Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

US: We didn't green light Jewish settlement construction
Jul 10th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

A US State Department spokesperson on Wednesday denied a report in Israel's Ma'ariv newspaper according to which the Obama Administration had agreed that Israel can complete construction on 2,500 housing units in Judea and Samaria.

The newspaper reported that US Middle East envoy George Mitchell had made the compromise while meeting this week in London with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who insisted that Israel could not simply cancel private construction projects already underway.

According to the report, Barak in turn agreed that after those units were complete, Israel would temporarily freeze all further growth of Jewish communities in those areas claimed by the Palestinians.

But State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the report was simply inaccurate, and that the Obama Administration had not in the least altered its position regarding the construction of Jewish homes on what it calls "occupied lands."

Palestinians blocking Israeli economic gestures
Jul 10th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

The Palestinian Authority is blocking Israel from making significant economic gestures and from advancing the overall peace process, complained Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom on Wednesday.

At a ministerial committee meeting during which it was decided to extend the opening hours of the border crossing between PA-controlled Samaria and Jordan, Shalom said, "Israel wants to promote economic peace, and I am calling for increased cooperation from the Palestinians."

Shalom noted that for years a number of economic projects that would provide a major boost to the Palestinians' quality of life have been delayed because of the Palestinian leadership's refusal to work with Israel.

That lack of cooperation was gotten much worse since the election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu's insistence on Palestinian reciprocity and on testing the Palestinians' willingness to live in true peace by first moving forward on an economic track has resulted in Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas refusing to meet with him. Abbas' subordinates have followed his example, or his orders, and likewise refuse to meet with their Israeli counterparts.

The Palestinians insist that the only part of the peace process that matters to them is the Israeli surrender of lands they claim as their own. That position would seem to belie Palestinian claims that their terrorist behavior is a direct result of their economic conditions.

Netanyahu adviser raises "MAD" nuclear scenario
Jul 10th, 2009
Daily NewsReuters
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;War

JERUSALEM, July 9 - Israel must have "tremendously powerful" weapons to deter a nuclear attack or destroy an enemy that dares to launch an atomic strike, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted on Thursday as saying. National security adviser Uzi Arad, in comments to Haaretz newspaper, appeared to allude to what is widely believed to be Israel's own nuclear arsenal and a standing policy of "mutually assured destruction" (MAD). He warned other countries they could bring about their own devastation if they launched an attack. Israel has never confirmed it has atomic arms. In excerpts on Haaretz's English-language website of an interview to be published on Friday, Arad said he feared that if Iran became a nuclear power, five or six other states in the Middle East would follow suit. He called such a prospect a "nightmare" for Israel. "The defensive might we have must be improved and become tremendously powerful, and create a situation in which no one will dare to realise the ability to harm us," Arad said. "And if they do dare, we will exact a full price, so that they too will not survive." Israel has three German-made submarines that are widely assumed to carry nuclear missiles. One of the submarines sailed from the Mediterranean, via the Suez Canal, to Israel's Red Sea port of Eilat last week, in what officials called a signal to Iran of the long reach of its arsenal. Israel and its Western allies fear that Iran is enriching uranium with the aim of producing nuclear weapons. Iran says it is pursuing only a nuclear power generation programme. In a 2006 Reuters interview, then-vice premier Shimon Peres, currently Israel's president, said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, should bear in mind his country also could be destroyed. "They want to wipe out Israel ... Now when it comes to destruction, Iran too can be destroyed (but) I don't suggest to say an eye for an eye," Peres said. (Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Jews Fast, Mourn on 17th Day of Tammuz
Jul 10th, 2009
CommentaryArutz Sheva - Hillel Fendel
Categories: Commentary;The Nation Of Israel

The "Three Weeks" of gradually-increasing mourning over the destruction of the Holy Temples and Israel's exile begins Thursday with the fast of the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tammuz. This is the day on which Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian forces breached the walls of Jerusalem, after many months of siege, on their way to destroying the Holy Temple.

The Three Weeks end on the 9th of Av - Tisha B'Av - the date on which both the First and Second Temples were destroyed, roughly 2,500 and 2,000 years ago, respectively.

The 17th of Tammuz marks other calamities in Jewish history as well. It is the date on which Moses, having descended from Mount Sinai and seeing the people sinning with the Golden Calf, broke the first set of Ten Commandments. In addition, the priests of the First Temple era were forced on this day - a year before the Temple's destruction - to stop offering the daily sacrifice due to the shortage of sheep.

The Talmud also teaches that on this date some decades earlier, the evil King Menasheh had an idol placed in the Temple's Holy Sanctuary. Later, during Second Temple times, a Roman general placed an idol in the same place and publicly burned the Torah.

