Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Syria Asks UN to Take Action Against Israel
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Israeli-Syrian border

AFP photo

Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Faisal Mekdad, on Sunday asked the United Nations to take actions against Israel, claiming it violated the 1974 ceasefire agreement in the Golan Heights.

According to Syria’s SANA news agency, Mekdad spoke with the Under-Secretary-General of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, who is visiting Syria to inspect the status of the peacekeeping force in Syria.

Mekdad reportedly cited Israel’s “direct ties with terrorist groups” and its attack in Syria in March.

Syria uses the term “terrorists” when referring to the rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Al-Assad.

The attack to which Mekdad was referring to an Israeli airstrike on several sites on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. The airstrike was in retaliation for a terror attack in which four soldiers were wounded.

According to SANA, Mekdad asked the UN Security Council to take prompt measures against Israel and the countries backing terrorist groups, adding that “these violations are not only a flagrant breach of the agreement, but also a threat that puts at risk the safety of the UN personnel.”

He demanded that the United Nations help Syria in its counterterrorism efforts by obliging the countries that support terrorists to refrain from it.

Mekdad’s comments come as tension continues along the Syrian border with Israel, due to the civil war in Syria.

Earlier this month, Syrian rebels shot at an IDF post near Mount Hermon; no one was hurt. In early March, two rockets landed also near an IDF post in Mount Hermon. No injuries or damage were reported in that incident.

The IDF was on "high alert" near the Lebanese border several months ago, since Hezbollah threatened to retaliate for an alleged Israeli airstrike on a convoy carrying weapons intended for the group and which was sent by Syria.

Syria’s demand that the UN act against Israel was made on the same day that an Israeli teenager died in an explosion on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.

The incident occurred when an explosive device was detonated near a passing vehicle carrying sub-contractors for the Ministry of Defense, which Israel said was deliberate. The teenager was the son of one of the workers, and he had accompanied his father to work on the first day of his summer vacation.

Israel retaliated by striking nine targets belonging to the Syrian army in the Golan Heights on Sunday night.

According to the IDF’s statement, the nine targets of Sunday night’s airstrikes included military headquarters and firing positions.

Report: U.S., UK Knew About ISIS Takeover Months in Advance
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

President Barack Obama

Reuters

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIS) takeover of Iraq earlier this month took the world by storm, as the successive fall of several major cities in the Sunni-dominated northwest left Iraqis fleeing and world leaders shaken. 

But what if the blitz military conquest could have been prevented altogether?

Kurdish intelligence reported news of a strategic alliance and pact between Islamist groups to topple Mosul and other major Iraqi cities with ISIS's help as far back as January, the Telegraph reported late Sunday.

Shortly after the fall of Fallujah to ISIS, an informant reportedly stepped into a Kurdish intelligence office to reveal the news that ISIS officials had networked with remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime and former Hussein deputy Izzat al-Douri to plan a large-scale invasion. 

But while Kurdish handlers ran immediately to the US and Britain with the information, the West allegedly sat back and did nothing. 

"We had this information then, and we passed it on to your (British) government and the US government," Rooz Bahjat, a senior lieutenant to Lahur Talabani, head of Kurdish intelligence, told the Telegraph. "We used our official liaisons."

"We knew exactly what strategy they were going to use, we knew the military planners," he added. "It fell on deaf ears."

He warned that the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was now a greater threat to western countries than Osama bin Laden had been in 2001.

But the West may be responsible for more than just the current waves of ISIS takeovers. 

Both Bahjat and Talabani stated that the West's lack of resolve to tie up all the loose ends in the 2003 invasion caused the current crisis on the grand scale - despite a common criticism that the invasion itself caused the crisis. 

And the future does not look promising, they said. 

"[ISIS leader] Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is now something bin Laden could only dream of being," Bahjat said. "The sleep of reason produces monsters. It's the lack of resolve in the West that is the most important thing."

"Reason has been sleeping and now we have lots of monsters," he added. 

Cleaning up the mess?

ISIS has been beaten back slightly from the northwestern front since it first attacked earlier this month, as forces were driven out of Jalula after a brief takeover and resistance has fomented near Baiji and outside of Tal Afar. 

However, ISIS forces continue to descend upon Baghdad as of Monday morning, as confused fighting continues in a steady line toward the capital city (see map below). 

The US's involvement in the fighting continues to be the source of ongoing controversy, with many claiming recent efforts to help Iraqi forces drive off the ISIS invasion are an utter failure. 

US President Barack Obama has waffled back and forth on the American position on the crisis. Last Friday, he committed to not sending troops to Iraq - only to send over 500 marines, dozens of helicopters, and the aircraft carrier George HW Bush into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, he ruled out American airstrikes on ISIS, while hinting this was a possibility in last Thursday’s speech.

As of Monday morning, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his team have landed in Baghdad to help clean up the mess, spokeswoman Jen Psaki stated as of 11:30 a.m. IST. Kerry is part of a delegation of 300 "advisers" to Iraqi forces. 

Meanwhile, Kurdish authorities say the mission has little hopes of making a difference. 

"I have completely lost hope in America after listening to President Barack Obama," Talabani said. "I blame him personally for what has happened in Syria, in the Middle East, in Iraq at the moment."

"I have no hope any more."

Radical Cleric Who Was Uk's Most Feared and Hated Enemy Takes Control of Baghdad to Repel Rampaging
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsMail Online
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Yesterday I witnessed the extraordinary sight of hordes of suicide bombers, dressed in black and brandishing Kalashnikovs, marching through the slums of Baghdad.  

Grouped into makeshift platoons – some wearing white shrouds to denote their readiness to die – they demonstrated their deadly skills in an astonishing display by ‘detonating’ the bombs they carried.

They were part of the private army of powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr,  an enemy of Britain and the US who inflicted terrible damage  on Western troops after the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq.

Captured: A Saudi man fighting with ISIS is arrested by an Iraqi soldier (left) and a member of the elite SWAT team

He has now raised a militia of tens of thousands of fighters to combat the threat posed by ISIS extremists – and yesterday I saw their brutal power for myself.

The Mahdi Army – which has vowed to protect Baghdad and its holy shrines to the death – is now  battling alongside government troops to defend an Iraq on the verge of collapse against advancing Sunni militants.

Their march came on yet another day of fighting and bloodshed as:

• Officials admitted that ISIS – the   Islamic State of Iraq and Syria –  has seized a strategically important  border crossing to Syria, near the town of Qaim, killing 30 troops after a day-long battle;
• About 270 Iraqi troops remained trapped inside the Baiji oil refinery as they struggled to defend it;
• Barack Obama denied that America’s failure to send arms and equipment to rebels in Syria had left a power vacuum in Iraq, which has aided the rise of ISIS;
• There was constant skirmishing 40 miles from Baghdad, with militant Sunni rebels apparently preparing for a thrust from the west.

The reappearance of the Mahdi Army comes a few months after al-Sadr announced his withdrawal from politics citing disillusionment with the corruption of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government.

But it has taken less than two weeks for him to mobilise his  private army again in response to the ISIS attacks in the north.

Al-Sadr himself headed up a  military show of strength in Najaf city, his headquarters, while I and thousands watched a fighting force of men, women and young boys in combat gear and balaclavas brandished rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and truckloads of ground-to-air missiles march through the heart of Baghdad for several hours.

Display of strength: Mahdi fighters, loyal to the Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, take part in a military parade on the streets of Baghdad

They closed off the highways as they made their way through Sadr City, a slum area home to more than a million Shia Muslims.

The platoons assembled according to their city districts. Many were from Sadr City, which has become a no-go zone due to roadside bombs and tension between the poor militant Shia population there and displaced Sunnis, many of whom feel excluded from the government.

As the sheikhs on the podium recited the Koran, I saw fighters fall to their knees in prayer.

It was a day when almost everyone had come out to fight, the aggressive platoons, boasting of their  engineering, bomb-making skills.

