ASSEMBLYMAN HIKIND: ‘OBAMA IS A HERO TO THE TERRORISTS’: New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind blasted USA President Obama for allowing the passage of an anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council last week. "He is now clearly the hero of the terrorists; of Hamas, of Hezbollah. That's what our president in the United States is," said Hikind "He is an utter, complete, failure." Hikind accused Obama of doing irreparable harm to the peace process. "He set a new standard for the Palestinians. He ended whatever peace process there was, because of his actions." According to Hikind, Barack Obama is much better in terms of how he treats the Ayatollah from Iran, the way he treats the enemies of Israel, the West, and the dictatorships of the world. “The one democracy in the Middle East - Israel- he takes a knife to and stabs in the back. The United Nations is a cesspool." Hikind said, adding that he hopes Trump will use America's economic leverage over the UN to compel it to change its anti-Israel and anti-Semitic ways. (Arutz-7)

KERRY TO MAKE MIDDLE EAST PEACE SPEECH ON WED. 28 DEC. 2016: Israel’s Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan criticized USA Secretary of State John Kerry on Tues. night, 27 Dec. 2016, shortly after it was announced that he would give a speech on Middle East peace. On Wed. 28 Dec. 2016, Kerry will make remarks regarding Middle East peace and discuss the next steps needed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "It's pathetic to present a peace plan at the last minute when he hasn't managed in changing anything for his entire time in office," Erdan said Tues. night. "It's unfortunate that the Obama Administration, that erred for years in the Middle East, is trying to make sure that the chaos will last far past its tenure," Erdan said. "Kerry's speech on parameters right before the end of his tenure will make sure that the Palestinians won't agree to any sort of negotiations with Israel in the coming years and will push off chances of advancing peace." (Jerusalem Post) Indeed, here comes the next USA diplomatic bomb and Obama betrayal against Israel. “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace.” Jer 6:14

NETANYAHU TO ISRAEL: "I AM HERE TO COMFORT EVERYONE FOLLOWING UN DECISION": Israel's PM Netanyahu made his first comments since the previous day’s, UN Security Council vote at a ceremony celebrating the first night of Hanukkah. Netanyahu told the crowd that he was there to comfort everyone following the UN's decision. "The Security Council decision calls Israeli land occupied and that is just shameful, the decision calls the Western Wall occupied land, it is shameful," Netanyahu said. Speaking of USA President Obama's choice to abstain from voting, Netanyahu stated that Obama went against Israel, backing out of the commitment it had made to stand for Israel. "The decision not only does not help us make peace, it stands in the way of peace," stated Netanyahu. “Israel will not accept the decision and it will be cancelled,” he said, "though it may take time". He also stated that Israel would stop funding UN institutions.

The UN Security Council voted on Friday, 23 Dec. 2016 to adopt a resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity as illegal, and demanding that Israel "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the 'occupied' Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem". Fourteen out of the 15 voting members of the Council voted in favor of the resolution, none voted against it, and the United States chose to abstain instead of casting its veto on the initiative. The new resolution, which is the most extreme ever issued, claims all Israeli towns built outside the pre-1967 borders are illegal and renders their residents international criminals. Netanyahu, on Sunday, 25 Dec. 2016 instructed that the ambassadors of those countries that voted in favor of the UN Security Council anti-Israel resolution be summoned for reprimand at the Foreign Ministry. (J.Post)

ISRAEL HAS WARY EYE ON IRAN AFTER SYRIAN REBELS LOSE ALEPPO: The fall of Aleppo to Syrian government forces backed by Russia and Iran has heightened alarm in Israel about potential threats to its borders and a wider reshaping of the region. The war in Syria has enabled Iran, whose Supreme Leader has called for an end to the Jewish state, to steadily increase its influence across the region. Avi Dichter, chair of Israel's foreign affairs and defense committee said Iran had tried several times in the past to move forces into the Syrian Golan Heights. Those moves were repelled, Dichter said, but with Iran flush with cash and confidence after last year's agreement restricting Iran's nuclear program, it was possible further attempts would be made to test Israel's responses. "We have no intention to allow Hizbullah to test their sophisticated weapons because there are no other targets in the Middle East except Israel when Hizbullah and Iran think about an offensive initiative," said Dichter. "By all means Israel is going to stop it."

Likewise, on 15 Dec. 2016, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel's interest lay in having both Assad and the Iranians out of Syria. “Assad is a butcher, who has slaughtered and murdered hundreds of thousands of people, including by using chemical weapons. In my opinion, he should be removed from power - and we should block Iranian involvement in Syria. Where is the international community? It's a shame that instead of focusing on the very unfortunate fact that 500 people are killed in the Middle East every day, the international community would rather criticize Israel for every new balcony built in a settlement." (Ha'aretz/Reuters)

UN EXPECTED TO VOTE FOR FUNDING UNHRC BLACKLIST OF COMPANIES WITH TIES TO ISRAEL: The UN Fifth Committee, which oversees the international body’s budget and administration, is expected to vote this week to fund a blacklist of Israeli and international companies operating in Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Judea & Samaria. The Israeli mission to the UN said the list is expected to be utilized by BDS activists for anti-Israel activities. Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said the Israeli Mission will publicly oppose the list and is committed to bringing together international partners and pro-Israel organizations to propose new ideas to combat the initiative. "We will not be silent in light of this shameful initiative," Danon said. "The UN's intent to mark Jewish businesses and international companies with ties to Israel so that they can be boycotted reminds us of dark times in history. The UNHRC has become an anti-Israeli circus with their attacks on the only democracy in the Middle East and their disregard for the gross violations in Iran, Syria and North Korea.” The UN is known for its anti-Israel bias, and days ago passed a series of anti-Israel resolutions during its annual “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”. The body’s outgoing chief, Ban Ki-moon, admitted that the UN is biased against Israel during a 2013 session with students participating in a UN educational program. (INN)

"A weather phenomenon occurred at 8 a.m. Thursday on the other side of the Syrian border, in the same place where ISIS attacked Israel," Israel News Online posted to their Facebook page. "This strange storm of what appears to be dust, cloud and rain did not cross the border fence into Israel. It sat like a barrier between ISIS and Israel."

http://www.charismanews.com/world/61640-numbers-14-biblical-pillar-shields-israel-from-the-islamic-state

ISRAELI PUBLIC SECURITY MINISTER: 'NEARLY HALF OF FIRES WERE ARSON': Israel's Minister for Public Security Gilad Erdan told the Knesset on Wed. 30 Nov. 2016 that 40-50% of the fires that broke out across Israel last week were the result of arson, based upon "the estimates of professionals." The Fire Services backed up his claim. (Times of Israel) Please continue to pray for those who have suffered injuries and lost property in this national emergency, and help us at Vision for Israel to do all that we can for those who have contacted us in desperate need, having lost everything in the fires. Please donate without delay at www.visionforisrael.com

