Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Yisrael Katz: Believe IDF will Enter Gaza By Land
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Transport Minister, Yisrael Katz, related on Thursday to the possibility that Israel will advance to land attacks within the framework on Operation Protective Shield.

“The target goal must be the removal of the threat of missile fire against Israel. In order to do so, I believe we need to enter Gaza by land,” the Knesset member said.

U.S. Military Developing Brain Implants to Restore Memory
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsFox News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

DARPA's Restoring Active Memory program aims to bridge gaps in memory among veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury and others.DARPA

The U.S. military has chosen two universities to lead a program to develop brain implants to restore memory to veterans who have suffered brain injuries, officials said at a news conference Tuesday.

The Restoring Active Memory (RAM) program is a project of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the branch of the U.S. Department of Defense charged with developing next-generation technologies for the military. The initiative aims to develop wireless, fully implantable "neuroprosthetics" for service members suffering from traumatic brain injury or illness, DARPA Program Manager Justin Sanchez said at the news conference.

DARPA has selected two teams of researchers to develop the implants: The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. [Humanoid Robots to Flying Cars: 10 Coolest DARPA Projects]

Bridging the memory gap
More than 270,000 U.S. veterans have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) since 2000, and the condition affects about 1.7 million civilians in the United States each year, according to DARPA. TBI interferes with the ability to recall memories from before the injury, and also the capacity to form or retain new memories.

Currently, few treatments for TBI-related memory loss exist, but DARPA is trying to change that, Sanchez said. Deep brain stimulation, the use of implanted electrodes to deliver electrical signals to specific parts of the brain, has already demonstrated success in treating Parkinson's disease and other chronic brain conditions. Building on these advances, "we're developing new neuroprosthetics to bridge the gap in an injured brain to restore memory function," Sanchez said.

There are many different types of memory, but the RAM program will focus on a kind known as declarative memory knowledge that can be consciously recalled, such as events, times or places.

For example, imagine you need to go to the store. To find it, you need to know where the store is located and what it's called. A person with a traumatic brain injury often has trouble remembering these basic facts, Sanchez said.

As part of the RAM program, UCLA will receive up to $15 million, and the University of Pennsylvania will receive up to $22.5 million in funding, over a four-year period. In addition, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a federal research facility located in Livermore, California, will receive up to $2.5 million. The funding will depend on whether the institutions meet a series of technical milestones, ranging from recording neural signals to developing the hardware for chronic implants.

The UCLA team will focus on studying memory processes in the entorhinal cortex, an area of the brain known as the gateway of memory formation. Researchers will stimulate and record from neurons in patients with epilepsy who already have brain implants as part of their monitoring and treatment. The researchers will also develop computer models of how to stimulate the brain to re-establish memory function.

The University of Pennsylvania team will focus more on modeling how brain circuits work together more broadly, especially those in the brain's frontal cortex, an area involved in the formation of long-term memories. The university is collaborating with Minneapolis-based biomedical device company Medtronic to develop a memory prosthesis system. [Flying Saucers to Mind Control: 7 Declassified Military & CIA Secrets]

So far, the research will focus solely on restoring memory, Sanchez told Live Science. "We are not doing any research in the domain of erasing memories," he said.

Food for thought
Still, developing devices to restore memory is not easy. Huge technological and scientific challenges exist, DARPA officials said. First, researchers will need to develop new devices and hardware to wirelessly record and produce electrical signals in the brain. Then, scientists will need to develop new computational models to describe the brain circuits involved in memory formation. Finally, new algorithms will be needed to sense and interpret neural signals, to determine the appropriate stimulation required to restore memory.

Once these devices have been developed, they will be tested in clinical studies in humans, as well as in animal studies. All of the research will undergo an initial review by institutional review boards, as well as a secondary review by a panel made up of officials from the Department of Defense. New devices will require the approval of the Food and Drug Administration before they are made clinically available, according to DARPA.

Throughout the research, DARPA will adhere to ethical standards the agency summarized as "the 3 C's" character, consent and consequence. DARPA has created a panel to assess these standards and provide input on the research, said William Casebeer, a DARPA program manager involved in bioethics.

"There's a huge amount of actual suffering we could potentially alleviate if [the program] is successful," Casebeer said.

The RAM program is one of two programs that aim to develop brain implants to restore mental function in veterans. Both are part of the broader BRAIN Initiative, aproposed $4.5 billion, 12-year brain-mapping effort launched by President Barack Obama in April 2013.

The Slow March Toward a United States of Europe - Meet the Next President of the European Commission
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

European leaders in Brussels have nominated Jean-Claude Juncker, the former prime minister of Luxembourg, to be the next president of the European Commission, the powerful bureaucratic arm of the European Union.

Juncker, a European federalist, is well known for his commitment to further expanding the power of the European Union. His nomination—expected to be easily approved by the European Parliament on July 16—sends a clear signal that the European establishment has no intention of slowing the relentless march towards a United States of Europe, despite the surge of anti-EU sentiment across Europe.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban were the only two leaders of the 28-member bloc to vote against Juncker during a special meeting held in Brussels on June 27.

Cameron said he was opposed not only to Juncker as a candidate, but also to the way in which his candidacy was put forward.

Previously, the president of the European Commission was selected by European leaders on the basis of consensus.

But in what many see as a power grab aimed at downgrading the influence of national governments within the EU, new rules—based on an expansive interpretation of the Lisbon Treaty (aka the European Constitution)—state that the party winning the most votes in elections for European Parliament puts forth its preferred candidate. National governments are then obliged to "nominate" the candidate, after which the individual is formally approved by the European Parliament.

Juncker was the "lead candidate" (Spitzenkandidat) of the center-right European People's Party (EPP), which won the European Parliament elections that ended on May 25. He therefore has a "popular mandate" to lead the European Commission, according to Juncker and his supporters.

Proponents of the new Spitzenkandidat system say it enhances the democratic legitimacy of the unelected European Commission. Rather than EU governments picking a candidate behind closed doors, the individual is appointed by the European Parliament, which supposedly speaks for the people.

Critics rebut that the new system amounts to an "institutional coup" because it severs any remaining direct connection with the democratic process at the national level. At least under the old system, they say, the leaders who chose the Commission president were in some way accountable to their national electorates.

Juncker's so-called popular mandate is also undermined by an analysis carried out by Open Europe, a think tank campaigning for EU reform. The analysis notes that out of a total electorate of approximately 395 million people, 40.3 million (10.2%) voted for EPP affiliated parties during the most recent election. However, this number falls to 38.4 million (9.7%) when excluding Hungary and Sweden, two countries that refused to endorse the new system.

"In reality," writes Open Europe, "far less than 9.7% can be said to have genuinely voted 'for Juncker' given that the majority (outside of his native Luxembourg) did not know that he was standing—or even who he was."

In any event, German Chancellor Angela Merkel successfully pushed for Juncker, presumably out of fear that choosing an alternative candidate—after paying lip service to the need for democratic legitimacy within the EU—would provoke even more resentment of the European project.

Cameron said the selection of Juncker was "a bad day for Europe" because it deliberately ignored the "pro-reform message" sent by European voters in May. Cameron added that "this whole process has simply reinforced my conviction that Europe needs to change."

That sentiment was almost certainly reinforced on July 1, when Members of the European Parliament elected Martin Schulz, a German Socialist, for a second term as president of the European Parliament.

As part of a backroom deal to ensure that Schulz—who has long been suspected of political cronyism—would support Juncker as Commission president, Schulz was offered a pay and perks package worth over €265,000 ($365,000), more than half of which will be exempt from income tax.

"The re-election of Schulz via a secret ballot following a backroom stitch-up between the main center-right and center-left blocks epitomizes the EU's democratic flaws and exposes the hollow nature of the arguments in favor of spitzenkandidaten," Pawel Swidlicki, a research analyst at Open Europe, said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

"Schulz is an aggressive proponent of increasing the power of the European Parliament and so will be a big obstacle to EU reform."

Indeed, Schulz can be expected to join forces with Juncker to prevent anti-EU parties from achieving any meaningful reforms to the European Union.

Juncker, a 59-year-old veteran of EU deal-making, has been an unabashed advocate for expanding the powers of the EU. Like Schulz, he will be unlikely to favor transferring any powers from Brussels back to EU member states. Nor has Juncker ever been an advocate for more democratic accountability within the EU.

Commenting on the introduction of the European single currency in 1999, Juncker said: "We decide on something, leave it lying around and wait and see what happens. If no one kicks up a fuss, because most people don't understand what has been decided, we continue step by step until there is no turning back."

