DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 31, 2011,
By a media trick, Tehran proved its claim that closing the Strait of Hormuz is as "easy as drinking water," debkafile reports.
First thing Saturday morning, Saturday, Dec. 31, Iran's state agencies "reported" long-range and other missiles had been test-fired as part of its ongoing naval drill around the Strait of Hormuz. Ahead of the test, Tehran closed its territorial waters.
For five hours Saturday, not a single warship, merchant vessel or oil tanker ventured into the 30-mile wide Hormuz strait, waiting to hear from Tehran' that the test was over.
Instead, around 0900 local time, a senior Iranian navy commander Mahmoud Moussavi informed Iran's English language Press TV that no missiles had been fired after all. "The exercise of launching missiles will be carried out in the coming days," he said.
For five hours therefore, world shipping obeyed Tehran's warning and gave the narrow waterway through which one-fifth of the world's oil passes, a wide berth. They stayed out of range of a test which, debkafile's military sources report, aimed to demonstrate for the first time that Shahab-3 ballistic missiles which have a range of 1,600 kilometers and other missiles, such as the Nasr1cruise marine missile, are capable of reaching Hormuz from central Iran.
The Moussavi statement was not aired on Iran's Farsi-language media. It was not necessary; Tehran had demonstrated by this ruse that it could close the vital waterway for hours or days at any moment.
Friday night, shortly after Tehran reported the missile-firing test was to take place the next morning, Washington announced the $3.48 billion sale to the United Arab Emirates of 94 advanced THAAD missiles with supporting technology.
Like the $30 billion sale of 84 F-15 fighter jets to the Saudi Arabia announced this week, delivery dates were not specified. The first F-15s for Saudi Arabia are due some time in 2015. It must therefore be said that the announced sophisticated US arms sales to the Persian Gulf nations bear only tangentially on the current state of tension in the region around Iranian threats.
The Hormuz missile stratagem has given Tehran three advantages in its face-off with Washington and the Gulf Arab governments:
1. It gave credibility to the threats issued by Iranian military chiefs last week regarding free passage in the Strait of Hormuz and Western sanctions:
On Dec. 29, Navy commander Adm. Habibollah Sayari said it was "really easy" for Iran's armed forces to shut the strait, adding "But today, we don't need [to shut] the strait because we have the Sea of Oman under control and can control the transit."
The next day, Deputy Commander of the Revolutionary Guards Gen. Hossein Salami said the United States was not in a position to tell Tehran "what to do in the Strait of Hormuz. Any threat will be responded to by threat… We will not relinquish our strategic moves if Iran's vital interests are undermined by any means."
2. For Tehran, closing the vital waterway to international traffic without firing a shot – even for a few hours – served to rebut the warning given by US Fifth Fleet spokeswoman Lt. Rebecca Rebarich on Dec. 29. She said: "Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations: any disruption will not be tolerated."
It also addressed the dispatch of the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier through the strait into the Sea of Oman in proximity to Iran's ten-day Velayati 90 naval drill. The Stennis, accompanied only by a single destroyer, demonstrated US confidence in its military muscle against any Iranian threat.
As the Stennis passed through the big US air base at al-Udeid, Qatar, went on high alert.
3. Tehran did not explain why its war game, designated in advance a display of Iranian naval and air control of the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, suddenly morphed into a ballistic missile test; nor its postponement.
debkafile's military sources report that the Iranians were in fact sending a message to the Gulf rulers and the US bases on their soil that they would not escape missile retaliation for a possible US or Israel attack on the Islamic Republic's nuclear facilities or harsh sanctions.
Saturday, 31 December 2011
Friday, 30 December 2011
Abbas primes West Bank for "Palestinian Resistance"
(Third Intifada) DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 28, 2011,
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas kicked off preparations for a fresh outbreak of anti-Israel "resistance" – which concerned US and Israeli security circles believe will develop into "Intifada No. 3" – Tuesday, Dec. 27, by suddenly firing, the West Bank's top security officer Maj. Gen. Diab el-Ali.
He did not notify US Lt. Gen. Michael R. Moeller, the American Security Coordinator between Israel and the PA appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Israel's military coordinator, Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot, of this step which caught them unawares.Palestinian military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Nidal Dokhan, was appointed to replace Maj. Gen. el-Ali.
debkafile's military sources in Washington and Jerusalem report that in both capitals, the Palestinian leader's action is seen as paving the way for radical changes in West Bank security. This fragile edifice was kept stable for some years thanks to joint US-Israeli-Palestinian efforts to back up peaceful relations between the Palestinians and Israel after the bloody years of the "Al Aqsa Intifada" terror.
Abbas (Abu Mazen) has now decided to upset this equilibrium by orchestrating an Arab Spring-style uprising on the West Bank, the differences being that the Palestinians will not rise up against their own leaders, i.e., himself, but against Israel, and that in no time this event is liable to revert to the "intifada"-style Palestinian terrorist violence of the early 2000s.
Four actions leading up to these steps have aroused trepidation:
1. Abbas's deal in Cairo last week with the extremist Hamas leader Khaled Meshal is one. The two rivals agreed that notwithstanding their differences they would go forward on common objectives.
For example, Meshaal sought the resurgence of armed resistance against Israel which Abbas opposes. They compromised on a "popular resistance" campaign of protracted mass demonstrations which would smash through the defense barrier dividing the West Bank from Israel, knocking over IDF checkpoints and storming en masse into Israel. The "demonstrators" would also march on and burst into Jewish civilian settlements.
2. For this campaign to succeed, it is necessary to redefine the functions of the eight Palestinian commando battalions of the Palestinian National Security Forces-PNSF, soon to be joined by two more just ending their training in Jordan.
The PNSF was created and is funded by the United States, while British and Jordanian military instructors train its 8,000 combatants.To make sure the Palestinian "uprising" does not turn against the Palestinian Authority and himself, Abbas will place these military battalions at the forefront of the mass demonstrations. They are to lead the throngs to their points of confrontation with Israel.
The PA chairman is therefore highhandedly retooling the armed Palestinian force, which was painstakingly created by the United States, to make it a hammer for confronting Israel's armed forces and civilians on both sides of the Green Line.
3. Abbas fired Gen. Diab el-Ali because he worked productively with the American coordinating unit for four years, from the day the first battalion was formed. His successor Maj. Gen. Dokhan is regarded in Western security circles as a shadowy figure of the undercover world.
The difference between them is that while Gen. Diab el-Ali is trusted in Washington and Jerusalem as genuinely and uncompromisingly willing to combat an upsurge of terror and Hamas extremism on the West Bank, the same cannot be said of the new man. Gen. Dokhan maintains good relations with US and Israel officers but also stands well with the heads of the radical Hamas and Jihad Islami.
Neither US nor Israeli commanders would risk sharing sensitive intelligence with him lest it reach the wrong hands. His appointment therefore as the senior officer on the West Bank is seen as the beginning of the end of the successful military and intelligence cooperation the US crafted between Israel and the Palestinian Authority for combating West Bank terrorism and presaging the return of the pro-terror Palestinian organizations.
This is what Khaled Meshaal was driving at Tuesday, Dec. 27, when he said his accord with Mahmoud Abbas had ushered in a new era of Palestinian cooperation after "Hamas forces on the West Bank were eradicated in recent years."
4. In intensive consultations this week, debkafile's sources report that US and Israeli security officials were of the opinion that the security changes Abbas is molding will have the effect of destroying the security stability the West Bank has enjoyed under US-backed Palestinians Authority rule. After opening the door to the radical Palestinian organizations, the PA will soon lose control as Hamas and Jihad Islami ride into the enclave's towns and villages. Any demonstrations will soon get out of hand and descend into violent turmoil.
At the same, time, those security officials estimate that it will take Abbas up to two months to remodel the Palestinian PNSF for its newly designated mission.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas kicked off preparations for a fresh outbreak of anti-Israel "resistance" – which concerned US and Israeli security circles believe will develop into "Intifada No. 3" – Tuesday, Dec. 27, by suddenly firing, the West Bank's top security officer Maj. Gen. Diab el-Ali.
He did not notify US Lt. Gen. Michael R. Moeller, the American Security Coordinator between Israel and the PA appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Israel's military coordinator, Maj. Gen. Eitan Dangot, of this step which caught them unawares.Palestinian military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Nidal Dokhan, was appointed to replace Maj. Gen. el-Ali.
debkafile's military sources in Washington and Jerusalem report that in both capitals, the Palestinian leader's action is seen as paving the way for radical changes in West Bank security. This fragile edifice was kept stable for some years thanks to joint US-Israeli-Palestinian efforts to back up peaceful relations between the Palestinians and Israel after the bloody years of the "Al Aqsa Intifada" terror.
Abbas (Abu Mazen) has now decided to upset this equilibrium by orchestrating an Arab Spring-style uprising on the West Bank, the differences being that the Palestinians will not rise up against their own leaders, i.e., himself, but against Israel, and that in no time this event is liable to revert to the "intifada"-style Palestinian terrorist violence of the early 2000s.
Four actions leading up to these steps have aroused trepidation:
1. Abbas's deal in Cairo last week with the extremist Hamas leader Khaled Meshal is one. The two rivals agreed that notwithstanding their differences they would go forward on common objectives.
For example, Meshaal sought the resurgence of armed resistance against Israel which Abbas opposes. They compromised on a "popular resistance" campaign of protracted mass demonstrations which would smash through the defense barrier dividing the West Bank from Israel, knocking over IDF checkpoints and storming en masse into Israel. The "demonstrators" would also march on and burst into Jewish civilian settlements.
2. For this campaign to succeed, it is necessary to redefine the functions of the eight Palestinian commando battalions of the Palestinian National Security Forces-PNSF, soon to be joined by two more just ending their training in Jordan.
The PNSF was created and is funded by the United States, while British and Jordanian military instructors train its 8,000 combatants.To make sure the Palestinian "uprising" does not turn against the Palestinian Authority and himself, Abbas will place these military battalions at the forefront of the mass demonstrations. They are to lead the throngs to their points of confrontation with Israel.
The PA chairman is therefore highhandedly retooling the armed Palestinian force, which was painstakingly created by the United States, to make it a hammer for confronting Israel's armed forces and civilians on both sides of the Green Line.
3. Abbas fired Gen. Diab el-Ali because he worked productively with the American coordinating unit for four years, from the day the first battalion was formed. His successor Maj. Gen. Dokhan is regarded in Western security circles as a shadowy figure of the undercover world.
The difference between them is that while Gen. Diab el-Ali is trusted in Washington and Jerusalem as genuinely and uncompromisingly willing to combat an upsurge of terror and Hamas extremism on the West Bank, the same cannot be said of the new man. Gen. Dokhan maintains good relations with US and Israel officers but also stands well with the heads of the radical Hamas and Jihad Islami.
Neither US nor Israeli commanders would risk sharing sensitive intelligence with him lest it reach the wrong hands. His appointment therefore as the senior officer on the West Bank is seen as the beginning of the end of the successful military and intelligence cooperation the US crafted between Israel and the Palestinian Authority for combating West Bank terrorism and presaging the return of the pro-terror Palestinian organizations.