MAHMOUD ABBAS TO PAY SALARIES TO THE ARSONISTS: So far Israel has arrested 23 suspected arsonists connected to the hundreds of fires that raged across the country last week. According to Palestinian law, anyone imprisoned for "resisting the occupation" receives a high monthly salary, including Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. Therefore, all of those convicted and imprisoned for arson will receive PA salaries from the day of arrest until the day of release. (J. Post)

KENYAN MPs IN KNESSET: ‘WE MUST JOIN HANDS TO FIGHT TERRORISM’: Members of the Kenyan parliament`s Committee on National Security visited the Knesset on 28 Nov. 2016, where they met with Knesset Director-General Albert Sakharovich and other MKs. The Kenyan MP's spoke of the terrorist attacks which have been carried out on Kenyan soil by terrorist organizations, such as al Qaeda. They stressed the need for countries “to join hands" to combat terrorism. Director-General Sakharovich noted the friendship that has developed between the Knesset and the Kenyan legislature. ”I hope and believe that your visit will strengthen the ties between us even more,” he told the MPs. ”The war against terror is a war we are all forced take part in,” he added. “The Knesset members you have met with here have stood at the forefront of the war against terror in Israel.” (INN)

PRESIDENT OF WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS: ‘I’VE KNOWN TRUMP 50 YEARS, HE’LL BE A STRONG ADVOCATE FOR ISRAEL’: While voicing concern about rising antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment around the globe, World Jewish Congress President, Ronald Lauder, stresses that Israel is still the only thriving democracy in the Middle East, and that the USA-Israel relationship remains strong despite recent tension. In an exclusive interview with Israel’s daily, The Jerusalem Post, Lauder – the preeminent leader of global Jewry – says last year’s Iran deal put an unfortunate strain on USA-Israel ties, “but I am confident that President- elect Donald Trump, who I’ve had the pleasure of knowing for nearly 50 years, will be a strong and resolute advocate for the Jewish state.” When Lauder was asked what he views as the main challenges facing the world today, he replied: "There’s no denying that we face tumultuous times and consequential challenges, from the spread of ISIS and radical Islam, to the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent history in Syria. The loss of life and suffering is staggering, and unrest in the Middle East is unsettling for all of us who care deeply about a secure Jewish homeland.”

 The United States reclaimed its seat on the UN Human Rights Council on Friday 29 Oct. 2016, and immediately called for a change in its treatment of Israel. “While important challenges remain, including ending the council’s excessive and biased focus on Israel, we look forward to cooperating with other council members to address human rights concerns, advance human rights around the world, and ensure the Council fully realizes its purpose,” USA Secretary of State John Kerry said. The elections are held annually, for three-year terms, and no member state can sit on the council for more than two consecutive terms. The USA ended its six years on the council in 2015. During that time, it was the one consistent vote in support of Israel on the UNHRC, which spends more time condemning the Jewish state than any genuine human rights abusers. Aside from the USA, the following countries will begin serving on the council in 2017: Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Hungary, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda and Tunisia. Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China, South Africa and Great Britain are already on the council and will be serving second terms. “The re-election of China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia – regimes which systematically violate the human rights of their citizens – casts a shadow upon the reputation of the United Nations,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer. (J.Post)

Amid the uproar caused by a UN resolution passed this week denying any Jewish connection to Jerusalem and its Temple Mount, Pope Francis on 26 Oct. 2016, insisted that Israel’s ties to the Holy Land are both ancient and divinely ordained “The people of Israel, who from Egypt, where they were enslaved, walked through the desert for forty years until they reached the land promised by God,” the pope said. Shortly after, the pontiff met with Israeli Deputy Minister for Regional Cooperation Ayoub Kara who, despite not being Jewish or Christian himself (Kara is a member of Israel’s Druze population), said Francis’ words were a clear rebuke of the UN and its efforts to rewrite history. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein had written to the Vatican urging it to more forcefully reject the UN resolution, which Edelstein called “an assault on history and deeply offensive to both Christianity and Judaism.” (Israel Today) 

 Speaking at a synagogue in Florida, Ivanka Trump assured Jewish voters that her father would “100 percent” move the USA embassy to Jerusalem if he is elected president. Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism in 2010 and is married to a Jewish man, called her father, the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, an “unbelievable champion” for the State of Israel and for the Jewish people during a talk on Thurs. 27 Oct. 2016, at The Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside, Florida. “You won’t be disappointed,” she told the audience during the talk. In addition to saying Donald Trump will move the embassy to Jerusalem, which she called “the eternal capital,” she also said he supported her conversion to Judaism before her marriage to Jared Kushner. “I so respect the fact that he supported me from day one,” she said. “There was no question, there was no argument. He was very supportive.” Congress passed a law in 1995 mandating the move of the embassy to Jerusalem, but allowed the president a waiver. Each president since then has routinely exercised the waiver, citing the national security interests of the United States. (Jerusalem Post)

RUSSIANS FEAR TENSIONS WITH USA OVER SYRIA CIVIL WAR MAY LEAD TO WORLD WAR 3: Nearly half of Russians fear that Moscow's bombing campaign in Syria could spark World War III, a poll showed on 31 Oct. 2016. Moscow, an ally of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, has been staging bombing raids in Syria since Sep. 2015. That figure was up from 29% in July of this year. Moscow's air strikes have negatively affected the way Russia is perceived internationally, 32% said, up from 16% in November 2015. Nevertheless, 52% of Russians said they back Moscow's air strikes, while 26% said they opposed them. Western powers and rights groups have accused Syrian and Russian forces of carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure in the country, particularly around the former economic powerhouse Aleppo, parts of which have been reduced to rubble. (Arutz-7)

JERUSALEM: ONE NATION’S CAPITAL THROUGHOUT HISTORY: For more than 3,000 years, Jerusalem has played a central role in the history of the Jews, culturally, politically, and spiritually, a role first documented in the Scriptures. All through the 2,000 years of the diaspora, Jews have called Jerusalem their ancestral home. Jews in prayer always turn toward Jerusalem. When Muslims pray, they face Mecca. The Old Testament mentions "Jerusalem" 349 times. "Zion," another name for Jerusalem, is mentioned 108 times. The Quran never mentions Jerusalem even once. Jews end Passover Seders and Yom Kippur prayers each year with the words: "Next year in Jerusalem." The Arab rulers who controlled eastern Jerusalem through the 1950s and 1960s demonstrated no religious tolerance. That changed after the Six-Day War in 1967 when Israel regained control of the whole city. One of Israel's first steps was to officially recognize and respect all religious interests in Jerusalem. (Myths and Facts) In spite of God’s word, and thousands of years of Jewish history connected to Jerusalem, in a blasphemous move Thurs. 13 Oct. 2016 in Paris, UNESCO passed a Palestinian-backed measure that denies a Jewish connection to the Old City of Jerusalem.

