He was the head deity of the Carthaginians, and child sacrifice was the main theme.
I saw this article a few weeks ago about the structure, I'm sure there is more in the area.
Israel
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Civil discussion appreciated. No Spam...
Civil discussion appreciated. No Spam...
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Blue Frost
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Re: Israel
Human sacrifice was part of Ba'al worship, he was an evil god of many lands not just Israel.
He was the head deity of the Carthaginians, and child sacrifice was the main theme.
I saw this article a few weeks ago about the structure, I'm sure there is more in the area.
He was the head deity of the Carthaginians, and child sacrifice was the main theme.
I saw this article a few weeks ago about the structure, I'm sure there is more in the area.
"Being alone isn't what hurts. It's when the people around you make you feel alone" ~ Naruto Uzumaki, an Anime Character
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Blue Frost
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- Posts: 98030
- Joined: May 14th, 2012, 1:01 am
- Location: Yodenheim
Re: Israel
A little repair work, and i could live there, wow that;s nice looking.
They just found more proof of King David also. http://forward.com/articles/211045/home ... vid-s-cla/
They just found more proof of King David also. http://forward.com/articles/211045/home ... vid-s-cla/
"Being alone isn't what hurts. It's when the people around you make you feel alone" ~ Naruto Uzumaki, an Anime Character
Israel Merges IDF Elite Units
ISIS isn't very far from Israel. How is it that political correctness doesn't frown on islams genocidal beliefs ?
Israel Merges IDF Elite Units To Prepare For Fight With ISIS
July 10, 2015 | DEBKAfile
While US president Barack Obama coined his approach to the struggle against the Islamic State with the words:
Israel Merges IDF Elite Units To Prepare For Fight With ISIS
July 10, 2015 | DEBKAfile
While US president Barack Obama coined his approach to the struggle against the Islamic State with the words:
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Blue Frost
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- Posts: 98030
- Joined: May 14th, 2012, 1:01 am
- Location: Yodenheim
Re: Israel
I can see a lot of Americans going over to fight with them against ISIS, I would if able.
ISIS I think would be hurt bad by attacking them directly, The IDF isn't ran by cowards like Obama.
ISIS I think would be hurt bad by attacking them directly, The IDF isn't ran by cowards like Obama.
"Being alone isn't what hurts. It's when the people around you make you feel alone" ~ Naruto Uzumaki, an Anime Character
Re: Israel
Here a few things about Israel that muslims don't like to think about.
image: http://engine.newsmaxfeednetwork.com/i. ... E-lRLPsRkU
Only Israel - Amazing Facts About Israel
August 12, 2015 | Giulio Meotti
Israel has many enemies around the world, not only in Gaza and in Teheran. There are many also in the Western media, in the "humanitarian" NGOs and legal forums, in the European Parliaments and United Nations, in the US Congress and think tanks, and in Israeli society itself.
This is a kind of open letter to them. Against their hypocrisy and thinly veiled hatred.
Which is the only country in the world that has its very existence and legitimacy constantly denied and disputed by the nations of the world?
Which is the only country in the world whose capital city is not recognized by those nations?
Which is the only country in the world that has its very existence and legitimacy constantly denied and disputed by the nations of the world?
Which is the only country in the world, where a certain city council could authorize the construction of a few houses and apartments, and all those nations would rise up in anger and protest, while hundreds of thousands of people are being killed for decades in countless places (some of them quite close to that small country) because of cruel wars, without attracting any interest?
Which is the only country in the world that allows a citizen to be elected as a member of parliament, who would publicly vow for the annihilation of his own country and its invasion by alien armies, without his being arrested, summarily tried for treason and expelled?
Which is the only country in the world which hosts and embraces over 400 (four hundred!) non-governmental organizations funded by their worst enemies’ dirty money and, who, with their blood-stained hands, work non-stop, 24 hours a day, to propagate globally the de-humanization of their own people and the illegitimacy of the ownership of their own land?
Which is the only country in the world that grants religious freedom to the worshippers of any sect, religion or group, except for the citizens that profess their major, millennial faith?
Which is the only country in the world which has in the very heart of its capital (its holiest site) a huge area kept under the operational control of a foreign hostile entity, the result being that in this most holy place their own citizens have no freedom of movement, expression or worship?
Which is the only country in the world where an innocent youth publicly declares that “The Eternal is our God, the Eternal is One” and he is immediately arrested for that, by the police who receive their salary from him, to protect him?
Which is the only country in the world where a terrorist (known among the liberals as “freedom fighter”) cowardly kills dozens of innocent people, gets arrested and jailed in a five-star prison – much more comfortable than his own house, where he can graduate and get his master and doctor degree if he wishes, at the expense of the families of his very victims?
Which is the only country in the world that, invaded by several hostile nations which try to destroy it, manages to defeat them in a humiliating way and, shortly after winning the defensive war gives to one of the defeated aggressors – totally free of charge – a part of its territory larger than its own final area, in exchange for a worthless piece of paper, while the citizens of the country which received the gift keep on distilling their historical hatred, more than 30 years thereafter?
Which is the only country in the world which fully respects the rights of women and every kind of ethnic, religious and gender minorities, notwithstanding it is unanimously condemned by so-called “liberals” throughout the world, accused of being the worst violator of human rights?
Which is the only country in the world, accused of “apartheid”, where citizens belonging to all minorities enjoy full civil and voting rights, access to public education, health, social security, college education and every other possible rights?
Which is the only country in the world that, upon trying to restrict illegal immigration of foreign citizens who infiltrate through its borders – exactly as every other country in the world does – is globally accused of discrimination and racism?
Which is the only country in the world where the defense forces distribute millions of leaflets to the enemy, warning them to evacuate their civil buildings used as weapon caches, before attacking them, and the enemy sends their own children, women and elderly people to the rooftops, to die in place of their cowardly leaders?
Which is the only country in the world where the army warns the enemy before bombing their ammunition storages, and the world media depicts is as “cruel” and “inhuman”?
Which is the only country in the world which, in order to avoid civilian casualties among their enemy, sends its own beloved sons to death on land missions, instead of simply carpet bombing the enemy as all other nations do?
Which is the only country in the world that would propose to make peace with an enemy who openly declares before the world media, verbally and in writing, his intention to annihilate it and to seize all its territory “from the river to the sea”?
Which is the only country in the world that would, in exchange for the remains of two young rank-and-file soldiers, who perished in combat several years ago, liberate from prison dozens of bloodthirsty terrorists jailed for murdering innocent children?
Which is the only country in the world that uproots thousands of peace-loving and hard-working citizens from a territory conquered in a legitimate self-defense war, then gives this land to the defeated enemy – once more, totally free of charge – and in gratitude receives tens of thousands of rockets, but still doesn’t bomb the enemy to the point of their unconditional surrender?
Which is the only country in the world whose boundaries, conquered with blood throughout several wars always initiated by the enemies, are continuously challenged by all nations – from the major democracies until the lowest, tiniest underdeveloped dictatorship – while history books clearly show us that the boundaries of all modern countries achieved their current status (still changing) through successive wars and conquests, as very seldom has a peace treaty resulted in significant return or exchange of land between winners and losers?
Which is the only country in the world where a terrorist could slay dozens of innocent civilians in a traitorous attack, get severely wounded, have his unworthy life saved by those he hates and, shortly after recovering his health, commit new deadly terror attacks?
Which is the only country in the world that received directly from the Creator of the Universe its land, by means of an irrevocable, eternal covenant recorded in the most read and revered book of all ages, yet the same mankind who daily reads such book, and even swears upon it, do not recognize its right to such land?
Which is the only country in the world that sends the enemy thousands of trucks loaded with cement and other materials, in order to help him build houses, schools and hospitals, and those who receive such gift use it to make tunnels designed to invade the country and kill its innocent children and civilian population? (and that insane country keeps on sending more and more trucks!!)
Which is the only country in the world that, in order to recover alive a single soldier kidnapped for five years by the enemy, grants freedom to five hundred terrorists with blood in their hands (including the blood of babies), and those beasts right away start to kill more innocent people a few days after obtaining their freedom?
Which is the only country in the world that builds underground shelters to protect the civilians from war against the enemy and, when attacked by rockets, promotes the immediate evacuation of their citizens into the shelters, only to hear a general protest from the nations: “how is it possible that so few of them died??”, while the enemy uses its own women, children and elder people as a shield, exposing them to death in the highest possible number, so that they may shed crocodile tears before the nations about the “disproportionality of the conflict”?
Which is the only country in the world where the government would supply millions in generous subsidies and sponsorships to all kinds of cultural, sport, religious, political etc. causes (including toxic activities which damage the population’s and the country’s image), and yet a significant part of their population even dedicates their whole lives and energies, night and day, to strangle and cut down the modest budget allocated to a small fraction of their own brothers who consecrate their lives to the study and practice of the Holy Scriptures?
Which is the only country in the world that performs amazing technical and scientific research, which revolutionizes the world daily and improves the quality of life of billions of people, in the areas of agriculture, health, computers, airspace, telecommunications etc., and as a great thank-you from the nations that enjoy such benefits, obtains worldwide campaigns for boycotting their fruits, flowers and all kinds of products – even against their musicians, orchestras, theater groups and university professors! – all in the name of a supposed solidarity to a certain people “oppressed by cruel occupation”?
Which is the only country in the world that had its people expelled, tortured and persecuted throughout millennia by the nations, who would say to them “you don’t belong here; go away to your own land!!” and now that this people has returned to its historical land, the hypocritical nations say: “leave that land!! It doesn’t belong to you, you are illegal occupants!!”?
Well, at this point everyone should know the answer to all questions above.
I’d suggest each reader analyze the facts, check whether there is any inconsistency or injustice in their way of thinking, and arrive to his/her own conclusions about this tiny country and its people, who only wish to be left alone and live in peace on the land the Creator promised them, and to coexist in harmony with all nations of the Earth.
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/A ... 38PWsDf.99
image: http://engine.newsmaxfeednetwork.com/i. ... E-lRLPsRkU
Only Israel - Amazing Facts About Israel
August 12, 2015 | Giulio Meotti
Israel has many enemies around the world, not only in Gaza and in Teheran. There are many also in the Western media, in the "humanitarian" NGOs and legal forums, in the European Parliaments and United Nations, in the US Congress and think tanks, and in Israeli society itself.
This is a kind of open letter to them. Against their hypocrisy and thinly veiled hatred.
Which is the only country in the world that has its very existence and legitimacy constantly denied and disputed by the nations of the world?
Which is the only country in the world whose capital city is not recognized by those nations?
Which is the only country in the world that has its very existence and legitimacy constantly denied and disputed by the nations of the world?
Which is the only country in the world, where a certain city council could authorize the construction of a few houses and apartments, and all those nations would rise up in anger and protest, while hundreds of thousands of people are being killed for decades in countless places (some of them quite close to that small country) because of cruel wars, without attracting any interest?
Which is the only country in the world that allows a citizen to be elected as a member of parliament, who would publicly vow for the annihilation of his own country and its invasion by alien armies, without his being arrested, summarily tried for treason and expelled?
Which is the only country in the world which hosts and embraces over 400 (four hundred!) non-governmental organizations funded by their worst enemies’ dirty money and, who, with their blood-stained hands, work non-stop, 24 hours a day, to propagate globally the de-humanization of their own people and the illegitimacy of the ownership of their own land?
Which is the only country in the world that grants religious freedom to the worshippers of any sect, religion or group, except for the citizens that profess their major, millennial faith?
Which is the only country in the world which has in the very heart of its capital (its holiest site) a huge area kept under the operational control of a foreign hostile entity, the result being that in this most holy place their own citizens have no freedom of movement, expression or worship?
Which is the only country in the world where an innocent youth publicly declares that “The Eternal is our God, the Eternal is One” and he is immediately arrested for that, by the police who receive their salary from him, to protect him?
Which is the only country in the world where a terrorist (known among the liberals as “freedom fighter”) cowardly kills dozens of innocent people, gets arrested and jailed in a five-star prison – much more comfortable than his own house, where he can graduate and get his master and doctor degree if he wishes, at the expense of the families of his very victims?
Which is the only country in the world that, invaded by several hostile nations which try to destroy it, manages to defeat them in a humiliating way and, shortly after winning the defensive war gives to one of the defeated aggressors – totally free of charge – a part of its territory larger than its own final area, in exchange for a worthless piece of paper, while the citizens of the country which received the gift keep on distilling their historical hatred, more than 30 years thereafter?