The suicide-bomb brigade broke ranks as it passed the podium. At a sign from the sheikhs, the men in balaclavas and ammo-vests went into operational mode, staking out  a target, crouching low on the ground and ‘detonating’ their charges with bravado.

The message over loudspeakers all along the route was threefold: ‘Let the Dash (ISIS) militants see our power today; let Prime Minister  al-Maliki see we are stronger than his government and his army; and tell the Iraqi people not to be afraid, we will win this  war for you.’

The clerics boomed out encouragement: ‘To all those willing to die for Iraq, your souls will go to heaven. We will pray for you.’

Not a shot was fired during this showy parade. But later yesterday, four people were killed by four roadside bombs in Baghdad, two of them in Sadr City.

It was twice the daily average for this volatile city.

Al-Sadr’s powerful display in Baghdad came as ISIS militants claimed to control 75 per cent of the crucial Baiji oil refinery in the north-east, flying its signature black flag over the installation.

Weaponry: Thousands of Shiite militiamen marched through the slums as the ISIS surge continued in parts of Iraq

It boasted of trapping 270 Iraqi soldiers inside and threatened to starve them into surrender.

European workers there were evacuated before the attack, but Indian, Chinese and Turkish employees are believed to be hostages.

The effect on oil prices has been instantaneous with Brent Crude  rising to a nine-month high of $115.06 a barrel by Friday.

Meanwhile, around 400 troops  were flown to Mosul and Tikrit to fight the militants now running both cities, extorting money from local firms, and raiding shops and banks.

Iraq’s army, stretched to the limit in fierce battles in cities and surrounding towns, and at Tal Afar airport, has been forced to work with former foes such as the vicious Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq – the League of the Righteous, and other free-ranging Shia militias. Baghdad itself, the seat of government and the last  bastion standing against ISIS, which has total control of Fallujah to  the west and is winning the battle for important towns in Diyala  Province to the north-east, was yesterday in lockdown.

Parade: They have signalled their readiness to take on the Sunni militants. However some have questioned the army's ability to take on ISIS

In the siege mentality which prevails, many are determined to sit it out come what may. Despite reports of people fleeing, there are seats on most flights out and no flood of traffic away from the city centre.

At Baghdad’s only Anglican church, St George’s, yesterday Father Faiz Jerges said: ‘I am  staying here and my congregation is staying here. If necessary I will die with my people.

‘We have our communion services and our youth meetings and our Mothers’ Union. We pray for peace all the time of course, now more than ever, but we also take food rations to the soldiers at the checkpoint outside and we encourage our Muslim friends to join us when they can.

‘We have heard it all for many years and still we are finding the strength to go on. We pray for peace all the time of course, now more than ever. Against all odds we have a good relationship with peace-loving Muslims. We hope for a miracle, to see Baghdad free again one day.’

Sinister: Moqtada al-Sadr, a powerful figure in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein

The man leading the Shia show of strength against ISIS is Moqtada al-Sadr, a powerful figure in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

After the toppling of the dictator in 2003, the radical cleric called for a national rebellion against Western troops, sending out his Mahdi Army militiamen to confront the British and American ‘invaders’.

His followers patrolled the streets of Baghdad’s Shia suburbs, taking on many functions of local government and renaming the Saddam City area to Sadr City, which became a no-go area for coalition forces.

Last year, he said he was laying down his arms. But now he is allying his forces with the Iraqi troops defending Baghdad from ISIS’s Sunni extremists.

Last night, a Shia cleric loyal to al-Sadr said their anti-Western views remained and that the 300 US military advisers en route to Iraq would be attacked.

Obama Quietly Extends Administrations Advocacy to Transgender Rights
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Vancouver Sun
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

No Bias Here - World Media Blames Jews for Kidnapping of Jewish Teens
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Three Jewish boys were abducted by Palestinian terrorists while trying to catch a ride home from school Thursday night. And as far as the foreign press is concerned, it’s their own damned fault.

As Honest Reporting documented, everyone from The Guardian to CNN, to Sky News to the Christian Science Monitor blamed Eyal Yifrach, Gil-Ad Shaer and Naftali Frankel for their victimization.

The boys deserve whatever they get, according to the media, because they are Jews and Jews have no right to be located anywhere that the Palestinians demand be cleansed of Jewish presence. And the Palestinians demand that Gush Etzion be emptied of Jews.

So the boys, who dared to be located in Gush Etzion, had it coming.

And the blame doesn’t end with the victims. In trying to rescue them, the Israeli government is also committing an unpardonable crime – against Palestinian unity, no less.

According to The New York Times’ Israel bureau chief Jodi Rudoren, by searching for the boys, Israel has “further destabilized Israeli-Palestinian relations, and challenged the new Palestinian government’s ability to hold together disparate political factions and reunite the West Bank and Gaza after a seven-year split.”

As Seth Mandel wrote in Commentary, “If the unity government can survive only by being permitted to carry out terrorism against Israel without response or consequences, it is not so much a government as a sadistic terrorist gang.”

Mandel understated the problem. There is no conditionality. The Palestinian government is “a sadistic terrorist gang.”

“The disparate political factions,” Rudoren was referring to are Fatah and Hamas.

Hamas, as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, kidnapped the teenagers. Hamas is a jihadist movement recognized by the US State Department and the EU as a foreign terrorist organization.

Its declared goal is the genocide of world Jewry. And to advance its aim, it has murdered Jews, and incited, trained and indoctrinated Palestinians to murder Jews every single day since it was founded in 1988.

As for Fatah, since Frankel, Shaer and Yifrach were taken on Thursday night, Fatah has glorified and celebrated their capture on its official Facebook page and its official newspaper. Fatah’s Facebook page depicted the boys as rats, reeled in by a fishing pole.

The Palestinian Authority’s daily newspaper Al Hayat al Jadida published a mock World Cup logo in which three hands held three people who held their hands up in surrender.

And Fatah activists posted a revealing directive on Facebook after the boys were abducted.

No, Abbas’s “moderate” faction of the Palestinian unity government, so energetically supported by the US, the EU and the western media, did not call for the public to quit celebrating the abduction. Nor did it condemn the brutal assault.

The Fatah activists called for shopkeepers in the vicinity of the kidnapping to destroy any footage their security cameras filmed in the 24 hours following the operation to prevent the IDF from seizing the footage and using it in its efforts to locate the boys.

That makes Fatah an accessory after the fact to the attack. And yes, that means that the PA – which is comprised of Fatah and Hamas – is in fact one great big terrorist organization.

When Rudoren and her colleagues in the media look in the mirror, they don’t see themselves as enablers of murderers and champions of terrorists.

They see themselves as right-minded people who seek peace.

The same of course goes for the EU, which celebrated the formation of the Fatah-Hamas unity government, and has so far refused to condemn the kidnapping.

It also goes for the Obama administration which raced the EU to recognize the Fatah-Hamas government and promised that the US would continue funding the PA in breach of the letter of US law.

They all say they just want peace, for the betterment of all.

Taking them at their word, it is mystifying why they are so unconcerned with the behavior of Palestinian leaders.

All the two-state champions view PA President and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas as either the head of a state or as the head of a state-in-the-making. And as such, they perceive him as someone who represents the Palestinians, and as Rudoren wrote, someone who is unifying “disparate political factions and reunit[ing] the West Bank and Gaza after a seven-year split.”

Abbas himself encourages this view by among other things presenting himself as the “President of Palestine,” by signing international agreements for the “State of Palestine” and by demanding that the world community pressure Israel to submit to his territorial and political demands for the benefit of “Palestine.”

Yet when Israel does what he supposedly wants, and holds him responsible, as the head of the Palestinian government, for the abduction of its children by his coalition partner, Abbas cries foul and says Israel has no right to hold him responsible.

Rather than demand that Abbas take the responsibility he claims to carry, and convince his coalition partner to return the children they stole, the two-stater peaceniks blame Israel. And the kidnapped boys.

