Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

UN Security Council Calls for Immediate Gaza Ceasefire
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

UN Security Council

Reuters

The UN Security Council on Monday called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza to allow for urgent aid to reach civilians as the conflict between Israel and Hamas entered its third week.

The 15-member Council released a statement shortly after midnight Sunday calling for the truce during the Muslim Eid festival marking the end of Ramadan.

The Council expressed "strong support" for an "immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire," and urged all sides to accept and fully implement the truce.

It voiced "grave concern regarding the deterioration in the situation as a result of the crisis related to Gaza and the loss of civilian lives and casualties."

More than 1,030 Palestinians have died in the fighting as well as 43 Israeli soldiers.

Palestinian representative to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, expressed disappointment with the statement, saying it fell short of a formal resolution demanding that Israel withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip.

"They should have adopted a resolution a long time ago to condemn this aggression and to call for this aggression to be stopped immediately," said Mansour following the meeting.

"We are disappointed in that sense," he said, adding that the Palestinians would continue pressing the Security Council to move toward a formal binding resolution.

The emergency session came after Israel and Hamas ignored calls for a truce, with Israel pounding Gaza terror targets with artillery on Sunday after a night of rocket fire from Hamas aimed at civilians.

The two sides observed a 12-hour pause on Saturday, allowing Gaza medics to pull bodies from rubble.

The Council said "civilian and humanitarian facilities, including those of the UN, must be respected and protected" following outrage over an attack on a UN-run school in Gaza that Hamas blames on Israel, and revelations that Hamas stored rockets in at least two UNRWA schools.

The Council called on Israel and the Palestinian Hamas to try to reach a ceasefire based on the Egyptian initiative, and applauded US Secretary John Kerry's efforts to broker a deal.

The One Passage on the History of the Arab - Israeli Conflict That the Mainstream Media Won't Print
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Lost in most all of the media’s coverage of the conflict in Gaza, and more broadly the battle between Israel and the Arab world is a candid discussion of the history of Israel’s founding and specifically what happened to the Arabs of Palestine at the time of its founding.

Shmuel Katz, a South African native who emigrated to Israel in the 1930s, served in the Irgun and later held a seat in Israel’s First Knesset wrote at length about this very topic in his 1973 title “Battleground: Fact & Fantasy in Palestine.” And he asserts something that would enrage today’s mainstream media and undermine a crucial element to their narrative on the conflict: that the notion that Arabs were forcibly displaced from Palestine and made refugees is a farce.

Katz makes his argument largely based upon the words of the Western media and Arab leaders themselves during the time of Israel’s founding. Below is the relevant passage:

The Arabs are the only declared refugees who became refugees not by the action of their enemies or because of well-grounded fear of their enemies, but by the initiative of their own leaders. For nearly a generation, those leaders have willfully kept as many people as they possibly could in degenerating squalor, preventing their rehabilitation, and holding out to all of them the hope of return and of “vengeance” on the Jews of Israel, to whom they have transferred the blame for their plight.

“The Arabs are the only declared refugees who became refugees..by the initiative of their own leaders” 

The fabrication can probably most easily be seen in the simple circumstance that at the time the alleged cruel expulsion of Arabs by Zionists was in progress, it passed unnoticed. Foreign newspapermen who covered the war of 1948 on both sides did, indeed, write about the flight of the Arabs, but even those most hostile to the Jews saw nothing to suggest that it was not voluntary.

In the three months during which the major part of the flight took place – April, May, and June 1948 – the London Times, at that time [openly] hostile to Zionism, published eleven leading articles on the situation in Palestine in addition to extensive news reports and articles. In none was there even a hint of the charge that the Zionists were, driving the Arabs from their homes.

More interesting still, no Arab spokesman mentioned the subject. At the height of the flight, on April 27, Jamat Husseini, the Palestine Arabs’ chief representative at the United Nations, made a long political statement, which was not lacking in hostility toward the Zionists; he did not mention refugees. Three weeks later (while the flight was still in progress), the Secretary General of the Arab League, Azzam Pasha, made a fiercely worded political statement on Palestine; it contained not a word about refugees.

The Arab refugees were not driven from Palestine by anyone. The vast majority left, whether of their own free will or at the orders or exhortations of their leaders, always with the same reassurance that their departure would help in the war against Israel. Attacks by Palestinian Arabs on the Jews had begun two days after the United Nations adopted its decision of November 29, 1947, to divide western Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state. The seven neighboring Arab states Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Egypt then prepared to invade the country as soon as the birth of the infant State of Israel was announced.

“The Arab refugees were not driven from Palestine by anyone” 

Their victory was certain, they claimed, but it would be speeded and made easier if the local Arab population got out of the way. The refugees would come back in the wake of the victorious Arab armies and not only recover their own property but also inherit the houses and farms of the vanquished and annihilated Jews. Between December 1, 1947, and May 15, 1948, the clash was largely between bands of local Arabs, aided by the disintegrating British authority, and the Jewish fighting organizations.

The earliest voluntary refugees were understandably the wealthier Arabs of the towns, who made a comparatively leisurely departure in December 1947 and in early 1948. At that stage, departure had not yet been proclaimed as a policy or recognized as a potential propaganda weapon. The Jaffa newspaper Ash Shalab thus wrote on January 30, 1948:

“The first group of our fifth column consists of those who abandon their houses and businesses and go to live elsewhere. . . . At the first sign of trouble they take to their heels to escape sharing the burden of struggle.”

Another weekly, As-Sarih of Jaffa, used even more scathing terms on March 30, 1948, to accuse the inhabitants of Sheikh Munis and other villages in the neighborhood of Tel Aviv of “bringing down disgrace on us all” by “abandoning their villages.” On May 5, the Jerusalem correspondent of the London Times was reporting: “The Arab streets are curiously deserted and, ardently following the poor example of the more moneyed class there has been an exodus from Jerusalem too, though not to the same extent as in Jaffa and Haifa.”

As the local Arab offensive spread during the late winter and early spring of 1948, the Palestinian Arabs were urged to take to the hills, so as to leave the invading Arab armies unencumbered by a civilian population. Before the State of Israel had been formally declared – and while the British still ruled the country – over 200,000 Arabs left their homes in the coastal plain of Palestine.

These exhortations came primarily from their own local leaders. Monsignor George Hakim, then Greek Catholic Bishop of Galilee, the leading Christian personality in Palestine for many years, told a Beirut newspaper in the summer of 1948, before the flight of Arabs had ended:

“The refugees were confident that their absence would not last long, and that they would return within a week or two. Their leaders had promised them that the Arab armies would crush the ‘Zionist gangs’ very quickly and that there was no need for panic or fear of a long exile.” [Sada at Tanub, August 16, 1948]

The exodus was indeed common knowledge. The London weekly Economist reported on October 2, 1948:

“Of the 62,000 Arabs who formerly lived in Haifa not more than 5,000 or 6,000 remained. Various factors influenced their decision to seek safety in flight. There is but little doubt that the most potent of the factors were the announcements made over the air by the Higher Arab Executive, urging the Arabs to quit.. . . It was clearly intimated that those Arabs who remained in Haifa and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades.”

