Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Palestinian Attacks from Gaza Escalate
Oct 24th, 2012
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Netanyahu: Israel Set for Wider, Deeper Gaza Operation
Oct 24th, 2012
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

On a visit to an Iron Dome anti-missile battery, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said: “We didn’t start this escalation but if it continues we are set for a broader and deeper operation.” He spoke amid ongoing Palestinian missile attacks from the Gaza Strip – more than 70 Qassam and Grad missiles fired since Tuesday night on civilian towns and villages – and Israeli counter-terror air strikes. The last 13 rockets exploded in Ashkelon Wednesday afternoon. The prime minister also ordered another 1,700 buildings to be fortified in the area between 4.5 and 7 kms from the Gaza border to protect the population against the lengthening range of Palestinian rockets.

Let the Headlines Speak
Oct 24th, 2012
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Heading toward an irreparable rift between U.S. Jews and Protestants
As relations between Jews and mainline Protestants in the U.S. hit a 45-year low after 15 Protestant leaders sent a letter to Congress urging that aid to Israel be reconsidered.

White House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack: emails
Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show. The emails, obtained...from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department..., specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks.

Thousands in Madrid protest 2013 budget cuts
­Cordoned off by police riot vans, the crowd outside the government headquarters in Madrid yelled slogans lambasting further austerity measures and political corruption, demanding the resignations of the deputies of both the ruling conservative Popular Party and the opposition Socialists.

Sunspot Groups Pose Threat For Earth-Directed Flares Over Next Ten Days
Solar cameras have spotted two groups that pose a developing risk of Earth-directed flares, which will have a threat to communications and the sensitive should one go off. Nothing Earth-directed has struck yet, but it is being monitored through this week for them. Both groups have developing magnetic fields that will harbor the energy from X-class solar flares.

Strongest-ever earthquake hits Quang Nam
Thousands of locals rushed out of their houses in panic after they heard loud blasts and felt the ground shaking, houses’ walls cracking, and things inside the houses falling,

Sun unleashes X-class flare from volatile sunspot
Sunspot AR1598 erupted on Oct. 23rd at 0322 UT, producing a strong X1-class solar flare.

Syrian government 'agrees to Eid al-Adha ceasefire'
The UN's envoy to Syria says President Bashar al-Assad's government has agreed to abide by a ceasefire during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha. Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters in Cairo that most opposition factions had also said they would observe any ceasefire. The government said it would make its final decision on Thursday.

Mali crisis: 'Foreign fighters come to help Islamists'
Foreign fighters have arrived in a town in northern Mali, Gao's exiled mayor has told the BBC, confirming reports of an influx of jihadists to the north. Sadou Diallo said between 60 and 100 Algerians and Sahrawis had come into the town about four or five days ago. A resident in Timbuktu told the AFP news agency on Monday that Sudanese Islamists had arrived over the weekend.

Eurozone business activity hits fresh low
Business activity in the eurozone contracted at its fastest pace in almost three-and-a-half years in October, a survey suggests. The Markit Flash Eurozone Purchasing Managers' (PMI) Composite Output Index fell to 45.8, from 46.1 in September. A figure below 50 indicates contraction.

Schäuble Warns Worst Is Yet to Come
Europe's debt crisis seems to have entered a calm phase, but that's only an illusion, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on Tuesday. The worst is probably still to come, he warned.

U.N. calls for 'anti-terror' Internet surveillance
A 148-page report (PDF) released today titled "The Use of the Internet for Terrorist Purposes" warns that terrorists are using social networks and other sharing sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Dropbox, to spread "propaganda."

Gazans fire 60 rockets, mortar shells into Israel; 5 hurt
Palestinian terrorists fired 60 rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel Wednesday morning, injuring five and sending local residents fleeing for cover. IAF strikes targeting Palestinian rocket-launching squads killed four Hamas operatives but did little to stem the flow of rockets.

