Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

The Start of Something New? a Gov't Without Israel's Ultra - Orthodox
Mar 5th, 2013
Daily NewsIsrael Today - Ryan Jones
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Developments in Israel on Sunday might have signaled the start of a major earthquake in the political foundations of the state.

According to reports across the Hebrew media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally conceded that he will not be able to form a stable majority coalition that includes the ultra-Orthodox parties that have long controlled the religious institutions of the State of Israel.

While Netanyahu would prefer a government that included the ultra-Orthodox Shas, which tends to simply go along with any and all policies so long as tax revenues flow to its own causes, an impromptu alliance between the centrist Yesh Atid and the right-wing Jewish Home parties meant that doing so would leave Netanyahu with a minority government.

Yesh Atid, which stunned everyone by becoming the Knesset's second largest party in January's election, and Jewish Home, the new face of the old National Religious Party, don't necessarily see eye-to-eye on major diplomatic issues like Jewish settlements and the peace process.

However, the two parties are fully united in their belief that ultra-Orthodox hegemony over determining who is a Jew and how Jews must live needs to be broken. They also agree that it is high time that the ultra-Orthodox community, which receives large sums of government funding for child welfare and seminaries, join the workforce, start paying taxes and carry their fair share of the military burden.

The talk now is that Netanyahu will give Yesh Atid the ministries of health, interior and welfare, allowing it to keep its election promises to bring about social change that will benefit the entire population, and institute an educational system that fosters broad acceptance of the Bible and Jewish culture.

Jewish Home is looking to take the ministries of industry, housing and religion, the last of which will allow the party to seriously alter the way the state relates to Jewish religious issues. There is even talk of Israel electing its first national religious (as opposed to ultra-Orthodox) chief rabbi.

Netanyahu reportedly hopes to present the new government sometime next week, and if Yesh Atid and Jewish Home have their way, it could mark the beginning of something quite unique in the Jewish state.

Russia and Israel Each Warn Trouble Building Up on Golan Border
Mar 5th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

At UN Center in New York, Israeli and Russian delegates separately warned Monday, March 4, of a dangerous situation developing in the area of separation on the Golan captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Syrian troops were forbidden to enter this area under a ceasefire formalized in 1974 between Syria and Israel.

Israeli UN Ambassador Ron Prosor complained to the Security Council about five shells fired from this very area which landed in Israel Saturday, March 2. "Israel cannot be expected to stand idle as the lives of its citizens are being put at risk by the Syrian government's reckless actions," Proser wrote in a Note to the council. "Israel has shown maximum restraint thus far."

Russia’s UN Ambasador Vitaly Churkin then spoke of “a very new and dangerous phenomenon” of armed groups operating in the Golan area of separation. “It’s something which potentially can undermine security between Syria and Israel,” said Churkin, who is acting Security Council president for March. He pointed out that the UN peacekeeping force is unarmed and unable to cope with this new situation. Israel and Syria are technically in a state of war.

debkafile’s military and intelligence sources note that the exchange of warnings between Israel and Russia touched two sensitive nerves:

1. It occurred the day before definitive talks open in Moscow between the Syrian government and opposition. The Russians fear Israel might embark on military action in response to the round of shells fired from the Syrian Golan Saturday, and force a delay in the talks. The last time this happened, in late January, Israel reacted with a cross-border attack on Syrian military installations.
2. Saturday, too, debkafile exposed the no-man’s lands unfolding along Syria’s borderlands with Israel and Jordan following the withdrawal of the bulk of Syrian forces from these areas. Moscow fears additionally that Israel’s armed forces will seize strategic points in the abandoned territory to clear out armed bands of the pro-al Qaeda Jabhat al Nusra, which are believed responsible for the latest round of shelling into the Israeli Golan.
Churkin’s warning referred to “armed groups” as the potential troublemakers, but he was also cautioning Israel to desist from fighting back so as not to upset Moscow’s diplomatic initiative for resolving the Syrian civil war.

Report: Obama Set to Strong - Arm Netanyahu on Palestinian State
Mar 5th, 2013
Daily NewsIsrael Today - Staff
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

According to an unconfirmed report citing Israeli sources, US President Barack Obama's first order of business when he visits Israel later this month will be to extract a firm commitment to uproot the Jews living in Judea and Samaria in preparation for the birth of a Palestinian state.

Obama has already messaged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he wants to see a firm timetable for a unilateral Jewish withdrawal when he arrives, reported the news website World Tribune.

One of the quoted sources told the website that "the implication is that if Israel won't give [Obama] something he can work with, then he'll act on his own."

