people and their
resistance” were fighting “heroically,” while lashing out at “the
occupation” for its “barbarity.”Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding in
the tunnels under the Gaza Strip, has issued few public statements since
the October 7 terror onslaught in southern Israel.Thought to be
Israel’s top target as it seeks to dismantle Hamas, the terror chief has
evaded capture, despite extensive efforts by both Israel and the US.In
August, the outgoing commander of the IDF’s 98th Division revealed to
Channel 12 news that the military had been “minutes away” from capturing
him, describing how troops had found his deserted compound while “the
coffee was still hot.”Nasrallah, also thought to be a possible Israeli
assassination target, has remained largely underground for over a
decade, appearing almost exclusively via video feed since Israel and
Hezbollah fought in 2006.Despite rumors of a rift between the terror
groups due to a lack of coordination around the October 7 attack,
Hezbollah has supported Hamas by firing rockets and drones at northern
Israel almost daily since October 8, diverting some of the military’s
attention away from Gaza.So far, skirmishes on the northern border have
resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the
deaths of 20 IDF soldiers and reservists.There have also been several
attacks from Syria, without any injuries. Hezbollah has named 438
members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes,
mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 78 operatives from
other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have
also been killed.Iran-backed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have also
staged repeated attacks on Israel, as well as against US troops
stationed in the region.The war in Gaza broke out on October 7 following
an unprecedented surprise attack by Hamas in which terrorists rampaged
through southern Israel murdering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians,
and taking 251 hostages. The attack was widely believed to have been
engineered by Sinwar, who was released from Israeli prison as part of a
2011 prisoner exchange for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.In response to the
attack, Israel launched a ground invasion of Gaza with the proclaimed
objective of dismantling Hamas and getting the hostages back.The
Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 40,000 people in the Strip
have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though
the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians
and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in
battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.Israel
has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that
Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian
areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.Israel’s toll in
the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations
along the border with the Strip stands at 344.
US blames
Iran-linked groups for Tuesday attack on Iraq diplomatic compound-US
embassy reports no casualties in blast, which occurred ahead of Iranian
president’s visit to Iraq; military official says explosion was caused
by ‘two Katyusha-type rockets’-By AFP 13 September 2024, 1:02 pm
The
US embassy in Iraq on Friday blamed Iran-linked groups for an attack
this week on a US diplomatic compound at Baghdad airport, warning it
retained “the right to self-defense.”The embassy said in a statement
there were “no reported casualties” in the attack Tuesday, which it said
“was initiated by Iran-aligned militia groups which operate freely in
Iraq.”It called on Iraq to protect US personnel and facilities.The
compound, located within the airport perimeter but attached to the US
embassy, provides logistical support and medical services, among other
things.The attack occurred amid rising regional tensions over the
Israel-Hamas war, and shortly ahead of a visit by Iranian President
Masoud Pezeshkian to Iraq.In its statement, the US embassy said Iraq had
“repeatedly committed to protect diplomatic missions” and US military
personnel in the country “at the government of Iraq’s invitation.”“We
again call on the government of Iraq, as we have done on many occasions,
to protect diplomatic and coalition partner personnel and facilities,”
it added.“We reiterate that we reserve the right to self-defense and to
protect our personnel anywhere in the world.”A senior military official,
speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Wednesday that “two
Katyusha-type rockets” had caused the explosion.The continued presence
of US troops in Iraq remains a concern for Iran.Since the Hamas terror
group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel last year, which started an
ongoing war, Iraqi militias allied with Iran have repeatedly targeted US
forces in Iraq, leading to American airstrikes targeting the
militias.Iraqi politicians continue to debate the issue of whether to
back having American troops remain in the country.AP and Times of Israel
staff contributed to this report.
Hezbollah drone hits Galilee
after overnight barrage on Safed sparked forest fire-IDF says majority
of projectiles intercepted, remainder fell in open areas; Iran-backed
terror group claims attack was revenge for Israeli strike in southern
Lebanon a day earlier-By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff 13 September 2024,
9:23 am
The Hezbollah terror group fired some 20 rockets toward
the northern city of Safed early Friday morning, sparking a large blaze
in a nearby forest and causing minor damage to a building in another
community, authorities said.No injuries were reported in the attack
claimed by the Lebanese group, which said it had targeted a military
installation in revenge for a deadly strike in southern Lebanon a day
earlier.The Israel Defense Forces said some 20 rockets were fired toward
Safed at around 1 a.m., setting off alarms in the city and surrounding
Upper Galilee towns.The majority of rockets were intercepted, the IDF
said in a statement, and the remainder fell in uninhabited areas.Sirens
in nearby areas were activated over fears of falling shrapnel from Iron
Dome interceptor missiles.No injuries were reported in the early morning
barrage, the IDF said. However, the rocket fire sparked a blaze in the
Birya Forest, north of Safed, according to authorities.Firefighting
crews were dispatched to the scene and eventually managed to get the
blaze under control, the Israel Fire and Rescue Services said shortly
before 7 a.m.A rocket fragment also caused minor damage to a building in
the nearby community of Dalton, the Kan public broadcaster said,
publishing a photo of a small hole punched through a structure.Safed
lies some 13 kilometers (eight miles) from the border with Lebanon, and
unlike many communities nearer the frontier, the city of some 38,000
remains largely inhabited, with attacks that deep into Israel relatively
uncommon.In its statement claiming the attack, Hezbollah said that it
had launched the barrage as revenge for what it said was an Israeli
strike in the village of Kfarjouz on Thursday. The Iran-backed group
claimed to have targeted a key air defense site north of Safed.Sirens
again sounded in Safed and nearby communities on Friday, warning of a
drone attack. Footage posted to social media showed a Hezbollah drone
flying over the area.The IDF said the drone launched impacted an
unspecified area in the Upper Galilee. “The target did not fall in any
towns in the area,” the military clarified.A Hezbollah drone is seen
over northern Israel as sirens sound in Safed and several nearby
communities. pic.twitter.com/RXJ9mDWm9I— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian
(@manniefabian) September 13, 2024-Separately, two rockets were launched
from Lebanon at the Misgav Am area on Friday. Both were intercepted by
air defenses, the IDF said.Another rocket launched from Lebanon at Snir
struck an open area.No injuries were caused in the attacks.The last
several days have seen cross-border fire appear to intensify somewhat,
with Hezbollah launching around 100 rockets into Israel on Wednesday and
dozens more on Thursday.The Lebanese health ministry said on Thursday
that three people were killed and three others injured in a strike on
the village, located some 10 kilometers from the border with
Israel.Speaking to AFP, a source close to Hezbollah confirmed that at
least one of those killed was a member of the Iran-backed terror
group.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the strike “targeted
two motorcycles on the Nabatieh-Kfarjouz road,” adding that a passing
car was also hit.The Lebanese health ministry said an “Israeli enemy
strike” hit the village of Kfarjouz near Nabatieh, around 10 kilometers
(six miles) from the border with Israel.The IDF said it struck several
Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon over the course of Thursday,
including buildings in Aitaroun, Marimin, Chihne and Maroum al-Ras. It
also said it destroyed rocket launchers in Zibquin and Majdal Zoun,
including one used in previous attacks on Israel.Since October 8,
Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military
posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it
is doing so to support Gaza amid the war there.So far, the skirmishes
have resulted in 26 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the
deaths of 20 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several
attacks from Syria, without any injuries.Hezbollah has named 438 members
who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in
Lebanon but some also in Syria. Another 78 operatives from other terror
groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have also been
killed.Agencies contributed to this report.
