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New U.S. embassy in Jerusalem: A stone plaque and $400,000 in renovations, for now
By Loveday Morris and Ruth Eglash, Washington Post, May 8, 2018
JERUSALEM–Standing in the yard outside the soon-to-be U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem last week, U.S. Ambassador David Friedman watched as a worker positioned a newly chiseled stone plaque on the wall. Friedman held up his phone and snapped a picture.
For all the fanfare surrounding the opening of the new embassy this coming Monday, the hanging of the plaque on what is currently a consular services building is one of the few changes that will initially take place.
The first phase involves shifting just the ambassador and his core staff from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem–less than a half-dozen people–according to a U.S. official. That first move, including building modifications and additional security, cost under $400,000, another U.S. official said.
But the move is deeply symbolic, upending the decades-old U.S. policy of withholding recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital until the final status of the contested city is worked out in a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians.
About 700 guests, mostly Americans, including members of Congress and representatives of organizations with close ties to Israel, are expected to attend alongside senior Israeli officials. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump will head the U.S. delegation, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Middle East peace envoy Jason Greenblatt, the White House said.
Israel is bracing for demonstrations around the embassy opening, which comes just a day before Palestinians mark the anniversary of the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” in which they lost their land when the Israeli state was created in 1948.
Palestinian officials have called on diplomats, religious officials and civil-society organizations to boycott the opening ceremony, describing the move as illegal and a blow to peace efforts.
The site is the “newest and most secure U.S. facility in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv,” one of the U.S. officials said.
The Arnona neighborhood was on the front line during the 1948 Israeli-Arab war, and the building straddles the armistice lines drawn the following year between Israel and Jordan, with the property jutting into what was once no-man’s land.
Now, a new asphalt access road, paid for by a grant from the Israeli transportation ministry, snakes up to its side. It is one of the few modifications made during the first phase of the move. Construction of a planned 10- to 15-foot-high security wall has not yet started.
The embassy in Tel Aviv has 850 staff members, and it won’t be until the embassy is finished in seven to 10 years that a significant number of employees would move to the new location.
The arrival of the embassy has been met with mixed feelings in the Arnona neighborhood. A group of 20 residents, assisted by the left-wing Israeli group Ir Amim, petitioned the Supreme Court to block the embassy move, objecting to planned changes such as the security wall and an increase in closed-circuit television cameras. They challenged the state over the urgency of the move, but the petition was rejected May 1.
“My husband thinks it’s a potential security issue, that it will make the area more vulnerable,” said Shira Hasson, 38, as she sat outside a small bakery just up the hill from the new embassy site. “But it’s not the most worrisome thing on our minds.”
As she discussed the concerns, Bracha Meyer, listening nearby, felt compelled to interrupt.
“You should be thanking God that Jerusalem is being recognized as Israel’s capital and stop complaining,” said the 65-year-old, sporting a black beret.
She later explained that the security wall was no concern. “Blocking what view? Looking at the Arabs? There are so many vagabonds and Arabs lying around on the grass,” she said, gesturing toward the valley that separates Arnona from the nearest Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
She later explained how she believed that the embassy move was part of divine prophecy, a view expressed by some Jews and evangelical Christians. “The messiah is on the doorstep,” she said.
Dennis Edwards: Here we see an Israeli woman believing that the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would be a sign of the coming of the Jewish Messiah. Many Christians also believe the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem is a step towards the last seven years spoken of by Daniel the prophet.
Jesus Christ Himself, talking to His disciples about His return to earth in the last days, mentions Daniel's prophecy and the placing of the abomination of desolation in the Temple. Jesus indicates that the placing of the abomination of desolation in the Temple would be the sign of the beginning of the Great Tribulation. He would return "immediately after the tribulation of those days."
Jesus Christ Himself, talking to His disciples about His return to earth in the last days, mentions Daniel's prophecy and the placing of the abomination of desolation in the Temple. Jesus indicates that the placing of the abomination of desolation in the Temple would be the sign of the beginning of the Great Tribulation. He would return "immediately after the tribulation of those days."
Christians believe the Orthodox Jews are misinterpreting the prophecies in the Old Testament. The Rabbis are understanding the prophecies as a fulfillment of their Jewish Messiah, whereas Christians see them as the fulfillment of Christ's own prediction of His return.
Rather than Messiah coming, the military and political leader of the last days commonly known as the Antichrist will appear instead and deceive the world and the Jewish people. However when he begins his persecution of religious peoples and demands the implementation of the "Mark of the Beast" technology or what many believe will be some type of bio-techno implant, many religious people turn against him.
Rather than Messiah coming, the military and political leader of the last days commonly known as the Antichrist will appear instead and deceive the world and the Jewish people. However when he begins his persecution of religious peoples and demands the implementation of the "Mark of the Beast" technology or what many believe will be some type of bio-techno implant, many religious people turn against him.
Thus begins the horrendous period of persecutions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims and of anyone who will not accept the Mark of the Beast and the Antichrist global government.
It remains to be seen what actually develops in the Middle East as a result of the opening of the USA Embassy in Jerusalem. The event is scheduled to take place on the 70th anniversary of the Jewish people's victory over the Arabs on May 15, 1948.
With today's bombing by Israel of locations in Syria things do not seem to be cooling down. We could still be headed for an international agreement on the state of Jerusalem as called for by the King of Jordan and promised in the 1974 UN resolution 274 on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.
With today's bombing by Israel of locations in Syria things do not seem to be cooling down. We could still be headed for an international agreement on the state of Jerusalem as called for by the King of Jordan and promised in the 1974 UN resolution 274 on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.