Referring to the European Constitution in 2003, Juncker said: "The Convention has been touted as the great democracy-show. I have not seen a darker darkroom than the Convention."

Commenting on the 2005 French referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, Juncker said: "If it's a Yes, we will say 'on we go,' and if it's a No we will say 'we continue.'" He also said: "Those countries that vote No must vote again... to obtain the right answer."

Referring to the popular opposition to the Lisbon Treaty in 2007, Juncker said: "I am astonished at those who are afraid of the people: one can always explain that what is in the interest of Europe is in the interests of our countries." He added: "Britain is different. Of course there will be transfers of sovereignty. But would I be intelligent to draw the attention of public opinion to this fact?"

Commenting on EU monetary policy in 2011, Juncker said: "Monetary policy is a serious issue. We should discuss this in secret, in the Eurogroup [the main forum for managing the European single currency] ... I'm ready to be insulted as being insufficiently democratic, but I want to be serious ... I am for secret, dark debates."

Referring to the economic meltdown in Greece in 2011, Juncker said: "When it becomes serious, you have to lie."

Juncker's appointment as the supreme Eurocrat makes it all but certain that the European Union will seek to centralize even more power in the hands of an unaccountable elite.

Russia is the Last Barrier in Establishing the Power of Antichrist, Ex - Secretary of the Odessa Dioce
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsInterfax
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The Ukrainian Church is in the same situation as it was under fascists, ex-secretary of the Odessa Diocese, rector of the Holy Trinity Church at the Vorobyovy Hills Archpriest Andrey Novikov believes.

"Events on Maidan, where uniates and autocephaly followers raged, genocide in Novorossia are continued struggle against Russia and Orthodoxy in Ukraine. These events are rooted in Polish-Lithuanian occupation, then they set up a project to tear the Orthodox Church in Ukraine from the unity with the Russian Orthodox Church and further triumph of the Unia and Vatican in the whole territory of Russia as the last bastion of the Orthodox civilization," the priest was cited as saying by the Pravoslavny Vzglyad (Orthodox View) website.

"The creation of a single world state with anti-Christian values means the reign of the Antichrist, and so Russia is the last remaining barrier to the rule of the Antichrist," he said.

"What is happening these days is what was happening during the Great Patriotic War - eventually, it's a fight for the future of the world. We are confronting the devil with all the pseudo-values - European values, subjugation to the West, hatred for Russia, open fascism - that are professed by the civilization to which [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko and the Maidan are declaring enthusiastic allegiance," the priest said.

He attacked "ideological traitors from among bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate," who have been able to "paralyze thinking at general church level."

"In 2007, the Bishops' Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate issued a disgraceful condemnation of political Orthodoxy, which in itself is heresy as the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church of 1917-1918 banned imposing any church punishment for political convictions," he said.

Report: IDF Kills Senior Hamas Rocket Commander
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The IDF has said it eliminated a leading Hamas commander Thursday, who was responsible for the Islamist group's rocket arsenal.

If true, Ayman Siam would the most senior terrorist figure killed by Israel since Operation Defensive Edge began three days ago.

But Hamas's "military wing" Ezzadine al-Kassam, denied the report.

"He is continuing in his acts of jihad. We call on the media to be precise and not to rely on Israel's lies."

It comes as Israel continued to batter Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorist groups in a bid to stamp out rocket fire against Israeli civilians.

An IDF statement said that on Thursday morning alone 70 "terror targets" were struck by the air force, bringing the total number of targets hit to over 800 - more than double the number hit by the IAF in 2012 six-day Pillar of Defense operation.

Among the targets were administrative buildings belonging to terrorist groups, smuggling tunnels, concealed rocket launchers, propaganda outlets and the homes of terrorist leaders.

Although most strikes were performed by the IAF, the Israeli navy has also played an active role, succeeded in destroying several Hamas weapons stores and military positions.

Although Hamas's leadership has gone into hiding since the start of the operation, the IDF has upped the pressure on them by destroying their homes. 

Among those houses targeted are the homes of some of the top leadership of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, including.

In addition, three senior Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed in an IDF strike on their car this morning.

Putin: 'I Support the Struggle of Israel'
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday met with a delegation of rabbis, led by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar, and rabbis of the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE).

"I follow closely what's going on in Israel," said Putin during the long meeting, which was held in Moscow.

"I support the struggle of Israel as it attempts to protect its citizens. I also heard about the shocking murder of the three youths. It is an act that cannot be allowed, and I ask you to transmit my condolences to the families," added the Russian president, in referring to the abduction and murder of three teens in June by Hamas terrorists.

Rabbi Yosef began by saying "according to the Jewish tradition, your leadership is decided by the kingdom of G-d, King of the world, and therefore we bless you: Blessed is the One who gave of His glory to flesh and blood."

The rabbi discussed the ongoing rocket barrage on Israel by terrorists in Gaza, a relentless assault that led to IDF Operation Protective Edge being launched this Monday.

"This morning I left the state of Israel, the state of the Jewish people. Several hours before I took off for here, a rocket fell right near my home in the capital of the Jewish people - Jerusalem," remarked the rabbi.

Rabbi Yosef added "I don't need to note the panic that fell on my children and grandchildren, who were forced to enter shelters despite having done nothing wrong. It is difficult to describe the psychological damage caused to them. All for the 'sin' of their being born to the Jewish people."

"Despite the difficult situation, I left everything and came here, to ask that you, mister president, act to fight against terror conducted in the name of religion," requested Rabbi Yosef.

"There cannot be a situation where people manipulate religion to slaughter innocents. ...I ask you in the name of the people of Israel: please, bring an end to the violence," added the rabbi.

A true friend of Israel

Putin responded to Rabbi Yosef, asking him to tell Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that he is a true friend of Israel and of Netanyahu. Netanyahu called Putin on Thursday, and in their conversation, Putin called for an end to the conflict in Gaza.

Rabbi Lau, former Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi and current Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, spoke in the meeting about his remarkable personal story as a survivor of the Holocaust who later became the chief rabbi of Israel.

In this context, Putin consulted with the rabbis on means of dealing with anti-Semitism, Holocaust deniers and preventing historical revisionism.

Putin noted that the meeting marks 73 years since the massacre of thousands of Jews in Sevastopol in 1942, remarking on the bravery of the Jews who fought against the genocidal Nazi war machine.

"I remember visiting in the Yad Vashem Museum in Israel, which doesn't allow anyone to remain apathetic, and describes the horrifying atrocities that occurred in those days," said Putin.

The president added "here too in Moscow the Jewish community established a Jewish museum that gives a bitter picture of those awful years, and at the same time gives hope to the Jewish people and the Jewish community throughout Russia."

The warm meeting with the Russian president comes at a time when Israel is strengthening its relations with several major countries.

On Sunday, Japan signed an Industrial R&D Collaboration Agreement with Israel, making the Jewish state the first country Japan has signed such an agreement with. Israel likewise signed a landmark bilateral trade plan with China in May.

Official: Hamas Holding Out for 'high - Quality' Terror Attack
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Smoke rises from Gaza airport

Flash 90

Top Defense Ministry Amos Gilad said Thursday that Hamas has been “badly damaged” by the IDF's campaign in response to the terror organizations unending attacks on Israeli civilians. Gilad, Head of the Defense Ministry's Diplomacy-Security Department, said that Hamas was working very hard to keep up its “victorious image,” but was finding it much more difficult now than in the past.

“Hamas is trying very hard to make headlines,” said Gilad. “They issue proclamations of 'victory' and time their major rocket attacks to coincide with 'high pressure' periods,” such as Thursday morning's attack on Tel Aviv at the height of rush hour. As tens of thousands of commuters were driving into the Tel Aviv area Thursday morning, Hamas terrorists fired at least four rockets at the Dan area. All four were shot down by the Iron Dome defensive system.

Hamas also times its heavy rocket attacks for the early evening hours, in the hope of making headlines on the evening TV broadcasts and thus sowing panic among Israelis.

According to Gilad, Hamas is more than ready to end this round of fighting. “They are hoping for a 'high-quality' attack that they can point to and pronounce as a victory, and when that happens they will immediately call a cease-fire. They are sustaining grave losses and cannot continue at this rate,” he said.

Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge three days ago, the IDF has hit 785 terror targets in Gaza – more than in the entire six days of 2012's Operation Defensive Shield. In the 24 hours ended 6 AM Thursday, the army said, 322 terror targets were destroyed, including 217 rocket-launching sites, as well as the homes of 46 Hamas commanders. By now, the army said, nearly all of Hamas' top commanders and their families were homeless.

Since the beginning of the operation, the IDF has hit 513 missile-launching sites. Officials said that the rate of attack against Hamas targets was double that of Defensive Shield, when the IDF pounded Gaza I response to months of endless rocket attacks.