NYC Council to vote
on recognizing anniversary of first Jewish arrivals in city-Bill aims to
mark little-known Landing Day, marking date of 1654 arrival of first
Jews in then-New Amsterdam, and ‘celebrate the continuing importance of
the Jewish community’-By julia GERGELY 12 September 2024, 9:51 pm
New
York Jewish Week — Three hundred and seventy years ago this week, a
group of 23 Sephardic Jews arrived on the shores of New York — then
called New Amsterdam — and created the first organized Jewish community
in the city.What a difference a few centuries make: Today, New York City
is home to the largest Jewish population of any city in the world.On
Thursday, the City Council will vote on a resolution to both, turning
Landing Day from an event marked by a few Jewish leaders into an
official date on the city’s calendar. The resolution says it aims to
“commemorate the arrival of the first Jewish community in New Amsterdam
in 1654 and to celebrate the continuing importance of the Jewish
community in the City of New York.”Landing Day has been commemorated in
the city several times throughout history, most recently last year at a
ceremony to recognize the 369th anniversary of the community.That event
was held at the Jewish Tercentenary Monument at Peter Minuit Plaza in
Battery Park, erected by the State of New York in 1954. The small
memorial includes a flagpole adorned with a plaque that explains its
purpose is “to honor the memory of the twenty three men, women and
children who landed in September 1654 and founded the first Jewish
community in North America.”Still, Landing Day — and the existence of
this early New York Jewish community — is not widely known among Jews or
New Yorkers, which is one of the reasons that Gale Brewer, who
represents the Upper West Side on the City Council, sponsored the bill
to give it the city’s sign-off.“When the City Council passes something
like this, it’s official,” Brewer told The New York Jewish Week. “It
goes into the city record and becomes part of the city’s history. It’s
not a holiday, per se, but it is recognized, and it gives it
legitimacy.”The resolution was spearheaded by Howard Teich, the founding
chair of the Manhattan Jewish Historical Initiative, who organized last
year’s commemoration and partnered with Brewer to bring the resolution
before the City Council.“We just have to change the narrative of the
community right now,” Teich said about the ceremony last year, adding
that he felt Jewish communal discourse was too often focused on fear and
division. “We’ve got to spread a positive message of who we are, what
we’ve accomplished, how we’ve worked with other people, what we’ve
started, the difference we’ve made in the time we’ve been here, and,
really, what America has meant to us as a people.”If the resolution
passes, the city will recognize Landing Day every year throughout the
second week of September. While the exact day the Jews landed in New
York is not known, records indicate it occurred during the week before
Rosh Hashanah, which that year was on September 12, 1654.That year,
nearly two dozen Sephardic Jews arrived in New York after fleeing
persecution in Recife, Brazil, which had recently been colonized by the
Portuguese. Three Ashkenazi Jews — Jacob Barsimson, Solomon Pietersen,
and Asser Levy — had arrived from Europe weeks earlier and helped
advocate for the group to stay in New York when Peter Stuyvesant, the
Dutch director-general of New Amsterdam, rejected the new refugees
because he wanted to establish a colony solely for Dutch Reformed
Christians.With urging from the Dutch West India Company — which, at the
time, operated heavily in what was known as New Netherland, and which
had many Jewish investors — Stuyvesant was overruled and the group
remained.They went on to establish the first Jewish congregation in the
United States, the Mill Street Synagogue. The congregation was later
renamed Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese
Synagogue, and moved uptown to West 70th Street in 1897.The resolution
has 22 sponsors in the City Council, including Eric Dinowitz, the
chairman of the City Council’s Jewish Caucus, as well as fellow caucus
members Lincoln Restler, Inna Vernikov, Julie Menin, and Lynn Schulman
and several non-Jewish City Council members.Brewer first introduced the
resolution in May. On Tuesday, the Committee on Cultural Affairs,
Libraries and International Intergroup Relations signed off. It now
moves to a council-wide vote.“Three hundred and seventy years later,
there are more than a million Jews in New York City — more than any
other city worldwide — and it kind of started with this group,” Brewer
said.
NKorea's Kim calls for boosting nuclear might-by AFP Staff Writers.
Seoul
(AFP) Sept 12, 2024-North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a nuclear
facility and called for boosting the country's nuclear capabilities in
the face of growing threats from Washington and its allies, state media
reported Friday.The report comes a day after North Korea fired multiple
short-range ballistic missiles into waters east of the Korean peninsula,
Seoul's military said, the nuclear-armed country's first major weapons
test since early July.Kim inspected the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a
production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials, the government news
agency KCNA reported.As he toured the facility, Kim "encouraged the
nuclear scientists faithful to the Party to unconditionally implement
the Party's policy of building up nuclear force without an inch of
deflection with their strong faith and high practical ability," KCNA
said.Noting that nuclear threats from the United States and its allies
"have become more undisguised and crossed the red line," Kim said North
Korea must "steadily expand and bolster up its defence capability... and
the capability for a preemptive attack with the nuclear force as a
pivot."Kim's regime has staged dozens of launches this year, part of a
testing spree experts say could be linked to North Korea's alleged
illicit supplying of weapons to ally Russia for use in Ukraine.Pyongyang
has denied any sanctions-busting weapons trade with Russia, but with
diplomacy long stalled, it declared South Korea its "principal enemy"
this year and recently moved nuclear-capable weapons to border
areas.Seoul's Joint Chief of Staff said it had detected multiple
"short-range ballistic missiles" fired early Thursday from Pyongyang
into the East Sea, or Sea of Japan.The missiles splashed down after
flying around 360 kilometres (220 miles), the JCS said, adding it had
"immediately detected, tracked, and monitored" the launch and was
sharing information with allies Tokyo and Washington.It said the test
was "a clear provocation that seriously threatens peace and stability on
the Korean Peninsula".Japan's defence ministry also confirmed the
missile test.In an apparent reference to that test, KCNA reported Friday
that Kim "oversaw the test-fire for verifying the performance of a
new-type 600mm multiple rocket launcher."The shells "hit the target on
an island in the East Sea," according to KCNA."The test was conducted,
aiming at further developing the launcher's driving system and verifying
the combat effectiveness of the launcher in which the whole process of
firepower is fully automated," it added.
North Korea releases images of uranium enrichment facility for first time.
Seoul
(AFP) Sept 13, 2024 - North Korea released images of its uranium
enrichment facility for the first time on Friday, showing leader Kim
Jong Un touring it as he called for more centrifuges to boost his
nuclear arsenal.The country, which conducted its first nuclear test in
2006 and is under rafts of UN sanctions for its banned weapons
programmes, has never publicly disclosed details of its uranium
enrichment facility.Such facilities produce highly enriched uranium --
which is needed to produce nuclear warheads -- by spinning the original
material in centrifuges at high speeds.Kim toured the Nuclear Weapons
Institute and the "production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials,"
the official Korean Central News Agency reported, without giving the
location of the facility or the date of the visit.Kim "stressed the need
to further augment the number of centrifuges in order to exponentially
increase the nuclear weapons for self-defence," state media reported,
publishing images of Kim inspecting rows of centrifuges.Kim "acquainted
himself with the production of nuclear warheads and current nuclear
materials," the report said.The North Korean leader was briefed about
the facility "dynamically producing nuclear materials by studying,
developing and introducing all the system elements including centrifugal
separators," KCNA said.Kim urged the facility to "push forward the
introduction of a new-type centrifuge... so as to further strengthen the
foundation for producing weapon-grade nuclear materials".Kim also
"stressed the need to set a higher long-term goal in producing nuclear
materials necessary", added KCNA.North Korea's nuclear weapons
programmes are banned by UN sanctions, but the country has long flouted
the restrictions, thanks in part to support from allies Russia and
China.- Message for US? -Experts said the sudden public disclosure of
the North's uranium enrichment facility could be intended to impact the
US presidential election in November.The images are "a message to the
next administration that it will be impossible to denuclearise North
Korea", Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National
Unification, told AFP."It is also a message demanding other countries to
acknowledge North Korea as a nuclear state," he added.It is unlikely
that the disclosure will be quickly followed by another nuclear test, he
said.Pyongyang last month said a record downpour in late July had
killed an unspecified number of people, flooded dwellings and submerged
swathes of farmland in its northern regions near China.38 North, a North
Korean analysis programme run by the Stimson Centre think-tank,
reported on Wednesday that North Korea's main nuclear test site had been
damaged by floodwaters.North Korea's main nuclear test site "is in very
bad condition. All roads and railways have been lost due to rain
damage, and the ground is very weakened," Hong added.Relations between
North and South Korea are at one of their lowest points in years, with
the North recently announcing the deployment of 250 ballistic missile
launchers to its southern border.The North has also been bombarding the
South with trash-carrying balloons, including a five-day straight blitz
last week.On Thursday, Seoul said the North had fired multiple short
range ballistic missiles into waters east of the Korean peninsula.But
KCNA said in a separate dispatch Friday that this had been a test of a
"new-type 600mm multiple rocket launcher" which was overseen by Kim.
