Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

U.S. Warships Turn Around Toward Israel for Possible Evacuation of Americans
Nov 20th, 2012
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The US has ordered three amphibious warships with 2,500 Marines aboard back to the eastern Mediterranean to remain on standby off Israel’s shore in case they are needed to evacuate American citizens. The USS Iwo Jima, the USS New York and the USS Gunston Hall, were sailing west of Gibraltar on their way to back to Norfolk, Virginia, when they were turned around.

debkafile: The United States have never before evacuated American citizens from Israel. The US notice does not say whether a possible evacuation would include the US forces posted in American bases in Israel. A mass evacuation would entail a Marine shore landing in order to lead the evacuees to the amphibious craft.
The Iwo Jima is a helicopter carrier, while the New York, one of the newest vessels of its kind in the US Navy, is a primary class of amphibious transport dock.
Although a decision to evacuate nationals was defined in the CNN report as a “remote contingency,” our sources stress that it is extreme enough to be taken only when a war situation is envisaged capable of endangering Americans.
This step negates the expectation articulated widely in Israel Monday, Nov. 19, that a ceasefire with the Hamas is within reach. It rather indicates that Washington sees the situation surrounding the Gaza Strip in a far different light, more like a situation holding the threat of a general conflagration beyond the confines of the Israel-Hamas contest in Gaza.
According to the same report, the US military also maintains three to four ships off the coast of Israel that are capable of shooting down ballistic missiles. That deployment has stretched for some months in the face of a potential ballistic threat from Iran.

The IDF Hit Dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad Targets in Gaza on Tuesday Afternoon.
Nov 20th, 2012
Daily NewsINN - Maayana Miskin
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The IDF hit dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza on Tuesday afternoon. Tanks outside Gaza fired on launch sites just within the region, while IAF planes hit Hamas positions farther into Gaza from above.

One of the targets hit was a terrorist cell that had been launching rockets at Israeli towns. Pilots first waited to determine that there were no civilians in the area before striking the cell. Two Hamas terrorists were killed in the strike.

A third Hamas man was killed as well, also while attempting to fire a rocket.

The heavy bombardment has led to predictions that the IDF is anticipating a ground operation in the near future.

Hamas bombarded southern Israel on Tuesday morning, and fired one rocket toward the Jerusalem area. The rocket struck the Gush Etzion region south of the capital and did not cause injury.

One attack severely wounded an IDF reservist.

At least two Israel homes were directly hit by rockets, but thankfully, neither attack caused injury. In Be’er Sheva a rocket exploded next to bus just seconds after its passengers had run off after hearing a rocket alert siren.

Subject: Jewish Boycott
Nov 20th, 2012
CommentaryFrom the Internet
Categories: Anti-Israel

Steinitz: Israel Beat Back 43,999,999 and a Half Cyber Attacks
Nov 20th, 2012
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel - David Shamah
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Despite declarations by hacker group Anonymous that it would disable the government’s IT infrastructure, websites have been largely immune.

Ever since the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense, hackers have been working overtime to strike a blow against the Israeli government’s computer systems, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Sunday. No fewer than 44 million attacks have been recorded since the operation began five days ago — with nearly all of them failing, thanks to the recent strengthening of computer defense systems in Israel.

Speaking at a special press conference at the Government Computing Center in Jerusalem about the cyber war against Israel that has accompanied Hamas’s rocket attacks, Steinitz said that hackers “are trying to disable the symbols of Israeli sovereignty, to enter web sites and install anti-Israel content, thus compromising information and data and damaging the government’s ability to serve the public.” Most of the attacks, he said, were against government sites, like the Prime Minister’s Office site, and security-related sites, such as that of the Home Front Command, the body charged with informing Israelis on how to protect themselves in the event of an attack.

Out of those 44 million-plus attacks on government and defense related sites, said Steinitz, only one succeeded – partially. One site, which he did not name, was “wobbly for a few minutes,” but quickly recovered. Even though the government has been successful in warding off hack attacks, Steinitz said that government sites were fully backed up and mirrored, meaning that they could be replaced by a duplicate site instantly if the original site were compromised.

So just who is behind the attacks? Steinitz said that the government’s computing unit had traced many of the attacks to IP addresses in the US and Europe, and not to Arab countries. While Steinitz could not say whether these hackers were affiliated with Anonymous, the international hacker organization that has pledged to destroy Israel’s computing system in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the methods being used by the hackers were consistent with the kinds of attacks Anonymous is known for.

