Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Why Nobody But the U.S. Voted Against the UN
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Once again, it seems, Israel has been forsaken in its time of need, abandoned by what it thought were its friends. Once again, it feels unfairly singled out, condemned for alleged crimes it committed while defending its citizens against a terrorist enemy that is getting away with murder.

On Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted on a heavily one-sided resolution condemning “in the strongest terms the widespread, systematic and gross violations of international human rights and fundamental freedoms arising from the Israeli military operations” in Gaza. The Geneva-based council, which has a long history of anti-Israel bias, also declared a new “international commission of inquiry” into the events currently unfolding in Israel and Gaza, in what observers are calling a new Goldstone report.

Only the United States voted against the resolution. Twenty-nine nations voted in favor, among them not only the usual suspects such as Saudi Arabia, Algeria and South Africa, but also some ostensible friends of Israel, including Russia, Kenya, India and Mexico.

Equally hurtful for Israel, if not more so, were the abstentions of the eight European Union member states who had the right to vote: Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Romania and the United Kingdom. (Montenegro and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are not EU members but also abstained; non-member states Iceland, Serbia, Albania and Liechtenstein aligned themselves with the EU position.)

Yes, even the Czech Republic, which in November 2012 was the only EU country to oppose granting the Palestinians nonmember state status at the UN, did not vote against a resolution that denounces Israel for “disproportionate and indiscriminate attacks, including aerial bombardment of civilian areas, the targeting of civilians and civilian properties in collective punishment contrary to international law, and other actions, including the targeting of medical and humanitarian personnel, that may amount to international crimes.” The resolution does not mention Hamas once.

For Israel, the vote was another heavy slap in the face. Because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hesitated before launching the Gaza campaign and accepted several ceasefire offers, officials were sure of the international community’s (relative) support for Operation Protective Edge. But statements reiterating Israel’s right to defend itself are apparently no guarantee of supportive votes at the UN.

“It’s a travesty of justice; it’s a travesty of fairness; it’s a travesty of common sense; it’s a travesty of truth,” Netanyahu said Thursday during a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in Jerusalem. (Netanyahu also thanked him for “standing up for Israel’s right to defend itself.”)

‘If the final text had been agreeable to us, we would have voted yes. So we abstained’

Hammond, speaking late Wednesday evening, had actually said that the Human Rights Council’s resolution was “fundamentally unbalanced” and further complicated issues rather than helping to end the conflict. But then why did Britain abstain instead of opposing? “The UK could not support this resolution,” Hammond said, “but recognizing the strength of feeling about the loss of life and the desire by a large number of members of the Council to express that feeling in a resolution, the UK joined other EU nations in abstaining in the vote.” His statement almost sounds as if London made an independent decision, based on international pressure, to abstain.

“If the UK feels so strongly that the resolution is not fair, why did they not vote against it?” a senior Israeli official fumed. More than one government promised to oppose the draft and later instructed its ambassador to vote in favor, the official added. The foreign minister of the Philippines, for instance, personally promised a no-vote, but eventually the country voted yes, he said.

Israel expects more from the EU, observers in Jerusalem suggested. “I’m disillusioned and disappointed that they and others abstained, when they know full well what the real situation is,” said Alan Baker, a former legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry. “It’s a two-faced political viewpoint, wholly based on economic and other interests, fully ignoring the truth and the facts.”

The EU states decided to vote as a bloc, as they often do. The union tried until the very last minute to soften the language of the resolution and to avoid the establishment of a fact-finding mission investigating Israel’s alleged crimes. “We tried to get a better text and to prevent the inquiry, and we failed with the latter. We did improve the text slightly. If the final text had been agreeable to us, we would have voted yes, so we abstained,” a European diplomat told The Times of Israel.

“The idea was to prevent a text that was much worse — you know how it is in the UN Human Rights Council,” a second European diplomat said, referring to the automatic majority with which Arab groups can push through pretty much anything they want.

The EU states tried to reason with the Palestinian delegation to the Geneva-based council to allow for a more balanced text – one that would not single Israel out for wrongdoing while ignoring Hamas — to no avail. “We have a situation with two warring parties, and one of them is not mentioned in the resolution. That’s shit,” admitted a European diplomat familiar with the negotiations over the draft resolution.

Ireland was actually inclined to vote in favor of the resolution but in the end the EU decided to vote as a bloc, after two changes were made to the initial draft. While the EU failed to prevent the creation of the commission of inquiry, it succeeded in “improving its mandate,” one source said.

Instead of examining only Israel’s misdeeds, as had been the case during the notorious Goldstone report, the new fact-finding mission has been tasked to “investigate all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” That would include the alleged war crimes of Hamas and other Gaza-based terror groups.

Secondly, European diplomats prided themselves in having succeeded in including a paragraph that “condemns all violence against civilians wherever it occurs, including the killing of two Israeli civilians as a result of rocket fire, and urges all parties concerned to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.” This cannot be taken for granted, EU diplomats said.

In an official explanation of the unanimous decision to abstain, the EU later explained that it “was not possible to reach” a different outcome. The “final draft text continues to be unbalanced, inaccurate, and prejudges the outcome of the investigation by making legal statements,” the EU’s statement read. “The draft resolution also fails to condemn explicitly the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israeli civilian areas as well as to recognize Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself.”

The union emphasized that the fact-finding mission would also look into violations committed by Hamas “and other militant groups,” and pledged to “continue to work toward a balanced outcome of the investigations.”

Despite the good intentions, Israelis felt let down again by Brussels. After the EU foreign ministers on Tuesday came out with a dramatic statement that affirmed Israel’s “legitimate right to defend itself,” called on Hamas to cease attacking Israel and demanded all Gaza terrorist groups be disarmed, they hoped for a stronger stance on Israel’s behalf. Instead, Israel will take comfort in the staunch pro-Israel stance demonstrated, once again, by Canada and Australia. Neither country had a vote Wednesday in the Human Rights Council, but they made plain where they stand.

“Canada is frustrated and deeply disappointed that the UNHRC decided to completely ignore the abhorrent terrorist acts of Hamas,” Foreign Minister John Baird said. “This resolution turns a blind eye to the facts on the ground and that one party is responsible for the suffering of the Palestinian people, and that is the international terrorist group Hamas.”

There can be no moral equivalence between a terrorist organization and a liberal democratic state, and the council’s vote “undermines this body’s credibility,” he said.

Canberra said that the draft resolution was “unbalanced” and that Australia could not support it in its current form. “It makes no reference to Hamas’ causal role in this tragic situation,” the government said in a statement.

In this context it must be stressed that only the United States — one country out of 47 — voted against the resolution. Much has been said and written recently about the US administration’s lack of support for Israel, but once again the administration (not Congress) defied the entire international community to take a stand for its ally Israel.

“This resolution is not constructive, it is destructive,” Ambassador Keith Harper said before casting his vote on Wednesday. “The United States is deeply troubled by the resolution presented for adoption today… The resolution will cause real and lasting damage to this council and its ability to comprehensively address human rights in this region,” he continued. “We call on other states to underscore their opposition to any initiative of this council that takes a one-sided approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is essential that the community of nations takes a balanced approach to these issues.”

His call was not heeded.

Transhumans - the Future of Humanity
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Imagine being able to run at speeds of 60 mph (97 km/h), see with perfect vision and zoom in on distant objects without powerful video or camera lenses, experience perfect night vision due to infrared viewing capabilities, and limbs as strong as bulldozer-powered ones, letting you jump several stories high. And have all of these abilities while looking perfectly human, normal and healthy, rather than resembling a robotic freak saddled with contraptions and devices.

Such is the stuff of science fiction books and Hollywood movies featuring cyborgs or “cybernetic organisms” or simply humans who have certain physiological processes aided or controlled by mechanical or electronic devices. But perhaps not for long: Faye Barton, writing for guardian liberty voice , says: “Science fiction writers have long paid homage to the idea of cyborgs, the drive to consistently improve by using technology rather than to comply with the natural decline of age. 

It feeds the human desire to reach a state of superiority. Humans of the future will undergo a new transition when they finally merge with technology to become transhumans, elegant machines that are both organic and inorganic. The transition is beginning even now with three incredible inventions. The cultural movement of transhumanism opens up a world of possibilities for a future of replaceable organs and simple, internal health maintenance. “

Barton goes on to list the three “incredible inventions”:

1. The first device to open the door to a future of transhumans is worn by artist, Neil Harbisson, who offers a glaring contrast to the aforementioned fictional media trend in being the first cyborg to be recognized by a governmental entity. Harbisson wears a device that he affectionately calls his “Eyeborg.” The Eyeborg works by using a head-mounted antenna to sense the colors in front of the wearer and translating them into sound waves that the wearer can perceive through bone conduction. In his Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) talk, Harbisson references his ability to perceive human skin color as sound by saying that, “I thought that humans were black and white, which is completely false. There is no white skins and there is no black skins. Human skins range from very light shades of orange and very, very dark shades of orange. We are never black or white.”