Humans not AI should control nuclear weapons: Seoul summit-by AFP Staff Writers.
Seoul
(AFP) Sept 10, 2024-Humans not artificial intelligence should make the
key decisions on using nuclear weapons, a global summit on AI in the
military domain agreed Tuesday, in a non-binding declaration.Officials
at the Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) summit in Seoul,
which involved nearly 100 countries including the United States, China
and Ukraine, adopted the "Blueprint for Action" after two days of
talks.The agreement -- which is not legally binding, and was not signed
by China -- said it was essential to "maintain human control and
involvement for all actions... concerning nuclear weapons employment".It
added that AI capabilities in the military domain "must be applied in
accordance with applicable national and international law"."AI
applications should be ethical and human-centric."The Chinese embassy in
Seoul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Militarily,
AI is already used for reconnaissance, surveillance as well as analysis
and in the future could be used to pick targets autonomously.Russia was
not invited to the summit due to its invasion of Ukraine.The declaration
did not outline what sanctions or other punishment would ensue in case
of violations.The declaration acknowledged there was a long way to go
for states to keep pace with the development of AI in the military
domain, noting they "need to engage in further discussions... for clear
policies and procedures".The Seoul summit, co-hosted by Britain, the
Netherlands, Singapore, and Kenya, follows the inaugural event held in
The Hague in February last year.It bills itself as the "most
comprehensive and inclusive platform for AI in the military domain".
Long-range arms would put NATO at 'war with Russia' warns Putin; as Biden, Starmer discuss new rules-by AFP Staff Writers.
Moscow
(AFP) Sept 12, 2024-Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that
the West letting Kyiv use longer-range weapons to strike Russian
targets would mean NATO would be "at war" with Russia.Putin spoke as US
and UK top diplomats discussed easing rules on firing Western weapons
into Russia, which Kyiv has been pressing for, more than two and a half
years into Moscow's offensive."This would in a significant way change
the very nature of the conflict," Putin told a state television
reporter."It would mean that NATO countries, the US, European countries,
are at war with Russia," he added."If that's the case, then taking into
account the change of nature of the conflict, we will take the
appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face."Clearing
Kyiv to strike deep into Russia "is a decision on whether NATO countries
are directly involved in the military conflict or not".Putin's comments
came as Kyiv pressed the West to provide more powerful weapons with
fewer restrictions, as Russia continues its advance into eastern
Ukraine.Biden, Starmer to discuss long-range arms for Ukraine-Washington
(AFP) Sept 13, 2024 - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President
Joe Biden will discuss Friday whether to let Kyiv use long-range
missiles against Russia, in what is likely their last meeting before an
election that could upend US policy on Ukraine.Kyiv is pushing
Washington and London to lift a restriction on firing arms made by those
countries, with Russian President Vladimir Putin warning that giving
Ukraine the green light would mean NATO was "at war" with Moscow.British
media reported that Biden, who is wary of provoking a nuclear conflict,
was ready to let Ukraine deploy British and French missiles using US
technology but not US-made missiles themselves.The talks come at a time
when Biden is on his way out of office and November's US election is a
toss-up between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.Trump
repeatedly refused to take sides on the war during a debate with Harris
on Tuesday, saying only: "I want the war to stop."Starmer is set to
meet Biden in the Oval Office at 4:30 pm (2030 GMT) but has no scheduled
meetings at this stage with Trump or Harris, both of whom will be on
the campaign trail on Friday."These are strategic meetings to discuss
Ukraine and to discuss the Middle East, and so it'll be at that level of
strategic discussion that we'll be involved in tomorrow with the
president," Starmer said Thursday.His visit -- his second to Washington
since his Labour party stormed to victory in July after 14 years -- is
also aimed at papering over differences on the war in Gaza.Starmer's
government last week announced restrictions on some weapons to Israel,
voicing concern that they could be used to violate international
humanitarian law.The White House has declined to criticize Britain's
decision, but Politico reported that Washington had asked London what it
would take to change its decision -- with the answer being a ceasefire
in Gaza.- 'War with Russia' -But Ukraine will be the main focus, amid
mounting concerns over Ukraine's losses on the battlefield more than
two-and-a-half years into the war.Biden said on Tuesday that he was
"working" on Ukraine's demands, while top US and British diplomats
Antony Blinken and David Lammy made a rare joint visit to Kyiv on
Wednesday.Blinken promised that Washington would now quickly review
Kyiv's long-standing request and would "adjust, we'll adapt as
necessary" to help Ukraine defend itself.Washington currently authorizes
Ukraine to only hit Russian targets in the occupied parts of Ukraine
and some in Russian border regions directly related to Moscow's combat
operations.But Putin, who has rattled the saber of nuclear conflict
since the start of his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, warned the
United States and United Kingdom against such a move."This would in a
significant way change the very nature of the conflict. It would mean
that NATO countries, the US, European countries, are at war with
Russia," he said on Thursday.Biden has strongly supported Ukraine since
Russia's invasion to the tune of billions of dollars in aid as well as
political capital at home.But he has been risk averse about stepping up
to new kinds of weaponry deliveries -- with Ukraine having to wait until
this year to get F-16 jets.The looming US election means the clock is
ticking, with Kyiv in particular eyeing a Trump presidency with
trepidation.Trump has long been lukewarm on supporting Kyiv, and has
frequently praised Putin.In his debate with Harris on Tuesday, he
pledged to get an agreement to end the war "before I even become
president" -- a deal many Ukrainians fear would force them to accept
Russia's territorial gains.Vice President Harris has in contrast pledged
to keep up staunch support for Ukraine if elected.
N. Korea pledges deeper ties with Russia as security chief visits-by AFP Staff Writers.
Seoul
(AFP) Sept 14, 2024-North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to deepen
ties with Russia as he held talks with visiting security chief Sergei
Shoigu, state media reported Saturday.Western powers have accused
cash-strapped North Korea of selling ammunition to Russia in defiance of
sanctions over the more than 30-month war in Ukraine.North Korea has
recently bolstered military ties with Russia, with President Vladimir
Putin making a rare visit to Pyongyang in June, where he signed a mutual
defence agreement with Kim.Pictures in North Korean state media showed
Kim and Shoigu hugging and smiling at the end of their visit, with the
North Korean leader "wishing the respected President Vladimir
Vladimirovich Putin good health and success in his work".The pair were
described as having had "constructive" talks in "a friendly and
trustworthy, warm atmosphere".The exact location of their meeting was
not disclosed, but experts suspect it was the Kumsusan Guest Palace in
Pyongyang, which has hosted both Putin and Chinese President Xi
Jinping."There was a wide exchange of views on the issues of steadily
deepening the strategic dialogue between the two countries and
strengthening cooperation to defend the mutual security interests and on
the regional and international situation," North Korean state media
said.Kim "affirmed that the DPRK government would further expand
cooperation and collaboration" with Russia based on the treaty they
signed in June, it added, using the country's official name.Russia's
security council said on its website that Shoigu's meeting with Kim will
"make an important contribution to the implementation" of the defence
pact.Shoigu heads Russia's Security Council after stepping down as
defence minister in May.He last met with Kim in July 2023, during a
celebration in Pyongyang for the 70th anniversary of the 1953 Korean War
armistice.Their latest meeting comes two days after North Korea fired
multiple short-range ballistic missiles into waters east of the Korean
peninsula. Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the testing spree was
possibly of weapons meant "for export to Russia".On Friday, North Korea
released images of its uranium enrichment facility for the first time,
and Kim stressed "the need to further augment the number of centrifuges
in order to exponentially increase the nuclear weapons for
self-defence".The United States and South Korea have accused North Korea
of supplying ammunition and missiles for Russia's war effort, a claim
Pyongyang has called "absurd".A Conflict Armament Research report this
week used debris analysis to show "that missiles produced this year in
North Korea are being used in Ukraine".Russia, a historical ally of
North Korea, is one of a handful of nations with which Pyongyang
maintains friendly relations. Ties have warmed since the 2022 start of
the Ukraine war ruptured Russia's relations with the West.
Russian UN envoy redoubles warning on new missiles for Kyiv.