The fast ends at 8:10 PM, but other mourning customs, such as no weddings or haircuts, continue until the morning after Tisha B'Av.

Like other fast days, the morning prayers include special selichot prayers, mourning our losses and asking for forgiveness. Excerpts from the selichot of the 17th of Tammuz:

"We rebelled against Him Who dwells in heaven, therefore we were scattered in all directions... We acted rebelliously before Thee with slandering tongues, therefore our tongues were made to learn to utter lamentation... The tempest-tossed afflicted people were utterly broken up and dispersed; the dry land became a boat wrecked for lack of a captain; she received [punishment] for her sins with principal and double interest, with mourning and moaning... Their adversaries assailed them on that day and... drove the nation like a chased gazelle, and there was none that sought to protect it... Turn to us, O Thou that dwellest on high, gather our dispersed from the four corners of the earth. Say to Zion, Arise! And we shall arise.  Convert the 17th of Tammuz into a day of salvation and comfort." (translation by Rev. Abraham Isaac Jacob Rosenfeld)

Hamas not even asked to recognize Israel
Jul 10th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Aaron Klein
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

Terrorist group still allowed to join U.S.-backed government

TEL AVIV – Hamas does not need to recognize Israel's existence as a precondition for joining a Palestinian unity government, a top member of the Palestinian Authority's negotiating team told WND.

"We are not demanding Hamas recognize the state of Israel. It's not even part of the talks. Even we as the Fatah movement didn't recognize the state of Israel," said the PA negotiator, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The negotiator is leading efforts to forge a unity government between Hamas and PA President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. The two have been at odds since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah in the summer of 2007. The unity efforts could result in new Palestinian elections as early as January and would bring Hamas into the U.S.-backed and funded PA.

Fatah is considered moderate by Israeli and U.S. policy. However, contrary to popular perception, Fatah has never officially recognized Israel as a Jewish state or even as a country with the right to exist.

In 1994, the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO, signed what was known as the "recognition principals" in which it formally agreed to recognize Israel. Fatah is the largest faction of the PLO, and as such, is thought to be party to the recognition agreement.

Fatah as a party, however, never officially declared it recognized the Jewish state. The last time the Fatah party held its official congress – in which it amended its charter – was in 1989. At that time, Fatah declared jihad on Israel and called for the Jewish state's destruction.

PLO Leader Yasser Arafat later made a statement to the French media in which he claimed the portion of Fatah's charter calling for the destruction of Israel was null and void, but the terms were never officially nullified. According to Fatah bylaws, the group's charter can only be changed by vote during an official Fatah congress session.

Carter helping Hamas open talks

The recognition of Israel is a precondition for engaging in dialogue with the U.S., according to conditions previously outlined by the White House and State Department.

Top Hamas officials, however, recently told WND that former President Jimmy Carter presented Hamas with a written initiative intended to open talks between the Islamic terrorist group and the U.S. without Hamas having to recognize Israel.

Carter two weeks ago handed Hamas a letter "that aims to open dialogue between Hamas and U.S.," Mushir al-Masri, a member of Hamas' parliament and a spokesman for the group, told WND.

Two top Hamas sources told WND Carter's initiative asks Hamas to recognize the so-called two-state solution as well as the Arab Peace Initiative but doesn't mention recognition of Israel. The initiative bypasses U.S. conditions.

Those conditions, expressed twice by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are Hamas' renouncement of violence, recognition of Israel and agreement to abide by previous PLO commitments. The conditions were adopted by the Mideast Quartet, which consists of the U.S., United Nations, Russia and the European Union.

Al-Masri said Hamas was studying Carter's plan.

"In any response to Carter, we will reject the conditions of the Quartet, specifically the recognition of Israel," al-Masri said.

Hamas' chief political adviser in Gaza Ahmed Yousef echoed that sentiment in a conversation with WND.

G8 leaders - 'arrogant' arbiters of global thermostat
Jul 10th, 2009
Daily NewsOneNewsNow - Jim Brown
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

A leading skeptic of "manmade global warming" says Group of Eight leaders have embraced a new movement he calls "climate astrology."

President Obama and other Group of 8 leaders promised Wednesday they would keep temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 Celsius) above average levels of more than a century ago. They also agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
 
Marc Morano, executive editor of ClimateDepot.com, says it is ridiculous for the G8 leaders to believe they have the power to turn up or down the earth's thermostat.
 
"This is the height of arrogance," he exclaims. "This is the madness of our age that world leaders, including our own president, can go up there with a straight face and act as though they can control the earth's thermostat -- act as though they control nature."
 
Morano compares the G8 leaders' mindset to a Third World mentality.
 
"In Uganda, they're blaming drought and disease on angry gods," he notes, "and people are saying, 'Oh, if only they knew. They need to be educated [and told that] it's manmade climate change.'