And the Near East Arabic Broadcasting Station from Cyprus stated on April 3, 1949: “It must not be forgotten that the Arab Higher Committee encouraged the refugees’ flight from their homes in Jaffa, Haifa, and Jerusalem.”

Even in retrospect, in an effort to describe the deliberateness of the flight, the leading Arab propagandist of the day, Edward Atiyah (then Secretary of the Arab League Office in London), reaffirmed the facts:

“This wholesale exodus was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boasting of an unrealistic Arab press and the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter of some weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States and the Palestinian Arabs enabled to re-enter and retake possession of their country.”

Kenneth Bilby, one of the Americans who covered Palestine for several weeks during the war of 1948, wrote soon afterwards on his experience and observations:

“The Arab exodus, initially at least, was encouraged by many Arab leaders, such as Haj Amin el Husseini, the exiled pro-Nazi Mufti of Jerusalem, and by the Arab Higher Committee for Palestine. They viewed the first wave of Arab setbacks as merely transitory. Let the Palestine Arabs flee into neighboring countries. It would serve to arouse the other Arab peoples to greater effort, and when the Arab invasion struck, the Palestinians could return to their homes and be compensated with the property of Jews driven into the sea.” [New Star in the Near East (New York, 1950), pp. 30-31]

“The Arab States encouraged the Palestine Arabs to leave their homes temporarily” 

After the war, the Palestine Arab leaders did try to help people –including their own–to forget that it was they who had called for the exodus in the early spring of 1948. They now blamed the leaders of the invading Arab states themselves. These had added their voices to the exodus call, enough not until some weeks after the Palestine Arab fighter Committee had taken a stand. The war was not yet over when Emil Ghoury, Secretary of the Arab Higher Committee, the official leadership of the Palestinian Arabs, stated in an interview with a Beirut newspaper:

I do not want to impugn anybody but only to help the refugees. The fact that there are these refugees is the direct consequence of the action of the Arab States in opposing Partition and the Jewish State. The Arab States agreed upon this policy unanimously and they must share in the solution of the problem. [Daily Telegraph, September 6, 1948]

In retrospect, the Jordanian newspaper Falastin wrote on February 19, 1949:

The Arab States encouraged the Palestine Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies.

The Secretary General of the Arab League, Azzam Pasha, assured the Arab peoples that the occupation of Palestine and of Tel Aviv would be as simple as a military promenade. . . . He pointed out that they were already on the frontiers and that all the millions the Jews had spent on land and economic development would be easy booty, for it would be a simple matter to throw Jews into the Mediterranean. . . Brotherly advice was given to the Arabs of Palestine to leave their land, homes, and property and to stay temporarily in neighboring fraternal states, lest the guns of the invading Arab armies mow them down.

As late as 1952, the charge had the official stamp of the Arab Higher Committee. In a memorandum to the Arab League states, the Committee wrote: 

Some of the Arab leaders and their ministers in Arab capitals . . . declared that they welcomed the immigration of Palestinian Arabs into the Arab countries until they saved Palestine. Many of the Palestinian Arabs were misled by their declarations…. It was natural for those Palestinian Arabs who felt impelled to leave their country to take refuge in Arab lands . . . and to stay in such adjacent places in order to maintain contact with their country so that to return to it would be easy when, according to the promises of many of those responsible in the Arab countries (promises which were given wastefully), the time was ripe. Many were of the opinion that such an opportunity would come in the hours between sunset and sunrise.

Most pointed of all was the comment of one of the refugees: “The Arab governments told us: Get out so that we can get in. So we got out, but they did not get in.”

The Militarization of America's Police
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Week
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Ah, your friendly neighborhood SWAT team. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

How heavily armed are the police?
Many small-town police departments now boast the same weaponry once wielded by U.S. military units in Afghanistan — including tanks with 360-degree rotating turrets, battering rams, and automatic weapons. Those weapons are today deployed against Americans suspected of crimes in their own homes. Every day, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams connected to local police conduct 124 paramilitary-style raids in the U.S., according to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union. One of them recently drew national attention when a SWAT team in Atlanta burst into a private home and threw a live flash grenade into a 2-year-old's crib, severely injuring the toddler. Most raids by SWAT teams are conducted against suspected drug dealers, but they've also been deployed against a private poker game; a gay bar in Atlanta; a New Haven, Connecticut, bar suspected of serving minors; and even people suspected of credit card fraud. "Neighborhoods are not war zones," says the ACLU in its report, "and our police officers should not be treating us like wartime enemies."

Why do police have SWAT teams?
The first SWAT team was created by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1967 and reserved for the most extreme circumstances: riots, hostage scenarios, and active-shooter or sniper situations. But the "war on drugs," coupled with the sense of danger promoted by tragedies like the Columbine massacre in 1999 and the 9/11 terror attacks, encouraged police departments even in small towns and rural areas to create special units equipped and trained for worst-case scenarios. "There's violence in schools, and there's violence in the streets," said Sheriff Michael Gayer of Pulaski County in Indiana. "If driving a military vehicle is going to protect officers, that's what I'm going to do."

How do police get military equipment?
In recent years, the Department of Homeland Security has provided $35 billion to local police throughout the country to help buy weapons for "the war on terror." The rest can be traced to the Pentagon, which has off-loaded $4.2 billion of surplus armored vehicles, rifles, and equipment to police departments as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have wound down. Cash-strapped police departments obtain these weapons for free; all they have to do is pay for the shipping. SWAT teams have obtained tens of thousands of machine guns, night-vision goggles, silencers, armed helicopters, and armored vehicles. The Utah Highway Patrol, for example, owns a 55,000-pound, mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle, or MRAP, complete with a gunner's turret. "I can drive this thing right through the middle of a gunfight," said Highway Patrol Lt. Alex Lepley.

Are SWAT tactics an overreaction?
In many cases, yes. Of the 124 SWAT raids conducted daily, only 7 percent meet the original LAPD criteria. About 62 percent of the raids are mounted to conduct drug searches — many of them based on tips from unreliable informants. Most are undertaken to investigate nonviolent offenses. In Orlando in 2010, for example, heavily armed SWAT teams raided nine barbershops and arrested 34 people for "barbering without a license." Adrenalin-fueled SWAT teams have often been accused of overexuberance: In 2011, an Arizona paramilitary police unit riding in military vehicles — including a tank driven by special deputy and action movie star Steven Seagal — drove straight into the living room of an unarmed man suspected of staging cockfights. Such "no-knock" operations are now commonplace — often with tragic consequences.

