With sadness and grief I post this article.  Please pray for the families:

For 18 days they never stopped believing, hoping against all odds that their boys will return home alive. But on Monday night the three families received the horrifying news – the bodies of Gilad Sha’ar, Naftali Frenkel, and Eyal Yifrach had been discovered near Hebron. For more than two weeks, the three families in Talmon, Nof Ayalon, and Elad urged the world to help return their boys home. In the three homes – Yifrach in Elad, Sha’ar in Talmon, and Frenkel in Nof Ayalon – dozens of stunned friends and relatives gathered. "The family was shocked," they said in Elad. "It is hard for the family, and it is for us too, to hear that Eyal was no longer alive. All we can do now is lend strength to the family." The Sha’ar family was until several hours ago in Tel Aviv, from where they rushed home. As rumors of the boys' fate began to spread, people began to break down, close relatives gathered at the family home, where they remained in the house. At the Makor Chaim yeshiva in Kfar Etzion, where Gilad and Naftali studied, teachers and students received the news with shock. Students on summer break were informed they needed to return to the yeshiva in the wake of the discovery of the bodies. Just a day earlier, thousands of Israelis had turned out at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv in an expression of solidarity with the families and to call for the boys' return. (Ynet)

Several representatives of Arab and Muslim states announced at the UN they would be asking the Security Council to condemn Israel’s actions in the West Bank, which they called an overreaction.

Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour was flanked by the ambassador from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Senegal and the League of Arab States as he called on the Security Council to act against Israel for the second time in the two weeks since Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-Ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah were kidnapped.

Qatar’s said they were “joining in solidarity with Palestine in also deploring the acts of aggression committed by Israel, the occupying power, against the Palestinian people.”

"Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I [the LORD] will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.  Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle."
Zechariah 14

Be at peace  ~  Our times are in His hands; now and forever  ~  past, present and future.!!!.

ISRAEL CONCERNED BY US FAILURES IN IRAQ:

While the Israeli government is officially keeping mum on the advance of radical Islamist forces in Iraq, local security officials are voicing concern over US failures in Mesopotamia and what that means for the Jewish state. The armies of the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) look poised to seize control of most of Iraq, including Baghdad. And this despite the fact they were facing an Iraqi military into which America had poured billions of dollars and five years of training. But when ISIS began to advance, the US-trained Iraqi army “literally left their shirts on the ground and fled,” said Israeli officials. This is not heartening to Israel, considering that most of the concessions she is asked to make in the peace process with the Palestinians are supposedly backed by US security guarantees. For instance, in recent US-brokered peace talks, Israel was asked to eventually relinquish control of the strategic Jordan Valley, where a US-trained pan-Arab force would maintain security. But, the Israelis argued, if US-trained Sunni soldiers in Iraq were unwilling to fight ISIS, how could they be expected to stand firm when fellow Muslims threatened the Jewish state? Nor is it simply a matter of Washington’s failure to properly discern Muslim loyalties. Apparently, the quality of US training when it comes to local Arab forces is wanting, as demonstrated by Hamas’ relatively easy 2007 takeover of the Gaza Strip from the US-trained and equipped Palestinian Authority security forces. (Israel Today)

REARRESTED SHALIT DEAL TERRORISTS TO HAVE PARDONS REVOKED: MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) said this week that many of the terrorists released in the Gilad Shalit deal and re-arrested in the last few days will have their pardons annulled and will go back to jail, to serve out the remainder of their sentences. "We are starting to change the equation so that abductions do not pay,” she wrote on her Facebook page. "Of the terrorists freed in the Shalit deal who were arrested, a large part violated conditions of their pardon and therefore their pardon will be annulled and they will go back to serving their full sentence." Out of the Shalit deal, there are about 100 'heavy' terrorists who were released into the areas of Judea and Samaria. PM Netanyahu on Wednesday praised the Israeli security services for their overnight roundup of dozens of Palestinians, including 51 Hamas operatives, in the search for three kidnapped Jewish teens. As of Friday morning an additional 55 wanted Palestinians had been arrested. Two of the men apprehended were released in the Shalit deal in 2011, bringing the roundup of Shalit deal terrorist to 53. Over 300 Palestinians have been taken into custody since the start of the kidnapping crisis last week, and over 1000 locations have been searched. Security forces also shut down the Al-Aqsa radio station, raiding its offices in Ramallah and transmitter in Hebron, (Jerusalem Post/Arutz-7)

Continue to intercede for the safety, courage and recovery of the three kidnapped Jewish teens. Pray for emotional strength and hope for their families. Pray also the Hamas terrorist organization will be completely dismantled from all of its operations in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip.

The Zionist Organization of America issued a harshly worded condemnation of the kidnapping of the three Israeli teens Eyal Yifrach, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Frenkel, and slammed the US’ policy as “nothing less than a diplomatic Kristallnacht.

In the statement, the group described Hamas, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said is responsible for the kidnapping, as “Nazi-like”.

The organization then took aim at the Obama administration, which has been in tension with the Israeli government over the latter’s demand for a boycott of any Palestinian government that includes Hamas -

"The ZOA also renews its criticism of the Obama Administration for not cutting aid to and ending diplomatic relations with the PA for forming this alliance with Hamas. It is nothing less than a diplomatic Kristallnacht that the Obama Administration has embraced the Hamas/Fatah terrorist alliance and publicly announced that they will continue funding the PA to the tune of some $500 million annually."