2. Brain implants to assist the mental faculties of impaired combat veterans are being developed by Boston researchers as a part of President Barack Obama’s BRAIN Initiative. The project, which was announced last year, is set to take five years with a hefty price tag of $30 million. An additional team of developers at the University of California, San Francisco will be receiving another $26 million to work on the transhumanist project of their own. The technology being used in the brain implants is already being used widely in a more simplistic sense. Deep brain stimulators are being used in the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease to ease the sometimes crippling tremors associated with the condition.

3.Google, the household brand that revolutionized the way people search the internet, recently unveiled a high tech contact lens. The lens features an integrated camera off to the side of the lens to prevent the device from obstructing the wearer’s vision. As the wearer’s eye moves, the camera also follows suit. Google’s tech lenses are the next step up from Google Glass. The technology has the possibility to aid the visually impaired in experiencing their world with more detail while granting superhuman-like abilities to the users in possession of working sight. Telescopic vision and infrared/night vision are just two of the possible benefits of wearing the Google lenses.

In addition, Barton references microscopic “nanobots” that have been in development by various research teams throughout the world for years. Nanobots will be capable of reaching areas all throughout the human body, including the brain. They could have the ability to aid in or perform surgeries from inside the body. Other nanobots in development are being given various objectives such as gathering information about the patient’s health and storing it in a cloud database to be analyzed by a healthcare professional.

Barton concludes that “the future of humanity looks far more mechanical than ever before. Futurist and Google’s chief of engineering, Ray Kurzweil estimates that man will meld with machines completely to usher in the technological singularity and an age of partially robotic transhumans in 2045. The early stages of the singularity are unfolding today in 2014 with these three incredible devices from around the world.”

All these developments do not seem threatening when presented as medically or technologically beneficial, enhancing the quality of life for individuals, and improving on the existing deficiencies in human effort and technological process across a wide spectrum of applications. However, to what limits will these endeavors be stretched? In the effort to improve mankind’s abilities and to fast-track the process to “finally merge with technology to become transhumans, elegant machines that are both organic and inorganic”, is man trying to play God? Man has so far even attempted to improve on creation by experimenting with DNA manipulations such as cloning, and is now attempting to create a superior race using technology - always in the good names of human and scientific development, and always for the greater good of all - of course. 

Could part of the intent include desensitizing the populace over time regarding taking micro chipped implants amongst other implants in Big brother’s transhuman toolbox? After all, what’s a small little chip in your hand or forehead amidst all the other larger metallic parts and gadgets all over your body?

Another disturbing aspect is that the lines between transhumanists and religious groups appear to be getting blurred. An instance of this is the Transhuman Visions conference on religion and Transhumanism held earlier this year, where fourteen speakers from different faiths and positions (Islam, Raelism, Lutheran, Mormon, Catholic, Seventh Day Adventist, Buddhist, Wicca, Urantia, Terasem, Atheism, and Agnosticism) discussed the similarities and differences between religion and Transhumanism. In addition, the mix of invitees was distinctly ecumenical in nature, and included atheists and even occultic groups such as Wicca.

Spiritualists have found that they can bypass the often slow and unpredictable transhumanist route of scientific/technological implants or devices. They instead use powerful occultic techniques to achieve what transhumanists are still just dreaming of, such as: astral projection, levitation, mind control, and transcendental meditation. 

All are examples of techniques that harness the power of the human spirit, in partnership with demon spirits who encourage man to engage in these practices strictly forbidden by God in the scriptures (Deuteronomy 18: 9-14). The warnings given by God were meant to prevent His people from falling into the trap of Satanic possession and control, while in their quest to achieve power and blessings in sinful ways despite the willingness and ability of God to provide for them in righteous and safe ways. The demoniac of Gadara for example, had superhuman strength that could not even be restricted with chains (Mark 5:1-20), until Jesus set him free.

It appears that the time is coming when it will not be possible to naturally determine who is human, cyborg, robot, Nephilim, or incarnate spirit: perfect conditions for the darkness, deceptions and treacheries that will be visited upon the earth by the coming anti-Christ in these last days before the return of Jesus Christ.

Thought for the Day
Jul 25th, 2014
CommentaryArt Sadlier
Categories: Exhortation

“Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools” Psalm 84:6

Alexander McLaren paraphrased this verse, “Who passing through the valley of weeping maketh it a place of blessing”

Baca was a dry, arid place on the way to Jerusalem. The weary thirsty pilgrims found no refreshment there. The believer on his way to the heavenly Jerusalem passes through many a dry place. There are places of trial, testing and troubles and tears that God allows into our lives to make us more like Christ in order to better aid us on our way to the heavenly city.

There is persecution, rejection and suffering which God allows into the believers life for His own purposes and His own glory. These bring tears that can fill the dry places of our lives with pools of blessing. Our disappointments and sorrows change our lives and bless us and make us a blessing to others. To discover that God is allowing our troubles and intends them to lead us into a greater dependence on Him and to a sweeter relationship with him is to turn sorrow to joy.

Our trials and tears ought to ultimately, like pools of water,  bring refreshing to those around us in the dry places or the Bacas in their lives.

Though Highly - Trained and Disciplined, Hamas Finds Battlefield Success Elusive
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Hamas’ 20,000 troops emerged in the weeks of fighting Israel as a surprisingly competent, disciplined and well-trained army. The IDF and Hamas have crossed swords on the battlefield twice before, in 2008-2009 and 2012, but some Western observers recognize striking differences in their performance between then and 2014. Now, they seem to be following a carefully plotted operational plan with a military professionalism said to surpass that of the Lebanese Hizballah forces fighting in Syria.
Hamas appears to have made itself into the largest and strongest Sunni militia to be found in the Middle East region stretching from Libya through to Syria and Iraq. During Operation Protective Edge, Hamas proved to be more powerful than any of the Sunni militias or other groups fighting in the Syrian civil war, and more dangerous than any of Al Qaeda’s arms, including the Syrian Nusra Front and the ferocious Iraqi Islamist State.

Tehran plans to rebuild its Gaza strategy around Hamas

Hamas’ evolution into a powerful and well-disciplined militia has convinced Tehran to rethink its Gaza strategy. Having gambled and lost by raising and funding Islamic Jihad as its pawn and rival to Hamas, Iran is now considering a plan to merge the two groups.
Palestinians at large were not dumbstruck by Hamas’ performance in the current clash with Israel. They have long regarded the Islamist movement as the authentic Palestinian army, a reality never admitted by West Bank leaders and Israel. The handful of security battalions at the disposal of the Palestinian Authority and its Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah are no match for Hamas.
This mismatch in power has come to resemble the situation in Lebanon, where Hizballah’s fighting strength greatly outstrips that of the national Lebanese Army. Eventually, the Ramallah-based PA will have to face up to the diplomatic and political implications of this asymmetry.
Some IDF officers acknowledged to DEBKA Weekly’s military sources that as the Gaza conflict approaches its third week, they continue to be surprised by the capabilities exhibited by their adversary, notwithstanding its overall lack of progress on the battlefield.

Militants split into small cells to combat IDF

In the face of heavy IDF air and ground fire, Hamas has split up into small, fast-moving commando cells for three types of operation:
1. Tunnel terror: Armed with a supply of anti-tank missiles, these cells lie in wait just inside the hidden entrances of tunnels or shafts and strike IDF forces as they pass by.
This tactic makes military sense when fighting a superior enemy - provided it works. In the fighting inside the Gaza Strip, this tactic has worked only once, when a Hamas cell blew up an armored personnel carrier carrying Golani Brigade infantry troops in Shejaiya, killing the six soldiers seated inside. The seventh is still listed as missing.
Below the surface of this territory is a honeycomb of tunnels and shafts in which Hamas has ensconced its commando units, holding them ready to jump out and catch Israeli troops unawares. But Israel’s superior air power and surveillance systems have all but eliminated this menace: The helicopters, drones and intelligence units moving forward with the ground troops have spotted these hidden warrens and blown them up with smart bombs or precise tank fire.
Hamas has been left with little choice but to burrow deeper underground.