A second resolution by the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) denying any and all connections between the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish religion or people passed on Wednesday morning, though not by a large majority.

With ten votes in favor, two against, and eight abstentions, the 21-member World Heritage Committee did not produce a consensus vote, which would have had the appearance of a unanimous decision, as the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Jordan had hoped, but a secret ballot, allowing each member state to vote individually.

The PA partnered with Jordan to send threatening letters to each member-state on Tuesday, essentially saying that if the resolution did not pass, the Arab contingency would submit even harsher anti-Israel texts.

Read more at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/77561/second-unesco-resolution-proclaims-jerusalem-muslim-city-temple-mount-islamic-site/#gVC7hzVLC1MLqZ8F.99

 The Executive Board of UNESCO has approved an irresponsible measure that denies Jerusalem's historical record and diminishes Jewish and Christian ties to the holy city. This approach is both flawed and dangerous; a peaceful resolution and the future of Jerusalem cannot be dictated, it must be mutually agreed upon by both the Palestinians and Israelis. Nowhere in the UNESCO document will you see any culpability for the Palestinian Authority's incitement to violence and terror that has gripped Jerusalem over the past year. UNESCO and the UN wish to recognize the Palestinians as a legitimate and self-governing state, but when it comes to accountability, it absolves their leaders of any responsibility for the actions of their people. That is why it is incumbent upon the USA to vehemently oppose measures like this and stand in support of Israel to defeat efforts aimed at delegitimizing the Jewish state's right to exist. When the agency tasked with preserving history and culture is erasing it, the system is obviously broken.(Ha’aretz) 
Pray for your government’s support of Israel, and reap benefits for your nation. Measures being taken against the Jewish State - according to scripture - are going to backfire in a very unpleasant way: 
“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you.” Genesis 12:3

UNESCO SAYS JEWS HAVE NO CONNECTION TO TEMPLE MOUNT: The UN passed a resolution Thurs. 13 Oct. 2016, denying the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. The resolution was supported by 24 states, including Russia and China. Six countries opposed and 26 abstained. The resolution maintains that the Western Wall and Temple Mount will be referred to by their Arabic names and the Hebrew terms for the sites will only appear in quotation marks in UN references. Earlier Israel had tried to prevent the decision, even asking the Vatican to help prevent the resolution. Though the Vatican only holds observer status at UNESCO, meaning it cannot vote, it still plays a role in the behind-the-scenes dynamics of the organization. Israel's Ambassador to the Vatican, Oren David, contacted the Vatican's Under-Secretary for Relations with States to ask that the Vatican work to convince UNESCO's member states to vote against the Palestinian initiative. Israel has tried to make the point that such a resolution would harm Christian interests in Jerusalem as well as Jewish interests. Much like other UN organizations, UNESCO has an automatic anti-Israel majority. Israel and the USA both worked against the resolution. Days ago, a group of USA Congressmen signed a letter to UNESCO urging the organization not to attempt to rewrite history. (Arutz-7) “Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills and mountains is a deception; surely in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.” Jeremiah 3:23 

YOUTUBE PUTS PRO-ISRAEL VIDEOS ON ‘RESTRICTED MODE: Youtube, owned by Google, has placed 21 videos of non-profit educational organization “Prager University,” run by conservative talk-show host Dennis Prager, on “restricted mode.” Among these are three pro-Israel videos relating to the founding of Israel, the IDF, and Palestinian refugees. Restricted mode allows guardians to protect children from objectionable content by filtering out “restricted” videos in Youtube searches. “PragerU” videos are designed to be viewed by all ages. One of the restricted PragerU Israel-related videos, entitled “Why are There Still Palestinian Refugees?” explains that while Jewish refugees from Arab countries were quickly absorbed into Israel, Arab countries have intentionally refrained from absorbing Palestinian refugees so as to continue to use the Palestinians as a political tool. The second video, entitled “The World’s Most Moral Army,” features retired British general Richard Kemp explaining the uniqueness of the Israeli army in its intense care not to injure innocent civilians on the battlefield. The third video, entitled “Israel’s Legal Founding,” features world-renowned attorney Alan Dershowitz relating how Israel was founded “step by legal step.” (Arutz-7)

USA SLAMS ISRAELI PLANS TO BUILD 98 NEW HOMES IN JUDEA & SAMARIA: The USA has sharply criticized an Israeli plan to build 98 homes in the Judea & Samaria community of Shiloh. The homes were approved as a possible site to relocate 40 families from the outpost of Amona, which the Supreme Court has ruled is built on private Palestinian land and must be moved by the end of the year. “We strongly condemn the Israeli government’s recent decision to advance a plan that would create a significant new settlement deep in the West Bank, [Judea & Samaria]” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. He added that the location of the new housing would be far closer to Jordan than to Israel, linking a string of outposts” making the possibility of an independent Palestinian state more remote. Israel hit back with a statement from the Foreign Ministry denying that the planned homes constitute a new settlement. “This housing will be built on state land in the existing settlement of Shilo and will not change its municipal boundary or geographic footprint. The units are intended to provide a housing solution for the residents of Amona who must leave their homes in accordance with the demolition order issued by Israel’s High Court of Justice.” Likewise the European Union (EU) on Friday 7 Oct. 2016, issued a statement condemning Israel for approving the construction of 98 homes on Israel’s government-owned land in Shilo. (Media Line/INN)

 The situation of Jews in Europe today is like a person standing on train tracks while two trains approach on a collision path. Chief Rabbi of Moscow, Panchas Goldschmidt, explained that "one train is radical Islam and Islamic terrorism, the other train is the antisemitism of old Europe, the extreme right." He told the EU Parliament that both are existential threats and are the cause of "tens of thousands of Jews leaving France, Belgium and other European countries. This has resulted in a high percentage of people afraid to go to Jewish events and synagogue on holidays, he added. Goldschmidt stated that anti-Semitism in Europe is so rampant that "40% of 1,200 Jews surveyed in France said they avoided wearing symbols that identified them as Jews for fear of anti-Semitic attacks." The Chief Rabbi called on Parliament to create an anti-terrorist task force to combat Islamic terror. Martin Schultz, president of the European Parliament, stated that "when we see that the Jewish population in Europe has decreased from almost four million in 1945 to barely more than one million today, then we know that it is time not only to make a clear political statement, but to take effective action as soon as possible. Europe has to be a better home for its Jewish citizens." (J.Post)