Now Sharing Your Faith is Bullying - Christian Employee Banned from Talking About Faith At Work
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A Christian National Health Services occupational therapist has been disciplined and banned from talking about her faith at work following a nine-month suspension for 'bullying' a Muslim colleague.

Head of Occupational Therapy at the East London NHS Trust, Victoria Wasteney has since been reinstated by the Trust, but is moving onto a different project.

Despite the disciplinary's verdict, Wasteney maintains that she was always respectful to her co-worker and only ever spoke about her faith after receiving encouragement to do so.

"I fear I may have been entrapped by a colleague who encouraged me to discuss my faith, who willingly agreed that I could pray for her and who even accepted an invitation to a church charity event," she says.

The co-worker in question was a junior in Wasteney's department, and made a complaint to the Trust on grounds of religious discrimination and harassment.

Wasteney was then found guilty of giving her colleague a book detailing the story of a Muslim who converted to Christianity, placing a hand on her knee during prayer and inviting her to a church charity event. The Disciplinary Tribunal thus ordered Wasteney's suspension, which has since been lifted, though a formal warning will remain on her record for 12 months.

Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Wasteney has fought this verdict, contending that she was "simply responding in a loving and compassionate way to a young colleague who seemed genuinely interested in talking about my faith as a Christian".

"For nine months I was made to feel I was a danger to my colleagues and the public despite no evidence of wrong-doing. I had email evidence clearly showing the Complainant wanted to come to my charity church event and I only put my hand on her knee in friendship after asking her permission while I prayed for her," she insists.

"I would have stopped praying immediately if I had thought I was distressing her in any way but faith was openly discussed and encouraged and welcomed by the Complainant."

Throughout her ordeal Wasteney has been keen to impress the importance of respect for all faiths, and believes that the NHS encourages discrimination against Christians in particular.

"I believe in tolerance for everyone," she told The Telegraph. "It certainly wasn't an attempt to convert her to Christianity".

According to the 37-year-old, there is "undoubtedly a pattern of inequality of treatment of Christians and Muslims" within the health service.

"Muslim staff can pray five times a day, which I am not objecting to, but Christians are often denied time off on Sundays or permission to take breaks during their lunchtime for prayer or religious worship," she says.

"I never expected to be persecuted by the very Trust I have been dedicated to over the past seven years."

Wasteney is appealing the court's decision under the 2010 Equality Act, and is being represented by top Human Rights barrister Paul Diamond.

Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, argues that Wasteney's case indicates a move away from the very values on which the NHS was built.

"The NHS was founded and inspired by Christian principles and precepts. Such heritage meant that the NHS was a model of how to deliver health care across the world; a place of safety, care, freedom and flourishing with a staff inspired by their chosen career," she has said in a statement.

"Sadly, this case, along with others, demonstrates that today's climate in the NHS is increasingly dominated by a suffocating liberal agenda that chooses to bend over backwards to accommodate certain beliefs but punishes the Christian."

Wasteney's appeal follows a series of cases from Christian employees who claim they have been discriminated against in the workplace as a result of their faith. A Christian woman who was fired from her job at Heathrow airport after complaining about religious harassment by Muslim colleagues took her case to the Court of Appeal just last week.

Nohad Halawi, who worked as a saleswoman at Heathrow airport for 13 years, says she raised her concerns about being subject to abuse from Muslim staff several times before her dismissal. She contends that she was taunted by colleagues for her "shi**y Jesus" and was compelled to defend a fellow Christian who chose to wear a cross.

She alleges that her Muslim colleagues then made up false accusations that she is "anti-Islam" and this resulted in her airside pass, which allowed her to trade at the duty free section in Terminal 3, being taken away.

Netanyahu Under Pressure for a Large Military Operation
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsAl-Monitor
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

In honor of the event, the newspaper published a special column written by US President Barack Obama. “Peace is necessary, just, and possible,” he wrote. “True safety will only come with a comprehensive negotiated settlement,” he asserted. The American president dispatched his Middle East adviser, Phil Gordon, to the Haaretz-sponsored conference.

A few hours earlier, on Monday evening, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal also published a column in that paper, in which he asserted that the “Arab Peace Initiative still provides a template for peace.” He called on the Israeli people and their leaders to accept it, to turn the entire region into a blooming garden of cooperation and brotherhood, instead of being a place of wars and hatred.

Having served as his country’s intelligence chief, Turki also served as the Saudi ambassador to some European countries and as the ambassador to the United States, the most prestigious position fathomable in Saudi Arabia. He is said to be the axis linking Saudis and Israelis, having fostered secret ties with his Israeli counterparts over many years.

His column could have very well been written by Shimon Peres, the Israeli president. If the region consisted of only people like him and Peres, peace would have long reigned here.

This was a well-orchestrated peace offensive which could have elevated spirits and boosted morale in what is left of the Israeli and Palestinian peace camps. But as is usually the case, the realities of the Middle East upset the applecart. Representatives from all over the world gathered in a Tel Aviv hotel to talk about peace, while just a few kilometers away — in the cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Rehovot and in many other places — preparations were underway for war, which at the exact same time was slowly progressing toward us.

On the night of July 6, seven members of Hamas’ military wing were killed inside an explosive tunnel, which would have allowed them to emerge on the Israeli side of the border, carry out a massive killing terror attack, make an attempt at kidnapping soldiers or civilians and then return to their base in Gaza. Israel’s intelligence corps picked up the trail of this tunnel ahead of time. The Palestinian force that was about to mount the terrorist act blew up inside the tunnel. At the same time, two other Hamas militants were killed during Israeli airstrikes.

Very limited and proportionate, the Israeli activity came about after continual deterioration on the Gaza front. Spearheading the fire this time around, Hamas kept ratcheting up the rocket fire at Israel every hour. Scoffing at the Israeli offers to resume the understandings reached in the aftermath of Operation Pillar of Defense, it also dismissed its statements that “quiet will be met by quiet.” As was observed here last weekend, Hamas disproved all the premises. It decided to double down and put out the fire with a massive explosion, salvaging itself through blood, fire and plumes of smoke.

Convening for four hours on Monday night, the Israeli cabinet listened to assessments of the situation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is caught in a classic Catch-22. If he continues to show restraint, he will go on being battered. Hamas will pursue its buildup. The range of the rockets will increase, going up north — all the way to the cities of Herzliyah, Netanya and Hadera. Soon enough, all of Israel will fall within Hamas’ rocket range, only to be held hostage by the caprices of the military wing — Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades — which, with a push of a button, can disrupt the lives of millions of Israelis.

In contrast, if Netanyahu does decide to take action, he will turn the two summer months — the beloved break by Israeli adults and children alike — into a sweaty and bloody nightmare. Tel Aviv will be bombed with rockets. The economy will sustain a heavy blow. Tourists will take off, national morale will plunge and the sense of security will wane. This — it goes without saying — will also put Netanyahu’s own rule at risk. And if there’s one thing that Netanyahu is more afraid of than having state security at risk, it’s having his own rule at risk.

The Israeli bind also consists of other elements, such as that a left-wing prime minister can wage war with relative ease while a right-wing prime minister can make peace, also with relative ease.

This whole setup is reminiscent of a banking system. The name of the game is international credit. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had unlimited international credit thanks to his generous peace offers and the bona fide protection he earned, having convinced the world that he was a peace-seeking leader. Incidentally, this was all true. Consequently, when he waged war on Lebanon (2006) and then Gaza (2008), the international community did not give him a hard time. And it is for the same reason that when Netanyahu talks about war, the international community immediately closes in on him and will not give him a free hand for very long.

During the discussions with the defense establishment, Netanyahu heard an assessment to the effect that the IDF would need quite some time in order to revert the situation to what it used to be, to wit, the understandings of Operation Pillar of Defense that were hatched out after Netanyahu government’s last operation in Gaza in November 2012. Netanyahu does not have that kind of time — neither from the international community nor from his public.

On the one hand, he is being outflanked by the right. Minister of Economy and Trade Naftali Bennett takes him to task at every possible opportunity, scolding him as someone who does not keep his word and is unable to stop terror from Gaza. On Monday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman disbanded his union with Netanyahu’s Likud Party, demanding also to begin an operation in Gaza fashioned after Operation Defensive Shield.