A full bag of terrorist tactics includes snipers and infiltrators

2. Sniper cells. These forces take aim at Israeli unit commanders in order to throw the men off balance, a tactic which has accounted for the largest number of Israeli losses. As we write this, the IDF has lost 32 soldiers with one missing and 500 wounded, in seven days of ground combat.
For a small country and army, losses on this scale strike wide and deep.
3. Infiltration. Hamas commando cells have tunneled under ground and landed by sea for terrorist attacks inside Israel. They target civilian communities and military bases alike for mega-attacks, aiming to kill as many people as they can to sow demoralization.
All these infiltrations have been discovered and quickly liquidated, thanks to Israel’s air and electronic surveillance systems, although, in one case, Israel sustained two military losses.
But Hamas’ real washout is its high-profile rocket barrage against multiple Israeli targets. In line with the military doctrine espoused by Iran and Hizballah, Hamas dedicated 60 percent of its arms budget and a fifth of its military strength to building a stockpile of rockets to terrorize Israel’s home front and – more importantly – cripple the IDF rear bases that provide the Gaza troops’ with logistics and supplies. Also targeted were Israel’s military facilities in southern and central Israel.
Before Hamas launched its blitz, its surface-to-surface missile system was considered one of the most sophisticated and dangerous in the Middle East.

Expensive rocket program is high on technology, low on success

Thousands of rockets are hidden away in Hamas’ well-fortified below-ground launchers that are nearly impossible to detect from the air. Fiber-optic cables link the launchers to a single launching center in a subsurface command center under Gaza City. At the press of a button, rockets can be sent flying into Israel at pre-planned targets, without requiring the presence of manpower at the site.
The Gaza-based militants managed to shoot rockets an unprecedented distance, covering the 150 km to Haifa and sending more than three quarters of Israel’s population, or 5.3 million people, into bomb shelters, night after night.
Despite this accomplishment and its high degree of sophistication, Hamas’ rocket program is no match for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense shield. These batteries distinguish between rockets on track to hit a target and those due to explode in unpopulated areas, and have intercepted the vast majority of Hamas’ dangerous rockets before they hit anything at all.

The Gaza War Against Hamas is Managed By a Troika: Abdullah, Sisi and Netanyahu
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

On the face of it, three men run Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.
But that is not the whole story. On the regional level, according to exclusive information from DEBKA Weekly’s intelligence sources, a joint high command makes the real decisions. It is composed of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, Egyptian President Fattah El Sisi and Netanyahu.
This troika is in constant communication on the war’s progress and confers on its next steps. Our sources reveal daily conferences, and sometimes more, between King Abdullah and President Sisi over a secure phone line.
King Abdullah and Netanyahu are at pains to be discreet in their communications, given the political and religious sensitivities of their relationship. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, whom King Abdullah recently appointed as the royal family’s special advisor on the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in Syria in Iraq, secretly maintains direct contacts with Mossad chief Tamir Pardo.
Sisi’s dialogue with Netanyahu is indirect, conducted through a three-man Israeli military-intelligence team: Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen is a frequent visitor to Cairo, while Egyptian Intelligence Director Mohammed Ahmed Fareed al-Tohami keeps an open door to Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, political coordinator of the Israeli Defense Ministry and Yitzhak Molcho, Netanyahu’s top adviser and confidant.

Hush-hush regional war planning

None of them fully trusts even the most secure phone or internet lines for their hush-hush communications. So, the really important messages and negotiations are relayed through confidential human emissaries. Israel keeps a special plane parked at Cairo’s military airport ready to lift off whenever top-secret messages between Sisi and Netanyahu need to be delivered by hand. The distance between Cairo and Tel Aviv is covered in less than an hour and a half.
Netanyahu has moved his center of operations for the duration of the war from the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem to a fortified compound in a wing of the IDF’s General Command Headquarters.

New regional alliance makes history, in more ways than one

It is the first time in modern Middle East history that an Israeli war against a Muslim-Arab enemy has been fought in association with two Arab states. Even more remarkably, the backers of Israel’s Gaza campaign are the Arab world’s wealthiest and largest states – Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
In the last week of June, DEBKA Weekly’s sources report that this troika hammered out broad guidelines for their nascent partnership in the Gaza operation ready for its launch on July 8:
1. Israel and the IDF will fight to smash Hamas’ military might and downgrade its political influence.
2. The military operation will come to a close only when all its objectives are achieved.
3. The three leaders will not permit any outside party, including the US, to interfere in their direction of the war.
4. The oil-rich Saudi kingdom will cover a portion of the war costs incurred by Israel.
5. When the war is over, Saudi Arabia and some of the Gulf emirates, led by the UAE and Kuwait, will pay for repairing the damage caused by the fighting in the Gaza Strip.
6. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel are of the same mind about the absolute necessity to dismantle Hamas’ military strength, including its arsenal of rockets and network of assault bunkers.
7. Once the IDF has destroyed Hamas as a terrorist power, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority will get down to installing a new government and security mechanisms in Gaza City to fill the void left by Hamas’ defeat.

Insulating the IDF from the sharp edge of international pressure

By acceding to this arrangement, Netanyahu ceded a central goal of his Palestinian policy, which is to keep the West Bank and Gaza Strip apart as separate entities. For the sake of his pact with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, he consented in principle to the rise of a unified Palestinian entity or state under their tutelage.
His reward has been allies who have gone to great lengths to insulate Israel and the IDF from the usual extreme international pressures for halting their mission in mid-stream.
The five Israeli military tasks forces of half a division each fighting in Gaza, numbering some 75,000 troops, have consequently had the luxury of time to perform their missions. A slow and cautious pace of advance, especially in the early stages of the ground operation, saved the IDF from large-scale losses and casualties. (See a separate item in this issue on military operations).
Riyadh, Cairo and Jerusalem have repulsed diplomatic pressure from many directions to curtail the war without delay. They even crafted a ceasefire proposal coming from Cairo which they knew Hamas would never accept but which Israel could safely endorse and so gain some high moral high ground.
And Europe, always the first to jump on Israel for any military action against an Arab entity, was persuaded by its trade ties with Riyadh to step out of character.
On July 22, 28 European Union foreign ministers strongly condemned ‘’the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel by Hamas and militant groups in the Gaza Strip, directly harming civilians. These are criminal and unjustifiable acts,” they said after a meeting in Brussels, and stressed that “all terrorist groups in Gaza must disarm” and stop using the civilian population of Gaza to “as human shields.’’

Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel eye other common enemies

The trio has been working in harness without any major hitches so far.
Abdullah, Sisi and Netanyahu raised a high wall to ward off incoming US demands for a ceasefire that would have saved Hamas from defeat at that moment. US Secretary of State John Kerry ran into this wall when he landed in Cairo on July 21 with a plan for an immediate truce, as did UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on the same errand. Above all, they were stalled by the steep decline of America’s Middle East influence was.
The Gaza operation has proved to be a baptism of fire for the Saudi-Egypt-Israel pact and a possible template for cooperation in future endeavors against other common enemies in the region, such as Iran and the surging Islamists.
A pointer in that direction was suggested by Netanyahu in the rider to his comments after meeting the UN Secretary in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, July 22: Responding to Ban’s appeal “It is time to stop fighting and start talking,´ the prime minister said: “Hamas is like the IS, Al Qaeda, Hizballah and Boko Haram extremists. You can’t talk to them!”
His words were addressed equally to Washington and the Obama administration’s bid to save Hamas – a reminder that a solid Saudi-Egyptian-Israeli alliance is ready to stand up and fight the full gamut of Islamist extremists, including the Iran-backed Hizballah.

Editors Note.....Israel is still going to the world for help instead of turning to and trusting her God. This will end in disaster.

Senior Hamas, Islamic Jihad Terrorists Eliminated
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Islamic Jihad terrorists in Gaza

Flash 90

Several senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were killed in ground clashes over the past several days, the IDF announced Friday.

Their names are:

• Salah Abu Hassanein - top military leader and propaganda minister for Islamic Jihad;
• Hafez Mohammad Hamad - top terror commander for Islamic Jihad in the Beit Hanoun (northern Gaza) area who is directly responsible for the rocket fire on Sderot during escalation leading up to Operation Protective Edge;
• Hussein Abd al-Qader Muheisin - top terror commander for Islamic Jihad in Sheijaya;
• Akram Sha'ar - top terror commander for Islamic Jihad in Khan Younis, who is directly responsible for both rocket fire and terror attacks in Israel;
• Mahmoud Ziada - top terror commander for Islamic Jihad in Jabaliya, responsible for upgrading Islamic Jihad's arsenal and directing fighting against Israel during Operation Protective Edge;
• Osama al-Haya - terror leader for Hamas in Sheijaya, whose son is in Hamas's 'political wing'; 
• Muhammad Shaaban - a senior commander of Hamas's naval forces;
• Ahmad Sahmoud - Hamas commander in Khan Younis; and,
• Abdallah Alah'ras - commander in the Hamas's "military wing," the Al-Qassam Brigades.