Maybe there is something else going on here.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but perhaps the media and the governments championing Palestinian unity are less motivated by geopolitical concerns than they would have us believe?

In one of those ironic coincidences that happens every so often when events converge to expose patterns and relations between seemingly unrelated events, in the two weeks before the Palestinians abducted Yifrach, Shaer and Frankel, the American Jewish community discovered that the object of the largesse of many an American Jewish patron of the arts – New York’s Metropolitan Opera – has gone full-on anti-Semitic.

In its fall line-up, the Met will produce the acclaimed-by- anti-Semites opera, The Death of Klinghoffer. Not only will they stage the show at Lincoln Center, the Met is going to broadcast it through its HD broadcast program to 2,000 theaters in 66 countries reaching a potential audience of millions.*

The Death of Klinghoffer romanticizes the lives and times of the PLO terrorists who hijacked the Achille Lauro cruise liner in 1985 and murdered wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer, a 69-year-old Jewish American.

Among its other catchy tunes, the soon-to-be-seen-worldwide opera includes this snappy ditty: “Wherever poor men – Are gathered they can – Find Jews getting fat – You know how to cheat – The simple, exploit – The virgin, pollute – Where you have exploited – Defame those you cheated – And break your own law – With idolatry.”

Ah, the arts.

Unfortunately, the Met isn’t operating in isolation. Throughout elite circles in the US, opinion is moving in an aggressively anti-Jewish direction.

University administrators and professors routinely side with anti-Semitic leftist and Muslim activists against their Jewish victims.

And led by the Presbyterian Church, mainline Protestant churches, as well as growing numbers of Evangelical churches are becoming openly hostile to Israel and the very notion of Jewish rights, including human rights.

The American elite are playing catchup with their European counterparts.

Under the guiding hand but blind eye of Europe’s elites, over the past 20 years anti-Semitism has become endemic in the political systems of EU member states as well as in the EU bureaucracy. Jew hatred serves as the one sentiment that unites leftists, rightists and Muslims.

And in Europe today, anti-Semitism doesn’t merely serve to justify Palestinian violence against Israelis. It also empowers Muslim Jew haters to believe that they can attack Jews violently with impunity on the streets of Europe.

Over the past week alone, Jews in Paris were subjected to four violent attacks. Jewish teenage boys were chased by a man wielding an ax. Other teenagers were sprayed with tear gas. Another Jewish teenage boy was tasered. And on Sunday, two men approached a synagogue while shooting a submachine gun and a handgun.

Outside the Jewish media, the events were barely reported. This, but a few weeks after the Belgian government refused to acknowledge that the massacre of four people at the Jewish museum in Brussels by a French jihadi was an anti-Semitic assault.

Jewish teenagers are kidnapped by Palestinian terrorists in Israel, and it’s their fault.

A old, handicapped Jewish man was thrown over the deck of a cruise ship, and America’s premier opera house says it’s art.

Jewish teenagers are violently assaulted on the streets of Europe, and Europe yawns.

There is a pattern here. And it has nothing to do with peace.

Netanyahu: We Struck Syrian Army Forcefully and will Continue to Hit Those Who Harm Us.
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday addressed IDF strikes which hit Syrian army targets early Monday morning in response to a cross-border attack from Syria that killed a 13-year-old Israeli boy on Sunday.

"We demonstrated strength overnight versus the Syrian army and will continue to strike out aggressively against anyone who harms us or attempts to harm us," Netanyahu said at the Likud faction meeting.

The prime minister also praised security forces for apprehending the terrorists who killed police officer Baruch Mizrahi on Passover eve.

Netanyahu said that he has taken steps to demolish the home of Hamas terrorist who killed Mizrahi and would continue to take further steps to fight terror.

He stated that Israel's top mission remains bringing home the three Israeli teens kidnapped in the West Bank a week-and-a-half ago.

Netanyahu Warns of 'Catastrophic Pivot on Iran's Nukes
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sounded the warning bell about a nuclear-armed Iran on Sunday, while speaking at the first Jewish Media Summit in Jerusalem.

The greatest historical challenge today, said Netanyahu, "is that a militant Islamic regime does not get its hands on weapons of mass destruction."

The prime minister called this the "number one imperative of our times," and a challenge that, if the world fails to meet it, "will be a pivot in history, and a catastrophic one."

Netanyahu cited the precedent of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime having its chemical weapons stockpile and the means to produce such weapons "removed" physically from Syria, as a paradigm to compare with Iran, which is now ahead of a July 20 deadline to reach a permanent agreement with world powers about its nuclear program.

"That is not the deal that is now - I fear - being negotiated with Iran. Rather than dismantle and remove, what is being discussed with Iran is to keep and inspect," stated Netanyahu.

In addition to its nuclear program, Netanyahu pointed out that Iran is developing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), weapons that aren't needed to reach Israel and therefore are intended to threaten the world, and which have "one purpose," to carry a nuclear payload.

Many have highlighted the danger of the nuclear negotiations, arguing that with its 19,000 centrifuges, Iran can maintain a sudden breakout capability of six to seven weeks in the event of a bad nuclear deal, meaning that it can quickly achieve nuclear weapons if not totally stripped of enrichment capability.

Progress has been mixed in the negotiations, with a senior US official saying last Friday that it is unclear whether Iran is ready to take the steps necessary to assure the world its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urging the West to "abandon excessive demands which will not be accepted by Iran."

A United Nations report in May revealed Iran is bypassing the sanctions, which were meant as an economic incentive to force the Islamic regime to abandon its nuclear program.

"Abbas is a man of courage"

Also speaking at the conference was outgoing President Shimon Peres, who answered questions from the audience.

Speaking about Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Peres described him as "the best partner that Israel has and the best we have had. I've known him for twenty years and he's a man of his words and of courage. ...We shouldn't miss an opportunity to make peace with him."

Abbas attacked the IDF Operation Brother's Keeper, which aims to rescue the three teens kidnapped by Hamas terrorists, accusing Israel of "killing Palestinians in cold blood," and denying there is "credible information" that Hamas perpetrated the abduction.

A senior official in Abbas's Fatah faction said last Thursday that "kidnappings are the only language that Israel understands."

Regarding the terrorists responsible for the kidnapping, Peres called them "criminals who have no respect for the law and no respect for human life. The kidnapping was a terrible event and we continue to do everything we can to bring them back." 

When asked about Pope Francis, who visited Israel last month, Peres called him "the best Pope the Jewish people have had for 2000 years. He has returned the Vatican to values. Among the anti-Semitism that we see in Europe he invited Jews and Muslims to the Vatican, he brought us together in a spirit of brotherhood."

The pope made an unplanned stopped during his visit last month at the security barrier between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, stopping to pray at a section of the wall spray-painted with "Free Palestine" and "Bethlehem looks like the Warsaw Ghetto."

Mosul's Rude Awakening on ISIS
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsAl-Monitor
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Some Iraqi Sunnis in Mosul and other cities may have welcomed the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) as liberators in response to the authoritarian and overtly sectarian policies of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, as Harith al-Qarawee and others have reported for Al-Monitor.

Omar al-Jaffal writes this week from Iraq that at least 14 groups, among them factions of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, have joined with ISIS forces in their military campaign in Iraq. 

Edward Dark (pseudonym) writes that this tentative embrace of ISIS has a tragic and familiar ring to many in his home city of Aleppo. Dark predicts Iraqi Sunnis who may have initially welcomed ISIS as liberators will regret their liberation by terrorists:

“It seems Iraq’s Sunnis supporting ISIS today are destined to share the same fate as Syria’s rebel-supporting Sunnis, as they struggle against a regime they view as sectarian and oppressive. Their willingness to join forces with the devil to defeat their opponents will soon turn the ecstasy of newfound liberation into the slow horrible realization that they’ve been used and preyed upon by an opportunistic terrorist group hell-bent on resurrecting a medieval theocratic fiefdom ruled by brute force and inhumane repression, complete with beheadings, stonings and crucifixions. What is certain is that as ISIS’s fortunes rise in Iraq, they rise as well in Syria. As far as ISIS is concerned, they are fighting in one large, borderless, Islamic state.”