Bibi (Netanyahu) is rapidly losing his right-wing base, emerging as a hesitant, fearful premier. He is being repeatedly reminded of what he said as chairman of the opposition when Hamas fired rockets at Israeli towns in 2008. He is being reminded of what he promised (“We will topple Hamas' regime of terror”) and what he stated (“The Kadima government stopped the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in its tracks before completing the task. We will restore security for the residents of Ashkelon, the residents of Ashdod and the residents of Sderot and Beersheba”). Found free of charge on YouTube, his performances have been in high demand lately. In hindsight, they look more like Louis C.K.’s standup routine than statements from a leader.

When the defense establishment meets with the Israeli political echelon, the full complexity of the issue comes to light. Suppose Israel did incur into Gaza, did eradicate terrorism there (the way it did in 2002 during Operation Defensive Shield) and did pull out in the end. Then what? Who will replace Hamas? Based on past experience, things will only get worse. Those who killed Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin got Ahmed Jabari, commander of Hamas’ military wing, in his stead. And those who killed Jabari now have to cope with the Salafists, the Resistance Committees and Ansar Bait al-Maqdis in Sinai.

So before launching such an operation, we need to make sure that the reality in the medium and long run would be a better one. Incidentally, it worked out in the West Bank. By mopping up terrorism during Operation Defensive Shield, Israel helped to embolden the Palestinian Authority, which has been fighting terrorism since then (while still continuing, however, to oil and fund the Palestinian incitement machine.) An Israeli incursion of Gaza could turn into a trap as was south Lebanon (where Israel was bogged down for nearly 20 years), or even a kind of Vietnam. On the other hand, there will be no escaping from that eventuality.

There is no sovereign state in the world that would be willing to live for an extended period of time under the immediate and constant threat of terror. Sooner or later, Israel will have to clean up Gaza, with or without Netanyahu. Right now, it seems that it will likely do it without him.

Netanyahu Says 'Additional Stages' Lie Ahead
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Moshe Ya'alon, Binyamin Netanyahu

Flash 90

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu delivered a short statement Thursday evening after a lengthy session of the Security-Diplomacy cabinet, which was devoted to Operation Protective Edge against Hamas's terror machine in Gaza.

"The campaign is proceeding as planned,” he said, “but additional stages await us. We have struck Hamas and the sons of terror forcefully, and as the campaign wears on, we will deepen the damage to them.”

Netanyahu thanked the IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet), for their operational activity. “They are making every effort to avoid hitting civilians, and if civilians are hit, it is only because Hamas purposely hides behind Palestinian civilians,” he explained.

The security establishment has successfully foiled numerous terror attacks on Israel, he said, “but a difficult, complex and complicated campaign lies ahead.”

He called on Israeli citizens to continue and display the civilian fortitude that is “a central pillar in our ability to carry on with the operation until our work is done, and we bring peace and quiet back to the cities of Israel.”

"The most important thing for me, for all of us,” he added, “is to protect the lives of all Israeli citizens, and for that purpose, we all work together.”

Let the Headlines Speak
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Obama rejects criticism over border crisis
Obama rejected demands from Texas Governor Rick Perry and others that he visit the border where a child migrant crisis is unfolding and said his critics should get behind his request for $3.7 billion if they want to solve the problem.  

Top archaeologists condemn Israeli plan to rebuild ancient tomb
An unusual plan to rebuild the tomb of Herod the Great at the Herodium site, southeast of Jerusalem, has spurred opposition on the part of top archaeologists. The plan, which is being promoted by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Gush Etzion Regional Council, includes building a lavish mausoleum in its original size out of light plastic material, and turning it into a visitor’s center.  

Chinese hackers pursue key data on U.S. workers: NYT
Chinese hackers broke into the computer networks of the United States government agency that keeps the personal information of all federal employees in March, the New York Times reported, citing senior U.S. officials. The hackers appeared to be targeting files on tens of thousands of employees who have applied for top-secret security clearances, the newspaper said.  

Israel’s Gaza Operation – War At Last
How do you fight an enemy that has no morals, no heart? This is not the time to remind Israel’s politicians “we told you so” when you gave up Gaza in 2005. Nor is this the time to blame successive Israeli governments for letting it get this far, far enough to allow this implacable foe to arm itself to the teeth.  

Report: IDF Kills Senior Hamas Rocket Commander
The IDF has said it eliminated a leading Hamas commander Thursday, who was responsible for the Islamist group's rocket arsenal. If true, Ayman Siam would the most senior terrorist figure killed by Israel since Operation Defensive Edge began three days ago.  

Target's gun ban backfires: Here come the robbers
Within three days of a new policy asking customers not to bring their guns to Target stores, reports have surfaced of armed attacks on customers.  

NYPD Cop-Turned-Demonologist on Why He Believes Possessions Are on the Rise — and the Most Terrifying Thing He’s Seen During an Exorcism
Sarchie, a self-described demonologist who was once a cop for the 46th police precinct in New York City — and the inspiration for the new Hollywood film “Deliver Us From Evil” — told TheBlaze that he believes possessions and infestations are on the rise. “It’s definitely on the rise. I hate to say it,” Sarchie said in an interview. “As society pushes God out, no one can deny that that’s happening. There’s a good portion of society that just cannot stomach Jesus Christ and when I see that, I have to wonder where that hatred comes from.”  

Obama Administration: No 'Unaccompanied Alien Children' at Border
According to an internal June 4 ICE e-mail message distributed widely to managers in headquarters and field offices, personnel were urged to refrain from using the official acronym UAC, in favor of "unaccompanied child".  

Obama taking more media heat as he skips border visit during crisis
Obama is in Texas but isn’t visiting the border, which has been overwhelmed by vast waves of Central American children seeking refuge in the United States. Does that matter? How important is what political pros call the “optics” of the situation? After all, the media hammered George W. Bush for flying over New Orleans after Katrina, rather than engage with victims on the ground.  

Earthquake hits Andalucia
An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale was felt in southern Spain on Wednesday night. It struck at 20.36pm and was reported in the provinces of Jaen, Malaga and Granada. As of now, there have been no reports of injuries or serious damage.  

Burundi law to limit church numbers
Burundi's lower house of parliament has passed a bill intended to curb the country's "proliferation of churches". A government survey last year found there were 557 denominations practising in the small Central African state. New regulations would require churches to have at least 500 members and a proper building.  

Brics to open alternatives to World Bank, IMF
Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (the so-called Brics) are to establish alternatives to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which they find too biased towards Europe and the US. The "New Development Bank"...will be launched at a Brics summit...next week, with all agreed except where to put the main headquarters, Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov said Wednesday (9 July).  

Hamas steps up psychological warfare, threatens suicide attacks, rockets in Hebrew
Hamas has taken to the Hebrew language in its latest effort at psychological warfare. ..."Zionists, wait and see stabbing attacks everywhere. Wait for suicide attacks on every bus, café and street. Wait for the rage and for revenge for Gaza, wait for the flames of the West Bank and inside you [Israel]," the broadcast threatens.  

Barrage of Hamas rockets intercepted over central Israel; Explosions heard in Tel Aviv
Code Red sirens sounded in several communities throughout Israel on Thursday afternoon as Israel's anti-rocket system successfully intercepted a barrage of Hamas-fired projectiles over the Shfela region. Audible explosions were also heard in the Tel Aviv area , although no Code Red siren proceeded the explosions.  

ISIS Has Seized 88 Pounds Of Uranium In Northern Iraq
With the mainstream media having moved on in the news cycle to Dow 'almost' 17,000 and the 'Border Crisis' Scandal, it seems The Islamic State (the terrorists formerly known as ISIS) have stepped up their game and come out swinging... by seizing 88 pounds of nuclear material (uranium compounds) from Mosul University. As Iraq's UN Ambassador warned, "these nuclear materials, despite the limited amounts mentioned, "can be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction... or in combination with other materials in its terrorist acts."  

As end of Russia visa approaches, Edward Snowden seeks extension
Fugitive national security contractor Edward Snowden has filed the paperwork to extend his refuge in Russia as the July 31 expiration of his asylum grant approaches, his lawyer told Russian media on Wednesday.  

Texas Gov. Perry: Illegal immigrant surge a 'humanitarian crisis' Obama can stop
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday on “Hannity” that President Obama needs to act now to stop the surge in illegal immigrants flooding across his state’s border, calling it “a humanitarian crisis that he has the ability to stop.” The Republican governor spoke out after meeting with Obama in Texas Wednesday afternoon. Both sides called the meeting “constructive” and said they agreed philosophically. However, Perry said he is concerned that Obama did not indicate he will take the immediate action he requested: to use his power as commander-in-chief to send the National Guard to secure the border.  