Palestinian sources later told AFP Friday that is Hassanein's 12- and 15-year-old sons were also killed.

This is the second announcement by the IDF about major terror leaders, after news surfaced Wednesday that several Islamic Jihad leaders had been injured over the course of the ground offensive.

Earlier Friday, a senior IDF officer told Arutz Sheva on condition of anonymity that the IDF's predetermined ground offensive goals were "completed," and that the IDF was focusing now on simply destroying the remainder of terror tunnels throughout Gaza.

Reports: Humanitarian Cease - Fire Due in 2-3 Days
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

John Kerry meets with Binyamin Netanyahu as ceasefire efforts continue

Reuters

Hamas has agreed to a five-day "humanitarian cease-fire," the London-based Al Hayat newspaper reports Friday, on terms suggested by US Secretary of State John Kerry. 

Kerry's proposal reportedly includes some of the unprecedented terms proposed by Hamas leaders, but not all. According to the daily, the truce would not see any terrorists released, despite Hamas's demands.

The Political-Security Cabinet will convene at noon Friday to discuss the US proposal and Hamas's response.

According to Al-Hayat, the truce deal would come into effect on Saturday, and involve demilitarizing Gaza. A Hamas official told the newspaper that the real purpose of the agreement is to open border crossings.

A separate report from Walla! News insisted Friday morning that Kerry's proposal, if accepted, would see fighting pause for a full week, and begin on Sunday.

During that time, it said, Israel and Hamas would negotiate over political, economic, and security issues and set clear policies on those issues.

However, according to that report, neither Israel nor Hamas has been willing to sign the truce deal. 

News of a possible deal surfaces less than one day after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared that the operation would continue "at full strength in both the air campaign and land campaign."

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal declared on Wednesday that Israel must accept his list of unprecedented conditions for a ceasefire in order for any truce to be declared. 

For now, however, Hamas has officially rejected all cease-fire demands.

"We reject it and we will reject [a ceasefire] in the future," he said, speaking from Qatar.

Meshaal claimed that the terms - which Palestinian sources stated are even more grandiose than what was leaked to the media - are "legitimate," and that Hamas would not stop firing rockets until Israel capitulated to its demands.

This is not the first time Hamas has rejected a cease-fire deal. Last week, Egypt was reportedly in the process of brokering a cease-fire, which Israel accepted, but Hamas did not; in addition, Hamas has broken three confirmed 'humanitarian truces' within minutes of their being announced.

Minister Ariel: Let the IDF Win
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Housing Minister Uri Ariel said Friday afternoon, as the security-diplomacy cabinet gathered to discuss a possible ceasefire in Gaza, that it would be wrong to stop the operation at this time.

"At a time when our forces are decisively beating Hamas, we must not stop the operation now because of foreign pressure. The IDF is winning against Hamas, let it finish the operation for all the sake of all of Israel," he said.

Let the Headlines Speak
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Moderate quake strikes Alaska coast but little damage seen
An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 struck on the coast of Alaska early on Friday, shaking people awake in the state capital city of Juneau but causing little, if any, damage, officials said.  

Moderate earthquake felt in Costa Rica
A moderate quake rattled Costa Rica today, but there were no immediate reports of damage. The temblor struck the central part of the Central American country, about 30 kms west of the capital, San Jose, just after noon local time.  

3.3 Magnitude Earthquake Recorded Near Helena
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, this earthquake was recorded at 11:56 p.m. Its epicenter was located six miles north, northeast of Helena, 26 miles northwest of Enid, and 89 miles north, northwest of Oklahoma City.  

The Great War, Again?
Today, similar divisions dominate headlines from Europe to the Middle East. The civil war in Syria, hostilities between Israel and the radical Hamas movement in the Palestinian territories, and Russia’s ongoing troublemaking in Ukraine are just the most public symptoms of a deeper, and deeply alarming, ailment: the unraveling of the existing global order.

9/11 Commission Warns US Unprepared For A Possible ‘Cyber-Pearl Harbor’
Military and intelligence officials including recently retired U.S. Cyber Command and National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander and former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta have repeatedly warned the U.S. is vulnerable to a “cyber-Pearl Harbor” scale attack on its digital front...  

Obama ‘Doesn’t Really Care’ What The American People Think
Former Democratic strategist James Carville sounded a little exasperated Thursday when he admitted President Obama “doesn’t really care” what the American people think about his presidency.  

Aharonovitch Says Ceasefire Would Be a 'Mistake'
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beytenu) publicly expressed support for continuing Operation Protective Edge on Friday, at a press conference with Israeli reporters. "A ceasefire without exposing all the tunnels would be a mistake," he said.  

‘All Hell Broke Loose’: Tornado Slams Virginia Campground; 2 Dead
The sky turned black and cellphones pinged with emergency messages. Moments later, a tornado ripped through a sprawling, carnival-like campground Thursday, snapping dozens of trees and flipping over RVs.  

‘We Will Not Tolerate Your Religion!’ School Fires Scientist for Questioning Evolution
A legal defense organization filed a lawsuit this week against California State University, alleging that the school fired a biologist for discovering scientific evidence that contradicted evolutionary theory. “It is frustrating because I made no conclusions in the paper, I just presented the factual data,” he said. “The only conclusions I drew were that ‘This needs to be investigated further.  

STRANGE SITUATION
In the middle of Solar Max, the sun has slipped into a state that resembles Solar Minimum. Sunspot numbers are low; the sun's X-ray and radio output are depressed; and NOAA forecasters estimate a scant 1% chance of solar flares during the next 24 hours.  

Euro, shares sag as Ukraine woes hit German confidence
Signs that tensions between the West and Russia are starting to hurt confidence in Europe's dominant economy Germany left the euro near an eight-month low on Friday and lifted the region's government bonds.  

Israel singles out Qatar as key Hamas terror sponsor
Gulf emirate is branded the villain behind Hamas belligerence, with PM’s former security adviser saying it funds tunnel diggers and rocket launchers.  

For second time, rockets found at UN school in Gaza
“Today, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip,” the organization said in a statement issued Tuesday. “As soon as the rockets were discovered, UNRWA staff were withdrawn from the premises, and so we are unable to confirm the precise number of rockets. The school is situated between two other UNRWA schools that currently each accommodate 1,500 internally displaced persons.”  

Philippines Earthquake Today 2014 Strikes Hinundayan
Officials tell news that a 5.3 magnitude Philippines earthquake today began in the morning hours. The quake was shallow.  

Earthquake felt in Southeast Alaska, no tsunami expected
An earthquake shook Southeast Alaska just before 3 a.m. Friday. The preliminary magnitude 6.0 temblor was centered about 96 miles west of Juneau, according to the Alaska Earthquake Information Center.  

Politicians sound off on Kerry's latest cease-fire proposal ahead of cabinet meeting on matter
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Ze'ev Elkin (Likud) said on Friday that he is adamantly against US Secretary of State John Kerry's latest cease-fire proposal. The security cabinet was set to meet on Friday afternoon to discuss Kerry's latest push, which would start with a seven day cease-fire that begins on Sunday.  

Possible Tornado Kills 2, Injures Several Others at Virginia Campground
A possible tornado blew through a campground Thursday morning on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, killing at least two people and injuring 25 others, police said. Emergency crews were taking the injured to local hospitals from the Cherrystone Family Camping & RV Resort in Northampton County. Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital said it was treating 25 patients, including three in critical condition, a spokesman said.  

Texas Sees 13 Percent Drop in Abortions With Controversial Pro-Life Law
Texas has experienced a 13 percent decline in its abortion rate since lawmakers pased a bill that requires abortion providers to meet basic health and safety standards at their facilities. The new law has led some clinic owners to close instead of paying for the mandatory upgrades.  

Russia delivering weapons to Iraq: report
Russia has begun supplying military helicopters and fighters jets to Iraq, a report said Thursday, as Iraq's defence minister visited Moscow to press for equipment to thwart a jihadist offensive.  