Aleppo residents have learned that the ISIS legacy has nothing to do with freedom or liberation. ISIS is all about terrorism and ruthless ideology, no more. Aleppans, according to Dark, now worry that ISIS, stoked by its military successes in Iraq, will return with renewed vigor to its Syria campaign. 

Aleppo’s tragedy has not abated with the news in Iraq. 

Mohammed al-Khatieb provides a riveting first-hand account of the suffering of the victims of a nighttime barrel bombing in Aleppo:

"They began digging through the rubble in search of anyone who may be trapped. Minutes passed before members of the Civil Defense force arrived with the lone excavator they use in all targeted sites. A man in his forties, Abu Mohammed, whose relatives were trapped in the rubble, stood crying and screaming. He approached the devastated area and yelled at the top of his lungs, listening for a response from under the ruins. Everyone then went silent as Abu Mohammed heard a voice. 'Someone is still alive,' he yelled, pointing to a location for the Civil Defense members to dig in, a place he thought was the bedroom. Three hours later, four bodies were recovered. No one survived as the five-story building collapsed atop its occupants' heads."

The suffering of ordinary Syrians motivates Moaz al-Khatib, the former head of the Syrian National Coalition, to continue his campaign for a negotiated political solution to the Syria conflict.

Now an independent member of the opposition, Khatib told Al-Monitor in an exclusive interview in Doha, “Talks are necessary with all parties, and we cannot ignore any of the active actors,” including the Syrian government and Iran.

“I am still calling for direct negotiations with the regime,” he said. “We shouldn’t wait for international conferences that are held every couple of months and that cost the Syrian people time and bloodshed. Negotiation is a principle rather than a tactical issue.”

Khatib’s "principle" of negotiation is not shared by all Syrian opposition figures.

The head of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood political bureau, Hassan Hachimi, also in an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, said Iran was "untrustworthy" and that talks with Tehran should be avoided

With regard to the US counterterrorism strategy in the region, Geoffrey Aronson recommends that with the ISIS incursion in Iraq, the Barack Obama administration should, finally, open a channel for counterterrorism cooperation with the Syrian government to combat the rise of ISIS in both Syria and Iraq. Aronson concludes:

"[Bashar al-] Assad, for his part, has certainly not made such a decision any easier by his conduct of the war. We are not talking here about a handshake or an embrace. The United States can work through intermediaries, like Russia, to keep a healthy distance and allow Washington to say, 'We are not dealing with the Syrian government,' if so inclined. This all comes, however, with the recognition that US policy finally acknowledges that Damascus can play a role in beating back developments that pose the most potent threat to US interests in the Middle East in recent memory."

ISIS in Lebanon?

A suicide bombing at a military checkpoint outside Beirut on June 20 targeting Abbas Ibrahim, the head Lebanon’s General Security Directorate, who escaped unharmed, killed at least two others and injured 20.

The terrorist attack is a stark sign of the danger facing Lebanon from the spread of ISIS in the region.

Four days before the bombing, Jean Aziz wrote of the increasing threats of terrorism in Lebanon because of the ISIS advances in Iraq. After noting several supposedly "isolated" security incidents since June 10, when ISIS took Mosul, Aziz writes: 

"Lebanon is a target of the Sunni fundamentalist ISIS for ideological and doctrinal reasons. It should be noted that the 'Sham' part of the organization’s name does not refer to the current, official Syria, but to the Arab Mashreq that also includes Lebanon. Added to this is ISIS’s sectarian struggle with Shiite Hezbollah. This was embodied in a series of bombings and suicide attacks specifically targeting Lebanese Shiite areas."

IPI Free Media Pioneer Award ceremony

Held in Capetown, South Africa, on April 12-15, the International Press Institute's World Congress drew nearly 300 people. 

On April 14, the IPI honored Al-Monitor with the Free Media Pioneer Award and named Iranian journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin the 2014 World Press Freedom Hero.

Major U.S. City Next Target for Islamic Terror
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsWND
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Let the Headlines Speak
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Global Aliyah Up 55 Percent, Due Largely to Increased Immigration from France, Ukraine
Speaking at the opening plenary of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors’ June meetings in Jerusalem, Sharansky announced that The Jewish Agency estimates French Aliyah will surpass 5,000 individuals by the end of 2014 – an all-time record and a full 1% of the 500,000-person French Jewish community. Never before has such a large proportion of a Western Jewish community made Aliyah in a single year.

Aleutian volcanoes are waking up
Sharply increased seismic activity and volcanic eruptions in the Aleutian Islands and the far western Brooks Range are being investigated by scientists. The Alaska Volcano Observatory says the activity over the past few months is the most seen by the station 26 years.

Magnitude 7.2 quake strikes off Kermadec Islands, no damage reported
The USGS gave the epicenter as 126 km (80 miles) southeast of Raoul Island, the largest in the island chain located about 800 km from New Zealand's North Island. The quake occurred at a depth of 30 km, revised from an initial depth of 5 km.  

Current Ebola Outbreak Is Now The Worst In History And 'Totally Out Of Control'
Healthcare workers from the Doctors Without Borders prepare isolation and treatment areas for their Ebola, hemorrhagic fever operations, in Gueckedou, Guinea. An outbreak of the terrifying Ebola virus emerged in the West African nation of Guinea in February and has been spreading ever since, infecting people in Sierra Leonne and Liberia as well. It is now the biggest and deadliest outbreak of Ebola since the virus was identified in 1976.

Jesus, Republicans and NRA banned on school website
Andrew decided to set aside his debate preparation and started researching other conservative websites. He soon discovered that he had unfettered access to liberal websites, but conservative websites were blocked. Andrew found that even Pope Francis was blocked from the school’s web service. But although he could not access the Vatican website, the school allowed him to access an Islamic website. Public schools have become leftwing indoctrination centers.  

Oklahoma Coming To Terms With Unprecedented Surge In Earthquakes
“in what’s considered a stable continental interior,” Holland said. “Whatever we’re looking at, it’s completely unprecedented.” But until recently, the most powerful quake of the modern era was a magnitude-5.5 temblor in 1952 that left a 15-meter crack in the state Capitol building.  

North Korea army mobilized as rivers run dry in worst drought in years
North Korea's rivers, streams and reservoirs are running dry in a prolonged drought, state media said on Monday, prompting the isolated country to mobilize some of its million-strong army to try to protect precious crops.  

Iraq militants 'turning back clock' in captured Mosul
In the two weeks since it was seized by Sunni militants, some residents of the northern Iraq city of Mosul feel the clock has been turned back hundreds of years. The militants, led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadist group, have begun imposing an extreme interpretation of Islamic law in the days since they took the city, residents reached by telephone told AFP.  

The scandal of fiddled global warming data
...Goddard shows how, in recent years, NOAA’s US Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) has been “adjusting” its record by replacing real temperatures with data “fabricated” by computer models. The effect of this has been to downgrade earlier temperatures and to exaggerate those from recent decades, to give the impression that the Earth has been warming up much more than is justified by the actual data.  

US unlocks military aid to Egypt, backing President Sisi
The US has revealed it has released $575m (£338m) in military aid to Egypt that had been frozen since the ousting of President Mohammed Morsi last year. The news came as Secretary of State John Kerry visited Cairo just two weeks after former army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in as president. After talks with the new leader, Mr Kerry stressed the importance of upholding the rights of all Egyptians.  