SHIMON PERES’ SECRET: Former President Shimon Peres confidentially revealed to Israel’s daily, the Jerusalem Post, two years ago that he had intervened to stop PM Binyamin Netanyahu from bombing Iran. Steve Linde, formerly the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, revealed Peres’ comments in an article on 29 Sept. 2016. Linde said that Peres had dropped the bombshell in a meeting with Linde and Jerusalem Post Managing Editor David Brinn at the Peres Center for Peace on 24 August 2014. “I have thought long and hard about whether to publish it, and reached the conclusion that he wouldn’t have told us if he didn’t want us to,” wrote Linde. “During the course of the conversation (in which just the three of us sat and chatted over coffee), Brinn asked Peres what he considered the greatest achievement of his presidency. He responded by saying that he had personally intervened to stop Netanyahu from ordering a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear sites,” he added. Peres reportedly told the two, “I don’t want to go into details, but I can tell you that he was ready to launch an attack and I stopped him. I told him the consequences would be catastrophic.” Then, asked by Linde whether they can report this, Peres replied with a smile, “When I’m dead.” (J.Post/Arutz-7)

WHITE HOUSE CORRECTS OBAMA SPEECH TRANSCRIPT LISTING JERUSALEM IN ISRAEL: USA President Barack Obama offered heartfelt condolences at the funeral of his late friend, Shimon Peres, on Friday 30 Sept. 2016, traveling for 22 hours to spend just six on the ground in a show of support. But whether he was on Israeli ground to pay respects to one of the founding fathers of the Jewish state is a question that now risks eclipsing his gesture, after the White House issued an embarrassing correction indicating that Jerusalem is, in fact, disputed territory. The transcript of Obama's eulogy of Peres, who was buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, originally listed the ceremony was held in Jerusalem, Israel. Six hours later, the White House sent out a corrected version of the transcript with Israel explicitly crossed out of the header.

While the Democratic Party Platform recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the State Department has long demurred from doing so– and does not refer to the city, unified since 1967, as Israeli territory. House Speaker Paul Ryan's office weighed in immediately upon hearing of the correction. "Speaker Ryan was proud to visit Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, earlier this year," his spokesperson, AshLee Strong, told media sources. Israeli officials privately expressed frustration at the White House's move, but declined to immediately comment. The Israeli government has long maintained that Jerusalem is its "undivided and eternal capital," and will remain so under any peace agreement resulting in the establishment of a Palestinian state. (J.Post) “The moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed; for the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously.” Isa 24:23

ROSH HASHANAH 2016: Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year also known as the Feast of Trumpets begins in the evening of Sunday 2 October, and ends in the evening of Tuesday 4 October. The first of the Biblical autumn festivals, Rosh Hashanah celebrates the birth of the world and humanity. Symbolic foods such as apples and honey are central to the holiday, symbolizing the sweetness, health, success and good deeds which we hope the coming year will bring. In the midst of the troubled Middle East, we will pause in Israel to thank God for His sovereign goodness to us and to others throughout the exiting year. May His blessing be showered upon all of you who love Israel. A sweet and a good year from your friends at Vision for Israel. Please remember to intercede for the safety of all of those visiting in Israel, as well as those travelling abroad during the High Holidays. Pray against terrorist attacks, rocket fire and for the protection of all of the nation’s residents, borders and communities during this season.

Things are not always as they appear....

Israel and the United States signed on Wed. 14 Sept. 2016, a historic defense agreement worth $38 billion over ten years, the largest such pledge in American history hailed by both countries as a cornerstone of their alliance. PM Netanyahu addressed the Israeli people that evening ahead of the historic pact to be signed between America and Israel: "In one hour, a historic agreement will be signed between America and Israel. The agreement will ensure that an unprecedented amount of military aid be granted to Israel over the next decade. In his speech, Netanyahu noted that, "This is the largest package of military aide that the USA has ever granted to another nation. It will allow us to improve our military capabilities and improve our missile defense system.” The Prime Minister thanked those involved saying, "I would like to thank President Obama and his administration for this historic agreement. I would like to thank our friends in the Congress and the entire American nation." Netanyahu stated that, "The agreement serves both our defense interests and America’s interests." (Arutz-7/J.Post)

 Citing Iran and its proxy terrorist organizations, Hamas and Hezbollah, as the greatest existential threats to Israel, former Shin Bet head and current chairman of the Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee, Avi Dichter, said the Middle East is undergoing “tectonic movements. We used to have three enemy countries: Syria, Jordan and Egypt,” said Dichter during a recent international press briefing. “We signed a peace treaty with Egypt and Jordan, and today we have four enemy countries – Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, which has an army of terrorists, and Iran, an enemy state.” While Israel has historically engendered a robust level of deterrence against hostile neighbors by winning several damaging wars, he contended that a recently empowered Iran, aided by its allies, now poses the most imminent danger to Israel’s security. “I think that we all understand that Iran learned that the best way to gain support among the Arab countries in general, and the Arab people in particular, is by creating hatred, or launching attacks against Israel,” he said. “They know that directly attacking Israel is very complicated. They have seen that it is a lot easier to do it by proxy.” (J.Post)

When PM Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN General Assembly on 22 Sept. 216, his 40-minute speech radiated a sense of optimism, in stark contrast to the speech given by PA President Mahmoud Abbas just a few minutes before him. Citing inroads Israel has made in relations with African, Asian, Latin American and even Arab countries, he said that in the near future the delegates will get calls from their leaders with a short message: "The war against Israel at the UN has ended." Netanyahu told the world body that even with all the talk about UN resolutions on the Middle East, it will never, ever be able to impose a solution on Israel that it doesn't want. And Netanyahu repeated that the core of the conflict is not the settlements, but the Jews' right to exist anywhere in their historical homeland. Netanyahu said that if Abbas wanted to sue the British for the Balfour Declaration, then he should also sue Cyrus the Great for letting the Jews come back to Israel to rebuild the Temple, and organize a class action suit against Abraham for buying a parcel of land in Hebron. (J. Post)

PLEASE READ.........


http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/76131/netanyahu-addresses-un-wont-back/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=048d4b42d3-

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.” Genesis 6:11

ISRAEL WAITS FOR OBAMA’S UN SHOE TO DROP: Israelis and Palestinians anxiously awaiting USA President Barack Obama's decision whether or not to take up their conflict at the UN Security Council were given few clues of his plans on Tues. 20 Sept. 2016. In his final speech as president to the UN General Assembly, Obama mentioned the stifled Middle East peace process only in passing. "Surely, Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel, but Israel recognizes that it cannot occupy and settle Palestinian land," he said. In 2014, the president stated that the Israeli-Palestinian peace was one of his top two foreign policy priorities leaving office, next to solving the international crisis over Iran's nuclear program. Now, Palestinians hope and Israelis fear that Obama will take up their issue in a resolution at the Security Council. His preferred candidate for president, Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton, opposes such a move– as does her running mate, Tim Kaine of Virginia, who joined 87 other senators this week in calling on the White House to refrain from any UN actions. In what was likely the final meeting between Netanya and Obama on Wed. 21 Sept. 2016, Obama urged a ‘stable, secure Israel’ alongside ‘Palestinian homeland’ and said that the two-state solution must be kept alive. Israel’s PM thanked the USA for military aid, said Israel will never give up on goal of durable peace (J.Post/ Times of Israel)

