Jerusalem
Shalom,
World Powers: Iran Missile Tests Defy Nuclear Pact and Threaten Israel
“Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, ‘You will not call to account’? But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands … Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.” (Psalm 10:13–15)
The United States, France, Britain, and Germany have called for an “appropriate response” from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) after Iran’s latest round of ballistic-missile tests, saying the projectiles’ capacity to carry nuclear warheads violates last year’s nuclear deal.
The four world powers, whose joint letter to the UNSC was distributed last Tuesday, said that Iran’s missile tests defy Resolution 2231, which outlines guidelines that Iran’s domestic nuclear program must follow in exchange for lifting sanctions and other restrictions against Iran.
The joint letter also noted “with concern that Iranian military leaders have reportedly claimed these missiles are deigned to be a direct threat to Israel.”
The letter further stated that the missiles, a short-range Qiam-1 and a medium-range Shahab-3, were “inherently capable of delivering nuclear weapons” and called the Iranian missile practice tests “destabilizing and provocative.”
These two missiles were launched by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) from Iran’s Alborz mountains, both with a Hebrew message on the side that said: “Israel shall be wiped off the face of the Earth.”
Ballistic missile test (Fars News Agency photo
by Mahdi Marizad)
IRG officials, such as its commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, have stated that Iran is testing missiles in order to target Israel.
Jafari said last January that, “We will fight to the end to destroy Israel.”
Another official, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who heads the IRG aerospace division, said after the March 9 test, “The 2,000-km (1,240-mi) range of our missiles is to confront the Zionist regime.”
“Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries and it will not last long in a way,” Hajizadeh said. “It will collapse even before being hit by these missiles.” (Fars)
Meanwhile, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani tweeted days after the testing that "the future is in dialogue, not missiles." (Reuters)
On Wednesday, however, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on military action and matters of state, countered that statement, saying: “Those who say the future is in negotiations, not in missiles, are either ignorant or traitors.”
Because Israel is not ignorant about Iran’s goal to destroy her people and take her Land, Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon welcomed the council's call for action.
"There must be consequences for Iran's hostility towards Israel," Danon said in a statement last Tuesday. "The international community must take action and impose sanctions against the Iranian regime."
UN Sec.-Gen. Ban Ki-moon added this past week that the major UNSC powers who negotiated with Iran on the July 2015 nuclear deal are “the ones who will analyze whether this ballistic missiles launched were a violation ... and what kind of measures should be taken.”
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the nuclear deal was approved by China, France, Russia, Britain, and the US — the permanent members of the UN Security Council — plus Germany, the European Union, and Iran.
Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN, speaks to
journalists ahead of Security Council consultations on the recent ballistic
missile launch by Iran. (UN photo by Mark Garten)
Islamic Video Accuses Israel of Digging Tunnels Under Temple Mount
“Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:24)
This past week, the Islamic Movement released a 17-minute video titled “Underneath al-Aqsa,” which accuses Israel of building a series of tunnels beneath the western part of the Temple Mount grounds.
The video alleges that Jewish tunneling is a means of Judaizing the Temple compound, with the end goal of rebuilding the Holy Jewish Temple.
The false claim that “Al-Aqsa mosque is in danger” is repeated multiple times. This is the same false claim that inspired the current wave of Palestinian terror, which began September 2015.
“This lie is nothing new. For the past century, Palestinian leaders have told the “Al-Aqsa is in danger” lie in order to incite their people to attack Jews. It is important to expose and counter this fabrication because it remains a spark that can lead to bloodshed,” writes the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
The Temple Mount (Israel Police photo)
The truth is that Israel does not excavate under the Temple Mount. But Muslims themselves have conducted roughshod excavation in and under the Temple Mount area known as Solomon’s Stables in order to build an underground mosque inside the stables.
Those excavations, which showed total disregard for the site's archaeological past, may have compromised the Mount.
Archaeologists are still sifting through the dirt removed by Arab trucks from this area and have been salvaging the remains. Many finds, sadly, cannot be placed in an accurate position or depth on the Temple Mount, limiting their value.
Nevertheless, these finds continue to reaffirm the historical presence of the Jewish People, as well as the First and Second Temples, on the Temple Mount.
Even with such longstanding Jewish presence on the Mount, there is no danger to either the Temple Mount (Muslims have renamed the entire Temple Mount platform as al-Aqsa) or the black-capped al Aqsa Mosque building. Muslims worship there freely in the democratic State of Israel.
Only those who riot or commit acts of violence against other visitors are confronted by Israel security personnel.