Which is the only country in the world which fully respects the rights of women and every kind of ethnic, religious and gender minorities, notwithstanding it is unanimously condemned by so-called “liberals” throughout the world, accused of being the worst violator of human rights?
Which is the only country in the world, accused of “apartheid”, where citizens belonging to all minorities enjoy full civil and voting rights, access to public education, health, social security, college education and every other possible rights?
Which is the only country in the world that, upon trying to restrict illegal immigration of foreign citizens who infiltrate through its borders – exactly as every other country in the world does – is globally accused of discrimination and racism?
Which is the only country in the world where the defense forces distribute millions of leaflets to the enemy, warning them to evacuate their civil buildings used as weapon caches, before attacking them, and the enemy sends their own children, women and elderly people to the rooftops, to die in place of their cowardly leaders?
Which is the only country in the world where the army warns the enemy before bombing their ammunition storages, and the world media depicts is as “cruel” and “inhuman”?
Which is the only country in the world which, in order to avoid civilian casualties among their enemy, sends its own beloved sons to death on land missions, instead of simply carpet bombing the enemy as all other nations do?
Which is the only country in the world that would propose to make peace with an enemy who openly declares before the world media, verbally and in writing, his intention to annihilate it and to seize all its territory “from the river to the sea”?
Which is the only country in the world that would, in exchange for the remains of two young rank-and-file soldiers, who perished in combat several years ago, liberate from prison dozens of bloodthirsty terrorists jailed for murdering innocent children?
Which is the only country in the world that uproots thousands of peace-loving and hard-working citizens from a territory conquered in a legitimate self-defense war, then gives this land to the defeated enemy – once more, totally free of charge – and in gratitude receives tens of thousands of rockets, but still doesn’t bomb the enemy to the point of their unconditional surrender?
Which is the only country in the world whose boundaries, conquered with blood throughout several wars always initiated by the enemies, are continuously challenged by all nations – from the major democracies until the lowest, tiniest underdeveloped dictatorship – while history books clearly show us that the boundaries of all modern countries achieved their current status (still changing) through successive wars and conquests, as very seldom has a peace treaty resulted in significant return or exchange of land between winners and losers?
Which is the only country in the world where a terrorist could slay dozens of innocent civilians in a traitorous attack, get severely wounded, have his unworthy life saved by those he hates and, shortly after recovering his health, commit new deadly terror attacks?
Which is the only country in the world that received directly from the Creator of the Universe its land, by means of an irrevocable, eternal covenant recorded in the most read and revered book of all ages, yet the same mankind who daily reads such book, and even swears upon it, do not recognize its right to such land?
Which is the only country in the world that sends the enemy thousands of trucks loaded with cement and other materials, in order to help him build houses, schools and hospitals, and those who receive such gift use it to make tunnels designed to invade the country and kill its innocent children and civilian population? (and that insane country keeps on sending more and more trucks!!)
Which is the only country in the world that, in order to recover alive a single soldier kidnapped for five years by the enemy, grants freedom to five hundred terrorists with blood in their hands (including the blood of babies), and those beasts right away start to kill more innocent people a few days after obtaining their freedom?
Which is the only country in the world that builds underground shelters to protect the civilians from war against the enemy and, when attacked by rockets, promotes the immediate evacuation of their citizens into the shelters, only to hear a general protest from the nations: “how is it possible that so few of them died??”, while the enemy uses its own women, children and elder people as a shield, exposing them to death in the highest possible number, so that they may shed crocodile tears before the nations about the “disproportionality of the conflict”?
Which is the only country in the world where the government would supply millions in generous subsidies and sponsorships to all kinds of cultural, sport, religious, political etc. causes (including toxic activities which damage the population’s and the country’s image), and yet a significant part of their population even dedicates their whole lives and energies, night and day, to strangle and cut down the modest budget allocated to a small fraction of their own brothers who consecrate their lives to the study and practice of the Holy Scriptures?
Which is the only country in the world that performs amazing technical and scientific research, which revolutionizes the world daily and improves the quality of life of billions of people, in the areas of agriculture, health, computers, airspace, telecommunications etc., and as a great thank-you from the nations that enjoy such benefits, obtains worldwide campaigns for boycotting their fruits, flowers and all kinds of products – even against their musicians, orchestras, theater groups and university professors! – all in the name of a supposed solidarity to a certain people “oppressed by cruel occupation”?
Which is the only country in the world that had its people expelled, tortured and persecuted throughout millennia by the nations, who would say to them “you don’t belong here; go away to your own land!!” and now that this people has returned to its historical land, the hypocritical nations say: “leave that land!! It doesn’t belong to you, you are illegal occupants!!”?
Well, at this point everyone should know the answer to all questions above.
I’d suggest each reader analyze the facts, check whether there is any inconsistency or injustice in their way of thinking, and arrive to his/her own conclusions about this tiny country and its people, who only wish to be left alone and live in peace on the land the Creator promised them, and to coexist in harmony with all nations of the Earth.
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/A ... 38PWsDf.99
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Blue Frost
- SUPER VIP
- Posts: 98030
- Joined: May 14th, 2012, 1:01 am
- Location: Yodenheim
Re: Israel
There own brainwashed brethren here is one of the biggest, they support the likes of Obama, and in the media in Hollywood. 
"Being alone isn't what hurts. It's when the people around you make you feel alone" ~ Naruto Uzumaki, an Anime Character
Re: Israel
This will put a dent in the muslim arab plan to out populate the Jews in Israel by having more inbred babies.
Prophecy Moving Forward: North American Jews Return To Israel
August 26, 2015 | Julie Stahl
Cultural differences and leaving family behind can make immigrating to Israel difficult. But more and more Jewish Americans are making Israel their permanent home.
Seeing Jewish people return to Israel is like watching Bible prophecy unfold before your eyes. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all speak of the Jewish return to the land.
It's an exciting day. Immigrants from North America landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport to make Israel their home.
Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky and government officials welcomed the group.
"Only think for a moment about your fathers, your grandfathers, your great grandfathers, all those generations of your families who were dreaming and praying next year in Jerusalem and you did it," Sharansky told the new arrivals.
Max Kresch, 19, came from Detroit. He is one of 59 newcomers joining the Israel Defense Forces as a "lone soldier" or one without any family here.
"I came to yeshiva (Torah seminary) last year and being in Israel, learning in Israel, living in Israel made me realize how much I really loved being here," Kresch told CBN News.
Almost 30 families with 75 children make up this group of new immigrants. They include Lisa and David Parshan and their two children.
"It was very nice to watch people just like us coming off.. all jet lagged but with a smile on their face. It was really a very exciting experience," Lisa Parshan said.
Their older daughter, Shira, paved the way for her family two years ago.
"You know Mashiach is coming," Shira told CBN News. "I know that Israel is the place to be and I made aliyah (immigrate to Israel) when I was 17 years old."
This group arrived on an El Al flight chartered by Nefesh B'Nefesh. The organization partners with the government to help North American and British Jews make aliyah and adjust to Israeli life.
"I just think that every Jew should be struggling with the issue of the Jewish homeland, and that's not just a slogan but it's rather an opportunity," Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, cofounder of Nefesh B'Nefesh told CBN News.
Since its establishment in 2002, it has brought about 45,000 immigrants from the United States, Canada, and England. Rabbi Fass explained why they come.
"We don't want the immigration from America to be an aliyah of necessity, of running away from something, of distress, duress, persecution. You don't want that," he said. "The beauty of North American immigration is that people are choosing to come."
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/A ... v2zX7IJ.99
Prophecy Moving Forward: North American Jews Return To Israel
August 26, 2015 | Julie Stahl
Cultural differences and leaving family behind can make immigrating to Israel difficult. But more and more Jewish Americans are making Israel their permanent home.
Seeing Jewish people return to Israel is like watching Bible prophecy unfold before your eyes. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all speak of the Jewish return to the land.
It's an exciting day. Immigrants from North America landed at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport to make Israel their home.
Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky and government officials welcomed the group.
"Only think for a moment about your fathers, your grandfathers, your great grandfathers, all those generations of your families who were dreaming and praying next year in Jerusalem and you did it," Sharansky told the new arrivals.
Max Kresch, 19, came from Detroit. He is one of 59 newcomers joining the Israel Defense Forces as a "lone soldier" or one without any family here.
"I came to yeshiva (Torah seminary) last year and being in Israel, learning in Israel, living in Israel made me realize how much I really loved being here," Kresch told CBN News.
Almost 30 families with 75 children make up this group of new immigrants. They include Lisa and David Parshan and their two children.
"It was very nice to watch people just like us coming off.. all jet lagged but with a smile on their face. It was really a very exciting experience," Lisa Parshan said.
Their older daughter, Shira, paved the way for her family two years ago.
"You know Mashiach is coming," Shira told CBN News. "I know that Israel is the place to be and I made aliyah (immigrate to Israel) when I was 17 years old."
This group arrived on an El Al flight chartered by Nefesh B'Nefesh. The organization partners with the government to help North American and British Jews make aliyah and adjust to Israeli life.
"I just think that every Jew should be struggling with the issue of the Jewish homeland, and that's not just a slogan but it's rather an opportunity," Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, cofounder of Nefesh B'Nefesh told CBN News.
Since its establishment in 2002, it has brought about 45,000 immigrants from the United States, Canada, and England. Rabbi Fass explained why they come.
"We don't want the immigration from America to be an aliyah of necessity, of running away from something, of distress, duress, persecution. You don't want that," he said. "The beauty of North American immigration is that people are choosing to come."
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/A ... v2zX7IJ.99
-
Blue Frost
- SUPER VIP
- Posts: 98030
- Joined: May 14th, 2012, 1:01 am
- Location: Yodenheim
Re: Israel
I'm not sure, but don't they pay them to come there, and settle now. I'm not sure if that's right or not, but I might have read that before.
"Being alone isn't what hurts. It's when the people around you make you feel alone" ~ Naruto Uzumaki, an Anime Character
Re: Israel
I do believe and hope that in my lifetime the third temple will finally be built.
On Temple Mount, Some See A Dome And Imagine An Altar
September 11, 2015
Times Of Israel/Elhanan Miller
The night before she visited Temple Mount for the first time last year, Aviya Fraenkel was so excited she couldn’t sleep a wink.
“I remember climbing the Mughrabi Bridge [leading to the Temple Mount] and seeing the Western Wall beneath me, so small, and and all these different Jews way down there,” Fraenkel told The Times of Israel recently, standing at the bottom of the same bridge and waiting to enter. “You ask yourself: ‘Hold on, what was I doing down there all these years? It just isn’t interesting. I’m up here now!’ That’s a feeling you can never take back.”
“We still go to the Western Wall and love it, but you suddenly realize the difference. Why settle for so little? Why settle for imitations when we have the real thing?”
Fraenkel, a 29-year-old doctoral student in Assyriology and Bible studies at Bar-Ilan University, is part of a new revival movement sweeping Israel’s national religious community. Defying a centuries-old rabbinical ban on entering the 35-acre compound — considered the holiest site in Judaism where the first and second temples stood — Fraenkel, who created a special tour guides’ course last summer tailored for Temple Mount visitors, now tries to go up every week.
“It was brewing in me for many years,” Fraenkel recalled. “So I took the ritual bath and went up. I can’t completely explain it. Part of it has to do with the belief that there’s a next stage, that our ideals aren’t limited to a state — which is a lot — but that the state must manifest our religious yearnings of the past 2,000 years.”
“I’ve made a decision that my Judaism isn’t just about the past, it’s an expectation for the future,” she said. “I’m tired of apologizing about this. If others want to apologize, they’re free to do so.”
Fraenkel is not alone. According to data provided to Israeli daily Makor Rishon, the number of Jewish Israelis visiting Temple Mount annually has steadily but significantly climbed in recent years: from 6,568 visits in 2009 to 8,528 in 2013 to 10,906 in 2014.
Those statistics frighten people like Ekrema Sabri, who served as grand mufti (Islamic legal expert) of Jerusalem and Palestine between 1994 and 2006. Sabri accused the “extremist” Temple Mount activists of attempting to carry out “Talmudic prayers” on the site of the “so-called Temple of Solomon,” backed by Israeli police.
“These groups want to impose a new reality: to pray according to Jewish tradition freely, with no opposition by Muslims,” Sabri told The Times of Israel in a telephone conversation. “They want time allocated to them for prayer during the morning hours.”
“There can be no single place for two religions,” Sabri continued. “Our position is clear: This is a place for Muslims by divine decree, and Jews have no place in this mosque.”