This is what Khaled Meshaal was driving at Tuesday, Dec. 27, when he said his accord with Mahmoud Abbas had ushered in a new era of Palestinian cooperation after "Hamas forces on the West Bank were eradicated in recent years."
4. In intensive consultations this week, debkafile's sources report that US and Israeli security officials were of the opinion that the security changes Abbas is molding will have the effect of destroying the security stability the West Bank has enjoyed under US-backed Palestinians Authority rule. After opening the door to the radical Palestinian organizations, the PA will soon lose control as Hamas and Jihad Islami ride into the enclave's towns and villages. Any demonstrations will soon get out of hand and descend into violent turmoil.
At the same, time, those security officials estimate that it will take Abbas up to two months to remodel the Palestinian PNSF for its newly designated mission.
CURRENT EVENTS WITH HAGMANN AND HAGMANN
Current events and Bible Prophecy with Hagmann and Hagmann.
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Iran-U.S. brinkmanship over Strait of Hormuz nears breaking point
Agence France-Presse
Dec 30, 2011 1:45 AM ET
By Marc Burleigh
— A showdown between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s threats to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers worsened Thursday with warships from each side giving weight to an increasingly bellicose exchange of words.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards rejected a warning that the U.S. military would “not tolerate” such a closure, saying they would act decisively “to protect our vital interests.”
The tough language came as two U.S. warships entered a zone where the Iranian navy’s ships and aircraft were in the middle of 10 days of war games designed as a show of military might.
But a U.S. navy spokeswoman said later that the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and the guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay had transited without incident on Tuesday, in pre-planned, routine operation.
“Our interaction with the regular Iranian Navy continues to be within the standards of maritime practice, well-known, routine and professional,” Fifth Fleet spokeswoman Lieutenant Rebecca Rebarich said on Thursday.
Dec 30, 2011 1:45 AM ET
By Marc Burleigh
— A showdown between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s threats to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers worsened Thursday with warships from each side giving weight to an increasingly bellicose exchange of words.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards rejected a warning that the U.S. military would “not tolerate” such a closure, saying they would act decisively “to protect our vital interests.”
The tough language came as two U.S. warships entered a zone where the Iranian navy’s ships and aircraft were in the middle of 10 days of war games designed as a show of military might.
But a U.S. navy spokeswoman said later that the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis and the guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay had transited without incident on Tuesday, in pre-planned, routine operation.
“Our interaction with the regular Iranian Navy continues to be within the standards of maritime practice, well-known, routine and professional,” Fifth Fleet spokeswoman Lieutenant Rebecca Rebarich said on Thursday.
Senior Egyptian Politician Rejects Peace between Egypt, Israel
Senior Egyptian Politician Rejects Peace between Egypt, Israel
TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Politician and a nephew of Egypt's former President Anvar Sadat said there is no peace agreement between Cairo and Tel Aviv, saying that Egypt's future government should not recognize the so-called Camp David Peace Accord as it is not in the interest of the Egyptian nation.
“There is no peace agreement between Egypt and Israel and in the future we will talk to any political entity in the world with the logic of right or the logic of force (if the other side does not accept the logic of right) in a way that our relations serve the interests of the Egyptian nation more than anything else, as we are not fearful of any country after the glorious revolution of Egypt,” Mohammad Anvar Esmat Saddat told FNA on Wednesday.
“Yet, at present there is no room to talk about Israel, because this regime, along with the US, does not want Egypt to experience stability and security,” he added.
On Tuesday, Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent Egyptian political figure and the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, cautioned that the US is doing whatever it can within its possibilities to stop the revolutionary Egypt from annulling Camp David Accord specially now that Islamist parties are coming to power in Egypt.
Speaking to FNA, pro-reform leader and Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei said that the future of the Camp David Accord has been the focus of meetings between Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and Washington.
“The negotiations were completely secrete and confidential,” ElBaradei said.
“What the supreme military council said was that the talks were about bilateral and mutual relations, but I believe that Americans wanted to ensure that the deals signed between Egypt and Israel will remain intact if Islamists ascend to power,” ElBaradei stated.
The two main Islamic parties in the Egypt, which won majority of votes in the recent parliamentary elections in the country, have voiced their opposition to Cairo-Tel Aviv ties.
Speaking to FNA in Cairo on Saturday, spokesman of the Salafi al-Nour party rejected reports about a meeting between the party's leaders and Israel's ambassador to Egypt, and described the reports as smear campaign to defame the Islamist party.
“Al-Nour party can in no way ignore the Arab nations and Arab world's rights and the restoration of these rights is an unchangeable principle of the party,” Nader Bakar said.
“Al-Nour is against the establishment of any relations with the Zionist regime,” he stated.
The spokesman underlined that his party would certainly strive to change the Camp David Accord in the interests of Egyptian nation.
The Salafi al-Nour is among the two main Islamist parties that won a majority of votes in both the first the second rounds of Egypt's parliamentary. It has won 20% of ballots.
Early in December, a senior member of the Egyptian Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimun (Muslim Brotherhood) party underlined the necessity for revising Camp David Accord between Cairo and Tel Aviv, describing the pact as “cruel”.
“It is natural that after the victory of the revolution many things and issues should be studied and dealt with,” Kamal al-Halbawi told FNA at the time.
“Hence, the issue of revising the Camp David Accord will also be in the list of the top priorities of (Egypt's new) officials to be studied in its appropriate time,” he added.
Also, former Egyptian Ambassador to the Palestinian territories Gamal Mazloum had told FNA that Egypt should take action to boost its forces in the Sinai Desert and make a formal request to correct and modify the Camp David Accord.
"Since the Zionist regime has several times breached the Camp David Accord, Egypt should use its power and increase its military presence in the Sinai Desert if the Israeli regime rejects a willing modification of Camp David", he said in October.
Another leading Egyptian political activist had also underlined the necessity of revisions in the Camp David Accord between Cairo and Tel Aviv, stressing that the deal is no more valid.
“Camp David has been annulled and has no more credit and value,” member of Egypt's National Association for Change George Ishaq told FNA in Cairo in September.
TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior Politician and a nephew of Egypt's former President Anvar Sadat said there is no peace agreement between Cairo and Tel Aviv, saying that Egypt's future government should not recognize the so-called Camp David Peace Accord as it is not in the interest of the Egyptian nation.
“There is no peace agreement between Egypt and Israel and in the future we will talk to any political entity in the world with the logic of right or the logic of force (if the other side does not accept the logic of right) in a way that our relations serve the interests of the Egyptian nation more than anything else, as we are not fearful of any country after the glorious revolution of Egypt,” Mohammad Anvar Esmat Saddat told FNA on Wednesday.
“Yet, at present there is no room to talk about Israel, because this regime, along with the US, does not want Egypt to experience stability and security,” he added.
On Tuesday, Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent Egyptian political figure and the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, cautioned that the US is doing whatever it can within its possibilities to stop the revolutionary Egypt from annulling Camp David Accord specially now that Islamist parties are coming to power in Egypt.
Speaking to FNA, pro-reform leader and Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei said that the future of the Camp David Accord has been the focus of meetings between Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and Washington.
“The negotiations were completely secrete and confidential,” ElBaradei said.
“What the supreme military council said was that the talks were about bilateral and mutual relations, but I believe that Americans wanted to ensure that the deals signed between Egypt and Israel will remain intact if Islamists ascend to power,” ElBaradei stated.
The two main Islamic parties in the Egypt, which won majority of votes in the recent parliamentary elections in the country, have voiced their opposition to Cairo-Tel Aviv ties.
Speaking to FNA in Cairo on Saturday, spokesman of the Salafi al-Nour party rejected reports about a meeting between the party's leaders and Israel's ambassador to Egypt, and described the reports as smear campaign to defame the Islamist party.
“Al-Nour party can in no way ignore the Arab nations and Arab world's rights and the restoration of these rights is an unchangeable principle of the party,” Nader Bakar said.
“Al-Nour is against the establishment of any relations with the Zionist regime,” he stated.
The spokesman underlined that his party would certainly strive to change the Camp David Accord in the interests of Egyptian nation.
The Salafi al-Nour is among the two main Islamist parties that won a majority of votes in both the first the second rounds of Egypt's parliamentary. It has won 20% of ballots.
Early in December, a senior member of the Egyptian Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimun (Muslim Brotherhood) party underlined the necessity for revising Camp David Accord between Cairo and Tel Aviv, describing the pact as “cruel”.
“It is natural that after the victory of the revolution many things and issues should be studied and dealt with,” Kamal al-Halbawi told FNA at the time.
“Hence, the issue of revising the Camp David Accord will also be in the list of the top priorities of (Egypt's new) officials to be studied in its appropriate time,” he added.
Also, former Egyptian Ambassador to the Palestinian territories Gamal Mazloum had told FNA that Egypt should take action to boost its forces in the Sinai Desert and make a formal request to correct and modify the Camp David Accord.
"Since the Zionist regime has several times breached the Camp David Accord, Egypt should use its power and increase its military presence in the Sinai Desert if the Israeli regime rejects a willing modification of Camp David", he said in October.
Another leading Egyptian political activist had also underlined the necessity of revisions in the Camp David Accord between Cairo and Tel Aviv, stressing that the deal is no more valid.
“Camp David has been annulled and has no more credit and value,” member of Egypt's National Association for Change George Ishaq told FNA in Cairo in September.
Burning books in Cairo
Ryan Jones - Israel Today, December 27th, 2011
Any number of political analysts have tried to write off the electoral gains by Islamist parties in Egypt, insisting that once in power, groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist al-Nour Party will take a pragmatic approach to governing.
Any number of political analysts have tried to write off the electoral gains by Islamist parties in Egypt, insisting that once in power, groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist al-Nour Party will take a pragmatic approach to governing.
It is the same nonsense that was spouted as the Nazis rose to power in Germany, when the Ayatollah Khomeini made his triumphant return to Iran, when Yasser Arafat's PLO terrorist organization was elevated to the status of a national government, and when Hamas won the 2006 Palestinian legislative election.
On December 17, an Egyptian mob – presumably of the type that has been voting for the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Nour – demonstrated that they have no intention of “modernizing” or adopting Western-style pragmatism when they torched the Institute of Egypt in Cairo.
Among the casualties of the Islamist assault were some 192,000 rare books and manuscripts.
The Institute of Egypt was established by Napoleon Bonaparte when he invaded Egypt in the late 18th century. For centuries the Institute of Egypt housed priceless chronicles of the nation's history, as well as the findings of hundreds of top scholars and scientists.
The Institute of Egypt symbolized Egypt's connection to the West, and for many its establishment was the start of the “modern era” in Egypt. And that is why it had to go.
Because Egypt's Islamists have no intention of modernizing, not on Western terms, at any rate. Like the Ayatollahs in Iran and Hamas in Gaza, their ultimate goal is to return Egypt to a medieval form of life where a strict interpretation of Sharia Law governs the actions of all.
The first to suffer will be Egypt's Christians. They are suffering already.
But most of this is being ignored by an international community determined to paint the “Arab Spring” as a positive phenomenon.