Pakistan: Islamabad police clash with Qadri supporters
Police in Pakistan have fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of supporters of a prominent anti-government cleric in the capital, Islamabad. Crowds had gathered at the city's airport to welcome Tahirul Qadri from Canada where he lives, but his flight was diverted to Lahore. He says he plans to lead a peaceful revolt against PM Nawaz Sharif.  

Jordanians call for Abbas to be stripped of citizenship
Jordanian activists have called on their government to revoke the Jordanian citizenship of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on charges he "betrayed the Palestinian cause." A statement issued in Amman by a group calling itself Tayyar 36 [Trend 36] called on the government to also ban Abbas from entering the kingdom, the daily Rai Al Youm online newspaper reported Monday.  

Syrian rights group: Israeli air raids killed at least 10 Syrian soldiers
A Syrian rights group claimed Monday that Israel's overnight strikes on targets in the country killed "at least ten" Syrian soldiers. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was quoted as saying that nine missiles were fired by Israeli aircraft and at least two tanks and two batteries of artillery were destroyed.  

Report: Polish minister says US ties worthless
A Polish magazine said Sunday it has obtained recordings of a conversation in which Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski says the country's strong alliance with the U.S. "isn't worth anything" and is "even harmful because it creates a false sense of security."  

Israel attacks targets in Syria in retaliation for killing of teen in the Golan Heights
Israeli has been further drawn into the Syrian crisis after war planes and rockets struck nine targets across the border early on Monday in retaliation for a missile attack from Syria the day before. That attack killed an Israeli teenager and wounded his father along the border in the Golan Heights.  

Israel’s Netanyahu Advises Obama On Iraq: ‘When Your Enemies Are Fighting Each Other, Weaken Both’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his opposition to widescale American intervention in the Iraq crisis, advising President Obama that “when your enemies are fighting one another, don’t strengthen either one of them. Weaken both.”  

George W. Bush’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Found
For politicians who used “weapons of mass destruction” to make the case for invading Iraq,” it looks now like they may now have been spot on: Listen to how they stood up to a ruthless dictator, who had already used chemical weapons on thousands of Kurds and threatened the world:  

Sunni militants 'seize Iraq's western border crossings'
The Iraqi government appears to have lost control of its western borders after Sunni militants reportedly captured crossings to Syria and Jordan. Officials said the rebels took two key crossings in Anbar on Sunday, a day after seizing one at Qaim, a town in the province that borders Syria.  

Presbyterians to divest as protest against Israel
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Friday became the most prominent religious group in the United States to endorse divestment as a protest against Israeli policies toward Palestinians, voting to sell church stock in three companies whose products Israel uses in the occupied territories.  

Kuwait Withdraws Envoy from Iraq Due to Security Situation
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Kerry Says U.S. Support to Iraq will be Intense and Sustained
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

BAGHDAD - US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that Washington's support for Iraqi security forces will be "intense and sustained" to help them combat a militant insurgency that has swept through the country's north and west.

Kerry said that during talks he had with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad on Wednesday, the Iraqi leader reaffirmed his commitment to a July 1 date for forming a new government.

Washington says it wants to urge Iraqi leaders to form a government that represents the interests of all Iraqis.

Jesus, Republicans and NRA Banned on School Website
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

One of the lessons that Andrew Lampart learned from being on his school’s debate team was to gather facts for both sides of an argument. So last month when his law class was instructed to prepare for a debate on gun control, Andrew went online using the school’s Internet service.

“I knew it was important to get facts for both sides of the case,” said the 18-year-old at Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury, Connecticut.

Andrew decided to set aside his debate preparation and started researching other conservative websites. He soon discovered that he had unfettered access to liberal websites, but conservative websites were blocked.

When Andrew tried to log onto the National Rifle Association’s website, he realized there was a problem – a big problem.

“Their website was blocked,” he told me. Andrew decided to try the Second Amendment Foundation’s website. That too, was blocked.

His curiosity got the best of him – so Andrew tried logging on to several pro-gun control websites. Imagine his surprise when he discovered the pro-gun control websites were not blocked.

“I became curious as to why one side was blocked and the other side was not,” he said.

Andrew decided to set aside his debate preparation and started researching other conservative websites. He soon discovered that he had unfettered access to liberal websites, but conservative websites were blocked.

For example, the Connecticut Republican Party website was blocked. The Connecticut Democratic Party website was not blocked. National Right to Life was blocked, but Planned Parenthood was not blocked. Connecticut Family, a pro-traditional marriage group, was blocked, but LGBT Nation was not blocked.

Andrew found that even Pope Francis was blocked from the school’s web service. But although he could not access the Vatican website, the school allowed him to access an Islamic website.

“This is really border line indoctrination,” Andrew told me. “Schools are supposed to be fair and balanced towards all ways of thinking. It’s supposed to encourage students to formulate their own opinions. Students aren’t able to do that here at the school because they are only being fed one side of the issue.”

Andrew gathered his evidence and requested a meeting with the principal. The principal referred him to the superintendent, which he did. The superintendent promised to look into the matter and fix the problem.

“I gave him a week to fix the problem,” Andrew said. “But nothing had been done.”

So last Monday, Andrew took his mountain of evidence to the school board.

“They seemed surprised,” he said. “They told me they were going to look into the problem.”

Since the school board didn’t resolve the problem, I decided to take a crack at it.

Superintendent Jody Goeler sent me a rather lengthy letter explaining what happened.

He admitted there are “apparent inconsistencies” in the school district’s filtering system “particularly along conservative and liberal lines.”

“Many of the liberal sites accessible to the student fell into the ‘not rated’ category, which was unblocked while many of the conservative sites were in the ‘political/advocacy group’ category which is accessible to teachers but not to students,” he said in a written statement. “The district is trying to determine the reason for the inconsistency and if the bias is pervasive enough to justify switching to another content filtering provider.”

I find it hard to believe the superintendent needs more evidence to make that determination.

“The district does not block individual sites, only categories of websites,” he wrote. “The categories are supposed to be inclusive of all sites that fall into a common description.”

Without getting into the weeds here, the school district is blaming the blocking on Dell SonicWall, their content filtering service. They said they are waiting for Dell SonicWall to clarify its process for assigning websites to categories.

Dell SonicWall did not return my telephone call so I can’t tell you whether the district’s statement is the gospel truth or baloney. But something smells fishy.

Superintendent Goeler said they have “an interest in exposing students to a wide and varying number of viewpoints."

“The district does engage in unblocking sites to provide diverse points of view and balance in the instructional process,” he wrote.

Pardon me, sir, but that’s a load of unadulterated, Grade-A hooey.

The National Rifle Association, Red State, SarahPac.com, National Right to Life, Second Amendment Foundation, Paul Ryan for Congress, Town Hall, TeaParty.org, ProtectMarriage.com, and Christianity.com are just some of the websites the school blocked.

And they still remain blocked.

“The thing that bothers me the most is that public education is supposed to be neutral,” Andrew said. “It’s supposed to expose kids to both sides of an issue and allow them to formulate their own opinions.”

Andrew has discovered the issue I write about in my new book, “God Less America.” Public schools have become leftwing indoctrination centers.

“Students are only being given information from one side of the issue,” he said. “They are told this is the information we are giving you – make the most of it. They are not giving them both sides of the argument.”

Andrew Lampart has done his community and his nation a great public service by exposing the politically correct firewall that was erected at Nonnewaug High School.

And now we must do our part and demand a free exchange of ideas not just in Woodbury, Connecticut, but around the nation.

Mr. Superintendent, tear down this wall!

Italy to Push for 'United States of Europe' When It Holds the EU Presidency
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Telegraph
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Matteo Renzi Photo: Rex

ISIS to Iraqi Christians: Obey, Pay, or Leave
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Throughout its Iraq campaign, ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has targeted Christians. Many fled to the relative safety of Kurdish Iraq, but most still fear the wrath of the world's most brutal jihadist group.

Pastor Majeed, CBN News' guide, drove with us toward Nineveh where most of the country's besieged Christians have fled. It wasn't long until we went as far as the Kurdish army, called the Peshmerga, would allow us to go. 