SOVIET DOCUMENTS ‘SHOW MAHMOUD ABBAS WAS A KGB AGENT’: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was a Soviet spy in Damascus in the 1980s, Israel’s Channel 1 television reported Wed. 7 Sep. 2016, citing information included in an archive smuggled out of the USSR. The famed Mitrokhin records, kept by KGB defector Vasily Mitrokhin, revealed that Abbas was a Soviet mole in Damascus in 1983. The documents - obtained by Israeli researchers Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez - show that Abbas, code-named Krotov (mole), was involved with the Soviets while Mikhail Bogdanov, today Vladimir Putin’s envoy to the Middle East, was stationed in Damascus. Bogdanov was caught in a diplomatic tussle earlier this week after trying to broker a summit between Abbas and PM Benjamin Netanyahu in Moscow, who both claimed a willingness to meet while decrying the other for allegedly refusing. Mitrokhin was a senior KGB archivist who defected to the UK in 1992.

The archivist’s notes on the KGB are considered among the most complete information available on Soviet intelligence operations. He claimed that the KGB recruited the then head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Wadi Haddad, as an agent in the 1970s. His writings also revealed that Haddad was given Soviet assistance in funding and arming the PFLP. According to an Eastern Soviet bloc intelligence agent who defected to the USA in the 1970s, the PLO, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the PFLP all received help from the KGB. (Times of Israel) 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called on Israel to “show restraint” and to “avoid any provocations” in the Syrian Golan Heights.

“There is the need to show restraint and not to allow any provocations in the Golan Heights,” Lavrov said commenting on an airstrike carried out by the Israeli jets in Syria’s Golan Heights on Tuesday, according to the Russian TASS news agency.

Israel has carried out several airstrike against the Assad regime’s military positions in recent days in response to projectiles fired from Syria that exploded inside Israel. At least 11 projectiles have exploded in Israel in the past two weeks – spillover from the Syrian civil war being waged along Israel’s northern border.

Despite President Bashar al-Assad’s multiple crimes against his country committed over the course of five years of warfare, Russia has offered close support to his regime and has sent military forces to support his retreating army, even at the cost of Russian lives.

Lavrov posited that the situation in the Golan Heights reflects the overall destabilization of the Middle East and the growing terrorist threat that needs to be countered.

“There are terrorists in the Golan Heights who have been recognized by everyone as enemies of mankind. But the fight against them should be conducted in the framework of the UN Security Council’s resolutions,” Lavrov stressed. “We proceeded from this in our contacts with the Israeli and Syrian colleagues and other countries of this region,” he added.

Russia’s message may have already taken affect. Israel refrained from responding to a projectile that landed in its territory on Wednesday, after conducted airstrikes in response to five previous similar incidents in the last week.

In the meantime, Arab media reports that Russia has given Assad’s forces a green light to shoot down Israeli aircraft while they are conducting strikes in Syria, Israel’s NRG news reported Thursday.

Syrian forces fired surface-to-air missiles at Israel warplanes on Monday. The missiles missed their target. Arab media reports that Moscow gave full consent to the launching.

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

GERMANY: MERKEL ADMITS HER OPEN-DOOR POLICY ON MUSLIM MIGRANTS LED TO HER PARTY’S CRUSHING DEFEAT: Germany has been battered by some 70,000 migrant “potential and actual” crimes, a surge in child rapes at swimming pools, and more sex assaults reported days ago “during a rampage at a party in Germany, in a chilling echo of the New Year’s Eve attacks.” It’s no wonder that the people of Germany are indicating through their votes that they have had enough, not only of the dangers to their safety but of Angela Merkel defending the indefensible and declaring that “she’ll do the same again,” even in the face of her defeat in her own home state. So she’s happy about her policies that have led to the tragic victimization of untold numbers of Germans, but she’s definitely not happy about being “beaten into third place” by the so-called far-right Alternative for Deutschland party. Merkel has basically insisted the German people did not know what was good for them and she just had to be more persuasive. Meanwhile, Germany’s Jewish leaders have reacted with horror to the success of the AfD in the weekend election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. “That an extreme-right party which blatantly incites hatred against minorities in a disgusting way can rise unhindered in our country is a nightmare come true,” said Charlotte Knobloch, President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria. (Jihad Watch)

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee." Psalm 122:6

1 September, 2016:   "Many Jewish neighborhoods will be singled out in the coming weeks. The hatred of My chosen people will soon reach a fevered pitch as satan' rage fills hearts and minds with evil intent."

"For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. "The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt." Deuteronomy 7:6-8

"And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods? "For You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, O LORD, have become their God." 2 Samuel 7:23-24

DUTCH MP REFUSES TO SHAKE HANDS WITH ISRAEL’S NETANYAHU: A Dutch parliament member and pro-migrant activist refused to shake hands with Israeli PM Netanyahu on Wed. 7 Sept. 2016, during the latter’s visit to the Dutch parliament. When Netanyahu offered his hand to the Turkish-born Kuzu, the MP refused. A video of Netanyahu’s meet-and-greet with Dutch lawmakers in The Hague shows Tunahan Kuzu pointing to his Palestinian flag pin as he puts his hand behind his back when Netanyahu approaches leaving the Prime Minister to make an about-face, turning his back on Kuzu. On Facebook, Kuzu explained his actions, condemning the Israeli leader for the 2014 war with Hamas. (Arutz-7) 

The following written by Pastor Bill Randles. Visit his blog at: bill randles.wordpress.com.  Well worth your time.

Those aware of the biblical prophecies,  have been stunned by the recent announcement by the Great Sanhedrin of Israel, of the selection of Israel's first High Priest in nearly two thousand years. The Great Sanhedrin, an assembly of elders of the nation, spoken of in the account of the trial of Jesus in the Gospel of John 11:45-57,  went out of existence in 385 AD and has only recently been revived.