That's why I'm prone to believe we are still headed towards the last seven years predicted by Daniel the prophet in the Old Testament some 700 years before Christ's birth. That's what I believe Bible prophecy indicates. That's what many Christians throughout history have believed.
Maybe we have it all wrong as some would contend. I guess we will have to wait and see if we are understanding the prophecies correctly. But God's word tells us not one thing will fail of all the things the Lord our God has promised concerning us. All prophecies unfulfilled will find their mates in their fulfillment, not one shall lack it's mate.
You might like to note here that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump will be heading up the delegation of Americans at the event. No doubt Trump won his victory over Hillary with a promise of greater support for Israel. He may have even cut a pre-election deal to make next week's move to secure the Jewish vote. Or the Jewish lobby may have presented to him the same proposition if he wanted their support.
One thing we remember is that both Bill Clinton and Obama were not keen on Israel not brokering an agreement with the Palestinians. Some Arab leaders believe that America's position today, by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, undermines the UN resolution 274 which called for some type of agreement over Jerusalem.
Let's keep our eyes open to what develops.
Maybe we have it all wrong as some would contend. I guess we will have to wait and see if we are understanding the prophecies correctly. But God's word tells us not one thing will fail of all the things the Lord our God has promised concerning us. All prophecies unfulfilled will find their mates in their fulfillment, not one shall lack it's mate.
You might like to note here that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump will be heading up the delegation of Americans at the event. No doubt Trump won his victory over Hillary with a promise of greater support for Israel. He may have even cut a pre-election deal to make next week's move to secure the Jewish vote. Or the Jewish lobby may have presented to him the same proposition if he wanted their support.
One thing we remember is that both Bill Clinton and Obama were not keen on Israel not brokering an agreement with the Palestinians. Some Arab leaders believe that America's position today, by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, undermines the UN resolution 274 which called for some type of agreement over Jerusalem.
Let's keep our eyes open to what develops.
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
U.S. Embassy Road Signs Go Up in Jerusalem & More
(Reuters) U.S. Embassy road signs went up in Jerusalem on Monday ahead of next week’s opening of the mission in accordance with President Donald Trump’s recognition of the city as Israel’s capital.
Dennis Edwards: Keep your eye on this event. Many eschatology students believe Israel is an important piece in End-time prophecy. The "Holy Covenant" is believed to be some kind of peace agreement over the Jerusalem situation. Some propose that Jerusalem will become an international city. We will see how the Arabs and the rest of the world respond to the opening of the USA embassy on May 15th which is the 70th year birthday of the modern state of Israel.
Israeli Minister Says ‘Lebanon Equals Hezbollah’ After Election
(Reuters) Hezbollah’s gains in the Lebanese election on Sunday show that the state is indistinguishable from the Iranian-backed Shi’ite group and that Israel should not distinguish between them in any future war, an Israeli security cabinet minister said.
Israeli Minister Threatens Assad Over Any Iranian Attacks From Syria
(Reuters) Israel could respond to any Iranian attack on it from Syria by toppling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, an Israeli security cabinet minister said on Monday, hinting that Assad himself may be targeted for assassination.
Dennis Edwards: Many conservative Orthodox Jews believe that the land God promised to Abraham is rightly theirs. The boundaries of Greater Israel include the Nile River in Egypt and the Euphrates in Iraq. Both Lebanon and Syria would fall within Greater Israel. With this type of belief system you can better understand Israel's political and military position toward these two countries. Some Israelis believe that it is God's will for Israel to rule over the area of Greater Israel. The following link [The Oded Yinon Plan] gives more details about Israel's military plans since 1982 in respect to the future hopes of Israel. If you take time to read the link you will note that Israel has been following this very plan and as a result we see the unstable situation in the area of Israel's dreams - Greater Israel."
PM Orban Vows to Preserve Hungary’s Christian Culture
(Reuters) Viktor Orban said on Monday the main task of his new government will be to preserve Hungary’s security and Christian culture, sticking to his nationalist policy to keep out migrants and fend off what he calls foreign meddling.
Dennis Edwards: In a similar move as the election of Trump, Viktor Orban has been elected. Like the Polish who wish to maintain their Christian culture and Polish ways, the Hungarians feel the same. The very strong European agenda which includes gay-marriages, abortion, gender identity is offensive to many traditionally Christian and Bible believing cultures. Trump gained support from this group in America in spite of his lackluster speaking ability and questionable morals. The Christians knew what Hillary stood for and could not in good conscience vote for her. I believe Trump won in protest to the strongly anti-family agenda of the left. Of course in Hungary, the question of accepting refugee immigrants from the Middle East is another concern. Eastern Europeans want to hold on to their traditional culture and feel threatened by European Union policies on the family and believe accepting thousands of immigrants could further destabilize their culture which is already feeling the pains of entering into the European Union. How the European Central Bank will take to Orban, and whether or not they will give him clear sailing is another question. Watch to see how Hungary's financial situation develops.
Friday, May 4, 2018
Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City ‘under threat’ from settlers
Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem, The Guardian, 1 May 2018
Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City say their presence at the geographical heart of their faith is under threat from intimidation and aggressive property acquisition by hardline Jewish settlers.
According to church leaders, priests are being verbally abused and spat at, and property vandalised.
Tensions have risen this year in the Christian and Armenian quarters of the 1 sq km ancient walled city, which includes the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holiest place in Christianity where Jesus was believed to be crucified and resurrected. The Old City is also home to places of critical religious importance to Jews and Muslims.
The churches say they are facing onslaught on three fronts: a war of attrition waged by hardline settlers; unprecedented tax demands by Jerusalem city council; and a proposal to allow the expropriation of church land sold to private developers.
Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem and the most senior Christian leader in the Holy Land, told the Guardian: “Today the church faces a most severe threat at the hands of certain settler groups. The settlers are persistent in their attempts to erode the presence of the Christian community in Jerusalem.
“These radical settler groups are highly organised. Over the last years we have witnessed the desecration and vandalism of an unprecedented number of churches and holy sites and receive growing numbers of reports from priests and local worshippers who have been assaulted and attacked.
“Where the authorities are concerned, this behaviour goes largely unchecked and unpunished.”
At Mount Zion, just outside the Old City walls, undeveloped land owned by the church and often referred to as the “Greek garden” is regularly vandalised, according to Moni Shama, a church caretaker.
Trees have been uprooted, garbage left, graffiti scrawled on stones and paint thrown inside the ancient Chapel of Pentecost, he said. Three years ago, a Greek Orthodox seminary at the site was set alight.
The Greek Orthodox church, the oldest Christian presence in the Old City, is also deeply concerned about attempts to gain control of properties it owns close to Jaffa Gate, the main entrance to the Christian and Armenian quarters.
A court ruling is expected later this year on a disputed sale of the historic Imperial and Petra hotels. The church has challenged a deal made by an official under the previous patriarch, which it claims involved bribery and conspiracy and was therefore invalid. The church has already lost one case on the sale, but it is appealing.
It says the settler organisation Ateret Cohanim is behind the purchase of the strategically significant properties as part of its drive to increase the Jewish presence in the Old City. The organisation, dedicated to the “physical and spiritual redemption” of the Old City, has been frequently accused of using third parties to buy properties.
Abu Walid Dajani, whose family has managed the 45-room Imperial Hotel for almost 70 years, said the prospect of ownership changing hands from the Greek Orthodox church to Ateret Cohanim was a “nightmare”.
“If I used to wake up twice a night, now I wake up four times, thinking what if the decision goes in favour of Ateret Cohanim,” said Dajani, 74. “I will try my best to keep this hotel, but I know they want us out.”
Gabi Hani, whose restaurant Versavee is next to the hotel, said: “They [Ateret Cohanim] want to drive Christians out, for sure.
“If you have a hostile organisation sitting in your home, it is no longer your home.”
Daniel Luria of Ateret Cohanim said: “Claims or accusations by the Greek Patriarchate regarding ‘radical settlers’ targeting their priests with verbal abuse etc are absurd, unacceptable and disgraceful.”
He denied that the organisation wanted Christians to leave the Old City, and declined to comment on the issue of the Jaffa Gate sales. “Ateret Cohanim believes in coexistence with Christians and Muslims alike, living side by side without fences or borders, living in any neighbourhood of Jerusalem,” he said.
“The concept of disallowing Jews to live in certain areas is foreign and unacceptable. Christian and Muslim Arabs buy and live quietly side by side with Jews in predominantly Jewish neighbourhoods, so why couldn’t or shouldn’t Jews purchase and live in predominantly Arab neighbourhoods?”
In a separate development–but one that church leaders say is part of a pattern of targeting Christians–Jerusalem city council issued churches with a demand in February for nearly $200m (£143m) in back taxes. In protest, the church denominations closed holy sites, during which thousands of pilgrims were locked out.
The tax bill followed a decision that a tax exemption for places of worship had been wrongly applied to church-owned commercial properties. The churches say they pay taxes on purely commercial properties, such as restaurants and hotels, but many of those that the council says are liable provide educational, medical and welfare facilities for Christians and others.
The closure was lifted only after the intervention of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, who set up a committee to look at the issue of church taxes. He also temporarily halted the progress of a proposed law to expropriate church lands sold to private developers.
The bill has the support of 40 members of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, who say the Greek Orthodox church is selling off land at discount prices to private developers, which puts leaseholders at risk. The Greek Orthodox church owns about a third of land in the Old City and key sites around Jerusalem, including the land on which the Knesset, government offices and the Israel Museum are built.
Theophilos has in the past few months travelled to the UK, the Vatican, the US and elsewhere to seek support for Christian institutions in the heart of the Holy Land. In the UK, he met Prince Charles, government ministers and Christian leaders, including the archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster and the Coptic archbishop of London.
The patriarch wants a commitment to the continuation of the status quo, an agreement which provides protection of, and access to, holy sites in Jerusalem and elsewhere, allowing Christians to live and worship in peace despite the conflicts and divisions in the area.
Pope Francis and other Christian leaders have called for the status quo to be respected.
Monday, April 9, 2018
Syrian Showdown: Trump vs. the Generals
By Patrick J. Buchanan, Creators Syndicate, April 6, 2018With ISIS on the run in Syria, President Trump this week declared that he intends to make good on his promise to bring the troops home.
“I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home,” said the president. We’ve gotten “nothing out of the $7 trillion (spent) in the Middle East in the last 17 years. … So, it’s time.”
Not so fast, Mr. President.
For even as Trump was speaking he was being contradicted by his Centcom commander Gen. Joseph Votel. “A lot of good progress has been made” in Syria, Votel conceded, “but the hard part … is in front of us.”
Moreover, added Votel, when we defeat ISIS, we must stabilize Syria and see to its reconstruction.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had been even more specific:
“It is crucial to our national defense to maintain a military and diplomatic presence in Syria, to help bring an end to that conflict, as they chart a course to achieve a new political future.”
But has not Syria’s “political future” already been charted?
Bashar Assad, backed by Iran and Russia, has won his seven-year civil war. He has retaken the rebel stronghold of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus. He now controls most of the country that we and the Kurds do not.