Why conduct no-knock raids?
The premise is that police need to catch suspects unawares and prevent them from resisting or destroying evidence of their alleged crimes — say, by flushing drugs down the toilet. So SWAT units routinely barge into houses unannounced, scream obscenity-laced commands to get down on the floor, and chuck flash grenades to disorient and subdue the occupants. In the general chaos and confusion, dozens of civilians have been killed. They include 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, shot dead by police after one of their flash grenades set fire to her blanket. Other startled victims, assuming that their house is being invaded by armed intruders, are shot as they grab a gun to protect themselves. "Innocent people are hurting,'' said criminal defense lawyer Mawuli Davis.

What reforms have been proposed?
Changes could be made to the training of SWAT units, which the ACLU says teaches police to "adopt a 'warrior' mentality" toward any citizen suspected of crimes. Other advocates have called for states to pass legislation forcing police to provide reports on every SWAT raid they conduct. But it might take a high-profile tragedy for such laws to be passed. Maryland is one of only two states with a law requiring its police to track their raids. "That transparency bill only came [in 2009] after the high-profile botched raid on the mayor of Berwyn Heights," during which his two dogs were shot dead, said Radley Balko, author of Rise of the Warrior Cop. "It was vigorously opposed by every police group in the state."

Blowing the dog away
Perhaps the most common victim of police militarization is the family dog. About 250 to 300 cop-shoots-dog cases are now recorded in the U.S. media every year, according to Randall Lockwood of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and he estimates that another 1,000 aren't reported. Some of the shot dogs are dangerous breeds trained to attack, but many are family pets that simply get excited and fearful during raids and bark at police officers. The dead dogs include such breeds as Chihuahuas and golden retrievers, and even a miniature dachshund that made the mistake of growling at a police officer during one SWAT operation. "These guys think that the only solution to a dog that's yapping or charging is shooting and killing it," says former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper. "It goes with the notion that police officers have to control every situation."

Terror Group Threatens to 'Chop Off the Heads of the Jews'
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Gaza terrorists parade rocket

Flash 90

Jews who refuse to leave “Palestine” will be subject to beheading, a Palestinian group closely associated with Hamas threatened over the weekend. The “People's Resistance Committee, which is involved in the fighting in Gaza, made the threat as it announced that it was responsible for firing rockets at an IDF patrol east of Jebalya.

The 107 millimeter rockets, which the group specializes in using, has been nicknamed “the whip of death” by PRC terrorists. The group has threatened to “murder the soldiers of the treacherous thieves,” who robbed them of “Palestine.”

“We will get to you and chop off your heads,” the group threatened. “Leave our land, your army and leadership cannot protect you.”

The PRC announced earlier that it was opposed to any cease-fires or truces with Israel, even those for “humanitarian” reasons. 

Solar Storm Almost Fried Earth's Electronics Two Years Ago?
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsCNET
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

 

A coronal mass ejection. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Near-misses are never quite as exciting as a direct hit that splatters all before it.

Still, this week saw the second anniversary of an event that might have changed lives and, well, even wrecked Facebook's march to power. At least, that's what some scientists believe.

NASA's own Science News describes this event as being "perilous." Indeed, as perilous as "an asteroid big enough to knock modern civilization back to the 18th century."

There are plenty of people here on Earth who are already machinating to send us back to the 18th century. Clearly, there's something alluring about olden times.

In this case, however, it's the coronal mass ejection that's captivating minds. This solar storm "tore through Earth orbit in 2012," says Science News. "Fortunately Earth wasn't there."

Yes, Earth was, as usual, out to lunch.

The fear, though, was that if the storm had struck us, our technology would have been disrupted. Some larger elements of technology would have taken years to repair, apparently.

Worse, in the words of physicist Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado: "If it had hit, we would still be picking up the pieces."

It's unclear exactly which particular pieces actually would be picked up. I am troubled when such suggestions lead the New York Post to conclude: "Solar flare nearly destroyed Earth two years ago."

I hadn't got the sense that these CMEs, which are billions of tons of magnetized plasma hurtling through space, would actually destroy Earth. Rather, they might wreck our electronics for a while. That doesn't seem quite the same thing.

Some might argue that Earth could do with a little rest from electronic attachment, anyway.

Baker described the probable effects like this: "Extreme solar storms pose a threat to all forms of high-technology. They begin with an explosion -- a 'solar flare' -- in the magnetic canopy of a sunspot. X-rays and extreme UV radiation reach Earth at light speed, ionizing the upper layers of our atmosphere; side-effects of this 'solar EMP' include radio blackouts and GPS navigation errors."

That's only Phase One.

Next: "Minutes to hours later, the energetic particles arrive. Moving only slightly slower than light itself, electrons and protons accelerated by the blast can electrify satellites and damage their electronics. Then come the CMEs, billion-ton clouds of magnetized plasma that take a day or more to cross the Sun-Earth divide. Analysts believe that a direct hit by an extreme CME such as the one that missed Earth in July 2012 could cause widespread power blackouts, disabling everything that plugs into a wall socket. Most people wouldn't even be able to flush their toilet because urban water supplies largely rely on electric pumps."

The scientists, who studied the solar storm and actually released their findings last year, compare this to the Carrington Event of 1859. In that, beautiful lights were seen across the sky and telegraph lines began to spark.

The world, as far as I can see, didn't actually end.

It's natural that the second anniversary of a solar storm near-miss would lead to some publicity and frissons of excited fear.

But the only thing that was struck by the 2012 storm was the Stereo-A satellite, which was beyond the Earth's orbit. Not only did it survive, but it managed to record some data of the event.

Baker explained: "Inside Earth's magnetosphere, strong electric currents can be generated by a CME strike. Out in interplanetary space, however, the ambient magnetic field is much weaker and so those dangerous currents are missing."

 

Perhaps the ultimate truth is that we can't fully know how such a solar storm would affect us, until one actually does. Scientists suggest there's a 12 percent chance such a thing will happen in the next 10 years.

We can't, as I understand it, actually prevent it happening. Preparation is the only option we have. But it's not exactly easy to prepare for something whose effect is, at heart, not entirely known.

I contacted Baker to ask what specific preparations he feels we might take and will update, should I hear.

A future storm might be stronger or weaker than the one on July 23, 2012. With naturally occurring phenomena, how can we know their full effects?

We are, after all, just a tiny planet in a universe that is full of things we don't understand.

Security Cabinet to Decide: Ceasefire or Expansion
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The Israeli Security Cabinet is meeting this morning to determine Israel's next steps in Operation Protective Edge.

