Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Obama’s Israel Visit is on - to Sweeten Pill of Nuclear Iran Debkafile Special
Mar 10th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

President Barack Obama will visit Israel later this month, the 20th, even if Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu fails to put together a governing coalition beforehand. "We're going," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a briefing for reporters Friday, March 9. In answer to a question, he said, "The formation of the Israeli government is the responsibility of Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior officials of the Israeli government..."

Secretary of state John Kerry thought otherwise when he skipped a visit to Israel as not worthwhile until a government is in place. (Netanyahu’s deadline for forming a government has been extended to March16.)
debkafile reports from its Washington sources that President Obama’s calculations for making the trip are a lot more complicated than Kerry’s. According to some Israeli circles, none of them are good news for their country.
He arrives less than a month after the last Six-Power (US, Russia, UK, France, China and Germany) nuclear discussions with Iran ended in Kazakhstan. After those talks, US and Western media trumpeted “an unusual sense of optimism” or more cautiously allowed “a faint and perhaps fleeting light at the end of one of the world’s most durable tunnels.”

Western sources predicted on the strength of these assessments that the follow-up to Kazakhstan in April, shortly after Obama’s talks in Jerusalem, would be devoted to “cementing that progress,” which translated into rewarding putative nuclear concessions by Iran with the easing of economic sanctions.
However, according to debkafile’s military and intelligence sources, this diplomatic fluff, while representing elation in Washington, London, Moscow, Paris and Berlin, caused serious disenchantment in Jerusalem, which viewed it as a smokescreen for concessions to, and not by, Iran.
They have found that the “fleeting light” appearing at the end of the Iranian nuclear tunnel obscures three dangerous US concessions to Tehran:

1. President Obama has given in to the Fordo uranium enrichment plant continuing to operate instead of shutting down, as demanded by Israel – even though its function is to turn out 20 percent pure (near-weapons grade) uranium;
2. He has even consented to the Iranians continuing to manufacture uranium to that level;
3. Washington has dropped its insistence on Iran sending out of the country its stocks of 3.5-5 percent enriched uranium.
With these gains, the Iranian negotiators must have been laughing all the way home from their talks with the six big powers on 26-27 of February and crowing over what one Israeli official called "Tehran’s huge success and Israel’s total defeat.”

Conscious of how these concessions to the Islamic Republic are received in Jerusalem, it is no wonder that President Obama brushed off the invitation to address the Israeli Knesset, where lawmakers would likely put him on the spot. He has chosen instead to deliver a speech at Jerusalem’s Convention Center, so as to deliver his message straight to the Israeli public.

By going over the heads of Israel’s government and parliament to face a less informed audience, he believes he can get away with sweet-talking his surrender to a nuclear Iran.
Former military intelligence chief, Amos Yadlin stepped in with a timely comment last week when he said that an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities would be no more than a one-night operation.

So when Air Force One lands in Israel March 20 and Israeli dignitaries push forward to greet the US president, a small group of anonymous Air Force pilots will be watching from a distance, waiting for the order to fly out and carry out their mission in a single night.

After Jerusalem, President Obama continues to the Palestinian Authority and then Jordan.

Let the Headlines Speak
Mar 10th, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Protesters burn Christian homes in Pakistan
Thousands of angry protesters on Saturday set ablaze more than 100 houses of Pakistani Christians over a blasphemy row in the eastern city of Lahore, officials said. Over 3,000 Muslim protesters turned violent over derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed allegedly made by a young Christian, Sawan Masih, 28, three days earlier, police official Multan Khan said.

Hamid Karzai says US and Taliban sowing post-2014 fears
President Hamid Karzai has issued a stinging rebuke to the US and the Taliban, saying they are both guilty of sowing fears for post-2014 Afghanistan. He said Taliban suicide attacks on Saturday were aimed at intimidation that would prolong the presence of international troops in Afghanistan. The troops are scheduled to end combat missions in 2014.

US economy added 236,000 jobs in February
Hiring in the US has gathered momentum after government figures showed that the economy created 236,000 jobs in February. The figure was much higher than analysts had expected, and more than the 157,000 jobs created in January. The unemployment rate fell to 7.7% last month, the lowest since December 2008, from 7.9% in January, figures showed.

UN peacekeepers freed into Jordan from Syria
Twenty-one United Nations peacekeepers captured by Syrian rebels and held for three days in a southern Syrian village crossed safely into neighboring Jordan on Saturday, rebels and a UN official in Damascus said.

Japan quake 'heard at edge of space'
The great Tohoku earthquake in Japan two years ago was so big its effects were even felt at the edge of space. Scientists say the Magnitude 9.0 tremor on 11 March 2011 sent a ripple of sound through the atmosphere that was picked up by the Goce satellite.

Syria's opposition postpones meeting to form government
Syria's opposition has postponed a meeting to form a provisional government, in the latest setback to opposition efforts to create an administration to take over if President Bashar al-Assad is ousted, coalition sources said on Sunday.

UK military: Planes in Nigeria for Mali operation
Britain's military said Sunday its warplanes recently spotted in Nigeria's capital were there to move soldiers to aid the French intervention in Mali — not to rescue foreign hostages kidnapped by a radical Islamic extremist group.

Photo by: GPO Shas boycotts final cabinet meeting of outgoing government
Ultra-Orthodox party's ministers refuse to attend in protest of being excluded from next coalition; Netanyahu heaps praise on outgoing cabinet, warns of "tremendous" security challenges for the next government.