It is certainly a positive thing to throw off the yoke of a repressive dictatorship. But it is a negative thing to replace that repressive dictatorship with oppressive theocratic rule.
That the world is championing this change in Egypt when just 30 years ago the same scenario played out in Iran with devastating results just goes to show that mankind is doomed to never learn from his mistakes.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
MARANATHA FELLOWSHIP
For those interested in finding out more about Maranatha Fellowship and their outreach (Word Ministries) here are some details:
73 Holyhead Road, Birmingham. B21 0LG. United Kingdomt:
Telephone: 0121 523 9717 m: 0778 658 4821 Email: thewordministries50@hotmail.com
And why not go along on a Sunday morning at 11:00 or evening at 6:30 you will receive a warm welcome and be blessed.
Tell them I sent you!
God bless.
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Wednesday, 28 December 2011
A SHORT REPLY TO CATHERINE
I am posting this because it is 2:20 am and I need to get it off my chest and get some sleep.
I initially wrote the following on the comments box but deleted it as I wanted to add some more and correct some parts but found it would not paste the original. Sooooo here is my comment in reply to Catherine.
And I thank her very much for causing me to reflect on my motives for the previous post.
Hi Catherine.
I understand what you are saying.
However Jesus, and the prophets and the apostles all warned of deceivers. Shouldn't we?
When someone publicly calls us pharisees without actually mentioning our names and says we "demanded" and would have continued demanding I feel it right to set the record straight.
I never demanded anything from Revelation tv. I left when it became clear they would not change their stand.
I did not demand ....I simply left and wrote them an e-mail expressing my sadness and reasons for leaving.
I wish we could resolve this. I really do but how can you resolve it when you want to discuss the issue but receive nothing but childish name calling from those who should be more responsible before the Lord and know better?
How can a problem be resolved when viewers, who contribute to a channel they are continually told is "their" channel, do not even receive the decency of a reply to their mail or calls but instead are lumped together as pharisees for daring to question "the management"?
Therefore good people should be warned about where they contribute their finances.
And I am not seeking popularity or money.
I fear the Lord and love him.
I just want God's people to be sensible stewards of the finances and the time God has given them.
I know a wonderful church in Birmingham (Maranatha Fellowship) who work so hard taking the gospel to India and Africa yet sometimes they really do not have enough money to buy a coffee at the airport!
The money goes to building churches and teaching pastors in these countries good solid theology.
I think that is where some of the money could go as well as work that is going on here in the UK getting the word out.
All I am asking for is caution and discernment and not a fluffy sentimental gooey feeling about not facing up to false teachers and those who supply the false teaching partly with peoples hard earned cash.
Not to mention Revelation never actually talk about the problem raised but attack those who voice concern.
Turning the other cheek? Did Paul when false teachers came to Galatia and told the christians Paul was not really to be listened to but they should obey them instead and be circumcised?
No he vigorously defended his calling.
I think a reading of Paul's words in Galatians 5:12 would show what he thought of having a mixture in the church.
He said he wished those false teachers would go the whole way and castrate themselves...not actually British christian language of today or turning the other cheek.
But Paul knew the risks involved in having a mixture. Especially when the clarity of the Gospel and the honour of God's name is at risk.
We do not wrap people in cotton wool when the word of God is being twisted out of shape by them.
We seem more concerned with keeping the peace than keeping the faith today.
The church desperately needs men today with backbone.
A few spiritual Humphrey Bogarts would not go amiss.
Men who will stand for truth and clarity and not a mixture. Men who will not buckle under and compromise the gospel and God's name all for the sake of their 15 minutes of fame on tv.
Men who care about the flock, not fleece them.
These are the last days and it really is going to get much worse than this.
If we do not stand now then will someone tell me ......when?
I initially wrote the following on the comments box but deleted it as I wanted to add some more and correct some parts but found it would not paste the original. Sooooo here is my comment in reply to Catherine.
And I thank her very much for causing me to reflect on my motives for the previous post.
Hi Catherine.
I understand what you are saying.
However Jesus, and the prophets and the apostles all warned of deceivers. Shouldn't we?
When someone publicly calls us pharisees without actually mentioning our names and says we "demanded" and would have continued demanding I feel it right to set the record straight.
I never demanded anything from Revelation tv. I left when it became clear they would not change their stand.
I did not demand ....I simply left and wrote them an e-mail expressing my sadness and reasons for leaving.
I wish we could resolve this. I really do but how can you resolve it when you want to discuss the issue but receive nothing but childish name calling from those who should be more responsible before the Lord and know better?
How can a problem be resolved when viewers, who contribute to a channel they are continually told is "their" channel, do not even receive the decency of a reply to their mail or calls but instead are lumped together as pharisees for daring to question "the management"?
Therefore good people should be warned about where they contribute their finances.
And I am not seeking popularity or money.
I fear the Lord and love him.
I just want God's people to be sensible stewards of the finances and the time God has given them.
I know a wonderful church in Birmingham (Maranatha Fellowship) who work so hard taking the gospel to India and Africa yet sometimes they really do not have enough money to buy a coffee at the airport!
The money goes to building churches and teaching pastors in these countries good solid theology.
I think that is where some of the money could go as well as work that is going on here in the UK getting the word out.
All I am asking for is caution and discernment and not a fluffy sentimental gooey feeling about not facing up to false teachers and those who supply the false teaching partly with peoples hard earned cash.
Not to mention Revelation never actually talk about the problem raised but attack those who voice concern.
Turning the other cheek? Did Paul when false teachers came to Galatia and told the christians Paul was not really to be listened to but they should obey them instead and be circumcised?
No he vigorously defended his calling.
I think a reading of Paul's words in Galatians 5:12 would show what he thought of having a mixture in the church.
He said he wished those false teachers would go the whole way and castrate themselves...not actually British christian language of today or turning the other cheek.
But Paul knew the risks involved in having a mixture. Especially when the clarity of the Gospel and the honour of God's name is at risk.
We do not wrap people in cotton wool when the word of God is being twisted out of shape by them.
We seem more concerned with keeping the peace than keeping the faith today.
The church desperately needs men today with backbone.
A few spiritual Humphrey Bogarts would not go amiss.
Men who will stand for truth and clarity and not a mixture. Men who will not buckle under and compromise the gospel and God's name all for the sake of their 15 minutes of fame on tv.
Men who care about the flock, not fleece them.
These are the last days and it really is going to get much worse than this.
If we do not stand now then will someone tell me ......when?
HOWARD AND HIS COWARD'S CASTLE
I received a message from a friend yesterday telling me dear Howard Conder of Revelation tv is still calling anyone a Pharisee, who questions what he puts on the station.
It is what used to be called in church circles a "Coward's Castle." You know, the preacher can attack certain people from his pulpit but never actually takes any criticism himself.
This is sadly the case with Howard and Revelation tv. Jacob Prasch and myself raised concerns over certain preachers who are on the station. All we received in response was name calling.
I was also told by someone very close to Howard I had left Revelation tv because Jacob had bullied me into leaving! Absolute nonsense.
You see the issue is never discussed but the messengers are attacked instead.
A very large number of people have written both to me and Revelation tv complaining they have concerns but have never received one reply from Revelation.
As someone said Revelation tv is supposed to be a "church without walls" but is in fact a church without ears.
It is constantly stated "Revelation tv is your channel" but not, it appears, when you question the leadership's decisions. Then you become a Pharisee.
I pray for Howard and the management and staff and volunteers who put so much into the work at Revelation tv.
We applaud Howard's stand for Israel.
But God hates a mixture. What fellowship has light with darkness?
What fellowship has truth with error?
It is simply no good saying "Yes but they put such a lot of good programmes on there. Therefore I will support them financially."
Is God not able to provide us with finances and a channel that promotes nothing but preachers, programmes and presenters who give out scripural truth without compromising with heretics who pay you to air their nonsense?
God at this time in history is shaking everything as he said he would in the last days.
A division is coming now within the professing church.
As always in history a remnant will leave and the majority will stay at least for a while.
Christ is returning for a bride who has "made herself ready". Not a bride who thinks it is okay to have a mixture of truth and error and attacks anyone who questions her motives for that mixture or in a loving way points out the problem.
Revelation tv, and Howard especially, bear a great responsibility to Christ and his church in these days. Sounding an unclear message and allowing fanciful stories such as God not having a clue what it was he created and having to ask Adam for help in naming his creation have the potential to lead people to follow and donate their cash to these heretics.
Come out of her my people says the Lord. So do we compromise or leave?
While I love everyone at Revelation I cannot stand by and watch them have heretics on air and attack a brother like Jacob Prasch for asking why these heretics are there in the first place.
May God lead them and all of us deeper into his truth in these days as we prepare to meet the Lord.
It is what used to be called in church circles a "Coward's Castle." You know, the preacher can attack certain people from his pulpit but never actually takes any criticism himself.
This is sadly the case with Howard and Revelation tv. Jacob Prasch and myself raised concerns over certain preachers who are on the station. All we received in response was name calling.
I was also told by someone very close to Howard I had left Revelation tv because Jacob had bullied me into leaving! Absolute nonsense.
You see the issue is never discussed but the messengers are attacked instead.
A very large number of people have written both to me and Revelation tv complaining they have concerns but have never received one reply from Revelation.
As someone said Revelation tv is supposed to be a "church without walls" but is in fact a church without ears.
It is constantly stated "Revelation tv is your channel" but not, it appears, when you question the leadership's decisions. Then you become a Pharisee.
I pray for Howard and the management and staff and volunteers who put so much into the work at Revelation tv.
We applaud Howard's stand for Israel.
But God hates a mixture. What fellowship has light with darkness?
What fellowship has truth with error?
It is simply no good saying "Yes but they put such a lot of good programmes on there. Therefore I will support them financially."
Is God not able to provide us with finances and a channel that promotes nothing but preachers, programmes and presenters who give out scripural truth without compromising with heretics who pay you to air their nonsense?
God at this time in history is shaking everything as he said he would in the last days.
A division is coming now within the professing church.
As always in history a remnant will leave and the majority will stay at least for a while.
Christ is returning for a bride who has "made herself ready". Not a bride who thinks it is okay to have a mixture of truth and error and attacks anyone who questions her motives for that mixture or in a loving way points out the problem.
Revelation tv, and Howard especially, bear a great responsibility to Christ and his church in these days. Sounding an unclear message and allowing fanciful stories such as God not having a clue what it was he created and having to ask Adam for help in naming his creation have the potential to lead people to follow and donate their cash to these heretics.
Come out of her my people says the Lord. So do we compromise or leave?
While I love everyone at Revelation I cannot stand by and watch them have heretics on air and attack a brother like Jacob Prasch for asking why these heretics are there in the first place.
May God lead them and all of us deeper into his truth in these days as we prepare to meet the Lord.
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Study: Fukushima Radiation Has Already Killed 14,000 Americans
- Washingtons Blog
December 27, 2011
Already 14,000 U.S. Deaths From Fukushima ?
A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal International Journal of Health Services alleges that 14,000 people have already died in the United States due to Fukushima.