United
Nations, United States, Sept 13 (AFP) Sep 13, 2024-Russia's UN
ambassador issued a stern warning Friday to Western powers thinking of
allowing Kyiv to use long-range missiles, saying it would plunge NATO
into "direct war with... a nuclear power."Kyiv has been pleading with
its allies to lift restrictions and allow it to strike what it calls
"legitimate" military targets deep in Russian territory, like the air
bases used by Russian planes in their relentless bombardment of
Ukraine.The comments by Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia came hours before
President Joe Biden was to meet with visiting British Prime Minister
Keir Starmer.Some reports say the US leader is poised to endorse Kyiv's
use of long-range British missiles against Russian military targets."If
the decision to lift restrictions is really taken," Nebenzia warned
fellow members of the UN Security Council, "that will mean that from
that moment, NATO countries are conducting direct war with Russia."In
this case, we will have to, as you understand, take the relevant
decisions, with all the consequences of all this that the Western
aggressors would incur."He thus underscored a warning Thursday from
President Vladimir Putin, who told state television that the use of
long-range missiles against Russia would mean NATO was "at war" with
Moscow.Use of the missiles, Nebenzia said, would mean that "NATO will be
a direct party to hostilities against a nuclear power; I think you
shouldn't forget about this and think about the consequences."US
officials responded by again accusing Russia of receiving ballistic
missiles from Iran.Russia this month received hundreds of such missiles
from Iran, said US ambassador Robert Wood, adding that the transfer
"represents a dramatic escalation and a highly destabilizing
development, one that is likely to increase the suffering for the
Ukrainian people."He accused North Korea of delivering missiles and
munitions to Russia, and said China had provided Moscow with weapons
components."It is clear there is an urgent need to help Ukraine defend
itself from missile strikes, attacks which undermine the principles of
the UN Charter and threaten international peace and security," Wood
said.
Polish FM sees limit on influencing Iran after Russia missiles transfer.by AFP Staff Writers.
Warsaw
(AFP) Sept 12, 2024-Poland's foreign minister conceded Thursday that
there were limits on how to influence Iran, already under heavy
sanctions, after Tehran allegedly shipped short-range missiles to Russia
to attack Ukraine.Western powers this week imposed new sanctions
targeting Iran's aviation sector, including state carrier Iran Air, and
Ukraine warned it may cut off relations with Tehran."The trouble for
Poland is that Iran is already under such severe sanctions that there is
not that much more that we can do," Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski
said when asked if Poland, a staunch backer of Ukraine, would also sever
ties.He was speaking at a joint news conference with US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken, who on Tuesday said that Russia could start firing
the Iranian missiles into Ukraine within weeks.Western powers had
warned Iran against the move, and Sikorski noted that it came shortly
after Iranians elected President Masoud Pezeshkian, seen as a reformist
within the cleric-run state."I'm disappointed, because we have a new
president of Iran. He's supposedly not as aggressive as the previous
butcher of Tehran," Sikorski said."But the policy of sending missiles
and drones to use against Ukraine and also using similar equipment
against Israel seems to be continuing."Poland enjoys a long history with
Iran, which took in thousands of Polish civilians during World War
II.But as a close US ally, it has joined pressure campaigns against
Iran, including agreeing to host a 2019 conference encouraged by then
president Donald Trump that pressured Tehran.
WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
The
King of Jerusalem[1] was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem,
the Crusader state founded by Christian princes in 1099 when the First
Crusade took the city.Godfrey of Bouillon, the first ruler of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem, himself refused the title of king, and instead
chose the title "Defender of the Holy Sepulchre". Thus, the title of
king was only introduced for his successor, King Baldwin I in 1100. The
city of Jerusalem was lost in 1187, but the Kingdom of Jerusalem
survived (also known as the "Second Kingdom of Jerusalem"), moving its
capital to Acre in 1191. The city of Jerusalem was re-captured in the
Sixth Crusade, during 1229–39 and 1241–44. The Kingdom of Jerusalem was
finally dissolved with the fall of Acre and the end of the Crusades in
the Holy Land in 1291.After the Crusader States ceased to exist, the
title of King of Jerusalem was claimed by a number of European noble
houses descended from the kings of Cyprus or the kings of Naples. The
(purely ceremonial) title of King of Jerusalem is currently used by
Felipe VI of Spain. It was claimed by Otto von Habsburg as Habsburg
pretender, and by the kings of Italy until 1946.
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week:(7 YEARS) and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not
escape.
ISAIAH 33:8
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring
man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised
the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS
HIMSELF GOD)
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
GENESIS 25:20-26
20 And
Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+)
when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of
Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21 And Isaac intreated
the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was
intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22 And the
children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her;
and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went
to enquire of the LORD.
23
And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner
of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and
the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER
THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE
YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE
OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26
And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's
heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was
threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE
THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2
TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN
CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS
JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15
Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell
are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through,
it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under
falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord
GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a
precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not
make haste.17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to
the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the
waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with
death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be
trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall
take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by
night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
DANIEL 8:23-25
23
And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are
come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and
understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And
his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and
he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall
destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy
also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify
himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also
stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken
without hand.DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to
his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself
above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of
gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that
that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God
of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of
women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38
But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY
GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold,
and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus
shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA
MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and
increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY
LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of
the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR
PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall
come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and
with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall
overflow and pass over.
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, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,
and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
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)
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)(50% OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
DR SAMUEL DOCTORIANS VISION - SECOND ANGEL: MIDDLE EAST
Then
I saw that the second angel had a sickle in his hand, such as is used
in harvesting.The second angel said: "Harvest time has come in Israel
and the countries all the way to Iran."I saw those countries in a few
split seconds."All of Turkey and those [inaudible] countries that have
refused me and refused my message of love shall hate each other and kill
one another."I saw the angel raise the sickle and come down on all the
Middle East countries. I saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of
Georgia - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor - full
of blood. I saw blood all over these countries. And I saw fire; Nuclear
weapons used in many of those countries. Smoke rising from everywhere.
Sudden destruction – men destroying one another. I heard these
words:"Israel, Oh Israel, the great judgment has come." The angel said,
"The chosen, the church, the remnant, shall be purified. The Spirit of
God shall prepare the children of God."I saw fires rising to heaven.The
angel said: "This is the final judgment. My church shall be purified,
protected and ready for the final day. Men will die from thirst. Water
shall be scarce all over the Middle East. Rivers shall dry up, and men
will fight for water in those countries."The angel showed me that the
United Nations shall be broken in pieces because of the crisis in the
Middle East. There shall be no more United Nations. The angel with the
sickle shall reap the harvest.
DANIEL CHAPTER 9:24-27 EXPLAINED.
24
Seventy weeks (70X7=490 YEARS) are determined upon thy people (ISRAEL)
and upon thy holy city,(JERUSALEM) to finish the transgression, and to
make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to
bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.(JESUS ANNOINTED WITH HOLY OIL AS
KING OF JERUSALEM FOREVER).