Will the cardinals go off the European grid to choose a new pope?
It's been 35 years since an Italian pope has ruled the Catholic Church, and some Vatican watchers believe the conclave that starts Tuesday could be the first to elect a pontiff from outside Europe.

U.S. Air Force stops reporting data on Afghan drone strikes
With debate intensifying in the United States over the use of drone aircraft, the U.S. military said on Sunday that it had removed data about air strikes carried out by unmanned planes in Afghanistan from its monthly air power summaries.

IDF on High Alert in the Golan Heights, Israel - Syria Border
Mar 10th, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Chana Yaar
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

IDF forces are on high alert in the Golan Heights, carefully scrutinizing the border with Syria, as opposition forces begin to consider a new target: Israel.

Syrian rebels have penetrated the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating Syria from Israel. The status of the area respected by both Israel and Syria since the end of the Yom Kippur War, though both are technically still at war, is apparently respected no longer.

In a video posted Saturday on the Internet by Syrian opposition forces, the rebels are seen in the Syrian side of the Golan Heights DMZ, firing guns right next to a U.N. sign specifically stating the area is a demilitarized zone. Another, similar video shows the rebel forces traveling in a vehicle within the DMZ, with a spokesperson saying, “We are now in front of the occupied Golan, the blessed land sold by [former President] Hafez Assad. “For 40 years, not a single gunshot has been fired on this land. For 40 years not a single gunshot has been fired towards Israel,” the rebel spokesman added.

Last week’s kidnapping of 21 United Nations Filipino peacekeeping soldiers within the DMZ by a group of 30 rebels made it clear that era is over. Member nations are more skittish about allowing their troops, who carry light arms only, to remain in what is now clearly a danger zone.

Meanwhile Israeli troops are providing security for military engineers and private contractors who are rushing to complete Israel’s new northern border security fence. New alarm systems armed with a special fiber that activates at the slightest touch are being added to the fence.

Additional troops have been sent to back up the Golani Brigade, select special forces, the Oketz combat canine unit, and artillery forces already on the Heights who are constantly patrolling the area.

The barrier fence is being installed as an extra layer of security in the chaos that is expected to follow the probable fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Syrian rebel forces – many of whom are hostile to Israel – are advancing towards the Golan Heights, military sources have said, and are threatening to retake the region from Israel.

The rebel forces are comprised of two factions.

One is the Free Syrian Army (FSA), represents the Western-backed mainstream Syrian National Council (SNC), which is supported by the United States, the UK and France.

The second, a radical jihadist group, is the 13-member Islamic Front for the Liberation of Syria. Many of its members are terrorist organizations, a number of which are linked to Al Qaeda and global jihad. They are dedicated to installing a government led by Shari’a (Islamic law), in much the same style as Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Neither is a friend of the Jewish State. It remains unclear as to whether either could have gained access to Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal, or has already done so.

Haniyeh: Obama Israel Trip a 'Trap' for Hamas, PA
Mar 10th, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Rachael Hirshfeld
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

Hamas leader Ismael Haniyeh charged on Friday that the upcoming visit to Israel by President Barack Obama was a "trap" aimed at undermining the Arab population.

"We are convinced that Obama's visit will not produce the necessary breakthrough for our people," Haniyeh said at a sermon during weekly Muslim prayers in the Gaza Strip's Al-Omari mosque, according to the AFP news agency.

He urged rival Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmud Abbas, who is due to meet Obama at his Ramallah headquarters, not to be deluded by the visit or sacrifice efforts to seal Palestinian reconciliation.

PA Chairman Abbas should "not fall into the trap of Obama's visit to the region and shut the door to reconciliation," said Haniyeh.

Obama's visit "will focus on regional developments and will only address our cause in a way to undermine Palestinian national reconciliation efforts and to relaunch the absurd so-called negotiations" with Israel, he said, according to AFP.

Obama is due in Israel at the end of this month in his first visit to the Jewish State since his inauguration in 2008.

On Thursday the president met American Jewish community leaders at the White House and signaled that there would be no monumental US-brokered peace initiative on the table when he arrives in the region.

While rumors have been circulating regarding whether Obama would use his trip to forge a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, following a failed initiative in his first term, the president said that he was not aiming to resolve any specific policy issue in Israel, an American official told the news agency.

Obama did however say during the meeting that he would outline a "framework" that could evolve into a more concrete US diplomatic effort in the following year.

"The President reiterated America's unshakeable support for Israel and thanked the leaders for role they play in strengthening ties between the two nations," the US official said, adding that the trip would be “an opportunity to consult with the Israeli government about a broad range of issues -- including Iran, Syria, the situation in the region, and the peace process."

'Where is National Camp At Aipac Conference?'
Mar 10th, 2013
Daily NewsArytz Sheva - Satff
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Where is the national camp of Israel at the 2013 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual policy conference?, asks David Bedein, Director of the Israel Resource News Agency.

Bedein, who is also the Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research, told Arutz Sheva that while outgoing defense minister Ehud Barak is giving the impression that the “two-state solution is around the corner”, no other voices are being heard to counter his claim.

A leading propagandist for the American Task Force for Palestine is, however, propagating the idea that if Israel simply withdraws from Judea and Samaria, there will be peace, all the while completely downplaying the core issues behind the conflict, such as Arab incitement against the Jewish people and that the Arab population does not want a “two state solution” but the complete destruction of the State of Israel as a Jewish State, as has been documented countless times before.

“There is a difference between knowing the enemy and being propagandized by the enemy,” said Bedein. You can listen to the views of your enemy, but then have a voice countering the claims with the truth, he said, adding that AIPAC has never been invited to Arab conferences on the subject.