Specifically, the authors of the study claim:
An estimated 14,000 excess deaths in the United States are linked to the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear reactors in Japan, according to a major new article in the December 2011 edition of the International Journal of Health Services. This is the first peer-reviewed study published in a medical journal documenting the health hazards of Fukushima.
[The authors] note that their estimate of 14,000 excess U.S. deaths in the 14 weeks after the Fukushima meltdowns is comparable to the 16,500 excess deaths in the 17 weeks after the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986. The rise in reported deaths after Fukushima was largest among U.S. infants under age one. The 2010-2011 increase for infant deaths in the spring was 1.8 percent, compared to a decrease of 8.37 percent in the preceding 14 weeks.
The authors seem – at first glance – to have pretty solid credentials. Janette Sherman, M.D. worked for the Atomic Energy Commission (forerunner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) at the University of California in Berkeley, and for the U.S. Navy Radiation Defense Laboratory in San Francisco. She served on the EPA’s advisory board for 6 years, and has been an advisor to the National Cancer Institute on breast cancer. Dr. Sherman specializes in internal medicine and toxicology with an emphasis on chemicals and nuclear radiation.
Joseph J. Mangano is a public health administrator and researcher who has studied the connection between low-dose radiation exposure and subsequent risk of diseases such as cancer and damage to newborns. He has published numerous articles and letters in medical and other journals in addition to books, including Low Level Radiation and Immune System Disorders: An Atomic Era Legacy.
Sherman also claims that a study in British Columbia of infants under 1 year of age allegedly corroborates the increased deaths due to Fukushima:
But a Scientific American blog post and Med Page Today slam the study as being voodoo science. However, Scientific American does admit:
Certainly radiation from Fukushima is dangerous, and could very well lead to negative health effects—even across the Pacific.
What Do Other Experts Say?
Pediatrician Helen Caldicott said recently:
May I say that North America has received quite a large fallout itself.
***
We’re going to see an incredible increase in cancer, leukemia, and — down the time track — genetic disease. Not just in Japan but in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly North America.
Caldicott also wrote in a New York Times Op-Ed:
Children are innately sensitive to the carcinogenic effects of radiation, fetuses even more so. Like Chernobyl, the accident at Fukushima is of global proportions. Unusual levels of radiation have been discovered in British Columbia, along the West Coast and East Coast of the United States and in Europe, and heavy contamination has been found in oceanic waters.
Nuclear engineer Gunderson says that the Japanese will suffer one million cancer deaths from Fukushima, and that we’ll see a statistically meaningful increase in cancer on the West Coast of America and Canada from Fukushima. Gundersen says that – after Japan – the most radioactive areas are the Cascades and Portland.
There is certainly evidence that West Coast residents – especially in Seattle, Portland and other areas near the Cascades – have been hit with some radiation. And there is certainly evidence that radioactive contamination has spread in the United States, and will continue to spread for some time to come.
Why Is The Science So Hotly Debated?
Why is there so much dispute about the number of deaths which Fukushima could cause on the West Coast?
Because radiation safety standards are set based on the assumption that everyone exposed is a healthy man in his 20s – and that radioactive particles ingested into the body cause no more damage than radiation hitting the outside of the body.
However – in the real world – radiation affects small children much more than full-grown adults. And small particles of radiation – called “internal emitters” – which get inside the body are much more dangerous than general exposures to radiation. See this and this.
In addition, American and Canadian authorities have virtually stopped monitoring airborn radiation, and are not testing fish for radiation. (Indeed, the EPA reacted to Fukushima by raising “acceptable” radiation levels.)
So – as in Japan – radiation is usually discovered by citizens and the handful of research scientists with funding to check, and not the government. See this, this, this, this, this and this.
The Japanese government’s entire strategy from day one has been to cover up the severity of the Fukushima accident.
This has likely led to unnecessary, additional deaths.
Indeed, the core problem is that all of the world’s nuclear agencies are wholly captured by the nuclear industry … as are virtually all of the supposedly independent health agencies.
So the failure of the American, Canadian and other governments to test for and share results is making it difficult to hold an open scientific debate about what is happening.
MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD LEADER AND ISRAEL
As the West shakes hands and pats its own back for supporting the "Arab Spring" and the "Moderate" Muslim Brotherhood the spiritual leader of the brotherhood has signed a declaration advocating no peace with Israel only bloodshed.
Thanks Hilary and Barak for your gushing support. You really know who the peace makers are don't you??
The International Union of Muslim Scholars Wishes You a Happy "Save al-Aqsa Friday" (while Pushing for War with Israel)
Posted by Translating Jihad
The International Union of Muslim Scholars is headed by the highly-popular cleric, Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is also the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Point being, when these guys issue a statement, you can pretty well consider it the view of the Muslim Brotherhood.Here they warn the Israelis that any stone disturbed on al-Aqsa will be met with "heavy bloodshed"; they call for the Palestinian factions to unite against Israel; they call for the withdrawal from any peace initiatives with Israel; and they call for Muslims to revive the duty of jihad and prepare for victory against Israel.In sum, this looks like no more or less than a call for war against Israel (translated from salahsoltan.com, 24 Nov 2011):
The International Union of Muslim Scholars Calls on All Muslims to Make Next Friday, 25-11-2011, Al-Aqsa Friday
24 November 2011, salahsoltan.com
The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) calls on all Muslims to make next Friday, 25 November 2011, al-Aqsa Friday, and to stand with it physically and spiritually, and to give the Zionists a stern warning against trying to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque. (The IUMS) calls on the Arab and Islamic world to protect it. The IUMS continues to be deeply concerned for what is happening in all of the blessed land of Palestine, from the al-Aqsa Mosque and al-Quds (Jerusalem) to the West Bank and Gaza. (The IUMS is) especially (concerned about) Zionist attempts through all means available to target the al-Aqsa Mosque in order to demolish the Mughrabi Gate Bridge, which connects the Wailing Wall and the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque.
This is in order to build an iron bridge to allow artillery, tanks, and soldiers into the courtyards of the al-Aqsa Mosque, and threaten the security of the mosque and of praying Muslims.
This is part of a terrible Judaization scheme, which has grown to the point of 37 tunnels underneath the al-Aqsa Mosque at a depth of 90 meters, building 50,000 settlement units, and changing 200,000 Arab names into Hebrew names, as some authorities have frankly admitted.
Before this imminent danger and these repeated attacks, the IUMS calls for the following:
1 - The IUMS issues a stern warning to the Zionists against proceeding with this dangerous plan (attempting to demolish al-Aqsa), which would inflame the conflict in the region. Al-Aqsa is the first of the two qiblas (direction to which Muslims turn when praying), and the site where the Messenger (PBUH) ascended. The site is also considered sacred to our Christian brothers.
(Could they be referring to the same christians they murdered in Egypt a few weeks ago when the egyptians sacked the coptic church in Cairo?)
Our basis for this stern warning is the deep Islamic and Arab roots is the powerful sentiment of Muslims toward their blessed holy sites, in addition to the fact that the Arab revolutions have paved the way for unity in the Islamic Ummah, which contains more than 1 billion 700 thousand people. All of them are of one heart concerning al-Aqsa and al-Quds (Jerusalem). Let the Zionists know that every stone, even every atom of al-Aqsa (which is disturbed) will be met with heavy bloodshed.
2 - The IUMS calls on the leaders of the Arab and Islamic Ummah to bear their responsibility for every stone in the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque through the following measures:
A - Support the resistance with all available resources, which is the only option for ending the occupation and protecting the holy sites.
B - Withdraw from the Arab peace initiative with the Zionist enemy, which no longer serves any benefit.
C - Suspend all peace treaties and expel Zionist ambassadors which remain in the country.
3 - The IUMS calls on the Ummah and its intellectuals and their parties to make Friday, 25 November 2011, "Save al-Aqsa Friday" through Friday sermons, sit-ins, prayers, and peaceful demonstrations.
4 - The IUMS calls immediately for the union of the Palestinian resistance, to be one rank (Truly Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in battle array, as if they were a solid cemented structure.-Qur'an 61:4). (The IUMS) also calls on the entire Ummah to revive the duty of jihad in all its forms, and prepare for the hour of victory and the liberation of al-Aqsa, al-Quds (Jerusalem), and Palestine from the Zionist enemies.
It is coming by the promise of Allah Almighty to the believers, saying, "And another (favour will He bestow,) which ye do love,- help from Allah and a speedy victory. So give the Glad Tidings to the Believers" (Qur'an 61:13);
"And We gave (Clear) Warning to the Children of Israel in the Book, that twice would they do mischief on the earth and be elated with mighty arrogance (and twice would they be punished)! When the first of the warnings came to pass, We sent against you Our servants given to terrible warfare: They entered the very inmost parts of your homes; and it was a warning (completely) fulfilled." Allah has spoken the truth.
Doha (Qatar), 23 November 2011
(Signed)Dr. 'Ali al-Qarah Daghi, General SecretaryDr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, President of the IUMS
Thanks Hilary and Barak for your gushing support. You really know who the peace makers are don't you??
The International Union of Muslim Scholars Wishes You a Happy "Save al-Aqsa Friday" (while Pushing for War with Israel)
Posted by Translating Jihad
The International Union of Muslim Scholars is headed by the highly-popular cleric, Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is also the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Point being, when these guys issue a statement, you can pretty well consider it the view of the Muslim Brotherhood.Here they warn the Israelis that any stone disturbed on al-Aqsa will be met with "heavy bloodshed"; they call for the Palestinian factions to unite against Israel; they call for the withdrawal from any peace initiatives with Israel; and they call for Muslims to revive the duty of jihad and prepare for victory against Israel.In sum, this looks like no more or less than a call for war against Israel (translated from salahsoltan.com, 24 Nov 2011):
The International Union of Muslim Scholars Calls on All Muslims to Make Next Friday, 25-11-2011, Al-Aqsa Friday
24 November 2011, salahsoltan.com
The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) calls on all Muslims to make next Friday, 25 November 2011, al-Aqsa Friday, and to stand with it physically and spiritually, and to give the Zionists a stern warning against trying to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque. (The IUMS) calls on the Arab and Islamic world to protect it. The IUMS continues to be deeply concerned for what is happening in all of the blessed land of Palestine, from the al-Aqsa Mosque and al-Quds (Jerusalem) to the West Bank and Gaza. (The IUMS is) especially (concerned about) Zionist attempts through all means available to target the al-Aqsa Mosque in order to demolish the Mughrabi Gate Bridge, which connects the Wailing Wall and the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque.
This is in order to build an iron bridge to allow artillery, tanks, and soldiers into the courtyards of the al-Aqsa Mosque, and threaten the security of the mosque and of praying Muslims.
This is part of a terrible Judaization scheme, which has grown to the point of 37 tunnels underneath the al-Aqsa Mosque at a depth of 90 meters, building 50,000 settlement units, and changing 200,000 Arab names into Hebrew names, as some authorities have frankly admitted.
Before this imminent danger and these repeated attacks, the IUMS calls for the following:
1 - The IUMS issues a stern warning to the Zionists against proceeding with this dangerous plan (attempting to demolish al-Aqsa), which would inflame the conflict in the region. Al-Aqsa is the first of the two qiblas (direction to which Muslims turn when praying), and the site where the Messenger (PBUH) ascended. The site is also considered sacred to our Christian brothers.