Two Palestinians Killed In West Bank Protest
Israeli security forces have shot dead two Palestinians during a massive protest in the West Bank, according to medical officials. The victims were among an estimated 10,000 people who clashed with soldiers and border police at a checkpoint in Qalandiya, between Jerusalem and Ramallah.  

Israelis stranded in Turkey
Israelis yelled at Turks in Istanbul Ataturk Airport Thursday, after the US Federal Aviation Administration lifted its ban on flights to Tel Aviv, while Turkish Airlines extended its ban until July 31.  

Al Qaeda Targeting U.S. Infrastructure for Digital 9/11
Al Qaeda, nation states, and criminals are preparing for major cyber attacks against U.S. infrastructure that could be comparable to the devastating September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, a senior Justice Department official said on Thursday.  

Deadly 'superbug' is spreading in US hospitals
Cases of the contagious and deadly "superbug" known as CRE increased five-fold in community hospitals from 2008 to 2012 in the Southeastern U.S.,  

Leading Rabbi: This War is God's War, and Israel will Win
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Rabbi Haim Druckman (file)

Flash90

Chairman of the Bnei Akiva Yeshivas and head of Yeshivat Or Etzion, Rabbi Haim Druckman, gave a special blessing to troops serving in Operation Protective Edge in an interview with Arutz Sheva on Friday. 

Rabbi Druckman referred to the concept of milchemet mitzvah, whereby certain wars are Torah-mandated for men to serve - such as to defend the Jewish people from attack. 

"Our soldiers are fighting God's War," he said. "This war determines out very existence in this country." 

"This war is for real peace, as told about in Isaiah: 'And your peers shall have swords ... and no nation shall lift up a sword against your nation, which is not knowing another war.'," he added.

''Israel does not strive for another war, for deaths; each Iron Dome cost a fortune - who needs it?" he continued. "But there is evil in the world and we must fight that evil."

Rabbi Druckman had no doubt who will win this war, as Operation Protective Edge enters its eighteenth day.

"Our ancestors fought, Abraham fought, Moses fought," he reassured. "Our aspirations are indeed that 'the wolf will live with the lamb' [citing the verse in Isaiah about the Messianic era - ed.] but if the sheep does not deal with the wolf, nothing will be left of the sheep."

"This is a holy war by all accounts, a war of salvation and for the existence of Israel in its homeland," he said. 

Rabbi Druckman believes that the tremendous show of unity among the people of Israel in recent times is the proof of the greatness of Israel.

"You see, at funerals of individual soldiers, tens of thousands of people - where else is there such a world?" he reflected. "Individuals who are not close relatives and friends arrive."

"These enemies of Israel - with God's help we will overcome them, as we have overcome [our enemies in] all of Israel's wars," he concluded.

Kerry Ceasefire Ploy Deepens U.S. Rift With Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Egyptian President Fattah El Sisi’s frosty “no” without explanation to an American invitation to attend the US-Africa August summit taking place in Washington was a straw in the wind. It was not heeded.
A few days before US Secretary of State John Kerry departed for Cairo on July 20, White House officials were still debating whether or not President Barack Obama should dip a finger in the Gaza fray. By then, the administration had been apprised by its intelligence sources that the leaders of the new pact between Saudi Arabia and Israel were more determined than ever to obstruct the Obama administration’s steps in support of Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The understanding leading up to this pact was forged by Saudi King Abdullah and the Egyptian President on June 21 when they talked onboard the Saudi royal plane on a Cairo stopover.
Some of Obama’s advisers warned that, by traveling to Cairo, Kerry would play directly into the hands of the Saudi king, who accuses the US president of impeding the Egyptian-Saudi-UAE campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood, at every turn since the ouster of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood a year ago.

Obama’s aides fear Kerry mission would further strain ties with Riyadh

Any suggestion by the secretary of state that the Brotherhood’s offshoot Hamas ought to be left in power and retain a part of its military strength would be bound to further strain the already strung out relations between Riyadh and Washington.
But Obama decided to ignore this counsel and dispatched Kerry to Cairo, reasoning that the US can’t be seen to be unwilling to step in when hundreds of Palestinians are dying.
But as soon as he touched town in Cairo, Kerry found he had landed in murkier waters than the White House had anticipated.
Sisi refused to budge from his original unconditional ceasefire proposal. He informed Kerry bluntly that he would not even look at any proposal which incorporated Hamas’ terms – in particular, the lifting of the Egyptian blockade on the Gaza Strip’s Rafah gateway to Sinai to enable people and goods to flow freely across the border.
On no account would Sisi contemplate any deal that cut into Egyptian sovereignty over its border with the Gaza Strip, DEBKA Weekly’s sources quote him as telling the US Secretary with great emphasis. All he would consider was letting Palestinian Authority security personnel take charge of the Gaza border. But this he knew Hamas would never countenance.

US turns to Hamas patron, Qatar, in ceasefire bid

Rebuffed firmly by Cairo, Kerry turned to backdoor dealings with Qatari ruler Sheikh Al Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, patron of Hamas and the Brotherhood. The secretary of state asked the emir to put the squeeze on Hamas, whose political leader Khaled Meshaal, has his relocated his business headquarters to Doha after being kicked out of Damascus.
Our ears on the ground say the secretary of state told Al Thani to squeeze Meshaal hard, including even a threat to cut off of funding for Hamas or expel Meshaal - if his group stood by its rejection of the Egyptian proposal.
But the Qatari leader refused to play. Instead, on July 22, he used his own back door to Saudi King Abdullah and asked him to lean on Sisi to soften his position.
The late-night conversation between the two Arab rulers led nowhere when Abdullah refused to opt out of his cooperation with the Egyptian president and Israeli prime minister in the Gaza offensive against Hamas.

Two distinct camps on Gaza war, but no ceasefire deal

This flurry of diplomacy has not as yet generated a ceasefire deal but it has consolidated two camps at opposite ends of the Gaza conflict: The US has taken the lead of the camp consisting of Qatar and the Palestinian Authority headed by Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, which stands against Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel.
As a week of failed diplomacy drew to a close, Kerry made a last-ditch attempt to bridge the gap between the two camps with a proposal for a ceasefire, to be followed by two post-war tracks - one for rehabilitating Gaza and restoring its economy with funding from Saudi Arabia and Qatar; the other for Hamas and the Islamic Jihad to be simultaneously stripped in stages of their military capabilities.
The Kerry package has only a slim chance of weathering the complexities of the Gaza conflict. King Abdullah is unlikely to break faith with Egypt and Israel and in no mood to send Hamas cash gifts. So long as the Obama administration keeps to its resolve of preserving Hamas’ military and political wings, Kerry’s mission is a nonstarter.

Israel Rejects Kerry's Ceasefire Proposal
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Tanks gearing up for Gaza

Flash 90

Israel rejected U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza on Friday evening.

According to reports in the Israeli media, the Cabinet which met on the issue unanimously voted to reject the proposal.

"The security cabinet has unanimously rejected the ceasefire proposal of Kerry, as it stands," Channel 1 News reported, adding that ministers would continue discussing it.

According to Channel 10 News, even though the ceasefire proposal was rejected, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would still prefer to avoid an extensive ground operation in Gaza at this time.

Earlier on Friday, the London-based Al Hayat newspaper reported that Hamas had agreed to a five-day "humanitarian ceasefire" on terms suggested by Kerry.

Kerry's proposal reportedly includes some of the unprecedented terms proposed by Hamas leaders, but not all. According to the daily, the truce would not see any terrorists released, despite Hamas's demands.

An official involved in the negotiations for a ceasefire told The New York Times earlier Friday that Kerry has proposed a two-stage plan that would first impose a weeklong truce starting Sunday.

As soon as the truce took effect, Palestinian Authority and Israeli officials would begin negotiations on the principal economic, political and security concerns about Gaza, with other nations attending.

It was not clear if the final plan would be endorsed by Hamas, noted The New York Times.

Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal declared on Wednesday that Israel must accept his list of unprecedented conditions for a ceasefire in order for any truce to be declared.

IRS Faces New Grilling Over Targeting Churches
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsWND
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Iranians Rally for 'Death to Israel, America' Nationwide
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shout anti-Israeli slogans

Reuters

Iranians rallied nationwide on Friday in a show of support for Palestinians and to protest against Israel, AFP reports.

Demonstrations were staged in Tehran and more than 700 towns and cities across the country on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, state television reported.

In the capital, footage showed demonstrators carrying placards saying "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" converging from nine different points on Tehran University in the city centre.

"Quds Day" (Jerusalem Day) is staged annually on the last Friday of Ramadan, but this year's protest came on the 18th day of Israel's campaign against rocket-firing militants in the Gaza Strip.