Muslim visits to the Temple Mount are quite different than Jewish visits.
While Jewish visitors are often harassed from the moment they step on
the Mount, Muslim visitors are unchallenged and free to go where they wish.
In the propaganda film, Sheikh Raed Salah states that “the occupation [Israel] is openly committing crimes, and it leans on an invented agreement it signed with Jordan to install cameras on the Temple Mount in order to continue committing these crimes.”
Members of the Palestinian Authority rebuked Jordan, saying the cameras would allow Israel to arrest non-Israeli Arabs who wreak havoc, do damage, and threaten violence on the Temple grounds.
However, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said the cameras would “expose Israeli assaults and violations.” On March 17, Jordan said the installations were slated to happen “in the coming days.”
According to Salah, Israel’s “crimes include the digging beneath al-Aqsa, the daily Jewish storming of the mosque, the expelling of young Muslims stationed in al-Aqsa to protect the mosque, and the propaganda according to which Israel should impose its sovereignty on Temple Mount.”
The Mount is under Jewish — Israeli — sovereignty with the Jordanian Islamic Waqf only carrying administrative privileges. Sadly, Israel’s policies to prevent conflict have restricted Jewish access to aspects of the Temple grounds, the holiest Jewish site in the world.
Despite the Mount’s status as a holy site to both Jew and Muslim, Muslim children seem to take the Mount casually, often playing soccer there.
Gaza school children are brainwashed to hate Israel even before they
learn to read. (UN photo)
The “al-Aqsa is in danger” myth is not the only incitement against Jewish Israelis. Indoctrination in the form of cartoons, television shows, and music videos permeate Palestinian society, including the classrooms of even the youngest children.
The Hamas-affiliated Shehab news agency posted a video called “The Palestinian Alphabet,” which reveals how “the fundamental Palestinian national principles” are cemented in a child’s mind even before the Arabic alphabet.
“The Arabic letter alif (A) is for Asra [prisoners]; the letter ayn ['A] is for Awda [the return of the refugees]; the letter mim (M) is for muqawama ["resistance," i.e., terrorism], while in the background there are pictures of armed terrorist operatives from all the terrorist organizations; the letter qaf (Q) is for Al-Quds [Jerusalem]; the letter ha [H] is for huriya [freedom],” writes the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.
Since the next generation of Palestinians is being taught to follow in the footsteps of the current generation — to incite, to reject, and to murder — the long-awaited day when a Jewish state would live peacefully beside a Palestinian state seems to be nowhere in sight.
Sadly, many Palestinian children are not being
prepared to enter a time of peace with Israel. Instead,
their minds are being poisoned as they are taught to
hate and murder from their earliest education.
Jewish Victim of Brussels Blast Plans to Make Aliyah
“Also our enemies said, ‘Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.’” (Nehemiah 4:11)
After losing his right leg in the blast of a suicide bomber at Zaventem Airport in Brussels on March 22, Jewish Belgian Walter Benjamin announced his intention to make aliyah when he has recovered sufficiently from his wounds.
Benjamin was on the way to the Holy Land to join his daughter for Purim when the bombers struck the airport.
The blasts, which the Islamic State (ISIS) has taken responsibility for, killed the person next to Benjamin. Benjamin was maimed because his suitcase took the brunt of a blast, he told Channel 2. (JPost)
“I thought I was going to die,” he said.
After living through the bombing, being in the homeland of the Jewish people, Israel has become very important for him.
Still from CCTV footage showing the bombers Najim Laachraoui (left),
Ibrahim El Bakraoui (center), and an unidentified man (right). The bombers
left and centre each have a gloved left hand, perhaps to hide the trigger.
The Brussels bombings — three coordinated nail bombings, two at Brussels Airport, and one at Maalbeek metro station in Brussels — killed 32 people and injured about 340, including travelers on their way to Israel.
Two of the wounded were Hasidic Israeli brothers-in-law in Brussels for a family funeral. The pair, one listed as moderately to seriously injured and the other as moderate, were flown to Israel Thursday night and hospitalized at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.
They will receive treatment in the intensive-care unit and the orthopedic wards, reports Israel National News.
Meanwhile, Benjamin said in his interview with Channel 2 that Belgium will not respond to the attacks in appropriate measure.
“Honestly, I don’t think anything will change. There still is no security and the authorities don’t have a clue. At least now after the attack you can understand how Israelis feel when there’s a terror attack,” he said.
But it seems that all Belgians do not understand.