Carmela Avner, the government’s chief information officer said that “we haven’t seen many attempts to enter sites and steal data. Most of the attacks have been of the type where hackers try to overload servers with excessive data,” such as in distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks or “e-mail bomb” attacks — both of which try to overload servers to the extent that they are unable to function. According to Avner, the web site of President Shimon Peres has been a major target of hackers using these methods, with over 20 million attempted DDoS attacks on the site, all of which have failed.

Other types of common attacks on Israeli sites include hackers pejoratively known as “script kiddies” running prepared scripts looking for security holes. While such attacks have succeeded against sites stored on servers that haven’t been updated with the latest security software, the government sites are secure from such attacks, said Avner. “We have not closed any sites, but we have prevented access from IP addresses that we determined were problematic,” she said.

Rocket Hits Gush Etzion
Nov 20th, 2012
Daily NewsINN - Tzvi Ben Gadalyahu
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

A rocket exploded in an open area near an Arab village in Gush Etzion around 2:15 p.m. as sirens wailed in Jerusalem during another barrage of rockets and missiles unleashed by Hamas.

The missile exploded in an open area, and no one was injured. Minutes before the sirens rang out, an AFP correspondent in Gaza City reported hearing the loud report of an outgoing rocket.

The attack was claimed by Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, which said it had fired "an M75 rocket at the occupied city of Jerusalem."

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who spent the past two days in Egypt, had been scheduled to hold talks in Jerusalem with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman shortly after noon.

At least one missile was aimed at Jerusalem last week and reportedly exploded in an open area next to an Arab village in Gush Etzion, located south of the capital.

Shortly earlier on Tuesday, three rockets hit a kibbutz, critically wounding at least one person. The early warning siren system did not operate, and there are fears that several young people, possibly children, are trapped in debris.

A Grad missile demolished a Be’er Sheva home. A woman in the house took cover in the reinforced shelter in the house and escaped injury.

Let the Headlines Speak
Nov 20th, 2012
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Politics stymie UN Security Council on Gaza
Russia’s UN ambassador on Monday expressed frustration that the Security Council has remained silent about the escalating violence in Gaza between Israel and Hamas as the United States has blocked any action. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Morocco had circulated a proposed press statement as early as last Thursday but foot-dragging by one council member meant it “is still bogged down.”

Chile Earthquake Today 2012 Erupts West of Santiago
Local news reports that a 5.2 magnitude Chile terremoto hoy erupted shortly after 1:45 PM local time. The quake however began with virtually no depth. Officials tell news that the Chile temblor started only six miles below sea level. The quake was situated off the coast of Chile, near Libertador O’Higgins.

Train of Storms Barreling Through Northwest
The series of storm systems will likely continue well past Thanksgiving and into the following weekend. These storms will bring rain, mountain snow and damaging coastal winds.

Hamas leader on truce prospects: "Maybe never"
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Cairo Monday to join Egypt-brokered talks between Hamas and Israel with a goal of agreeing on a cease-fire. There's a real sense that with all the instability in the region - the civil war in Syria, protests in Jordan, militants in Libya - that an escalation in hostilities would have disastrous effects.

Tremors jolt parts of Balochistan
According to preliminary reports, the quake was felt in Quetta, Ziarat, Harnai, Chaman, Pasheen, Khanoi, Qallat, Mastaung, Qilla Saifullah and others parts of Balochistan.

As Europe plots closer ties, Britain mulls split
For the European Union, a once-unthinkable question is looking more like a real possibility with each new grinding week of economic crisis. The reason is that bad times are forcing the 17 EU nations that use the euro currency to move ever closer toward some kind of United States of Europe — one that could make decisions about how much member countries spend and how much tax they collect. If ever Britain had a nightmare, that's it.

Kyle Bass: “We Believe War Is Inevitable”
Kyle Bass states that quantitative easing will not lead to prosperity and will result in leading the American sheep to slaughter, exposes the fallacy of the European bank bailouts, and states that the Western debt crisis is likely to lead to all-out war. How convenient for our bankster friends! Blame the Western financial collapse on WWIII, when in reality, it is the collapse of the Keynesian fraudulent Western fiat system that will likely instigate WWIII.

Iranian Arms Ship Bound for Gaza Reportedly Carrying Long-Range Rockets Able to Reach Tel Aviv, Jerusalem
Another disturbing development is being reported in the current Gaza offensive against Israel which will raise the stakes for Israel even more. A 150-ton freighter bound for Gaza left Iran’s Bandar Abbas port Sunday with a cargo of 220 short-range missiles and 50 improved long-range Fajr-5 rockets, according to DEBKAfile intelligence sources. Fajr (sometimes spelled Fajer or Fajar) rockets are the types of rockets that have reached Tel Aviv.