(Could they be referring to the same christians they murdered in Egypt a few weeks ago when the egyptians sacked the coptic church in Cairo?)
Our basis for this stern warning is the deep Islamic and Arab roots is the powerful sentiment of Muslims toward their blessed holy sites, in addition to the fact that the Arab revolutions have paved the way for unity in the Islamic Ummah, which contains more than 1 billion 700 thousand people. All of them are of one heart concerning al-Aqsa and al-Quds (Jerusalem). Let the Zionists know that every stone, even every atom of al-Aqsa (which is disturbed) will be met with heavy bloodshed.
2 - The IUMS calls on the leaders of the Arab and Islamic Ummah to bear their responsibility for every stone in the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque through the following measures:
A - Support the resistance with all available resources, which is the only option for ending the occupation and protecting the holy sites.
B - Withdraw from the Arab peace initiative with the Zionist enemy, which no longer serves any benefit.
C - Suspend all peace treaties and expel Zionist ambassadors which remain in the country.
3 - The IUMS calls on the Ummah and its intellectuals and their parties to make Friday, 25 November 2011, "Save al-Aqsa Friday" through Friday sermons, sit-ins, prayers, and peaceful demonstrations.
4 - The IUMS calls immediately for the union of the Palestinian resistance, to be one rank (Truly Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in battle array, as if they were a solid cemented structure.-Qur'an 61:4). (The IUMS) also calls on the entire Ummah to revive the duty of jihad in all its forms, and prepare for the hour of victory and the liberation of al-Aqsa, al-Quds (Jerusalem), and Palestine from the Zionist enemies.
It is coming by the promise of Allah Almighty to the believers, saying, "And another (favour will He bestow,) which ye do love,- help from Allah and a speedy victory. So give the Glad Tidings to the Believers" (Qur'an 61:13);
"And We gave (Clear) Warning to the Children of Israel in the Book, that twice would they do mischief on the earth and be elated with mighty arrogance (and twice would they be punished)! When the first of the warnings came to pass, We sent against you Our servants given to terrible warfare: They entered the very inmost parts of your homes; and it was a warning (completely) fulfilled." Allah has spoken the truth.
Doha (Qatar), 23 November 2011
(Signed)Dr. 'Ali al-Qarah Daghi, General SecretaryDr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, President of the IUMS
Monday, 26 December 2011
The IDF: The Moral Army
As a possible war looms on the Middle Eastern horizon, please pray for all involved especially the soldiers of the IDF the Israel Defence Force.
Posted By David Meir-Levi On December 26, 2011
“Based on my knowledge and experience, I can say that during Operation Cast Lead, the Israel Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in the combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare. Israel did so while faced with an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capacities behind the human shields of the civilian population.”
But have we not heard, for decades, from Israel’s critics, detractors, and enemies (including some who call themselves Israel’s friends), from the podia of the UN, Western mainstream media, the college classroom, church pulpits, and human rights organizations that Israel commits war crimes; deploys munitions banned by international law; routinely uses excessive force; targets civilian populations; is a “state terrorist” waging terror war against innocent, helpless, harmless civilians; and in general behaves like a rogue state hell-bent on genocide and ethnic cleansing?
The evidence to support Colonel Kemp’s testimony, and the above assertion, is irrefutable.
During April 1-11, 2002, the IDF invaded Jenin to neutralize terrorist forces based there, as part of its Operation Defensive Shield, after a deadly string of terror attacks including the infamous Park Hotel massacre (March 27, 2002). The IDF knew that terrorist forces in Jenin were expecting the invasion, and had prepared for it with numerous booby traps and ambush forces hidden within the civilian population, in Arab homes, mosques, hospitals and public places. Common sense and military practice would require that the IDF engage in safe long-distance attacks from the air and with artillery, to reduce or eliminate Israeli casualties. But Israel chose instead to send in ground forces, going house to house, urging civilians to leave, accompanying those who did so until they reached safety, employing local residents to urge others to leave, and urging terrorists hidden in homes to surrender; and in doing so, the Israeli soldiers themselves easy targets for the terrorists.
Although UN debates and international media teemed with accusations of massacre and bloodbath, war crimes and crimes against humanity, western and even Arab sources admitted later that there was simply no evidence to support such infamy. A total of 54 Arabs, almost all armed terrorists, and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in Jenin.
Had Israel chosen to launch an aerial and artillery attack, no Israeli soldiers would have been killed, but hundreds or perhaps thousands of civilian Arabs would have died. Israel chose the death of its own soldiers in order to minimize harm to Arab civilians. Although as yet unrecognized as such, the IDF made similar decisions during the Second Lebanon War (12 July – 14 August, 2006).
Israel has been the object of much calumny and opprobrium, including the accusation of war crimes violation, for its use of cluster bombs during its invasion of Lebanon in 2006. Cluster bombs have long been the subject of debate in legal circles, but in 2006 there had been no definitive ruling as to the legality of cluster bombs. Only in August, 2010, did an international ban on cluster munitions take effect following the ratification of the “Convention on Cluster Munitions.”
Cluster bombs are air-to-ground or ground-to-ground ordinance which consist of a large capsule containing hundreds of marble-sized bomblets which, upon the large capsule’s impact, shoot out randomly over a wide area, exploding upon contact, causing indiscriminate damage, and thus posing a significant risk to civilians, since the bomblets cannot be aimed at a specific target. A secondary but no less lethal risk is the fact that many bomblets do not explode after dispersion, can remain on the ground in a live state indefinitely, and can detonate if someone steps on them or picks them up. This creates danger to civilians even long after hostilities have ceased.
Here’s how it works.
The bomblets, while lethal to people, are mostly ineffective against brick or stone walls and armor. Thus a hit on or near an unarmored rocket launcher will most likely kill the launcher’s operators and thus disable the launcher, but even a direct hit on a fully encapsulated armored launcher will merely make a horrible noise, and probably leave the operators, protected inside the armored operating area, pretty much unharmed and able to continue firing rockets.
So why did Israel make such a counter-productive choice?
With cluster bombs, Hezbollah terrorists operating the launchers might be killed, but the roof would not collapse and the civilians below would be unharmed. But if the rocket launchers were armored, they could continue to bombard Israeli civilians, because, protected by armor, the Hezbollah operators would be unharmed in the spray of bomblets. Similarly, Hezbollah stationed many rocket launchers in narrow alleys of dense residential areas. Conventional rocket attacks would have destroyed most launchers but carried the risk of penetrating the walls of nearby homes and killing civilians.
But Israel went even further. After the war, Israel published a map identifying the Hezbollah positions which sustained cluster-bomb attacks, so that the UN and the Lebanese army could search those areas for unexploded bomblets and thus reduce risk to Arab civilians living in those areas.
Israel behaved in a similar manner before and during its invasion of the Gaza Strip.
No nation anywhere in the world, throughout all of world history, has ever done so much to protect enemy civilians: and all this while Hamas and Hezbollah intentionally put their own civilians in harm’s way, and boasted about it (see here, here and here).
Hamas and Hezbollah know what Israel’s detractors deny: no army anywhere in the world, at any time in history, has ever done what Israel does routinely to protect enemy civilians even at the cost of endangering its own, military and civilian, and reducing the effectiveness of its military in combat.
Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: Click here.
Article printed from FrontPage Magazine: http://frontpagemag.com
URL to article: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/12/26/the-idf-the-moral-army/
Posted By David Meir-Levi On December 26, 2011On October 16, 2009, British Colonel Richard Kemp testified regarding Israel’s behavior in the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead (Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip in 2008-9 ), as part of the UN’s evaluation of the Goldstone Report. Colonel Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, who served with the UN and NATO, commanded British troops in Northern Ireland, led UK forces in Bosnia and Macedonia, participated in Gulf War 1, spent considerable time in Iraq during Gulf War 2, and served on the UK’s joint international commission on terrorism, testified as follows:
“Based on my knowledge and experience, I can say that during Operation Cast Lead, the Israel Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in the combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare. Israel did so while faced with an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capacities behind the human shields of the civilian population.”
But have we not heard, for decades, from Israel’s critics, detractors, and enemies (including some who call themselves Israel’s friends), from the podia of the UN, Western mainstream media, the college classroom, church pulpits, and human rights organizations that Israel commits war crimes; deploys munitions banned by international law; routinely uses excessive force; targets civilian populations; is a “state terrorist” waging terror war against innocent, helpless, harmless civilians; and in general behaves like a rogue state hell-bent on genocide and ethnic cleansing?
Even a brief overview of Israeli military actions proves these accusations false. Israel is the only nation in the world, and across all of world history, that has intentionally consistently placed its concern for the lives of enemy civilians ahead of its concern for the lives of its own civilian and military populations.
The evidence to support Colonel Kemp’s testimony, and the above assertion, is irrefutable.
During April 1-11, 2002, the IDF invaded Jenin to neutralize terrorist forces based there, as part of its Operation Defensive Shield, after a deadly string of terror attacks including the infamous Park Hotel massacre (March 27, 2002). The IDF knew that terrorist forces in Jenin were expecting the invasion, and had prepared for it with numerous booby traps and ambush forces hidden within the civilian population, in Arab homes, mosques, hospitals and public places. Common sense and military practice would require that the IDF engage in safe long-distance attacks from the air and with artillery, to reduce or eliminate Israeli casualties. But Israel chose instead to send in ground forces, going house to house, urging civilians to leave, accompanying those who did so until they reached safety, employing local residents to urge others to leave, and urging terrorists hidden in homes to surrender; and in doing so, the Israeli soldiers themselves easy targets for the terrorists.
Although UN debates and international media teemed with accusations of massacre and bloodbath, war crimes and crimes against humanity, western and even Arab sources admitted later that there was simply no evidence to support such infamy. A total of 54 Arabs, almost all armed terrorists, and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in Jenin.
Had Israel chosen to launch an aerial and artillery attack, no Israeli soldiers would have been killed, but hundreds or perhaps thousands of civilian Arabs would have died. Israel chose the death of its own soldiers in order to minimize harm to Arab civilians. Although as yet unrecognized as such, the IDF made similar decisions during the Second Lebanon War (12 July – 14 August, 2006).
Israel has been the object of much calumny and opprobrium, including the accusation of war crimes violation, for its use of cluster bombs during its invasion of Lebanon in 2006. Cluster bombs have long been the subject of debate in legal circles, but in 2006 there had been no definitive ruling as to the legality of cluster bombs. Only in August, 2010, did an international ban on cluster munitions take effect following the ratification of the “Convention on Cluster Munitions.”
Therefore Israel violated no law with its use of cluster bombs. Nonetheless, there is a moral question.
Cluster bombs are air-to-ground or ground-to-ground ordinance which consist of a large capsule containing hundreds of marble-sized bomblets which, upon the large capsule’s impact, shoot out randomly over a wide area, exploding upon contact, causing indiscriminate damage, and thus posing a significant risk to civilians, since the bomblets cannot be aimed at a specific target. A secondary but no less lethal risk is the fact that many bomblets do not explode after dispersion, can remain on the ground in a live state indefinitely, and can detonate if someone steps on them or picks them up. This creates danger to civilians even long after hostilities have ceased.