Federal Reserve plans to end stimulus in October
The Federal Reserve will end its stimulus programme in October if US economic growth continues at its current pace, minutes from its June meeting released Wednesday revealed. The Fed has been buying bonds to lower long-term interest rates and boost growth since September 2012. Currently, the bank is buying $35bn (£20bn) of bonds monthly  

Six dead in Houston house shooting
Six people, including four children, have been shot dead at a house near the US city of Houston, police say. Police said the incident appeared to have started over a domestic dispute about a break-up.  

Here's How Argentina Could Go Down In Flames Even If It Does Pay Off The Hedge Funds
We know what could happen if Argentina defies a U.S. Court and does not pay a group of hedge funds, known as NML, over $1.3 billion in debt dating back to its 2001 financial crisis — the country will default. That means rising interest rates, money printing, inflation, and a replay of the classic Argentine nightmare.  

7 Times When Iran's Strategic Mastermind Reshaped The Middle East
A former CIA operative described Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Force, as the “most powerful operative in the Middle East today.” Qassem Suleimani has been called the single most powerful operative in the Middle East today. Take a look at his resume and it's no surprise why.

ISIS Spokesman Explains Why 'Islamic State' not Supporting Hamas
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

ISIS in Mosul, Iraq

Reuters

The Islamic State, or ISIS, has responded to critics who have questioned why its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is not actively supporting Hamas in fighting Israel.

After capturing vast swathes of Iraq and Syria, ISIS declared the regions under its control as a "Caliphate", or Islamic state, and appointed Baghdadi as "leader of the Muslims". While many jihadists celebrated the announcement, others - including Al Qaeda, which ISIS broke off from last year - have criticized the move for a variety of reasons.

Since the recent escalation between Israel and Islamist terrorists in Gaza, some of those critics have questioned why a self-declared "Caliphate" is not rushing to the aid of Muslims in the Hamas-controlled territory. 

In a statement a spokesperson for the group, Nidal Nuseiri reaffirmed that conquering "Bayt el-Maqdis" (Jerusalem) and destroying the State of Israel is central to the group's "jihad", or holy war.

However, he pointed out that ISIS has been taking a systematic approach in its campaign, and outlined six specific stages it said needed to be fulfilled before taking on Israel.

Some of those "stages" - building a firm base for an Islamic state in Iraq, and using it as a springboard to wage war in Syria and Lebanon - have already been achieved. But he said a number of other criteria still needed to be fulfilled before challenging Israel directly.

Among them, Nuseiri said that the US - seen as Israel's greatest ally - needed to be weakened politically and economically via attacks on the American mainland, as well as US interests in Muslim countries. Additionally, the existing "Islamic State" needed to expand its borders to cover all of "Greater Syria" (which would include Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jorislamdan and possibly Gaza); such a state, he said, would then be in a position for a direct confrontation with Israel.

ISIS Destroys Shrines and Mosques, May be Targeting Mecca
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsFox News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Illegal Immigration Controversy Revives North American Union Talk
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Twenty years ago President, Bill Clinton, enacted the NAFTA, North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA eliminated most tariffs on trade between the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Its stated purpose was to encourage free trade and economic activity between the three nations. NAFTA created the world’s largest trade area, linking 450 million people producing 17 trillion dollars worth of goods and services.

Although we hear little about NAFTA from the main stream media these days, the idea of uniting the 3 countries of North America still exists and is being pursued academically and politically.

Recently, General David Patreaus, former CIA director, gave a policy speech before the Margaret Thatcher Conference on Liberty, answering the question,” After America What?” His answer, “After America, there is North America.”

In his speech, Petraeus proclaimed the coming of the “North American decade,” a vision he explained founded on the idea of putting together the economies of the United States, Canada and Mexico, 20 years after the creation of NAFTA.

After describing , what he calls current “revolutions” in the economies of the three nations, Petreaus stated, “The forces unleashed by these countries being as highly integrated as they are, with Canada and Mexico being our two top trading partners, I believe we can argue that after America comes North America,” Petraeus explained.

General Petraeus teaches a course at the City University of New York entitled “The Coming North American Decade(s). The course syllabus includes the following: “This seminar will seek to answer the question, ‘Are we on the threshold of the new North American decade(s)?

According to a WND article by Jerome R. Corsi, the assigned reading specified in the course syllabus shows Petraeus has derived much of his thinking from global economic sources in trying to project the future of North America.

Interestingly, in a speech at the Mexican border on June 28th, in response to the crisis of unaccompanied children pouring across the border, California Democrat, Nancy Pelosi referred to the Mexican-American border as a “community with a border going through it.” Additionally, she called the emergency an “opportunity”, not a crisis.

The above instances reveal the attitudes of some DC insiders concerning unity between the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Since the 1994 implementation of NAFTA, each successive US President has sought to deepen the “ties that bind” the three nations together, possibly adding the Central and South American nations, into a North American Union which would resemble the European Union.

Much of the negotiations concerning future, expanded trade agreements such as the controversial TPP, Trans Pacific partnership, are shrouded in secrecy due to opposition by citizens of the involved nations.

Secretive organizations such as the Tri-lateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, and the Bilderbergs, are thought to be instrumental in development of controversial policies like NAFTA and TPP.

The late Admiral Chester Ward, a longtime CFR, Council on Foreign Relations member, became one of its most notable critics. 

According to Adm. Ward, the goal of the CFR’s leaders is the “submergence of U.S. sovereignty and national independence into an all-powerful one-world government.” 

The Bible book of Revelation predicts the formation of a powerful “One World Government” ruled by the Biblical “Anti-Christ’, prior to the return of Jesus Christ in Kingly power. The North American Union may be but one piece of the puzzle in this coming new world order.

IDF Official: Hamas Embedding Itself in Schools, Hospitals
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

IDF soldiers stand atop an armored personnel carrier near the Gaza border

Reuters

A senior IDF official has told Arutz Sheva that the army has no choice but to launch a ground offensive into Gaza in order to stamp out rocket fire on Israeli civilians, because Hamas and other terrorist groups have embedded their military infrastructure so deeply into the civilian population that it is impossible to reach via air power without causing massive collateral damage.

In particular, the source said Hamas has hidden its missile stockpiles and even embedded launchpads specifically in schools and hospitals - callously using the most vulnerable members of society as human shields. At the same time, the Islamist group is not allowing civilians to leave the area; on the contrary, it is encouraging as many noncombatants as possible to "protect" its positions with their bodies.

As a result, he said, a ground invasion is all but inevitable.

'Double war-crime'

Earlier Thursday, it was revealed that Hamas had told Gazans not to listen to IDF warnings of impending strikes, but to stay indoors and act as human shields.

The Israeli Air Force has used numerous methods - from phone calls and leaflets, to firing dud missiles before a strike (known as "knocking on the roof") - to warn noncombatants prior to military strikes in their vicinity.

But the Hamas-run Gaza Interior Ministry said in a message to residents that the warnings "are designed to weaken our resolve and to sow panic and fear among us, in light of the failures of our enemies. We call on Gaza residents not to pay attention to these messages and not to leave their homes."

In previous operations, IDF footage and photos have shown how Palestinian terrorists hide weapons and munitions in mosques, schools and other sensitive civilian sites, in direct contravention of international law. Some Israeli leaders have referred to this practice as a "double war-crime": firing missiles indiscriminately at Israeli civilians, while using Palestinian Arab civilians as human shields.

During the current escalation Hamas has openly boasted about the "success" of this strategy, and the IDF has published extensive evidence of the practice.

Watch - Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu-Zuhri lauds the "success" of use of human shields:

Earlier Thursday, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett said Hamas was directly responsible for any civilian casualties in Gaza due to its "cowardly" tactics.

"Hamas has missile-launchers hidden in homes and in schools," he said. "I myself was a commando fighter in Gaza and I saw missile-launchers in the living room of a home. When you do this you are killing your own children. Hamas is clearly responsible for the very unfortunate death of Arab citizens."

82 Gazans have been killed since Operation Protective Edge began three days ago - 30 of them on Thursday - according to Gaza medical sources. Those figures have not been independently verified, but the majority are believed to be terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, killed in precision IAF strikes. Some, however, are civilians - and many of them were killed while heeding Hamas's calls to protect terrorist infrastructure with their bodies.

The tactic is win-win as far as Hamas is concerned. In most cases, it knows that Israel will simply refrain from taking action if Israeli forces are aware of the presence of civilians in the vicinity; but when IDF forces are unaware of the presence of human shields - as occurred in a tragic episode on Tuesday - Hamas can score a propaganda victory by presenting civilian deaths as "proof" that Israel is killing Palestinian civilians.

The only way to thoroughly root-out the rocket launchers and terrorist infrastructure without risking heavy civilians casualties is therefore to face Hamas in the streets and allies of Gaza City, Rafiah and other urban areas where they are based.