This morning's meeting will determine whether continue to forge ahead into Gaza or acquiesce to the demands of President Barack Obama and the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire. While this is being weighed, the IDF will continue to pursue its present tactic of meeting "quiet with quiet" - that is, the IDF will only respond to fire that originates from terror organizations in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the IDF will continue to neutralize the terror tunnels.

Scientist Sues Calif University for Firing Him After His Dinosaur Discovery Supported Creationism
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsChristian Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

(Photo: Facebook/Creation Museum)

A dinosaur exhibit at the Creation Museum.

A scientist has filed a lawsuit against the California State University, Northridge saying he was terminated from his job due to his religious views after he discovered soft tissue on a triceratops fossil which supported his creationist view.

Mark Armitage, a former scientist at CSUN in Los Angeles, was terminated after he discovered supposedly the largest triceratops horn ever unearthed at the Hell Creek Formation excavation site in Montana, according to attorney Brad Dacus of Pacific Justice Institute, who's filed the lawsuit.

"Since some creationists, like [Armitage], believe that the triceratops bones are only 4,000 years old at most, [Armitage's] work vindicated his view that these dinosaurs roamed the planet relatively recently," states the complaint filed against the CSUN board of trustees in Los Angeles Superior Court, according to CBS News.

The scientist's findings, which indicate that dinosaurs roamed the earth only thousands of years in the past rather than going extinct 60 million years ago, were published in July 2013 in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

"Terminating an employee because of their religious views is completely inappropriate and illegal," Dacus said in a statement. "But doing so in an attempt to silence scientific speech at a public university is even more alarming. This should be a wakeup call and warning to the entire world of academia."

Armitage is a published scientist of over 30 years.

Soon after the soft tissue discovery, a university official challenged the motives of Armitage, by shouting at him, "We are not going to tolerate your religion in this department!" according to court documents.

Armitage was later let go after the school abruptly claimed his appointment at the university of 38 months had been temporary, and claimed a lack of funding for his position.

The university's claim contradicted its prior statements and documents, says the Justice Institute, a legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties.

"It has become apparent that 'diversity' and 'intellectual curiosity,' so often touted as hallmarks of a university education, do not apply to those with a religious point of view," said Michael Peffer, staff attorney with PJI's southern California office. "This suit was filed, in part, to vindicate those ideals."

Pocket Drones: U.S. Army Developing Tiny Surveillance Tools for the Next Big War
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Washington Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Army to test next generation nano drone PD-100 Black Hornet. Photo via Youtube

Future U.S. Army soldiers sent into combat may have a brand new tool at their disposal: the pocket drone.

The U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center in Massachusetts is developing a “pocket-sized aerial surveillance device” for soldiers assigned to small units in dangerous environments.

When the Army’s efforts come to fruition, the Cargo Pocket Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance program will provide dismounted troops with real-time surveillance of threats in their environment.

“The Cargo Pocket ISR is a true example of an applied systems approach for developing new Soldier capabilities,” said Dr. Laurel Allender, acting NSRDEC technical director, Army.mil reported July 21.

“It provides an integrated capability for the soldier and small unit for increased situational awareness and understanding with negligible impact on soldier load and agility.”

Enlarge Photo

A British soldier holds Prox Dynamics’ PD-100 Black Hornet, a palm-sized miniature.

The pocket drone will be required to meet the Army’s digital security standards, fly in low-light operations and successfully maneuver indoors, Army.mil reported.

PLA Navy Conduct Naval Exercises to 'Take Back' Lost Sea Territories
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsWant China Times
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Warships from China's East Sea Fleet conduct exercises over the Western Pacific. (Photo/CNS)

The People's Liberation Army Navy is ready to launch two major exercises in the disputed South and East China Seas between July 26 and Aug. 1 to demonstrate its fighting prowess to Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan, according to the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao.

China's State Oceanic Administration of China announced that the exercises will take place in the Gulf of Tonkin, a body of water off the coast of northern Vietnam and southern China, and the East China Sea, where the disputed Diaoyutai (Senkaku) islands are located. No civilian vessels and aircraft are allowed to enter the region between July 27 and Aug. 2, according to official Chinese statement. Any ships operating near the regions must obey orders given by China's coast guard vessels.

Airports and flights connecting through cities near China's east coast, including Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jinan, Hefei, Wuxi, Ningbo, Qingdao, Zhenzhou and Lianyungang, have been cancelled and delayed because of their close distance to both Nanjing and the Jinan Military Regions. Major military exercises will continue to be carried out by the PLA until the middle of August, according to the report.

Since all those three nations mentioned above have territorial disputes with China over the Spratly islands, the Scarborough Shoal and the Diaoyutai islands, the PLA Navy is ability to retake the "lost" territories. Zhang Junshe, a military expert from the PLA Navy, said that China must prevent Japan from ever launching an invasion again.

PA to Send Delegation for Ceasefire Talks
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Mahmoud Abbas

Flash 90

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is to head a team - including Hamas - for talks in Cairo on sealing a Gaza ceasefire between the Islamist terror movement and Israel, an official told AFP Monday.

"Abbas is forming a Palestinian delegation including Hamas and Islamic Jihad representatives to meet Egyptian leaders and discuss a halt to Israel's aggression against Gaza," said the senior official in Ramallah, where the Abbas-led Palestinian Authority is based.

"The aim is to examine with Egyptian leaders how to meet Palestinian demands and put an end to the aggression and protect the Palestinians," said the source, declining to be named or to give a date for the mission.

Additional sources told Israeli daily Walla! Monday afternoon that talks with Egypt would commence later that day. 

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 implemented.

Many of the demands include, effectively, lifting all travel and import restrictions in Gaza and re-releasing arrested terrorists. 

Hamas, which has rejected not one, but three separate ceasefire attempts ,called on Israel over the past week to submit to a number of 'conditions' - or demands - in return for an end to the violence against Israelis.

The calls were accompanied by threats against the Israeli people, made through a series of weakly-worded text messages.

Despite the current round of discussion over a cease-fire - during which ministers have indicated that the operation is coming to a close - Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists have continued to fire rocket after rocket on Israeli civilians.

Online Campaign Aims to Build Third Temple
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The Temple Institute, an organization in Jerusalem which works toward the rebuilding of the Third Temple, began a revolutionary campaign on Sunday to literally rebuild the Third Temple - through the power of crowdfunding. 

Headlines under the title, "Don't make history. Make the future. Build the Third Temple," the indiegogo campaign promises that this generation of children is "ready" to see the center of Jewish worship rebuilt, once and for all. 

Several parallels have already been drawn, if informally, between Israel's current campaign to eliminate Hamas terror - and the international community's slow, but climbing, understanding of Israel's right to self-defense - and events described in the Torah regarding the completion of the Third Temple. 