Muslims traditionally refer to the entire Temple Mount Plaza as the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a position Israeli authorities have tacitly accepted for decades.
In the wake of the Six Day War triumph, Israel’s leadership was wary of extending full sovereignty over the holy mountain. Hours after Israeli paratroopers captured Temple Mount along with the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan on the morning of June 7, 1967, defense minister Moshe Dayan ordered the removal of the Israeli flag from atop the Dome of the Rock. “If there’s something we should not do in Jerusalem, it’s to wave Israeli flags on the Mosque of Omar (the Dome of the Rock) and Jesus’ grave,” Dayan was quoted as saying.
Ten days later, a new status quo was fixed. Jews would be allowed to enter Temple Mount as tourists, but not as worshipers. The Islamic Waqf, which managed the compound under the Jordanian ministry of religious affairs, would continue to maintain effective control over ritual throughout the sacred space.
‘Abstaining from sacrificing the Pascal lamb is a mortal sin, akin to refraining from circumcision,’ Segal argued
But while the ban on Jewish prayer is still in force on Temple Mount, the attitude of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud government seems to have changed dramatically. Yehudah Glick, a Temple Mount activist and member of the Likud party, recovering from a Palestinian assassination attempt last October, said he now meets with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on a monthly basis to discuss the situation on Temple Mount.
“He told me this is his first priority after appointing a new chief of police,” Glick said of Erdan last Wednesday.
These lobbying efforts are already bearing fruit. Last week, Erdan ordered the removal of female Islamist activists known as Murabitat from Temple Mount. The women, who habitually harass and heckle Jewish visitors at the site, are now confined to the plaza gates during morning visiting hours. Erdan has also asked the interior minister to outlaw the group and its male equivalent, Murabitin.
Last Wednesday, Glick’s movement, The Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, published a guidebook for visitors to the plaza titled “Arise and Ascend.” Delivered in person to Netanyahu last week, the booklet features endorsements from Efrat rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Turkish author Adnan Oktar and Methodist pastor Keith Johnson, as well as from Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Ze’ev Elkin. Currently available in English and Russian, the booklet will be translated into Hebrew next month.
The willingness of mainstream Orthodox rabbis such as Riskin to endorse the Temple Mount ascension movement against the rulings of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate is a new development, said Arnon Segal, a 35-year-old full-time activist.
When Segal first visited the Mount 16 years ago with a friend from the Otniel Yeshiva in the South Hebron Hills, none of his rabbis would endorse the visit. “They themselves wouldn’t go up, but I know that today the same rabbis support it,” Segal said. “Today, most national religious rabbis don’t oppose ascension. Some are very active in supporting it.”
Segal decided to visit the site of the Jewish temple during the festival of Sukkot, 1999. At yeshiva, the young student had read a book by Shlomo Goren, Israel’s chief rabbi during the 1967 conquest of East Jerusalem and one of the few Orthodox voices willing to publicly support visits despite the Jews’ collective state of ritual impurity since the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 CE.
The visit was a disappointment. “It was like tearing apart the Red Sea” — extremely difficult, he said. “They did everything possible to prevent us from reaching that moment.”
Unaware of the exact visiting hours, Segal and his friend were forced by police to wait outside for two hours. Then, singled out as Orthodox Jews, they were only allowed to enter in pairs and spend seven minutes on the Mount.
“Up until four or five years ago, the issue was in no one’s consciousness,” he recalled. “Ascension was considered very odd, incomprehensible, extreme, a religious transgression. Today it’s not a big deal. Even the ultra-Orthodox know about the option of visiting Temple Mount.”
The change came about, he said, thanks to “lots of people willing to seem crazy.”
“At the end of the day, how many crazy people can there be? If everyone is talking about it, maybe there’s some truth to it. People just spoke about it endlessly until a realization emerged that what is going on up there makes no sense.”
During the summer, visitation hours for Jewish tourists are 7:30-11 a.m, and 1:30-2:30 p.m. Israelis identified by police as religious (and hence as potential troublemakers) are allowed into the Temple Mount in small groups of 10-15 individuals, accompanied by armed Israeli policemen and Islamic Waqf attendants, who make sure they do not whisper prayers or bow down in reverence.
Visitors circle the periphery of the plaza counterclockwise starting from the Mughrabi Gate on the Western Wall, and exit from a nearby gate approximately 20 minutes later. Only when one Jewish group leaves the plaza is another permitted to enter.
“My job is to drive people crazy about Temple Mount all the time,” Segal described his current occupation. He writes a weekly column about the Temple Mount in the right-leaning newspaper Makor Rishon and in a pamphlet called Olam Katan which is distributed to synagogues in 70,000 copies every Friday.
“It is extremely important for Jews to be on Temple Mount,” Segal said. “State authorities joined hands with religious authorities in an un-kosher effort to brand activists as weirdos and involve the Shin Bet [internal security agency] in everything,” he said.
His explanation for why it is essential for Jews to visit Temple Mount is a medley of classic libertarianism and Jewish religious reasoning.
“In a democratic state, freedom of worship is part of freedom of expression,” Segal said, citing former chief justice Aharon Barak. “Freedom of worship includes everything that Jewish law obligates us to do on Temple Mount, including sacrifices, not just prayers.”
According to the Israeli activist, more than one-third of the total number of Jewish commandments — specifically those related to ritual sacrificing — can only be practiced on Temple Mount. The exact historic location of the Altar of Burnt Offering is known to religious scholars, he declared, and the renewal of ritual sacrifice should be undertaken immediately for those interested in fulfilling God’s commandments.
“Abstaining from sacrificing the Pascal lamb is a mortal sin, akin to refraining from circumcision,” Segal argued, noting that the reconstruction of the Bronze altar would not interfere with any existing Muslim structure on Temple Mount. “The al-Aqsa Mosque is situated outside the holy perimeters of Temple Mount. With some goodwill from the Muslims, and more courage on the part of our Jewish leadership, we could all get along.”
And then there’s the political issue. Segal argued that every space not occupied by a Jewish presence will be taken over by Islamic radicals and become “a center for global terrorism.”
“Almost every week we see flags of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Nusra Front. We hear calls inciting terror,” he said. “There’s no vacuum up there.”
Israeli opponents to Jewish ritual on Temple Mount argue that any change in the status quo established by Dayan nearly 60 years ago would lead to severe Arab violence, as occurred following the visit of then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon on the Mount on September 28, 2000. That visit is widely viewed as a trigger or pretext for the Second Intifada, which erupted the following day.
Visiting the site is not just a political taboo, though, but also a religious one. Since its destruction nearly 2000 years ago, the Temple has gone from the physical center of Jewish worship to an abstract place of prayers and dreams. Practical, individual ritual has replaced the historic slaughter and sacrifice of animals linked with the Temple, a change many spiritual leaders are wary to challenge. “Instead of devoting themselves to Torah and religious commandments, they [the Temple Mount activists] are busy with something that is not a commandment,” prominent national religious rabbi Shlomo Aviner of Bet El said in a recent interview.
Meanwhile, some activists are busy documenting infringements of visitation rights granted to religious Jews on Temple Mount. Last Passover, Elishama Sandman founded “Yera’eh,” a group of volunteers who issue daily reports on obstruction to Jewish ascension and share them on social media.
On Monday last week, Yera’eh reported in its daily roundup, a bride and a groom came for a visit, as did a Bat Mitzvah girl and a three-year-old boy celebrating a traditional first haircut with his family. A Christian tourist was asked by police to remove his yarmulka, regarded as an impermissible religious symbol. Otherwise, things were quiet.
“My goal is to show the public what’s happening there day by day,” Sandman, a 19-year-old yeshiva student from Safed, said in a telephone interview. “To give statistics, data, to highlight good and bad occurrences. Sometimes it’s hard to show the good because the situation is very complex.”
Sandman first visited the Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day just over a year ago. It was that experience — when he and a group of 30 Jews were allowed to enter the Mount for a mere three minutes and had to leave immediately from the next gate over — that spurred him to action.
“We were surrounded by policemen and crowds of angry Muslims throwing things at us,” he recalled. “I remember thinking I have to do something about this, to join the just struggle.” Sandman was inspired by the Facebook pages of Arnon Segal and Yehuda Glick, who regularly document and share their activity.
Today, he said, his goal is to improve the treatment of Jewish visitors by the police. “If the police had to deal with 600 Jews wishing to enter Temple Mount at 7:30 a.m., they’d have to let in bigger groups.”
Unlike his older mentor Segal, Sandman is unabashed about the final aim of his activity.
“Our ultimate goal on Temple Mount is to build the Third Temple and renew sacrifices,” he said. “It’s not a distant goal but an aspiration. First we need to accompany the people and help them understand the significance of the place.”
But what about the Dome of the Rock, a monumental structure build by the Umayyad Caliph Abdul Malik in the year 691 over the Foundation Stone, where Jews and Muslims believe the earth was created?
Sandman replied with a metaphor.
“If a burglar entered your home and told you that you don’t own it, you wouldn’t think about getting along with him,” he said. “You’d remove him and take the place. It’s the same here: The people of Israel own this place and it’s not our duty to consider those who stole it from us.”
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/S ... 0b3J3GK.99
On Temple Mount, Some See A Dome And Imagine An Altar
September 11, 2015
Times Of Israel/Elhanan Miller
The night before she visited Temple Mount for the first time last year, Aviya Fraenkel was so excited she couldn’t sleep a wink.
“I remember climbing the Mughrabi Bridge [leading to the Temple Mount] and seeing the Western Wall beneath me, so small, and and all these different Jews way down there,” Fraenkel told The Times of Israel recently, standing at the bottom of the same bridge and waiting to enter. “You ask yourself: ‘Hold on, what was I doing down there all these years? It just isn’t interesting. I’m up here now!’ That’s a feeling you can never take back.”
“We still go to the Western Wall and love it, but you suddenly realize the difference. Why settle for so little? Why settle for imitations when we have the real thing?”
Fraenkel, a 29-year-old doctoral student in Assyriology and Bible studies at Bar-Ilan University, is part of a new revival movement sweeping Israel’s national religious community. Defying a centuries-old rabbinical ban on entering the 35-acre compound — considered the holiest site in Judaism where the first and second temples stood — Fraenkel, who created a special tour guides’ course last summer tailored for Temple Mount visitors, now tries to go up every week.
“It was brewing in me for many years,” Fraenkel recalled. “So I took the ritual bath and went up. I can’t completely explain it. Part of it has to do with the belief that there’s a next stage, that our ideals aren’t limited to a state — which is a lot — but that the state must manifest our religious yearnings of the past 2,000 years.”
“I’ve made a decision that my Judaism isn’t just about the past, it’s an expectation for the future,” she said. “I’m tired of apologizing about this. If others want to apologize, they’re free to do so.”
Fraenkel is not alone. According to data provided to Israeli daily Makor Rishon, the number of Jewish Israelis visiting Temple Mount annually has steadily but significantly climbed in recent years: from 6,568 visits in 2009 to 8,528 in 2013 to 10,906 in 2014.
Those statistics frighten people like Ekrema Sabri, who served as grand mufti (Islamic legal expert) of Jerusalem and Palestine between 1994 and 2006. Sabri accused the “extremist” Temple Mount activists of attempting to carry out “Talmudic prayers” on the site of the “so-called Temple of Solomon,” backed by Israeli police.
“These groups want to impose a new reality: to pray according to Jewish tradition freely, with no opposition by Muslims,” Sabri told The Times of Israel in a telephone conversation. “They want time allocated to them for prayer during the morning hours.”
“There can be no single place for two religions,” Sabri continued. “Our position is clear: This is a place for Muslims by divine decree, and Jews have no place in this mosque.”
Muslims traditionally refer to the entire Temple Mount Plaza as the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a position Israeli authorities have tacitly accepted for decades.
In the wake of the Six Day War triumph, Israel’s leadership was wary of extending full sovereignty over the holy mountain. Hours after Israeli paratroopers captured Temple Mount along with the Old City of Jerusalem from Jordan on the morning of June 7, 1967, defense minister Moshe Dayan ordered the removal of the Israeli flag from atop the Dome of the Rock. “If there’s something we should not do in Jerusalem, it’s to wave Israeli flags on the Mosque of Omar (the Dome of the Rock) and Jesus’ grave,” Dayan was quoted as saying.
Ten days later, a new status quo was fixed. Jews would be allowed to enter Temple Mount as tourists, but not as worshipers. The Islamic Waqf, which managed the compound under the Jordanian ministry of religious affairs, would continue to maintain effective control over ritual throughout the sacred space.