People gather to remember the victims of the bombing, leaving chalk
drawings, candles and flowers. The largest message says (translated
from French), "Brussels is beautiful." Other inscriptions say, "Stop
violence," "Stop war," "Unity," and "Humanity." (Photo by Miguel Discart)
A Muslim woman at a makeshift memorial in Brussels, decorated with numerous candles and international flags, set down a Palestinian Authority flag, then picked up an Israeli flag, ripped it to pieces and hid the remains beneath other flags. (JP)
Although many Muslims honored the victims, leaving candles at the memorials, the incident was repeated by Muslims or Arabic-speakers at least two more times, with all three occasions captured on video.
Last Sunday, however, locals paying their respects at a memorial were displeased when a white-haired man wearing a North African Muslim head covering repeatedly shouted “Palestine” and called Israel a “terrorist state.”
The man stepped on other nations’ flags to reach the Israeli flag near the middle of the memorial, while local Flemish- and French-speakers booed and shouted “Shameful!”
When the man seized the Israeli flag, another man stepped in to rescue the flag from his grip. The police soon arrived and escorted away the offender.
In another incident at a memorial, a French-speaker confronted two Arab men who placed a Palestinian flag over an Israeli flag at the memorial. The French-speaker told them, “This is an apolitical place; don’t do this.”
Flowers, candles, and inscriptions are left at the entrance of Maelbeek
metro station after March 2016 Brussels attacks.
Meanwhile, a call center operator at the Belgian Federal Emergency Hotline insisted that there is no such country as Israel.
She was responding to a volunteer for the Jewish Coordination Committee who called to arrange permits for wounded Jews to be transported to Israel for treatment. (IDFSpokesperson)
The hotline responder tried to “correct” the volunteer twice, insisting that Israel was Palestine. The transcript records: “They need to go to Palestine. … it was Palestine before, of course. … It’s Palestine,” said the operator.
When asked if he recognized Israel, the operator responded, “I only know that the Jews want to live there, that Palestine accepted them, and that there is a war between Israel and Palestine, of course. And the occupation. That’s what’s always on the news.”
The volunteer then asked, “Are you able to assist me with my request?” The operator responded: “Yes, of course. They are returning to Palestine and they asked if they can receive a permit. Of course. Here it is.”
UN officials reversed a decision Monday
on the Zionism panel in the Israel Matters
exhibit, which was prepared by the Israeli
Mission to the UN and StandWithUs.
UN Censors Israel Matters Exhibit
"The day of the LORD is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head." (Obadiah 1:15)
On Monday, the United Nations partially reversed a decision to censor the Israel Matters exhibit at its New York headquarters.
Over the weekend, the UN decided that three panels of a multifaceted visual display on Israel were not fit for endorsement, a panel on Zionism, a panel on the equal status of Arab Israelis; and a panel on Jerusalem.
The decision regarding the Zionism panel was reversed after Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon disputed the decision.
“By censoring displays on Zionism, the UN undermines the very existence of the State of Israel as the home of the Jewish people,” Danon said. “We won’t allow the UN to censor the fact Jerusalem is Israel’s eternal capital.”
“Zionism and Jerusalem are the foundation stones and the moral basis upon which the State of Israel was founded,” he stated.
StandWithUs, which created the Israel Matters campaign, added in an April 3 Facebook post, “This display was meant to educate and share Israel’s inspirational story, but again the UN has exposed [its] deep [bias] against the State of Israel.”
Israeli Arabs enjoy the same rights as
Jewish citizens of Israel. Captioned
images of Arab Israelis in the display
include Joint Arab List party leader MK
(Parliament Member) Ayman Odeh, singer
Lina Makhoul, Supreme Court Justice
Salim Joubran, news anchor Lucy Aharish
and Haifa Medical School valedictorian
Mais Ali-Saleh.
The two remaining censored posters in the 13-piece exhibit include a display on Israeli Arabs, which states that they are “equal citizens under the law in Israel, the only proven democracy in the Middle East.”
The poster includes Arab children reading in school and Arab soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), including Major General of the IDF Yusef Mishleb.
“Israeli Arabs are the largest minority in Israel, making up 20 percent of Israel’s population,” the poster elaborates. “As citizens they have the same rights as Jewish Israelis. They live, study, and work side by side with Jews in communities all over the country. They also serve in the Israeli Parliament, vote in all elections, and enrich Israel’s diverse culture.”
The Jerusalem panel describes this Holy City as “the spiritual and physical capital of the Jewish people.”
