Psalms 83:1
O God, do not remain quiet;
Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.
Zechariah 12:2-3
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
Rockets in Northern Israel and Southern Lebanon
ARUTZ SHEVA - by Hillel Fendel - July 30, 2006 - Sunday morning wave of Katyushas hits northern Israel, causing injuries, sending tens of thousands into shelters. The IDF hit targets in Lebanon, including a house in terrorist-stronghold Kafr Kana.
Close to 100 Katyusha rockets were fired at northern Israel through mid-afternoon on Sunday, wounding several people seriously and moderately - including a reporter for Haaretz. Targeted towns and cities included Hatzor, Nahariya, Kiryat Shmonah, and more.
Some 25 Hizbullah-fired Katyusha rockets smashed into northern Israel's Kiryat Shmonah and vicinity early Sunday morning, hitting at least one building. Seven rockets hit Acco, wounding ten people, while in Nahariya, a Magen David Adom medical team evacuated two wounded, including one who was hit by shrapnel. More rockets were fired at Haifa, Kfar Blum and elsewhere.
Over the course of the Sabbath, close to 100 Katyushas landed in Tzfat, Carmiel, Acco, Nahariya, Maalot, Tiberias, Kiryat Shmonah and elsewhere. Though tens of thousands of people were forced to spend yet another Sabbath in their shelters, only one person was injured by the rockets. Heavy damage was caused to medical facility in Acco.
Tens of other thousands of people have left their homes for central and southern Israel.
The official count of Katyusha rockets that have hit Israel in the past 19 days is nearing 1,800. Of these, close to a quarter fell, as they were intended, in populated areas, killing 19 civilians. In addition, nearly 1,100 people have been wounded, including 66 in critical or "moderate" condition, and 43 people are still hospitalized.
On Friday, for the first time, Hizbullah fired a much higher-quality Katyusha, known as a Fajr-5. The Fajr is a long-range missile that can reach as far as Netanya, with a particularly heavy explosive payload of 100 kilograms. Five of them landed as far south as the Beit She'an-Afula area; no one was hurt. The IDF announced shortly afterwards that Air Force planes succeeded in destroying the launcher that fired the missiles.
In Kafr Kana, Lebanon, a three-story building bombed by the IDF was totally destroyed, killing at least 50 people, many of whom were in the shelter below. Israel has repeatedly warned civilians in the area to leave, but Hizbullah terrorists, who used them as "human shields," prevented them from doing so.
A senior Israel Air Force officer said that the army has been bombing the area for three days because of dozens of Katyushas fired from the village. Some of the Katyushas hit an Israeli hospital.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=108688
Israel to suspend Lebanon air strikes for 2 days
MSNBC News Services - July 30, 2006 - JERUSALEM - Israel has agreed to a 48-hour halt in aerial activity over southern Lebanon, a U.S. official said Sunday amid widespread outrage over an Israeli air strike that killed at least 56 Lebanese, mostly women and children, when it leveled a building where they had taken shelter.
The announcement of the pause in overflights made by State Department spokesman Adam Ereli appeared to reflect American pressure on Israel. Ereli, who was in Israel with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said Israel has reserved the right to hit targets if it learns that attacks are being prepared against them.
An Israeli government official confirmed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to the 48-hour halt in air strikes on Lebanon. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to talk to reporters.
The U.N. Security Council expressed "extreme shock and distress" Sunday at Israel's attack on the southern Lebanese village of Qana.
The statement adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council "strongly deplores this loss of innocent lives" in Qana but did not call for an immediate truce, as requested by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan but opposed by the United States....
The stunning bloodshed in Lebanon earlier on Sunday prompted Rice to cut short her Mideast mission and intensified world demands on Washington to back an immediate end to the fighting.
The attack in Qana brought Lebanons death toll to more than 510 and pushed American peace efforts to a crucial juncture, as fury at the United States flared in Lebanon. The Beirut government said it would no longer negotiate over a U.S. peace package without an unconditional cease-fire. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan sharply criticized world leaders implicitly Washington for ignoring his previous calls for a stop. ...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14100258/
Protestors break into U.N. in Beirut
REUTERS - By Tom Perry - July 30, 2006 - BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese protesters broke into the U.N. headquarters in Beirut on Sunday, smashing windows and ransacking offices, after an Israeli air strike killed 54 people in south Lebanon.
Several thousand people massed outside the building in downtown Beirut chanting "Death to Israel, death to America. We sacrifice our blood and souls for Lebanon".
Geir Petersen, the personal representative of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Lebanon, condemned the Israeli attack on the village of Qana and called for an immediate investigation.
"I strongly condemn today's killing of tens of civilians by Israeli shelling of residential buildings in the village of Qana," he said. He was not in building when it was attacked.
By late afternoon, all the protesters had drifted away.
At least 542 Lebanese, mostly civilians, have been killed in the war between Israel and Hizbollah and there is growing anger in Lebanon that the international community has not done enough to end it.
Lebanon 's health minister estimates the toll at 750, including unrecovered bodies. Fifty one Israelis have also been killed. ...
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-07-30T150702Z_01_L30807889_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-LEBANON-HEADQUARTERS.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
Gunmen storm U.N. compound in Gaza City - witnesses
REUTERS - July 30, 2006 - GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian protesters stormed the U.N. compound in Gaza City on Sunday during a protest against Israel's bombing of a building in southern Lebanon that killed around 60 people, witnesses and U.N. staff said.
Hundreds of members of Islamic Jihad militant group, some throwing stones and others firing rounds from assault rifles, attacked the compound at the end of a rally, witnesses said.
At least two people were wounded.
U.N. staff were inside the compound at the time, but managed to escape, a U.N. official said. He said the site, which includes scores of buildings, was heavily ransacked by the demonstrators.
Witnesses said U.N. guards appeared to set off tear gas grenades to allow staff time to get away.
"The situation is very tense," the U.N. official said.
Members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's special guard arrived shortly afterwards and managed to disperse some of the crowd by firing into the air.
Gunfire could be heard from within the compound but it was not clear who was firing at whom, witnesses said.
The attack came hours after a violent assault by Lebanese demonstrators against the U.N. headquarters in Beirut. ...
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-07-30T191017Z_01_L3089697_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-GAZA-UN.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
PM Olmert Agrees to a Multinational Force Along Northern Border
ARUTZ SHEVA - by Yechiel Spira - July 30, 2006 - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has agreed to a US plan calling for the deployment of an international peacekeeping force along Israels border.
Following an almost two-hour meeting in his Jerusalem residence with US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice on Saturday night, the prime minister agreed to the US plan, calling for the deployment of a multinational force between Israel and Lebanon and Syria. It was announced that France and Lebanon would take part in the force, but other details have yet to be decided upon.