"So this is the end line. We cannot go any more," Majeed explained. 

To travel beyond the town of Bartilla is to risk running into the ISIS. The jihadist group controls the mountains not far from the town. A few kilometers down the road, there's an ISIS checkpoint. 

About 25,000 Christians have fled to Bartilla, but CBN News couldn't find one who would talk on camera out of fear of retribution.

The conditions in Bartilla are abysmal. There's no water because ISIS turned it off. And there's no electricity because Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's government turned that off.

People here are protected by the Peshmerga, who have set up a perimeter around the town and a few other towns in the area. 

These people know that ISIS could come in and kill most of the people here. They're asking for prayer from Christians around the world. One Christian leader said they're asking for prayer just as the Apostle Paul did, praying that God will protect the town and the region.

Bartilla lies just a few miles from Nineveh or Mosul, the first major conquest for ISIS just a few days ago. The town was nearly deserted. 

While Christians refused to talk on camera, CBN News talked to one of the house church leaders. 

On our way back to the Kurdish capital, Erbil, Pastor Majeed told us when ISIS captured Nineveh, it gave Christian residents three choices: obey, pay or leave.

"That they are not allowed to open their churches. And even if they open them they will burn the churches," Majeed explained. "And also the Christians have been requested -- been asked to pay the tax [dhimmi, the tax for non-Muslims under Islamic rule]."

"If not, they can leave Nineveh," he continued. "And if they don't leave and don't pay the tax, they should give their heads." He was talking about beheading.

In the midst of this cauldron surrounding Iraq's Christians, Majeed sent out a prayer S.O.S.

"So please raise up prayer for us. This is what we need," he said. "We do believe that prayer is very important because we hear when man is working, man is working. But when man is praying, God is working."

"So it is important for the churches outside Iraq to raise up prayers and also to fast for the sake of the people of Iraq," he continued.

"It's important for the other churches to pray for them to be protected," he admonished. "Please pray for us -- this is the only thing for the right time. We have nothing to do. People outside can do nothing for us except praying."

Iran Boosts Security Along Border With Iraq, As ISIL Advances
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Iran has stepped up surveillance along its long border with Iraq in precaution against a spread of violence from militants who have seized a swathe of its neighbor, a senior official said on Monday.

"Due to the unique situation in Iraq and its proximity to our western regions, we have taken duly precautions to shore up control, watch and fortifications along the border," Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli told reporters. "But presently we have no worries," the minister was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.

In God We Trust
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Wanted: Hard-working individual with job experience, demonstrated leadership and a minimum of two references — those with faith need not apply.

Most of the country might consider itself religious, but according to two recently released studies, admitting one’s faith on a resume can cut the chances for a callback by more than 25 percent.

Scholars with the “Religious Affiliation and Hiring Discrimination” field experiments, conducted in the South and New England, found that “applicants who expressed a religious identity were 26 percent less likely to receive a response from employers.”

“These studies do tend to show there will be factors in resumes that will lead to bias,” said David Lewin, head of Berkeley Research Group’s Labor and Employment practice and a professor of organizational behavior at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. “Religion could well be one of them.”

The New England study was conducted between July and October 2009, and involved submitting 6,400 resumes for 1,600 job postings within 150 miles of Hartford, Connecticut.

The study in the South was conducted between March and May 2010, and involved 3,200 resumes sent to 800 jobs posted online within a 150 miles of two “major Southern cities.”

The jobs included positions in customer service, hospitality, media, retail, real estate, shipping and clerical duties. The postings only required an emailed resume.

Both studies submitted resumes to jobs where a resume could be emailed, and for each posting, several resumes were submitted with similar templates but a variety of faith-based information.

“We randomly assigned to each resume one of seven experimental conditions,” the studies explained, listing atheist, Catholic, evangelical Christian, Jewish, pagan, Muslim, a made up “Wallonian” faith, and a control group for which no religious affiliation was mentioned.

The scholars used a template of a candidate who had graduated in 2008 or 2009 with a 3.7 or higher grade point average and participation in extracurricular activities. The religious identification was made through a membership in a university-related religious organization.

“Including such religious information on resumes is realistic for college graduates because they generally lack extensive work histories and tend to compensate by listing involvement in extracurricular activities and volunteer experiences,” the study stated. “These activities include participation in political, community, or identity-based organizations.”

In the New England study, 8.5 percent of the control group received a phone call or email from a potential employer, compared to the 7.5 percent average of the seven religions included in the survey. The fictitious “Wallonian” applicants had an 8.2 percent rate of return, compared to the 6.5 percent for Muslims.

For the American South, 18.2 percent of the control group received a call or email, while the religious candidates averaged 15.7 percent.

Jewish candidates had the highest rate of return, at 16.5 percent, while Muslims again were the lowest, at 10.7 percent.

In the “art of resume preparation,” one rule of advice is “unless you have a good reason to put it on, don’t put it on,” Mr. Lewin said.

Hamas Leader Says Crackdown Has Sparked Third Intifada
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh

Flash 90

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh stated that a third intifada (terror war against Israel) had started on Monday, according to AFP, citing ongoing unrest in the Palestinian Authority (PA) as the IDF cracks down on Hamas in Judea and Samaria. 

"We're not saying the intifada will start; we're saying it has started already in the West Bank [Judea and Samaria - ed.], and no one can stop it," Haniyeh told journalists in Gaza. "The enemy (Israel) cannot put a stop to the escalation of the resistance."

Haniyeh's remarks surface eleven days after three yeshiva students were kidnapped from Gush Etzion by Hamas terrorists, as both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other security officials confirm again and again that the terror organization is behind the abduction. 

Operation Brothers' Keeper to find the boys, as well as to subdue Hamas in the PA over the abduction, is well into its tenth day. At least 360 Hamas terrorists have been arrested and 1400 sites scoured in the search. On Sunday, an underground terror tunnel system was uncovered in Hevron. 

Meanwhile, the ten-day operation has been marked with an upswing in violence against IDF soldiers, including several rock attacks and shooting incidents. 

Rocket fire from Gaza onto Israel has also been near-constant, with the IAF retaliating with airstrikes on multiple occasions over the past week and a half.

Gullible Christian Progressive Leaders Fall for Iranian Deception
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

A Christian delegation recently visited Iran, led by Pastor Joel C. Hunter, a spiritual advisor to President Obama and a mega-church leader. The Iranian regime hopes that the prospect of better relations will silence concerned Christians. When asked about the oppression of Christians, Hunter replied, “We didn’t go over there to confront people on certain issues.”

The Iranian regime’s new strategy is to project its power through careful calculation. It has learned from Ahmadinejad’s counter-productive abrasiveness. The "moderate" reputation of President Rouhani will advance Iran’s nuclear weapons program over the long-term, enticing Western businesses to invest in Iran along the way. This will stabilize the regime and spark strategic shifts in its favor.

The American-Christian community is well-organized, politically active and is one of the most powerful voices against the Iranian regime. Rouhani and his cohorts recognize that starting a new relationship with the U.S. necessitates a new relationship with religious leaders.

That is why the red carpet was rolled out for a delegation of 30 Christian leaders last month, led by Pastor Joel C. Hunter of the 15,000-strong Northland Church. Hunter is on President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships and is also on the boards of the National Association of Evangelicals and the World Evangelical Alliance.

Hunter previously fought legislation meant to stop foreign laws, including sharia, from taking precedent in court over American constitutional rights. He did so alongside a former official of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity. Hunter therefore has a history of ignoring radical ideologies and track records in the name of interfaith engagement. 

He has also positioned himself as a counterforce to, in his words, “Christian Zionists.”

It’s to be expected that Hunter did not allow thorny issues like Iran’s oppression of Christians, support for terrorism and support of extremist propaganda to get in the way. When asked about his talks with Iranian officials about religious persecution, he said there were “sidebar conversations,” but, “We didn’t go over there to confront people on certain issues.”