And, as Middle East expert and Arutz Sheva contributor Dr. Mordechai Kedar pointed out in a recent article, that may be precisely what Hamas is trying to achieve.

Indeed Israel has managed to avoid serious casualties until now by relying on its extensive defensive measures - from a comprehensive network of bomb shelters to the Iron Dome missile defense system.

A ground incursion, however, is likely to be much more costly. Bearing that cost in mind, if - as looks all but inevitable at this point - the IDF does indeed embark on such a mission, the only acceptable outcome will be a route of Hamas and its allies, and a complete end to the rocket fire.

Hamas Missiles Target Nuclear Facility As Likelihood of Israel Invasion of Gaza Increases
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsThe National Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty ImagesA picture taken from the southern Israeli Gaza border shows smoke billowing from buildings following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on July 9, 2014.

Hamas militants launched a salvo of missiles at Israel’s main nuclear facility Wednesday night, raising the likelihood of an Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Three rockets were aimed towards the southern Israeli town of Dimona and the nearby Negev nuclear reactor and research centre, where Israel’s atomic weapons program is thought to be based.

Two of the rockets fell in open areas and the other was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defensive shield, with none causing casualties, an Israeli army spokesman said.

However, the symbolic aggression of the act may raise expectations that Israel will press ahead with threats to launch a full-scale ground operation to dismantle Hamas’s military infrastructure.

The threat to the nuclear facility came as Gaza saw its bloodiest day of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, with at least 22 people, reportedly including nine children and six women, killed in air strikes.

But the strikes failed to staunch the rocket fire from Hamas, which unleashed its full arsenal of long-range missiles as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The exchanges were matched by bellicose political language on either side.

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.

That claim was brushed aside by Shimon Peres, Israel’s president, who accused Hamas of starting the conflict by firing rockets. “We asked them to stop. We waited one day, two days, three days and they continued, and they spread their fire on more areas in Israel,” he said.

He added that a ground offensive on Gaza “may happen quite soon.” Referring to rockets being fired from Gaza, he added: “If they will stop for example tonight, there won’t be any ground entrance – but if they will continue, sooner or later this will be the response.”

Despite the rising number of dead, diplomatic pressure on Israel has so far been relatively light.

The European Union, through the office of its foreign policy chief, Baroness Ashton, condemned “indiscriminate” rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and deplored “the growing number of civilian casualties, reportedly among them children, caused by Israeli retaliatory fire.”

But the calls fell far short of the international chorus of criticism that accompanied Israel’s previous incursions into Gaza in 2008 and 2012. That, however, may be due to the relative absence of any single major tragedy so far to mobilise international opinion around – unlike in 2008, when the opening day of Operation Cast Lead saw several dozen Gazan police cadets killed by an Israeli drone that strafed their graduation ceremony.

“Presumably there have been no voices because of the extraordinary accuracy of the Israeli strikes,” said Martin van Creveld, an Israeli military historian and strategist.

Egypt urged Israel and Hamas to halt the spiralling conflict, but played down hopes of a Cairo-mediated truce. The new military-led government in Cairo is distrustful of Hamas because of the group’s links to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which was deposed from government last year.

“There is no mediation, in the common sense of the word,” said Badr Abdelatty, an Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman. “Egyptian diplomatic efforts are aimed at immediately stopping Israeli aggression and ending all mutual violence. [Egyptian] contacts have not yet achieved a result.”

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty ImagesAn Israeli police man inspects a building in a Kibbutz near the border with the Gaza Strip on July 9, 2014, after it was hit and damaged by a rocket fired from Gaza.

As tanks continued to mass on the Gaza border, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said there would no let up in the military operation until Hamas stopped its rockets.

“The operation will expand and continue until the rocket firing on our cities stops, and the quiet returns,” he said. “Hamas will pay a heavy price for firing on Israeli citizens.”

One of the deadliest Israeli strikes took place in the small hours of yesterday, when a missile hit a house in northern Gaza, killing a suspected Islamic Jihad militant and five of his family members.

Further raids to the north and east of Gaza City killed another two women and four children, while a fourth strike on Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza killed a woman and four of her children. Another five Palestinians died in other raids across Gaza yesterday morning.

Israelis, meanwhile, were sent scurrying into shelters as the Hamas rockets continued, with two reportedly crashing into the sea as far away as the northern port city of Haifa, 100 miles from Gaza. If confirmed, it would be the furthest a rocket fired from Gaza has travelled.

Hamas is thought to have an arsenal of around 10,000 missiles, although so far none has caused any casualties.

France Lashes Out Against U.S. Dollar, Calls for Rebalancing of World Currencies
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsRT
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin (Reuters/Denis Balibouse)

The French government wants to break the monopoly the dollar has on international transactions after the country’s largest bank, BNP Paribas, was slapped with a record $9 billion fine and a 1-year dollar trading ban.

Michel Sapin, the French finance minister, called for a “rebalancing” of the currencies used for global payments, saying the BNP Paribas case should “make us realize the necessity of using a variety of currencies” the Financial Times reports.

“We [Europeans] are selling to ourselves in dollars, for instance when we sell planes. Is that necessary? I don’t think so. I think a rebalancing is possible and necessary, not just regarding the euro, but also for the big currencies of the emerging countries, which account for more and more of global trade,” the finance minister told the FT at a conference over the weekend.

France wants to bring the euro to greater prominence in international trade. Sapin said he would raise the idea on Monday when he meets in Brussels with eurozone finance ministers.

BNP was punished for helping counties like Iran, Sudan, and Cuba process $30 billion in transactions which are illegal under US law, since they violate US sanctions. Starting on January 1, 2015, the bank will not be able to carry out dollar-based transactions for one year.

The French government has called the fine and 1-year ban unreasonable and unfair, as it blocks the country’s largest bank from handling dollars, which is the dominant currency in global trade. Nearly 90 percent of all deals in the $5 trillion a day foreign exchange market includes the US dollar.

Heavy-handed sanctions from the US and Europe have forced countries to also look towards other currency options. Russia, for example, is actively working to de-dollarize, and is starting to use the Chinese yuan and other Asian currencies in trading.

Dollars dominate most oil and gas pricing, another cycle France hopes to break.

Christophe de Margerie, the CEO of Total, France’s largest company, says other currencies can be used in oil purchases, even if the benchmark is left in dollars.

“The price of a barrel of oil is quoted in dollars,” de Margerie said. “A refinery can take that price and using the euro-dollar exchange rate on any given day, agree to make the payment in euro.”

The US and OPEC countries have traded oil exclusively in US dollars since 1971.

Five Things Christians Need to Know About the Israel - Gaza Conflict
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A dramatic escalation in Hamas rocket fire in recent days has forced Israel to take military action against terrorists in Gaza.

Gaza terrorists have launched more than 450 rockets at Israel capable of reaching deep into the country since the beginning of 2014. The attacks have sent thousands running into bomb shelters, threatening 3.5 million Israeli lives.

Tuesday morning Israel launched what it calls “Operation Protective Edge.” Government officials say the aim is to secure an end to weeks of Hamas rocket fire.

Understanding the motives behind the violence can be confusing without proper knowledge of the root causes contributing to the aggression as well as the religious issues, which shape life in the Middle East.

5 Things Christians Need to Know about the Israel-Gaza Conflict:

1. How did the recent attacks escalate?

Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship, disappeared on June 12 while hitchhiking home.

Last week the Israeli government confirmed the bodies of three kidnapped Israeli teens had been located. Volunteer searchers found the bodies in the West Bank near the town of Hebron. Officials claim, the teens that were abducted by Palestinians, were shot at least ten times simply because of their Jewish faith. 

In an act of retaliation, three Israeli suspects confessed to killing a Palestinian teenager, Mohammed Abu Khdeir.

2. The Birth of Israel Results in Major Wars

With the birth of Israel in 1948 also came enhanced conflict between the Arabs and Jews. The Arab–Israeli conflict has resulted in at least five major wars and a number of minor conflicts. It has also been the source of two major Palestinian uprisings, known as intifadas. Some predict a third intifadas could be eminent. 

The Arab nations are represented by 21 separate nations. There is only one Jewish nation with a tiny country, Israel. Even with an overwhelming geographic territory claimed by Arabs, Palestinians have consistently demanded Israel to give up land for a Palestinian state. 

The combined territories of Arab countries are 650 fold greater than Israel. Some question why one of the Arab nations hasn’t provided land for the Palestinians.

3. The Palestinian Authority has signed an agreement with Hamas forming a terrorist Unity government

In April, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and Hamas signed a “reconciliation” agreement that seeks to establish a unity government. 

“Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzouk predicted that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would return to the Gaza Strip after the formation of the unity government,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

The US Conference of Presidents was among several groups that condemned the alignment and urged "the United States and other governments to be vigilant in their judgment of and dealings with the newly declared government.”

4. The U.S. is now violating its own laws by funding a known terrorist regime

In 2006, a law was established which prohibits aid from the U.S. to flow to an entity sharing power with the Palestinian government, including Hamas or any members of the terrorist group. Entitled the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, the law also bans aid to any government, which Hamas is provided “undue influence” over political decisions.

Lawmakers from both parties believe the Obama Administration is violating the bill with its continued support of a known terrorist regime.

In recent days Democratic and Republican lawmakers of the US House of Representatives Middle East subcommittee have demanded from the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry an explanation of why the US would continue dealing with the Palestinian Authority, knowing that the Hamas terror organization has become formally integrated into the government.

Several senior lawmakers contend the U.S. government should suspend the annual aid, which requires authorization by Congress. 

"Funding for the Palestinians is off-the-table until it is clear that the unity government is committed to peace and security," said Republican US Representative Kay Granger of Texas, chairwoman of the House of Representatives State and Foreign Operations subcommittee.

Laurie Cardoza-Moore, President of Proclaiming Justice to The Nations (PJTN) and Special Envoy to the United Nations for the World Council of Independent Christian Churches is urging members of Congress to withhold funding to the new unity government of the Palestinian Authority and the acknowledged terrorist organization, Hamas.

“As in any battle, the supply lines are critical for the defeat of any enemy,” said Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations. “They provide the weapons the jihadist's use against Israel and the U.S. and other democratic countries.

Unfortunately, it is the U.S. taxpayer, along with the taxpayers of other Western countries that are paying the salaries of the jihadist's like Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to continue to wage this war against our Jewish brethren, Christians, and other people of conscience who will not bow to Islam.”

5. Death to the Jews

In Genesis 12:3 the text implies God’s desire to bless Israel and the multitudes that have come through Abraham. 

"I will bless those who bless you and him who curses you, I will curse." -Genesis 12:3

This scripture serves as a stern warning to those who preach a “Replacement Theology” which teaches that the church is the substitute for Israel along with the many promises made to Israel in the Bible are fulfilled in the Christian church and not through Israel.

On any given day, Israeli’s live with some 200,000 rockets and missiles aimed in their direction. For extremists the intentions of those rockets aren’t simply to destroy a nation, but to primarily annihilate an entire population because of their faith.

“President Obama is bringing judgment on this nation because we are cursing Israel,” said Moore. “This strategic plan by world leaders like Obama is to bring down the West by targeting Israel and trying to reverse what the United Nations did in 1947.”

While some cry “death to the Jews,” many pro-Israel advocates maintain that if not for Israel very little peace would exist in the Middle East. 

“As a democratic, Western-aligned country and the Middle East’s preeminent military power, Israel has done much over the decades to keep the region from being worse than it is,” P. David Hornik writes in PJMedia.com. “Israel has used its might—sometimes openly, sometimes discreetly—not only to safeguard its own interests but also those of the West and the more moderate Arab states.”

Egypt Opens Gaza Border Crossing As IAF Offensive Continues
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza

Flash 90

Egypt opened its Rafah border crossing to Gaza on Thursday to receive wounded Palestinians as Israel continued its air-offensive to stamp out rocket-fire on Israeli civilians, an official at the border said.

Hospitals in north Sinai, which borders Gaza and Israel, have been placed on standby to receive the injured, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

The crossing is usually closed, as Egypt maintains a strict blockade on Gaza in order to isolate Hamas from Islamist insurgents in the Sinai. Relations between Hamas and Cairo deteriorated sharply after the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi, with Egyptian security forces accusing the terrorist group of aiding jihadis to carry out terrorist attacks inside Egypt in response.

Rafah is Gaza's only border crossing that bypasses Israel, which launched Operation Protective Edge in response to escalated rocket fire by Hamas and other terrorist groups.

The air strikes have killed at least 70 people since the operation began on Tuesday; Gaza-based sources claim they include 11 women and 18 children, but those figures have not been independently verified. 

The IDF has blamed Hamas for civilian deaths in Gaza, citing the Islamist group's open use of human shields. In one instance, seven people were killed after locals responded to an Israeli warning flare by flocking to act as human shields at the site of the intended strike just moments before it was hit.

The Israeli air force overnight hit more than 300 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from Gaza, according to the IDF's spokesman.

"We aimed at 322 targets in Gaza overnight, taking to 750 the total number of Hamas targets hit by the army since the start (on Tuesday) of Operation Protective Edge," Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told journalists in a telephone conference. That number is higher than the number of targets hit in six days during the IDF's last counterterrorism operation in Gaza, Operation Pillar of Defense.

Among the targets hit were rocket-launching sites of Hamas's "military wing" the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, as well as tunnels used by the group and Hamas command posts, Lerner said.

The Israeli Air Force has also been upping the pressure on Hamas's leadership specifically, by targeting their homes in response to continued rocket fire. As a result, IDF sources say that the majority of Hamas's leaders are now homeless.

Lerner warned that a ground assault was still being considered.

"More than 20,000 reservists have been recruited but a ground assault would be the last option if we judge it necessary," he said.

Israel's cabinet has authorized the call-up of 40,000 reservists for such an operation, which looks increasingly likely as the conflict drags on, commentators say.

The army says Gaza terrorists have fired some 300 rockets at Israel since the Jewish state began Operation Protective Edge to stamp out the rocket fire.

Several of those have landed or been intercepted near Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the northern city of Hadera. Several rockets even landed as far as Haifa - some 165 kilometers (102 miles) away from Gaza.

Credit Union Offers Biometric Fingerprint Scanning Solution to Members
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsBiometric Update
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Service 1st Federal Credit Union is now offering members biometric fingerprint scanning authentication, developed by RG2 Solutions, according to a report by Credit Union Journal.

Service 1st FCU will offer the fingerprint scanning authentication to 23,500 members at eight branch locations.

This is the second time Service 1st FCU has tried using biometric fingerprint scanning. In 2008, it partnered with U.S. Biometrics Corp., but two years later the company folded and Service 1st FCU was stranded “without any support and no way to add new devices to [its] system,” said the credit union’s Chief Information Officer Jay Reed.

“Biometrics was the next obvious step in privacy and security — especially in a busy, open lobby,” said Reed. “With the advent of lower-priced fingerprint scanners, it made the dream of biometric authentication come to life.”

In 2010, Service 1st FCU began researching different biometric vendors for a suitable solution before finding RG2 Solutions’ BioTran software.

The biometric member verification system uses fingerprint scanner technology to verify a member’s identity.

“They were looking for identification [opposed to verification] of the member at the teller line, so I tweaked the software I had to do that,” said RG2 Solutions president Roger Grant.

Service 1st FCU was also able to use its existing hardware with the new software, preventing them from having to purchase additional hardware.

Reed said the entire roll out process took about three months to implement, including a beta testing period where some of the company’s 81 employees tried out the software to make sure it was working properly.

Today, many of Service 1st FCU employees use the technology to access their own accounts at the teller line.

One particularly unique feature of the system is its ability to assign each finger to an account, making it ideal for those members who hold multiple accounts or are a co-signer on an account.

Service 1st FCU currently has over 4,350 member accounts registered, and creates about 133 new member accounts for the biometrics system, which adds up to just north of 1,700 member swipes per month, said Reed.

Chief of Irans Atomic Energy Organization Clarifies Nuclear Needs
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsAl-Monitor
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, clarified the country’s nuclear needs July 8 after controversy erupted over comments by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei about Iran's nuclear program needing 190,000 separative work units (SWU). The SWU, a complex unit, indicates energy input, enrichment and depletion levels.

“A current sensitive issue is the nuclear issue,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a speech to government officials July 7, adding that the opposing side has taken a maximalist position in the nuclear talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.

“Their goal is that the Islamic Republic — in regard to the suitable enrichment capabilities, for instance, which is one of the issues — to be satisfied with 10,000 SWU,” he said, adding, “However, they started at 500 SWU and 1,000 SWU. Approximately 10,000 SWU is the output of approximately 10,000 centrifuges — from the outdated ones we’ve had and have. This is their goal.

“Our officials say that we need 190,000 SWU,” he continued. “Maybe this need will not be for this year, or two years, or five years, but this is the final need of the country.”

Leader.ir, a website for the supreme leader, covered the speech but did not include the comment about Iran perhaps not needing the full level in the next one to five years. However, Khamenei.ir, which appears to have a closer relationship with the supreme leader’s office and is linked to his social media accounts, provides the full transcript — confirmed by a video of his speech — in which he states that he was addressing the country’s ultimate and not immediate nuclear needs.

