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Moriel Ministries > Teachings > Be Alert! Archive |
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Be Alert! - Oct. 17, 2006
Matthew 24:42-43 "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. "But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. Acts 20:29-31 "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. "Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. Luke 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. Much of what has been (and is blatantly obvious to anyone with any common sense) taking place at an ever accelerating and frightful pace in world events has been forecast in meticulous detail thousands of years before it ever occurred in the Bible. Since not one single statement has yet failed, this prophecy is proof that the Bible is the word of God. This is just a short reminder that the purpose of Be Alert! is to keep you informed of the things Jesus commanded His church to "be alert" of so that we would be ready for His return and not caught sleeping, drunk, and with our lamps out of oil. That's really it! Just be about the Father's business and keep your eye's on Jesus. BE /\ LERT! Ephesians 5:15-16 Article List: Obadiah 1:15 Genesis 12:3 2nd warning for Muslims to leave U.S. before attack WORLDNETDAILY - October 16, 2006 -- WASHINGTON – Another Pakistani journalist is reporting receiving another threat – this one from a senior Taliban leader – warning all Muslims to leave the U.S. in anticipation of a major terrorist attack before the end of Ramadan. The head of the Islamabad-based al-Quds Center reported receiving an audio message from Mullah Masoom Afghani urging U.S. Muslims to get out of the country "because Allah's punishment would fall on America in the month of Ramadan." Jamal Ismail is the journalist who received the message. He formerly worked for al-Jazeera. He told the News of Pakistan that he received a phone call Oct. 5 from Afghani. "Afghani said he was speaking from somewhere in Kandahar province," reported Ismail. "In it, he advised Muslim residents of America to get out to escape harm because the U.S. could face big attacks in the month of Ramadan." Ismail said it was the first time Afghani, who is head of the pro-Taliban cleric's consultative council and former ambassador of Afghanistan to Pakistan, had ever sent such a message. "Afghani didn't say that it was a dream," recalled Ismail. "It appeared that he strongly believed that America was going to face punishment at the hands of Allah." Last month, WND reported the new al-Qaida field commander in Afghanistan called for Muslims to leave the U.S. – particularly Washington and New York – in anticipation of a major terror attack to rival Sept. 11, according to an interview by another Pakistani journalist. Abu Dawood told Hamid Mir, a reporter who has covered al-Qaida and met with Osama bin Laden, the attack is being coordinated by Adnan el-Shukrijumah and suggests it may involve some form of weapon of mass destruction smuggled across the Mexican border. "Our brothers are ready to attack inside America. We will breach their security again," he is quoted as saying. "There is no timeframe for our attack inside America; we can do it any time." As WND has previously reported, el-Shukrijumah is a trained nuclear technician and accomplished pilot who has been singled out by bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri to serve as the field commander for the next terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The terrorist was last seen in Mexico, where, on Nov. 1, 2004, he allegedly hijacked a Piper PA Pawnee cropduster from Ejido Queretaro near Mexicali to transport a nuclear weapon and nuclear equipment into the U.S., according to Paul Williams, a former FBI consultant and author of "The Dunces of Doomsday." "He is an American and a friend of Muhammad Atta, who led 9/11 attacks five years ago," said Dawood. "We call him 'Jaffer al Tayyar' (Jafer the Pilot); he is very brave and intelligent. (President) Bush is aware that brother Adnan has smuggled deadly materials inside America from the Mexican border. Bush is silent about him, because he doesn’t want to panic his people. Sheikh Osama bin Laden has completed his cycle of warnings. You know, he is man of his words, he is not a politician; he always does what he says. If he said it many times that Americans will see new attacks, they will definitely see new attacks. He is a real mujahid. Americans will not win this war, which they have started against Muslims. Americans are the biggest supporters of the biggest terrorist in the world, which is Israel." Mir reportedly interviewed Dawood Sept. 12 at the tomb of Sultan Mehmud Ghaznawi on the outskirts of Kabul. Dawood and the al-Qaida leaders who accompanied him were clean-shaven and dressed as Western reporters. The al-Qaida commander had contacted Mir by cell phone to arrange the meeting. El-Shukrijumah was born in Guyana Aug. 4, 1975 – the firstborn of Gulshair el-Shukrijumah, a 44-year-old radical Muslim cleric, and his 16-year-old wife. In 1985, Gulshair migrated to the United States, where he assumed duties as the imam of the Farouq Mosque in Brooklyn. The mosque, located at 554 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, has served as a hive for terrorist activities. It has raised millions for the jihad and has served as a recruiting station for al-Qaida. Many of the planners of the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, including blind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, were prominent members of this notorious "house of worship." In 1995, the Shukrijumah family relocated to Miramar, Fla., where Gulshair became the spiritual leader of the radical Masjid al-Hijah Mosque, and where Adnan became friends with Jose Padilla, who planned to detonate a radiological bomb in midtown Manhattan; Mandhai Jokhan, who was convicted of attempting to blow up nuclear power plants in