The Sanhedrin has written letters to the U.N. in the name of the God of Israel and of the Bible, such as this warning delivered in the days of the infamously slanderous, anti-semitic Goldstone report,

The letter states that the Goldstone Report is an "attack on the State of Israel, and thus an attack on the Jewish People, in order to try to remove it from the stage of history by an unprecedented shedding of blood - tacitly encouraging Iran and those like it to continue to develop weapons of mass destruction while the rest of the world sits by and looks on... We are convinced that the continued discussion of this report, which is lacking all moral basis, will lead the nations of the world, and all of mankind, to the judgment that will take place in Jerusalem in the Valley of Jehoshafat, as written in the Prophets and Torah of Israel." Sanhedrin to UN

A A significant step was recently taken towards reinstating the Temple service when the nascent Sanhedrin selected Rabbi Baruch Kahane as the next Kohen Gadol (high priest). The selection was made as a precaution for Yom Kippur. If the political conditions should change, allowing the Jews access to the Temple Mount, they will be required by Torah law to bring the sacrifices. Rabbi Kahane is confident that if that should happen, Temple service could begin in less than one week.

This year has already seen much Temple-oriented activity: the Temple Institute has created a registry of kohanim; established a school for educating men of the priestly class in the details of the Temple service; and performed reenactments on all the holidays, including the especially significant Passover sacrifice.
From Breaking Israel News

The meaning of the election of the High Priest is clear to those attentive to the prophecies...

• The one known as the Antichrist is going to negotiate a way for Israel to resume temple worship, and most notably the daily sacrifice- "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)
• The AntiChrist will desecrate the Jewish temple and cause sacrifice to cease-"And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days."(Daniel 12:11)
• The point at which the AntiChrist desecrates the rebuilt temple, and cuts off the daily sacrifice which he had earlier negotiated for the Jews , marks the beginning of the great Tribulation and the final three and a half years."When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:... 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)

Of course the Temple, sacrifices and High Priest are not those appointed by God anyway, for Israel has a high Priest, not selected by the revived Sanhedrin, but appointed by the God of Psalm 110-

The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.  The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.(Psalm 110:4-6)

Pray for Israel, her greatest trial draws nigh and this alternate "High Priest" with his pseudo sacrifices in the doomed temple, cannot divert them from the "Time of Jacob's trouble".

The Real Messiah ended blood sacrifices and temple worship in his own once and for all-time sacrifice, when He died on the cross and the curtain in the true temple was torn from top to bottom.

The false Messiah to come shall also halt animal sacrifice, but not because he offers himself as a propitiation, but because he will soon sit in the very Holy Place of the New Temple, and proclaim himself God!

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.... For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,( 2 Thessalonians 2:4-9)

Do you see how close we are?

SYRIAN JEWS SECRETLY EVACUATED TO KENTUCKY: Three of the last Jewish families in Syria have been resettled in the United States after posing as Christians to enter Sweden earlier this year, Point of No Return has reported. The Jewish refugees, numbering some 13 people, including 7 children, had been living in Damascus, in the midst of a bloody civil war raging since 2011. Four months ago the three families were accepted into Sweden while posing as Christian Arabs. The refugees were described as multi-lingual and financially successful. Recently the refugees were quietly resettled in Louisville, Kentucky, following the efforts of a local Conservative synagogue, which worked with local and federal authorities to streamline the operation. Louisville has absorbed thousands of refugees from the Middle East over the past five years. It is also home to a small but thriving Jewish community with five synagogues and a kosher butcher. (Arutz-7) Pray for the Syrian Jews rescued from Damascus to be able to find peace and their needs met abundantly in their new Kentucky community. May they meet with kindness and assistance and welcome in their surroundings.

I found this very interesting. Watch and pray.  LORD bless.

http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/74967/muslims-may-celebrating-911-not-reason-think/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=7caa8f29b5-BIN_morning_8_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6d3627f72-7caa8f29b5-86450669&mc_cid=7caa8f29b5&mc_eid=1ea908295a

 Muslims and Arabs who openly identify as Zionists are growing in number – powered by the free flow of information and ideas made possible by social media and the search for answers in the wake of the Arab Spring and Islamist terror. A new Facebook page for Arab supporters of Israel has attracted about 20,000 followers. The page, which shares content in English, Arabic, and Hebrew, was founded by a religious Jewish woman and an Arab man. It posts examples of Israel treating Arabs and Muslims with kindness and shares surprising Arab support for Israel from across the Middle East, including Tunisians who created an Israeli flag after being unable to buy one, and who have faced threats for their views.

Muhammad Zoabi entered the spotlight as a proud Arab, Muslim Zionist in the summer of 2014. He posted a video demanding that Hamas release three Israeli teens who had been kidnapped a few weeks before Operation Protective Edge. Death threats soon forced Zoabi into hiding, and he found shelter with Kay Wilson, who had survived a brutal 2010 terrorist stabbing attack. Zoabi became so popular that he reached his maximum friend limit (5,000) on Facebook, where there is even a page calling for him to be prime minister of Israel. Zoabi’s Zionism is hardly surprising, given his upbringing. His mother, Sarah Zoabi, revealed her Israeli patriotism on national television. She introduced herself on the popular Israeli show “Master Chef” as an “Arab, Muslim, Israeli, proud Zionist” from the northern city of Nazareth. “I believe in the right of the Jewish people to have their own country, which is the state of Israel, the Holy Land. I want to say to all the Arabs of Israel to wake up,” she continued. “Compared to other countries, to Arab countries – we live in paradise.” (Arutz-7) 

SOROS HACKS REVEAL MASSIVE FUNDING OF BLACK LIVES MATTER: In the latest revelation to emerge from a treasure trove of hacked documents from organizations tied to billionaire and prominent Democratic donor George Soros, an internal memo from Soros’ Open Society Institute indicates he funded the radical Black Lives Matter movement to the tune of some $650,000. The information, gleaned from an Open Society report leaked following the recent hacks, was first unearthed by Breitbart’s Aaron Klein on Tues.16 August 2016. Calling violent Black Lives Matter protests which lead to “injuries and millions of dollars in property damage,” the Open Society Institute suggested “the uprising” offered “opportunities” for altering the criminal justice system. “In particular, recent events offer a unique opportunity to accelerate the dismantling of structural inequality generated and maintained by local law enforcement,” the memo read in part. Later, the memo disclosed the approval of “$650,000 in Opportunities Fund support to invest in technical assistance and support for the groups at the core of the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement.” The memo also reveals the Soros-backed organization saw in the Black Lives Matter movement an explicitly partisan purpose, including maintaining high black voter turnout in the 2016 election. “Leaders of Black Lives Matter and The Movement for Black Lives worked to influence candidate platforms during the 2016 primary season. This came alongside the recent acknowledgement by political strategists that African-American voters may be much more pivotal to the 2016 general election than previously speculated.” (Arutz-7)

RIO PAYS TRIBUTE TO 11 ISRAELI VICTIMS OF MUNICH MASSACRE: Under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee, Brazilian senior officials joined sports activists from Israel and elsewhere at a commemoration of the 11 Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. The Israeli and Brazilian Olympic committees and members of the local Jewish community attended the event on 14 August 2016 at Rio City Hall. "What happened in 1972 was one of the most lamentable episodes in the history of the Olympic Games, when fanaticism and intolerance converged in a deplorable act of terrorism," Brazil's foreign minister, Jose Serra, said. "I believe the IOC, in all these years, hadn't held the homage it deserved." 