According to The Washington Post, Defense Secretary James Mattis is also not on board with Trump and “has repeatedly said … that U.S. troops would be staying in Syria for the foreseeable future to guarantee stability and political resolution to the civil war.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who fears a “Shiite corridor” from Tehran to Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut, also opposes Trump. “If you take those (U.S.) troops out from east Syria,” the prince told Time, “you will lose that checkpoint … American troops should stay (in Syria) at least for the mid-term, if not the long-term.”
Bibi Netanyahu also wants us to stay in Syria.
Wednesday, Trump acceded to his generals. He agreed to leave our troops in Syria until ISIS is finished. However, as the 2,000 U.S. troops there are not now engaging ISIS–many of our Kurd allies are going back north to defend border towns threatened by Turkey–this could take a while.
Yet a showdown is coming. And, stated starkly, the divide is this:
Trump sees al-Qaida and ISIS as the real enemy and is prepared to pull all U.S. forces out of Syria as soon as the caliphate is eradicated. And if Assad is in power then, backed by Russia and Iran, so be it.
Trump does not see an Assad-ruled Syria, which has existed since the Nixon presidency, as a great threat to the United States. He is unwilling to spill more American blood to overturn the outcome of a war that Syria, Iran and Russia have already won. Nor is he prepared to foot the bill for the reconstruction of Syria, or for any long-term occupation of that quadrant of Syria that we and our allies now hold.
Once ISIS is defeated, Trump wants out of the war and out of Syria.
The Israelis, Saudis and most of our foreign policy elite, however, vehemently disagree. They want the U.S. to hold onto that slice of Syria east of the Euphrates that we now occupy, and to use the leverage of our troops on Syrian soil to effect the removal of President Assad and the expulsion of the Iranians.
The War Party does not concede Syria is lost. It sees the real battle as dead ahead. It is eager to confront and, if need be, fight Syrians, Iranians and Shiite militias should they cross to the east bank of the Euphrates, as they did weeks ago, when U.S. artillery and air power slaughtered them in the hundreds, Russians included.
If U.S. troops do remain in Syria, the probability is high that Trump, like Presidents Bush and Obama before him, will be ensnared indefinitely in the Forever War of the Middle East.
President Erdogan of Turkey, who has seized Afrin from the Syrian Kurds, is threatening to move on Manbij, where Kurdish troops are backed by U.S. troops. If Erdogan does not back away from his threat, NATO allies could start shooting at one another.
As the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria are both uninvited and unwelcome, a triumphant Assad is likely soon to demand that we remove them from his country.
Will we defy President Assad then, with the possibility U.S. planes and troops could be engaging Syrians, Russians, Iranians and Shiite militias, in a country where we have no right to be?
Trump is being denounced as an isolationist. But what gains have we reaped from 17 years of Middle East wars–from Afghanistan to Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen–to justify all the blood shed and the treasure lost?
And how has our rival China suffered from not having fought in any of these wars?
Friday, April 6, 2018
U.K. Lab Says It Doesn’t Know Nerve Agent’s ‘Precise Source,’ Drawing Russian Retort
Scientists at a U.K. government laboratory have not verified the source of the substance used to poison Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, according to the lab’s chief executive.
“We were able to identify it as novichok, to identify that it was a military-grade nerve agent. We have not verified the precise source,” Gary Aitkenhead of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory told British broadcaster Sky News on Tuesday. “But we provided the scientific information to the government, who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions they’ve come to.”
Aitkenhead added that while his lab–better known as Porton Down after its secretive site in southern England–has been tasked with examining the chemical, “it’s not our job to then see where it was actually manufactured.” He only went so far as to note that the sample they studied is “probably only within the capabilities of a state actor.”
Still, his reticence to confirm a specific source appears to undercut an account offered by Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, who spoke to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle amid the international dispute brewing over the attack. On March 20–the same day the U.K. formally expelled 23 Russian diplomats for the Kremlin’s alleged role in the Skripals’ poisoning–Johnson told DW that researchers at the laboratory “were absolutely categorical” about the evidence.
“I mean, I asked the guy myself,” Johnson said. “I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And he said, ‘There is no doubt.’ “
Opposition lawmakers in the U.K. quickly pointed out the discrepancy, including Labour MP Chris Williamson, who tweeted that Johnson had “just lied to justify our country’s foreign policy.”
But perhaps the more vehement response came from Russian officials, who have denied the allegations that the Kremlin was involved in the attack. They quickly pounced on Aitkenhead’s comments, pointing to them as proof of what they have maintained all along–that the British claims, and those of their Western allies, are fabrications “part of a large-scale political provocation.”
“We understood from the very start that UK Government statements on the nerve agent having been produced in Russia were a bluff. Now this has been confirmed by the head of the secret lab,” the Russian Embassy in the U.K. said in a statement Tuesday. “This only proves that all political declarations on the Russian origin of the crime are nothing but assumptions not stemming from objective facts or the course of the investigation.”
The Embassy also implied Porton Down was the actual source of the chemical: “Mr Aitkenhead is not denying that the lab had developed or keeps stocks of the agent they call ‘novichok’, although, of course, he would not admit it.”
Dennis Edwards: Great Britain had talked about leaving the Euro-zone and making bilateral agreements with Russia. However, the death of the former Russian spies is heating up the relationship between the two countries. It is again pushing Great Britain into a anti-Russian position. Similarly, Trump ran on a ballot of working with the Russians for international peace and not antagonizing them as Clinton was intent on doing. However, the whole "Russian Card" about the election has made it impossible for Trump to follow through on his promise to work with Russia for better international relations.