southern Florida; and a group of other homegrown terrorists. Adnan Shukrijumah attended flight schools in Florida and Norman, Oklahoma, along with Mohammad Atta and the other 9/11 operatives, and he became a highly skilled commercial jet pilot, although he, like Atta and the other terrorists, never applied for a license with the Federal Aviation Commission. In April 2001, Shukrijumah spent 10 days in Panama, where he reportedly met with al-Qaida officials to assist in the planning of 9/11. He also traveled to Trinidad and Guyana, where virulent al-Qaida cells have been established. The following month, he obtained an associate's degree in computer engineering from Broward Community College. During this time, he managed to get passports from Guyana, Trinidad, Saudi Arabia, Canada and the United States, according to Williams. He also began to adopt a number of aliases, including Abu Arifi, Jafar al-Tayyar, Jaafar At Yayyar, Ja'far al-Tayar, and Mohammed Sher Mohammed Khan (the name that appeared on his official FBI file). He traveled to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, where he met with Ramzi Binalshibh, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and other members of the al-Qaida high command. He also spent considerable time within al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan, where he received training in explosives and special operations. Following 9/11, el-Shukrijumah was reportedly singled out by bin Laden and al-Zawahiri to spearhead the next great attack on America. One plan was for a nuclear attack that would take place simultaneously in seven U.S. cities, leaving millions dead and the richest and most powerful nation on earth in ashes. "Muslims should leave America," said Dawood. "We cannot stop our attack just because of the American Muslims; they must realize that American forces are killing innocent Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq; we have the right to respond back, in the same manner, in the enemy's homeland. The American Muslims are like a human shield for our enemy; they must leave New York and Washington." "I am saying that Muslims must leave America, but we can attack America anytime," he said. "Our cycle of warnings has been completed, now we have fresh edicts from some prominent Muslim scholars to destroy our enemy, this is our defending of Jihad; the enemy has entered in our homes and we have the right to enter in their homes, they are killing us, we will kill them." http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52460 Survey: New Orleans Under 190,000 People The population of 187,525 is about 41 percent of the 454,000 people estimated to be living in Orleans Parish before the storm hit Aug. 29, 2005. A spokeswoman for the Louisiana Recovery Authority, Natalie Wyeth, called the results "the definitive, most precise set of numbers we've seen." The survey was conducted for the authority and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals by the Louisiana Public Health Institute. Population estimates have ranged widely for New Orleans. For example, a recent report by a local demographer estimated there were about 230,000 people. Mayor Ray Nagin has cited a slightly higher figure, and last month said he believed the city was on track to reach 300,000 people by year's end. The results are meant to help planners determine where clinics, schools, transit systems and other key infrastructure should be placed, Wyeth said. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/10/05/D8KIOCQG1.html Zechariah 12:2-3 Ezekiel 38:2-8 Isaiah 17:1 Israel on alert for Syrian attack WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - October 9, 2006 - JERUSALEM – In spite of assertions by some officials here to the contrary, Israel has placed its forces in the Golan Heights bordering Syria on heightened alert for possible confrontations following a series of statements by Syrian President Bashar Assad that his military is preparing for war with the Jewish state, WND has learned.... "We are taking Assad's threats very seriously and are cautiously increasing our level of alertness for a possible provocation by Syria," a military official said. The official said Israel placed troops in the Golan on heightened alert during the 34-day war against Hezbollah in Lebanon that began July 12, but the alert level was raised in recent weeks following militant statements by Assad and Israeli intelligence warnings of indications Syria may be bracing for a conflict.... In an interview this past weekend with the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anba, Assad warned the Syrian military is preparing for war with Israel, claiming Israel might attack first. "We must remain ready at all times," said Assad. "We have begun preparations within the framework of our options." Assad, whose statements were widely quoted by Syrian news agencies, said Israel could attack Syria "at any moment." He said Israeli leaders have abandoned the peace process and are seeking a war. Since the war in Lebanon ended in August, Assad has given a series of interviews in which he warned of possible confrontations with Israel. He has stated several times he views Hezbollah's "victory" over Israel as proof military tactics bring results.... Israeli officials here claim the IDF alert level in the Golan heights has not been raised. "We have not made any significant changes in the Golan in recent weeks," said an IDF spokeswoman. ' Damascus preparing public for war' "The tone [in Syria] is one of preparing the public for a war," said a senior security official. He said any Syrian provocation would likely be coordinated with Iran. Tehran and Damascus, which both support Hezbollah, have signed several military pacts. Reuven Erlich, a Syrian expert and director of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies, told WND Assad's threats "are to be taken seriously." "Assad's support for terrorism, for the insurgency in Iraq, for Hezbollah and his