“The Jewish people are indigenous to Israel and have maintained a continuous presence in the land since 1,000 BCE. Jerusalem has been the center and focus of Jewish life and religion for more than three millennia and is holy to Christians and Muslims as well.”
Through the use of images, the poster
highlights the Western Wall and the Dome
of the Rock, the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre and Modern Jerusalem, as well
as Jews praying at the Western Wall in the
1870s — historical photographic evidence of
Jerusalem’s spiritual importance to Jews
prior to the formation of the State of Israel.
Baal Temple Entrance to be Erected in New York and London
“She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.” (Hosea 2:8)
Despite its ancient appetite for child sacrifice, ritual prostitution, and bisexual orgies, a tribute to the pagan deity Baal will be erected in New York's Times Square this April 19, with a matching structure in London’s Trafalgar Square.
As an act of defiance against the destructive Islamic State (ISIS or Daesh), which destroyed the Temple of Baal in Palmyra, Syria last August, the Institute of Digital Archaeology (IDA) has recreated a portion of the pagan temple for display during World Heritage Week 2016.
“Our aim is to highlight the potential for the triumph of human ingenuity over violence by offering innovative, technology-driven options for the stewardship of object and architecture from our shared past,” the IDA website states.
Syrian officials and activists reported in August 2015 that ISIS had blown
up the temple of Baalshamin and killed Khaled al-Asaad, a prominent
Syrian archaeologist who worked at the site. Satellite images of the area
confirmed the report.
The IDA has focused on resurrecting the temple’s 50-foot-tall entrance arch. To accomplish this, they are utilizing an image database to examine, digitally reconstruct, and print a 3D life-size copy of the structure.
The temple was dedicated in AD 32 around the time of the death of Messiah Yeshua. Up until its destruction, the temple drew about 150,000 visitors a year.
Despite ISIS' stance against Baal, the history of Baal worship ironically reflects ISIS practices.
“Ritualistic Baal worship, in sum, looked a little like this: Adults would gather around the altar of Baal. Infants would then be burned alive as a sacrificial offering to the deity,” Matt Barber states for a World Net Daily article. “Amid horrific screams and the stench of charred human flesh, congregants — men and women alike — would engage in bisexual orgies.”
Whereas ISIS heavily slaughters people, including children, to honor their god, Baal worshipers gave up their own children freely to be sacrificed to their god.
ISIS perpetuates prolific sex slavery among the women and children they capture, Baal worshipers engaged in promiscuous sexual practices and abundant immorality.
The Palmyrene deities Aglibol (lunar deity), Baalshamin (center), and
Malakbel (sun deity) formed a type of trinity in Baal worship.
Baal worship also invoked pantheism, elevating nature beyond its place: the orgies, for instance, were “intended to produce economic prosperity by prompting Baal to bring rain for the fertility of ‘mother earth,’” says Barber.
We can see elements of ancient Baal worship today.
“A tsunami of wishful thinking has washed across the West,” Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, once the chief rabbi of Great Britain, commented in 2011 (Wall Street Journal) This “wishful thinking” says “that you can have sex without the responsibility of marriage, children without the responsibility of parenthood, social order without the responsibility of citizenship, liberty without the responsibility of morality, and self-esteem without the responsibility of work and earned achievement.” (The Wisdom of Generations, p. 19)
Our free will provides us the capacity to choose either moral or immoral living, but the consequences of forgoing the ethical outline of the Bible in favor of manmade gods and values cannot bring about a blessing; it can only be a curse.
Elijah and the Prophets of Baal (Photo by Otto Semler)
Meanwhile, the nations continue to live “in the futility of their thinking, … are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity …” (Ephesians 4:17–19)
So was the lifestyle of Israel in the days of Elijah, who submitted a challenge that would once and for all prove the unworthiness of this false god.
Elijah called for the “450 prophets of Baal” and another 400 prophets of another false god, Asherah, to be present at this challenge.
To “the people from all over Israel” that were summoned to Mount Carmel, Elijah asked, “How long will you waver between two opinion? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.’ But the people said nothing.” (1 Kings 18:21)
On Mount Carmel, today, near the assumed site of Elijah’s challenge, a monument of Elijah has been erected by a Catholic order of monks.
It stands to commemorate the failure of the pagan gods Baal and Asherah to bring down fire as Elijah challenged, while the God of Elijah proved in the eyes of Israel that “The LORD — He is God! The LORD — He is God!”
Help Bibles For Israel bring the Good News of YESHUA THE ONLY MESSIAH EVER IS AND EVER WILL BE to the Holy Land in these Last Days.
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