But not everyone is so certain Obama's focus will be a Palestinian state.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Zalman Shoval on Sunday noted that a recent important foreign policy symposium in Washington had not at all focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The opposite would certainly be the case were Obama preparing to make a major diplomatic push on that front, explained Shoval.

Shoval, who is a regular informal adviser to Netanyahu, believes the visit will focus much more on the Iranian threat.

It might be that Obama and his administration have realized, like outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, that the chances of concluding a genuine, long-lasting peace deal with the current Palestinian leadership are next to nil.

Barak told the annual AIPAC conference in Washington that while he continues to advocate a two-state solution, reaching such an agreement together with the Palestinians at this time is "impossible."

North Korea Threatens to Scrap 1953 Armistice
Mar 5th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

Netanyahu Mulling Minor ‘land Transfer’ to Palestinians Ahead of Obama Visit
Mar 5th, 2013
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Package of goodwill gestures — including approval of building requests, release of prisoners and transfer of ammunition — reportedly drawn up by defense establishment

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly mulling transferring responsibility for small areas of West Bank land to the Palestinian Authority as part of a package of major goodwill gestures drawn up by the defense establishment ahead of US President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to the region.

According to a report in Maariv on Tuesday, the gestures will include the transfer of authority over two access roads — one to the new Palestinian city Rawabi, and the other to the West Bank city of Tulkarem — to full Palestinian control, the approval of building plans for 10 Palestinian villages currently deemed illegal and under threat of being demolished, the release of many of the 123 Fatah prisoners arrested by Israel before the Oslo peace talks, and the transfer of small arms ammunition to the Palestinian security forces.

The report states that the gestures were discussed in the past in talks with Quartet envoy Tony Blair, but Netanyahu rejected them. The defense establishment reportedly drew up the plans while explaining to Netanyahu that the moves would not be a major political liability for the prime minister, but could create a positive global public relations effect.

Netanyahu made brief reference to Israeli concessions in his Monday address to the AIPAC Policy Conference, but focused more on Israel’s imperative to ensure its security.

“Israel is prepared for a meaningful compromise, but as Israel’s prime minister I will never compromise on our security,” Netanyahu told the Washington gathering by satellite feed from Jerusalem, noting that Israel had withdrawn from south Lebanon and Gaza, “and we got terror. That can’t happen a third time.”

“Israel seeks a peace with our Palestinian neighbors, a peace that will end our conflict once and for all,” he insisted, “but that peace must be grounded in reality and in security…. In the Middle East, a peace you cannot defend will not hold for five minutes.”

Netanyahu’s caution was in keeping with US Vice President Joe Biden’s decidedly pessimistic tone on the prospects of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

“It’s going to require hard steps on all sides, but we all have a profound interest in peace,” Biden told the conference. “We’ve got to get caught trying,” he quipped, quoting former US president Bill Clinton.

“So we remain deeply engaged. As President Obama has said, while there are those who question whether this goal will ever be reached, we have no apologies for continuing to pursue this goal.”

On Sunday, the World Tribune reported that Obama expects to see a timetable for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank. The report, citing Israeli sources, indicated that the president had made clear to Netanyahu that his March 20 visit to Israel, his first since becoming president, “is not about photo-ops, but the business of Iran and a Palestinian state.”

The Times of Israel could not independently confirm the report, which contradicted official American comments ahead of the trip, which has been described as a solidarity and consultative mission.

“The implication is that if Israel won’t give him something he can work with, then he’ll act on his own,” the website quoted one source as saying. According to the report, an Israeli pullout plan could form part of an imminent US push to form a Palestinian state in the West Bank in 2014.

Last week, it was rumored that Obama may cancel his scheduled trip if Netanyahu is unable to form a governing coalition by March 16. So far, the prime minister has only been able to sign up Tzipi Livni’s Hatnua party, with its six Knesset seats, for the next government, but most political sources believe he will beat the March 16 deadline.

The White House announced Monday that there were no changes to Obama’s schedule and that the President was looking forward to his visit to Israel.

Outgoing Defense Minister Ehud Barak, speaking at the AIPAC conference in Washington on Sunday night, said that, in lieu of a final-status peace deal with the Palestinians, Israel “should consider unilateral steps” in order to prevent the “dangerous” eventuality of a bi-national state.

Let the Headlines Speak
Mar 5th, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Arab Campaign in Europe Calls for 'Palestinian Spring'
A Palestinian Authority Arab group calling itself “the European initiative to remove the fence and the settlements” has launched a new media campaign in Europe, entitled “Palestine without a fence and with no settlements.”