Powerful quake strikes Costa Rica, no initial reports of damage
A powerful earthquake struck western Costa Rica on Tuesday, shaking buildings in the capital and sending residents running onto the streets, but there were no initial reports of damage or injuries. Inhabitants of San Jose ran out of buildings after the 6.6 magnitude quake hit, following another big quake last month. Many went back indoors soon afterward, a Reuters witness said.

Israel Halts War Games to Deploy Troops, Resources in Escalating Gaza Sector
Oct 24th, 2012
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Defense minister Ehud Barak and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz decided Wednesday, Oct. 24, that the heavy Palestinian missile assault from the Gaza Strip, which escalated to 60 rockets on Israeli civilian locations, in a few hours, must be stopped. The bulk of the personnel taking part in the joint Israeli-US war game Austere Challenge 12 and the Turning Point 6 home front exercise were ordered to pull out, together with anti-missile interceptors and other resources, and redeploy in southern Israel across from the Gaza Strip.
Following this decision, another 13 rockets were fired at Ashkelon early Wednesday afternoon.
debkafile’s military sources report that the two exercises were effectively halted – “reduced” according to the official communiqué - after a wide range of towns and villages within range of the Gaza Strip, including Ashkelon, took a heavy beating from round after round of rockets, including Grads.
Two Thais working in the fields of the Eshkol district were flown to hospital in critical condition. Several properties were seriously damaged and local schools and work places remained closed.

The concentrated assault on Ashkelon, against which 7 rockets were intercepted by Iron Dome batteries, is taken by Israel’s top commanders as the opening shot of a major Hamas offensive, with worse to come.
Our sources report that officials in Washington and Jerusalem are in tense discussions over what to do with the 1,000 US troops, the American Patriots and the US warship standing by with an Aegis anti-missile battery, assigned to the three-week joint exercise which started Sunday.
On the one hand, the joint exercise’s mission was to practice the defense of Israel against potential Iranian, Syrian, Hizballah and Hamas missile attack. The current Hamas assault would seem to be an appropriate operational pitch for the American soldiers to practice tactics in real combat.
But the last thing President Barack Obama wants at this time is direct US military involvement in any Middle East war arena, certainly before the Nov. 6 vote. Using the Gaza scene for practice holds the potential of drawing US soldiers at some point into spiraling combat against the Palestinian Hamas and ultimately the Lebanese Hizballah.

In September, the two terrorist organizations signed mutual defense pacts under Iran’s aegis, obligating Hizballah to open a second front against northern Israel if Hamas comes under Israel attack in Gaza. The defense minister warned Wednesday that while Israel is not eager for ground action in the Gaza Strip, its army is committed to doing everything necessary to restore calm and security to southern Israel.
President Shimon Peres was the first statesman to connect the rising Hamas aggression to the visit of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar in Gaza City Tuesday with a fat check for “development constructon”.

No sooner had he departed, than the Islamist group ruling Gaza let loose with salvoes of rockets against Israel.

Peres commented WEdnesday said that it is intolerable for the rulers of Gaza to receive millions of dollars form the Emir of Qatar and shoot rockets. Nowhere in the world, whether London or New York, would it be acceptable for money awarded for building materials to be spent on rockets. Israel cannot put up with any more of this, said the president. "It is up to Gaza to choose between development and terror and murder."

The Qatari ruler’s motives in his visit were not exactly constructive, debkafile reported on Oct. 22. He came to extend the regional ambitions which found expression in his intervention in the Libyan revolt and the Syrian conflict. Now, he is bidding to shore Hamas up as a force for reining in Salafi and al Qaeda lawlessness in Sinai before it cuts into Qatari influence in Libya. Israel may find itself not only up against Islamist terrorists but their Qatari sponsor too.
Our military sources predicted then that his visit would encourage Hamas to flex its muscles against Israel to impress its new patron.

