CULTURAL CENTER NAMED FOR TERRORIST MURDERER: Despite President Donald Trump's straight talk to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas about the need to stop supporting and commending terror, another educational institution in the Palestinian Authority has been named for Dalal Mughrabi, who headed the brutal murder of no fewer than 37 people in the Coastal Highway massacre in 1978. The most lethal terror attack in Israel's history, it included the hijacking of a bus by Mughrabi and other Fatah terrorists, as well as random shootings at cars on the highway and passengers on the bus. The dead included 12 children, and over 70 people were wounded. The new center's inauguration ceremony was held last week in the PA town of Burqa, near Nablus. The sign on the new building includes logos of the PA's Ministry of Local Government, United Nations Women, and the Norwegian Representative Office to the PA. Ironically, the center's purpose is billed as "focusing especially on the history of the struggle of Martyr Dalal Mughrabi and on presenting it to the youth groups." Thus, this is yet another "show of admiration for terrorist murderers," in accordance with the Palestinian Authority's "policy of presenting them as role models for Palestinian youth." (Arutz-7) 

NETANYAHU ON JERUSALEM DAY: “WE DIDN’T OCCUPY, WE LIBERATED”: Speaking at celebrations on Sunday 21 May 2017, marking 50 years since the reunification of Jerusalem, PM Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Fifty years ago, we didn't occupy, we liberated. By the heroism of our warriors and the love of our people, Jerusalem was liberated. Jerusalem was and always will be the capital of Israel. The Temple Mount and the Western Wall will always remain under Israeli sovereignty." The event included an audiovisual show projected on the walls of the Old City and the Tower of David.(Ha'aretz) “I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them," says the Lord your God.” Amos 9:15

“So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory. For the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory,” Ps. 102: 15-16 GUNMEN KILL AT LEAST 28 COPTIC CHRISTIANS IN CENTRAL EGYPT: Gunmen attacked a bus carrying Coptic Christians to mass in southern Egypt on Friday 26 May 2017, killing at least 28 people in the latest bloodshed targeting the country’s Christian minority. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but ISIS has both targeted and claimed responsibility for previous deadly attacks against Egypt’s Christians, which comprise about 10% of the population. A journalist said many of the victims appeared to be children. The ambulance authority said 40 people were riding in the bus on their way from the city of Beni Suef just south of Cairo to Minya, about 150 miles south of Egypt’s capital. Much of Egypt’s Christian population is concentrated around the center of the country near Minya and Assiut. Both places have several pilgrimage sites. Last month, twin bomb attacks rocked churches in the Mediterranean port Alexandria and the northern city of Tanta, leaving 44 dead and prompting Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi to declare a state of emergency. In December, a bomb hit the main cathedral in Cairo, killing 25 people as part of what is being described as a new strategy by the ISIS to target Christians. Egypt launched six air strikes on jihadist camps in Libya on Friday night, 26 May 2017 following the terrorist attack. Israel strongly condemned the terrorist assault in Egypt, in a statement from PM Binyamin Netanyahu’s office. “There is no difference between the terror of the attack in Egypt and that of attacks in other countries. Terror will be defeated more quickly if all countries work together against it,” said the statement. (Washington Post/Arutz-7) Pray for the injured and grieving Christians in Egypt - and for their desperately needed protection from ISIS-affiliated terror groups.

‘THE USA EMBASSY WILL MOVE TO JERUSALEM’: Marc Zell, the co-chair of Republicans Overseas in Israel, on Wed. 10 May 2017, said there was no truth to the reports that President Donald Trump had decided that the USA Embassy in Israel would remain in Tel Aviv. "According to my sources, and according to what I know, there is no intention of extending the waiver ordering that the Embassy remain in Tel Aviv," said Zell, adding that the Embassy move would happen in a quiet manner. "I have said more than once in the media that in order for the Embassy to move to Jerusalem, the President simply does not have to do anything. If he does not do anything, then according to the law, the Embassy must move to Jerusalem. I understand that this is the plan and I think it's wise to do it without declarations. Let the American law do the job,” he said, adding that he believes Ambassador David Friedman will live in and work from Jerusalem. "The Ambassador is due to arrive here in five days, and I intend to meet him and he will tell us what he intends to do," said Zell. His remarks came following reports in Israeli media that Trump has already decided to extend the order which prevents the Embassy in Israel from being moved to Jerusalem. (Arutz-7)

: President Donald Trump last week met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. What Abbas said reveals just how deep the gulf remains between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Immediately after his opening greetings, Abbas had this to say: "Mr. President, our strategic choice is to bring about peace based on the vision of the two-states - a Palestinian state with its capital of East Jerusalem that lives in peace and stability with the state of Israel based on the borders of 1967." Talk about a slap in the face. First, Israel's 1967 borders are indefensible, as was reiterated in 2011 after President Obama seemed to advocate a return to those borders. To give one example of indefensible borders, the Netanya area of Israel would be less than 10 miles wide. Second, dividing Jerusalem will not lead to lasting peace, and it is only the Jewish people, not the Palestinians, who have a true historic claim to the city as their capital. As PM Netanyahu has said, "The idea of a divided, split, wounded city is one we will never return to."

President Abbas then emphasized the desire of his people to have a two-state solution, expressing real hope that President Trump would help broker a lasting peace agreement. "Mr. President, it's about time for Israel to end its occupation of our people and of our land after 50 years. We are aspiring and want to achieve our freedom and our right to self-determination. And we also want for Israel to recognize the Palestinian state just as the Palestinian people recognize the state of Israel." This paragraph is also fraught with problems: First, the reason for the so-called occupation is: 1. the refusal of Arab leadership to agree to previous two-state offers, first in 1937 and then in 1947; 2. the attempted Arab destruction of Israel in 1967, which Israel preempted with the Six Day War, expanding its borders in the process and 3. ongoing Arab and Palestinian attacks on the Jewish people, because of which Israel has maintained control in Judea & Samaria. To lay the blame on Israel is to have the situation backwards. Second, it is misleading to speak of Palestinian recognition of Israel. Has President Abbas, in Arabic, recognized Israel as a Jewish state? And if not, what does this imply? And what about a report from early this year stating that PA textbooks "ignore the existence of Israel"?

But the worst of President Abbas' remarks was still to come. He said, "Mr. President, I affirm to you that we are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace." A culture of peace? By naming schools after Palestinian terrorists? By celebrating them as martyrs and making them heroes for the children to emulate? By spreading false information about Israel and the Temple Mount that so provoked Palestinian young people that teens as young as 13 engaged in acts of terror? (Charisma) 

ON ISRAEL’S INDEPENDENCE DAY, UNESCO OKAYS RESOLUTION DENYING ISRAELI CLAIMS TO JERUSALEM: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted Tuesday afternoon,  3 May 2017, to adopt a resolution denying Israel's rights to its own capital, Jerusalem. The vote took place on Israel's Independence Day. 23 nations voted in favor of the resolution, compared to 22 which voted against it. 3 nations abstained. Among the countries which voted against the resolution were the United States, Italy, Britain, Holland, Lithuania, Greece, Paraguay, Ukraine, Togo and Germany. The resolution declares that "all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the “basic law” on Jerusalem, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith." The resolution also condemns Israel for the military conflicts with the Hamas terrorist organization, which rules the Gaza Strip. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, slammed the resolution as an assault on the history of the Jewish people. “This biased and blatantly deceitful decision, and the attempts to dispute the connection between Israel and Jerusalem, will not change the simple fact that this city is the historic and eternal capital of the Jewish people. Israel will not stand silently by in the face of this shameful resolution,” Danon said. (Times of Israel/INN)