The Nazi Brownshirts are Back in Europe's Universities
Freedom of speech is granted for everybody in Europe's universities, including Islamists and Iranian envoys, but not for Israelis. Recently, the University of Paris VIII closed its doors to avoid a harder stance about a planned conference against the Jewish State, while septuagenarian Israeli novelist and Holocaust survivor Esther Orner has been banned from the University of Provence.

Severed animal heads found in Tel Aviv
The "269life" animal rights group, which protests against the slaughter of animals on industrial farms, issued a statement on its international Facebook page on behalf of its Israeli activists: "Every given moment, here and abroad billions of animals are tortured and murdered, which are all individuals that wished to live in peace and well being. The problem lays in the human species it self...

Locust alert in Middle East as plague descends on Egypt and creates panic in Israel
As swarms of locust devour Egyptian crops, the Middle East is bracing for the destructive bugs to migrate their way ahead of the Passover holiday. A swarm of an estimated 30million insects has been devastating crops in Egypt, fuelling apocalyptic fears because of the infestation’s proximity to the Bible story of Passover in which a swarm of locusts, the eighth of ten plagues, is imposed on Egyptians by God for enslaving and abusing ancient Hebrews.

Hamas steps up threats on Obama's Israel trip
Despite there being no information President Obama plans to ascend the Temple Mount on his upcoming trip to Israel, Hamas last night stepped up its threats regarding Palestinian rumors the U.S. president may visit the sacred site.

Biden, Netanyahu set tone on Iran for Obama visit to Israel
WASHINGTON - US Vice-President Joe Biden insisted on Monday that President Barack Obama was not bluffing about using force to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions if all else fails, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a "credible military threat" against Tehran. Seeking to reassure Israel and its US supporters just weeks before Obama visits the Jewish state, Biden cautioned that all options, including sanctions and diplomacy, must be exhausted to ensure that the international community will be supportive...

Lava river: Volcano erupts in Russia’s Kamchatka

Torrents of lava are coming down the magnificent slopes of Plosky Tolbachik, one of the biggest volcanoes in Russia’s Far East region. The volcano "woke up" in November last year - after more than thirty-five years of being dormant.

3.5 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Tishomingo
TISHOMINGO, OK-- It was a rude awakening for some people in Southern Oklahoma as an earthquake rattled their sleep. "It just sounded like a sonic boom or an explosion. We're four miles from train tracks in Ravia and I thought maybe the box cars hit each other. I listened to see if everybody in the family was okay and then I rolled over and went back to sleep," Resident Linda Standefer said. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a 3.5 magnitude quake hit parts of the area early Monday morning.

Major firearms retailer fleeing from California to Texas
“The state of California treats all businesses as necessary evils,” he said. “They treat those of us in the gun business as just evil. They make it very clear that they don’t want us there. It’s just that simple.”

Senators announce deal on gun trafficking
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the bill would establish tough penalties for those who buy a firearm or ammunition with the intent of transferring it to someone else. The measure would also make it a crime to smuggle firearms out of the United States.

New Comet's Potential Mars Collision in 2014 Explained
A newfound comet is apparently on course to have an exceedingly close call with the planet Mars in October 2014, and there is a chance — albeit small — that the comet may even collide with the Red Planet. The new comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) was discovered Jan. 3 by the Scottish-Australian astronomer Robert H. McNaught, a prolific observer of both comets and asteroids who has 74 comet discoveries to his name.

Rand Paul: Obama in guns-to-jihadists cover-up?
Charged Paul: “There has been a lot made of the political cover up of President Obama’s administration saying this (Benghazi attack) had something to do with a homemade film from some guy in Los Angeles. But in reality the question is, or the secondary quotation is, why would they do a cover up? What are they covering up?” Paul said he has “a feeling that it had something to do with the CIA annex.”

China boosts military budget to uphold 'sovereignty, security, territorial integrity'
“We should accelerate the modernisation of national defence and the armed forces so as to strengthen China’s defence and military capabilities,” Premier Wen Jiabao said in remarks prepared for delivery ahead of the start of China’s annual meeting of parliament.

Large Locust Swarm in Israel Heads North
Mar 5th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Israeli planes were sent out to spray pesticides over crops and farmland to protect them from the rapacious insects heading into northern Israel Tuesday. Farmers have been on locust alert, using an emergency hot line for sightings, since the swarm entered southern Israel from Egypt after devastating crops there.