According to reports following the high-level meeting, the size of the force and the timing for such a move must still be agreed upon, but Olmert has given his approval to the idea of such a force being positioned between Israel and Hizbullah in southern Lebanon....
The US-brokered plan includes yet another land withdrawal by Israel, from the Har Dov area, also known as Shaba Farm. The area today has a vital strategic significance, permitting IDF troops to man outposts along the border area. ...
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=108659
Israeli Forces Kill Islamic Jihad Leader
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By ALI DARAGHMEH - July 30, 2006 - Israeli troops killed a top leader of the radical Islamic Jihad in a West Bank raid Saturday, the group said, and the Israelis pressed ahead with their offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Islamic Jihad said the leader of its militant wing in Nablus, Hani Awijan, 29, was killed by Israeli undercover troops. They came to arrest him while he was playing soccer with friends and relatives, the group said. Another Islamic Jihad militant was also killed.
The army confirmed soldiers operated in Nablus and said a militant was killed in an exchange of fire.
Israel Radio said Awijan was responsible for a series of attacks on Israelis. Over the past 17 months, Islamic Jihad has been responsible for all 12 suicide bombing attacks in Israel, killing 71 people.
Islamic Jihad announced Awijan's death from mosque loudspeakers, As news of the raid spread through Nablus, large crowds gathered. Militants burned tires in the streets and called for a general strike in the city. Shops were quickly closed. ...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/30/D8J64I0G0.html
Hezbollah leader said to be hiding in Iranian Embassy
THE WASHINGTON TIMES - By Bill Gertz - July 28, 2006 - Intelligence reports indicate the leader of Hezbollah is hiding in a foreign mission in Beirut, possibly the Iranian Embassy, according to U.S. and Israeli officials.
Israeli military and intelligence forces are continuing to hunt for Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary-general, who fled his headquarters in Beirut shortly before Israeli jets bombed the building last week.
"We think he is in an embassy," said one U.S. official with access to the intelligence reports, while Israeli intelligence speculates Sheik Nasrallah is hiding in the Iranian Embassy.
If confirmed, the reports could lead to an Israeli air strike on the embassy, possibly leading to a widening of the conflict, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Foreign embassies are sovereign territory and an attack on an embassy could be considered an act of war.
But other reports from the region indicate Sheik Nasrallah may be in Damascus. A Kuwaiti newspaper, Al-Seyassah, reported from the Syrian capital yesterday that Sheik Nasrallah was seen moving through the city with Syrian guards in an intelligence agency car, Associated Press reported. He was dressed in civilian clothes, not his normal clerical robe.
The newspaper quoted Syrian government sources as saying Iranian national security council official Ali Larijani was in Damascus and was to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad and Sheik Nasrallah.
Hezbollah officials in Beirut said they did not know whether Sheik Nasrallah had gone to Damascus.
Asked about the reports of Sheik Nasrallah in Syria, a U.S. official said they are unconfirmed, but noted that because of the proximity, it is easy to travel between Lebanon and Damascus. ...
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060728-123022-5852r.htm
Rice arrives in Jerusalem
REUTERS - By Sue Pleming - July 29, 2006 - JERUSALEM: - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Israel on Saturday to push Lebanon and Israel to agree to a U.N. resolution to end fighting and put an international force into southern Lebanon.
Rice, whose first meeting was a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said she had not set a deadline but was hoping for agreement on the main conditions for a ceasefire to be outlined in a U.N. resolution to be set as early as Tuesday. ...
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2006-07-29T181027Z_01_N27241929_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-RICE.xml&src=rss&rpc=22
Israeli voices say Olmert too weak
WORLDNETDAILY - by Aaron Sichel - July 29, 2006 - Israel's current strategy for countering Hezbollah activity in southern Lebanon is not working and should be immediately changed, warned intelligence officials, analysts and commentators, some charging domestic politics was holding back what they said was a much-needed massive ground assault.
"I hope our strategy is going to change, [and] that our government will take the Hezbollah situation with the seriousness it demands," Moshe Marzook, a professor at the Interdisciplinary Center University near Tel Aviv and a reserve military intelligence officer, told WND.
The officer's remarks echoed sentiments expressed by a growing number of military sources and analysts following a week that saw the loss in one battle of eight Israeli soldiers to a Hezbollah ambush and a record number of Hezbollah rockets 130 in a day slamming into the Jewish state from Lebanon.
"Right now there are a lot of discussions about what to do. … There's an endless debate about whether or not to use [ Israel's military] power," said Marzook.
In a cabinet meeting yesterday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government voted against expanding Israel's ground assault in Lebanon while approving the call-up of an additional 15,000 reserve soldiers in part to replace some of the current brigades fighting in Lebanon.
Military officials had publicly petitioned for the approval of a massive ground assault, complaining the current troop levels fighting Hezbollah are not enough to overwhelm the well-trained Lebanese terror group. Top military leaders also complained they were being asked by politicians to send ground troops into certain villages when the air force can do the job.
"Look, at this point we've already lost one opportunity to destroy Hezbollah, and that's because we didn't go in using all of our forces," said Marzook. "In [Hezbollah stronghold] Bint Jbail the army was using some artillery guns. But it's not enough. Instead, we needed to be using air power after we warned the Lebanese [civilians] to get out.
"Only after a massive aerial bombing should we have sent ground troops in for mopping-up operations In Israel we're a democracy, and the army is totally subordinate to the political echelon, so we do the most we can with what the politicians give us."
Politicians out of their league?
Michael Widlanski, a professor and frequent adviser to Israeli security and foreign policy agencies, told WND Israel's current strategy is a non-starter for defeating Hezbollah.
"The problem for the military is that they're not being allowed to do what the country knows they need to do and there are already a lot of rumblings both in and out of government about this war being mishandled by Olmert and [Defense Minister Amir] Peretz," said Widlanski.
"Instead of attacking Hezbollah at, say, four points simultaneously, and forcing them to reveal their capabilities and intentions and throwing them off balance, the army now is striking Hezbollah at a single point, and then falling back, and then assessing that battle, and then they start discussing where to go next.
"It's slow, it's disordered and it's not very effective," said the analyst.
Marzook says Hezbollah strongholds "like Bint Jbail need to be demolished. They need to be hit without any ambiguity at all, so that Hezbollah clearly understands" that Israel will not permit them further shelter in Lebanon.
"I think we need to do it, or there will be more and more casualties in this fight," said Marzook.
In a biting analysis in Thursday's Jerusalem Post, Israel Air Force (IAF) Col. (res.) Dr. Shmuel Gordon describes the Olmert administration as "ignorant" about counterterrorism.
Throughout military history, there have been gaps between doctrine and reality. In the current case, the gap is particularly large, created by the [Israeli] government's ignorance of the appropriate strategy. The cabinet is ignoring, or simply doesn't understand, the principles of modern counterterrorism, especially those relating to air power.