More than 800 Palestinian Arabs, some of whom are civilians, have been killed in the assault on Gaza and the Islamist Hamas, a key Iran ally.

Projectiles fired into Israel have killed three civilians - two Israelis and a Thai migrant worker - and fighting in and around Gaza has killed 32
Israeli soldiers.

Iran does not recognize Israel's existence, and supports Palestinian Islamist terrorism as a regional ally to fight it. 

On Thursday, the speaker of Iran's parliament, Ali Larijani, told state television's Arabic service that Tehran had provided Hamas with the technology it has used to rain down rockets on Israel.

"Today, the fighters in Gaza have good capabilities and can meet their own needs for weapons," he said. "But once upon a time, they needed the arms manufacture know-how and we gave it to them."

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday called on the Palestinians to keep fighting Israel and to expand their resistance from Gaza to Judea-Samaria.

Israel accused Iran of supplying Gaza militants with its Fajr-5 missile, which has a range of 75 kilometers (45 miles), for use during that conflict.

Hamas fired several such missiles at Tel Aviv and even Jerusalem in 2012, all of which exploded in open areas and did not cause any physical injuries or damages.

The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, claimed at the time that it was not the missiles that had been supplied but their technology.

Futuristic Aerial Surveillance - Coming to a City Near You?
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Seemingly, almost daily, we hear of a new technique being used to “spy” on our every move. This past year has witnessed a barrage of revelations concerning the erosion of privacy and the encroachment of “Big Brother” into the daily lives of average citizens.

Law enforcement agencies argue that these surveillance techniques are needed to improve safety, apprehend criminals and increasingly, to prevent crime. Those concerned with the erosion of privacy argue that many of these new technologies go too far.

So into this debate enters Persistent Surveillance Systems (PSS). PSS is a surveillance technology, originally developed as a research project at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) back in 2004.

PSS utilizes a surveillance flight, airplane or helicopter, carrying specialized cameras that can monitor 25 square miles of territory, providing something no ordinary law enforcement helicopter or plane can: a TiVo-styled time machine that surveys and records movements of every person and vehicle below!

Currently, the “eye in the sky” does have its limitations; the cameras only shoot for a few hours at a time, in daytime, and not always in color. Also, depending upon the altitude of the flight, the pictures can only is used to track, not identify, suspects.

Concerning the success of the PSS system, Ross McNutt, the CEO of the company, states, "We have witnessed 34 people being murdered within our imaged areas and have been able to track people to and from those scenes. The people who confessed, on being captured with assistance from our imagery, confessed for a total of 75 murders.”

In the past, in cities like Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Cleveland, and at events like the 2014 Indianapolis 500, PSS has been employed to monitor the landscape, scrutinizing for possible criminal behavior.

Currently PSS has no active contracts inside the United States and McNutt is increasingly mystified at cities that won’t hire his aerial surveillance firm. 

At this time, the retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel is lobbying 10 US cities— Chicago and nine others he declines to name—for longer contracts.

The PSS Surveillance Company came under considerable scrutiny following a secretive operation conducted over the city of Compton, CA.

In 2012, PSS ran a nine-day test there under the authority of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, unbeknownst to Compton city officials.

When news of the test was reported earlier this year by the Center for Investigative Reporting and the Los Angeles Times, city officials, including the Mayor of Compton, strongly objected. The LA Sheriffs Department admitted concealing the experiment due to citizen’s concerns about surveillance.

"The system was kind of kept confidential from everybody in the public. A lot of people do have a problem with the eye in the sky, the Big Brother, so in order to mitigate any of those kinds of complaints, we basically kept it pretty hush-hush," confessed the Sheriff’s office.

It is easy to imagine the litany of privacy concerns raised by such a technology. PSS could potentially be used for nefarious purposes, thus the reluctance of cities to embrace the technology, at least not publicly. 

Despite the issues involved, if Ross Mc Nutt is successful, PSS could be headed to a neighborhood near you!

For Second Time, Rockets Found At UN School in Gaza
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

For the second time in less than a week, rockets have been found in a school in Gaza operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the body said.

“Today, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip,” the organization said in a statement issued Tuesday. “As soon as the rockets were discovered, UNRWA staff were withdrawn from the premises, and so we are unable to confirm the precise number of rockets. The school is situated between two other UNRWA schools that currently each accommodate 1,500 internally displaced persons.”

As it did the last time around when missiles were found in a school it operates, UNRWA said it “strongly and unequivocally condemns the group or groups responsible for this flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law.”

UNRWA, the UN agency charged with overseeing humanitarian efforts in Gaza, said it immediately “informed the relevant parties and is pursuing all possible measures for the removal of the objects in order to preserve the safety and security of the school.” The organization again pledged to launch a “comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident.”

Israeli officials reacted furiously to the discovery. “How many more schools will have to be abused by Hamas missile squads before the international community will intervene,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor told The Times of Israel. “How many times can it turn its head the other way and pretend that it just doesn’t see?”

Last Wednesday, UNRWA found some 20 rockets in a school under its auspices, also during a standard inspection. A spokesperson for UNRWA said the organization gave the rockets to “local authorities,” which answer to the Hamas-backed unity government led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “According to longstanding UN practice in UN humanitarian operations worldwide, incidents involving unexploded ordnance that could endanger beneficiaries and staff are referred to the local authorities,” UNRWA’s director of advocacy and strategic communications, Christopher Gunness, told The Times of Israel Sunday.

In Jerusalem, such assertions are rejected, even ridiculed, with officials charging that the weaponry was returned to Hamas. “The rockets were passed on to the government authorities in Gaza, which is Hamas. In other words, UNRWA handed to Hamas rockets that could well be shot at Israel,” a senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel.

Another senior official pointed out that UNRWA has a history of letting Hamas use its facilities for its terrorist activities. “Time and again, over the years, UNRWA has been abused by gunmen from different terrorist factions who are using UN facilities to stockpile weapons, to fire rockets from, to steal UNRWA humanitarian equipment and to cause damage and fire in UNRWA’s hangars,” a senior Foreign Ministry official told The Times of Israel.

“Against all evidence, UNRWA refuses to acknowledge reality and pathetically attempts to ingratiate itself with Hamas, pretending that nothing serious has happened,” the senior official said. “This is a classic case of beaten-wife syndrome, which we have been witnessing for years from UNRWA. The people of Gaza, and indeed taxpayers from countries who contribute to UNRWA’s budget — including Israel — deserve better.”

British Commander: Idf Most Moral Army World Has Ever Known
Jul 25th, 2014
CommentaryIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Col. Richard Kemp, the former commander of all British forces in Afghanistan, is in Israel this week to lend support to the military campaign in Gaza and to take on take on detractors who claim the Israeli army is perpetrating war crimes there.

“No other army in the world has ever done more than Israel is doing now to save the lives of innocent civilians in a combat zone,” Kemp said in an interview with Channel 2 News, adding that when world leaders demand Israel do more, “perhaps Israel should ask what more it can do.”

Having served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Kemp is intimately familiar with exactly the kind of enemy Israel is facing, and the environment in which it is fighting.

“Islamic extremists around the world use very similar tactics,” the retired colonel explained, as he recalled Taliban using young children to attack his troops. “British soldiers have fought exactly this kind of enemy in Afghanistan and in Iraq. British soldiers understand what Israel is doing.”

Kemp went on to accuse some in the mainstream international media of culpability in Hamas’ war crimes.

“The media, in some cases, bear responsibility for the killing that’s taking place, because they are themselves projecting Hamas’ desired propaganda,” he said.

Asked if he felt Israel could achieve total victory, if it could force a Hamas surrender, Kemp sounded doubtful.

“Inevitably, Israel’s inexorable military force driving into Gaza will lead to the surrender of Hamas,” he stated, before going on to note that such an outcome depended on far too many external forces.

Could Israel accept the large number of soldiers that would die in such a war? Could Israel withstand international pressure long enough to achieve total victory? These are questions that many in Israel have long asked, and few believe that “yes” is the answer to either.

An Arab Pastor Speaks Out on Gaza
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

The following is an open letter from Shmuel Aweida to all those "peace activists" rising up against Israel. Listen carefully, Awieda is an Israeli Arab Christian pastor who knows of what he speaks!

Dear so-called "peace-seeking people", "pro-ceasefire people" and "peace and reconciliation activists",

Forgive me for not taking your nice dreams and peace demonstrations and wishes so seriously... People who didn't care about the suffering people in Gaza under the Hamas regime for years can't really be considered morally superior to any IDF soldier that's on the ground there now. You might seem to be better and kinder, but not really... Sorry...