Israel's most senior representative to the games, Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev, said terrorism "does not differentiate between people" and reaches everyone. “We still see discrimination against the Israeli athletes," she said. "There are countries that deny visas to competitors. We know that mixing sports and politics is against the IOC protocol and contrary to the Olympic spirit. Sport must bring people together." Among the ceremony's participants was Ori Sasson, the Israeli judoka who gave Israel its second medal in Rio - bronze in the men’s judo over 220 pounds competition. His Egyptian opponent during the competition who refused to greet him after being defeated was much criticized. (Arutz-7) 

GAZA SUMMER CAMPS TEACH CHILDREN TO STAB, USE TERROR TUNNELS: Some 30,000 children in the Gaza Strip enrolled in Hamas-run programs providing very different sorts of activities and learning from the typical summer camp. Rather than enjoy camp-outs, day hikes, or water sports, children participating in the Hamas summer camps are prepared for careers in terrorism with paramilitary training, target shooting, practice in using knifes to stab victims, and radical Islamist propaganda. One such summer camp has been named “Knife Camp,” a reference to the many stabbing attacks that have occurred during the recent upsurge in Arab terror. Another camp is named after the terrorist murderer who killed three Israelis on a bus in Jerusalem last October. Alongside the firearms training that has been a part of Hamas summer programs for years, the camps have now added knife training to prepare the young participants for future stabbing attacks, as well as use of Hamas’ expanding terror tunnel network. (INN)

PA FIRES PALESTINIAN WHO HELPED JEWISH TERROR VICTIM: A Palestinian man who was first to offer assistance at the scene of a terrorist attack that killed Rabbi Michael Mark and injured his wife and daughter last month has been dismissed from his public service job in the Palestinian Authority. A relative of the man said, "since it became clear that he was the first to arrive at the scene of the attack and that he helped the victims, he and his family have been subjected to a smear campaign and received threats. He was fired from his job in the public sector of the Palestinian Authority. They told him that he was let go because of budget cuts, but he was the only one who was fired." Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said, "I understand that the Palestinian Authority fired the person who helped the Mark family. This is the behavior that encourages terrorism. I will demand action to stop this abuse of someone whose only sin was to help injured Jews." (Israel Hayom) Pray the Lord will take note of this injustice and reward a hundredfold the Palestinian who extended mercy and assistance to the jewish family.

FBI CHIEF WARNS USA OF DANGEROUS ISIS TERRORIST ‘DIASPORA’: FBI Director James Comey has issued a very stark warning to the American public about the upcoming dangers of Islamic terrorists. Speaking days ago in Washington, Comey said, "At some point there is going to be a terrorist diaspora out of Syria like we've never seen before" – and many of its members can be expected to end up in the United States. "Not all of the Islamic State's [ISIS] killers are going to die on the battlefield," Comey explained. "When the coalition destroys them hundreds and hundreds of really dangerous people will come out through the fingers of that crush. And they're going to flow out primarily towards Western Europe – and we, [the USA], are practically right next door to there, given the ease of travel. We saw the future of this threat in Brussels and in Paris," Comey said, describing it as "an order of magnitude greater" than others. "We in the American counter-terrorist business are constantly focused on that; it's not here yet, but that challenge is going to come." (Arutz-7)

ISRAEL OPENS BORDER FOR HUMANITARIAN AID DELIVERIES INTO SYRIA: For the first time since the Syrian civil war began, Israel’s government authorized the delivery of humanitarian aid into Syrian territory near its border, an American-Israeli businessman and philanthropist who leads the project disclosed this week. “Israel agreed to allow in three types of aid: medical, educational and food,” said Moti Kahana, a businessman and founder of the NGO Amaliah. The aid is being brought to the Israeli border with Syria, but no Amaliah employees are going into Syria, he explained. The aid is being transferred into what Kahana calls a “safe zone” adjacent to the border and comprised of the town of Quneitra and its surrounding area. Asked how the aid is going to be transferred into Syria and whether the IDF is going to insure security for the delivery, Kahana responded, “the IDF knows who to trust.” Questioned about the influence of ISIS and al-Qaida’s Nusra Front in the Quneitra area, he said that it is imperative to get educational supplies to the children there so that they can be in school and not be brainwashed and join radical Islamist groups. For the last five years, no schools have been functioning in this region. Sources in the Free Syrian Army coalition active in the area tell Kahana that the area is fairly calm and the locals are trying to uphold a safe zone. “This is a good opportunity to help and show them that their neighbors are wonderful people,” he said. (J.Post)

HOLLANDE: ISIS HAS DECLARED WAR ON US: On 26 July 2016, the president of France, Francoise Hollande, arrived to the scene shortly after the grisly terror attack in Northern France where two terrorists armed with knives broke into a church and took the priests inside hostage. They succeeded in beheading an 84-year-old priest inside before being killed by security forces. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. "ISIS has declared war on us," Hollande said at the site. "We must fight this war with all our means." The two attackers in a French church on Tuesday forced an elderly priest to kneel before killing him and also filmed the murder, a nun who escaped the scene said. According to reports, one of the two ISIS knifemen was a convicted terrorist and was meant to be living with his parents with an electronic tag. The tragedy comes just a few weeks after a deadly terror attack in the French city of Nice, in which a jihadist terrorist plowed a truck into a crowd of people, killing more than 80. A state of emergency is still in place after that assault. France has been rocked by a string of Islamist terror attacks of late, and pressure is building on the embattled government of Francois Hollande to take effective action to curb the attacks. (J. Post/INN)

ISRAELI ATHLETES UNDER THREAT AS TERRORISTS VOW TO HIT OLYMPICS: With the Olympic Games set to kick off in Rio De Janeiro on 5 Aug. 2016 al-Qaida has identified the games as a terrorist opportunity, specifically targeting Israeli athletes and spectators. Al-Qaida sympathizers have issued a list of directives on social media calling for their followers to carry out "lone-wolf" attacks against American, British, French and Israeli athletes, using knives, poison, and explosives-laden drones. The instructions also specified why the group's followers should target Israeli athletes and spectators: "The most famous enemies for general Muslims, is to attack Israelis.” It also wrote that the large number of viewers from around the globe makes the Olympics a desirable target. "One small knife attack against Americans/Israelis in these places will have bigger media effect than any other attacks anywhere else,” one of the directives read. With that, the terrorist group stressed that the primary targets should be heads of state, ambassadors, and other senior officials. Al-Qaida also assured potential attackers that securing a visa to Brazil is relatively easy, and that guns are widely available in the "crime-ridden slums" of Rio, the report said. (Israel Hayom) Pray that this year’s Olympics will not be marred with violence.