Solar "Tsunami": Giant Double Sun Eruption Caught on Video
NASA's space-based Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the images over a four-hour period. The giant loops, called solar prominences, occurred between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. ET on Friday. Many times larger than the entire Earth, the prominences were so large that they expanded beyond the high-definition camera view of the SDO.

Fire exchanges on Syrian border; IDF jeep damaged
Stray Syrian fire hit an IDF patrol in the Golan Heights on Saturday night. No injuries were reported but an IDF jeep was damaged. This is the fourth such incident recorded in the past week. The incident began when an IDF patrol was hit by Syrian fire in the Tel Hezeka area. The IDF fired artillery at the Syrian post in response.

Park caldera could dwarf ’59 earthquake
Ah, yes, the ol’ Yellowstone bulge. How many Cody people have been asked by distant family and friends, “Aren’t you afraid of living so close to Yellowstone? What happens if that bulge busts?”

IDF checking if rockets that hit Eshkol area fired from Sinai
The IDF is looking into the possibility that rockets which exploded in the Eshkol Regional Council Friday evening were fired from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, army official said. If the suspicions prove true, the attack would mark the second time in two days that rockets were fired toward Israel from Sinai.

Guard at US Embassy in Tel Aviv attacked with knife, axe
A security guard at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv sustained light wounds to his leg on Tuesday after being assaulted with a knife and an axe. Security guards fired warning shots and then arrested the assailant. The circumstances of the incident are being investigated. Police said the suspect is a 41-year-old man from central Israel.

Barack Obama praises 'constructive' US-China relationship
President Barack Obama called the relationship between the US and China "cooperative and constructive" as he met outgoing premier Wen Jiabao in Cambodia. Mr Obama also said it was important for the two nations set "clear rules of the road" for trade and investment, before meeting with Mr Wen alone on the sidelines of a summit of Asian countries taking place in Phnom Penh.

Barack Obama sends Hillary Clinton to Israel as Gaza ceasefire hopes rise
Her visit was announced as an Israeli official said that plans for a ground invasion of Gaza had been put "on hold". The decision was made after a cabinet meeting that lasted most of the night, which decided to give Egyptian-led truce efforts a chance to work.

Turkish Prime Minister: ‘Israel Is A Terrorist State’
A top Turkish official has claimed that Israel is committing acts of terrorism by bombing Hamas targets in Gaza... “Those who associate Islam with terrorism close their eyes in the face of mass killing of Muslims, turn their heads from the massacre of children in Gaza,” Erdogan said, according to Reuters. “For this reason, I say that Israel is a terrorist state, and its acts are terrorist acts.”

U.S. sends warships near Israel in case evacuation needed
Three U.S. Navy amphibious warships are returning to the eastern Mediterranean to remain on standby in the event they are needed to assist Americans leaving Israel in the coming days, according to two U.S. officials. The officials stressed an evacuation remains an extremely remote possibility and the Obama administration is not currently planning for one. Americans who wish to leave the region now are able to do so using commercial airlines.

Hamas Leader Dares Israel to Invade Amid Gaza Airstrikes
The top leader of Hamas dared Israel on Monday to launch a ground invasion of Gaza and dismissed diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire in the six-day-old conflict, as the Israeli military conducted a new wave of deadly airstrikes...Hamas leader, Khaled Meshal, suggested that the Israeli infantry mobilization on the border with Gaza was a bluff on the part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

Syria Islamist fighters in Aleppo reject new opposition
Islamist rebel groups in the Syrian city of Aleppo say they reject the new Western-backed opposition coalition. In an internet video, they denounced what they called "the conspiratorial project" and said they intend to establish an "Islamist state" in Syria. The EU recognised the new coalition on Monday as "legitimate representatives" of the Syrian people, but did not grant it full recognition.

Gaza crisis: Israel ground invasion plan 'on hold'
Israel has put plans for a ground operation in Gaza "on hold" to give talks to secure a truce with Hamas militants a chance, officials say. It is understood Israel has set a Thursday deadline for the Egypt-brokered talks to succeed. The current conflict began last Wednesday when Israel killed Hamas's military commander, saying it wanted to end rocket attacks on its soil.

Mali Islamists claim Menaka victory against rebels
Militant Islamists in northern Mali say they have driven Tuareg-led rebels out of the desert town of Menaka. But the rebels denied the claim, insisting that fighting in the area was still going on. Regional leaders from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) agreed last week to send 3,000 troops to reclaim northern Mali.