25 Know therefore and understand, that
from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build
Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, (7X7=49
YEARS) and threescore and two weeks:(62X7=434 YEARS) the street shall be
built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.(490-49-434=7 YR
PERIOD WERE GOD DEALS WITH ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM (NOT THE CHURCH-THE TRUE
CHURCH IS IS IN HEAVEN WITH JESUS FOR THAT LAST 7 YEAR PERIOD.)(DANIEL
9:26-27 IS IN THE FUTURE WHEN GOD DEALS ON EARTH WITH ISRAEL AND
JERUSALEM FOR THAT FINAL 7 TEAR PERIOD. WHEN ALL OF ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED
BY MESSIAH JESUS.)(AT THE END OF IT)
26 And after threescore and two
weeks (69X7=483 YEARS)(ONE 7 YEAR PERIOD UNTIL PROPHECY IS FULFILLED)
shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the
prince (ROMANS) that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary;(2ND TEMPLE AND JERUSALEM) and the end thereof shall be with a
flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(NOW THE
FINAL ISRAEL-JERUSALEM COUNTDOWN FOR MESSIAH JESUS RETURN THE LAST 7
YEARS)
27 And he (HE WHO? HE HERE IS THE REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE LEADER
THAT MAKES THE FINAL 7 YR CONTRACT WITH ISRAEL AND MANY MUSLIM COUNTRIES
FOR A 7 YR PERIOD, AND THE EU WILL GUARENTEE ISRAELS SECURITY FOR THIS
LAST PERIOD) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: (7
YEARS) and in the midst of the week (3 1/2 YEARS IN) he shall cause the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease, (THIS FALSE MESSIAH OR ROMAN LEADER
STOPS THE ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN THE 3RD TEMPLE AT THE MIDPOINT OF THE 7
YR DEAL. A JEW MURDERS HIM WITH A SWORD WOUND AND HE HAS A FALSE
RESSURECTION-SATAN INCARNATES IN HIS BODY. AND BRINGS HIM BACK TO
LIFE.AND HE THEN SITS IN THE 3RD TEMPLE CALLING HIMSELF GOD AS THE WORLD
SAYS HES JESUS REINCARNATED. AND BY THIS FALSE RESURRECTION GOD SENDS
THIS STRONG DELUTION ON THE EARTH THAT ALL THE LOST WILL WORSHIP THIS
ROMAN LEADER AS GOD AND ACCEPT HIS NAME, NUMBER OR NUMBER OF HIS NAME IN
THEIR MICROCHIP IMPLANT. THAT THEY MIGHT BE DOOMED, DAMNED TO THE LAKE
OF FIRE FOREVER. WHO WORSHIPS THIS ROMAN LEADER AS GOD.) and for the
overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the
consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the
desolate.(WARS NON STOP DURING THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS OF THE 7 YEAR
PERIOD. HAMAS DEATH CULT HOSTAGE RELEASE.
Ministers from
European, Muslim countries meet in Madrid to talk Palestinian
statehood-Spanish FM Albares says two-state solution ‘only way’ to
ensure peace in region; claims he’d be ‘delighted’ if Israel took part
in such discussions, despite it not being invited-By AFP and ToI Staff
13 September 2024, 8:01 pm
MADRID, Spain — Ministers from Muslim
and European countries, along with the European Union’s foreign affairs
chief, gathered Friday in Madrid to discuss advancing a two-state
solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.“Together, we want to
identify the concrete actions that will enable us to make progress
toward this objective,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on
X.“The international community must take a decisive step toward a just
and lasting peace in the Middle East,” he added.Sanchez welcomed
participants at his official residence before the start of the meeting
at the foreign ministry in central Madrid, hosted by his top diplomat
Jose Manuel Albares.In attendance were Palestinian Authority Prime
Minister Mohammad Mustafa and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — all members of the Arab-Islamic Contact
Group for Gaza — as well as the heads of the Arab League and the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation.In addition to Spain, the European
Union was represented by its foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell and the
foreign ministers of Ireland, Norway and Slovenia.Hoy celebramos en
Madrid una reunión de países europeos con el Grupo de Contacto
árabe-islámico para abordar conjuntamente la solución de los dos
Estados.Juntos queremos identificar acciones concretas que nos permitan
avanzar en ese objetivo.La comunidad internacional debe…
pic.twitter.com/pJI4dcms46— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) September
13, 2024“The implementation of the two-state solution is the only way to
ensure a just and lasting peace in the region through the peaceful and
secure coexistence of the state of Palestine and the state of Israel,”
Albares told a news conference.Asked about Israel’s absence from the
meeting, he said the country had not been invited because it belonged
“neither to the group of Europeans nor to the Arab-Islamic contact
group” but stressed he would be “delighted” if Israel took part in
discussions on the two-state solution.Calls for a solution have grown
since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which began with Hamas’s October 7
attack on Israel, which saw terrorists kill some 1,200 people, mostly
civilians, and kidnap 251. It is believed that 97 hostages remain in
Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the Israel
Defense Forces.In Israel, however, the appetite for peace talks has
markedly decreased, with leaders in Jerusalem seeing intensified efforts
to see the formation of a Palestinian state in the wake of the Hamas
atrocities as a prize for terror.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says
more than 40,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed
dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does
not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has
killed some 17,000 combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists
inside Israel on October 7.Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian
fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human
shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals,
schools and mosques.Sanchez has been one of the staunchest critics in
Europe of Israel’s Gaza offensive since the start of the conflict.Under
his watch, Spain on May 28 along with Ireland and Norway formally
recognized a Palestinian state comprising the Gaza Strip and the West
Bank.Earlier this month he announced that the first “bilateral summit
between Spain and Palestine” would be held before the end of the year.
He said he expected “several collaboration agreements between the two
states” to be signed.Israel criticized the move to unilaterally
recognize a Palestinian state, saying it served as a reward for the
October 7 massacre.
Analysis-Four years on, Abraham Accords are
strained by Gaza war — but prove resilient-The visibility of ties with
Bahrain, Morocco and the UAE has changed since Hamas’s attacks on
October 7, but Israel’s newest Arab partners remain committed to
strategic choice-By Lazar Berman-Today, 11:02 pm-SEP 15,24
When
the Bahraini and Emirati foreign ministers stood proudly on either side
of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump to
sign the Abraham Accords four years ago, all four men — and their
governments — imagined an era of steadily expanding ties between Israel
and the Arab world.“We’re here this afternoon to change the course of
history,” Trump beamed from a balcony overlooking the South Lawn. “After
decades of division and conflict, we mark the dawn of a new Middle
East.”Netanyahu said the new peace momentum could end the Arab-Israeli
conflict “once and for all.”UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed
predicted that the accord’s “reverberations will be reflected on the
entire region.”“For too long, the Middle East has been set back by
conflict and mistrust, causing untold destruction” and thwarting hopes
of the region’s “youngest and brightest,” lamented Bahrain’s Foreign
Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani. “Now I am convinced we can change
that.”But as the men were waxing poetic about the new era that the
accords were about to usher in, events back in Israel foreshadowed how
elusive that future would be.Sirens sounded in southern Israel as
rockets were fired out of Gaza. “The normalization agreements between
Bahrain, the UAE and the Zionist entity are not worth the paper they
were written on,” a spokesman for Hamas said. “Our people insist on
continuing its struggle until it secures the return of all its
rights.”Almost no one outside of Hamas understood at the time how
determined the terror group was to expand the fight against Israel.
After Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel on October 7, and the
subsequent Israeli operation to conquer Gaza and topple Hamas, it is
clear to all the players who were at the White House four years ago, as
well as the rest of the world, that the peace agreements could not
prevent Iranian-backed terror groups from dragging Israel back into
war.On the fourth anniversary of the Abraham Accords — which were
followed by normalization between Israel and Morocco — it is clear that
the nature of Jerusalem’s ties with its newest Arab partners has changed
as a result of the war.At the same time, while 11 months of war between
Israel and Hamas have put significant strain on the accords, there are
also reasons for optimism about the durability of Israel’s relationships
with the Arab world.A strategic decision-Officials familiar with topic
don’t deny the tension the war against Hamas has placed on its relations
with the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco.“Naturally, the war creates a very
significant test in relations, and creates some tension with countries
that have peace agreements,” one official told The Times of Israel last
week.Since the war started, the only overt visits by senior Israeli
officials were made by President Isaac Herzog and Finance Minister Nir
Barkat. Both were in the UAE to take part in international events, not
in a bilateral capacity.New cooperation agreements, signed in highly
publicized ceremonies before the war, have also been suspended.At the
same time, officials emphasize that despite the “very low glass ceiling”
the war has placed on the relationships, one fact is undeniable — the
accords are here to stay.“Despite the tensions, the understanding is
that there is a clear ratification of the path from all of the partners,
and that the strategic choice of peace and cooperation is the correct
choice,” an official involved in the Abraham Accords told The Times of
Israel.“The UAE has taken a strategic decision, and strategic decisions
are long term,” Emirati presidential adviser Anwar Gargash, a UAE
presidential diplomatic adviser said in January, at the height of the
IDF ground operation in the Gaza Strip.“There is no doubt that any
strategic decision will face multiple obstacles, and we’re facing a
major obstacle that must be dealt with.”Despite regular criticism of
Israeli policies in Gaza and on the Temple Mount in official statements
from its Arab partners, Jordan is the only one to officially recall its
ambassador from Israel during the war. The Moroccan, Bahraini and
Emirati envoys have avoided public events and the media, but regularly
fly between the countries to continue their work behind the scenes.The
foreign ministries of all three countries declined to comment on the
anniversary of the accords.Notably, despite the change in the tenor of
the ties, Israel’s bilateral trade has grown significantly with all
three countries. Compared to the same period in 2023, bilateral trade
with Bahrain in the first seven months of 2024 was up over 900%, with
the UAE 4% and with Morocco 56%, according to the Abraham Accords Peace
Institute.Though reduced, direct flights continue from Morocco and the
UAE to Israel.The war has also opened up new opportunities for the UAE,
which has historically had a strained relationship with the
Palestinians, to say the least.In May 2020, the Palestinian Authority
refused to accept medical aid from the UAE after it arrived on the first
known direct commercial flight between Israel and Abu Dhabi, PA sources
told multiple Arab media outlets. Palestinian media quoted a government
source saying the aid had been rejected, explaining Ramallah was
refusing to be used as a “tool for normalization” between Israel and the
UAE.In April, a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
and a group of Arab counterparts in Riyadh deteriorated into a shouting
match between the UAE foreign minister and a senior Palestinian
official. Bin Zayed said during the meeting that there was no real
reform in the Palestinian Authority, accused the Palestinian leadership
of being “Ali Baba and the 40 thieves” and said all of the PA leadership
is “useless.”Despite the tension with the PA and Abu Dhabi, the UAE has
used its trust with Israel and Egypt to become a leader in aid to the
Gaza Strip, and has shown an interest in being a decisive player in
rebuilding the war-torn territory, though with conditions like a pathway
to a Palestinian state.The Emiratis are deeply involved in all aspects
of aid to Gaza, including desalination plants, aid convoys, airdrops and
field hospitals. Think tanks in the UAE have also begun discussing the
country’s role in post-war Gaza.There are several reasons for the UAE to
display a newfound and intense interest in Gaza and the Palestinian
theater. There is an economic benefit to be had from the assistance that
will flow to the Strip when fighting ends. Taking the lead on
reconstruction is also a sign of the UAE’s regional leadership. And,
perhaps most importantly, it allows the Emirati rulers to show to the
public the benefit to the Palestinians that their ties with Israel
bring.Reasons to worry-Despite the reasons for long-term optimism, there
are warning signs.Even before the war, the Abraham Accords were
becoming less popular on the streets of Israel’s new allies.Washington
Institute polling showed 45% of Bahrainis holding very or somewhat
positive views of the agreements in November 2020. That support had
steadily eroded to a paltry 20% by March 2022.The trend is the same in
the UAE. The 49% of the country that disapproved of the Abraham Accords
in 2020 has grown to over two-thirds as of August 2022. And only 31% of
Moroccans favored normalization at that time, according to Arab
Barometer.Moreover, much of the trade is not truly bilateral. Israel’s
Central Bureau of Statistics counts cargo from China and India that is
transferred at Dubai’s Jebel Ali port to ships heading for Israel as
bilateral trade with the UAE, explained Moran Zaga, an expert on the
Gulf region at Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign
Policies.And the preexisting diamond trade also makes up a slice of the
total.Emiratis are avoiding Israelis and business opportunities with
Israelis, said Joshua Krasna, director of the Center for Emerging Energy
Politics in the Middle East. “Why take the risk these days?” he
asked.“Businesses seem to be holding back, for reputational — afraid of
criticism and boycotts — and personal reasons,” Krasna continued. “Some
of the big anticipated deals have been abandoned or not come to
fruition. And the people-to-people relationship seems to be
frozen.”While Emiratis will not criticize government policy, said
Krasna, “they as individuals sympathize with the Palestinian suffering
and are not enthusiastic about deepening ties to Israel at this
time.”Moreover, the drastic change in the visibility of ties started
well before Hamas’s attacks: “Things changed with the current
government,” Zaga argued.Though the UAE signed the Abraham Accords with
Netanyahu, it blocked a formal visit by the premier in 2021, as it did
not want to be seen as interfering in domestic Israeli politics ahead of
an election.Ties moved ahead rapidly during the Naftali Bennett-Yair
Lapid government, with both leaders visiting Israel’s three newest Arab
allies. Lapid hosted their foreign ministers at the Negev Forum and
agreements across a range of fields were signed.When Netanyahu and his
right-wing allies came to power in late 2022, ties changed noticeably.
The Negev Forum was not repeated, and high-level visits dried up. No
senior Bahrani, Emirati or Moroccan officials visited Israel.Netanyahu
was due to visit the UAE shortly after returning to office as his first
state visit, but the trip was canceled after National Security Minister
Itamar Ben Gvir’s visit to the Temple Mount holy site in Jerusalem,
which Abu Dhabi denounced as a “storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque
courtyard.”Comments from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich about the
Palestinian people being an “invention” and a call to “wipe out” a West
Bank town brought condemnation from the Gulf Cooperation Council, which
includes the UAE and Bahrain.Ambassadors from Israel’s Gulf allies
stayed away from an iftar dinner hosted by the Foreign Ministry in April
2023 to send a message to Jerusalem.“The UAE did want ties to be warm,
and worked with all ministries, students, NGOs,” said Zaga. “The
people-to-people relationship is disappearing. What is left is what
truly interests the Emiratis — infrastructure, technology and
involvement in Gaza.”Western Sahara and defense-Morocco, whose
normalization agreement with Israel isn’t officially part of the Abraham
Accords, did not experience a significant downturn under the current
government. Though Rabat refused to convene the second Negev Forum over
West Bank violence, Netanyahu announced Israel’s recognition of
Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara in July, after which King
Mohammed VI invited Netanyahu to his country.Israel also appointed its
first-ever military attaché to the kingdom, and the Knesset speaker and
interior minister made official visits as a series of agreements were
signed.After October 7, protests have been a regular feature on
Morocco’s streets. Officials visits have been suspended, and many
bilateral projects are paused.But the defense relationship continued
apace. Morocco reportedly signed a $1 billion deal with Israel’s Ofek
spy satellites in July, to go with air defense systems and drones Israel
sold to Rabat before the war.That doesn’t guarantee a further expansion
of ties, however.“I think Morocco will only have an incentive to go
back to further building the promises of the deal or the bilateral ties
with Israel if it has some commitments on its claims to the Western
Sahara,” said Samia Errazzouki, a postdoctoral fellow and Morocco expert
at Stanford University.“That’s been Morocco’s approach to foreign
policy in the past five, seven years,” she explained. “It’s entirely
based off of what benefits it, and what it stands to gain from the
Western Sahara.”Expanding the circle-Israel is “committed to expanding
the circle of peace with other countries in the region,” said Foreign
Minister Israel Katz in a statement marking the anniversary of the
Abraham Accords.While it appears that its strategic ties with Bahrain,
the UAE and Morocco — as well as its veteran partners Jordan and Egypt —
will survive the war, Israel has always seen the normalization
agreements as an important step toward full integration in the Middle
East.That dream, which hinges on peace with Saudi Arabia, might remain
out of reach for the time being.“It will be years before any new
countries join,” said Zaga. “It also can’t, and won’t, happen before
there’s a new government in Israel.”
Will Peace Now be the October Surprise for US Presidential Election-by Clarence Oxford.