Who is actually behind the killings of the spies, we don't know. What we do know is that it causing more tension between the two great international powers. If the USA and Russia were able to work together they might be able to solve the problems in the Middle East. However, the fact that they are divided seems to benefit the interests of Israel more then either the USA or Russia. If Russia and USA were united they could help impose on Israel a mandate for peace. Divided makes that possibility an impossibility. Could Mossad agents, or ones acting under their command, be responsible for the killing of the Russian spies to help keep these nations antagonistic towards one another when working together would obviously be beneficial for the whole world?
Bible prophecy confirms that a powerful world leader will impose on Israel a pact called the Holy Covenant for a seven year period. Will that covenant force the Israelis and the Palestinians into a peace agreement that no USA President or other international figure has been able to accomplish during the last 70 years, though many tried? Was the killing of the former Russian spy a means to foment discord between the super powers and thus enable Israel to continue her policy of extermination of the Palestinian people and the hope of some Israelis for "Greater Israel"? We don't know. But we do know the Covenant is prophesied and that the Antichrist will impose it. Keep attentive to the situation in the Middles East. It's where Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Angry over Israel, Trump tells Congress to give aid only to 'friends of America'
President Trump at his first State of the Union address, Jan. 30, 2018. (Photo: Win McNamee/Pool via AP) by Oliver Knox Yahoo News
WASHINGTON — Still sore over international opposition to his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, President Trump pressed Congress in his first State of the Union on Tuesday to restrict foreign aid to “friends of America.”
Trump’s remarks, which drew loud applause in the packed House of Representatives chamber from most Republicans and stone-faced silence from most Democrats, could put the United States at odds with key allies who criticized his decision.
The president tied his call to action back to a Dec. 22 U.N. General Assembly vote in which 128 countries voted in favor of a nonbinding resolution calling on Washington to reverse its recognition of Jerusalem. He said some of those nations had collectively received $20 billion in U.S. assistance in 2016.
“That is why, tonight, I am asking the Congress to pass legislation to help ensure American foreign-assistance dollars always serve American interests, and only go to friends of America, not enemies of America,” he said.
The international community rejected Trump’s Jerusalem decision because the city’s fate is considered one of the hardest “final status” issues in the Middle East peace process, to be decided by both parties. Israel has claimed the city as its capital, while the Palestinians see it as the capital of their hypothetical future state to be in East Jerusalem.
Enforcing Trump’s aid threat that would put the United States at odds with some of the largest recipients of U.S. economic and military assistance, including Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan, all of which voted in favor of the resolution. In the case of those countries, help from Washington is designed to advance U.S. interests, notably by ensuring the stability of their governments in the face of challenges from Islamist extremists. While Pakistan, for example, has driven several presidents to frustration and even anger, Washington has long been worried enough that the country’s nuclear arsenal could fall into extremist hands and has delivered assistance to the government in Islamabad.
In January, the Trump administration said it was suspending an unspecified amount of security assistance to Pakistan — perhaps as much as $1.3 billion, the total package — until that ally “takes decisive action” against extremists on its territory. Some of those groups have carried out attacks in Afghanistan, including some blamed for the deaths of U.S. soldiers.
The announcement came days after Trump denounced Pakistan on Twitter. “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” he said.
Trump also recently said his administration would cut aid to the Palestinians in retaliation for their decision to show their anger at his Jerusalem decision by snubbing Vice President Mike Pence during his recent trip to the Middle East.
“They disrespected us a week ago by not allowing our great vice president to see them — and we give them hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and support — tremendous numbers; numbers that nobody understands,” Trump said last week as he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “That money is on the table, and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace.”
Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced it was withholding $65 million of a $125 million aid package it had planned to send to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine. While the move seemed to be a response to the United Nations vote on Jerusalem, the State Department said the aid would remain frozen until the Palestinians enacted reforms. In response, 11 countries, including close U.S. ally Germany, pledged to step up to help fill the gap.
Dennis Edwards: Again Israel and America will be left isolated from the rest of the world. The Antichrist will galvanize world opinion in his favor and author an agreement called in the Scriptures the Holy Covenant. The covenant will most likely involve the Middle East peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. The seven year agreement will be confirmed by many nations, but later broken by the Antichrist himself at the three and a half year mark. The breaking of the covenant and placing of the abomination of desolation in the Jewish Temple is the sign Jesus gave for the beginning of the Great Tribulation. Jesus returns immediately after the tribulation. We could very well be moving closer to the fulfillment of these prophecies.
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Syrian Foreign Ministry Blasts New U.S.-Backed Border Force
(Reuters) The Syrian government denounced a new border force which the United States is building with its militia allies in northern Syria as a “blatant assault” on sovereignty, state media said on Monday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the formation of a border zone controlled by U.S.-backed rebels could lead to the partition of Syria.
Dennis Edwards: Let us read from a paper written about the Oded Yinon plan for a Greater Israel back in 1982:
Oded Yinon, the former senior official with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and journalist for the Jerusalem Post published a book in 1982 which is called; “A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties” also known as the Yinon Plan. It is an Israeli strategic plan to ensure Israeli regional superiority through the balkanization of the surrounding Arab states into smaller and weaker states. Yinon Plan called for the “dissolution” of “the entire Arab world including Egypt, Syria, Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula.”
Each country was to be made to “fall apart along sectarian and ethnic lines,” after which each resulting fragment would be “hostile” to its “neighbours.” Later, plans to balkanize Syria, Iraq and other Middle Eastern states were laid out by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a 2006 trip to Tel Aviv. It was part of the so called “Project for a New Middle East”. This was a carbon copy of the Yinon Plan drawn up by Israel in 1982.