While acknowledgement of this has been somewhat informal - including a widely popular Facebook event advertising "the Last Tisha B'av," a hint to the traditional teaching that the day will become a day of celebration instead of mourning - at least one leading Rabbi has also stated that this campaign is the "God's war" and that "Israel will win." 

However, the Temple Institute's campaign aims to bring these speculations to their practical fruition. 

"Now is time for one of its most ambitious projects yet: completing architectural plans for the actual construction, fusing ancient texts and modern technology," the campaign's description states. "While strictly adhering to the religious requirements set forth in Biblical texts, the Third Temple will also be equipped with every modern amenity: full computerization, underground parking, temperature control, elevators, docks for public transportation, wheelchair access, and much more."

"The Temple Institute has engaged an architect to map out as practically as possible the modern Third Temple's construction," it continues. "Your contribution will go towards completing this ambitious project and the continued research and development which will make the Third Temple a reality."

"It is not enough to wait and pray for the Third Temple," it concludes. "It is a Biblical obligation to build it."

The Temple Institute's campaign will run for sixty days, ending on September 25 - during the Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashana. 

The campaign aims to raise $100,000 toward a building fund for the Third Temple, as part of its wider campaigns to train kohen-priests for Temple duties and rebuild the instruments in the priestly services.

Obama Tells Netanyahu to Call Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsDebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Obama Placing 'Heavy Pressure' on Israel to Cease Fire
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Barack Obama

Flash 90

US President Barack Obama exerted “heavy pressure” on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a phone call Sunday to end Operation Protective Edge in Gaza immediately, according to Channel 2 television.

Obama reportedly agreed to the idea of an unconditional ceasefire, to be followed by discussion of Hamas's demands for easing of sanctions on Gaza. This is the formula that the Egyptians had offered, and which Israel favored, whereas Hamas wanted easing of sanctions to be agreed from the outset. However, Obama would not close the door on involvement by Qatar and Turkey in the negotiations, despite Israel's opposition.

Netanyahu's demand that Gaza be demilitarized was reportedly swept aside by Obama, who said that he saw such an arrangement as part of an overall peace deal to be reached between Israel and the Palestinians, and not as part of a ceasefire with Hamas.

According to an official US statement, Obama “made clear the strategic imperative of instituting an immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire that ends hostilities now and leads to a permanent cessation of hostilities based on the November 2012 ceasefire agreement.”

“The President reaffirmed the United States’ support for Egypt’s initiative, as well as regional and international coordination to end hostilities. The President underscored the enduring importance of ensuring Israel’s security, protecting civilians, alleviating Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, and enacting a sustainable ceasefire that both allows Palestinians in Gaza to lead normal lives and addresses Gaza’s long-term development and economic needs, while strengthening the Palestinian Authority,” said the White House statement. 

“The President stressed the U.S. view that, ultimately, any lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must ensure the disarmament of terrorist groups and the demilitarization of Gaza,” it added.

The Israeli cabinet convened Monday morning to decide whether to accept a ceasefire or opt for deepeing and widening the Gaza counterterror thrust.

Hamas fired a rocket at coastal Israeli city of Ashkelon Monday morning. After sirens sounded, the rocket struck an empty area and caused no casualties or damage.

The IDF fired back with artillery at Bait Lahiya in Gaza, the area from which the rocket was fired.

There was no rocket fire at Israel from Gaza overnight.

International pressure on Israel to stop its counterterror campaign in Gaza is peaking. The United Nations Security Council called Sunday evening for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza to allow for urgent aid to reach civilians as the conflict between Israel and Hamas entered its third week.

The 15-member Council released a statement shortly after midnight Sunday calling for the truce during the Muslim Eid festival marking the end of Ramadan.

The Council expressed "strong support" for an "immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire," and urged all sides to accept and fully implement the truce.

IDF forces continue to map out terror tunnels they found and destroy them. In addition, numerous boobytrapped houses were found, as were rocket launchers.

Obama Demands An Immediate, Unconditional Ceasefire in Gaza
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsYNet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

US President Barack Obama spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone on Sunday, demanding an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire that would later lead to a permanent end to hostilities in Gaza based on the 2012 ceasefire agreement reached at the end of Operation Pillar of Defense.

The conversation between the two came at the end of a tense day for Israeli-American diplomatic relations.

Israeli officials slammed US Secretary of State John Kerry after a document allegedly presenting his ceasefire proposal was published by Haaretz

The document, that was is supposed to serve as the basis of ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel, reportedly made scarce reference to Israel's security needs.

The newspaper claimed that the draft banned Israel from destroying the terror tunnels that entered Israeli territory from Gaza during a proposed seven-day humanitarian ceasefire. Haaretz also said that Hamas' demands were all met in the draft, including opening of border crossings, passage of goods, and payment of civil servant salaries. However, there is no mention, Haaretz said, of Israel's central demand for the Gaza Strip to be demilitarized and the terror tunnels destroyed.

A senior American official claimed the reports on the content of the document were "inaccurate" and even "insulting" towards the United States.

"A part of these reports included personal attacks against Secretary of State Kerry, including accusations he betrayed the alliance with Israel," the official said.

Were you offended by the criticism in Israel?

"There were a few reports regarding our efforts that weren't accurate and included distortions of Kerry's strategy. These were serious attacks with very insulting accusations including betrayal of Israel."

Who wrote the draft?

"It was a product of conversations with a few of the involved parties. I can't elaborate on that."

What is the US position on the disarmament and rehabilitation of Gaza?

"These are important issues for the ceasefire. It'll be a part of the negotiations following the ceasefire."

On Saturday night, an American official familiar with the ceasefire efforts in the region said that as far as Washington was concerned - Israel would have freedom to act as it sees fit following the ceasefire, at least as far as the destruction of the tunnels are concerned.

In his call with Netanyahu on Sunday night, Obama reaffirmed American support of the Egyptian ceasefire initiative.

The US president once again condemned Hamas' rocket fire, and reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself, while at the same time expressing Washington's growing concern of the rising number of Palestinian and Israeli casualties and the worsening humanitarian condition in Gaza.

"The President underscored the enduring importance of ensuring Israel’s security, protecting civilians, alleviating Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, and enacting a sustainable ceasefire that both allows Palestinians in Gaza to lead normal lives and addresses Gaza’s long-term development and economic needs, while strengthening the Palestinian Authority," a White House statement said.

"The President stressed the US view that, ultimately, any lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must ensure the disarmament of terrorist groups and the demilitarization of Gaza," it went on to say.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas left for Saudi Arabia on Sunday night to meet with King Abdullah and the rest of the Saudi leadership, which expressed sweeping support of the original Egyptian offer.