Gordon claims the IAFs current operations "do not even come close to conforming" to proper strategy, and advises the IDF General Staff to "acquaint" Israeli politicians with the nature of air power.
Even Israel's dovish Ha'aretz newspaper asserted Friday the "the IDF must act with greater force" in Lebanon, and complained that Israeli politicians and senior military commanders "look as if they have been frozen in a huge ice cube."
"The political failures are continuing," asserts Marzook. "I hope the politicians will accept that this is a war we must win. That message is coming now from the media, from the society, and even from some politicians."
Caught between PR and the people?
"In reality," says Widlanski, "Olmert isn't yet able to admit that disengagement didn't work. That's why rockets flew into Israel from Gaza for 10 months without Olmert stopping them. In Lebanon, Hezbollah's been fortifying itself since the IDF withdrew six years ago.
"In both cases, a strong military response would have been seen as a de facto admission that withdrawal is an unfruitful strategy.
"Now Olmert's sent in the IDF, but only when Hezbollah forced him to and he hasn't gone in [with] full force, and the army isn't happy about that.
"[Olmert's] Kadima Party was founded last year for a purpose: to further the withdrawal platform of Ariel Sharon. If that platform is no longer usable, then Kadima has no clear raison d'etre."
David Bedein, an Israeli journalist, commented, "There is a general problem that has gotten worse since the late '90s and [former Prime Minister Ehud] Barak's tenure. There's a wider gap now between the citizenry and the leadership, and there's often a feeling that policy is driven by advertising professionals that some leaders base national security decisions on the advice of their PR team. In a crisis like this, those feelings will come home to roost."
Agreeing with those sentiments is Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick, who wrote yesterday:
"The Olmert government insists that Israel can separate itself from terror and jihad and live a 'normal life' by [unilaterally withdrawing], building a big fence and hiding behind it. The government knows that nothing will prove to the public the emptiness of its political rhetoric better than a serious ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
"And so, rather than shed its hallucinatory agenda, it clings to it with all the fervor of a Communist true-believer in Stalin's gulag. ... Our political leadership insists on paralyzing the campaign in favor of its narrow political and ideological interests."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51278
What You Didn't Hear
Official: Hezbollah used U.N. as 'shield'
WORLDNETDAILY - July 27, 2006 - The United Nations post in Lebanon at the center of controversy over a deadly Israeli attack likely was being used as a "shield" by Hezbollah to fire rockets into the Jewish state, according to a former U.N. commander in Bosnia.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has accused Israel of deliberately targeting the post where four officials of the world body were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of El Khiam Tuesday night.
But retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie points to an e-mail by one of the observers killed in the attack that backs Israel's claim that it was targeting Hezbollah, reported the CanWest News Service of Canada.
The dead observer, Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener, wrote an e-mail last week to the Canadian television network CTV that alluded to Hezbollah's tactics.
"What I can tell you is this, we have on a daily basis had numerous occasions where our position has come under direct or indirect fire from both (Israeli) artillery and aerial bombing.
"The closest artillery has landed within 2 meters (sic) of our position and the closest 1000 lb aerial bomb has landed 100 meters (sic) from our patrol base. This has not been deliberate targeting, but rather due to tactical necessity."
MacKenzie said Hess-von Kruedener was indicating Israeli strikes were aimed at Hezbollah targets near the post, the Canadian news service reported.
"What that means is, in plain English, 'We've got Hezbollah fighters running around in our positions, taking our positions here and then using us for shields and then engaging the (Israeli Defence Forces)," he said.
McKenzie said this indicates Hezbollah purposely set itself up near the U.N. post, a tactic he observed in previous international missions. McKenzie was the first U.N. commander in Sarajevo during the Bosnia civil war, CanWest reported.
The U.N. has claimed there was no Hezbollah activity in the area of the strike.
From his U.N. post, however, Hess-von Kruedener wrote he had a view of the "Hezbollah static positions in and around our patrol Base."
"It appears that the lion's share of fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah has taken place in our area," he wrote, noting later it was too dangerous to venture out on patrols.
A senior U.N. official asked by CanWest about the e-mail denied the world body had been caught in a contradiction.
"At the time, there had been no Hezbollah activity reported in the area," he said. "So it was quite clear they were not going after other targets; that, for whatever reason, our position was being fired upon.
"Whether or not they thought they were going after something else, we don't know. The fact was, we told them where we were. They knew where we were. The position was clearly marked, and they pounded the hell out of us."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51265
Iran testing Israel ahead of confrontation?
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - July 27, 2006 - JERUSALEM Tehran is using Hezbollah's confrontation with the Jewish state to test the abilities of Iranian weapons and to observe Israeli military capabilities, Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Jumblatt charged in a WorldNetDaily interview yesterday.
Jumblatt also said he fears Syria will take advantage of the growing crisis in Lebanon to reassert its influence in the country and convince the international community Syrian domination of Lebanon is crucial to the stability of the Middle East.
He warned Damascus might initiate a wave of terror in Lebanon following Israel's military campaign there to further destabilize the country, including by assassinating the Lebanese prime minister.
"Iran is bringing in [to Lebanon] sophisticated weaponry," said Jumblatt who is head of Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party and is largely considered the most prominent anti-Syrian Lebanese politician. "The Iranians are actually experimenting with different kinds of missiles in Lebanon by shooting them at the Israelis. Iran is using this violence to test certain of [Israel's] abilities,"
Iran is accused of supplying Hezbollah was thousands of rockets the terror group has launched the past three weeks into northern Israeli population centers, including Haifa, the country's third largest city. Many of the fired rockets have been Katyushas he says were upgraded by Iran. Hezbollah is also in possession of Iranian Zalzel missiles, with a range of about 125 miles, making Tel Aviv vulnerable.
Earlier this month, an Iranian Silkworm C-802 radar-guided anti-ship cruise missile struck an Israeli naval vessel, killing four soldiers. It was the first time the missile had been introduced in the battle with Israel. Military officials here say the Israeli ship's radar system was not calibrated to detect the Silkworm, which is equipped with an advanced anti-tracking system.
Jumblatt said he is worried Syria might try to gain more control of Lebanon following Israel's military campaign.
"Syria will likely try to tell the world, 'Look, see, since we left Lebanon the Cedar Revolution and the forces in Lebanon that got our military out through popular support, those forces are not able to control Lebanon. While we (the Syrians) were in control, Lebanon was a safe place. Now it's not. We need to come back in,'" said Jumblatt.