If you really care, then free Gaza from Hamas and other Islamic jihadist organizations! How can you feel sorry for the innocent children hurt accidentally by Israel when you don't care that the same children grow up to learn to hate intentionally? You claim to feel sorry for the hungry children while ignoring the poison they are fed every single day at Hamas and Fatah schools and on TV.

How can you feel sorry for the women crying now when you didn't care that they've been humiliated, discriminated and even raped and killed regularly for years?

Here's another thing I don't get:

These kind, sympathetic, peace-loving people who automatically want and pray for a ceasefire in Israel's war(s) against the evil, anti-Semitic, anti-human, blood-thirsty terrorist organizations like Hamas (not against the Palestinians) - they make Israel never finish "the job" and then on the top of it all, their governments and NGOs send billions of dollars of "aid" to this corrupt evil system.

And guess what happens time and again - instead of feeding the hungry with food, they feed themselves with weapons. Instead of teaching the children math, they teach them hate and jihad against the Jews. Instead of building houses and hospitals above the ground, they build terror-tunnels under the ground.

The tunnels found in the past days have cost hundreds of millions of US dollars to build! The IDF blew up millions of your money, dear nice people in the naive West!

I'm not saying that Israel is without any fault here, but sometimes I really wonder if the Palestinians' best friends are in reality the ones that maintain their oppression under this Islamic regime?

I simply don't get it! Someone here needs to get a better grasp of reality!

As much as I hate this war and the price that's being paid by our dear soldiers and the innocent civilians on both sides, I hate the fact that it's necessary! May the needed pain of war bear good fruit of peace for all! May the Lord of Hosts and Armies give us His Shalom!

There has been quite a lot of activity in the social media in the past month. I was disappointed and frustrated of some my Facebook friends and the level of naiveté and blindness with regard to the real situation and the roots of the conflicting the Middle East.

Do they really not see what the Hamas is all about or what Islam really is? Are they all so blind to what's happening around us in Syria, Iraq and all over? Don't they see what Hamas is doing to the poor population that lives under this terror daily? I don't know why I keep being surprised...

To my anti-Arab friends:

But what really surprised me was that, with regard to this operation in Gaza, the hatred, revenge and racism that filled the [Facebook] statuses of those who support Israel.

They expressed such joy over going to war and causing destruction (a joy I'm glad our leadership doesn't have). The fact they quoted Bible verses didn't make it any less stinking. So I threw those people out of my Facebook just like I did with others that posted pornography and other disgusting stuff. Trash is trash is trash.

Praying that God may protect our soldiers who are serving us and giving their lives for us - proud of the moral code of the IDF and the legitimacy of this necessary operation. Praying for those making the tough decisions - but with much more humility.

I guess we need to pray that we'll all guard our hearts from hatred, revenge, racism, pride and other destructive things that do not honor us, nor the God of Israel.

Americans Fight for Israel As 'Lone Soldiers' in Gaza Strip
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

They come from other countries, but they fight for Israel. And sometimes die for it.

They are known as lone soldiers — thousands of volunteers from around the world who join the Israeli Defense Forces, often in combat units, but have no family inside the Jewish state. They typically serve a year and a half. They train alongside Israeli citizens, and today they fight next to them in Israel’s incursion against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“The foreignness drops away real quick,” said Adam Harmon, who moved to Israel from New Hampshire out of college and joined the IDF in 1990, when Israel was fighting a Palestinian uprising and an ascendant Hezbollah.

The main difference between himself and his fellow soldiers, he recalled, was that he was 22 and they were 18 — just beginning their compulsory service and focused on girls, soccer, cars.

Harmon had been on summer trips to Israel and moved because “I just felt I belonged to that place, and it belonged to me.” He signed up for the IDF because he wanted to share the burden of service. He later wrote a book, “Lonely Soldier,” about his experience.

An estimated 2,000 soldiers in the IDF today are from the United States, and on Sunday two of them lost their lives — a 24-year-old from Southern California and a 21-year-old from Texas. Their families said they both had a passion for Israel.

Former lone soldiers say they sometimes drew curious looks from Israeli soldiers, for whom service is mandatory. But they described feeling as strong a sense of patriotism for Israel as they do for the United States.

“The bottom line is, I’m part of the Jewish people,” said David Joel, who grew up outside Atlanta and said he was inspired to serve after he narrowly missed being killed in a terrorist attack in Jerusalem when he visited with a friend in 2000.

“We decided that instead of going away we were going to donate something to the country,” he said. “We were Jewish, and we believe in the Jewish country. At the end of the day, it’s our nation.”

Joel served in the infantry as a heavy machine gunner during the Palestinian uprising known as the Second Intifada, from 2000 to 2005. He served in Ramallah, in the West Bank, and in Bethlehem, where his unit arrested what he described as terrorists.

Joel gained Israel citizenship in 2004, and today lives in the city of Shilo, outside Jerusalem. During an interview with NBC News, he got an alert on his phone about possible nearby incoming rockets from Hamas.

There are about 6,000 lone soldiers in the IDF today, said Josh Flaster, director of the Lone Soldier Center, an Israeli nonprofit. That figure includes not just lone soldiers who come from other countries but also Israeli orphans and those from broken homes.

About a third of those are from the United States, but sizable contingents are also from France, Russia and Argentina, Flaster said.

The IDF overall numbers about 176,000 active service members, according to Jane’s, which keeps military statistics.

Asked whether the ranks of lone soldiers rise at times when Israel is involved in heavy fighting, like its battle against Hamas, Flaster pointed out that Israel had also fought armed conflicts in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2012.

“The crazy people are coming to the top” in the Middle East, he said, so “young Jewish guys and girls around the world who care about Israel, who want to defend Jews and civilians, they come.”

Two who came from the United States were Max Steinberg, 24, and Nissim Sean Carmeli, 21. They were among 13 Israeli soldiers and at least 65 Palestinians killed on Sunday in Gaza in the first major ground battle of the Israeli incursion.

Steinberg was a sharpshooter and Carmeli a sergeant.

Steinberg’s father, Stuart, told The Associated Press that his son visited Israel for the first time on a Birthright trip in June 2012. When he came home, he told his parents that he would go back to join the IDF.

“I always wanted to serve in the military in one capacity or another, whether that’s America or Israel.”

“He was completely dedicated and committed to serving the country of Israel,” the father told the AP. “He was focused, he was clear in what the mission was, and he was dedicated to the work he needed to be doing.”

Carmeli’s high school in Texas, St. Joseph Academy, remembered him as a “very devout and dedicated young Jewish man” and sent prayers to his family. Carmeli grew up on South Padre Island and moved to Israel to finish high school.

Rafe Kaplan, who lives in Milford, Connecticut, and is preparing to enter medical school, joined the IDF in September 2012, right after college, and served as a paratrooper. He returned to the States in January.

He had visited Israel but didn’t pursue citizenship because it “culturally just wasn’t for me,” and he considered joining the U.S. Marines, but that was a four-year commitment and he had medical school to think about.

“I always wanted to serve in the military in one capacity or another, whether that’s America or Israel,” he said. I love both countries. And I’ve always respected soldiers. I’ve always wanted to serve my country.”

Kaplan’s old unit is in Gaza today, and he said he worries for them.

“I know they were trained well,” he said. “I know that they’re doing the best they can.”

A Sophisticated Fighting Machine is Slowed Down By Hands - on Politicians
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The IDF which is taking on Hamas today is a very different species than the army which fought Hizballah in 2006, or Hamas in 2009 and 2012. The 55,000 troops fighting currently in Gaza are a well-oiled machine, made to order by training and structure for the very conditions they are finding in their current counter-terror mission.
They have been formed into five task forces, each consisting of large armored, infantry, air and naval forces, which is fully equipped, integrated and capable of operating independently without outside back-up. Working to detailed planning, they have been sweeping efficiently through Gaza’s northern and southern sectors.
These troops are exceptionally fit physically, an aspect often neglected in the past, and therefore better able to stand up to the hardships of combat in the Gaza environment.
Their command and logistics functions are also working almost without a hitch, so that medical aid, ammunition, food and other provisions are dispensed to the various units as needed.