So why did the IDF, the supposedly most humane army in the world, deploy them extensively in Lebanon in 2006? Because it was the best way to maintain Israel’s commitment to minimizing harm to the enemy civilian population, even at the expense of Israeli civilians and soldiers.
Here’s how it works.
The bomblets, while lethal to people, are mostly ineffective against brick or stone walls and armor. Thus a hit on or near an unarmored rocket launcher will most likely kill the launcher’s operators and thus disable the launcher, but even a direct hit on a fully encapsulated armored launcher will merely make a horrible noise, and probably leave the operators, protected inside the armored operating area, pretty much unharmed and able to continue firing rockets.
Therefore, the use of air-to-ground cluster bombs against armored rocket launchers is doomed to be far less effective than would be the use of conventional air-to-ground rockets. Israel’s choice of cluster bombs instead of conventional rockets meant that more Hezbollah rocket launcher crews would survive Israeli attacks and be able to continue launching rockets into Israel, killing more Israelis.
So why did Israel make such a counter-productive choice?
Because Hezbollah intentionally stationed it launchers in places that would put nearby civilians in danger, just as Hamas did in the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah rocket launchers on the roof tops of hospitals and schools created severe and imminent danger to the civilians inside of those buildings, because Israeli attacks with conventional missiles would be likely to penetrate the roof and kill innocent Arabs below.
Even a direct hit on a launcher would endanger Arabs in the lower floors because the explosion could cause the roof to collapse, dropping the launcher and its exploding rockets directly into the hospital wards and classrooms of the buildings beneath the Hezbollah launchers.
With cluster bombs, Hezbollah terrorists operating the launchers might be killed, but the roof would not collapse and the civilians below would be unharmed. But if the rocket launchers were armored, they could continue to bombard Israeli civilians, because, protected by armor, the Hezbollah operators would be unharmed in the spray of bomblets. Similarly, Hezbollah stationed many rocket launchers in narrow alleys of dense residential areas. Conventional rocket attacks would have destroyed most launchers but carried the risk of penetrating the walls of nearby homes and killing civilians.
Moreover, a direct hit from a conventional rocket could ignite the unfired munitions of the Hezbollah launcher, sending them exploding into nearby buildings of the civilian population.
Cluster bomblets, however, could destroy launchers in the streets, but would not penetrate brick or stone walls, and would not ignite the unfired rockets. Israel intentionally used ordnance that was less effective against enemy positions, but safer for Arab civilians. As a result, many rocket launchers survived Israeli air-to-ground missile attacks and continued bombarding Israeli civilians. This was the price that Israel chose to pay in order to avoid harming Arab civilians.
But Israel went even further. After the war, Israel published a map identifying the Hezbollah positions which sustained cluster-bomb attacks, so that the UN and the Lebanese army could search those areas for unexploded bomblets and thus reduce risk to Arab civilians living in those areas.
Israel behaved in a similar manner before and during its invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Prior to the invasion, Israel dropped tens of thousands of leaflets into Gaza, telling the civilians to leave what would soon become the combat zones within the Gaza Strip. Israel also broke into Hamas radio broadcasts to announce the imminent invasion and tell civilians to flee. Then, hours before the operation, hundreds of Israeli Arabic-speaking technicians prepared recorded phone messages that were dialed into the phones of more than 160,000 Arabs in the Gaza Strip, warning them to flee in advance of the invasion.
By doing so, the IDF forewarned Hamas as to when and where the combat would be.
No nation anywhere in the world, throughout all of world history, has ever done so much to protect enemy civilians: and all this while Hamas and Hezbollah intentionally put their own civilians in harm’s way, and boasted about it (see here, here and here).
These terrorists use their own as human shields precisely because they know that the IDF will do whatever it can to avoid harming civilians, even to the detriment of its own operations, even when it endangers its own soldiers.
Hamas and Hezbollah know what Israel’s detractors deny: no army anywhere in the world, at any time in history, has ever done what Israel does routinely to protect enemy civilians even at the cost of endangering its own, military and civilian, and reducing the effectiveness of its military in combat.
Colonel Kemp is correct.
Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: Click here.
Article printed from FrontPage Magazine: http://frontpagemag.com
URL to article: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/12/26/the-idf-the-moral-army/
Friday, 23 December 2011
Iran starts building a nuclear weapon: US and Israel tighten cooperation
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report December 22, 2011, 9:49 AM (GMT+02:00)
Barack Obama and Ehud Barack in Maryland
Iran has embarked on "activities related to possible weaponization," said American sources Thursday, Dec. 22, thereby accounting for the dramatic reversal of the Obama administration's wait-and-see attitude on attacking Iran. The change was articulated this week by US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey.
debkafile's Washington sources report that the Islamic Republic crossed the red line President Barack Obama had set for the United States, i.e., when Tehran begins using the technologies and fissile materials (enriched uranium) it has amassed for assembling a bomb or missile warheads. This marks the moment that Iran goes nuclear and only a short time remains before it has an operational nuclear weapon.
Washington has always claimed that when the order to build a weapon was given in Tehran, the United States would know about it within a short time.
The US stealth drone RQ-170 was sent into Iranian airspace for the first time to find evidence to support this suspicion. On Dec. 4 the Iranians downed the unmanned reconnaissance craft by intelligence or cyber means not yet fully clarified. The US - and most probably Israel too - then turned to other intelligence resources to find out what Iran was up to. According to debkafile's military and intelligence sources, they found evidence that Iran has in fact begun putting together components of a nuclear bomb or warhead.
This discovery prompted the latest statements by Mr. Panetta and Gen. Dempsey.
The defense secretary put it into words when he said Tuesday, Dec.: “Despite the efforts to disrupt the Iranian nuclear program, the Iranians have reached a point where they can assemble a bomb in a year or potentially less.”
The next day, Gen. Dempsey said, “My biggest worry is they will miscalculate our resolve. Any miscalculation could mean that we are drawn into conflict, and that would be a tragedy for the region and the world.”
Dennis Ross, until last month President Obama’s senior Middle East adviser, and key architect of White House policies on the Iranian nuclear program and understandings with Israel on this issue, said Israel has four causes for concern about uranium enrichment in the underground nuclear facility at Fordo near Qom and other developments:
1. Iran’s accumulation of low-enriched uranium, its decision to enrich to nearly 20 percent “when there is no justification for it.”
2. The "hardening" of Iranian nuclear sites, largely by moving facilities underground.
3. Other activities related to possible weaponization.
4. Israel suspects that Fordo is not Iran's only buried facility and that nuclear "weaponization" is ongoing surreptitiously at additional underground locations. “I would not isolate Qom and say this alone is the Israeli red line to spur a military response.”
Our military sources report that all these developments were covered in the short and epic conversation between President Barack Obama and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak at the Gaylord Hotel in Maryland on Dec. 16. It ended with accord on the US and Israeli responses to the new situation arising in Iran.
The White House has since accepted the Israeli assessment of Iran's nuclear bomb time table and endorses the conviction that unless Iran retreats from its decision to build a nuclear bomb and steps back from the process it set in train this month, the only option remaining will be a military strike to disable its nuclear program.
Following the Maryland encounter, debkafile’s sources report a procession of prominent US officials visiting Israel to tighten coordination between the US and Israel on their next moves. Lt. Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third air Force, was one of those visitors. He came to organize the biggest joint military exercise ever held by the US and Israel, as part of the shared response to Iran's steps.
Tuesday, Dec. 20, saw the arrival of Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s right-hand, together with Robert Einhorn, a State Department special adviser on nonproliferation. The two came to tie up the diplomatic ends of the decisions reached by President Obama and Defense Minister Barak at their Maryland meeting.
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
ANTI-SEMITISM RISES IN EUROPE......AGAIN
Expose: Europes's Judenrein Universities
Jews are being expelled from academia, just as they were in the 1930's. Europe is letting this happen again.
From Giulio Meotti
Several days ago the Israeli leftist author Moshe Sakal was booted from an academic conference in Marseilles at the request of Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish.The director of the conference, French-Jewish author Pierre Assouline, succumbed to the Arab pressure and said Sakal's participation "was not crucial".
A year ago, Marseilles' university was the site of another anti-Jewish boycott, when the septuagenarian Israeli novelist Esther Orner, who is also a Holocaust survivor, was banned from the University of Provence after a group of Arab writers objected to her presence.
For the first time since Vichy's collaborators, French faculties have been cleansed of the Jewish presence.
From the outside, European universities appear to many as genteel, cultured and tranquil oases of wisdom. In truth, European institutions of higher education are now brutal offsprings of anti-Jew hatred.This is the worst wave of anti-Israel violence since April 6, 2002, when 123 university academics and researchers from across Europe signed an open letter, published in Britain's the Guardian calling for a moratorium on all cultural links with Israel.
Last spring, Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz was banned from Trondheim and Oslo universities because of his views on the Jewish state.
Last September, Israeli professor from Ariel University, Ronen Cohen, was expelled from a German academic conference in Berlin (he was later reinstated after a storm of protest).
The Spanish Housing Ministry disqualified Ariel University from competing in the international competition between university architecture departments to design and build a self-sufficient house using solar power.
According to a recent poll by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 62.2% of university students believe that "the Jews are powerful because they control the economy and the mass media".
More than 60% of Spanish university students say they do not want Jewish classmates.
A prominent figure of the Jewish community of Belgium, Jacques Brotchi, just resigned from the board of Free University of Brussels after denouncing several grave anti-Semitic incidents within the institution.
The incidents included the staging of an Israeli checkpoint on the university campus and the invitation of anti-Semitic French comic Dieudonné.
According to Brotchi, the situation at Brussels is not isolated. "It is comparable to what is happening in other universities in Europe and elsewhere with the academic boycott of Israel campaigns, where anti-Zionism takes the form of anti-Semitism".
Rotterdam's Erasmus University's International Institute of Social Studies just hosted UE funded events in which Israel was equated with the former apartheid regime in South Africa.
Recently, Europe's largest student union, the University Of London Union, joined the worldwide boycott of all Israeli products. It's just one of the many students' unions which embraced the anti-Israel campaign.
The Cambridge University Students Union voted to call on the University to cut ties with Veolia, a company involved in "infrastructure projects in Israeli settlements", and employed by the University on a waste disposal contract.
In Italy, where a Parliamentary committee published the first report on anti-Semitism (one-fourth of Italians surveyed agreed with the statement: "Considering Israel's policy, I can understand why people do not like Jews"), an Italian website called for the "blacklisting" of more than 160 Jewish professors who teach at Italian universities. The website accused the Jewish professors of "manipulating the minds of students" and "seeking to control Italian universities".
Physical attacks on Jews have taken place in Europe's universities.
Palestinian militants violently attacked Solon Solomon, a former Knesset staffer, at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Solomon never got the chance to deliver a speech, as members of the Palestine Solidarity Society and the Sinn Fein party shouted him down from the podium. Fearing for his safety, Solomon fled the hall and retreated into a nearby room, which the protestors surrounded. University guards escorted Solomon to a waiting taxi.