"The ZOA sees the kidnapping by the Nazi-like Hamas, the US- and European Union-listed terrorist, as underscoring the anti-peace nature of the PA, which recently formed a new unity regime with Hamas." YnetNews

Three Israeli teenage boys (pictured above) -- including one who is American-born -- disappeared last Thursday. Fairly quickly, Israeli authorities determined the boys had been kidnapped and taken into the West Bank. Prime Minister Netanyahu says he has hard evidence that Hamas is responsible.
* Please pray for the Lord to protect these three young men -- and their families -- and give them courage and peace.

‘TAKING A NAP’: OBAMA TEAM ACCUSED OF UNDERESTIMATING IRAQ UNREST: The Obama administration's apparent miscalculation of the threat posed by Al Qaeda-aligned terrorist in Iraq drew severe criticism Thursday from top Republican lawmakers, who accused President Obama and his national security team of "taking a nap," warning "the next 9/11 is in the making." The administration once again appears to have been caught off guard by an explosion of violence in a country US forces helped liberate from a dictator. Al Qaeda-aligned Sunni terrorists were advancing south and threatening to move on Baghdad on Thursday after overrunning the northern Iraq cities of Mosul and Tikrit -- with Iraqi government forces in rapid retreat. GOP lawmakers vented that advances made by the terrorist front, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are confirming their "worst fears" about what would happen in the wake of the Obama-ordered US troop withdrawal in 2011. "What's the president doing? Taking a nap," House Speaker John Boehner snapped, before abruptly ending his weekly press conference on Thursday. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Iraq is "collapsing," calling it another potential Benghazi and urging the president to address the American people. "The next 9/11 is in the making," Graham said. President Barack Obama said Thursday he is looking at all options in helping the Iraqi government face down a growing insurgency. "I don't rule anything out," Obama said. (Fox)

As my friend writes:  “Looking at all options,” and not going to “rule anything out.” And here in the Middle East, we’re all rolling our eyes once again….

Perhaps the pope should invite ISIS to the Vatican?

ISRAEL UNFREEZES 1,800 NEW JUDEA AND SAMARIA HOMES: Plans to construct 1,800 new housing units in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem were unblocked on Thursday, hours after tenders on 1,500 new homes in the region were announced. The unblocked plans include homes in ten separate communities throughout Judea and Samaria, all of which are at different stages of planning. The plans had been frozen by the government roughly three months ago, even though a building freeze was not an official part of the peace talks that fell apart just ahead of their April 29 deadline. PM Binyamin Netanyahu admitted last week he had folded to American demands at the time and canceled the Civil Administration's high planning council meetings. The move effectively froze all building and development in the region. Earlier on Wednesday night, the Housing Ministry and the Israel Lands Administration issued tenders for 1,500 new homes in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem as part of Israel's response to the establishment of the Hamas-Fatah unity government on Monday. (Arutz-7)

EU TELLS ISRAEL TO ‘REVERSE’ CONSTRUCTION PLANS: The European Union on Thursday condemned Israeli announcements to build additional housing units in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem. The EU said it is "deeply disappointed" by the Israeli plans to build more Jewish homes in the Biblical heartland of Israel. "We call on the Israeli authorities to reverse this decision and to direct all their efforts towards an early resumption of the peace talks."   WHAT peace talks I ask??????

There is none so blind as those [the EU] that will not see.!!!!!!.

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority has sworn in a new unity government that includes the Hamas terrorist movement. Hamas is deemed a terrorist organization by the US, Europe and much of the West, and has refused to recognize Israel or renounce violence. Secretary of State John Kerry told Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone call that America would work with the new Palestinian government while continuing to watch it closely. Dore Gold, a senior adviser to Netanyahu said that Europe was also prepared to work with a government backed by Hamas. Israel has stated it will not resume negotiations with any Palestinian government that is supported by Hamas, even if that government is made up of political independents and apolitical technocratic figures who meet international conditions for acceptance. An Israeli official said that Israel had in the past received “a specific commitment from the American administration” backing that position - a claim now at odds with some more recent signals from Washington. In essence, the State won’t confirm or deny the existence of such commitments, which hints that such a commitment did indeed exist and the administration doesn’t intend to keep it. (Ynet /NY Times)

“It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.” Ps 118:9

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said; "Based on what we know now, we intend to work with this government. Psaki also said the Obama administration has no intention of cutting off aid to the Palestinian Authority, which amounts to roughly $500 million a year. (Jerusalem Post)

FATAH OFFICIAL: PALESTINIAN UNITY GOVERNMENT TO BE ANNOUNCED MONDAY: The Palestinian unity government with Hamas will be announced on Monday "despite Israeli threats,” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday. Abbas told a visiting French delegation in his office in Ramallah that Israel has threatened to boycott the PA because of the unity government with Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization and believes the state of Israel should be destroyed. Palestinian lawmaker Azzam al-Ahmad said the joint Fatah-Hamas government would consist of 15 to 17 ministers, who would be sworn in Monday in Ramallah, with the new unity government to be announced this week. Israel vehemently opposes the formation of a Palestinian unity government that includes the Hamas terrorist organization. Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry both said they have not given up on the possibility of peace between Israelis and Palestinians even as Fatah moves forward with plans to unite itself with Hamas. “I have not yet given up on the possibility that both Israelis and Palestinians can see their self-interest in a peace deal that would provide Israel security that’s recognized by its neighbors and make sure that Palestinians have a state of their own,” Obama said in an interview. (Jerusalem Post)