Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Mks on Anti - Yesha Military Plan: Where's Netanyahu?
Dec 20th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Hillel Fendel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

 
Responses to Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s military plan against Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria have been sharp.

The Civil Rights Organization of Judea and Samaria released this statement: “This plan against the settler public will trample into the dust their most basic human rights. We call upon the government to wake up before it loses its right to be called the only democracy in the Middle East.”

MK Prof. Aryeh Eldad (National Union): “The police and army are cooperating in a rape of the settler public. This set of commands is formulated as if the intention is to conquer an enemy country. It shows the insanity of subjugating the Central Command, its intelligence branches, and the Shabak together with the Air Force for the purpose of destroying Jewish homes.”

“The crime is two-fold,” Eldad said: “Using the IDF for a political mission against Jews, and not using it against the Arab enemy. Netanyahu and his entire government are to blame for their collaboration.”

Even MK Ophir Akunis (Likud), a political ally of Prime Minister Netanyahu, came out against the plan, and MK Tzipi Hotovely, also of the Likud, called on Netanyahu to "intervene and revoke this disproportionate deployment."

MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) said the document is “shocking” and “shows that the Likud government has declared war on the settlers. Bibi [Netanya is continuing the path of [comatose former Prime Minister Arie Sharon who destroyed the IDF in his war against the Jews and left a crushed IDF to deal with Hizbullah [in the Second Lebanon Wa.”

“The IDF’s function is to fight our enemies and to prepare for that,” Ben-Ari continued, “and whoever changes its function, thus tears the nation in half and destroys the State.”

Danny Dayan, the Chairman of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, said, “This plan is simply a deployment for an army operation against an enemy

Hesder Rabbis Attempting to Present United Front
Dec 20th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Hillel Fendel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

  60 deans of Hesder yeshivas are convening and trying to formulate a uniform response to Barak’s removal of HarBracha from the “arrangement.”

On the agenda are two very loaded questions. One is whether Rabbi Eliezer Melamed – head of the Har Brachah yeshiva – will sign a statement expressing his opposition to political protests in the army. Rabbi Melamed long ago wrote that he would have advised against holding such protests, though he added that once such a protest was held, its positive points should be recognized.

Rabbi Melamed has agreed to sign the statement, but his consent is under reconsideration in light of Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s statement Sunday morning that it will not change his decision regarding Har Brachah.

“Why should he sign,” some rabbis asked, “if it won’t make a difference?”

The second question is whether the Hesder Yeshivot Union will present a unified front in support of Har Brachah and against Barak’s decision. An unknown number of rabbis currently feel that this is a battle that should not be waged, while others feel that Barak’s decision, if left unchallenged, will render every statement made by a Hesder yeshiva head subject to “review” by the Defense Ministry.

The rabbis began their meeting around 9:30 AM, but by 1:30 PM had not issued a statement.

The head of the Hesder yeshiva in the Negev city of Arad, Rabbi Yinon Ilani, has already announced his position, however: “If the Hesder Union does not issue a strong, unambiguous statement to the effect that rabbis are not under the army’s thumb, our yeshiva will be forced to quit the Union, despite the heavy price we will have to pay.”

The Defense Ministry subsidizes Hesder yeshiva students to the tune of millions of shekels each year per yeshiva. A yeshiva that loses or gives up its Hesder status will thus lose a significant chunk of its financial base.

A group of Deans of non-Hesder religious-Zionist yeshivot have joined the head of Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook, Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, in a statement against the closure of Yeshivat Har Bracha as a Heser yeshiva

Hebron Embroiled in Loudspeaker War Between Jews, Muslims
Dec 20th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The Jewish and Muslim residents of the Judean city of Hebron are embroiled in a noise-making war that some security officials fear will boil over into armed confrontation.

The very small Jewish community in Hebron said they, like the non-Muslim residents of many cities around the world, have been made to endure disruptive Muslim prayers blasted from the tops of local mosques five times a day for decades.

Recently, some of the city's Jews decided to make a point by responding in kind and playing loud Hassidic music from a Jewish event hall in the center of town. Israeli police officers ended that practice.

But Israel's Ynet news portal reports that the same group of Jews has now resurfaced playing the same music, this time from loudspeakers mounted atop a vehicle.

The vehicle drives through the streets of Hebron playing the music, but promptly disappears whenever the police approach.

A spokesman for the Hebron Jewish community said the Muslim loudspeakers were only a small example of the harassment local Jews are subjected to, which also includes beatings and house invasions. The spokesman indicated that the community was trying to keep things non-violent by responding to the less serious provocation and trying to draw national attention.

Harder to Buy U.S. Treasuries
Dec 20th, 2009
Daily NewsShanghaiDaily.com - Zhou Xin and Jason Subler
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

IT is getting harder for governments to buy United States Treasuries because the US's shrinking current-account gap is reducing supply of dollars overseas, a Chinese central bank official said yesterday.

The comments by Zhu Min, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, referred to the overall situation globally, not specifically to China, the biggest foreign holder of US government bonds.

Chinese officials generally are very careful about commenting on the dollar and Treasuries, given that so much of its US$2.3 trillion reserves are tied to their value, and markets always watch any such comments closely for signs of any shift in how it manages its assets.

China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange reaffirmed this month that the dollar stands secure as the anchor of the currency reserves it manages, even as the country seeks to diversify its investments.

In a discussion on the global role of the dollar, Zhu told an academic audience that it was inevitable that the dollar would continue to fall in value because Washington continued to issue more Treasuries to finance its deficit spending.

He then addressed where demand for that debt would come from.

"The United States cannot force foreign governments to increase their holdings of Treasuries," Zhu said, according to an audio recording of his remarks. "Double the holdings? It is definitely impossible."

"The US current account deficit is falling as residents' savings increase, so its trade turnover is falling, which means the US is supplying fewer dollars to the rest of the world," he added. "The world does not have so much money to buy more US Treasuries."

China continues to see its foreign exchange reserves grow, albeit at a slower pace than in past years, due to a large trade surplus and inflows of foreign investment. They stood at US$2.3 trillion at the end of September.

Christ will Rule
Dec 20th, 2009
Thought for the WeekA. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational

I am not surprised that I still meet people who do not believe that Jesus Christ is going to return to earth. In fact, some of them, armed with their own Bibles and interpretations, are insistent on setting me "straight." One gentleman has written saying that I have it all wrong, and that Paul did not mean what I had said he meant, as I applied Paul's statement to everyday life. I took time to write a reply: "When it comes to saying what he meant, Paul's batting average has been pretty good up to now. So, I will string along with what Paul plainly, clearly said." I did not figure I needed someone to straighten me out-particularly someone who had decided the Bible does not mean what it says. No one is going to argue me out of my faith in what God has revealed and what God has said. As far as I am concerned, it is a fact that Jesus is coming again! The question I do raise is this: Are we prepared spiritually for His coming? Are we tolerating conditions in our midst that will cause us embarrassment when He does come?