Regional cooperation holds back a fast-moving army

In contrast to these improvements, combined with advanced military technological innovations and troop training for lightning action, the chain of command moves sluggishly, bogged down by politicians who insist on a hands-on role in the planning.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, a former chief of staff himself, often override the Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz’s command of Operation Protective Edge by overseeing and approving detailed battle decisions.
This micromanagement of an army, which would seem to be excessive in the middle of a war, is exercised largely in the service of Netanyahu’s secret collaboration with Egyptian President Fattah El Sisi and Saudi King Abdullah.
This troika sketched out the operation’s grand design in advance and they now interact almost daily on its execution. (See a separate article for more about the Israel-Egypt-Saudi pact.)
This halting pace accounts for the IDF still fighting on the fringes of Hamas’ military capability and the delay in achieving a clear victory over Hamas, or even breaking its will to fight.
The notable exception to this pattern is Shajaiya, where the IDF routed Hamas decisively in its stronghold and razed a city of 100,000 inhabitants.

Early reliance on air strikes allowed Hamas to settle underground

But the Hamas high command and military infrastructure operating out of elaborate underground cities have scarcely been touched. The IDF must strike this vital backbone of the Islamist terror machine in order to move the operation swiftly into its final, victorious phase.
The greater part of Operation Protective Edge still lies ahead. The head of the Hamas politburo Khaled Meshaal could boast with some justice on July 23 that his forces could fight on for another two months.
The delayed tempo of the operation can be traced to its initial phase, when 17 days ago, the air force was entrusted by Netanyahu and Ya’alon with conducting an awesome blitz to quickly bring Hamas to its knees. Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel persuaded them that air strikes would produce rapid results.
But this did not happen. Air power damaged buildings and surface infrastructure, but failed to touch Hamas’ military core, which stayed intact inside its labyrinthine bunker network 20-40 meters under the center of Gaza City. From there, the top Hamas military and political brass and command centers are safely running operations, including rocket launching units which are close at hand.
By the time Netanyahu and Ya’alon changed tack a week ago, and sent armored and infantry troops into the Gaza Strip, Hamas had won time enough to dig the bulk of its strength into comfortable quarters underground.
Israeli intelligence has had little success in penetrating this subterranean network, leaving the war planners without an exact picture of what they are faced with.

Operation’s success stories are Iron Dome and tank defense system

The success stories of Israel’s counter-terror campaign against Hamas are two homemade guided systems: the Iron Dome missile defense system and the Trophy tank protection system, known as the Armored Shield Protection Active (ASPRO-A), or “Windbreaker.”
While Israel has touted Iron Dome as a system designed to protect civilians - and indeed it has performed this function admirably - most of the 2,000 plus rockets fired from Gaza in the past 17 days were in fact aimed at the Israeli air bases taking part in attacks on Hamas.
Thanks to Iron Dome, no soldiers were hurt and no aircraft destroyed, although several bases took minor damage.
DEBKA Weekly’s military sources report that the IDF has deployed in the Gaza Strip the 401^st tank brigade - the only unit all of whose Chariot-4 tanks are equipped with ASPRO-A -.
Commanders and military observers have been impressed by the extent to which this defense system has permitted Israeli tanks to advance on Hamas positions untouched by heavy anti-tank missile fire.
ASPRO-A, fixed atop the Chariot-4 tank, combines soft kill and hard kill elements against weaponry moving in for attack: each system consists of sensors, search radar, four antenna panels, a firing computer and an intercept launcher.
The radar constantly scans 360 degrees, analyzes the type, speed, location and direction of a threat and then shoots a volley of metal bullets packed with explosives to neutralize an incoming missile in mid-air. The system can deal with a wide range of threats and multiple attacks while on the move in all weather conditions.
ASPRO-A’s exceptional performance in difficult conditions has stirred interest in foreign armies.

A Chinese Gold Standard?
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsThe New York Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

LONDON — While the 70th anniversary of D-Day last month received a lot of attention, another event, in July 1944 — the Bretton Woods conference, named for the mountain resort in New Hampshire where it was held — was perhaps even more significant in shaping the modern world. It not only led to the creation of what are now the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, but it also confirmed the central position of the United States dollar in the international monetary system.

Why does this matter for us now? Just as America displaced Britain as the world’s pre-eminent economic power in the interwar period, so, too, the large debts and fiscal pressures confronting the West, and the rise of China and other economic powers, challenge us to think about the future of finance.

For most of the 19th century the British pound had been the world’s “reserve currency,” the currency in which trade and finance were denominated. “As sound as a pound” became a widely used expression. The pound was pegged to gold at a fixed rate of just under £4 per ounce.

At the outbreak of World War I, Britain abandoned the gold standard. You could no longer exchange pounds for gold. The gold standard was reintroduced in 1925, but this, as John Maynard Keynes observed, proved to be an economic mistake.

British prices and, more crucially, wages, would have to be forced down by 10 percent to maintain the competitiveness of British exports. As American agricultural and industrial exports soared in the 1920s and 1930s, the dollar effectively replaced the pound. It was American bankers who helped out the financially strapped Weimar Republic in the 1920s. The British, as exporters of capital, were a diminished force.

By the time of Bretton Woods, the United States held roughly 60 percent of the world’s gold supply. “Think of the gold in Fort Knox,” America’s chief negotiator at Bretton Woods, Harry Dexter White, said. “That is why we are in a powerful position.” He added, “We have the wherewithal to buy any currency we want.”

Bretton Woods fixed the dollar price of gold at $35 per ounce, and all the other major currencies — the pound, the franc, the mark, the yen — were subsequently pegged to the dollar, even though they could not be exchanged directly for gold. This system lasted until 1971. By then, America was under the financial strain of the Vietnam War and Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society. With mounting deficits and an adverse balance of trade, America struggled to maintain gold convertibility at the old rate of $35 an ounce. So President Richard M. Nixon abandoned the fixed dollar price of gold established at Bretton Woods (over the objections of the Federal Reserve chairman, Arthur F. Burns).

International critics said that the United States, by ending the dollar link to gold, was turning its back on its responsibilities as the guarantor of the international monetary system. Over the decades, the situation has gotten worse. The United States is $17.6 trillion in debt owed to the public, and large trade deficits are the norm. Yet there is no scope for revisiting the international monetary system, despite great dissatisfaction by countries like China and the Persian Gulf states, which hold large foreign currency reserves. Americans themselves question the security of the dollar when their country faces such large trade and budget deficits.

China’s nearly $4 trillion in reserves — accumulated through its mercantilist trade policies — give it plenty of ammunition to claim leadership in the creation of a new monetary order. The Chinese, however, are most unlikely to bid for monetary hegemony in the near future. For the past 25 years they have pursued a policy of aggressive export growth to drive their economy. China successively devalued its currency, from 1.50 renminbi to the dollar in 1980, to 8.72 in 1994. (Today the renminbi trades at 6.20 to the dollar, which the United States still considers artificially low.)

Could China someday peg its currency to gold, as Britain did in 1821? China has the reserves to do this, and it could have the political will, if the dollar proved to be unreliable as a store of value in the future.

Of course, Britain’s earlier adoption of the gold standard, in 1821, worsened a sharp deflationary period, during which, according to one calculation, consumer prices fell nearly 50 percent, between 1818 and 1822.

Nevertheless, to its supporters the gold standard ensured British fiscal and monetary dominance during the rest of the 19th century. As the British historian A.J.P. Taylor observed, 19th-century Britons believed that “a country could not flourish without a balanced budget and a gold currency.” Since Keynes, the West has tried to deny this proposition, with our reliance on deficit spending and “fiat” money, backed mainly by the expectation that a government will not default on its debts.

China is not as indebted as the West, but it is looking to “rebalance” its economy by raising demand by consumers, who want to enjoy the standard of living enjoyed across the Western world. Since 2010, the renminbi has appreciated 14 percent without drastically hurting Chinese exports.

Having expanded its manufacturing base and captured international markets, China may well find a world hooked on its products. It could eventually — in, say, 20 years — peg the renminbi to gold, considering it preferable to the dollar as a store of value, because of its permanence and longevity. With a balanced budget and a gold-backed currency, China’s economy could be even more formidable than it is today. Such a move would truly mark its return as the “Middle Kingdom.” Hard as it may be to contemplate today, this scenario would, in many ways, be a more secure basis for an international monetary regime system than the system of floating exchange rates that Nixon inadvertently created in 1971, one that forever overturned the Bretton Woods order.

1,000 in Pro - Israel Rally in Helsinki
Jul 25th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

More than 1,000 people took part, Thursday, in a pro-Israel rally in front of the Finnish parliament building in Helsinki.

Several well known politicians participated in the rally, claiming that Israel has the right to protect its borders and citizens and that Hamas's aggressive and cowardly hostility must be stopped immediately.