"I would not be surprised if they even try to wiggle their way into a deal by convincing the Americans that Syrian influence in Lebanon will stabilize the region," Jumblatt said. ...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51253
Olmert: 'West Bank withdrawal still on'
WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - July 25, 2006 - JERUSALEM Even with a war in Lebanon after withdrawal from the country's border six years ago and with ground troops forced to return to Gaza following evacuation from the territory 11 months ago, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday Israel will forge ahead with his plan to pull out of Judea and Samaria.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51224
Report: Hamas, Fatah OK unilateral cease-fire
WORLDNETDAILY - July 22, 2006 - Palestinian groups in Gaza have agreed to stop firing missiles into Israel following meetings sponsored by President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, the Jerusalem Post reports, however, some terrorist organizations are denying any such agreement has been reached and promise to continue their attacks.
The unilateral cease-fire was to take effect at midnight, Saturday, Israel time, and is conditioned on Israel launching no new raids into Gaza.
The current Israeli Defense Force offensive, launched June 28, followed the killing of two soldiers and kidnapping of a third, 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit. The capture of two other soldiers by Hezbollah terrorists who crossed Israel's northern border has led to Israel's present invasion of Lebanon.
The agreement, reached at a closed meeting, included representatives of Islamic Jihad and Haniyeh's Hamas. Both groups have been blamed for many of the rocket attacks launched on southern Israel. ...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51189
Israel's secret war: the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Palestine
Note: I would find it hard to believe that this is not anything more than a well placed piece of anti-Israeli propaganda.
THE INDEPENDENT - By Anne Penketh in Gaza City - July 29, 2006 - A 12-year-old boy dead on a stretcher. A mother in shock and disbelief after her son was shot dead for standing on their roof. A phone rings and a voice in broken Arabic orders residents to abandon their home on pain of death.
Those are snapshots of a day in Gaza where Israel is waging a hidden war, as the world looks the other way, focusing on Lebanon.
It is a war of containment and control that has turned the besieged Strip into a prison with no way in or out, and no protection from an fearsome battery of drones, precision missiles, tank shells and artillery rounds.
As of last night, 29 people had been killed in the most concentrated 48 hours of violence since an Israeli soldier was abducted by Palestinian militants just more than a month ago.
The operation is codenamed "Samson's Pillars", a collective punishment of the 1.4 million Gazans, subjecting them to a Lebanese-style offensive that has targeted the civilian infrastructure by destroying water mains, the main power station and bridges.
The similarities with Israel's blitz on Lebanon are striking, raising suspicions that the Gaza offensive has been the testing ground for the military strategy now unfolding on the second front in the north. ...
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1202850.ece
Genesis 12:3
And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."
U.S. Backs Israel's Right to Defend Itself
ASSOCIATED PRESS - July 30, 2006 - WASHINGTON: The Bush administration on Sunday urged Israelis to avoid civilian casualties in the fighting in Lebanon and expressed sorrow about the deaths of at least 56 civilians in a village in southern Lebanon.
But the White House reaffirmed the administration's insistence on reaching a sustainable cease-fire. "The key here is that we want a cease-fire that will work," press secretary Tony Snow told reporters. President Bush was told before 7 a.m. about the attack on Qana and had spoken with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was in Jerusalem.
The administration offered condolences to those killed when Israeli missiles hit several buildings as people slept.
"This was a terrible and tragic incident," spokesman Blair Jones said. "We continue to urge the Israeli government to exercise the utmost care so as to avoid any civilian casualties. This tragic incident shows why this is so critical."
The State Department's third-ranking official reaffirmed the White House's position that Israel has the right to defend itself and contended an agreement was near on ending the fighting that has ravaged Lebanon. ...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/30/D8J6E8L80.html
Irish refused bombs sent to Prestwick airport
THE SCOTSMAN - By Eddie Barnes And Murdo Macleod - July 30, 2006 - BOMBS destined to be used by Israel are being flown via Scotland only because the Irish government refused to allow them to land on its soil.
Scotland on Sunday can reveal that after the conflict in Lebanon began three weeks ago, Ireland turned down a United States request for planes carrying 600lb so-called bunker busters to refuel at Shannon airport in Co Clare.
As a result, cargo planes carrying the bombs, which the Israeli army is using in its offensive against the Hezbollah, are being flown via Prestwick airport in Ayrshire.
The use of Prestwick triggered a furious diplomatic row last week after it emerged that the US had broken aviation rules by failing to notify Britain about the flights.
That row is intensifying this weekend as two further American planes carrying 'hazardous' material to Tel Aviv land at the airport.
In another controversial development, Scotland on Sunday has learned that Prestwick is negotiating to allow planeloads of US military personnel on their way to Iraq to stop there.
A well-placed source close to the negotiations said it was bidding to take flights away from Shannon, which is currently used as a stopover for the bulk of the 900 American soldiers who travel from the US to the Middle East every day.
The American airlines which transport the troops through Shannon are understood to be reviewing their use of the airport, following protests in Ireland which have resulted in some of the planes being vandalised. The source said: "It could soon be the case that the Irish will say that they don't want these flights and, as a consequence, then we will look to get them."
The latest revelations are set to crush hopes among British diplomats that the row over Prestwick would die down following President George Bush's apology to Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday.
One Irish official said that the bombs would never have been allowed on Irish soil. ...
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1104532006
Blair's popularity hits all time low
FINANCIAL TIMES - July 30, 2006 - Public support for Tony Blair, British prime minister, has plunged to its lowest since he became premier, according to a new poll that shows growing disapproval over how he has handled the Middle East crisis.
The survey by Ipsos MORI, carried out this month as the US and Britain blocked international calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, found Mr Blair's personal popularity at an all-time low.
The prime minister, who is facing unease in the British cabinet over his closeness to George W. Bush, appears to have lost more public support for his backing of the US president's strategy than he did over Britain's involvement in the Iraq war three years ago.
The survey findings, which one senior British minister on Sunday gloomily conceded were "unsurprising", could stoke calls within the Labour party for Mr Blair to use September's party conference to announce a timetable for his departure.
Ipsos MORI found 67 per cent of respondents were dissatisfied with the way Mr Blair was doing his job, while only 23 per cent were satisfied. ...
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?Feed=
FT&Date=20060730&ID=5906779
Al-Qaeda Chief Declares Jihad Against Jewish State
ARUTZ SHEVA - by Ezra HaLevi - July 28, 2006 - Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri issued a call for Jihadists around the globe to attack Israel and make the entire region from Spain to Iraq into an Islamic kingdom.
The speech by the terrorist networks co-founder was broadcast on the Al-Jazeera Arabic satellite channel.
Al-Zawahiri declared a Jihad (holy war) against Israel on behalf of the global Jihadist movement. All the world is a battlefield open in front of us," he said, rejecting the concept of an eventual cease-fire. O Muslims everywhere, I call on you to fight and become martyrs in the war against the Zionists and the Crusaders…War with Israel does not depend on ceasefires. It is Jihad for sake of Allah and will last until our religion prevails from Spain to Iraq.