"Well, who actually needs to be educated here?," Morano asks. "Is it the Ugandans who blame bad weather on angry gods -- or is it Western leaders who actually think they can control the climate?"
 
Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said that science tells him for certain what the earth will be like 100 years from now -- which leads Morano to ask: "At what point should Secretary Chu be on a boardwalk with a full deck of tarot cards dispensing this?"

'Iran could build bomb within a year'
Jul 10th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Both the US and Israel believe Iran has the technical capacity to build one nuclear bomb within a year if it decides to do so, but both countries also believe the chances that Teheran will indeed make that decision are slim, according to assessments made known to The Jerusalem Post.

According to these Israeli assessments, there is not much difference now between the US and Israel regarding a timeline for a "worst case scenario" on Iran's development of a bomb. At the same time, both Jerusalem and Washington currently believe that "worst case scenario is not likely to materialize."

The assessments come in the wake of comments made Sunday by US Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the effect that Iran could be as little as a year away from completing a nuclear bomb, while Mossad head Meir Dagan recently surprised many by saying Iran won't have a nuclear weapon until 2014.

"I would be careful about all the declarations on this matter," said one senior government official who deals with the issue, adding that a decision by Teheran to go full throttle toward the building of a bomb was dependent on numerous different decisions the government would have to make, and which it had simply not yet made.

In the meantime, the official said, the Iranians have decided to continue to enrich as much low grade uranium as they can, and to also continue development in the field of ballistic missiles at a level that would not make their situation with the international community much worse than it already is.

Some American and Israeli experts have long argued that, rather than pushing for a bomb the moment they can, the Iranians may want to gain the potential capacity, over a longer period, to build an entire nuclear arsenal - and then stay weeks or months away from final bomb-making but ready to make the ultimate push should they so choose.

The international community, meanwhile, signaled on Thursday that it was still keeping its eye on the nuclear issue, with the G-8 leaders giving Iran until late September to accept negotiations over the issue.

The US is still waiting for an Iranian answer to President Barack Obama's offer of engagement on the nuclear issue.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the situation would be reviewed at a G-20 meeting of developed and developing countries in Pittsburgh on September 24, and that "if there is no progress by then, we will have to take decisions."

A unilateral attack by Israel on Iran to thwart the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions would be an "absolute catastrophe," Sarkozy was quoted by AFP as saying on Thursday after the G-8 summit in Italy.

From an Israeli perspective, the senior government official explained, the G-8 deadline included both positive and negative aspects.

On the positive side, there has been a degree of concern in Jerusalem since the events that followed the June elections in Iran that the international community would try to push back the timetable on the nuclear issue until the dust cleared in Teheran.

The G-8 statement, the official said, strengthened the sense in Jerusalem that the international community was sending a message that "time is of the essence," and that international stocktaking of Iran's position on the issue would take place regardless of Iran's internal situation.

On the negative side of the ledger from an Israel perspective, however, was that the G-8 deadline was also a sign the international community was sill locked into "engagement" mode, dashing any thinly held hope in Jerusalem that the Iranian regime's brutal repression of the protests there would lead toward immediate sanctions.

According to the senior government official, under the current timetable Iran had until September to give a decision on engagement. If the talks began, then by the end of the year - as Obama said in May during his meeting in Washington with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu - there would be a reassessment of the situation, and a determination whether to continue dialogue or take more serious sanctions.

Regarding the contradictory messages that came out of Washington this week as to whether the US was giving Israel a green light for military action, with Vice President Joe Biden implying that a green light was being given, and Obama categorically denying that, the official said that Obama has been consistent in speaking against an Israeli military action.

What needed to be explained, the official said, were Biden's comments.

"Biden's comments seem to have come out of the blue," he said. "There has been no discussion with the US over the last few months about the possibility of an attack."

The official said it was also not clear how the recent events on the ground in Iran would impact on the nuclear issue.

On the one hand, he said, the protests have highlighted the vulnerability of the regime, which now appears significantly weaker than it was before the elections and their aftermath.

On the other hand, the official said, many believe that Iran's foreign policy and its policy on the nuclear issue will only become more intransigent as a result of the developments.

"There is a contradiction," the official said. "While the regime is more vulnerable than in the past to pressure from the international community, this may lead in the early stages to a hardening of its positions."

"When you are weak domestically, you can't show that you are weak externally as well. The opposite is true," he said. "You have to take a tougher stand with the world so they don't conclude that because you are under domestic pressure, you will fold under external pressure."

According to this logic, if the Iranians were willing to absorb the harsh international criticism that came with cutting down the reformers, then they would also be willing to absorb international censure in going forward with the nuclear program.

The international community, however, is now more prepared to impose serious sanctions on Iran than it was before the recent events, the official added.