alliance with Iran are all indication of the direction in which Syria is headed. Assad needs to demonstrate he is willing to sue for peace, but everything seems to indicate the opposite. Especially following the war in Lebanon," Erlich said. Reports: Syria to form own Hezbollah The Baath party official told WND Syria learned from Hezbollah's military campaign against Israel that "fighting" is more effective than peace negotiations with regard to gaining territory. Hezbollah claims its goal is to liberate the Shebaa Farms, a small, 12-square-mile bloc situated between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The cease-fire resolution accepted by Israel to end its military campaign in Lebanon calls for negotiations leading to Israel's relinquishing of the Shebaa Farms. The official told WND Syria's new Front for the Liberation of the Golan Heights was formed in June, and that the group consists of Syrian volunteers, many from the Syrian border with Turkey and from Palestinian refugee camps near Damascus. He said Syria held registration for volunteers to join the Front in June. One week after the WND article detailing the claimed group was published, state-run Al-Alam Iranian television featured an interview with a man who identified himself as the leader of the new Front for the Liberation of the Golan. The man, whose features were blocked out, said his new group consists of "hundreds" of fighters who are training for guerrilla-like raids against Israeli positions in and near the Golan. He claimed the Front has opened several training camps inside Syria. Last month, Amos Yadlin, head of the IDF's intelligence branch, told the Knesset Syria is in the early stages of forming a Hezbollah-like group. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52345. Red Cross to help flood Golan Heights with Syrians? WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - September 28, 2006 - JERUSALEM – Syrian President Bashar Assad yesterday issued a decree urging his citizens to move to the Golan Heights, claiming the International Committee of the Red Cross would help flood the Golan with Syrians. Assad said the Golan Heights would soon be returned to Syria. The decree follows reports, first detailed by WND, and later confirmed by Israel's military intelligence chief, Syria is seeking to create a Hezbollah-like guerrilla organization to launch attacks against the Jewish state in hopes of prompting an Israeli retreat from the Golan. The Golan Heights is mountainous territory captured by the Jewish state after Syria used the terrain to attack Israel in 1967 and again in 1973. The Heights looks down on major Israeli and Syrian population centers. It borders Israel, Syria and Lebanon and is claimed by Damascus.... "We are aware of Assad's decree (for Syrians to move to the Golan via the Red Cross) but we are a nonpolitical organization. We help facilitate movement between Syria and the Golan in humanitarian cases, like weddings and important unions," said Krimitsas, speaking from Geneva. Red Cross bias? But officials here have long accused the ICRC of anti-Israel bias. The organization for nearly 60 years refused membership to Israel purportedly because the Jewish state wanted to use its own emblem – a star of David – instead of the traditional cross. Israel finally was admitted this past June after intensive lobbying efforts by the American Red Cross. The ICRC treated Hezbollah militants on the battlefield during confrontations with Israel that ended last month. Some Israeli military officials accused Red Cross ambulances of helping transport some Hezbollah fighters. "The moment a Hezbollah fighter is injured, he is considered a non-combatant, so we must take care of him," said ICRC spokeswoman Carla Haddad. During a major Israeli anti-terror raid in the northern Samaria city of Jenin in 2002, the ICRC along with the Palestinian Authority and the U.N. accused the Jewish state of attacking civilians and denying medical treatment for injured Palestinians for six days. The charges later were disproved. The Palestinian Authority claimed 500 civilians were "massacred" in the Jenin battle but it was later determined 42 people, mostly combatants, were killed. The Israeli military lost 23 soldiers in the operation. Syria to form its own Hezbollah Assad's decree for Syrians to move to the Golan follows a recent WND report that top members of Assad's Baath Party were advised in a private briefing to purchase real estate in the Golan Heights because, they were told, the strategic territory will "very soon" be returned to Syria.... Sept.12, Amos Yadlin, chief of military intelligence for the Israeli Defense Forces, announced the Jewish state has indications Syria is in the initial stages of forming a Hezbollah copycat group to attack Israeli positions in the Golan. http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52191 Calm before the storm http://www.thegoldenreport.com/asp/jerrysnewsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=1075&z=1 U.S. weapons to be transferred to terrorists? The militant, Abu Yousuf, hinted any new weapons provided by the U.S. to his group could be shared with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror organization, the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party. Abu Yousuf, like several Force 17 members, is also a member of the Brigades. "There is no chance that we will use force and violence against our brothers in Hamas unless they will endanger [Abbas]. There is a chance that Israel will attack the Palestinian territories, and in this case, these weapons and others provided [by the U.S. to Force 17] will be directed towards the (Israeli) occupation," Abu Yousuf said. Abu Yousuf was responding to reports the U.S. is planning to transfer weapons and aid to Force 17, which protects Abbas and also serves as a special security force on behalf of the Fatah party. ... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52394 'Al-Qaida: Israel branch' debuts video WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - October 4, 2006 -- TEL AVIV – A video of a masked terrorist claiming to represent "al-Qaida in Palestine" was posted today on the Internet threatening attacks against "those who blaspheme Islam, including "secular" Arab officials and Western targets in and near the Jewish state. The video is the first-ever recording claimed by the global jihad group from inside Israel or the Palestinian territories. Statements made in the video also took credit for the assassination two weeks ago of Jad Tayeh, director of foreign relations for the Palestinian Authority's General Security Services, an intelligence and security organization controlled by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. Abbas publicly has blamed Hamas for the killing.... "My speech is directed against ... those who announce blasphemy against Islam and who are allied with enemies of God and religion, and work in the service of the Jews and the Christians," the man said. The man on the video threatened "a severe war (against) anyone who carries a weapon defending a traitor, an informer or a security coordinator.".... "We announce that our brothers in the al-Qaida district of Palestine succeeded in reaching one of the most dangerous personalities (Tayeh) who serves his masters, the U.S. and the Zionists, in order to hit the fighters inside and outside Palestine," read the pamphlet, which was obtained by WND.... Al-Qaida threatens truck bombings in Israel The al-Qaida-signed pamphlet went on to threaten larger attacks: "Our next operation will be more destructive. The first tool we will use is trucks full of explosives. We therefore ask all the honest people in this nation to leave these traitors and not to work with them because we are going to punish them very soon." Previous pamphlets distributed in Gaza the past six months have been signed by independent groups claiming to work on behalf of al-Qaida, such as the Palestine Islamic Army or the Army of Islam, but this was the first pamphlet in which the al-Qaida name was signed directly. ... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52299 Abbas recognition of Israel 'political calculation' WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - October 4, 2006 -- JERUSALEM – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' stated recognition of Israel's right to exist is part of a "political calculation" aimed at ultimately destroying the Jewish state, a terror group leader and member of Abbas' Fatah party told WND in an interview. The leader said the Fatah party does not recognize Israel and that any final accord that doesn't include flooding the Jewish state with millions of Palestinians will not be supported by the Fatah party and will lead to Palestinian civil war. "The base of our Fatah movement keeps dreaming of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa and Acco," said Abu Ahmed, Fatah member and leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the northern Gaza Strip. "There is no change in our position. Abbas recognizes Israel because of pressure that the Zionists and the Americans are exercising on him. We understand this is part of his obligations and political calculations." The Brigades is the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party. Together with the Islamic Jihad terror group, the Brigades has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing inside Israel the past two years, including an attack in Tel Aviv this past April that killed an American teenager and nine Israelis. The Brigades also has carried out scores of deadly shooting and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians in recent months. Brigades leaders are members of Fatah. The terror group's founder, Marwan Barghouti, is an elected Fatah official and is largely considered one of the most popular Fatah figures. Several top Brigades members serve in Abbas' Force 17 personal security detail. Abbas and Hamas the past few months have been negotiating the possibility of forming a national unity government in part to end international sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority after Hamas won the majority of parliamentary seats earlier this year. But the unity talks reportedly fell through because of Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist. Fatah and Hamas have been clashing in Gaza and the West Bank the past few days. The U.S. and Europe label Hamas a terror group, while Fatah largely is considered "moderate," in part for its purported willingness to accept Israel. The U.S. has given large sums of financial aid and weapons to Fatah since late Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Peace Accords with the Jewish state in 1993. Abu Ahmed explained Fatah itself has never officially recognized Israel. "It is the PLO, which is a separate entity, that recognized Israel,and this was a step, a tactical step that had as its goal to bring the resistance and the revolution closer to the lands of Palestine," Abu Ahmed said. The PLO was the official governing body of the Palestinians until the A was formed following the Oslo Accords. Subsequent Israeli-Palestinian agreements were signed officially by the Fatah-led PA but not by Fatah as a party. Still, Fatah leaders, including Abbas, have made scores of statements recognizing the Jewish state. But Abu Ahmed commented, "There is an opportunistic class at the head of the Fatah leadership that for personal and political interests says it accepts the existence of Israel. There is no change in our official position. Fatah as a movement never recognized Israel. It is the PLO who did so for the reasons I mentioned." ... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52279 Abbas asks Rice for weapons from U.S. WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - October 4, 2006 -- RAMALLAH – In his meeting today with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas requested a large shipment of weapons from the United States purportedly to arm his group against Hamas following recent intense clashes with the rival group, a senior Palestinian Authority official told WND. The official said Rice, in private, expressed her support for Abbas' government and said the U.S. would review ways to bolster it, including possibly with weapons.... The U.S. government previously sent weapons to Abbas in May after the Palestinian leader requested the arms to bolster Fatah's Force 17 security forces against possible clashes with Hamas. In June, WND broke the story about how assault rifles that were part of a cache of weapons transferred by the U.S. made its way to members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group, some of whom are also officers of Force 17. The weapons may have been used in a string of shootings, including an ambush against a busload of Israeli school girls here, Al Aqsa members told WND. Following her meeting here today with Abbas, Rice told reporters the U.S. would find ways to help the PA president. She said she had "great admiration" for Abbas' leadership and for what she said was his "willingness" to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. ... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52284 Israel 'holds secret Saudi talks' The meeting 12 days ago has not been confirmed by Saudi Arabia, which has no official contacts with Israel. Israeli media say they discussed Iran's nuclear programme and a Saudi peace plan adopted by Arab states in 2002. Last week Mr Olmert voiced approval of recent Saudi moves, "both those made publicly and others as well". In the same interview, with Yediot Aharonot newspaper, Mr Olmert declined to answer whether he had met senior Saudis, saying: "I don't have to answer every question." But he did praise Saudi ruler King Abdullah's "wisdom and sense of responsibility". The secret meeting is widely reported in Monday's Israeli newspapers and radio bulletins, quoting Israeli officials. Although no public statement have been issued, a senior government official was quoted by the Associated Press news agency saying Mr Olmert had not met King Abdullah. Shortly afterwards, Yediot's website published a carefully worded denial by Mr Olmert himself, saying: "I did not meet the Saudi king and I did not meet with any element that should have caused a media sensation." ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5377552.stm Isaiah 66:8 'Lost tribe of Israel' returning home WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - October 6, 2006 -- JERUSALEM – Hundreds of Jews from a group of thousands in India that believes it is one of the 10 "lost tribes" of Israel has been granted permission to immigrate here next month, fulfilling for many of them a life-long dream of returning to what they consider their homeland. "The significance of this should be readily apparent, even to the most hardened of cynics," Michael Freund, chairman of Shavei Israel, the organization leading the charge for the return of the tribe, told WorldNetDaily. "After all, whoever heard of an ancient lost tribe returning to its ancestral homeland 2,700 years after their deportation? Without exaggerating, it seems fair to say that this is a miracle of biblical proportions," Freund said. For a decade, Freund's group has been working to facilitate the immigration to Israel of the Bnei Menashe, about 7,000 Indian citizens who believe they are the descendants of Manasseh, one of biblical patriarch Joseph's two sons, and a grandson of Jacob. The tribe lives in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, to which they claim to have been exiled from Israel over 2,700 years ago by the Assyrian empire. The group, which has preserved ancient Jewish customs and rituals, has been trying the past 50 years to return to Israel. Over the last decade, Freund's Shavei Israel, working with other organizations, brought about 800 Bnei Menashe members to the Jewish state. Many settled in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. About 80 lived in Gaza's slate of Jewish communities, which were evacuated by the Israeli government last summer. They originally were brought to Israel as tourists in an agreement with Israel's Interior Ministry. Once here, the Bnei Menashe converted officially to Judaism and became citizens. But diplomatic wrangling halted the immigration process in 2003, with officials from some Israeli ministries refusing to grant the rest of the group still in India permission to travel here. To smooth the process, Freund enlisted the help of Israel's chief rabbinate, which flew to India last year to meet with and consider converting members of the Bnei Menashe. Once legally Jewish, the tribe can apply for Israeli citizenship under the country's "Law of Return," which guarantees sanctuary to Jews from around the world. Six rabbis were sent by Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Shlomo Amar to begin converting the Bnei Menashe. The rabbis met with hundreds of tribal members, testing their knowledge of Judaism and assessing their conviction, converting 216 individuals – over 90 percent of those who were interviewed. "The rabbis were incredibly impressed with the Bnei Menashe," said Freund. "They saw for themselves that the group is very serious and should be integrated into the Jewish nation. That they are a blessing to the state of Israel." Now 218 are set to fly here next month, including all those who were converted, plus two of their newborns. The new immigrants will live at first in absorption centers in the northern Israeli communities of Nazareth and Carmiel. They will receive assistance from the Jewish Agency, the main Israeli absorption organization and from Freund's group and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, an American-based grassroots coalition of Jews and Christians. "The immigration of these 218 Jews should jump start the process of bringing back the rest of the 7,000 Bnei