Islamists believe that since Spain was once controlled by Muslims, it must be wrested from the hands of the infidels in the same manner as Israel.
"The shells and rockets ripping apart Muslim bodies in Gaza and Lebanon are not only Israeli, but are supplied by all the countries of the crusader coalition. Therefore, every participant in the crime will pay the price," Al-Zawahiri threatened.
The Egyptian doctor was filmed in front of a photo of the World Trade Center and two top Al-Qaeda terrorists killed in recent years. This is Al-Zawahiris tenth message released to the public this year.
It is unclear whether his declaration has a theological effect on his followers desire to strike Israel. Already on February 23, 1998, he issued a joint fatwa (Islamic ruling), with Osama bin Laden, entitled "World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders, which called upon Muslims to destroy Israel. ...
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=108542
China slams Israel over UN deaths
BBC NEWS July 26, 2006 - China has condemned an Israeli attack in south Lebanon which killed four United Nations observers, including a Chinese national.
"We are deeply shocked by this incident and strongly condemn it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.
Israel's ambassador to Beijing was summoned and authorities asked for an investigation and an apology, Mr Liu said in a statement.
Observer Du Zhaoyu died when an Israeli bomb hit a UN observation post.
Three other UN observers - from Austria, Canada and Finland - were also killed in the incident.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was "shocked" at the "apparently deliberate targeting" of the post. Israel has expressed "deep regret".
Mr Liu called for an immediate ceasefire to the two-week conflict in the region in his statement, which was carried on the ministry's web site….
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has been operational in the border area since 1978 and is currently 2,000 strong.
Mr Du was one of a group of some 180 Chinese military peacekeepers sent to Lebanon as part of the UN mission earlier this year, Xinhua news agency said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5215932.stm
Christian Groups Press for Mideast Ceasefire
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE - By David E. Anderson - July 25, 2006 - As the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon entered its 13th day Tuesday (July 25), mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic leaders around the world continued to press the combatants -- and the Bush administration -- for an immediate cease-fire....
Most recently, on Monday (July 24), the World Alliance of Reformed Churches called for "an immediate cessation of violent acts by all parties," and said the first step "is for all acts of violence to end immediately."
In a July 21 letter to Bush, signed by more than a dozen Roman Catholic and Protestant groups -- including the National Council of Churches -- Churches for Middle East Peace told the president his leadership "and the full weight of the Untied States, acting in concert with the international community, must be applied now to achieve an immediate cease-fire and to launch an intensive diplomatic initiative for the cessation of hostilities....
Churches for Middle East Peace is an umbrella group whose board members include representatives from the Alliance of Baptists, the American Friends Service Committee, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Mennonite Central Committee, the Roman Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Men's Institutes, the Presbyterian Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Unitarian Universalist Assocation and the United Church of Christ.
Earlier, U.S. Catholic bishops made a similar argument....
The World Council of Churches echoed a number of critics of the Israeli policy, calling it "disproportionate," and saying that self-defense is not a license for retaliatory violence. ...
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/196/story_19641_1.html
Greek Church: 'Fear God's wrath' for Lebanon Deaths
ARUTZ SHEVA - A7 Radio - July 28, 2006 - Greek Church warns the Jews: 'Fear God's wrath' for Lebanon Deaths
"Do not provoke our consciences. Do not feed the world condemnation against you. It is not in your interest... Fear God's wrath!," warns Archbishop Christodoulos referring IDF operations in Lebanon. Should the Jews feel alarmed by the admonition of the leader of Greece's Orthodox Church?
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=108629
Psalms 83:1
O God, do not remain quiet;
Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still.
'Psalm in a bog' linked to Israel's current war
Some say Scripture find in Ireland has meaning with present conflict
WORLDNETDAILY - By Joe Kovacs - July 26, 2006 - The "miraculous" find of ancient psalms in an Irish bog has some wondering if there's any special modern relevance, since the discovery dealt with the enemies of Israel attempting to destroy the nation.
A construction worker in Ireland came across the ancient 20-page book dated to the years 800-1000 A.D. while driving his backhoe's shovel into the mud last week. Experts say it's impossible to say how the manuscript ended up there, but speculate it may have been lost in transit or dumped after a raid some 1,000 to 1,200 years ago.
The National Museum of Ireland issued a statement saying, "In discovery terms, this Irish equivalent to the Dead Sea Scrolls is being hailed by the museum's experts as the greatest find ever from a European bog."
"It is not so much the fragments themselves, but what they represent, that is of such staggering importance," said the museum's director, Pat Wallace. "In my wildest hopes, I could only have dreamed of a discovery as fragile and rare as this. It testifies to the incredible richness of the Early Christian civilization of this island and to the greatness of ancient Ireland."
Wallace called it a "miracle find," telling the Associated Press, "it's unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing."
But it's the fact the book was discovered opened to Psalm 83 that is attracting attention across the globe.
The ancient psalm deals with a plea to God not to let the enemies of Israel eradicate God's chosen nation.
Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. (Psalm 83:1-4)
It then lists a number of Israel's ancient enemies bent on its destruction.
Stan Goodenough, a South African journalist living in Israel for the past 12 years calls the timing of the discovery "incredible."
For right now Israel's enemies are again united in their desire to "cut Israel off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more." They purpose to take for themselves the "pastures of God for a possession." And that they are in league or in a confederacy is clear.
From Gaza, supported by most of the Arab states, the violence is being directed by the Palestinian Arab terrorist groups: the PLO, Hamas, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine and the popular resistance Committees.
In the north, the Lebanese group [Hezbollah], supplied and enabled by Syria and the non-Arab but also Islamic Iran, is raining rockets down on Israel.
This, given the current situation, makes Psalm 83 a fascinating and fitting read, the ancient find nothing short of a phenomenon.
Goodenough points out the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947, just as the modern state of Israel was being formed.
The bog find was heralded by the museum on Tuesday, one day after a call for global prayer on behalf of Israel. Psalm 83 was one of three psalms recited at locations worldwide Tuesday at the request of the governing council of Israel's Chief Rabbinate.
In his book, "Israel in Crisis," author David Dolan dedicates an entire chapter to Psalm 83.
"I detail who the protagonists are in the psalm, and then go on to talk about when it might be fulfilled," he told WND.
The website A Christian Witness previously put Psalm 83 into a musical Flash presentation, demonstrating how timely the ancient song is with news images documenting the current threat facing Israel, linking the ancient peoples mentioned in the psalm to modern political states.
Messageboards are filled with comments of news watchers who feel there's a timely significance to the discovery, while others think it's mere coincidence.
-"This is the eeriest discovery I've ever heard of, especially given current events. It actually sends chills up my spine."