Los
Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 13, 2024-As the U.S. presidential election
approaches, an unexpected geopolitical maneuver may be unfolding - one
that could significantly alter the global balance of power and sway the
outcome of the election itself. With Kamala Harris now the Democratic
candidate following Joe Biden's recent withdrawal due to health
concerns, her opponent, Donald Trump, may soon position himself as the
peacebroker, aided by a coalition of global heavyweights: Russia, China,
and India.Recent reports suggest that diplomatic negotiations are
underway for new attempts at peace talks in two of the world's most
volatile conflicts - Ukraine and Gaza. Such efforts, likely led by
Russia, China, and India, could emerge as the classic 'October
Surprise,' just weeks before Americans head to the polls.The Ukraine
Peace Play-Ukraine's war with Russia has dragged on for more than two
years, with devastating consequences for both nations and no end in
sight. While the Biden administration, and by extension Harris, has
strongly supported Ukraine, this unwavering backing has faced increasing
criticism domestically. War fatigue has set in among voters, and public
support for continued U.S. aid has waned, particularly among
Republicans.Vladimir Putin has expressed openness to peace talks, naming
India and China as possible mediators. India's Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, in particular, has maintained strong relationships with both
Russia and Ukraine. As a leader of the Global South, Modi has carefully
balanced his diplomatic stance, positioning India as a potential broker
that could bring both sides to the table. In parallel, China's growing
clout and economic ties with Russia make it a natural player in this
equation.Should a peace deal be brokered by these nations, Trump would
likely embrace it, presenting himself as the architect of peace - an
image that could be critical to his election strategy. Trump has already
claimed that he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours if
elected, and a peace agreement brokered by these key powers would allow
him to double down on that message. For Harris, as vice president of the
current administration, she would be forced to defend her association
with ongoing U.S. support for Ukraine.A Gaza Ceasefire? Meanwhile, the
Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza continues to rage, with horrific civilian
casualties and a deepening humanitarian crisis. Here, too, Russia and
China, with their diplomatic ties in the Middle East, could play an
essential role in brokering a ceasefire. Moscow's relationships with
regional powers like Iran, and China's growing influence in the Arab
world, position them well to mediate a deal.India, maintaining strong
ties with both Israel and Palestine, could also serve as a neutral
arbiter. Modi's government has consistently advocated for peaceful
solutions in the region, making India an appealing intermediary for such
negotiations.A Gaza ceasefire, led by non-Western powers, would
represent a major shift in global diplomacy, further weakening U.S.
influence in the Middle East under the Biden-Harris administration. If
Trump were to back such a ceasefire, he could frame it as yet another
example of his ability to achieve peace where Democrats have failed. His
rhetoric could cast Harris as the candidate of war and himself as the
candidate of peace, a narrative that could resonate strongly with key
voting blocs, including isolationist Republicans and war-weary
Americans.Geopolitical and Electoral Calculations-A peace deal in
Ukraine and a ceasefire in Gaza would not only reshape the global order
but also dramatically influence the U.S. election. Trump's alignment
with Russia, China, and India on these matters would allow him to paint
himself as the leader who can bring about "peace now." His zero-sum
approach to diplomacy, disdain for multilateral organizations like NATO,
and admiration for Putin could be transformed from liabilities into
assets in the context of a successful peace initiative.For Harris, as
vice president of the current administration, she would be forced to
defend the administration's ongoing involvement in both conflicts.
Criticism of Biden's unwavering support for Ukraine - amid growing
discontent over the prolonged war - combined with the left-wing backlash
against U.S. support for Israel's military actions in Gaza, leaves her
vulnerable. Progressive Democrats, young voters, and Muslim-Americans,
in particular, have expressed frustration with U.S. policies on these
conflicts. Any peace breakthrough could leave Harris on the defensive,
arguing for continued engagement at a time when Trump may be offering a
different path.A Strategic Masterstroke-Timing is everything in
politics, and the potential for an October surprise of this magnitude
could turn the U.S. election on its head. With war fatigue mounting,
peace talks on two fronts would shift the national conversation away
from domestic issues like inflation and immigration, which have
dominated much of the campaign, and refocus it on foreign policy - an
area where Trump could now claim a decisive advantage.In the end, the
success of this geopolitical gambit will depend on whether Russia,
China, and India can actually pull off meaningful agreements in both
Ukraine and Gaza. But even the perception of progress, paired with
Trump's backing, could be enough to tilt the election in his favor.
Harris will need to pivot swiftly, emphasizing her own strengths in
foreign policy while countering Trump's narrative of "peace now."As
October approaches, all eyes will be on these potential peace talks and
their impact on the U.S. presidential race. The question remains: will
voters be swayed by the promise of "peace now," or will they reject the
involvement of powers like Russia and China in shaping the future of
global conflicts? Whatever happens, the stakes could not be higher.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25
And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in
the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC)
and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION)
the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing
them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those
things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of
heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
THE FIRST
JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST
GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING (BUT WILL NOT KILL EVERY BODY WITH
WATER)(BUT 50% OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE (4 BILLION PEOPLE) FROM NUCLEAR
WAR)(THE BIBLE SAYS BY FIRE OR ATOMIC BOMBS THIS TIME)
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the
seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and
the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the
light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of
his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold,
the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the
burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his
tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22
And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED)
there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE)
those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID
HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and
the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God,
which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him
glory.
EZEKIEL 32:6-9
6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
7
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the
stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon
shall not give her light.
8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
9
I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy
destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not
known.
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his
vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every
living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5
And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord,
which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6
For they(False World Church and Dictator and baby murderers by abortion)
have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them
blood to drink; for they are worthy.
2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire,
being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
At
least 7 killed, others missing after heavy rains across Europe cause
mass floods-Four swept away by waters in Czech Republic are considered
missing; five declared dead in Romania, one in Austria and one in
Poland; meteorologists warn conditions could worsen-By Karel Janicek
Today, 7:40 pm-SEP 15,24
PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) — The death
toll was rising in Central European countries on Sunday after days of
heavy rains caused widespread flooding and forced mass
evacuations.Several Central European nations have already been hit by
severe flooding, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and
Romania, while Slovakia and Hungary might come next, as a result of a
low pressure system from northern Italy dumping record rainfall in the
region since Thursday.The floods have claimed five lives in Romania, one
each in Austria and Poland. In the Czech Republic, four people who were
swept away by waters were missing, police said.Meteorologists have
warned the situation still might get worse as waters in most rivers are
rising, the flood wave made its way through the country and more heavy
rains could return overnight.Authorities declared the highest flood
warnings in almost 90 places across the country and in two northeastern
regions that recorded the biggest rainfall in recent days, including the
Jeseniky mountains near the Polish border.In the city of Opava, up to
10,000 people out of a population of around 56,000 have been asked to
leave their homes for higher ground. Rescuers used boats to transport
people to safety in a neighborhood flooded by the raging Opava
River.“There’s no reason to wait,” Mayor Tomáš Navrátil told Czech
public radio. He said that the situation was worse than during the last
devastating floods in 1997, known as the “flood of the century.”“We have
to focus on saving lives,” Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Czech public
television on Sunday. His government was to possibly wait until Monday
to assess the damages.The worst “is not behind us yet,” the prime
minister warned.Thousands of others also were evacuated in the towns of
Krnov, which was almost completely flooded, and Cesky Tesin. The Oder
River that flows to Poland was reaching extreme levels in the city of
Ostrava and in Bohumin, prompting mass evacuations.Ostrava, the regional
capital is the third-largest Czech city. Its mayor, Jan Dohnal, said
the city was facing major traffic disruptions in the days to come.
Almost no trains were operating in the region.Towns and villages in the
Jeseniky mountains, including the local center of Jesenik, were
inundated and isolated by raging waters that turned roads into rivers.
The military sent a helicopter to help with evacuations.Jesenik mayor
Zdenka Blistanova told Czech public television that several houses in
her and other nearby towns have been destroyed by the floods. A number
of bridges and roads have been also badly damaged.Four people who were
swept away by waters were missing, police said.About 260,000 households
were without power Sunday morning in the entire country, while traffic
was halted on many roads, including the major D1 highway.A firefighter
died after “slipping on stairs” while pumping out a flooded basement in
the town of Tulln, the head of the fire department of Lower Austria
Dietmar Fahrafellner told reporters on Sunday.Authorities declared the
entire state of Lower Austria a disaster zone, while emergency personnel
have so far evacuated 1,100 houses there.“We are experiencing difficult
and dramatic hours in Lower Austria. For many people in Lower Austria
these will probably be the most difficult hours of their lives,” said
Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the governor of Lower Austria.In Vienna, the Wien
River overflowed its banks, flooding homes and forcing first evacuations
of houses in the river’s proximity.Romanian authorities said Sunday
that another person had died in the hard-hit eastern county of Galati
after four were reported dead there a day before, following
unprecedented rain.In Poland, one person was presumed dead in floods in
the southwest, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday.Tusk said the
situation was “dramatic” around the town of Klodzko, with about 25,000
residents, located in a valley in the Sudetes mountains near the border
with the Czech Republic.In Glucholazy, rising waters overflowed a river
embankment and flooded streets and houses. Mayor Paweł Szymkowicz said,
“We are drowning,” and appealed to residents to evacuate to high
ground.Energy supplies and communications were cut off in some flooded
areas, and regions may resort to using the satellite-based Starlink
service, Tusk said.Several Central European nations have been hit by
severe flooding, including Romania, Austria, Germany, Slovakia and
Hungary, as a result of a low-pressure system from northern Italy
dumping heavy rainfall in the region.The weather change arrived
following a hot start to September in the region. Scientists have
documented Earth’s hottest summer, breaking a record set just a year
ago.A hotter atmosphere, driven by human-caused climate change, can lead
to more intense rainfall.