Abbas is trying to form an Arab alliance that bypasses Hamas, Qatar and Turkey, and includes Saudi, Egypt and the PA.

Newspaper Fires Editor for Criticizing Gay Bible
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsTodd Starnes
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

Let the Headlines Speak
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

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.  

Liberia shuts border crossings, restricts gatherings to curb Ebola spreading
The Liberian government on Sunday closed most of the West African nation’s border crossings and introduced stringent health measures to curb the spread of the deadly Ebola virus that has killed at least 660 people across the region.  

Massive Storm Batters U.S. With Hail, Flooding and a Tornado
A sprawling set of storms tore across the country Sunday, flattening homes in Tennessee, dumping softball-sized hail in Michigan, and triggering tornado warnings from Kentucky to Connecticut.  

Mexico Earthquake Today 2014: Terremoto Strikes Off the Coast
USGS indicates to news that a 4.7 magnitude Mexico earthquake today 2014 began just after 8:29 am PST. The quake was shallow. Reps tell news that the Mexico earthquake started twenty-two miles below sea level. As a result the quake could be felt across the vicinity.  

Japan Earthquake Today 2014 Strikes Ito
USGS indicates to news that a 4.5 magnitude Japan earthquake today struck just after 5:05 pm local time. The quake was shallow. Reps tell news that the quake struck just thirteen miles below ground level. As a result the quake could be felt across the region.  

White House Braces for Impeachment Threat After Immigration Action
A top aide says he wouldn't be surprised if Republicans move forward with an ouster attempt.  

US House panel set to approve Hezbollah sanctions bill
The Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act will prevent the Lebanon-based terrorist group from receiving financing through international organizations.  

Terror Group Threatens to 'Chop Off the Heads of the Jews'
Jews who refuse to leave “Palestine” will be subject to beheading, a Palestinian group closely associated with Hamas threatened over the weekend.  

Rattlesnakes are slithering closer to homes in Northern California
Rattlesnakes are moving closer to homes in Northern California, and one expert thinks the state's drought is to blame, CBS Sacramento reports. Len Ramirez says this is one of the busiest years his rattlesnake removal business has seen in nearly three decades. And the year is only halfway done.  

Small quake shakes Chiang Rai
An earthquake registering 3.6 magnitude on the Richter scale hit Chiang Rai’s Mae Lao district shortly before 3pm Monday, causing no damage, the Seismology Office of the Meteorological Department said.  

SLIGHT CHANCE OF STORMS
NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% chance of polar geomagnetic storms today when Earth makes contact with a minor solar wind stream.  

Flames from California wildfire claim 13 homes; 2nd fire near Yosemite threatens others
Wildfires burning near Northern California vineyards and in the Yosemite National Park area were threatening hundreds of homes even as crews worked to contain them.  

Maliciousness. Not Incompetence.
For the longest time I have chosen to chalk our President’s stumbles, bumbles, and disasters up to incompetence. He is in over his head. He is inexperienced. He is out of his league. It is hard to accept otherwise. But it is clearer and clearer that is not true. It is clear that President Obama’s disastrous policies are premised not in incompetence, but in maliciousness.  

Small Earthquake Rumbles In Payne County
A small earthquake rumbled near the town of Yale, Okla., Sunday evening. The 3.2 magnitude quake struck around 5:20 p.m. The epicenter of the earthquake was located seven miles west, northwest of Yale, or about 59 miles northeast of the Oklahoma City metro, at a depth of less than two miles.  

Fighting intensifies near MH17 disaster site while police cancel visit over security concerns
Ukrainian armed forces mounted a major onslaught against pro-Russian separatist fighters Sunday in an attempt to gain control over the area where a Malaysia Airlines plane was downed earlier this month.  

Jewish students shown ‘photos of ovens and told to get in’ by classmates in Chicago
A school principal has been reassigned after a series of shocking bullying incidents that targeted Jewish students. ...Ogden International School of Chicago principal Joshua VanderJagt asked to be reassigned because “challenges” arose after two students – one 14 years old and one 8 years old – suffered repeated threats by classmates.  

'Freedom Flotilla II' set to sail for Gaza from Turkey
Amid Israel’s Operation Protective Edge to stop Hamas attacks from Gaza, a “Freedom Flotilla” is being organized in Turkey... The flotilla, called “Freedom Flotilla II,” is being organized by the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), the same organization that was behind the Mavi Marmara flotilla that sought to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip in May 2010.  

Iran General: We Will Hunt Down Israelis House To House
The deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards...“You [people of Israel] are trees without any roots which were planted in the Islamic lands by the British,” Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami said at...Friday prayer sermon in Tehran ...“We will chase you house to house and will take revenge for every drop of blood of our martyrs in Palestine,” Salami said, “and this is the beginning point of Islamic nations awakening for your defeat.”  

Two California wildfires destroy 10 homes
Two fast-moving wildfires in California have destroyed 10 homes and have forced the evacuation of hundreds more, US officials say. In the Sacramento region, a fire has spread to cover an area of about 4,000 acres, while another blaze threatens homes around Yosemite National Park. The Sacramento fire is around 35% contained, officials told local media.  

Ebola outbreak: Liberia shuts most border points
Most border crossings in Liberia have been closed and communities hit by an Ebola outbreak face quarantine to try to halt the spread of the virus. Screening centres are also being set up at the few major entry points that will remain open, such as the main airport. Meanwhile, Nigeria largest's airline, Arik Air, has suspended all flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone after a man with Ebola flew to Nigeria last week.  

In phone call with Netanyahu, Obama stresses need for 'immediate' Gaza cease-fire
An immediate and unconditional ceasefire ending Israel's assault on Hamas is a "clear strategic imperative" ...Barack Obama told Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu in a phone call ...Obama told Netanyahu he wants a ceasefire "that both allows Palestinians in Gaza to lead normal lives and addresses Gaza’s long-term development and economic needs, while strengthening the Palestinian Authority," the White House said...  

Hamas spokesman: Israel has reached only a fraction of our tunnels
Israel has reached "only a fraction" of Hamas's tunnels, Mushir al-Masri , a spokesman for the organization stated in an interview translated by MEMRI and made public on Monday. Masri was referring to the network of tunnels which Hamas has dug under the Gaza-Israel border in order to infiltrate Jewish communities and perpetuate terrorist attacks.  

Has Last Christian Left Iraqi City of Mosul After 2,000 Years?
Samer Kamil Yacub was alone when four Islamist militants carrying AK-47s arrived at his front door and ordered him to leave the city.  