-"I have read Psalms many times, and never has it just about screamed its relevance to the Middle East. God is really speaking to us through His Word right now (as always, of course), if we'll listen."
-"I think this is one of the best news stories that I have read in quite some time. Those who seek Him, find Him. To those of us who believe, this is very uplifting!"
-"For this to have been an act of God, God would have to have been all-knowing, foreseen this very conflict roughly 1,000 years before it occurred, foreseen the bog market, foreseen the use of power tools, foreseen the individual working the equipment and ensured this particular one was working that part of that bog that day, have created the book of its various parts (leather, the paper within) in the first place, have placed it in that place for 1,000 years of earthquakes and various other acts of God, foreseen the person who purchased the land would happen to be of the save artifacts mindset (not common among money-hungry landowners) and foreseen the need to it open to that page on that day. I don't know, seems all haphazard to me." ...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51255
Ancient Latin Translation of Psalms Found in Irish Bog
ARUTZ SHEVA - by Ezra HaLevi - July 30, 2006 - Archaeologists in Ireland found an ancient Latin translation of King David's Psalms last week. Exactly which Psalm the book was open to when preserved in the Irish bog is a subject of confusion.
The ancient book was discovered in a bog by a construction worker who spotted it while driving the shovel of his backhoe into an area nearby. The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000.
It was initially reported that the Latin Vulgate version of the book was opened to Psalm 83, which in the Hebrew Bible exhorts G-d to not hold Yourself silent as the nations plot against Israel explicitly mentioning Edom, Ishmael and the residents of Philistia and Tyre.
It turns out, however, that the Vulgate uses a different numbering of the chapters than the Hebrew Bible, and the chapter that was actually facing outwards was not Psalm 83.
It was then reported that the visible text on the bog book is from the seventh verse of Psalm 82, which reads: "But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler."
Finally, the the Director of Ireland's museum Patrick F. Wallace said in a statement Friday that it was actually Psalm 84 that was exposed. He said that the original announcement had led to misconceptions about the revealed wording. It is hoped that this clarification will serve comfort to anyone worried by earlier reports of the content of the text.
The words of Psalm 84 are as follows:
1. For the conductor, on the gittith, of the sons of Korah, a song.
2. How beloved are Your dwelling places, O L-rd of Hosts!
3. My soul yearns, yea, it pines for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh pray fervently to the living G-d.
4. Even a bird found a house and a swallow her nest, where she placed her chicks upon Your altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my G-d.
5. Fortunate are those who stay in Your house; they will continually praise You forever.
6. Fortunate is the man who has strength in You, in whose heart are the highways.
7. Transgressors in the valley of Baka (weeping) make it into a fountain; also with blessings they enwrap [their] Teacher.
8. They go from host to host; he will appear to G-d in Zion.
9. O L-rd, G-d of Hosts, hearken to my prayer; bend Your ear, O G-d of Jacob, forever.
10. See our shield, O G-d, and look at the face of Your anointed.
11. For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand; I chose to sit on the threshold of the house of My G-d rather than dwell in tents of wickedness.
12. For a sun and a shield is the L-rd G-d; the L-rd will give grace and glory; He will not withhold good from those who go with sincerity.
13. O L-rd of Hosts, fortunate is the man who trusts in You.
The Psalm is recited by many Jews at the beginning of the afternoon prayers on a daily basis. The Valley of Weeping can be read as the Bekaa Valley, a Hizbullah stronghold in eastern Lebanon thought to also host a Syrian military intelligence presence.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=108654
More Hatred of Jews
Gibson's Anti-Semitic Tirade -- Alleged Cover Up
TZM ENTERTAINMENT NEWS - by TMZ Staff - July 28, 2006 - TMZ has learned that Mel Gibson went on a rampage when he was arrested Friday on suspicion of drunk driving, hurling religious epithets. TMZ has also learned that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department had the initial report doctored to keep the real story under wraps.
TMZ has four pages of the original report prepared by the arresting officer in the case, L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy James Mee. According to the report, Gibson became agitated after he was stopped on Pacific Coast Highway and told he was to be detained for drunk driving Friday morning in Malibu. The actor began swearing uncontrollably. Gibson repeatedly said, "My life is f****d." Law enforcement sources say the deputy, worried that Gibson might become violent, told the actor that he was supposed to cuff him but would not, as long as Gibson cooperated. As the two stood next to the hood of the patrol car, the deputy asked Gibson to get inside. Deputy Mee then walked over to the passenger door and opened it. The report says Gibson then said, "I'm not going to get in your car," and bolted to his car. The deputy quickly subdued Gibson, cuffed him and put him inside the patrol car.
TMZ has learned that Deputy Mee audiotaped the entire exchange between himself and Gibson, from the time of the traffic stop to the time Gibson was put in the patrol car, and that the tape fully corroborates the written report....
The report says Gibson then launched into a barrage of anti-Semitic statements: "F*****g Jews... The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Gibson then asked the deputy, "Are you a Jew?"....
Deputy Mee then wrote an eight-page report detailing Gibson's rampage and comments. Sources say the sergeant on duty felt it was too "inflammatory." A lieutenant and captain then got involved and calls were made to Sheriff's headquarters. Sources say Mee was told Gibson's comments would incite a lot of "Jewish hatred," that the situation in Israel was "way too inflammatory." It was mentioned several times that Gibson, who wrote, directed, and produced 2004's "The Passion of the Christ," had incited "anti-Jewish sentiment" and "For a drunk driving arrest, is this really worth all that?"
We're told Deputy Mee was then ordered to write another report, leaving out the incendiary comments and conduct. Sources say Deputy Mee was told the sanitized report would eventually end up in the media and that he could write a supplemental report that contained the redacted information -- a report that would be locked in the watch commander's safe.
Initially, a Sheriff's official told TMZ the arrest occurred "without incident." On Friday night, Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told TMZ: "The L.A. County Sheriff's Department investigation into the arrest of Mr. Gibson on suspicion of driving under the influence will be complete and will contain every factual piece of evidence. Nothing will be sanitized. There was absolutely no favoritism shown to this suspect or any other. When this file is presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney, it will contain everything. Nothing will be left out."
On Saturday, Gibson released the following statement:
"After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed. I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the LA County Sheriffs. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person. I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said. Also, I take this opportunity to apologize to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior. They have always been there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself. I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry. I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse. I apologize for any behavior unbecoming of me in my inebriated state and have already taken necessary steps to ensure my return to health."
http://www.tmz.com/2006/07/28/gibsons-anti-semitic-tirade-alleged-cover-up/
1 dead, 5 hurt in Seattle terror
WORLDNETDAILY - July 28, 2006 - A 30-year-old Pakistani man, announcing he was a Muslim and angry about Israel, pulled out a gun in the Seattle Jewish Federation today and shot six people, one dead.