Another attendee was Pastor Bob Roberts of NorthWood Church in Texas, who held an Islamist-filled “Global Faith Forum” last year and spoke at an Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) conference. The Justice Department confirms that ISNA is a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity and labeled it as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism-financing trial in U.S. history. Its leadership’s radicalism betrays its moderate presentation.

After the trip, Roberts blogged about his optimism about a new start with Iran, falsely equating the pro-Western population with the anti-Western regime. He came to accept — even respect — its ideology. Four quotes stand out:

“I’m writing in broad strokes so no doubt there are exceptions to everything I’m writing, and I met with people that were more open minded in their thinking – not as much with hardliners. But, the thing is, those open minded people are the ones in power now.”

“In their form of Islam, they have found a way to hold on to their faith and at the same time modernize it.”

“You thought they were a bunch of uneducated religious zealots – think again! They hate terrorism, Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and they do not like being classified with religious extremist like that” [emphasis in original].

“Iran has never showed aggression in trying to take over the nations surrounding her – that in itself should be pause to evaluate.”

Granted, Roberts does acknowledge that the U.S. shouldn’t alter its foreign policy based on his observations because he is not an expert. Still, he has a large audience that will be influenced by his views. That’s why the Iranian regime hosted him in the first place.

Other delegates included Dr. Alex Roy Medley of the National Council of U.S. Churches, Professor Anthony Destro of Washington Catholic University and Dr. Barbara Skinner of the National Network of U.S.-African Priests. They attended a May 25 conference titled, “World Free of Violence and Extremism from the Perspective of Abrahamic Religions.”

Going to Tehran for an anti-extremism/anti-violence interfaith event is more than a bit ironic. The illogical absurdity of hosting such a moderate-sounding conference in the capital of the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism is a microcosm of the regime’s overall public relations campaign.

The United Nations said in March that Christian persecution in Iran is at unprecedented levels; meaning that it has actually increased under Rouhani. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom agrees, stating that Rouhani “has not delivered on his campaign promises of strengthening civil liberties for religious minorities.” 

Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American citizen who was arrested in Iran while setting up an orphanage, was recently brutally beaten when he was in a hospital and moved back to the notorious torture-house named Evin Prison.

The delegation discussed a “faith-based path to peace” with the speaker of parliament, advisors to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Christian and Jewish leaders and Grand Ayatollahs in Qom that form the theological spine of the regime and its Islamist oppression.

Yet, Hunter says they “didn’t go over there to confront people on certain issues.” To sum it up, the Christian delegation went to Iran to discuss peace and tolerance— with the officials driving extremism and intolerance — and without confronting their actions.

In other words, the trip was not only meaningless, it was damaging. The religious leaders came back to America and by talking about the wonderful progress they made with Iranian officials, the American public gets the impression that the regime would be a reasonable partner if only we were kinder.

A similar trip took place on March 11-17 when a small delegation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops traveled to Iran to meet with the Iranian religious leaders of Qom. The trip was sponsored by the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has allied with American Islamist groups in the past so, like Hunter, it has a history of looking past radical ideological track records.

Bishop Pates, chairman of the organization’s International Justice and Peace Committee, came back from the trip attributing the tension with Iran to “misunderstanding.” He said:

“We had a productive religious and moral dialogue that we hope will promote understanding between the peoples of Iran and the United States. We are committed to continuing and deepening these discussions in the future in order to contribute to a more just and peaceful world. As Pope Francis has said, dialogue is the key to discovering truth and avoiding misunderstanding.”

The fundamental message behind Iran’s outreach is that the tension is a “misunderstanding.” If the American public can be convinced that the differences with Iran are “misunderstandings,” then the U.S. will be less of a barrier to Iran’s ambitions.

The regime’s public expressions of extremism won’t be seen as a genuine declaration of belief and intent, but as a sign of frustration over its treatment. The nuclear program will be seen less as a threat. Sanctions and pressure will be seen as antithetical to correcting these so-called misunderstandings through dialogue.

The Iranian regime’s new face and softer voice is appealing to interfaith leaders, especially American Christians, just as it is to Western officials and businesses. 

The American-Christian community has been a thorn in Iran’s side, supporting sanctions and protesting the regime’s extremism. The regime hopes that Christians will choose “understanding” over confrontation.

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/June23/233.html#EyFsYeo7YfUpvl4Q.99

Global Chemical Weapons Watchdog Says Work in Syria will Continue
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

An investigation into alleged use of chlorine in Syria's civil war will continue after the last shipment of toxic material reported to the world's chemical weapons watchdog was shipped out of the country, the body's chief said on Monday.

Ahmet Uzumcu, head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, also told reporters in The Hague that the destruction of roughly 1,300 tonnes of chemicals declared to the organization will take about four months.

An investigation by the OPCW into alleged chlorine use, which is being jointly carried out with the United Nations "may take a little more time. Clearly we want to conclude it as soon as possible," Uzumcu said.

Former GOP Candidate Mike Huckabee Speaks At the Knesset
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Mike Huckabee (file)

Flash 90

Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential primary candidate Mike Huckabee arrived in Israel on Sunday. On Monday, Huckabee, who is also a television host, spoke at the Knesset.

Huckabee remarked that he has been coming to Israel for 41 years since the summer of 1973, and "seen nothing less than the miraculous transformation of this land."

There are "long lines to condemn, criticize and even destroy Israel," said Huckabee, but the line of those aware that the "only explanation for Israel's existence is G-d's providence is a very short one, and since I always like to get in very short lines, I don't mind being in the very front of that line."

"There are those who wish harm on Israel, that's undeniable. ...Some of the most vicious, some of the most violent acts in human history have been targeted towars israel as a nation and the jewish people as a whole. Some of the acts are irrational. How else can one describe the BDS movement other than an irrational punishment of Israel for giving equality" by companies like Sodastream, remarked Huckabee, noting the company whose headquarters outside Ma'ale Adumim in Judea has put it in the target of BDS.

Speaking of Sodastream's representative actress Scarlett Johansson, who refused to submit to pressure by the BDS movement to remove her support, Huckabee praised her for showing "more courage than all the State Department."

"If I ever become president, maybe you'll see Secretary of State Scarlett Johansson, I'm pretty sure she'll be more attractive than the two we just had," remarked Huckabee tongue-in-cheek.

"Truth is the best friend Israel has. Unfortunately it doesn't have many friends telling the truth," commented Huckabee. He noted the historical, Biblical, theological and logical definitions supporting Israel's right to exist, adding that it fits the United Nations description of an indigenous nation.

"The nonsense of two people sharing the same land is irrational enough to begin with, but if one of them thinks the other doesn't have the right to exist, the continuation of the nonsense of the two state solution is no solution," charged the former presidential candidate.

Huckabee defended Israel's right to demand that its "children live in a place that is safe and secure and is not threatened by mere single digit miles from those that wish to destroy them." He noted that directly after landing on Sunday he visited the home of Naftali Frenkel, one of the kidnapped teens who happens to be an American citizen.

The former presidential candidate says he spoke to Frenkel's mother, saying "I'm not talking to you as an American to an Israeli, i'm not talking to you as simply someone who comes with a diplomatic mission. I'm looking into the eyes of a mother whose son was just coming home from school, and someone took him from here."

"Will anybody on earth justify what happened to those three boys. Can anybody celebrate that? If they can, they are very sick indeed. And if there are those who think you can defend and justify such a horrid action...then those are people made of a very different cloth than me, and it is very important that there is across the world unified condemnation," stated Huckabee.

Indeed, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's PA and Fatah faction have celebrated the kidnapping, and a senior Fatah official last Thursday justified kidnappings as the "only language that Israel understands." Arab MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) likewise justified the abduction.

Huckabee warned that if the three abducted teens don't come home safely, then "whoever did this will have hell to pay for having taken on those boys and their mothers."