Former US Secretary of State John
Kerry called for Syria to be partitioned saying it was “Plan B” if negotiations failed. But in reality this was always plan A, although officially Plan A was “Assad Must Go”. Then NATO planned on shifting narratives from, ‘evil dictator must be stopped” to “we must protect the minorities”. As it is mentioned before plans to balkanize Syria originates from the Yinon Plan as it aimed at dismembering the Syrian state in accordance with its ethnic and religious structure, into several states. Quite simply, divide and conquer is the plan. When viewed in the current context, the war on Iraq, the 2006 war on Lebanon, the 2011 war on Libya, the ongoing war on Syria, must be understood in relation to the “Greater Israel” (Eretz Israel HaShlema) project.[1]
So we see the American government continues to be the hatchet for Israel's secret hegemonic plans for regional supremacy. Long before 9/11 these plans were hatched and Israel's smartest minds put to work on creating a viable plan to accomplish Israel's territorial and security goals. The Yinon plan has been followed to a "T" with Israel using the military might of the USA to bring down their enemies.
Way back before 9/11 former NATO chief General Wesley Clark leaked the plans the US government had for a New World Order in the Middle East. He said that there were plans to remove or destabilise seven nations in the proximity of the Middle East. Much of those plans has been fulfilled except for the the dismantling of the Iranian government, though that might still be underway.
Could those five Israeli "students" who were arrested for celebrating the destruction of the Twin Towers from a building in New Jersey have been Mossad bomb agents. They could have been involved in the Mossad's plan to bring down the towers and then to have it blamed on the Arabs. Bush was quickly given a blank sheet by the American people and Congress to wage war against "our" enemies. Why were these men so quickly released and allowed to return to Israel without a thorough investigation into their activities. Records show there were later suspicious night time working crews working on the elevators during the summer months leading up to 9/11. Could those "elevator crews" have been the very five Israeli "students?"
The present Prime Minister Netanyahu has said every inter Arab conflict must be encouraged.
[1] Ayşe TEKDAL FİLDİŞ, “Greater Israel” Project and Balkanization of Syria, Namik Kemal University, Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of International Relations,
tekfil@hotmail.co.uk, March 2017, http://ibaness.org/bnejss/2017_03_03/07_Fildi%C5%9F.pdf
Friday, January 12, 2018
Israel Launches Airstrikes on Syria, as Assad’s Forces Near Victory
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Israeli jets and ground-to-ground missile attacks on targets in the outskirts of Damascus are a mark of Israel’s heightened concern as President Bashar al-Assad comes close to winning the civil war in Syria. Israel’s security cabinet has held meetings several times in recent days to discuss how it should respond to the “day-after” the war as Syria returns to Mr Assad’s control and to Iran’s expanded influence in Syria according to Israeli television reports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel’s policy was to stop Hezbollah moving “game-changing weapons” out of Syria into Lebanon. “We back it [the policy] up as necessary with action,” he added. Israel has carried out more than 100 air strikes against Syrian Army and Hezbollah arms depots and military facilities in the past six years.
The strikes are a sign that Israel is trying to adjust to likely new developments in Syria in 2018: as the end of the civil war comes in sight, Hezbollah and the Syrian armed forces, both battle hardened by the war, will no longer be tied down by fighting and could be deployed to confront Israel.
The Syrian war is by no means over, but the success of the coalition that includes Iran, Syria, Lebanese Hezbollah and Iraqi Shia forces means that the balance of power in the region is swinging against Israel.
The Syrian Army is advancing swiftly without much resistance into the largest remaining rebel enclave in province of Idlib south west of Aleppo, in an offensive launched a week ago. Backed by artillery and air strikes, Syrian units are fighting Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly known as the al Nusra Front and once the Syrian arm of al-Qaeda, which is dominant in the province. Other rebel groups complain that HTS is refusing to cooperate with them in holding back government forces.
The Syrian Army and air force are also battering Eastern Ghouta, the other large rebel enclave just east of Damascus, the capture of which would give Mr Assad full control of the capital and the area round it, something he has not enjoyed since 2011.
Although the long-term success of Syrian government forces looks inevitable, it will take them time to re-establish central control. The Syrian Kurds–who captured Isis’s de facto capital Raqqa in October backed by US-led air strikes–control a great swathe of territory east of the Euphrates. They need to keep US support, including several bases in Kurdish-held territory, as a guarantee against Turkish military intervention or an offensive by Syrian forces. At the same time, they look to a long-term agreement with Damascus which would guarantee their autonomy.
Israel is concerned about the return of the Syrian Army to parts of southern Syria close to Israel as it tries to reopen the road to Jordan. There is a US-Russian agreement arranged by President Vladimir Putin that Hezbollah and Iranian backed forces will not approach within 25 miles of the Israeli-Syrian front line in the Golan.
But Mr Assad is likely to be less reliant on the support, and more independent of the wishes, of his two main allies, Russia and Iran, as he gets close to victory.
The latest Israeli air strikes and the angry Syrian response show that both sides are muscle-flexing. But, while the Israelis have an interest in preventing Hezbollah acquiring a substantial arsenal of long-range missiles that could reach far into Israel, neither side has an interest in going to war which would cause a lot of destruction but produce no winner, as in 2006 when Israel fought Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has received vociferous backing from President Trump and the US but the Israelis must wonder–along with the rest of the world–how much Mr Trump’s supportive tweets are really worth. Even his recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is not an unalloyed gain for Israel since it changes nothing much on the ground, but it has put the Israeli-Palestinian issue back at the top of the political agenda in the Middle East to a degree not seen since 9/11 and the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Israeli air strikes are not necessarily a precursor to a wider military conflict, but they do show that Israel believes it can no longer stay on the margins of the Syrian war. As the conflict comes to an end that is bound to be messy, Israel wants to be a leading player in shaping its final outcome.