The gunman, identified by law enforcement sources as Naveed Afzal Haq, 30, reportedly lives in Pasco, Washington and has a charge of lewd conduct pending against him in Benton County, Washington. He reportedly is a U.S. citizen.
According to several witnesses, the Haq got through security and announced to staff members: "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel." He immediately began shooting randomly with a semiautomatic 9-mm handgun at the 18 employees and visitors in the offices.
The Seattle Times reports the gunman ordered a receptionist to call 911 after he shot her.
"He told the police that it was a hostage situation and he wanted us to get our weapons out of Israel," one of the wounded workers said.
FBI spokesman David Gomez said officials believe the suspect acted alone and is not affiliated with a foreign organization.
Haq's father was a founding member of the Islamic Centre of Tri-Cities in Richland. He and his wife moved to Pasco three years ago.
According to Chris Richey of Everett, Haq had been his neighbor until two weeks ago, when he abruptly moved. The landlady at their apartment told Richey Haq was going to Pakistan. Haq spoke often about guns and politics, said Richey, and didn't like President Bush.
A law-enforcement source said Haq had a licence to carry a concealed weapon....
"Throughout the city, we have directed all our patrol officers to monitor closely all synagogues and other Jewish organizations, and we have also advised neighboring agencies in the Puget Sound area to do the same," said Nick Metz, Seattle Police Department.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle says on its Web site that its mission is to "ensure Jewish survival and enhance the quality of Jewish life locally, in Israel and worldwide."
The FBI has labeled the shootings a "hate crime" based on what the gunman told police in a 911 call, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51293
Isaiah 43:5-6
"Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
And gather you from the west.
"I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
And to the south, 'Do not hold them back.'
Bring My sons from afar
And My daughters from the ends of the earth,..
Relocating to Israel, War or Not
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE - By Jeff Diamant - July 20, 2006 - NEW YORK, - Ideally, they said, they would have picked another week for the biggest move of their lives.
Still, 220 Jews with one-way tickets to Israel boarded an El Al plane Wednesday (July 19), and those interviewed said the past eight days of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel never made them doubt their years-old decision to move to the Jewish nation.
"Am I nervous? I don't know if nervous is the word. Maybe cautious," Ken Sheff of Passaic, N.J., said an hour before the 3:15 p.m. flight from New York's Kennedy International Airport. He was moving to a town near Jerusalem with his wife and five children. "We've known this is something that would be part of living in Israel. We just didn't know it would be this second."
More than most Americans, the Jews about to board the plane -- most of whom were Orthodox -- followed this week's news of rockets falling in Haifa, of captured Israeli soldiers, of Israeli air raids in Beirut, of casualties on both sides and of new threats from Iran.
But while the danger has their American friends and relatives worried for their safety, it did not make the emigrants seriously question their choice to start a new life in Israel, about a dozen of them said in individual interviews.
"This to me does not strip away the reasons for my decision to move,"
said Jerrold Rapaport of Teaneck, N.J., who was heading to Israel with his wife and five children. "My decision to move was not because I thought it was going to be a grander or a better life. It was because I thought I could find meaning there and contribute meaningfully."
Contributing meaningfully does not necessarily mean joining the Israeli army. Many of the Orthodox Jews on the flight consider the move itself as significant. They believe God wants Jews there, and that their move is both a sign of support to other Israelis and a sign of Jewish resolve to those who fight Israel's existence.
Immigration to Israel, which was founded in 1948, has risen in the last few years. About 24,500 Jews are expected to make permanent moves there in 2006.
Overall, though, it is far below the numbers of the 1990s, when in some years more than 200,000 Jews moved there from the newly broken-up Soviet Union,said Michael Jankelowitz, a spokesman for the Jewish Agency, which coordinates immigration to Israel....
Wednesday's flight from Kennedy Airport was coordinated by Nefesh b'Nefesh,which by the end of 2006 will have helped 10,500 Jews make the move. This year,about 3,000 North American Jews are immigrating to Israel through Nefesh b'Nefesh.
Most Jews who move with Nefesh b'Nefesh are not relocating to or near Haifa, where the rockets from the millitant group Hezbollah have been landing. They generally move to more central Israeli cities like Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Ranaana and Tel Aviv, said David Starck of Nefesh b'Nefesh....
"We really want to raise our kids there, it's just a safer world for them," Miriam Katz said. "It may sound strange here in America, but I worry much more in America than there. ... You had Sept. 11 here."....
A 10-day trip he took to Israel two years ago led Stephen Rubin, 22, of suburban Philadelphia to decide to move there. He is going by himself.
"Something came over me one day on a street corner. ... I remember the feeling. Chills came over me and I said, 'This is where I have to be,"' he recalled. ...
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/196/story_19611_1.html
Zechariah 1:14-16
So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, `Thus says the LORD of hosts, "I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. "But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster." `Therefore thus says the LORD, "I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it," declares the LORD of hosts, "and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem."'
Police clash with Arab youths trying to access Temple Mount
HAARETZ - By Avi Issacharoff and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents, and agencies - July 28, 2006 - Israeli police used stun grenades to disperse hundreds of Arab youths who were trying to gain access to the Temple Mount for Friday prayers, police said. No injuries were reported.
Police on Thursday restricted entry to Jerusalem's Temple Mount to Palestinians under the age of 40 after it received information that a protest was scheduled to take place on its premises after Friday prayers.
Demonstrators were said to have planned an event including 70 wedding ceremonies and a rally against Israel's offensive in Lebanon.
Police sources said after deciding to limit entry to the shrine that the Temple Mount is a place of worship and not a stage on which to mount political protests.
Security forces have taken up positions around the Temple Mount and inside Jerusalem's Old City ahead of prayers scheduled for Friday in order to disperse crowds.
The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam.
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/743995.html
Organizers Expect Monthly Encirclement of Temple Mount to be Largest Ever
ARUTZ SHEVA - July 25, 2006 - Tuesday, the eve of Rosh Chodesh Av, marking the start of the new Jewish month of Av, the traditional encirclement of the Temple Mount will take place. Organizers expect it to be the largest ever.
The march around the gates of the Temple Mount, with prayer and song at each one, will begin at 7:45 PM, following the conclusion of the prayer rally at the Western Wall, which will begin at 6. Organizers say it will commemorate the uprooting of Gush Katif and northern Samaria, while offering prayers for the safety of the Jews of the Galilee and for the wellbeing of the captured soldiers and prisoners of Zion, as well as the success of the war.
Taking part in the monthly tradition will be Rabbi Yitzchak Ginzburg, Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and Rabbi David Dudkevitch.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=108281
Matthew 24:6a
"You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars.