‘Abstaining from sacrificing the Pascal lamb is a mortal sin, akin to refraining from circumcision,’ Segal argued
But while the ban on Jewish prayer is still in force on Temple Mount, the attitude of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud government seems to have changed dramatically. Yehudah Glick, a Temple Mount activist and member of the Likud party, recovering from a Palestinian assassination attempt last October, said he now meets with Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on a monthly basis to discuss the situation on Temple Mount.
“He told me this is his first priority after appointing a new chief of police,” Glick said of Erdan last Wednesday.
These lobbying efforts are already bearing fruit. Last week, Erdan ordered the removal of female Islamist activists known as Murabitat from Temple Mount. The women, who habitually harass and heckle Jewish visitors at the site, are now confined to the plaza gates during morning visiting hours. Erdan has also asked the interior minister to outlaw the group and its male equivalent, Murabitin.
Last Wednesday, Glick’s movement, The Temple Mount Heritage Foundation, published a guidebook for visitors to the plaza titled “Arise and Ascend.” Delivered in person to Netanyahu last week, the booklet features endorsements from Efrat rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Turkish author Adnan Oktar and Methodist pastor Keith Johnson, as well as from Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Ze’ev Elkin. Currently available in English and Russian, the booklet will be translated into Hebrew next month.
The willingness of mainstream Orthodox rabbis such as Riskin to endorse the Temple Mount ascension movement against the rulings of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate is a new development, said Arnon Segal, a 35-year-old full-time activist.
When Segal first visited the Mount 16 years ago with a friend from the Otniel Yeshiva in the South Hebron Hills, none of his rabbis would endorse the visit. “They themselves wouldn’t go up, but I know that today the same rabbis support it,” Segal said. “Today, most national religious rabbis don’t oppose ascension. Some are very active in supporting it.”
Segal decided to visit the site of the Jewish temple during the festival of Sukkot, 1999. At yeshiva, the young student had read a book by Shlomo Goren, Israel’s chief rabbi during the 1967 conquest of East Jerusalem and one of the few Orthodox voices willing to publicly support visits despite the Jews’ collective state of ritual impurity since the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 CE.
The visit was a disappointment. “It was like tearing apart the Red Sea” — extremely difficult, he said. “They did everything possible to prevent us from reaching that moment.”
Unaware of the exact visiting hours, Segal and his friend were forced by police to wait outside for two hours. Then, singled out as Orthodox Jews, they were only allowed to enter in pairs and spend seven minutes on the Mount.
“Up until four or five years ago, the issue was in no one’s consciousness,” he recalled. “Ascension was considered very odd, incomprehensible, extreme, a religious transgression. Today it’s not a big deal. Even the ultra-Orthodox know about the option of visiting Temple Mount.”
The change came about, he said, thanks to “lots of people willing to seem crazy.”
“At the end of the day, how many crazy people can there be? If everyone is talking about it, maybe there’s some truth to it. People just spoke about it endlessly until a realization emerged that what is going on up there makes no sense.”
During the summer, visitation hours for Jewish tourists are 7:30-11 a.m, and 1:30-2:30 p.m. Israelis identified by police as religious (and hence as potential troublemakers) are allowed into the Temple Mount in small groups of 10-15 individuals, accompanied by armed Israeli policemen and Islamic Waqf attendants, who make sure they do not whisper prayers or bow down in reverence.
Visitors circle the periphery of the plaza counterclockwise starting from the Mughrabi Gate on the Western Wall, and exit from a nearby gate approximately 20 minutes later. Only when one Jewish group leaves the plaza is another permitted to enter.
“My job is to drive people crazy about Temple Mount all the time,” Segal described his current occupation. He writes a weekly column about the Temple Mount in the right-leaning newspaper Makor Rishon and in a pamphlet called Olam Katan which is distributed to synagogues in 70,000 copies every Friday.
“It is extremely important for Jews to be on Temple Mount,” Segal said. “State authorities joined hands with religious authorities in an un-kosher effort to brand activists as weirdos and involve the Shin Bet [internal security agency] in everything,” he said.
His explanation for why it is essential for Jews to visit Temple Mount is a medley of classic libertarianism and Jewish religious reasoning.
“In a democratic state, freedom of worship is part of freedom of expression,” Segal said, citing former chief justice Aharon Barak. “Freedom of worship includes everything that Jewish law obligates us to do on Temple Mount, including sacrifices, not just prayers.”
According to the Israeli activist, more than one-third of the total number of Jewish commandments — specifically those related to ritual sacrificing — can only be practiced on Temple Mount. The exact historic location of the Altar of Burnt Offering is known to religious scholars, he declared, and the renewal of ritual sacrifice should be undertaken immediately for those interested in fulfilling God’s commandments.
“Abstaining from sacrificing the Pascal lamb is a mortal sin, akin to refraining from circumcision,” Segal argued, noting that the reconstruction of the Bronze altar would not interfere with any existing Muslim structure on Temple Mount. “The al-Aqsa Mosque is situated outside the holy perimeters of Temple Mount. With some goodwill from the Muslims, and more courage on the part of our Jewish leadership, we could all get along.”
And then there’s the political issue. Segal argued that every space not occupied by a Jewish presence will be taken over by Islamic radicals and become “a center for global terrorism.”
“Almost every week we see flags of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Nusra Front. We hear calls inciting terror,” he said. “There’s no vacuum up there.”
Israeli opponents to Jewish ritual on Temple Mount argue that any change in the status quo established by Dayan nearly 60 years ago would lead to severe Arab violence, as occurred following the visit of then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon on the Mount on September 28, 2000. That visit is widely viewed as a trigger or pretext for the Second Intifada, which erupted the following day.
Visiting the site is not just a political taboo, though, but also a religious one. Since its destruction nearly 2000 years ago, the Temple has gone from the physical center of Jewish worship to an abstract place of prayers and dreams. Practical, individual ritual has replaced the historic slaughter and sacrifice of animals linked with the Temple, a change many spiritual leaders are wary to challenge. “Instead of devoting themselves to Torah and religious commandments, they [the Temple Mount activists] are busy with something that is not a commandment,” prominent national religious rabbi Shlomo Aviner of Bet El said in a recent interview.
Meanwhile, some activists are busy documenting infringements of visitation rights granted to religious Jews on Temple Mount. Last Passover, Elishama Sandman founded “Yera’eh,” a group of volunteers who issue daily reports on obstruction to Jewish ascension and share them on social media.
On Monday last week, Yera’eh reported in its daily roundup, a bride and a groom came for a visit, as did a Bat Mitzvah girl and a three-year-old boy celebrating a traditional first haircut with his family. A Christian tourist was asked by police to remove his yarmulka, regarded as an impermissible religious symbol. Otherwise, things were quiet.
“My goal is to show the public what’s happening there day by day,” Sandman, a 19-year-old yeshiva student from Safed, said in a telephone interview. “To give statistics, data, to highlight good and bad occurrences. Sometimes it’s hard to show the good because the situation is very complex.”
Sandman first visited the Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day just over a year ago. It was that experience — when he and a group of 30 Jews were allowed to enter the Mount for a mere three minutes and had to leave immediately from the next gate over — that spurred him to action.
“We were surrounded by policemen and crowds of angry Muslims throwing things at us,” he recalled. “I remember thinking I have to do something about this, to join the just struggle.” Sandman was inspired by the Facebook pages of Arnon Segal and Yehuda Glick, who regularly document and share their activity.
Today, he said, his goal is to improve the treatment of Jewish visitors by the police. “If the police had to deal with 600 Jews wishing to enter Temple Mount at 7:30 a.m., they’d have to let in bigger groups.”
Unlike his older mentor Segal, Sandman is unabashed about the final aim of his activity.
“Our ultimate goal on Temple Mount is to build the Third Temple and renew sacrifices,” he said. “It’s not a distant goal but an aspiration. First we need to accompany the people and help them understand the significance of the place.”
But what about the Dome of the Rock, a monumental structure build by the Umayyad Caliph Abdul Malik in the year 691 over the Foundation Stone, where Jews and Muslims believe the earth was created?
Sandman replied with a metaphor.
“If a burglar entered your home and told you that you don’t own it, you wouldn’t think about getting along with him,” he said. “You’d remove him and take the place. It’s the same here: The people of Israel own this place and it’s not our duty to consider those who stole it from us.”
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/S ... 0b3J3GK.99
Re: Israel
Nearly 30,000 Jews Immigrated To Israel In 2015
September 11, 2015
Jerusalem Post/ SAM SOKOL
It looks like 2015 will be another record year for aliya, with more than 30,000 newcomers to the Jewish state, Immigration and Absorption Minister Ze’ev Elkin announced on Wednesday.
Some 29,500 immigrants arrived here over the past Hebrew year, with more than 14,000 hailing from the former Soviet Union, according to statistics for 5775 released by the Immigration and Absorption Ministry and the Jewish Agency. This marks a 13 percent increase over 5774.
“These figures, which show a significant increase in the number of immigrants to Israel, reinforce the overall picture that the year 2015 will represent a year of record aliya for more than a decade. We estimate that, at this rate, by the end of the civil year we will reach between 30,000 and 35,000 immigrants,” said Elkin.
“This is a window of opportunity that the State of Israel cannot miss. Therefore, we at the Ministry of Aliya and Immigrant Absorption, the government and Israeli society in general are faced with a fascinating and compelling challenge, to both ensure that immigrants who arrive in Israel are well integrated and do whatever we can to increase activities to encourage aliya.”
While around 3,600 immigrants came from North American, the largest sources of aliya were France (7,350) and Ukraine (6,900), increases of 10 percent and 50%, respectively.
French aliya has largely been driven by a high youth unemployment and rising anti-Semitism, while the Russian-backed civil war and concomitant economic decline in Ukraine have accounted for increasing emigration.
The rise in Ukrainian aliya falls short of the 400% increase that Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky predicted during an interview with the Post one year ago but is still large.
At the time, Sharansky explained that despite the declared intent of many Jews displaced by the fighting to eventually return to their homes, emigration from the Eastern European nation will continue to grow significantly.
More than three-quarters of the Jews who lived in the now separatist stronghold of Donetsk before the civil war have become refugees, with many coming to Israel.
Russian aliya also rose, with 5,900 people making the move in 5775, 23% more than in the previous year.
Speaking to the Post in May, a senior Russian Jewish communal leader said that rising immigration to Israel is being driven partly by anxieties over Moscow’s increasingly authoritarian policies.
“The political situation of the last years has become much more tight than it was before,” said Boruch Gorin, a senior figure in the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.
People are unsure of their future and do not know if Russia will “be closed as before in Soviet times,” he explained, adding that the pressure applied to opposition groups has been worrying to members of the Jewish community, many of whom are liberals.
Gorin also cited sanctions imposed by the West on Russia as a cause for emigration.
Western sanctions over the Kremlin’s role in fomenting unrest in Ukraine, as well as declining oil revenues, have hurt Russia’s economy.
Despite the increased aliya, however, Gorin said that he knows of many people who have gone to Israel in order to obtain citizenship but have then returned to Russia and that, anecdotally, he believes that “the big part of this aliya is people of this kind.”
According to the Jewish Agency, olim came from 97 countries in 5775, including one each from Andorra, Angola, Namibia, Paraguay, the Philippines and Slovakia.
“For the past few years, the majority of immigrants to Israel have been coming from free and democratic Western countries. These immigrants’ free choice to live in Israel, and their preference for Israel over other countries, is the true triumph of Zionism,” said Sharansky.
The trends enumerated in the new figures “reflect especially the worsening situation for Jews in several European countries, and the ability of the current Israeli economy to absorb in large part the new arrivals,” Hebrew University demographer Sergio DellaPergola told the Post.
He cautioned against reading too much into the numbers, however, stating that at “these levels aliya constitutes about 0.3% of Israel’s population, not enough to change existing balances. The arrival and city concentration of Jews from France is the only remarkable feature.”
Joel Rubinfeld, the founder of the Ligue Belge contre l’Antisémitisme in Brussels, said, “This is good news and bad news.
“Good news for Israel which sees its population growing and perfectly fills one of its mission: welcoming every Jew who is or feel threatened in his own country (notably Jews from Ukraine and other European countries). Bad news for Europe which sees its Jewish community decreasing due to the rise of anti-Semitism and the growing threat of Islamist terrorism.
I personally fear that we are witnessing the last generation of a significant European Jewish community as, at age 18, more and more young European Jews are leaving their countries – mainly to Israel, USA, Canada – as they feel they have no more future here as a Jew.”