A 6.5-magnitude earthquake has struck
off the northern coast of British Columbia, USGS says-Updated 7:40 PM
EDT, September 15, 2024
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A
6.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the northern Pacific Coast of the
Canadian province of British Columbia on Sunday afternoon, according to
the U.S. Geological Survey.The USGS said the quake was located off the
tip of Haida Gwaii, an archipelago located about 1,720 kilometers (1,069
miles) north of Vancouver. It occurred at a depth of 33 kilometers (20
miles) beneath the surface.The U.S. Tsunami Warning Center reported that
there was no threat of a tsunami from this earthquake.There were no
immediate reports of major damage.
Sky's the limit-Jewish tech
billionaire back to Earth after first private spacewalk-SpaceX’s capsule
splashes down in Gulf of Mexico carrying entrepreneur Jared Isaacman,
the 264th person to walk in space-By AP and ToI Staff Today, 2:43 pm-SEP
15,24
A Jewish billionaire spacewalker returned to Earth with
his crew on Sunday, ending a five-day trip that lifted them higher than
anyone has traveled since NASA’s moonwalkers.SpaceX’s capsule splashed
down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida’s Dry Tortugas in the predawn
darkness, carrying tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, two SpaceX
engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot.They pulled off the
first private spacewalk while orbiting nearly 740 kilometers (460 miles)
above Earth, higher than the International Space Station and Hubble
Space Telescope. Their spacecraft hit a peak altitude of 1,408
kilometers (875 miles) following Tuesday’s liftoff.Isaacman became only
the 264th person to perform a spacewalk since the former Soviet Union
scored the first in 1965, and SpaceX’s Sarah Gillis the 265th. Until
now, all spacewalks were done by professional astronauts.“We are mission
complete,” Isaacman radioed as the capsule bobbed in the water,
awaiting the recovery team.During Thursday’s commercial spacewalk, the
Dragon capsule’s hatch was open barely a half-hour. Isaacman emerged
only up to his waist to briefly test SpaceX’s brand new spacesuit
followed by Gillis, who was knee high as she flexed her arms and legs
for several minutes.Gillis, a classically trained violinist, also held a
performance in orbit earlier in the week.The spacewalk lasted less than
two hours, considerably shorter than those at the International Space
Station. Most of that time was needed to depressurize the entire capsule
and then restore the cabin air. Even SpaceX’s Anna Menon and Scott
“Kidd” Poteet, who remained strapped in, wore spacesuits.SpaceX
considers the brief exercise a starting point to test spacesuit
technology for future, longer missions to Mars.This was Isaacman’s
second chartered flight with SpaceX, with two more still ahead under his
personally financed space exploration program named Polaris after the
North Star. He paid an undisclosed sum for his first spaceflight in
2021, taking along contest winners and a pediatric cancer survivor while
raising more than $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital.For the just completed so-called Polaris Dawn mission, the
founder and CEO of the Shift4 credit card-processing company shared the
cost with SpaceX. Isaacman won’t divulge how much he spent.In 2021, when
Isaacman became the first space tourist from US soil on the SpaceX Crew
Dragon, the Jewish entrepreneur told CNN that he did not plan to
observe Yom Kippur from space, which coincided with his launch.Isaacman
added that he’s “actually not a religious person,” though he
acknowledged that he contributes to a synagogue in New Jersey.
Bebinca strongest typhoon to hit Shanghai since 1949: state media.
Shanghai,
Sept 16 (AFP) Sep 16, 2024-The strongest storm to hit Shanghai in over
70 years made landfall on Monday, state media reported, with flights
cancelled and highways closed as Typhoon Bebinca lashed the city with
strong winds and torrential rains.A red alert is in place, and some
coastal residents have been evacuated, city authorities said.The typhoon
landed early Monday morning in the coastal area of Lingang New City, in
Pudong to the city's east, the China Meteorological Administration
said.It was the strongest storm to hit Shanghai since Typhoon Gloria in
1949, state broadcaster CCTV said shortly after Bebinca made
landfall.The city's 25 million residents have been advised to avoid
leaving their homes, and all flights at Shanghai's two main airports are
grounded.Nine thousand residents have been evacuated from Chongming
District, an island at the mouth of the Yangtze River, authorities
said.All highways were closed at 1:00 am local time (1700 GMT), and a 40
kilometre (25 mile) per hour speed limit is in place on roads inside
the city.Shanghai's flood control headquarters told CCTV they had
already received dozens of reports of incidents related to the typhoon,
mostly fallen trees and billboards.CCTV broadcast footage of a reporter
by the coast in neighbouring Zhejiang province, where waves pounded the
craggy coastline under leaden skies."If I step out into (the storm), I
can barely speak," the reporter said."You can see that the surface of
the sea is just wave after wave, each higher than the last."
Flights grounded in Shanghai as China prepares for typhoon.
Shanghai,
Sept 15 (AFP) Sep 15, 2024-All flights at Shanghai's two main airports
were cancelled on Sunday as authorities in the Chinese megacity prepared
for a strong typhoon bringing high winds and heavy rain.Typhoon Bebinca
is expected to make landfall along a swath of China's densely populated
eastern seaboard between Sunday night and Monday morning, according to
Beijing's emergency management ministry.State broadcaster CCTV reported
that all flights at Shanghai's two main airports would be cancelled from
8 pm on Sunday (1200 GMT) because of the storm."Affected by Typhoon
Bebinca, the traffic capacity of Shanghai's Pudong and Hongqiao airports
has decreased today," CCTV said."Flight adjustments at the two main
airports will be promptly released to the public in accordance with the
impact of the typhoon," it said.The emergency management ministry said
in a statement on Saturday that Bebinca would cause "heavy to
torrential" downpours with "local heavy or extremely heavy rainstorms"
between Sunday and Tuesday.Officials held a meeting on Saturday to
"research and deploy flood and typhoon control work in key areas", it
said.Bebinca's expected landfall will come during the Mid-Autumn
Festival public holiday.China's railway operator is expecting passengers
to take 74 million trips during the holiday, state news agency Xinhua
reported on Saturday.The emergency management ministry said officials
must "pay close attention to the development of the typhoon", adding
that "many people will be travelling, mobility will be high and safety
risks will be prominent".The water resources ministry launched on
Saturday a level-four emergency response -- the lowest in a tiered
system -- for flooding in Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu,
Zhejiang and Anhui, according to Xinhua.The weather office issued orange
typhoon warnings -- the second-highest in a four-tier system -- for
several districts in Shanghai and areas of nearby provinces on Sunday.It
advised that people refrain from gathering in large numbers, boats
return to port and rickety structures be strengthened against high
winds.Shanghai municipal authorities urged residents on Sunday to
"strengthen efforts to guard against harmful effects of the typhoon on
high-altitude work, transportation, infrastructure and
agriculture".Passenger shipping lines were also scheduled to be
suspended in Shanghai from Sunday, according to an official statement on
the social media account of the municipal port and shipping development
centre.- Trail of destruction -China is the world's biggest emitter of
the greenhouse gases that scientists say are driving climate change and
making extreme weather more frequent and intense.Another typhoon, Yagi,
killed at least four people and injured 95 when it passed through
China's southern Hainan island this month, according to national weather
authorities.Bebinca passed through Japan's Amami island overnight,
carrying gusts of up to 198 kilometres (123 miles) per hour, the Japan
Meteorological Agency said, warning of an increased risk of landslides
due to heavy rain.The storm also slammed into the central and southern
Philippines on Friday.Philippine officials said on Sunday that falling
trees had killed six people as the tropical storm brought strong winds
and floods.burs-mjw/je/pbt.