The Gaza terrorist crisis ties in with a parallel alert declared by Israeli, US, Egyptian and Jordanian counterterrorism agencies for the coming Eid al Adha festival starting Oct. 25. Our sources revealed that Salafi and al Qaeda cells in Egyptian Sinai are poised to unleash coordinated terrorist attacks on US and Egyptian targets in Sinai and in Israel to avenge Israel’s targeted killing of two senior commanders of the Salafi-al Qaeda Sinai-Gaza network. Perpetrators of the Benghazi murders of 4 US diplomats are among the jihadi reinforcements coming in from Libya.

Are You Fit to Enjoy Heaven?
Oct 24th, 2012
CommentaryJ. C. Ryle
Categories: Exhortation;Warning

You and I, it may be said, know little about heaven. Our notions of heaven may be very dim and unclear. But at all events, I suppose we are agreed in thinking that heaven is a very holy place—that God is there—and Christ is there—and saints and angels are there—that sin is not there in any shape—and that nothing is said, thought, or done, which God does not like. Only let this be granted, and then I think there can be no doubt the great majority of professing Christians are as little fit for heaven as a bird for swimming beneath the sea, or a fish for living upon dry land. And what is it they need in order to make them fit to enjoy heaven? They need to be regenerated or born again.

Anti - Semitism Continues to Grow Worldwide
Oct 24th, 2012
Daily NewsIsrael Today - Ryan Jones
Categories: Today's Headlines;Antisemitism

Various recent studies, including one by the US State Department, have noted a marked increase in anti-Semitism worldwide over the past several years. A casual look at the news reveals this problem is very real, and very likely to escalate.

The Swedish city of Malmo has been one flashpoint, with its sizeable Jewish community coming under repeated attack recently. The incidents reached such a crescendo that last week hundreds of Swedes held a march in solidarity with their Jewish neighbors.

Unfortunately, the supposedly sympathetic response of Malmo Mayor Ilmar Reepalu was no less anti-Semitic. Reepalu suggested that as a strategy to lessen the attacks, local Jews should publicly reject Zionism, that millennia-old hope of all Jews to one day return to their ancestral and biblical homeland.

The situation is even worse in France, where a burgeoning Muslim population has been the primary culprit behind a 45 percent increase in anti-Semitic attacks over the past year.

Most prominent among those attacks was the brutal March 19 murder of a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse by a lone Muslim gunman.

But smaller, though no less dangerous, incidents have plagued the Jews of Paris, Marseilles, Toulouse and other French cities for months. In Paris, a grenade was tossed into a Jewish store, a Jewish man was knocked unconscious in the city's subway, and a Jewish woman was wounded while sitting in her Sukkah, all in the span of a couple weeks.

In neighboring Belgium, "Death to the Jews" was spray-painted on a Brussels synagogue, and across the continent in Ukraine, a Jewish doctor was mercilessly slain by three Muslims.

Anti-Semitism is nothing new in Europe, but the problem is not contained there.

At the same time anti-Semites were attacking Jews in Paris, Malmo and Ukraine, Nazi-sympathizing vandals desecrated the bulk of the tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in Auckland, New Zealand, while in Montreal, Canada masked assailants firebombed a kosher restaurant.

Even those who claim to be working for human rights and peace in the Middle East have provided a platform for and helped disseminate virulent anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Earlier this month, Greta Berlin, the American woman who heads the Free Gaza Movement, wrote on her Twitter account that "Zionists operated the [Nazi] concentration camps and helped murder millions of innocent Jews."

That the Jews were behind the Nazi Holocaust is common anti-Semitic drivel of the type currently being championed by Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It has long been used to de-legitimize the rebirth of Israel as a nation-state, with the charge going that the Jews of Europe willingly murdered millions of their own in order to win just enough world sympathy to secure "Palestine" for themselves.

In similar fashion, the Facebook page for a demonstration being organized by the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in Australia featured a comment reading, in German, "We must exterminate the Jews." Two BDS supporters "liked" the comment before pressure resulted in its removal.