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/S ... 7jiuMGC.99
September 11, 2015
Jerusalem Post/ SAM SOKOL
It looks like 2015 will be another record year for aliya, with more than 30,000 newcomers to the Jewish state, Immigration and Absorption Minister Ze’ev Elkin announced on Wednesday.
Some 29,500 immigrants arrived here over the past Hebrew year, with more than 14,000 hailing from the former Soviet Union, according to statistics for 5775 released by the Immigration and Absorption Ministry and the Jewish Agency. This marks a 13 percent increase over 5774.
“These figures, which show a significant increase in the number of immigrants to Israel, reinforce the overall picture that the year 2015 will represent a year of record aliya for more than a decade. We estimate that, at this rate, by the end of the civil year we will reach between 30,000 and 35,000 immigrants,” said Elkin.
“This is a window of opportunity that the State of Israel cannot miss. Therefore, we at the Ministry of Aliya and Immigrant Absorption, the government and Israeli society in general are faced with a fascinating and compelling challenge, to both ensure that immigrants who arrive in Israel are well integrated and do whatever we can to increase activities to encourage aliya.”
While around 3,600 immigrants came from North American, the largest sources of aliya were France (7,350) and Ukraine (6,900), increases of 10 percent and 50%, respectively.
French aliya has largely been driven by a high youth unemployment and rising anti-Semitism, while the Russian-backed civil war and concomitant economic decline in Ukraine have accounted for increasing emigration.
The rise in Ukrainian aliya falls short of the 400% increase that Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky predicted during an interview with the Post one year ago but is still large.
At the time, Sharansky explained that despite the declared intent of many Jews displaced by the fighting to eventually return to their homes, emigration from the Eastern European nation will continue to grow significantly.
More than three-quarters of the Jews who lived in the now separatist stronghold of Donetsk before the civil war have become refugees, with many coming to Israel.
Russian aliya also rose, with 5,900 people making the move in 5775, 23% more than in the previous year.
Speaking to the Post in May, a senior Russian Jewish communal leader said that rising immigration to Israel is being driven partly by anxieties over Moscow’s increasingly authoritarian policies.
“The political situation of the last years has become much more tight than it was before,” said Boruch Gorin, a senior figure in the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.
People are unsure of their future and do not know if Russia will “be closed as before in Soviet times,” he explained, adding that the pressure applied to opposition groups has been worrying to members of the Jewish community, many of whom are liberals.
Gorin also cited sanctions imposed by the West on Russia as a cause for emigration.
Western sanctions over the Kremlin’s role in fomenting unrest in Ukraine, as well as declining oil revenues, have hurt Russia’s economy.
Despite the increased aliya, however, Gorin said that he knows of many people who have gone to Israel in order to obtain citizenship but have then returned to Russia and that, anecdotally, he believes that “the big part of this aliya is people of this kind.”
According to the Jewish Agency, olim came from 97 countries in 5775, including one each from Andorra, Angola, Namibia, Paraguay, the Philippines and Slovakia.
“For the past few years, the majority of immigrants to Israel have been coming from free and democratic Western countries. These immigrants’ free choice to live in Israel, and their preference for Israel over other countries, is the true triumph of Zionism,” said Sharansky.
The trends enumerated in the new figures “reflect especially the worsening situation for Jews in several European countries, and the ability of the current Israeli economy to absorb in large part the new arrivals,” Hebrew University demographer Sergio DellaPergola told the Post.
He cautioned against reading too much into the numbers, however, stating that at “these levels aliya constitutes about 0.3% of Israel’s population, not enough to change existing balances. The arrival and city concentration of Jews from France is the only remarkable feature.”
Joel Rubinfeld, the founder of the Ligue Belge contre l’Antisémitisme in Brussels, said, “This is good news and bad news.
“Good news for Israel which sees its population growing and perfectly fills one of its mission: welcoming every Jew who is or feel threatened in his own country (notably Jews from Ukraine and other European countries). Bad news for Europe which sees its Jewish community decreasing due to the rise of anti-Semitism and the growing threat of Islamist terrorism.
I personally fear that we are witnessing the last generation of a significant European Jewish community as, at age 18, more and more young European Jews are leaving their countries – mainly to Israel, USA, Canada – as they feel they have no more future here as a Jew.”
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/S ... 7jiuMGC.99
-
Blue Frost
- SUPER VIP
- Posts: 98030
- Joined: May 14th, 2012, 1:01 am
- Location: Yodenheim
Re: Israel
If I could I would spend some time there, could learn a lot in security, and dealing with terrorist like they have that always start trouble.
With all the liberal hatred for them I can see why they want to move, they remember where it leads.
With all the liberal hatred for them I can see why they want to move, they remember where it leads.
"Being alone isn't what hurts. It's when the people around you make you feel alone" ~ Naruto Uzumaki, an Anime Character
Re: Israel
This is the kind of immigrants any country could use. These are useful smart educated people. This also is for Israel's demographics.
Israel Saw 35% Increase In Aliyah Last Year
September 22, 2015
Ynet News / Yaron Druckman
On the eve of the Jewish New Year 5776, Israel's population numbers at 8,412,000 people, according to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.
Since last year, Israel's population has increased in about 158,000 people - a 1.9 percent increase, similar to previous years.
The Jewish population numbers at about 6.3 million people (74.9 percent), the Arab population numbers at about 1,746,000 (20.7 percent), and there are about 366,000 (4.4 percent) people who are non-Arab Christians and people who have no religion listed in the civil registry.
During 5775, about 168,000 babies were born in Israel, and about 42,000 people died. About 32,000 immigrated to Israel, 28,000 of which are new olim. This is a 35 percent increase from the previous year.
Most of the olim came from Ukraine (about 26 percent), France (25 percent), Russia (about 21 percent) and the United States (about nine percent).
The Central Bureau of Statistics forecasts that in 2025-2030, Israel's population will surpass 10 million.
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/S ... Pv0Ufmr.99
Israel Saw 35% Increase In Aliyah Last Year
September 22, 2015
Ynet News / Yaron Druckman
On the eve of the Jewish New Year 5776, Israel's population numbers at 8,412,000 people, according to data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.
Since last year, Israel's population has increased in about 158,000 people - a 1.9 percent increase, similar to previous years.
The Jewish population numbers at about 6.3 million people (74.9 percent), the Arab population numbers at about 1,746,000 (20.7 percent), and there are about 366,000 (4.4 percent) people who are non-Arab Christians and people who have no religion listed in the civil registry.
During 5775, about 168,000 babies were born in Israel, and about 42,000 people died. About 32,000 immigrated to Israel, 28,000 of which are new olim. This is a 35 percent increase from the previous year.
Most of the olim came from Ukraine (about 26 percent), France (25 percent), Russia (about 21 percent) and the United States (about nine percent).
The Central Bureau of Statistics forecasts that in 2025-2030, Israel's population will surpass 10 million.
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/S ... Pv0Ufmr.99
-
Blue Frost
- SUPER VIP
- Posts: 98030
- Joined: May 14th, 2012, 1:01 am
- Location: Yodenheim
Re: Israel
Palestinians, and the Muslim countries will hat that news.
Iran already plans to nuke them thanks on part to Obama's help.
Iran already plans to nuke them thanks on part to Obama's help.
"Being alone isn't what hurts. It's when the people around you make you feel alone" ~ Naruto Uzumaki, an Anime Character
Re: Israel
Her is some interesting information about the people of the land who God told the Israelites to take the land from.
The Canaanites, Child Sacrifice And Abortion
September 23, 2015 |
The Christian Post / Eric Metaxas
Fertility rites and child sacrifice were the hallmarks of Canaanite worship — and yet they appealed to many Israelites. Should we be shocked, or look in the mirror?
In the most recent issue of Biblical Archaeological Review, archaeologist Itzhaq Shai of Israel's Ariel University described what he characterized as "extraordinary finds that provided insights into the Canaanites and their religious world."
The finds, which Shai suspects may be the biblical Libnah mentioned in Joshua, Second Kings and Isaiah, include a "large public building," possibly a temple, ceremonial masks, and figurines, like idols of a nude female figure nursing two infants.
Shai's goal is to better understand Canaanite religion for academic reasons. But a better understanding of Canaanite religion isn't only for academics. By understanding what Israel's pagan neighbors believed and how they put those beliefs into practice, we see just how radically different — and even unique — the biblical worldview truly is.
Reading the Old Testament, it becomes clear that Canaanite religion was attractive to many of the children of Israel. When Joshua told the people to choose whom they would serve, he was acknowledging that fact.
When he told them "put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel," it was because some, perhaps many of them, had embraced these gods despite everything that the Lord had done for them and for their ancestors.
Why? Well, part of the answer lies in the nature of Canaanite religion. While the term "Canaanite" covers a multitude of peoples and cults, they all shared some important things in common. They were polytheists who worshipped many gods, each of whom specialized in some aspect of life.
It's hard for those of us raised in cultures shaped by biblical monotheism to appreciate how radical the idea of one omnipotent and sovereign God was to the ancient mind. What's more, this God was not only invisible, He absolutely forbade any representation of Himself.
Part of the reason why lies in the way Canaanites and other pagan religions used representations as a way to manipulate their gods into doing what they wanted. This was especially the case when it came to fertility. Worshippers of Baal and his consort Asherah engaged in symbolic sexual acts in order to ensure a good harvest.
This is in stark contrast to YHWH, who in addition to absolute loyalty, made ethical and moral demands of His worshippers. He was a God who was to be obeyed, not manipulated.
To see just how far pagans would go to manipulate a deity, look at the Phoenicians, who were basically Canaanites with boats. Archaeological excavations of at least nine Phoenician settlements have found evidence of tophets, the biblical term for places where child sacrifice, usually by burning, was practiced.
As the Bible tells us, the practice spread to ancient Judah. We're told that Josiah destroyed the tophets in Judah along with other sites of pagan worship.
This kind of barbarism is unimaginable today. Or is it?
As Mother Theresa famously said, "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
What is the so-called "right to choose" if not the sacrifice of children to the gods of personal autonomy and self-fulfillment?
As the Bible shows, Israel struggled, usually unsuccessfully, with the temptation to compromise or blend her own faith with other religions. The allure of Canaanite practices was too powerful at times. It took exile to cure Israel of that tendency.
If we're honest, we have to admit the appeal of contemporary alternatives to Christian truth. They're less demanding and promise us that we can have our religious cake and eat it, too. The question is: will it take exile to cure us as well?
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/S ... 5mc8Whz.99
The Canaanites, Child Sacrifice And Abortion
September 23, 2015 |
The Christian Post / Eric Metaxas
Fertility rites and child sacrifice were the hallmarks of Canaanite worship — and yet they appealed to many Israelites. Should we be shocked, or look in the mirror?
In the most recent issue of Biblical Archaeological Review, archaeologist Itzhaq Shai of Israel's Ariel University described what he characterized as "extraordinary finds that provided insights into the Canaanites and their religious world."
The finds, which Shai suspects may be the biblical Libnah mentioned in Joshua, Second Kings and Isaiah, include a "large public building," possibly a temple, ceremonial masks, and figurines, like idols of a nude female figure nursing two infants.
Shai's goal is to better understand Canaanite religion for academic reasons. But a better understanding of Canaanite religion isn't only for academics. By understanding what Israel's pagan neighbors believed and how they put those beliefs into practice, we see just how radically different — and even unique — the biblical worldview truly is.
Reading the Old Testament, it becomes clear that Canaanite religion was attractive to many of the children of Israel. When Joshua told the people to choose whom they would serve, he was acknowledging that fact.
When he told them "put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel," it was because some, perhaps many of them, had embraced these gods despite everything that the Lord had done for them and for their ancestors.
Why? Well, part of the answer lies in the nature of Canaanite religion. While the term "Canaanite" covers a multitude of peoples and cults, they all shared some important things in common. They were polytheists who worshipped many gods, each of whom specialized in some aspect of life.
It's hard for those of us raised in cultures shaped by biblical monotheism to appreciate how radical the idea of one omnipotent and sovereign God was to the ancient mind. What's more, this God was not only invisible, He absolutely forbade any representation of Himself.
Part of the reason why lies in the way Canaanites and other pagan religions used representations as a way to manipulate their gods into doing what they wanted. This was especially the case when it came to fertility. Worshippers of Baal and his consort Asherah engaged in symbolic sexual acts in order to ensure a good harvest.
This is in stark contrast to YHWH, who in addition to absolute loyalty, made ethical and moral demands of His worshippers. He was a God who was to be obeyed, not manipulated.