Benny Morris, professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, was assaulted by a group of Muslims before a conference at the London School of Economics.
Will the European Union, many of whose prominent members either participated or acquiesced in the destruction of European Jewry 70 years ago, put a stop to the obscurantist conspiracy of the grandchildren of those Max Weinreich famously called "Hitler's Professors" to expel the Jews (again) from the family of nations?
Mind-Reading Computers Within Next Five Years?
Another major step toward the Mark of the Beast system.
Another major step toward the Mark of the Beast system.
Mind-reading computers land on IBM’s annual list of technological innovations to watch for.
Homes will also run off 'people energy' and passwords will cease to exist, according to company's 2011 '5 in 5' report
Homes will also run off 'people energy' and passwords will cease to exist, according to company's 2011 '5 in 5' report
BY Rheana Murray NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Mind-reading technology will be more than just a super power featured in science fiction tales if IBM’s latest prediction comes true.
The computer giant released its “5 in 5” list for 2011, an annual report of the biggest tech advances it plans for the next five years — and one of those is to make a computer that can read someone’s mind.
“From Houdini to Skywalker to X-Men, mind-reading has merely been wishful thinking for science fiction fans for decades, but their wish may soon come true,” an IBM spokesperson said in a video that accompanied the report.
The company’s researchers are studying how to link a person’s brain to a device like a smartphone or laptop, “so you would just need to think about calling someone, and it happens,” IBM says.
Also on tap are homes that run solely off “created energy,” which comes from anything that moves.
IBM calls this concept “people power,” and says an entire home, workplace, even a city, will eventually be able to run off of energy created by someone’s jogging motions, the pedaling of a bicycle, or the movement of water through a faucet.
The company also predicts that passwords will cease to exist, too, being replaced by biometric data like retinal scans and voice files.
“Your biological makeup is the key to your individual identity, and soon it will become the key to safeguarding it,” IBM stated.
“You’ll be able to walk up to an ATM machine to withdraw money by speaking your name or looking into the camera.”
IBM also said that junk mail will become priority mail, as computers learn to better absorb a user’s likes and dislikes, and filter that into spam someone might actually read.
“Imagine your phone knowing that your favorite band is coming to town, and to put tickets on hold for you to purchase,” said IBM. “Or that a snowstorm is about to affect your travel plans and you should reroute your plane tickets.”
Within five years, the forecast will affect the entire world, IBM insists, as the current digital divide fades away, thanks to mobile technology.
“It’s cheaper to have a cell phone than [to\] open a bank account or buy a laptop, and because of this communities are able to achieve much more than they have before,” says IBM.
“Members of a village could check weather reports for when to fertilize crops, or know when doctors were coming into town instead of having to wait at the crossroads.”
This year’s report marks the sixth “5 in 5” forecast IBM has released.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/mind-reading-computers-land-ibm-annual-list-technological-innovations-watch-article-1.994563#ixzz1hAy4VYaf
Mind-reading technology will be more than just a super power featured in science fiction tales if IBM’s latest prediction comes true.
The computer giant released its “5 in 5” list for 2011, an annual report of the biggest tech advances it plans for the next five years — and one of those is to make a computer that can read someone’s mind.
“From Houdini to Skywalker to X-Men, mind-reading has merely been wishful thinking for science fiction fans for decades, but their wish may soon come true,” an IBM spokesperson said in a video that accompanied the report.
The company’s researchers are studying how to link a person’s brain to a device like a smartphone or laptop, “so you would just need to think about calling someone, and it happens,” IBM says.
Also on tap are homes that run solely off “created energy,” which comes from anything that moves.
IBM calls this concept “people power,” and says an entire home, workplace, even a city, will eventually be able to run off of energy created by someone’s jogging motions, the pedaling of a bicycle, or the movement of water through a faucet.
The company also predicts that passwords will cease to exist, too, being replaced by biometric data like retinal scans and voice files.
“Your biological makeup is the key to your individual identity, and soon it will become the key to safeguarding it,” IBM stated.
“You’ll be able to walk up to an ATM machine to withdraw money by speaking your name or looking into the camera.”
IBM also said that junk mail will become priority mail, as computers learn to better absorb a user’s likes and dislikes, and filter that into spam someone might actually read.
“Imagine your phone knowing that your favorite band is coming to town, and to put tickets on hold for you to purchase,” said IBM. “Or that a snowstorm is about to affect your travel plans and you should reroute your plane tickets.”
Within five years, the forecast will affect the entire world, IBM insists, as the current digital divide fades away, thanks to mobile technology.
“It’s cheaper to have a cell phone than [to\] open a bank account or buy a laptop, and because of this communities are able to achieve much more than they have before,” says IBM.
“Members of a village could check weather reports for when to fertilize crops, or know when doctors were coming into town instead of having to wait at the crossroads.”
This year’s report marks the sixth “5 in 5” forecast IBM has released.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/mind-reading-computers-land-ibm-annual-list-technological-innovations-watch-article-1.994563#ixzz1hAy4VYaf
Syria Conducts War Games To Deter Attack
Syrian state television broadcasts what it claims is footage of the nation's air force and navy holding live-fire exercises aimed at deterring any attack on the country.
Alastair Good
10:38PM GMT 20 Dec 2011
The Syrian military held live-fire exercises today to test the readiness of their armed forces in case of a war, according to state television.
The government has come under heavy criticism for its handling of the nine month long protest against president Bashar al-Assad.
Reports had suggested that Assad was going to implement a peace deal brokered by the Arab League and allow monitors into the country to ensure attacks on civilians were curtailed.
Most foreign journalists are barred from the country so independent verification of the footage is not possible but the Syrian news agency SANA said that naval forces executed a tactical project and successfully hit their targets.
The United Nations has said that more that 5,000 people have been killed in Syria since protests began in March.
Alastair Good
10:38PM GMT 20 Dec 2011
The Syrian military held live-fire exercises today to test the readiness of their armed forces in case of a war, according to state television.
The government has come under heavy criticism for its handling of the nine month long protest against president Bashar al-Assad.
Reports had suggested that Assad was going to implement a peace deal brokered by the Arab League and allow monitors into the country to ensure attacks on civilians were curtailed.
Most foreign journalists are barred from the country so independent verification of the footage is not possible but the Syrian news agency SANA said that naval forces executed a tactical project and successfully hit their targets.
The United Nations has said that more that 5,000 people have been killed in Syria since protests began in March.
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
Hamas Officially Joins the “Moderate” Muslim Brotherhood
Posted by Ryan Mauro On December - 17 - 2011
But don’t worry—people like John Esposito, the authors of “Fear Inc.,” William Taylor and other Muslim Brotherhood apologists tell us they are “moderate!”
Hamas’ constitution specifically identified it as the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, but if that didn’t convince you, the terrorist group has now officially become a branch of the so-called “moderate” Islamist organization. Hamas has changed its name from “The Islamic Resistance Movement” to “The Islamic Resistance Movement, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood—Palestine.” It doesn’t get much clearer than that.
Interestingly, the Hamas official quoted in the link said this was done to assert its independence from the Brotherhood’s Jordanian branch. In this context, “independence” is a relative term. This merely means Hamas will operate more independently within the Brotherhood structure instead of relying upon the Jordanian affiliate for political leadership.
Now that Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are officially one unit, I wonder how that will affect the prosecution of Brotherhood-tied individuals and groups in North America and Europe.
But don’t worry—people like John Esposito, the authors of “Fear Inc.,” William Taylor and other Muslim Brotherhood apologists tell us they are “moderate!”
Hamas’ constitution specifically identified it as the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, but if that didn’t convince you, the terrorist group has now officially become a branch of the so-called “moderate” Islamist organization. Hamas has changed its name from “The Islamic Resistance Movement” to “The Islamic Resistance Movement, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood—Palestine.” It doesn’t get much clearer than that.
Interestingly, the Hamas official quoted in the link said this was done to assert its independence from the Brotherhood’s Jordanian branch. In this context, “independence” is a relative term. This merely means Hamas will operate more independently within the Brotherhood structure instead of relying upon the Jordanian affiliate for political leadership.
Now that Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are officially one unit, I wonder how that will affect the prosecution of Brotherhood-tied individuals and groups in North America and Europe.
SYRIA AGREES TO 500 ARAB OBSERVERS
In what many would see as a desperate attempt to regain lost kudos in the Arab world, Syrian president Assad had finally agreed to alow 500 Arab observers into the country.
Syria teeters on the brink of not only open civil war but an invasion from the West that could draw the world into an armageddon scenario.
More than 5,000 have already dies during the several months of protest against Assad's rule.
Russian and USA warships and aircraft carriers are already patrolling off the Syrian coast.
The Egyptian and Turkish navy are also now in the same area on "manouvers".
Assad may have gained some time in this move and in additionally requesting an Arab summit but ultimately he will either go, make amazing drastic changes to the way the country is run, or cause some other event (a war with the West or Israel) to take the heat off him and his regime.
Everything is moving toward an event in the coming days that will bring on the appearance of the Antichrist who will step into this or a future situation with a wonderful solution that will have the unsaved world gasping with admiration.
Surely we cannot be far from those days.
Listen to us on Wednesday evening 7:30 UK time on http:www.blogtalkradio.com as we look at current events and the possible outcome. In the blogtalkradio search box type BOBMITCHELL
and that should take you to our Prophecy Update programme.
Syria teeters on the brink of not only open civil war but an invasion from the West that could draw the world into an armageddon scenario.
More than 5,000 have already dies during the several months of protest against Assad's rule.
Russian and USA warships and aircraft carriers are already patrolling off the Syrian coast.
The Egyptian and Turkish navy are also now in the same area on "manouvers".
Assad may have gained some time in this move and in additionally requesting an Arab summit but ultimately he will either go, make amazing drastic changes to the way the country is run, or cause some other event (a war with the West or Israel) to take the heat off him and his regime.
Everything is moving toward an event in the coming days that will bring on the appearance of the Antichrist who will step into this or a future situation with a wonderful solution that will have the unsaved world gasping with admiration.
Surely we cannot be far from those days.
Listen to us on Wednesday evening 7:30 UK time on http:www.blogtalkradio.com as we look at current events and the possible outcome. In the blogtalkradio search box type BOBMITCHELL
and that should take you to our Prophecy Update programme.
Monday, 19 December 2011
PROPHECY UPDATE PROGRAMME THIS WEDNESDAY
Hi friends,
Please try and catch the latest Prophecy Update Programme this Wednesday at 7:30 pm UK time, 2:30 pm Eastern Standard time USA.
Go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ and in the search box type BOBMITCHELL (no gaps) to be taken to the programme. You'll see a picture of me in a blue jacket standing in the Israeli desert.
See you there (on the radio....not in the desert) and please pray the Lord's blessing and wisdom for me in this new venture.
Thanks and God bless you all for your support.
Please try and catch the latest Prophecy Update Programme this Wednesday at 7:30 pm UK time, 2:30 pm Eastern Standard time USA.
Go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ and in the search box type BOBMITCHELL (no gaps) to be taken to the programme. You'll see a picture of me in a blue jacket standing in the Israeli desert.