Menashe who are in India yearning to return home," said Freund. Freund pointed to the successful integration of the first batch of Bnei Menashe brought here before 2003 as a model for the group's future immigration. Many of those attended college and rabbinic school, moved to major Israeli communities and even joined the Israeli Defense Forces. Twelve Bnei Menashe served in the IDF this past summer in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon. One of them, Avi Hanshing, a 22-year old paratrooper, was injured during a clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. "I had to fight to come to Israel," Hanshing said, recalling what the soldier said were obstacles placed in his way by the Israeli government when he originally wanted to move to the Jewish state. "Now," he added, "I have to fight for the country." According to Bnei Menashe oral tradition, the tribe was exiled from Israel and pushed to the east, eventually settling in the border regions of China and India, where most remain today. Most kept customs similar to Jewish tradition, including observing Shabbat, keeping the laws of Kosher, practicing circumcision on the eighth day of a baby boy's life and observing Talmudic family purity. In the 1950s several thousand Bnei Menashe say they set out on foot to Israel, but were quickly halted by Indian authorities. Undeterred, many began practicing Orthodox Judaism and pledged to make it to Israel. They now attend community centers established by Shalvei Israel to teach the Bnei Menashe Jewish tradition and modern Hebrew. "The return of the Bnei Menashe is a historic event," said Freund. "It is the literal fulfillment of the vision of our prophets that our people will return to Israel from the four corners of the earth. It is a timely and welcome example of just what Israel, and its wondrous rebirth, is truly all about." http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52317 Shofar, not so good: Blower barred from Temple Mount The shofar traditionally is blown hundreds of times during Rosh Hashana prayers. Shmulik Ben Ruby, a spokesman for the Jerusalem Police Authority, told WND the Jewish man, 19-year-old Jerusalem resident Eliyahi Kleiman, was taken forcibly from the Western Wall last weekend for fear the sound of the shofar would offend nearby Muslims congregating on the Temple Mount, which is opposite the wall. "Hundreds of Muslims went up to the Temple Mount. In order to prevent any tensions between the two sides, we asked Kleiman to stop blowing the shofar," Ben Ruby said. "He continued and so he was removed and detained." The incident took place Sunday morning, the second day of the two-day Rosh Hashana holiday, when a group of about 20 Jews gathered at the northern-most section of the Western Wall commonly referred to as the "Small Wall." The little-known area stands opposite the spot at which the Holy of Holies is believed to have resided and is considered by Jews to be the most holy section of the Western Wall. The Holy of Holies is a room within the Tabernacle of the Jewish Temple in which Jews believe God's presence dwelt. During the First Temple period, from the 10th century B.C. to 586 B.C., the Holy of Holies was said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the Ten Commandments. The "Small Wall" is located within a mixed Jewish and Arab section of Jerusalem and is supposed to be accessible to Jews at all times. Large prayer services take place at the central section of the Western Wall, where thousands gather for prayers on holidays. Smaller groups regularly gather at the "Small Wall." Kleiman says he had attended services at the "Small Wall" annually for several years without incident. He said he prefers the smaller wall because it is less crowded. After the man began blowing the shofar during Rosh Hashana service, a nearby police officer asked him to stop, according to Kleiman, the Jerusalem police and several witnesses who spoke to WND. Kleiman says he continued blowing for about two minutes to finish the section of prayer that requires the sounding of the shofar. The officer then demanded Kleiman immediately leave the area for his refusal to stop blowing the shofar when asked, Kleiman says. He says he was in the middle of reciting the Amidah, the central prayer of Jewish liturgy, which according to tradition must be read standing and cannot be interrupted unless there is a risk of life. "I couldn't go with (the officer) until I finished the Amidah," Kleiman says. The officer called for backup, which Kleiman and observers say arrived several minutes later. Fifteen policemen then dragged Kleiman from the site, observers say. According to police spokesman Ben Ruby, Kleiman was finished reciting the Amidah at the time he was detained by several officers. Kleiman and several witnesses said he was removed while still reciting the Amidah, which is elongated on Rosh Hashana and can take about 20 minutes to complete. They said the police refused to allow Kleiman to finish his prayers. "They dragged me when I was trying to finish the Amida," Kleiman said. Kleiman was taken to a nearby police station for questioning. He was released after several hours pending an investigation that could see him charged with disturbing public order and disturbing a police officer in the line of duty. Kleiman was informed earlier this week he is banned from all sections of the Western Wall for the next two weeks. The Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur, Succot, and Simchat Torah take place within the next two weeks. Kleiman is petitioning against the restraining order in a Jerusalem court tomorrow. The man has no prior police record and is not associated with any group on Israeli watch lists, according to police sources. Ben Ruby says Kleiman was arrested because a group of "hundreds" of Muslims had ascended the Temple Mount on the opposite side of the "Small Wall" and may have been offended by the sounding of the shofar. "Our job is to keep peace