To see just how far pagans would go to manipulate a deity, look at the Phoenicians, who were basically Canaanites with boats. Archaeological excavations of at least nine Phoenician settlements have found evidence of tophets, the biblical term for places where child sacrifice, usually by burning, was practiced.
As the Bible tells us, the practice spread to ancient Judah. We're told that Josiah destroyed the tophets in Judah along with other sites of pagan worship.
This kind of barbarism is unimaginable today. Or is it?
As Mother Theresa famously said, "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
What is the so-called "right to choose" if not the sacrifice of children to the gods of personal autonomy and self-fulfillment?
As the Bible shows, Israel struggled, usually unsuccessfully, with the temptation to compromise or blend her own faith with other religions. The allure of Canaanite practices was too powerful at times. It took exile to cure Israel of that tendency.
If we're honest, we have to admit the appeal of contemporary alternatives to Christian truth. They're less demanding and promise us that we can have our religious cake and eat it, too. The question is: will it take exile to cure us as well?
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/S ... 5mc8Whz.99
-
Blue Frost
- SUPER VIP
- Posts: 98030
- Joined: May 14th, 2012, 1:01 am
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Re: Israel
This is about their main god,
They had many more like household gods, and for about anything they wished for. Baal was a blood thirsty god of many.
Baal
Ancient deity
Written by: The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/topic/Baal-ancient-deity
Read View History Edit Feedback
Alternative titles: Baal Shamen; Baal Shemin; Baalim
Baal, god worshiped in many ancient Middle Eastern communities, especially among the Canaanites, who apparently considered him a fertility deity and one of the most important gods in the pantheon. As a Semitic common noun baal (Hebrew baʿal) meant “owner” or “lord,” although it could be used more generally; for example, a baal of wings was a winged creature, and, in the plural, baalim of arrows indicated archers. Yet such fluidity in the use of the term baal did not prevent it from being attached to a god of distinct character. As such, Baal designated the universal god of fertility, and in that capacity his title was Prince, Lord of the Earth. He was also called the Lord of Rain and Dew, the two forms of moisture that were indispensable for fertile soil in Canaan. In Ugaritic and Old Testament Hebrew, Baal’s epithet as the storm god was He Who Rides on the Clouds. In Phoenician he was called Baal Shamen, Lord of the Heavens.
Knowledge of Baal’s personality and functions derives chiefly from a number of tablets uncovered from 1929 onward at Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra), in northern Syria, and dating to the middle of the 2nd millennium bc. The tablets, although closely attached to the worship of Baal at his local temple, probably represent Canaanite belief generally. Fertility was envisaged in terms of seven-year cycles. In the mythology of Canaan, Baal, the god of life and fertility, locked in mortal combat with Mot, the god of death and sterility. If Baal triumphed, a seven-year cycle of fertility would ensue; but, if he were vanquished by Mot, seven years of drought and famine would ensue.
Ugaritic texts tell of other fertility aspects of Baal, such as his relations with Anath, his consort and sister, and also his siring a divine bull calf from a heifer. All this was part of his fertility role, which, when fulfilled, meant an abundance of crops and fertility for animals and mankind.
But Baal was not exclusively a fertility god. He was also king of the gods, and, to achieve that position, he was portrayed as seizing the divine kingship from Yamm, the sea god.
The myths also tell of Baal’s struggle to obtain a palace comparable in grandeur to those of other gods. Baal persuaded Asherah to intercede with her husband El, the head of the pantheon, to authorize the construction of a palace. The god of arts and crafts, Kothar, then proceeded to build for Baal the most beautiful of palaces which spread over an area of 10,000 acres. The myth may refer in part to the construction of Baal’s own temple in the city of Ugarit. Near Baal’s temple was that of Dagon, given in the tablets as Baal’s father.
The worship of Baal was popular in Egypt from the later New Kingdom in about 1400 bc to its end (1075 bc). Through the influence of the Aramaeans, who borrowed the Babylonian pronunciation Bel, the god ultimately became known as the Greek Belos, identified with Zeus.
Baal was also worshiped by various communities as a local god. The Old Testament speaks frequently of the Baal of a given place or refers to Baalim in the plural, suggesting the evidence of local deities, or “lords,” of various locales. It is not known to what extent the Canaanites considered those various Baalim identical, but the Baal of Ugarit does not seem to have confined his activities to one city, and doubtless other communities agreed in giving him cosmic scope.
In the formative stages of Israel’s history, the presence of Baal names did not necessarily mean apostasy or even syncretism. The judge Gideon was also named Jerubbaal (Judges 6:32), and King Saul had a son named Ishbaal (I Chronicles 8:33). For those early Hebrews, “Baal” designated the Lord of Israel, just as “Baal” farther north designated the Lord of Lebanon or of Ugarit. What made the very name Baal anathema to the Israelites was the program of Jezebel, in the 9th century bc, to introduce into Israel her Phoenician cult of Baal in opposition to the official worship of Yahweh (I Kings 18). By the time of the prophet Hosea (mid-8th century bc) the antagonism to Baalism was so strong that the use of the term Baal was often replaced by the contemptuous boshet (“shame”); in compound proper names, for example, Ishbosheth replaced the earlier Ishbaal.
They had many more like household gods, and for about anything they wished for. Baal was a blood thirsty god of many.
Baal
Ancient deity
Written by: The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica
http://www.britannica.com/topic/Baal-ancient-deity
Read View History Edit Feedback
Alternative titles: Baal Shamen; Baal Shemin; Baalim
Baal, god worshiped in many ancient Middle Eastern communities, especially among the Canaanites, who apparently considered him a fertility deity and one of the most important gods in the pantheon. As a Semitic common noun baal (Hebrew baʿal) meant “owner” or “lord,” although it could be used more generally; for example, a baal of wings was a winged creature, and, in the plural, baalim of arrows indicated archers. Yet such fluidity in the use of the term baal did not prevent it from being attached to a god of distinct character. As such, Baal designated the universal god of fertility, and in that capacity his title was Prince, Lord of the Earth. He was also called the Lord of Rain and Dew, the two forms of moisture that were indispensable for fertile soil in Canaan. In Ugaritic and Old Testament Hebrew, Baal’s epithet as the storm god was He Who Rides on the Clouds. In Phoenician he was called Baal Shamen, Lord of the Heavens.
Knowledge of Baal’s personality and functions derives chiefly from a number of tablets uncovered from 1929 onward at Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra), in northern Syria, and dating to the middle of the 2nd millennium bc. The tablets, although closely attached to the worship of Baal at his local temple, probably represent Canaanite belief generally. Fertility was envisaged in terms of seven-year cycles. In the mythology of Canaan, Baal, the god of life and fertility, locked in mortal combat with Mot, the god of death and sterility. If Baal triumphed, a seven-year cycle of fertility would ensue; but, if he were vanquished by Mot, seven years of drought and famine would ensue.
Ugaritic texts tell of other fertility aspects of Baal, such as his relations with Anath, his consort and sister, and also his siring a divine bull calf from a heifer. All this was part of his fertility role, which, when fulfilled, meant an abundance of crops and fertility for animals and mankind.
But Baal was not exclusively a fertility god. He was also king of the gods, and, to achieve that position, he was portrayed as seizing the divine kingship from Yamm, the sea god.
The myths also tell of Baal’s struggle to obtain a palace comparable in grandeur to those of other gods. Baal persuaded Asherah to intercede with her husband El, the head of the pantheon, to authorize the construction of a palace. The god of arts and crafts, Kothar, then proceeded to build for Baal the most beautiful of palaces which spread over an area of 10,000 acres. The myth may refer in part to the construction of Baal’s own temple in the city of Ugarit. Near Baal’s temple was that of Dagon, given in the tablets as Baal’s father.
The worship of Baal was popular in Egypt from the later New Kingdom in about 1400 bc to its end (1075 bc). Through the influence of the Aramaeans, who borrowed the Babylonian pronunciation Bel, the god ultimately became known as the Greek Belos, identified with Zeus.
Baal was also worshiped by various communities as a local god. The Old Testament speaks frequently of the Baal of a given place or refers to Baalim in the plural, suggesting the evidence of local deities, or “lords,” of various locales. It is not known to what extent the Canaanites considered those various Baalim identical, but the Baal of Ugarit does not seem to have confined his activities to one city, and doubtless other communities agreed in giving him cosmic scope.
In the formative stages of Israel’s history, the presence of Baal names did not necessarily mean apostasy or even syncretism. The judge Gideon was also named Jerubbaal (Judges 6:32), and King Saul had a son named Ishbaal (I Chronicles 8:33). For those early Hebrews, “Baal” designated the Lord of Israel, just as “Baal” farther north designated the Lord of Lebanon or of Ugarit. What made the very name Baal anathema to the Israelites was the program of Jezebel, in the 9th century bc, to introduce into Israel her Phoenician cult of Baal in opposition to the official worship of Yahweh (I Kings 18). By the time of the prophet Hosea (mid-8th century bc) the antagonism to Baalism was so strong that the use of the term Baal was often replaced by the contemptuous boshet (“shame”); in compound proper names, for example, Ishbosheth replaced the earlier Ishbaal.
"Being alone isn't what hurts. It's when the people around you make you feel alone" ~ Naruto Uzumaki, an Anime Character
Re: Israel
I can see arabs using this to start another war.
Will The Discovery Of Huge Amounts Of Oil In Israel Lead To War In The Middle East?
October 13, 2015
End Of The American Dream / Michael Snyder
Billions of barrels of oil have been discovered in Israel, and this discovery could essentially make Israel energy independent for many decades to come. But there is just one problem. This discovery was made in the Golan Heights.
If you are not familiar with the Golan Heights, it is an area that Israel took from Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967. The government of Israel considers the Golan Heights to now be part of Israeli territory, but the United Nations does not recognize Israel’s claim. Instead, the UN still recognizes Syrian sovereignty over that area.
So now that massive amounts of oil have been discovered there, what will this do to tensions in the region? Could this discovery of oil help set the stage for World War III?
When I first read about the discovery of all this oil, I was quite stunned. Ever since 1948, Israel has had to import virtually all of the oil that it uses, and so this oil in the Golan Heights could be a huge game changer. The following is an excerpt from an article in an Israeli news source about this discovery…
Three drillings have so far taken place in the southern Golan Heights which have found large reserves of oil. Potential production is dramatic – billions of barrels, which will easily provide all Israel’s oil needs. Israel consumes 270,000 barrels of oil per day.
Although the existence of the oil in the ground is a fact, the critical phase now is to check how easily it can be extracted and whether it involves high production costs. In a period of very low oil prices, extraction will have to be relatively cheap to make exploitation of the field profitable.
Just as Israel’s offshore Mediterranean gas discoveries have created an entire energy industry, so the Golan oil find could also generate a new industry around it.
As I write this, the price of U.S. oil is sitting at $48.13 a barrel, so when you are talking about “billions” of barrels of oil you are talking about a tremendous amount of money.
Do you think that Syria and Israel’s other Arab neighbors are going to enjoy sitting there as Israel pumps “their oil” out of the ground?
Apparently this discovery is highly unusual. Here is what one scientist told Israeli television about what they found…
“We are talking about a strata which is 350 meters thick and what is important is the thickness and the porosity. On average in the world strata are 20-30 meters thick, so this is ten times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities,” geologist Yuval Bartov of Afek Oil and Gas told Israeli television.
Needless to say, this is great news for Israel.
But it is also going to give renewed motivation to those that wish to take the Golan Heights back from the Israelis. The following comes from a Jewish news source…
Syria has claimed the entire Golan since it lost the strategic and water-rich area in the Six-Day War in 1967.
If oil can be extracted, it will be a huge bonanza for Israel and an enormous reason for whoever rules in Syria, or for Hezbollah that is fighting with Assad’s forces and is based in Lebanon, to launch a war on Israel.
And this comes at a time when tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians have reached a fever pitch. Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters have been regularly clashing in the heart of Jerusalem, and Palestinians were even temporarily banned from Jerusalem’s Old City for the first time in decades due to a series of recent stabbings and shootings.
Things have gotten so bad that Benjamin Netanyahu felt that he had to cancel his upcoming visit to Germany just to deal with the crisis. The following comes from Reuters…
Israel’s prime minister canceled a visit to Germany on Wednesday after a spate of attacks that included the stabbing of an Israeli soldier by a suspected Palestinian militant who police said was then shot dead by special forces.
A steady rise in street violence, which Israeli and Palestinian leaders have sought to calm, has been fueled by confrontations around Jerusalem’s al Aqsa mosque complex, Islam’s third holiest shrine which Jews also revere as the vestige of their two ancient temples.