See you there (on the radio....not in the desert) and please pray the Lord's blessing and wisdom for me in this new venture.
Thanks and God bless you all for your support.
US and NATO Troops Train On The Syrian Border
There have been reports of hundreds of American and NATO troops training militants on the Syrian border to overthrow Al-assad’s regime.
According to a former FBI official this has been going on since May 2011.
Why are we not hearing about this on American mainstream media?
Sibel Edmonds, president of the National Security Whistle blowers Coalition, exposes what is going on around Syria
According to a former FBI official this has been going on since May 2011.
Why are we not hearing about this on American mainstream media?
Sibel Edmonds, president of the National Security Whistle blowers Coalition, exposes what is going on around Syria
Syria Arms Missiles With Chemical Warheads And Hands Out 3 Million Gas Masks
Report: The Syrian regime, which has endured nine months of civil unrest spurred by the Arab Spring as it swept across the Middle East, has armed its medium-range missile arsenal with chemical warheads.
According to a report published by the Sabah daily Sunday, Damascus armed 600 one-ton chemical warheads to use in the event of a foreign military intervention. Furthermore, President Bashar al-Assad ordered the deployment of 21 missile launchers along its border with Turkey. Syria’s medium-range missiles that can be equipped with chemical warheads have a range of up to 1,300 kilometers and would include the southern and central provinces of Turkey.
According to the daily, the Syrian military keeps its stockpile of chemical warheads in secret facilities in and around the capital city of Damascus. In mid-November, President Assad held a special meeting with top commanders of the Syrian army and argued over how to respond to a possible military intervention by the international community. Additionally, Russia, which stood by the Assad regime’s defiance of international pressure on Damascus, sent 3 million gas masks to the troubled country. Most of those masks will be distributed to the regime’s loyalists, the families of soldiers and Baath supporters.
The distribution of the masks is set to be completed by the end of December, according to the daily.
Syria is believed to have had a chemical weapons arsenal for more than three decades. Following heavy defeats against Israel in conventional warfare, international defense sources believe that following the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Hafez al-Assad, the former general of the Syrian Air Force, decided to bolster Syria’s strategic position through the development of ballistic missiles to counter Israel’s superiority in conventional warfare. The unchallenged superiority Israeli air forces led Syrian generals to push for other means to protect the regime. From then on, Syria has launched clandestine efforts to develop chemical warheads with ballistic missile delivery systems.
2011-12-11
Muhabir: Today’s Zaman
According to a report published by the Sabah daily Sunday, Damascus armed 600 one-ton chemical warheads to use in the event of a foreign military intervention. Furthermore, President Bashar al-Assad ordered the deployment of 21 missile launchers along its border with Turkey. Syria’s medium-range missiles that can be equipped with chemical warheads have a range of up to 1,300 kilometers and would include the southern and central provinces of Turkey.
According to the daily, the Syrian military keeps its stockpile of chemical warheads in secret facilities in and around the capital city of Damascus. In mid-November, President Assad held a special meeting with top commanders of the Syrian army and argued over how to respond to a possible military intervention by the international community. Additionally, Russia, which stood by the Assad regime’s defiance of international pressure on Damascus, sent 3 million gas masks to the troubled country. Most of those masks will be distributed to the regime’s loyalists, the families of soldiers and Baath supporters.
The distribution of the masks is set to be completed by the end of December, according to the daily.
Syria is believed to have had a chemical weapons arsenal for more than three decades. Following heavy defeats against Israel in conventional warfare, international defense sources believe that following the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Hafez al-Assad, the former general of the Syrian Air Force, decided to bolster Syria’s strategic position through the development of ballistic missiles to counter Israel’s superiority in conventional warfare. The unchallenged superiority Israeli air forces led Syrian generals to push for other means to protect the regime. From then on, Syria has launched clandestine efforts to develop chemical warheads with ballistic missile delivery systems.
2011-12-11
Muhabir: Today’s Zaman
Big Sis Tells ICE to Develop National-level Mass Migration Plan
Homeland Security boss Janet Napolitano has reportedly issued a directive to prepare for a mass migration of people into America into special holding camps.
.......FROM WHERE? FROM WHAT? OR ARE THE CAMPS ALSO FOR AMERICANS UNDER THE NEW LAWS ALLOWING ARREST AND DETENTION OF AMERICANS INDEFINATELY WITHOUT TRIAL ?
.......FROM WHERE? FROM WHAT? OR ARE THE CAMPS ALSO FOR AMERICANS UNDER THE NEW LAWS ALLOWING ARREST AND DETENTION OF AMERICANS INDEFINATELY WITHOUT TRIAL ?
Hear about it here: CAMPS ARE ALREADY PREPARED SO ARE THE TRUCKS FOR TRANSPORTING PEOPLE TO THE CAMPS
AND SO ARE THE COFFINS FOR TAKING THEM AWAY
“DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, according to a statement by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, recently directed ICE to develop a national-level mass migration plan. The plan will outline how to address the health care, sheltering, processing, transition and disposition of large numbers of undocumented individuals who might arrive in the U.S. as the result of a mass migration, said ICE on Dec. 13.”
Part of the preparations for sheltering and processing an influx of people includes the construction and manning of detention camps.
In 2006, Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root was contracted by Homeland Security to build detention centers designed to deal with “an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S,” or the rapid development of unspecified “new programs” that would require large numbers of people to be interned.
Last week we received a leaked memo from a state government employee detailing KBR’s efforts to hire subcontractors to provide services required for temporary “emergency environment” camps located in five regions of the United States, indicating that many of the camps have now been constructed and are ready for use.
The construction of new detention camps inside the United States has provoked fears that the facilities could also be used to intern American citizens in the aftermath of a national emergency.
Rex 84, short for Readiness Exercise 1984, was established under the pretext of a “mass exodus” of illegal aliens crossing the Mexican/US border, the same pretense used in the language of the KBR request for services.
During the Iran-Contra hearings in 1987, however, it was revealed that the program was a secretive “scenario and drill” developed by the federal government to suspend the Constitution, declare martial law, assign military commanders to take over state and local governments, and detain large numbers of American citizens determined by the government to be “national security threats.”
The National Defense Authorization Act, which could be signed into law by President Obama before the end of the week, hands the government power to have American citizens arrested and detained without trial.
With riots and civil unrest breaking out all over the globe, U.S. authorities have been preparing for similar disorder in America.
A report produced by the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Institute warns that the United States may experience massive civil unrest in the wake of a series of crises which it termed “strategic shock.”
“Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security,” stated the report, authored by [Ret.] Lt. Col. Nathan Freir, adding that the military may be needed to quell “purposeful domestic resistance”.
Sunday, 18 December 2011
THE WORLD ON THE EDGE OF DISASTER
Looking at the current world situation it doesn't take a genius to put the pieces together and figure out the world is on the edge of a precipice.
In the Med off the Syrian coast there are now Several Russian ships including the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov as well as the American 6th fleet plus aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush.
Now the Egyptian navy and the Turkish navy are joining forces in the Med to conduct "manouvers".
In Syria itself the revolution against President Assad's regime continues with thousands of civilians and Syrian armed forces dead as a result of the fighting. And all the while Assad refuses steadfastly to step down from power regardless of threats from the Arab League to impose stricter sanctions should he not budge.
He has threatened to "set the Middle East on fire" if outside forces invade Syria as happened in Lybia.
To back him up Russia as stepped into the argument by not only sending ships but ground to sea missiles. At the same time American troops are said to be massing on the Syrian border.
Now China also has threatened that any invasion of Syria would cause them to become involved and the result would be World War Three.
Russia's Prime Minister Putin recently addressed his generals. They asked him in the face of these events what they should do.
His reply was chilling: "Prepare for Armageddon".
The situation with Iran and her proposed Nukes gets no better either. American and Israeli ships are now patrolling the Persian Gulf in a show of unity and strength.
China and Russia have both stated their opposition to any proposed invasion or attack on Iran. That would surely draw a response from one or both of them. And again were this to happen the entire region, and maybe the world, could be engulfed in a war beyond our imagining.
All it would take is one shot, one missile and war could begin.
On the other side we see the world finances teetering on the brink of total collapse.
This would bring revolutions and demonstrations to our own front door.
Just as President Obama births a new law that threatens to incarcerate anyone who is deemed to be a "possible" threat to the USA. See my post from Saturday.
Does he know something we don't?
Why was this Bill read in secret. Something against the American Constitution.
Was it because information was released the public should not be told?
Information that would make the passing of this Bill vitally necessary in the days ahead?
Is war about to break out and could his new law be in preparation for such an uprisisng should the economy collapse and war break out?
Also see down the left hand panel for the documentary by Jesse Ventura on FEMA prison camps across America ready to intake thousands of American citizens.
Out of the world shaking events in the days ahead a man of peace will arise who will seem to have all the answers.
BEWARE OF THIS MAN. HE IS THE ANTICHRIST.
These days are almost upon us. Let us get the gospel out while we are able.
In the Med off the Syrian coast there are now Several Russian ships including the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov as well as the American 6th fleet plus aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush.
Now the Egyptian navy and the Turkish navy are joining forces in the Med to conduct "manouvers".
In Syria itself the revolution against President Assad's regime continues with thousands of civilians and Syrian armed forces dead as a result of the fighting. And all the while Assad refuses steadfastly to step down from power regardless of threats from the Arab League to impose stricter sanctions should he not budge.
He has threatened to "set the Middle East on fire" if outside forces invade Syria as happened in Lybia.
To back him up Russia as stepped into the argument by not only sending ships but ground to sea missiles. At the same time American troops are said to be massing on the Syrian border.
Now China also has threatened that any invasion of Syria would cause them to become involved and the result would be World War Three.
Russia's Prime Minister Putin recently addressed his generals. They asked him in the face of these events what they should do.
His reply was chilling: "Prepare for Armageddon".
The situation with Iran and her proposed Nukes gets no better either. American and Israeli ships are now patrolling the Persian Gulf in a show of unity and strength.
China and Russia have both stated their opposition to any proposed invasion or attack on Iran. That would surely draw a response from one or both of them. And again were this to happen the entire region, and maybe the world, could be engulfed in a war beyond our imagining.
All it would take is one shot, one missile and war could begin.
On the other side we see the world finances teetering on the brink of total collapse.
This would bring revolutions and demonstrations to our own front door.
Just as President Obama births a new law that threatens to incarcerate anyone who is deemed to be a "possible" threat to the USA. See my post from Saturday.
Does he know something we don't?
Why was this Bill read in secret. Something against the American Constitution.
Was it because information was released the public should not be told?
Information that would make the passing of this Bill vitally necessary in the days ahead?
Is war about to break out and could his new law be in preparation for such an uprisisng should the economy collapse and war break out?
Also see down the left hand panel for the documentary by Jesse Ventura on FEMA prison camps across America ready to intake thousands of American citizens.
Out of the world shaking events in the days ahead a man of peace will arise who will seem to have all the answers.
BEWARE OF THIS MAN. HE IS THE ANTICHRIST.
These days are almost upon us. Let us get the gospel out while we are able.
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