Dennis Edwards: Here again we see that an international agreement about the Palestinian and Israeli situation is still a topic of discussion. Mr, Cockburn, author of the article, says the present developments have put the Israeli-Palestinian issue back on top of the political agenda where it hasn't been for many years. Will we see the famous "Holy Covenant" predicted in the Bible by the prophet Daniel?
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.[Daniel 9:27]
Daniel's prophecies intertwine the Holy Covenant with the resuming of Jewish sacrificial worship in Jerusalem. The prophecies are clear that half way through the seven year pact, the covenant is broken. It is at this point that the abomination of desolation is placed in the temple.
And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate.[Daniel 11:31]
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso reads, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.[Matthew 24:15 -21]
He also said that the sign of His coming in the clouds of heaven would appear "immediately after the tribulation of those days."
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.[Matthew 24: 29]
Keep your eyes and ears open for some kind of international agreement regarding Israel, the Palestinians and the rebuilding of the Third Jewish Temple. These events could very well be the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and a dire warning to the world that we are approaching great catastrophic events on the road to Armageddon.
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. [Revelation 16:14-16]
Note: All references from the King James Bible, though I dropped some of the "ths."
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
As a 2-State Solution Loses Steam, a 1-State Plan Gains Traction
By David M. Halbfinger, NY Times, Jan. 5, 2018
JERUSALEM–The Israeli right, emboldened by President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, is not the only faction arguing for a single state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Palestine Liberation Organization has also begun to ask whether that might not be such a bad idea, though it has a radically different view of what that state would look like.
As momentum ebbs for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both sides are taking another look at the one-state idea. But that solution has long been problematic for both sides.
For the Israelis, absorbing three million West Bank Palestinians means either giving up on democracy or accepting the end of the Jewish state. The Palestinians, unwilling to live under apartheid-like conditions or military occupation, have also seen two states as their best hope.
Now, for the first time since it declared its support for a Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel in 1988, the P.L.O. is seriously debating whether to embrace fallback options, including the pursuit of a single state.
“It’s dominating the discussion,” said Mustafa Barghouti, a physician who sits on the P.L.O.’s central council, which is to take up possible changes to the national movement’s strategy later this month.
Palestinian supporters envision one state with equal rights for Palestinians and Jews. Palestinians would have proportionate political power and, given demographic trends, would before long be a majority, spelling the end of the Zionist project.
That outcome is unacceptable to the Israeli right wing, which is pressing to annex the land on the occupied West Bank where Jewish settlers have built communities while consigning Palestinians to the areas where they live now.
Israeli proponents of these ideas freely acknowledge that the Palestinian areas would be considerably less than a state, at least to start: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has even called it a “state-minus.” Eventually, they say, the Palestinians could achieve statehood in a confederation with Jordan or Egypt, as part of Israel, or perhaps even independently–but not soon.
Both sides have long officially supported the idea of a two-state solution to the conflict while accusing the other of harboring designs on the whole territory. But Mr. Trump’s Jerusalem declaration last month changed the calculus.
The Trump administration has not endorsed a one-state solution, and it is working on its own peace plan, insisting that any final agreement, including borders, be negotiated by the two sides. But last month’s decision by the president to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, in defiance of a decades-old United States policy and international consensus and with no mention of a Palestinian claim on the city, was seen as putting his thumb on the Israeli side of the scale.
Saeb Erekat, the veteran Palestinian negotiator, said that Mr. Trump’s declaration was the death knell for the two-state solution and that Palestinians should shift their focus to “one state with equal rights.” His position has since gained traction among the Palestinian leadership.
Under that idea, the Palestinian movement would shift to a struggle for equal civil rights, including the freedoms of movement, assembly and speech, and the right to vote in national elections. “Which could mean a Palestinian could be the prime minister,” Mr. Barghouti said.
To its Palestinian supporters, the one-state idea is bitter consolation after decades of striving for statehood under the Oslo peace accords, which many believe has achieved little aside from providing cover, and buying time, for Israel to expand settlements.
“When you support the two-state solution, you’re supporting Netanyahu,” said As’ad Ghanem, a political science lecturer at the University of Haifa who has been working with a group of Israelis and Palestinians on a one-state strategy for some time. “It is time for us Palestinians to present an alternative.”
“At least 30 percent of Palestinians support one-state when no one is talking about it,” said Hamada Jaber, an organizer of a group called the One State Foundation. “If there’s at least one political party on each side that will talk about it and adapt this strategy, the support will grow.”
The idea has stronger support among the young, said Khalil Shikaki, a Palestinian pollster, particularly students and professionals who have clamored for a change in strategy since the Arab spring in 2011.
“I’m 24,” said Mariam Barghouti, a writer and activist involved in one of the one-state efforts, and a distant relation of Mr. Barghouti. “All I’ve known is Oslo and the two-state negotiation process. I’ve witnessed how it’s only gotten worse for me and my generation.”
To the Israeli right, abandoning the two-state goal is a good thing, a long-term threat averted. But the Israeli right has not fully explained how its single state overcomes the demographic conundrum. Absorbing the nearly three million Palestinians on the West Bank would either spell the end of a Jewish state or destroy Israeli democracy if Palestinians were denied equal rights. Even a slim Jewish majority would be politically unable to deny Palestinians full citizenship and rights in a single sovereign state.
“I would never give citizenship to the masses of the Arab population in Judea and Samaria,” said Yoav Kisch, a member of Parliament from Mr. Netanyahu’s party who is advancing one autonomy plan, using the biblical names for the West Bank.