In the third knife attack in Jerusalem in less than a week, a young Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli on Wednesday near that contested site and was then shot by the injured man.
The international community has become desperate to find a solution to this never ending cycle of conflict and violence. The call to establish a Palestinian state has become deafening, and most global leaders seem to believe that two states living side by side in peace could finally bring stability to the region.
Many had expected France to introduce a UN Security Council resolution which would give formal recognition to a Palestinian state last month, and there is still a chance that it may be submitted for a vote in the weeks ahead. France has indicated that it will not go ahead without U.S. approval, and so that means that the fate of the division of the land of Israel lies in the hands of Barack Obama.
So what will he ultimately do?
According to Politico, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has twice asked Obama to publicly announce that he would veto any such resolution, but Obama never responded…
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on two different occasions this year went to White House chief of staff Denis McDonough seeking a public commitment from President Barack Obama that he would veto any U.N. resolution calling for an independent Palestinian state.
Both times, Obama did nothing.
And in recent months there have been other signs that Obama is weighing his options…
In June, Obama and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power declined to commit to blocking a Palestinian resolution.
Behnd the scenes, Reid — who is Obama’s most steadfast ally on Capitol Hill — first approached McDonough shortly after Earnest’s comments and asked that the president reverse his position.
McDonough said the White House “would look into it,” said a source close to the issue, but took no action.
On the second occasion, Reid, a strong supporter of Israel during his career in the Senate, believed such a declaration by Obama would help assuage nervous Senate Democrats as they weighed whether to back the president on the Iran nuclear deal. Reid was hopeful that he could block the Iran disapproval resolution, but he wanted to be certain he would have the votes in the face of fierce opposition from pro-Israeli groups.
When push comes to shove, I fully expect that Barack Obama will eventually give his full public support to the UN Security Council resolution that France has been working on.
I believe that we will see an internationally-recognized Palestinian state, but I also believe that this will just set the stage for war on a scale that the Middle East has never experienced before.
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/O ... 2pIGti0.99
Will The Discovery Of Huge Amounts Of Oil In Israel Lead To War In The Middle East?
October 13, 2015
End Of The American Dream / Michael Snyder
Billions of barrels of oil have been discovered in Israel, and this discovery could essentially make Israel energy independent for many decades to come. But there is just one problem. This discovery was made in the Golan Heights.
If you are not familiar with the Golan Heights, it is an area that Israel took from Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967. The government of Israel considers the Golan Heights to now be part of Israeli territory, but the United Nations does not recognize Israel’s claim. Instead, the UN still recognizes Syrian sovereignty over that area.
So now that massive amounts of oil have been discovered there, what will this do to tensions in the region? Could this discovery of oil help set the stage for World War III?
When I first read about the discovery of all this oil, I was quite stunned. Ever since 1948, Israel has had to import virtually all of the oil that it uses, and so this oil in the Golan Heights could be a huge game changer. The following is an excerpt from an article in an Israeli news source about this discovery…
Three drillings have so far taken place in the southern Golan Heights which have found large reserves of oil. Potential production is dramatic – billions of barrels, which will easily provide all Israel’s oil needs. Israel consumes 270,000 barrels of oil per day.
Although the existence of the oil in the ground is a fact, the critical phase now is to check how easily it can be extracted and whether it involves high production costs. In a period of very low oil prices, extraction will have to be relatively cheap to make exploitation of the field profitable.
Just as Israel’s offshore Mediterranean gas discoveries have created an entire energy industry, so the Golan oil find could also generate a new industry around it.
As I write this, the price of U.S. oil is sitting at $48.13 a barrel, so when you are talking about “billions” of barrels of oil you are talking about a tremendous amount of money.
Do you think that Syria and Israel’s other Arab neighbors are going to enjoy sitting there as Israel pumps “their oil” out of the ground?
Apparently this discovery is highly unusual. Here is what one scientist told Israeli television about what they found…
“We are talking about a strata which is 350 meters thick and what is important is the thickness and the porosity. On average in the world strata are 20-30 meters thick, so this is ten times as large as that, so we are talking about significant quantities,” geologist Yuval Bartov of Afek Oil and Gas told Israeli television.
Needless to say, this is great news for Israel.
But it is also going to give renewed motivation to those that wish to take the Golan Heights back from the Israelis. The following comes from a Jewish news source…
Syria has claimed the entire Golan since it lost the strategic and water-rich area in the Six-Day War in 1967.
If oil can be extracted, it will be a huge bonanza for Israel and an enormous reason for whoever rules in Syria, or for Hezbollah that is fighting with Assad’s forces and is based in Lebanon, to launch a war on Israel.
And this comes at a time when tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians have reached a fever pitch. Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters have been regularly clashing in the heart of Jerusalem, and Palestinians were even temporarily banned from Jerusalem’s Old City for the first time in decades due to a series of recent stabbings and shootings.
Things have gotten so bad that Benjamin Netanyahu felt that he had to cancel his upcoming visit to Germany just to deal with the crisis. The following comes from Reuters…
Israel’s prime minister canceled a visit to Germany on Wednesday after a spate of attacks that included the stabbing of an Israeli soldier by a suspected Palestinian militant who police said was then shot dead by special forces.
A steady rise in street violence, which Israeli and Palestinian leaders have sought to calm, has been fueled by confrontations around Jerusalem’s al Aqsa mosque complex, Islam’s third holiest shrine which Jews also revere as the vestige of their two ancient temples.
In the third knife attack in Jerusalem in less than a week, a young Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli on Wednesday near that contested site and was then shot by the injured man.
The international community has become desperate to find a solution to this never ending cycle of conflict and violence. The call to establish a Palestinian state has become deafening, and most global leaders seem to believe that two states living side by side in peace could finally bring stability to the region.
Many had expected France to introduce a UN Security Council resolution which would give formal recognition to a Palestinian state last month, and there is still a chance that it may be submitted for a vote in the weeks ahead. France has indicated that it will not go ahead without U.S. approval, and so that means that the fate of the division of the land of Israel lies in the hands of Barack Obama.
So what will he ultimately do?
According to Politico, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has twice asked Obama to publicly announce that he would veto any such resolution, but Obama never responded…
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on two different occasions this year went to White House chief of staff Denis McDonough seeking a public commitment from President Barack Obama that he would veto any U.N. resolution calling for an independent Palestinian state.
Both times, Obama did nothing.
And in recent months there have been other signs that Obama is weighing his options…
In June, Obama and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power declined to commit to blocking a Palestinian resolution.
Behnd the scenes, Reid — who is Obama’s most steadfast ally on Capitol Hill — first approached McDonough shortly after Earnest’s comments and asked that the president reverse his position.
McDonough said the White House “would look into it,” said a source close to the issue, but took no action.
On the second occasion, Reid, a strong supporter of Israel during his career in the Senate, believed such a declaration by Obama would help assuage nervous Senate Democrats as they weighed whether to back the president on the Iran nuclear deal. Reid was hopeful that he could block the Iran disapproval resolution, but he wanted to be certain he would have the votes in the face of fierce opposition from pro-Israeli groups.
When push comes to shove, I fully expect that Barack Obama will eventually give his full public support to the UN Security Council resolution that France has been working on.
I believe that we will see an internationally-recognized Palestinian state, but I also believe that this will just set the stage for war on a scale that the Middle East has never experienced before.
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/O ... 2pIGti0.99
-
Blue Frost
- SUPER VIP
- Posts: 98030
- Joined: May 14th, 2012, 1:01 am
- Location: Yodenheim
Re: Israel
They already had that big oil find off their coast a few years back. Will it start a war, maybe, about anything will over there.
The thing is Oil is down right now thanks to the fracking here in America, the Arab countries is flooding the markets to keep the fracking boom from expanding.
The thing is Oil is down right now thanks to the fracking here in America, the Arab countries is flooding the markets to keep the fracking boom from expanding.
"Being alone isn't what hurts. It's when the people around you make you feel alone" ~ Naruto Uzumaki, an Anime Character
Re: Israel
10 Things About The Latest Wave Of Jihad
October 28, 2015
Yishai Fleisher / Israel Hayom
The current state of affairs in Israel is full of lessons and truths. The sooner we learn them, the sooner we can stop the attacks.
1. We can stop feeling guilty.
A few good things have come out of the recent wave of terror in the streets of Israel. The first is that the facade that jihadis are somehow struggling for self-determination, social justice, or any other noble idea has been unmasked. It is clear to us now that, unlike what we've been urged to believe for the last 30 years, jihadis don't want peace. They want to annihilate Jews, Judaism, and the State of Israel. This is great news. Because once the pretense is dropped, we stop falling for it and begin unloading the guilty feeling that we are at fault for everything. We drop the idea, for example, that building in Jerusalem or Judea is causing this war. Those few voices who still try to blame the victims sound delusional and their ideas are being debunked. At the same time, there is a realization that within Israel is a hostile minority that simply does not accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state. Clarity is forming, and it will lead to victory.
2. The Jewish fighting spirit is back.
The second good thing is that the Jewish fighting spirit is back on the streets. Men and women, old and young, are responding to terror with defiance. Pepper spray, rolling pins, umbrellas, selfie sticks, kicks, fists, running, and especially shooting -- Israelis are shooting bad guys (and gals). Yes, there have been some horrific videos of Jews being gouged as though we're back in a medieval Polish countryside. But even in those videos, soon enough, a gun-toting Jew vanquishes the jihadi zombie. We don't cower and shriek as they wish we would, and it demoralizes them. Our people's healthy fighting instincts have (amazingly) not been corrupted by the media, or by the ideology of weakness. Remember: Fighting back is good, so stay tactical out there, folks!
3. When we're terrified, they win.
Speaking of videos and fear: Today's video-centric world often works in the jihadis' favor. Terrorists want to make us feel terrified. They try to achieve that by doing a terrible act and publicizing it, using video to drive terror into our hearts. If a viewer is terrified after watching the news or YouTube, then the terrorists have succeeded. Don't let them. Don't let them scare you. Don't let them bully you. Don't let them unnerve you. When you walk out of your house with a big fork in your bag, you are saying that you'd rather fight than be scared. When you don't cancel that trip to Israel, you are saying that you will not be cowed. Remember, we Jews have always kicked bullies to the curb. From Abraham to King David to the Maccabees. We've fought the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, and British, with tenacity and much success. The jihad bully is next.
4. Don't mess with us. You'll lose.
The media, the U.S. administration and the U.N. are full of claims that Israel is using too much force, indiscriminately slaughtering innocent people in response to the jihad. This is classic anti-Semitic propaganda, blaming the Jews for some heinous crime that in reality is the work of the anti-Semite. (This tactic was also used in the blood libel and "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.") On the one hand, it is important to correct those pervasive lies.
But when Israelis intentionally and justly neutralize terrorists, it is important not to backpedal or mumble the pathetic formula that our army is moral or that we try to save the lives of the terrorists we just shot. Rather, it is much better to say, "You see? This is what happens when you mess with us." In other words, we are one crazy little post-Holocaust country and we have zero tolerance for Nazi-like jihads, and if you start up with us, you will face our ire and our fire. Contrary to how the world makes it seem, it's OK for us to want to survive, and it's OK to say it.
5. Thanks, "world," but we can take care of ourselves.
Regarding "the world": It will never come to our aid. We already knew that, learned it the hard way in the 1940s -- that's how the expression "never again" came to be. Part of the reason we established the State of Israel is because "the world" can't be relied on to defend us. So why do we whine about "the world"? Please let us stop hoping that the U.N. and the EU will condemn someone other then Israel, and let us stop waiting for them. If we want to take care of business, then we have to do it ourselves. Self-determination takes determination and no one will clean up our mess or come to our rescue. Time to grow up, take charge, even lead.
6. Jihad is a force of chaos.
On one level, what we are dealing with here is radical Islam's fight against Israel, a Jewish, non-Muslim entity in the Middle East. On a deeper level, this fight is between two universal forces: the creative and the destructive. Israel is about life, innovation, clean water, farming, education, medicine, health and prosperity. Israel is about enshrining the past and building the future.
But jihadism is like a veil of darkness, repressive and regressive. It sees no value in individuals, and only seeks to suppress people into conformity. Everywhere the jihad goes, it brings entropy and chaos, the opposite of creativity and life. And jihad is not content with the regions of destruction under its control. Rather, it is bitterly jealous of that small green country in its midst. Jihad hates the Jewish state precisely because it is an oasis of life in the heart of its Middle Eastern desert. This distinction makes it all the more clear what value there is to jihad civilization -- none -- and they hate us for it.