After the confusion that reached even the Western media, Salehi gave interviews to a number of Iranian news agencies and even Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting to clarify the supreme leader's comments about the number of centrifuges Iran needs.

“Our needs for an agreed time frame, for the next eight years, to secure annual fuel for Bushehr nuclear power plant, is approximately 190,000 SWU, so that after the end of the contract with Russia, fuel for this power plant, the Tehran research center and the Arak reactor is secured,” Salehi told Islamic Republic News Agency.

“We don’t define the enrichment needs on the basis of the number of centrifuge machines, but based on their units, meaning we define it by its SWU,” Salehi said. “It is based on the type of centrifuge machine to see how much centrifuge machines equals 190,000 SWU.”

“If the capacity of each centrifuge is three SWU, approximately 60,000 centrifuges are needed,” he said. “If the ability of each centrifuge is 10 SWU, we need 19,000 centrifuges. If the machines of the centrifuge from our latest generation have the ability of 24 SWU, we need less than 10,000 centrifuges.”

When asked, “What are our needs based on the current centrifuges, given that the latest generation of centrifuges with the capacity of 24 SWU have not reached mass production?” Salehi responded, “Based on designs, the ability of current centrifuges, which are first generation, are approximately three or so, which in reality is less than two SWU.” He said for the most advanced centrifuges of 24 SWU to reach mass production, “several technical stages are required.”

Celebrating Sin - United Church of Christ to Sponsor Gay Games
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

In yet another shocking move of ‘firsts’ the United Church of Christ (UCC) has taken the initiative to financially support the upcoming Olympic-style ‘Gay Games 9’ due to be held in the UCC's national headquarters in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio from 9th to 16th August 2014. This makes the UCC first mainline denomination to provide major financial support to a gay event. As a denomination purportedly representing Christendom, the UCC has also pioneered the affirmation of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples and the first ordination of an openly gay man.

The Christian Post recently reported that the event, which takes place every four years and attracts LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) athletes, will also involve the active participation of church leaders who will help organize events for 30,000 participants in an effort to embrace the LBGT community via its "Faith in Cleveland" campaign. The UCC will also reportedly provide significant financial backing in the name of “diversity, inclusivity and acceptance of all” – also with an eye to cashing in on the $50 million in revenue that the event is expected to generate for the local economy.

In a show of active support and solidarity with UCC leadership, nearly 1,500 congregations (out of the UCC's over 5,000 in the U.S.,) based in northeast Ohio are also said to have affirmed their support for the games and had their financial contributions matched by the denomination. And the gay support church network has also spread beyond the UCC: there are about 17 “faith partners” of Gay Games 9, representing eight denominations, including the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church, the Unitarian Universalist Church and a synagogue that is part of the Union for Reform Judaism.

According to Rev. Dr. J. Bennett Guess, a UCC national officer and its first openly-gay church executive: “Serving as a major sponsor of Gay Games 9 is a perfect fit because of the UCC's longstanding commitment to social justice issues…We pride ourselves on being a bold voice for progressive Christianity and look forward to offering the UCC's trademark 'extravagant welcome' to the athletes, volunteers and spectators." 

A separate report on these developments was covered in the Huffington Post which related that on June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the controversial Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by the states. Since then, LGBT activism has seemingly sped up - particularly among religious institutions.

Tom Nobbe, executive director of Gay Games 9, praised the decision on the denomination's press release: “We're so appreciative to have the backing of United Church of Christ and other members of the faith community. UCC's sponsorship of the 2014 Gay Games on a national level amplifies their strong commitment to inclusion on and off the playing fields. Our partnership serves to illustrate the open and affirming atmosphere participants will experience when visiting Cleveland and Akron.”

These developments testify to the level of spiritual degeneration and apostasy that supposedly Christian churches are rapidly embracing. As the Huffington Post further reports, in April 2014 the United Church of Christ filed a lawsuit against the state of North Carolina for infringing upon the clergy's ability to perform same-sex marriages and more recently protested the Hobby Lobby case by handing out condoms in front of the store. In June, the U.S. Presbyterian Church voted to change its definition of marriage to allow for same-sex marriages in the states where they are legal.

It is sad that any professing church would  embrace what God has clearly labeled an abomination, and disregard the consequences of committing abominations both in the Old Testament and the New: 

Leviticus 18:22
You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.

Revelation 21:27
But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Romans 1: 26-32
For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. 

In view of the above scriptures, among many others, there is certainly no room for confusion and doubt that the homosexual/LGBT lifestyles. A clear case study is also found in the account of Sodom (the root word for sodomy) and Gomorrah, cities that were destroyed by God because of homosexuality (Genesis 19). And as Ruth Graham once aptly stated: “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” 

The United Church of Christ (UCC), the Presbyterian church, and all other so called “faith partner” churches that condone, support or embrace the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups will one day answer to God for the souls they have helped destroy, instead of helping to liberate them from sexual bondages and perversions. No wonder Romans 1 emphasizes: “…who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them”.

The Bible is clear that God hates sin but loves the sinner and died to save them (John 3:16), yet those who refuse to repent of their sin - will not inherit eternal life. As Jesus so clearly said: “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). That repentance message is not being received or passed on to LGBT groups by United Church of Christ (UCC), the Presbyterian Church, and other like minded churches cozying up to them; rather they are joining them in their sin and encouraging and celebrating their depravities.

Bill Gates Funds Birth Control Microchip That Lasts 16 Years Inside the Body Can be Turned on off
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsVancouver Sun
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

After Mauling Hamas from the Air, IDF to 'Deepen the Damage'
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The IDF Spokesman's Unit said Thursday that the IDF has struck about 60 terror targets in Gaza since the morning hours, on Day 3 of Operation Protective Edge, and that it intends to "deepen the damage" to Hamas.

All in all, about 800 terror targets have been hit since the operation began on Monday night.

Among the targets attacked were leadership offices, homes of senior Hamas officers, tunnels, buried launchers, communication infrastructure, military outposts and weapons stores.

The IDF Navy attacked several coastal targets. These attacks included the firing of dozens of shells by the Missile Ship Reconnaissance Unit at Hamas weapons stores and military outposts.

In addition, the IDF and Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet), attacked the homes of senior terrorists that served as command and control infrastructures for the Hamas organization.

Among the homes attacked were those of:

Oubal Jandiya – Deputy Commander of Hamas forces in Sejaeeya, born 1978. Forces under his command fired at IDF forces. Jandiya also participated in fighting in 2012's Operation Pillar of Defense.

Arafat Abu Abdullah – Commander of Islamic Jihad forces in central Gaza camps, born 1989. Abu Abadullah is responsible for all Islamic Jihad terror activity from this region, and has directed rocket fire against Israel during the latest escalation.

Mahdi Kuware – senior Hamas operative in Khan Younis.

Nassim Abu Ajinah – senior Hamas commander in Bayt Lahiya region, born 1984. Responsible for growth of terror forces in his region and for much of Gaza's extensive tunnels system, used to smuggle weapons and hide rocket positions.

Shadi Saleh Rajeb – senior Hamas operative in Bayt Lahiya, born 1983. Resposible for rocket fire against Israel.

"The IDF is determined and will continue to systematically attack targets until meaningful damage is caused to the Hamas terror organization, and will take action to destroy the terror infrastructures that operate against the citizens of Israel," the military said in a statement Thursday.

"The IDF has inflicted serious damage to Hamas, its infrastructures and all elements using terror against the state of Israel and its citizens, and will deepen this damage."

Precisely how the IDF seeks to "deepen the damage" is becoming increasingly clearer, as preparations for a ground incursion appear to be underway.

The IDF on Thursday afternoon contacted by phone Arab residents of Gaza living near the security border, warning them to evacuate their homes immediately. The phone calls were made to a total of roughly 100,000 Arab residents of the Hamas stronghold. The phone warnings indicate that the operation may be moving into a new stage and entering a ground offensive.

Abbas Says IDF Ground Operation 'In Hours'
Jul 10th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Mahmoud Abbas

Flash 90

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that the IDF will launch a crushing ground operation in Gaza “within hours,” according to Channel 2.

The Security and Diplomacy Cabinet met Thursday evening to discuss the next stages of Operation Protective Edge.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reportedly intends to give a statement later in the evening.

The IDF on Thursday afternoon contacted by phone Arab residents of Gaza living near the security border, warning them to evacuate their homes immediately. The phone calls were made to a total of roughly 100,000 Arab residents of the Hamas stronghold.

The phone warnings indicate that the operation may be moving into a new stage and entering a ground offensive.