Gerald Celente Forcast
Mar 5th, 2013
CommentaryKing World News Blog
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Today top trends forecaster Gerald Celente spoke with King World News about gold, silver and the frightening “next great trend.” Celente also told KWN that right now he is actively accumulating physical gold and silver ahead of this next great trend. Celente is the founder of Trends Research, and the man many consider to be the top trends forecaster in the world.

Here is what Celente had to say: “The new numbers came out over in Europe and Italy’s jobless rate jumps to record highs, and so it jumps throughout Europe. Unemployment hits new records in the eurozone. And you can come back home, personal income plummets in the United States.

The only thing that’s keeping this thing going is the central banks in Japan, China, Europe, and in the United States, printing all of this digital money, buying up worthless bonds, Treasuries, and other assets to keep the Ponzi scheme going....

Eric King: “Gerald, what do you see as the ‘next great trend’ going forward?”

Celente: “It’s a breakdown of societies all over. You look at what’s going on over in Greece. We’re getting reports coming in that mercenary groups are going in there because a lot of the (Greek) military does not want to fight against the people.

People (in Greece) are sleeping out in the streets. They’ve lost everything. Suicide rates are off the charts. When you look at what people are doing and how lost they are, that they are taking to the streets by the hundreds of thousands in Portugal (as an example). By the way, these (protests) are happening spontaneously.

Again, going back to the Beppe Grillo model (in Italy), it’s the people’s movement. So what they (central planners) are doing is they are preparing for (more) unrest. Not only there (in Europe), but they are preparing for it in the United States as well.

When you see the legislation that has been passed such as the repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act, it now allows the military to take over police duties. That was the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act following the Civil War. The military was everywhere (after that war until 1878).

So now the military can come back onto the streets. They know that unrest is bubbling over everywhere. It’s happening in Romania, Slovenia, and around the world. The unemployment levels are hitting new highs. People are going into poverty and losing everything.

And, again, the only thing holding it up is this cheap money. Why aren’t gold and silver prices going up? They should be. Everyone knows that game is rigged. I believe that the Federal Reserve and the other central banks are manipulating the prices to keep interest rates (artificially) low.

With interest rates this low it should be undermining the value of the US dollar and all of the other currencies. Look at how thinly the gold markets are traded, and how easily they can be manipulated. As I see it they need to keep the value of gold and silver down. The Europeans and the Americans especially are keeping it (prices) low.

But people will (eventually) wake up to the fact that the only reason why their economies are sputtering along at any level at all is because they have debased the currencies by pumping all of this money into the system.”

Celente also added: “Yes, they (the Chinese) know they are holding onto all of these worthless US assets and they have to do something. What they are also doing (by acquiring more physical gold) is they are strengthening their currency.

It (the yuan) is going to become more and more of a traded currency. China is in the business of business. They want to see the United States lose its status as having the reserve currency. In the meantime they are building up their gold treasury to support their yuan.

You remember when Nixon took us off of the gold standard, you read his words and you read the words of John Connally, who was the Treasury Secretary at the time, and they said that the United States was basing the reserve currency on the strength of the (US) economy.

Well, 1971 was a lot different than 2013. We don’t have that strength anymore. We have a $16.5 trillion deficit plus unfunded liabilities. So the United States doesn’t have a strong economy and there is no way they are going to be able to pay off this debt. The only way I see it happening is by a (tremendous) debasement of the currency.”

Former Labor MK Shocked to Discover Temple Mount Discrimination
Mar 5th, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Elad Benari
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Former Labor MK Daniel Ben-Simon cut short a visit to the Temple Mount on Sunday, after he personally witnessed the discrimination by Israeli police towards Jewish visitors to the holy site.

Speaking to Arutz Sheva about the experience on Monday, Ben-Simon said he was surprised, already at the start of his visit, to see that Jews are forced to wait in long, crowded lines to enter one of the holiest sites in the world.

Ben-Simon said that when he finally reached the end of the line-up after a long and unpleasant wait, he was told that the Temple Mount is closed due to what was described as “tension”. He later discovered that the source of this tension is a Quran that fell from the hands of a Muslim worshiper who came to the Temple Mount.

The Arab worshiper claimed that an Israeli police officer had deliberately dropped the book from her hand, but Ben-Simon expressed doubt at the truthfulness of the story and said it was unacceptable that the area was closed off to Jews because of such a minor event.

"Because of a fallen book they close the Temple Mount to hundreds of people who are waiting to get in?” he said. “The Minister of Internal Security must be summoned and asked about the reality in which the police are on high alert because of a fallen book. Who’s in charge here? All this is done without explanation.”

Later in the afternoon Ben-Simon, who was visiting the compound as part of research he is conducting for a book he’s planning to write, returned to the Temple Mount, getting in this time, and was shocked by what he discovered.