7. Our kindness goes too far.
However, while jihad is the enemy, out-of-control liberalism is its real enabler. Jihad exploits Western liberalism as a weakness and a portal to spread its venom. To defeat jihad, we have to root it out, deny it any ground in which to sprout, and be anything but liberal with it. We must not allow the extremists to teach jihadism in the schools, to rally on the Temple Mount, to blare out murderous messaged from their minarets, and certainly not allow them to use the Knesset, for heaven's sake, to spew their venom. We arrest them, hound them, chase them. They must know that if they have seditious thoughts, we can hear them, and we will find them. (For a model of how to fight the jihad, just look at our decidedly-not-liberal-with-jihad Egyptian neighbor, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.) It certainly won't be easy to put the jihadi genie back in the bottle, but it must be done. It is a matter of our survival.
8. Don't mess with Allah.
Jihad is religious. It understands the language of God better than Western talk of compromise, negotiations, and peace processes. This is what I tell would-be jihadis in the streets of Jerusalem: "In 1948, we were 600,000 Jews in this land. Now we are 6 million. You have fought many wars against us, but you have never won. Have you ever wondered why? Are we more numerous than you? Are we richer than you? No. It is because Allah wills it and He has blessed us to build up this country. Even the Quran talks about the Jewish people coming home -- yet you refuse to submit to Allah's will. In the meantime, your countries have fallen apart. Where is Syria? Where is Iraq? Where is the strong Egypt of the past? Gone. Do you know why? Because jihad is destroying you, not us. If you keep fighting with us, it will be your own Islamic State that will destroy you, all because you did not accept and submit to Allah's will." I have used this argument many times and seen the initial shock and subsequent expressions of acceptance on their faces. In short, blame it on Allah.
9. We will never leave.
And speaking of a language that jihadis understand, we must send them one unambiguous message: We are never, ever leaving. Arabs on the street ask me, "When will there be peace?" and I tell them, "There will be peace when you understand that we will never leave this land and never give up Jerusalem. We are more majnun [crazy] then you are about this place. So you might as well accept the reality. If you don't, the war will continue, but we will win in the end, because we are never, ever, leaving." Jihad gets courage from a sense of eventual victory. Take that away and replace it with a sense that the war against Israel is totally futile, a clear message that they will never win, and watch the jihadist motivation dwindle.
10. Jerusalem is at the heart of it.
Finally, to defeat the jihad against Israel, we must realize that the epicenter of the struggle is Jerusalem. Jihadis want to keep us out of Jerusalem, out of the Old City, and certainly off the Temple Mount, because they sense correctly that the bedrock of their power (and ours) is Jerusalem. Holding on to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount gives them religious authority and clout, and keeps us from achieving our true potential as sovereigns of this land. Indeed, almost all of their anti-Israel propaganda has an image, emblem, or icon of the Dome of the Rock. They are fighting to take the heart of our story, Jerusalem, and replace it with their Al-Quds. In the face of this assault, we must not retreat or relinquish any sovereignty in this city. We must not capitulate to the terror by dividing the city, or by keeping Jews away from the Temple Mount. Every person can be part of this fight: Visit Jerusalem, buy in Jerusalem, walk the streets of Jerusalem, pray in and for Jerusalem, and declare our rights to a sovereign and Israeli Jerusalem. In short, to beat the jihadis' vision of Al-Quds, we must say the following phrase, and mean it: "Next year, and every year, in a rebuilt and united Jerusalem."
The jihad against us is only partly about physical violence. It is mostly about mental intimidation and exploitation of our weaknesses. Yet this challenge is also an opportunity: If we rise to the occasion, overcome fear, and beat back the jihadi scourge, then Israel will take its rightful place as a world leader in the defense of freedom, along with being a nation of innovation and the world's spiritual superpower.
Yishai Fleisher is an Israeli journalist, educator, NGO founder, and jurist. Follow him @yishaifleisher
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/O ... iqYKZKU.99
October 28, 2015
Yishai Fleisher / Israel Hayom
The current state of affairs in Israel is full of lessons and truths. The sooner we learn them, the sooner we can stop the attacks.
1. We can stop feeling guilty.
A few good things have come out of the recent wave of terror in the streets of Israel. The first is that the facade that jihadis are somehow struggling for self-determination, social justice, or any other noble idea has been unmasked. It is clear to us now that, unlike what we've been urged to believe for the last 30 years, jihadis don't want peace. They want to annihilate Jews, Judaism, and the State of Israel. This is great news. Because once the pretense is dropped, we stop falling for it and begin unloading the guilty feeling that we are at fault for everything. We drop the idea, for example, that building in Jerusalem or Judea is causing this war. Those few voices who still try to blame the victims sound delusional and their ideas are being debunked. At the same time, there is a realization that within Israel is a hostile minority that simply does not accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state. Clarity is forming, and it will lead to victory.
2. The Jewish fighting spirit is back.
The second good thing is that the Jewish fighting spirit is back on the streets. Men and women, old and young, are responding to terror with defiance. Pepper spray, rolling pins, umbrellas, selfie sticks, kicks, fists, running, and especially shooting -- Israelis are shooting bad guys (and gals). Yes, there have been some horrific videos of Jews being gouged as though we're back in a medieval Polish countryside. But even in those videos, soon enough, a gun-toting Jew vanquishes the jihadi zombie. We don't cower and shriek as they wish we would, and it demoralizes them. Our people's healthy fighting instincts have (amazingly) not been corrupted by the media, or by the ideology of weakness. Remember: Fighting back is good, so stay tactical out there, folks!
3. When we're terrified, they win.
Speaking of videos and fear: Today's video-centric world often works in the jihadis' favor. Terrorists want to make us feel terrified. They try to achieve that by doing a terrible act and publicizing it, using video to drive terror into our hearts. If a viewer is terrified after watching the news or YouTube, then the terrorists have succeeded. Don't let them. Don't let them scare you. Don't let them bully you. Don't let them unnerve you. When you walk out of your house with a big fork in your bag, you are saying that you'd rather fight than be scared. When you don't cancel that trip to Israel, you are saying that you will not be cowed. Remember, we Jews have always kicked bullies to the curb. From Abraham to King David to the Maccabees. We've fought the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, and British, with tenacity and much success. The jihad bully is next.
4. Don't mess with us. You'll lose.
The media, the U.S. administration and the U.N. are full of claims that Israel is using too much force, indiscriminately slaughtering innocent people in response to the jihad. This is classic anti-Semitic propaganda, blaming the Jews for some heinous crime that in reality is the work of the anti-Semite. (This tactic was also used in the blood libel and "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.") On the one hand, it is important to correct those pervasive lies.
But when Israelis intentionally and justly neutralize terrorists, it is important not to backpedal or mumble the pathetic formula that our army is moral or that we try to save the lives of the terrorists we just shot. Rather, it is much better to say, "You see? This is what happens when you mess with us." In other words, we are one crazy little post-Holocaust country and we have zero tolerance for Nazi-like jihads, and if you start up with us, you will face our ire and our fire. Contrary to how the world makes it seem, it's OK for us to want to survive, and it's OK to say it.
5. Thanks, "world," but we can take care of ourselves.
Regarding "the world": It will never come to our aid. We already knew that, learned it the hard way in the 1940s -- that's how the expression "never again" came to be. Part of the reason we established the State of Israel is because "the world" can't be relied on to defend us. So why do we whine about "the world"? Please let us stop hoping that the U.N. and the EU will condemn someone other then Israel, and let us stop waiting for them. If we want to take care of business, then we have to do it ourselves. Self-determination takes determination and no one will clean up our mess or come to our rescue. Time to grow up, take charge, even lead.
6. Jihad is a force of chaos.
On one level, what we are dealing with here is radical Islam's fight against Israel, a Jewish, non-Muslim entity in the Middle East. On a deeper level, this fight is between two universal forces: the creative and the destructive. Israel is about life, innovation, clean water, farming, education, medicine, health and prosperity. Israel is about enshrining the past and building the future.
But jihadism is like a veil of darkness, repressive and regressive. It sees no value in individuals, and only seeks to suppress people into conformity. Everywhere the jihad goes, it brings entropy and chaos, the opposite of creativity and life. And jihad is not content with the regions of destruction under its control. Rather, it is bitterly jealous of that small green country in its midst. Jihad hates the Jewish state precisely because it is an oasis of life in the heart of its Middle Eastern desert. This distinction makes it all the more clear what value there is to jihad civilization -- none -- and they hate us for it.
7. Our kindness goes too far.
However, while jihad is the enemy, out-of-control liberalism is its real enabler. Jihad exploits Western liberalism as a weakness and a portal to spread its venom. To defeat jihad, we have to root it out, deny it any ground in which to sprout, and be anything but liberal with it. We must not allow the extremists to teach jihadism in the schools, to rally on the Temple Mount, to blare out murderous messaged from their minarets, and certainly not allow them to use the Knesset, for heaven's sake, to spew their venom. We arrest them, hound them, chase them. They must know that if they have seditious thoughts, we can hear them, and we will find them. (For a model of how to fight the jihad, just look at our decidedly-not-liberal-with-jihad Egyptian neighbor, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.) It certainly won't be easy to put the jihadi genie back in the bottle, but it must be done. It is a matter of our survival.
8. Don't mess with Allah.
Jihad is religious. It understands the language of God better than Western talk of compromise, negotiations, and peace processes. This is what I tell would-be jihadis in the streets of Jerusalem: "In 1948, we were 600,000 Jews in this land. Now we are 6 million. You have fought many wars against us, but you have never won. Have you ever wondered why? Are we more numerous than you? Are we richer than you? No. It is because Allah wills it and He has blessed us to build up this country. Even the Quran talks about the Jewish people coming home -- yet you refuse to submit to Allah's will. In the meantime, your countries have fallen apart. Where is Syria? Where is Iraq? Where is the strong Egypt of the past? Gone. Do you know why? Because jihad is destroying you, not us. If you keep fighting with us, it will be your own Islamic State that will destroy you, all because you did not accept and submit to Allah's will." I have used this argument many times and seen the initial shock and subsequent expressions of acceptance on their faces. In short, blame it on Allah.
9. We will never leave.
And speaking of a language that jihadis understand, we must send them one unambiguous message: We are never, ever leaving. Arabs on the street ask me, "When will there be peace?" and I tell them, "There will be peace when you understand that we will never leave this land and never give up Jerusalem. We are more majnun [crazy] then you are about this place. So you might as well accept the reality. If you don't, the war will continue, but we will win in the end, because we are never, ever, leaving." Jihad gets courage from a sense of eventual victory. Take that away and replace it with a sense that the war against Israel is totally futile, a clear message that they will never win, and watch the jihadist motivation dwindle.
10. Jerusalem is at the heart of it.
Finally, to defeat the jihad against Israel, we must realize that the epicenter of the struggle is Jerusalem. Jihadis want to keep us out of Jerusalem, out of the Old City, and certainly off the Temple Mount, because they sense correctly that the bedrock of their power (and ours) is Jerusalem. Holding on to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount gives them religious authority and clout, and keeps us from achieving our true potential as sovereigns of this land. Indeed, almost all of their anti-Israel propaganda has an image, emblem, or icon of the Dome of the Rock. They are fighting to take the heart of our story, Jerusalem, and replace it with their Al-Quds. In the face of this assault, we must not retreat or relinquish any sovereignty in this city. We must not capitulate to the terror by dividing the city, or by keeping Jews away from the Temple Mount. Every person can be part of this fight: Visit Jerusalem, buy in Jerusalem, walk the streets of Jerusalem, pray in and for Jerusalem, and declare our rights to a sovereign and Israeli Jerusalem. In short, to beat the jihadis' vision of Al-Quds, we must say the following phrase, and mean it: "Next year, and every year, in a rebuilt and united Jerusalem."
The jihad against us is only partly about physical violence. It is mostly about mental intimidation and exploitation of our weaknesses. Yet this challenge is also an opportunity: If we rise to the occasion, overcome fear, and beat back the jihadi scourge, then Israel will take its rightful place as a world leader in the defense of freedom, along with being a nation of innovation and the world's spiritual superpower.
Yishai Fleisher is an Israeli journalist, educator, NGO founder, and jurist. Follow him @yishaifleisher
Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/O ... iqYKZKU.99
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Re: Israel
"Being alone isn't what hurts. It's when the people around you make you feel alone" ~ Naruto Uzumaki, an Anime Character