The former governor added that the international delegitimization of Israel is "rabid irrational anti-Semitic hatred, and we cannot allow the world to pretend that this is simply a political viewpoint that sponsors movements like BDS. It is anti-Semitic hatred and bigotry."

"The greatest friend we have in America today"

MK Nissim Ze'ev (Shas) opened for Huckabee, praising him as "the man who fought all year against the delegitimization (of Israel) by the United States and the international sphere." 

Ze'ev also praised Huckabee's determination to raise awareness about the kidnapping of three yeshiva students in the US. While the Secretary of State's office and individual politicians have condemned the abduction, US President Barack Obama remains silent - some 11 days later.

"The world is indifferent. ...but, our friend Mike Huckabee, went directly from the airport to the Frenkel family to support them, and tell them we're here together," Ze'ev said. "The United States and Israel are united on this issue (of the kidnapping)." 

Dr. Joe Frager, Chairman of The World Committee For The Land Of Israel, then opened the address, calling Huckabee "the greatest friend we have in America today."

Frager warned that action would need to be taken on Iran's nuclear program, likely this summer, but that it looks like Israel would need to act alone without waiting for US President Barack Obama to help. He closed by reciting Psalm 121 for the return of the captive teens.

'Double Standards are Anti-Semitism'

Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz spoke next, calling Huckabee "one of Israel's best friends" and adding that he "agreed with everything."  

“We might have many more enemies, but we have very strong friends with you," he said. “You need some courage and integrity to support Israel against animosity, and anti-Semitism. [. . .] this is extremely encouraging.” 

Steinitz first made a few comments regarding the abduction of three yeshiva students, reiterating that Hamas is indeed responsible for the kidnapping. 

“Those who are responsible directly for these terrible terrorist attacks are the Hamas people and the Hamas movement, this we know with confidence; I can say this as Intelligence Minister with confidence," he affirmed. 

Steinitz maintained that responsibility also falls on the Palestinian Authority, however. 

"[But] we cannot exonerate the PA altogether [for the kidnapping], including [PA Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas," he added. "They are in charge of preventing such attacks, and they failed." 

The minister named three reasons Abbas should be held responsible: that the terrorists "came from Area A, which is under the secure responsibility of the PA," and that "if they failed now, there is a question they can be trusted in the future"; because the PA "sent up a joint government with a terror organization, Hamas"; and the major question of Palestinian incitement. 

"Although it was done by Hamas, the anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish incitement in the PA education system, government media, government television, is ongoing on a daily basis," he stressed, "including some encouragement for kidnapping Israelis that was broadcasted on Abbas's government station." 

"Abbas has condemned [the kidnapping] a little, denounced [it] a little [. . .] [but] we shouldn’t him exonerate until they crack down on terrorists, until they terminate this partnership with Hamas, and more important until they put a complete end to this horrific anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish incitement," he added. 

Steinitz then shifted his attention to BDS, as a  "weapon of anti-Semitism" to "isolate Israel." 

"If Israel’s enemies use double standards, this is anti-Semitism," he noted.  "We have experienced a lot of anti-Semitism against the Jewish people over 2,000 years."

"Modern anti-Semites are not anti-Semites; they are only against the Jewish state, not the Jewish people," he said. "It’s forbidden to be against the Jewish people now after so long but to make it against the Jewish state is alright." 

"We are willing to accept criticism but not incitement and hatred," he added. 

Steinitz brought up the issue of Cyprus -  the northern part of which has been occupied by Turkey - as a prime example of the international community's double-standards. 

“There are many territorial conflicts in the world," he said. "The EU holds that northern Cyprus is occupied by Turkey."

"[Yet] no one ever wants to divest from Turkish banks in Northern Cyprus or boycott products from Northern Cyprus," he said. 

"These are double-standards across the enormous Middle East, which is riddled with human rights violations, women’s rights violations - with murder, with execution orders," he continued. "But within all of this sadness, there is an infinitesimally small state, a Jewish state, a Western state par excellence, and the West finds reasons specifically to harm this tiny Democracy - this is what we called ‘disguised anti-Semitism."

Security and American values

MK Dov Lipman (Yesh Atid) also spoke, telling his story about emigrating to Israel from the US and thanking Huckabee for upholding traditional American values.

"When I looked in the room and saw the American flag in the room, you just can’t look away, something stirred inside me," Lipman said, noting an American flag hung outside his childhood home "365 days a year." 

He recounted how, when he was preparing to be sworn in after the last Knesset elections in 2012,  "they asked me to raise my right hand and renounce my US citizenship, and I had tears streaming down my face. It was really hard to do."

"It was hard to do so because of what America stands for and what the America I grew up in stood for," he explained. "I always saw America as a country which saw truth, saw good, and would fight against evil, fight against falsehood. Then, all of a sudden, I found out that Israel is the cause of evil in the world and felt very isolated." 

Citing the recent Presbyterian Church decision to support BDS, Lipman thanked Huckabee for the "revival of core American values," reflecting that even the early Presidents stressed the importance of the Jewish people and even a Jewish homeland. 

Yoni Chetboun (Jewish Home) also spoke, thanking Huckabee for his work preventing IDF soldiers from being labelled as "war criminals"; and MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) asked Huckabee to relay to the State Department that Israel is "not willing to trade our security for US technology," referring to the US framework for negotiations with the PA and the current fall in Iraq to ISIS as proof. 

'I'm Not Here as an American, but as a Father'

Huckabee's appearance at the Knesset comes in the framework of The World Committee For The Land of Israel, a Zionist American Jewish organization.

The first stop on Huckabee's visit Sunday was the home of Naftali Frenkel (16), an American citizen who together with Eyal Yifrah (19) and Gilad Sha'ar (16) was kidnapped two weeks ago by Hamas terrorists.

"I'm here not just as an American but as a father,” Huckabee said while visiting the home. “I think every parent in the world feels something at the pit of their stomach with the thought of something like this happening to their own child.”

The former presidential candidate is expected to address the abduction in his speech, along with means of combating the campaign of delegitimization facing the Jewish state.

Ministers Gideon Sa'ar, Yisrael Katz, Uri Ariel and Yuval Steinitz were all scheduled to attend the speech, along with deputy ministers Eli Ben-Dahan, Danny Danon and Ofir Akunis.

Additionally, Knesset Chairman Yuli Edelstein will attend, as well as various MKs were to be at the speech.

EU Ministers Threaten Further Sanctions on Russia
Jun 23rd, 2014
Daily NewsRadio Free Europe
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Several European foreign ministers are threatening further sanctions if Russia fails to both cooperate with Ukraine's proposed peace plan and halt interference in the country’s east.

The bloc has so far ordered visa bans and asset freezes for officials but refrained from imposing broader economic sanctions on Russia.

Ahead of the EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on June 23, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the EU will be able to agree further measures at a summit of EU leaders on June 27, if necessary.

He said Moscow must be in "no doubt" it faces further sanctions.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt accused Russia of "conducting a propaganda war with full speed," adding that Moscow must face further sanctions unless it changes course.

Meanwhile, the European Council said it has finalized technical preparations ahead of the signature of an Association Agreement with Kyiv in Brussels on June 27.
In Ukraine, the governor of the eastern Kharkiv region, Ihor Baluta, has called on residents to respect the peace plan put forth by President Petro Poroshenko.

Baluta on June 23 urged his people to avoid conflicts after pro-Ukrainian and pro-separatist activists clashed in the city of Kharkiv on June 22.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, discussed the situation by telephone in Ukraine late June 22.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on June 23 released a statement saying the two had agreed "a stable cease-fire should be attained as a condition to launching a dialogue between Kyiv and representatives of protesters in southeast Ukraine." 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on June 22 that he supports Poroshenko's call for a cease-fire but said a cessation of hostilities is meaningless without a dialogue between the opposing parties.