Qatar's Purchase Of Billions Of US Weaponry — And Support For Hamas — Shows How Awkward Foreign Policy Can Be
Qatar recently cemented an enormous weapons deal with the United States. But this week, the tiny, resource-rich Gulf kingdom with outsized geopolitical ambitions — and a seemingly bottomless pocketbook — might be setting itself up for more problematic relations with the U.S.  

U.S. releases images showing Russia firing into Ukraine
The United States released a series of satellite images Sunday that appear to support its claims that Russian forces have fired across the border into Ukraine to support rebels there, suggesting a new level of direct Russian involvement in the conflict.  

Egypt army destroys 13 more Gaza tunnels
Egypt's army said Sunday it has destroyed 13 more tunnels connecting the Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip, taking to 1,639 the overall number it has laid waste to.  

Libya clashes kill 38 in Benghazi
At least 38 people have been killed in clashes between troops loyal to the Libyan government and Islamist fighters in the city of Benghazi, officials say. The militants attacked troops in the centre of the city, in eastern Libya. A week of fighting in the capital Tripoli, near the airport, has left 97 people dead and 404 injured.  

Ebola kills Liberian doctor, 2 Americans infected
One of Liberia's most high-profile doctors has died of Ebola, officials said Sunday, and an American physician was being treated for the deadly virus, highlighting the risks facing health workers trying to combat an outbreak that has killed more than 670 people in West Africa — the largest ever recorded.  

John Kerry: the Betrayal of Israel
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsDavid Horovitz
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Iran to UN: Do More to Stop the 'Zionist Crimes'
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

Reuters

Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Sunday criticized the United Nations for failing to end “the Zionist regime’s” crimes, AFP reported.

The comments came in a conversation with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as Zarif conducted a hefty round of telephone diplomacy to rally support and humanitarian aid for Gazans.

He also spoke with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and other regional leaders, stressing that the priority was to get food and medical aid into areas worst hit by Israel's military offensive, Iran's official IRNA news agency said.

According to AFP, in his conversation with Ban Zarif said the UN was "not taking serious action to bring an end to crimes committed by the Zionist regime."

The UN chief responded by saying that the best efforts were being made "to initiate and maintain a sustainable ceasefire and put an end to the siege", IRNA reported.

Zarif also spoke to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Iyad Ameen Madani, secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, and Qatar and Turkey's foreign ministers.

He also spoke with Hassan Nasrallah, the chief of the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group.

"Islamic states have huge resources and are capable enough to render invaluable services and assistance to people in Gaza," Zarif said in his conversation with Madani, according to IRNA, urging the OIC to cooperate with the Arab League and Egypt in getting aid into Gaza.

He urged all countries to increase pressure on Israel and its allies to "immediately halt their aggression" and said "any truce should go in parallel with removal of a blockade on the Gaza Strip".

Zarif said Iranian hospitals were ready to receive wounded Gazans and that the Islamic republic would send doctors and nurses to Gaza.

Iran’s parliament speaker boasted on Thursday that it was his country that provided Hamas with the technology it has used to rain down rockets on Israel from Gaza.

"Today, the fighters in Gaza have good capabilities and can meet their own needs for weapons," speaker Ali Larijani was quoted as having told the Arabic service of state television.

"But once upon a time, they needed the arms manufacture know-how and we gave it to them," he said.

During the last major conflict in and around Gaza in November 2012,Larijani said Iran was "proud" to have provided "both financial and military support" to Hamas.

On Wednesday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the Palestinian Arabs to keep fighting Israel and to expand their resistance from Gaza to Judea and Samaria.

IDF Begins Shelling All Along Northeastern Gaza
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

IDF artillery began shelling targets all along the northeastern Gaza Strip, Channel 2 reported Monday evening after 8 p.m. Earlier , the IDF sent messages to thousands of Palestinian Arabs living in the region to flee, shortly after a mortar shell killed at least four people in Israel.

"A short while ago, phonecalls were made and text messages were sent out to the civilian population of Shejaiya, Zeitun and eastern Jabaliya calling them to evacuate immediately towards central Gaza City," a statement from the IDF said, referring to three areas to the north, south and east of Gaza City.

Such phonecalls are usually a prelude to an IDF attack on a region, and are meant to reduce civilian casualties.

Shortly afterward, the IDF began striking areas of Gaza that had not been attacked before, including Zeitun and Jabaliya.

Israel had appeared to be winding down its attack operations in Gaza Monday and contenting itself with blowing up the remaining tunnels from Gaza into Israel. However, a serious incident in which at least four Israelis were killed by a Hamas mortar changed all that.

At least four, possibly five, people were killed when the mortar shell scored a direct hit on a home in the Eshkol region Monday afternoon. Four other people were seriously injured. The injured were taken to hospitals in Beersheva and Ashkelon, Voice of Israel public radio said. 

In another serious incident, five Hamas terrorists were eliminated near Kibbutz Nahal Oz. They appear to have infiltrated via an attack tunnel.

The house was hit in a major round of rocket firing Monday afternoon, as the last vestiges of what was supposed to be a 24-hour truce evaporated. By 6 p.m., Hamas had fired nearly two dozen rockets at Israel, most of them in the late afternoon. Iron Dome missiles shot down two rockets, one over Ashkelon and one over Sderot. At 7:30, rockets were fired at the Hadera and Binyamina region, not far south from Haifa.

Hamas: Egypt to Change Its Cease - Fire Proposal
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

An IDF soldier explores a Hamas terror tunnel

Flash90

Hamas said Monday that it expects Egypt to adjust the conditions it set out in its cease-fire proposal to match some of the terror group's demands. Previously, Hamas had turned down the Egyptian proposal, which had called for an immediate end to fighting and rocket firing, with IDF troops remaining in place while negotiations ensued on Hamas' demands.

Hamas rejected that proposal, insisting that at the very least, the cease-fire include a provision that would allow free transit to and from Sinai for Gaza residents, and that a funding mechanism to allow Hamas to "rebuild" Gaza be implemented.

Hamas spokesperson Musa Abu Marzuk said that Egypt would announce the new concessions later Monday. Under any conditions, he said, Hamas would be allowed to attack IDF soldiers operating in Gaza, even if there is a truce.

Hamas, which has rejected not one, but three separate ceasefire attempts, called on Israel over the past week to submit to a number of 'conditions' - or demands - in return for an end to the violence against Israelis. The calls were accompanied by threats against the Israeli people, made through a series of weakly-worded text messages.

These 'conditions' include, among other things, greater access to international waters, reopening of border crossings, and relaxation of trade restrictions; release of terrorists who were re-arrested during and after Operation Brother's Keeper earlier this month; and the possibility of constructing an international airport from Gaza. Israel rejects these demands for their potential to re-arm Hamas and enable it to make stronger ties with its Iranian and Arabian contacts.