U.S. to Move 3,700 Troops to Baghdad
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By RYAN LENZ - July 30, 2006 - BAGHDAD, Iraq: The U.S. command announced Saturday that it was sending 3,700 troops to Baghdad to try to quell the sectarian violence sweeping the capital, and a U.S. official said more American soldiers would follow as the military gears up to take the streets from gunmen.
The 172nd Stryker Brigade, which had been due to return home after a year in Iraq, will bring quick-moving, light-armored vehicles to patrol this sprawling city of 6 million people, hoping security forces respond faster to the tit-for-tat killings by Shiite militias and Sunni Arab insurgents.
The U.S. military hopes more armor will intimidate gunmen, who in recent weeks have become more brazen in their attacks.
"This will place our most experienced unit with our most mobile and agile systems in support of our main effort," said Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top U.S. commander in Iraq. "This gives us a potentially decisive capability to affect security in Baghdad."....
The wave of violence has dashed administration hopes for substantial reductions in the 127,000-member U.S. mission in Iraq before the November midterm elections.
According to the United Nations, about 6,000 Iraqis were killed in insurgent or sectarian violence in May and June _ despite American hopes that the unity government of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds would win public confidence and ease the security crisis. ...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/30/D8J66G780.html
Iran warns UN over nuclear resolution
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - July 30, 2006 - Iran has threatened to bin an international proposal over its nuclear programme if the UN Security Council adopts a resolution demanding that Tehran freeze its sensitive atomic work.
Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi also warned that Tehran could "revise" its policies -- implicitly warning that future access for UN inspectors could end -- and said the proposed UN resolution would also "worsen the crisis in the region".
"By putting pressure and trying to intimidate Iran, no country will achieve anything. On the contrary the situation will worsen," Asefi warned.
"If tomorrow they pass a resolution against Iran, the package will not be on the agenda anymore," he said of an international proposal offering incentives in return for a suspension of uranium enrichment work.
The proposal was drawn up by the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany. But at the same time, the Security Council is poised to pass a resolution giving Tehran until August 31 to stop enriching uranium.
The work is at the centre of fears the country could acquire nuclear weapons. ...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/060730084553.zxvsvik5.html
Britain sending more troops to fight Taliban: Sunday Times
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - July 29, 2006 - Britain is preparing to reinforce its deployment of troops in lawless southern Afghanistan to combat the unexpectedly fierce opposition being put up by Taliban militants, The Sunday Times said.
The British newspaper said a 600-strong batallion had been put on five days' notice to fly out if the situation in Helmand province deteriorates.
It would be the second bolstering of British troop numbers in a month if the soldiers are sent to Afghanistan.
General David Richards, the British commander of NATO forces in south Afghanistan had said Saturday that his troops would focus on helping rebuild the country rather than hunting for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
Defence sources told The Sunday Times that the new standby order was linked to Richards' visit to London a week ago.
On Monday his NATO division takes over security operations in the south of Afghanistan from a US-led military coalition.
Britain announced earlier this month that it would boost its troop contingent in southern Afghanistan to 4,400 before late October, not including 1,000 in the capital Kabul, after meeting a tougher-than-expected resistance from Taliban militants.
The Sunday Times said British troops have killed 700 Taliban in Helmand. Six British soldiers have been killed since early June in the province. ...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/060730035255.82r2xavl.html
Pakistan upgrades nuclear arsenal
LONDON TIMES - By Dean Nelson, Delhi - July 30, 2006 - PAKISTAN will soon be able to strike every city in India using a new arsenal of plutonium warheads developed with Chinese help, according to senior generals and defence analysts.
Lieutenant General Talat Masood, a former Pakistani defence minister, said this weekend that his countrys enhanced nuclear capability exposed a secret arms race, triggered by rivalry between India and China.
The scale of Pakistans nuclear ambitions was revealed last week in a report by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, which published satellite pictures of a plutonium production site at Khushab in Punjab.
Analysts said the plant included a reactor capable of producing enough plutonium for 50 warheads in a year, more than doubling its current strength. China has an estimated 450 warheads and India has about 100.
The disclosure came as the US House of Representatives ratified President George W Bushs deal to supply nuclear fuel and technology to India, which could allow it to boost its own production of plutonium warheads. ...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0%2C%2C2089-2291202%2C00.html
The kings of the east
Stubborn North Korea alienating even its few friends: analysts
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE - July 29, 2006 - KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: North Korea has managed to alienate even its few friends after a defiant showing at Asian security talks where it snubbed a campaign to rejoin stalled talks on its nuclear program, analysts said.
In a high-stakes test of its diplomatic skills and reputed clout over the reclusive North, its main ally China led a campaign to breath new life into the stalled six-nation nuclear talks on the sidelines of the Malaysian meeting.
But despite the concerted push, for which it joined hands with South Korea which also favours a softly-softly approach towards its neighbour, North Korea was unmoved.
"They are completely isolated," top United States envoy on Asia, Christopher Hill, said at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) after the North's representatives categorically refused to attend the proposed meeting.
Japanese officials said that after the tongue-lashing it faced at the ARF, North Korea was now considering withdrawing from the grouping, one of the few diplomatic gatherings it attends.
Kim Sung-Han, professor at the state-run Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul, said Pyongyang had mis-stepped by driving China and South Korea into the arms of Washington with its intransigence.
"China and South Korea, two key sympathizers of North Korea, are joining the US-led front to the communist regime's disadvantage," he said.
China is credited with having more leverage over North Korea than any other country, but Pyongyang's decision to proceed with this month's missile tests despite Beijing's protests illustrated how impervious the regime is.
In an apparent sign of the cooling mood, China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing stood next to his North Korean counterpart Paek Nam-Sun at a photo session Friday but chose instead to chat to European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Kim said Washington had successfully adopted an approach acceptable to the other parties in the six-nation talks -- China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea -- whch meant they were presenting a united front against Pyongyang.
"Since the missile tests, the United States has successfully formed a united front of the other five countries against North Korea," he said.
"The US strategy will be to manage and maintain the five-to-one structure as long as possible. NKorea will not return to talks as long as it carries on," he added. ...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/060730035422.hf0dxp9d.html
Matthew 24:7a
"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,…
War-Battered Congo Begins Historic Vote
ASSOCIATED PRESS - By EDWARD HARRIS - July 30, 2006 - Congolese voted Sunday in their first democratic election in more than four decades amid hopes the balloting will end to years of fighting and corrupt rule that have devastated the mineral-rich nation in the heart of Africa.
Congo's young President Joseph Kabila faced dozens of contenders, including ex-rebel leaders he once fought. The rebels carved the huge African country into rival fiefdoms before joining a transitional government three years ago as part of a peace deal that paved the way for the election.
"Today is a chance to make a new beginning and to draw the line at all the war we have seen," said Jean-Pierre Shamba, 44, an engineer who cast his ballot at a secondary s
Prophecy