WHERE IS THE BDS MOVEMENT IN THE FACE OF THE TURKISH STALINIST PURGE? 59,628 professors have had their teaching licenses withdrawn. 1,577 university presidents have been forced to resign. A climate of persecution, denunciation and suspicion in university classrooms and at the Ministry of Education prevails. This is the great academic purge that Turkish President Erdogan launched after the failed coup with numbers reminiscent of the Stalinist academic purges in the USSR. In light of this dramatic assault on intellectual freedom in Turkey, one would expect that Western academic legions would be in turmoil to show solidarity with Turkish colleagues, besieged and persecuted. Yet, these Western champions of freedom who have embraced the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” (BDS) against Israel did not find the time to launch any campaign against the Turkish purge, unworthy even of a raised eyebrow of scandal. In England, the National Association of Teachers in Higher Education and the Association of University Teachers, which have adopted the boycott of Israel, have been silent about Turkey. The same silence prevails from the USA Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which was signed by 500 American professors. And then there’s the silence from 300 Italian academics who promoted the Israeli boycott.

Double standards have already emerged from the words of Curtis Marez, the president of the American Studies Association who voted to boycott Israel. When he was asked why his organization was only attacking Israel and not, for example, China or Saudi Arabia or Turkey, Marez answered: “One has to start somewhere”. The president of the American Studies Association had also said that the boycott of Israel “is the best way to protect and expand academic freedom and access to education”. This does not apply to the 59,628 Turkish teachers. Only the Jewish State, the only democracy in the Middle East where BDS supporters enjoy freedom and visibility, deserves Western condemnation. (Israel National News)

PROTESTERS TORCH ISRAELI FLAG OUTSIDE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION: People in Israel are used to seeing Palestinians and Iranians burning the Israeli flag. But it was a bit of a shocker to see Americans doing the same. Especially at the national convention of the Democratic Party which so often and so adamantly asserts that it is a true friend of the Jewish state. Left-wing protesters demonstrating outside of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, 26 July 2016, torched Israeli and American flags amid chants of "Long live the Intifada,” a call of support for the Palestinian terrorist campaign plaguing Israel. A day earlier, members of the same “progressive” movement held aloft a Palestinian flag inside the convention center. USA media reported that nearly 2,000 demonstrators marched on the convention to vent their anger over recent controversies that have embroiled the Democratic party. During the convention on Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton officially secured the Democratic nomination in the 2016 White House run.

The Democratic party faced an internal crisis this week after a massive data breach on its national leadership was revealed. A hack of the Democratic National Committee and leak of over 20,000 emails has already claimed the scalp of the party’s chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who was compelled to resign last weekend. The leak revealed bias among top DNC brass on behalf of Clinton during her primary fight against Sanders. (Fox/J.Post/ Israel Today) 

AUSTRIA SEIZING HITLER’S BIRTHPLACE TO PREVENT NAZI PILGRIMAGE SITE: Austria's government moved on 12 July 2016, to seize the house where Adolf Hitler was born to prevent it becoming a site of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis, and the country's Interior Minister said he wanted to tear it down. Hitler's family lived in the house in Braunau on the Inn for three years around his birth on April 20, 1889; but the fate of the three-story building coated in pale yellow paint has long been the subject of controversy. A spokesman for the interior ministry said the government had agreed on a law to take ownership after the building's landlord, a local woman, had refused to sell it to the state. The bill will now go before parliament. "The decision is necessary because the Republic would like to prevent this house from becoming a 'cult site' for neo-Nazis in any way, which it has been repeatedly in the past," said Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka. Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938. Debate still smoulders over whether Austrians were willing accomplices, many having cheered his return to his country of birth at the time, or the first victims of a dictatorship that ultimately reduced much of Europe to ruins and cost tens of millions of lives. (J.Post)

REPUBLICAN PLATFORM CHANGED TO BE MORE FAVORABLE TO ISRAEL: The Republican Party has amended its platform to include an altered position on Israel. The latest draft of the platform reinstates a reference to Jerusalem as Israel's "undivided" capital and removes a reference to "Palestine." In the party's 2012 platform, the word "undivided" was deleted from the platform of four years earlier and the reference to “Palestine” was added. The 2008 platform had declared, "We support Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and moving the American embassy to that undivided capital of Israel." This week’s changes to the platform reflect the positions of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, who reiterated in March 2016 that he would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the American embassy there if elected. Attorney Marc Zell, who chairs the Republican Party's Israel branch, praised the GOP's new party platform, hailing it as the most "pro-Israel platform" ever. Zell noted that the latest version removes all reference to Palestinian statehood and the two-state solution. "After 25 years, finally a new version has been accepted with reference to Israel, which rejects the two-states solution and embraces Israel." (INN)

TRUMP PICKS PRO-ISRAEL STALWART MIKE PENCE AS RUNNING MATE: Donald Trump picked Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a pro-Israel stalwart and conservative Christian, as his running mate. Trump had previously postponed a Friday 15 July 2016, news conference during which he had been expected to announce his running mate, out of deference to the terrorist attack in Nice, France. Pence, 57, emerged quickly as a leader on pro-Israel issues during his 12 years in Congress from 2001 to 2013. He led a number of bids to place conditions on funding for the Palestinian Authority, and in 2007 he joined then-Rep. Ron Klein, D-Fla., in convening the Congressional Anti-Semitism Task Force. Pence continued his pro-Israel advocacy as Indiana governor, earlier this year signing one of the most robust state laws targeting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. Pence is known as a social conservative and Evangelical Christian. He opposes abortion rights as well as gay marriage. He signed a measure in March 2016 prohibiting abortions based on “sex, race, color, national origin, ancestry, or disability, including Down syndrome.” He has notably said he dislikes negative campaigning, which may blunt some of the sharp edge of Trump’s rhetoric. (JTA)

PA MEDIA TEACHES KIDS: ‘JEWS DO SATAN’S WORK ON EARTH’: The Palestinian Authority (PA)'s official Fatah TV broadcasted an inciting cartoon series for children in honor of Ramadan. The cartoon taught young children that Jews are the helpers of several devils or "satans" who spread evil in the world. Satans, the program explains, are scheming to destroy Muhammad so they use the Jews in order to fight their battle. While the PA continually claims that their conflict with Israel is purely territorial, their religious ideology proclaims that Jews are agents of the Satans who do evil on earth. Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Mahmoud Abbas' adviser on Religious and Islamic Affairs, recently emphasized that the PA ideology must view the struggle with Israel as a battle with Satan. "The conflict here in Palestine is between us and the criminal occupation and its criminal leaders. This is a conflict between two entities, good and evil, between two projects: Allah's project vs. Satan's project,” said Al-Habbash on official PA TV. (PMW/Arutz-7) 

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20