Egypt, under recently-elected President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has moved to isolate Hamas, accusing it of backing the Muslim Brotherhood on its own territory. Egypt's foreign ministry has condemned Israel's ground offensive but it also lashed out at Hamas, saying the Islamist movement could have saved dozens of lives had it accepted Cairo's proposal.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which has sided with Egypt in the tug of war over which “brand” of cease-fire would be implemented, accused U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry of “digging a tunnel under the the Egyptian ceasefire proposal” by accepting Hamas's conditions for a ceasefire in Paris talks Saturday, Channel 2 reported.

Kerry and top diplomats from Europe and the Middle East who gathered in Paris Saturday called for an extension to a temporary truce declared Saturday between Israel and Hamas. However, neither Israel, nor Egypt, nor the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas were represented in the talks. Israeli diplomatic sources accused Kerry of accepting Hamas's terms for a permanent ceasefire as represented in Paris by Hamas sponsor Qatar and the terror organization's political backer, Turkey.

Danny Dayan: Obama, Kerry Caused 'Long - Term Damage'
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Danny Dayan

Yoni Kempinski

Danny Dayan, head of the Council of Judea and Samaria, said Monday that asking Israel to stop its attacks on Hamas at this time was “a perversion of morality and diplomacy.” Israelis understand quite well, he said, that “they are fighting for their homes. No matter what we do the enemy will never be satisfied” without Israel's destruction. “We must continue fighting until our goals are reached.”

Dayan was speaking in light of the heavy pressure being placed on Israel by US President Barack H Obama for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire. In his proposal, Obama said that the issue of Hamas' disarming was a matter for later discussions, a stance that Dayan said he was shocked by. “There is no other way to describe it other than as a perversion of morality and diplomacy.

“When they leave office soon, we will all breathe a sigh of relief, quiet but quite audible,” he said. “It will take a long time to repair the damage caused by Obama and his Secretary of State, John Kerry.”

US President Barack Obama exerted “heavy pressure” on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a phone call Sunday to end Operation Protective Edge in Gaza immediately, according to Channel 2 television. Obama reportedly agreed to the idea of an unconditional ceasefire, to be followed by discussion of Hamas's demands for easing of sanctions on Gaza. This is the formula that the Egyptians had offered, and which Israel favored, whereas Hamas wanted easing of sanctions to be agreed from the outset. However, Obama would not close the door on involvement by Qatar and Turkey in the negotiations, despite Israel's opposition.

The cabinet discussed Obama's phone call later Sunday night. Hawkish ministers said that Israel should have hit harder during the three weeks of “credit” it had received from the US to operate in Gaza. "Militarily, I feel that there is a missed opportunity here,” said Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir. “We had a chance to be victorious and go all the way, to defeat the body that fought us.” Shamir said that the fault was not the military's, which “did what it was told to do thoroughly and with professionalism,” but in the instructions it was given. I think we should have given more aggressive and clearer objectives and shortened the time frame,” he added. “We followed the other side, instead of being creative. We always responded to Hamas, never threw the enemy off balance with some surprising move.”

Anti - Semitic Attacks Increase in Britain
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsDebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Al Qaeda Targeting U.S. Infrastructure for Digital 9/11
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy News Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

A New Study Predicts 2 Billion Dead, 25 - Year Winter After a
Jul 28th, 2014
Daily Newsnews.com.au
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Grim reality ... The morbid, confronting scenes of the movie “Threads” sets an accurate scene for the effects of a “small” nuclear war. Source: Supplied

IT’S a horrifying scene burned into our collective conscious: A flash of light, a blast of hot air and a ballooning mushroom cloud. But there’s much more to a nuclear war, as a new study reveals.

Filmmakers and novelists have been tackling the subject for decades. Some have been somewhat sanitised in their approach (Jericho, 2006). Others have been brutally confronting (Threads, 1984, and The Road, 2009).

All have simply speculated about the fate of life on Earth after an apocalyptic nuclear exchange.

Now, a team of US atmospheric and environmental scientists have taken a detailed look at exactly what all that dust, ash and debris in the air means.

Specifically, they ran computer models on a fight between Pakistan and India through advanced climate predicting software developed to study pollution-based climate change.

The outcome?

It’s bad.

Even for this “limited, regional nuclear war”, it means a one-to-two degree plunge in global temperatures and a nine-per cent cut in worldwide rainfall.

Blast effect ... Forget the shock wave. The change in weather induced by billions of tons of ash and dust in the atmosphere from even a “small” nuclear war between India and Pakistan will kill 2 billion people, a new study says. Source: Supplied

Dusty truth ... The cold, dusty scenes as depicted in the novel and film adaptation of “The Road” could result from even a “regional” nuclear conflict. Source: Supplied

In practical terms, that equates to worldwide crop failures and famine.

A separate study last year matched similar conditions to a projected death toll: We’re talking 2 billion lives lost.

And that’s the result of a little nuclear spat.

Not a big one between the likes of China and Russia.

The researchers based their calculations upon the detonation of 100 nuclear warheads. These were set at roughly the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

“A limited, regional nuclear war between India and Pakistan in which each side detonates 50 15 kt weapons could produce about 5 megatons of black carbon,” the report states.

No flash-in-the-pan ... This mushroom cloud is rising from the detonation of a 11-megaton nuclear device bomb 'Romeo' over Bikini Atoll in Marshall Islands during the 1950s. The explosion of 100 such devices would cause a 25-year nuclear winter, a new study reveals. Source: Supplied

“This would self-loft to the stratosphere, where it would spread globally, producing a sudden drop in surface temperatures and intense heating of the stratosphere.”

The resulting “nuclear winter” would last at least 25 years — almost double that of previous estimates.

With the coldest temperatures for more than a 1000 years, but extending over decades, will come an expansion in sea ice — and killer frosts which will reduce growing seasons by between 10 and 40 days each year.

Other side-effects include a 20 to 50 per cent loss in the density of the ozone layer over populated areas. Such levels would be unprecedented in human history, the report says, causing widespread damage to agriculture and natural ecosystems — not to mention human skin cancer.

Lest we forget ... Hiroshima's Atomic Bomb “Peace Dome” which was directly below the detonation of an atomic bomb in 1945. Picture: MELISSA MATHESON. Source: Supplied

So much for a “limited” nuclear war.

Remember: The modern hydrogen-bomb technology of Russia, China and the United States makes such weapons as those possessed by India and Pakistan seem antique.

An exchange between these big players would likely produce far worse effects.

The scientists are confident in the accuracy of their assessment.

The computer model they plugged the data into takes into account atmospheric chemistry, ocean dynamics and even the interaction of sea ice and land masses with the air.

“Knowledge of the impacts of 100 small nuclear weapons should motivate the elimination of more than 17,000 nuclear weapons that exist today,” the researchers write.