Eventually, he said, what’s left of the Palestinian areas could become part of Jordan or Egypt, or become some kind of “state-minus” with limited sovereignty. In the meantime, Mr. Kisch said, he would be willing to give full Israeli citizenship to only about 30,000 West Bank Palestinians who live in areas where he wants Israel to assert sovereignty.
Such a move would be unacceptable to the Palestinians.
What these two sharply different one-state visions share is a conviction that a two-state solution is out of reach.
To be sure, the P.L.O. is not giving up entirely on a two-state solution. It is still pursuing other diplomatic avenues. On Friday, for example, Mr. Erekat called on Arab League member states to act on past commitments to cut ties with any country that recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
And there is skepticism among both Palestinians and Israelis that Palestinian leaders like Mr. Erekat and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, would ever truly abandon the Oslo process, to which they have devoted their careers and to which they owe their livelihoods.
If and when a more liberal Israeli government is elected, it could also revive a two-state peace process.
But the costs and political difficulty of withdrawing Israelis from the West Bank grow with every settler family that moves in.
Daniel C. Kurtzer, a Princeton professor who was ambassador to Egypt in the Clinton administration and to Israel under George W. Bush, noted that about 120,000 Palestinian workers commuted to Israel every day, the Palestinian security services provided help to Israel in protecting its own population and the Palestinian Authority’s administration relieved Israel of the occupying power’s obligation to care for refugees.
“You and I will say, ‘It’ll never happen, they’ll come to their senses,’ “ Mr. Kurtzer said. “But how long can you live with the status quo? We’re going to wake up one day and it’s going to be effectively one state. It’s like ‘Thelma and Louise.’ You’re going down the highway and life is great. But there’s a cliff.”
Dennis Edwards: The Bible tells us in the last days before the dramatic Armageddon event takes place some amazing events are going to happen.
"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates (located in Iraq); and the water there of was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east (Iran and Pakistan?) might be prepared....For they are spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather together them to battle of that great day of God Almighty....And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon."[Revelation 16:12,14,16]
One of those key events is that a Holy Covenant will be made and signed by many nations concerning the situation in the Middle East.
"And he (the Antichrist or beast) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (7 year period)"[Daniel 9:27a]
However, 3 and 1/2 years after the signing of the Holy Covenant, the agreement will be broken. Israel will be invaded and the Abomination of Desolation will be placed in the Temple.
"and in the midst of the week (or half way through the seven year period) he (the Antichrist) shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease (no doubt the renewed sacrifice performed at a new Third Temple in Jerusalem), and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation...."[Daniel 9:27b]
In another chapter of Daniel we are given more information: Daniel writes,
"For the ships of Chittem (Cyprus, where the NATO forces have a port, which just happens to be almost directly opposite of where Russia is building a permanent naval base in Tartus, Syria.) shall come against him (the Antichrist): therefore he shall have indignation against the holy covenant (though he was its author, see verse 11:22b "He is also the prince of the covenant."): so shall he do; he shall return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate."[Daniel 11:30-31]
Concerning the "abomination of desolation" Jesus himself said,
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whosoever reads let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains:...For then shall be great tribulation, such as was since not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."[Matthew 24:15,16, 21]
The importance of the events taking place in Israel is that there are certain sign posts proclaimed by the prophets concerning the end times and Christ's second coming. We must past through these sign posts before Christ can return according to Scripture. Knowing what those sign post are helps us to understand the events taking place in the Middle East and to where they will eventually culminate.
Here's what we are to expect:
[1] A rise of the Antichrist to power as a political/military leader and negotiator on the international scene.
[2] The signing of some sort of Holy Covenant which will give the Jewish people the possibility of renewing their religious sacrificial worship. We assume that this will take place in a restored Third Temple. We also speculate that the Holy Covenant will therefore involve the negotiation of the rebuilding of a Jewish Third Temple on or near to the present Temple Mount.
[3] The Holy Covenant will be confirmed by many nations or perhaps the United Nations. It will initially be a 7 year agreement.
[4] Because of the continual tensions and differing of opinions concerning the Middle East peace process, the covenant will be broken by its author who is none other than the Antichrist.
[5] He will stop the sacrificial worship and place the abomination that makes desolate in the Temple which marks the beginning point of the terrible period of world history known in the Bible as the Great Tribulation or Jacob's Trouble.
[6] The Great Tribulation will be a horrible period of religious persecution against all who do not conform to the Antichrist's one-world program, which includes the mark of the beast technology, possibly some sort of computer implant for identification to buy or sell.
"And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, frfee and dond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name....and his number is Six hundred threescore (a score is twenty, therefore three score equals sixty) and six," or 666.[Revelation 13:16,17]
This period could very well culminate with a nuclear confrontation. At the end of the horrendous tribulation period Christ returns in the clouds to catch his followers away in the famous rapture event.
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."[Matthew 24:29-31]
[7] Not long afterwards, possibly 45-75, the Battle of Armageddon takes place in Israel and ends with Christ's return to stop the warfare that is in danger of destroying all of mankind.[Revelation 19:11-21; Ezekiel 39:1-7, 17-22]
That's a short look at Bible prophecy as I see it. We are living in amazing times. That's why we have that uncertain feeling in our hearts that the world is going down the wrong road fast and furiously. A good understanding of Bible prophecy helps relieve the tension, and helps us trust in Him who is creator of Heaven and Earth, that He is in deed ultimately in control. He has told us before hand so that when these events come upon us, and they shall do some day, we will hold fast to His words and promises and be faithful witnesses unto the end just like our faithful ancestors were before us. Hold on to your horses, we could be in for the ride of our lives.