“I was surprised by the intensity of the tension. People looking at you from all sides, examining the movements of your lips, and heaven forbid if they move in what seems like a prayer," he said. "When I saw this I asked my companions to leave. This is not a visit. I do not feel comfortable when Waqf and police accompany each step I make. I cut the visit short and left within ten minutes.”

Ben-Simon admitted that despite having served as an MK, he was previously unaware that this reality is what Jews are always facing on the Temple Mount, and said that most Israeli MKs do not visit the site and are unaware of this absurd reality.

"The vast majority of those present were tourists. Israelis do not visit," he said, adding, "This is an unpleasant experience that I would not like to go through again. I expect to get a little respect in a place of prayer.”

The former parliamentarian said he finds it difficult to understand how Israel got to the current situation. He likened the corridor leading to the Temple Mount to a military facility where one cannot look left and right, fearing his looks may be interpreted incorrectly and cause rage.

Ben-Simon said the Israeli system should examine the situation at the Temple Mount, though he admitted it would be hard to change things in the current political reality.

At the same time, Ben-Simon said, it is “an impossible situation that anyone who comes to the Temple Mount is suspected of wanting to blow up the compound.” He added that delegations of Knesset members should be taken on a tour of the Temple Mount so they can see the situation firsthand and then closely examine appropriate ways to solve it.

"I did not know the problem existed when I was a Knesset member,” he admitted.

Israel liberated the Temple Mount during the 1967 Six Day War, leaving the Waqf in charge of the compound.

The Waqf, in return, has removed every sign of ancient Jewish presence at the Jewish holy site. At the entrance to the Temple Mount, a Waqf sign says, “The Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard and everything in it is Islamic property.”

Israeli Police, in an attempt to appease the Waqf, discriminate against Jews. They limit the number of Jewish worshippers allowed on the Temple Mount at one time in order to prevent conflict with Muslim worshippers. They often close the Mount to Jews in response to Muslim riots, as Ben-Simon saw for himself on Sunday, despite evidence that Muslim riots have been planned in advance for the specific purpose of forcing Jews out.

Arabs continuously accuse Israel of "Judaizing" the Temple Mount, sometimes resorting to ridiculous propaganda such as accusing Israel of using chemicals to erode the foundations of the mosque in order to cause it to collapse.

At the same time the Waqf consistently destroys Jewish antiquities on the Temple Mount in a direct violation of a ruling by the Supreme Court.

Biden: Obama is not Bluffing on Iran
Mar 5th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Barack Obama's threats to use military force to prevent Iran securing a nuclear weapon are more than idle bluffs, vice-president Joe Biden told the biggest pro-Israeli lobbying group Aipac on Monday. Biden said that while the US preferred a diplomatic solution to the standoff with Iran, a military option remained on the table. He repeated: "The president of the United States cannot and does not, bluff.”

Allegations of Corruption and Cronyism Top Agenda At Pre - Conclave Vatican Meetings
Mar 5th, 2013
Daily NewsNatrional Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

VATICAN CITY — Cardinals said Monday they want to talk to Vatican managers about allegations of corruption and cronyism within the top levels of the Catholic Church before they elect the next pope, evidence that a scandal over leaked papal documents is casting a shadow over the conclave and setting up one of the most unpredictable papal elections in recent times.

The Vatican said 107 of the 115 voting-age cardinals attended the first day of pre-conclave meetings, at which cardinals organize the election, discuss the problems of the church and get to know one another before voting.

The red-capped “princes” of the church took an oath of secrecy and decided to pen a letter of “greeting and gratitude” to Benedict XVI, whose resignation has thrown the church into turmoil amid a torrent of scandals inside and out of the Vatican.

“I would imagine that as we move along there will be questioning of cardinals involved in the governing of the Curia to see what they think has to be changed, and in that context anything can come up,” said U.S. Cardinal Francis George.

Yet the first day of discussion was rocked by new revelations of scandal after Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien admitted that his “sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.”

O’Brien last week resigned as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh and said he wouldn’t participate in the conclave after four men came forward with allegations that he had acted inappropriately with them – the first time a cardinal has stayed away from a conclave because of personal scandal.

The Vatican on Monday refused to confirm whether it was investigating O’Brien, even though the Scottish church’s press office said the allegations had been forwarded to the Vatican and that it expected Rome would pursue the case.

Pressed to respond to reports of a fifth accuser who reportedly approached the Vatican directly in October with accusations, a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Thomas Rosica, read O’Brien’s statement admitting to sexual misconduct and said the Vatican would say no more.