France stripped of another top rating
Moody's on Monday (19 November) became the second ratings agency to strip France of its top rating, citing continued economic woes and lack of competitiveness, a blow to President Francois Hollande who tried to fix the problem with higher taxes. ...Moody's said the move was due to France's "sustained loss of competitiveness" and "long-standing rigidities of its labour, goods and service markets."

NATO okays Turkey missile defense against Syria
NATO member states have agreed to supply Turkey with an advanced Patriot missile system to defend against Syrian attacks and talks on its deployment are in the final stage, Turkey's foreign minister said on Tuesday. Turkey has been talking to NATO allies about how to shore up security on its 900-km (560-mile) frontier with Syria after mortar rounds landed inside its territory, increasing concerns about the civil war spilling into neighboring states.

Israeli Special Forces on the Ground in Gaza Seeking Out Hidden Rocket Sites, British Paper Claims
Nov 20th, 2012
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel - Stuart Winer
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The Sunday Times also reports fears that Hamas might resort to chemical weapons, and offers details on how Israel targeted Hamas commander Jabari.

Israeli special forces are deployed in Gaza searching for hidden rockets and weapons, the Sunday Times reported on Sunday, amid fears that a desperate Hamas might affix chemical weapons to its remaining long-range Fajr-5 missiles.

According to the report in the London weekly, which was not attributed to any source, the commandos are looking for missiles hidden underground, a favorite tactic of Hamas.

As Gaza terrorists over the weekend targeted Tel Aviv, a concern for Israeli officials is the threat that Hamas may fit chemical warheads on its long-range Fajr-5 missiles, the newspaper said, quoting an unnamed defense source.

“Hamas might go for a desperate attempt to launch rockets with chemical warheads if the worst came to the worst,” the source said.

The Sunday Times report (behind a paywall) also gave details of how Israel finally killed Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari, whose targeting was the opening shot of Pillar of Defense.

Jabari had long been at the top of Israel’s hit-list for his central role in overseeing terror attacks on Israelis. Paranoid about an attempt on his life, Jabari never carried a mobile phone and constantly switched between vehicles in a fleet he used for transport.

Last week Israel’s Shin Bet security service tracked Jabari down in Gaza and succeeded in fitting one of his cars — a silver Kia — with a tracking device, the paper said. IDF Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz was updated, as was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. With a window of opportunity of scant seconds, it was the Israeli Air Force Commander Amir Eshel himself who gave the order for a drone strike that killed the 52-year-old, the report said.

“On a giant television screen at air force headquarters in Tel Aviv, Amir Eshel, its commander, supervised the operation. He gave the order: At 3.55pm the drone operators hit the kill button. The Kia burst into flames as two missiles hit the car. Jabari and a son who was with him died on the spot.”

In eliminating Jabari, said the Sunday Times, “the Israeli government had killed the instigator of virtually every attack from Gaza in recent years.”

Hamas Leader: Israel Bluffing; ‘I Dare You to Invade’
Nov 20th, 2012
Daily NewsINN - Tzvi Ben Gadalyahu
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Hamas’ supreme leader Khaled Mashaal charged in Cairo that Israel is bluffing by preparing for a ground incursion in Gaza. “If you wanted to launch it, you would have done it,” he told journalists Monday.

The following day, Hamas’s senior military commander Mohammed Deif broadcast a rare audio message on Hamas’ Al Aqsa television and warned, Israel will "pay a heavy price" if it launches a ground operation in Gaza.

Mashaal told a press conference in Cairo Monday that Israel is using preparations for a ground incursion as a threat to “dictate its own terms and force us into silence.”

Despite chatter by Arab media of an “imminent” truce, the IDF said it is continuing to prepare for a ground incursion to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. The military has massed tens of thousands of soldiers near the Gaza borders and has moved hundreds of tanks and armored personnel carriers to the area.

AFP reported that Israel has put a ground maneuver on hold while United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attempt to hammer out a ceasefire agreement.

Israel has made it clear that it cannot agree to any ceasefire without guarantees that there will be no more mortar and missile attacks on Israel. Previous guarantees have never been fulfilled, and dozens of ceasefires the past years have not lasted more than a few weeks, and sometimes not even a few hours.

Based on past experience, Hamas cannot meet that condition even if it wants to because of the preponderance of rival terrorist organizations in Gaza.

Mashaal said Hamas demands that Israel meet Hamas’ legitimate demands and refrain “from its aggression, assassinations and invasions, and for the siege over Gaza to be ended.”

Agreeing to Hamas' terms would in effect leave Israeli civilians as sitting ducks for “ticking bomb” terrorists preparing attack on Israel. It also would leave Gaza open to import all of the advanced weapons it wants by the sea, where Israel has placed a maritime embargo that the United Nations has determined is legal.