in the city and ensure there are no tensions. The shofar may have offended the Muslims and could have started a confrontation." Miriam Janoff, a Jew who lives near the "Small Wall," called Ben Ruby's contentions "ridiculous." "Several times per day the Muslims broadcast prayer services on loudspeakers that can be heard for miles, including every morning at 4 a.m. It is extremely disturbing when you are trying to sleep, but you don't hear the Jews complain about it," Janoff said. "It is the height of absurdity a Jew cannot blow the shofar near our holiest site on one of our holiest holidays because a Muslim is nearby." Also, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started last week, Arabs in Jerusalem's Old City regularly celebrate after sunset with loud explosions from firecrackers and gunshot blanks. Temple Mount : No-prayer zone Jews regularly are banned from the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims call it their third holiest site. It is the place Muslims believe Muhammad, the founder of Islam, ascended to heaven to receive revelations from Allah. Even though the Jewish state controls Jerusalem, the Muslim Waqf, or holy site monitors, serve as the custodians of the Temple Mount under a deal made with the Israeli government when Jerusalem was captured by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War. The Temple Mount was opened to the general public until September 2000, when the Palestinians started their intifada by throwing stones at Jewish worshipers after then-candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon visited the area. Following the onset of violence, the new Sharon government closed the Mount to non-Muslims, using checkpoints to control all pedestrian traffic for fear of further clashes with the Palestinians. The Temple Mount was reopened to non-Muslims in August 2003. It still is open but only Sundays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., and not on any Christian, Jewish or Muslim holidays or other days considered "sensitive" by the Waqf. During "open" days, Jews and Christian are allowed to ascend the Mount, usually through organized tours and only if they conform first to a strict set of guidelines, which includes demands that they not pray or bring any "holy objects" to the site. Visitors are banned from entering any of the mosques without direct Waqf permission. Rules are enforced by Waqf agents, who watch tours closely and alert nearby Israeli police to any breaking of their guidelines. http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52194 Shofar, so good: Blower to return to Temple Mount WORLDNETDAILY - By Aaron Klein - September 30, 2006 -- JERUSALEM -- A Jewish man who was barred from the Western Wall after blowing the shofar, or ceremonial ram's horn, during prayer services for last weekend's Rosh Hashana high holiday is allowed to return to the holy site after an Israeli judge yesterday cancelled a police restraining order. Shmulik Ben Ruby, a spokesman for the Jerusalem Police Authority, told WND earlier the Jewish man, 19-year-old Jerusalem resident Eliyahi Kleiman, was taken forcibly from the Western Wall last weekend for fear the sound of the shofar he was blowing would offend nearby Muslims congregating on the Temple Mount, which is opposite the wall.... 'Any debate on case highly embarrassing for Israel' But yesterday Kleiman, who has no prior police record and is not associated with any Temple Mount group, challenged the restraining order in a Jerusalem court and won the case. The restraining order was cancelled, allowing Kleiman to return to the Western Wall for today's Shabbat prayers and for upcoming Yom Kippur services, which begin tomorrow night. A source close to Kleiman's defense speculated the restraining order was removed "to ensure there is no debate about the case. Any debate about why a Jew was removed from the Western Wall for blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah would be highly embarrassing for the state of Israel." The source asked that his name be withheld because the case was still ongoing pending the completion of the police investigation. The judge's decision for the police to rescind the restraining order did not include any comments on the legality of Kleiman's arrest. Police spokesman Ben Ruby says Kleiman was originally arrested because a group of "hundreds" of Muslims had ascended the Temple Mount on the opposite side of the "Small Wall" and may have been offended by the sounding of the shofar. "Our job is to keep peace in the city and ensure there are no tensions. The shofar may have offended the Muslims and could have started a confrontation." Miriam Janoff, a Jew who lives near the "Small Wall," called Ben Ruby's contentions "ridiculous." "Several times per day the Muslims broadcast prayer services on loudspeakers that can be heard for miles, including every morning at 4 a.m. It is extremely disturbing when you are trying to sleep, but you don't hear the Jews complain about it," Janoff said. "It is the height of absurdity a Jew cannot blow the shofar near our holiest site on one of our holiest holidays because a Muslim is nearby." Also, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started last week, Arabs in Jerusalem's Old City regularly celebrate after sunset with loud explosions from firecrackers and gunshot blanks. ... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52211 The kings of the east LEAD: U.S. detects signs N. Korea preparing for 2nd nuke test: reports+ U.S spy satellites have detected "suspicious vehicle movements" that could be preparations for another test near the site where North Korea conducted its first underground nuclear explosion test on Oct. 9, ABC News said, quoting unidentified U.S. officials. NBC News also reported unidentified U.S. officials as saying U.S. spy satellites are picking up signs of truck and people movements. The news reports came after the United States officially confirmed earlier Monday for the first time that Pyongyang carried out a nuclear test on Oct. 9 in northeastern North Korea, thus also effectively confirming Pyongyang's possession of nuclear weapons. ... http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/10/16/D8KQ1QLO2.html Kim Jong-il ethnic 'cult' killing 'racially impure' WORLDNETDAILY - October 16, 2006 -- A growing body of testimony is vindicating President Bush's charge that North Korea is a member of the "axis of evil" – refugees are reporting the killing of disabled infants and forced abortions of babies believed fathered by Chinese men in an obsessive program based on mystical notions of Korean racial superiority. At a forum in Seoul, South Korea, several refugees from the north described a policy of state eugenics carried out with extreme repression. "There are no people with physical defects in North Korea," said Ri Kwang-chol, a North Korean doctor who escaped last year. Babies with defects are killed by medical staff and quickly buried, he told the London Times. Among the "physical defects" that will get a baby killed – even one in the womb – is being half-Chinese. Han Myong-suk, a 30-year-old woman who escaped twice and who was helped to find sanctuary in a third country by Helping Hands Korea, an American Christian group, had her baby forcibly aborted following her return to North Korea after being sold by traffickers to a Chinese farmer. Five months pregnant when the Beijing government deported her, Han was interned in a detention camp for women. "I defied the order to abort the fetus the prison authorities contemptuously called a 'Chinese Chink' and was badly beaten and kicked in my belly by a guard," Han said. She still remembers the guard's name. After a week of resistance, Han said she was taken to the prison clinic and "in a most blunt manner they extracted the dead child from my body." Other witnesses described pregnant women being returned from China and taken to a clinic where labor was induced and the infant suffocated or left to die in a box with other infants in front of their mothers. "Guards would say the mothers had to see and hear their babies die because they were Chinese," a report by the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said, noting that the murdered infants were known as "children of betrayers." These most recent reports confirm findings of the Korean Bar Association which reports that 58 percent of defectors its lawyers have interviewed claim knowledge of forced abortions in Kim's prisons. Experts caution against seeing the North Korean regime's cruelty as merely a relict of its proclaimed Marxist ideology while missing its cultish dimensions. "It's vital to recognize that 'juche' – the dogma of self-reliance – is not a theory but a cult and that Kim is worshipped as the leader of a religion," a veteran western diplomat who negotiated with the North Koreans on 19 visits told the Times. "These Koreans genuinely believe they are a master race and that the peninsula will be united under the rule of the Kim dynasty." Despite the organizational trappings of a communist state – a Supreme People's Assembly, a presidium, a cabinet and the Korean Workers' party – North Korea is a one-man military dictatorship founded on clan rule, blood ties, mystical ideas of racial superiority and deification of Kim, the diplomat said. This reality explains Kim's deepening estrangement from its Marxist neighbor, China. The juxtaposition of Kim's mysticism and North Korea's apparent testing of a nuclear device this week has its parallel in Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's belief that he has been chosen as the person designated to prepare the way for the Islamic messiah's second coming and Tehran's efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. Before the Mahdi, who supposedly disappeared down a well as a child in A.D. 941, can return, there must be chaos and a world apocalypse. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52448 LEAD: Preliminary evidence of radioactivity detected at N. Korea site: CNN+ North Korea threatens New York, Washington WORLDNETDAILY - October 12, 2006 -- WASHINGTON – As reports circulated of a second imminent nuclear test, a high-ranking North Korean official who is called the unofficial spokesman for Kim Jong-il issued a not-so-veiled threat to the United States today in an interview with South Korean radio. "Everything will be settled in a week," said Kim Myong-chol on KBS Radio. "That is, whether we, Korean people, will remain as we are now, or lose, or New York will lose, or Washington, D.C., will lose, it will all be settled once and for all." The report was carried in Chosun Ilbo, a Korean-language newspaper in the south. The South Korean government is trying to verify intelligence that North Korea is to conduct another nuclear test soon – possibly in the next two or three days. Quoting a reliable source on North Korea, the report said: "Many indications from North Korea point to the high likelihood that North Korea would conduct another nuclear test in two or three days. We received intelligence Oct. 11 that says the North Korean military is showing unusual movements." Alexander Downer, Australian foreign minister, said yesterday, "We have intelligence that North Korea would have another nuclear test soon. We are very concerned about it.".... The North will consider increased U.S. pressure "a declaration of war," RI Kong Son, vice spokesman for North Korea's Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with AP Television News in Pyongyang. Also today, a high-ranking defector from North Korea told the Yonhap news agency that Pyongyang has already manufactured several nuclear weapons and is ready to deploy these in the event of a war. ... http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52417 U.S. doubts Korean test was nuclear http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20061009-115158-2477r.htm Scientists Probe North Korea Nuke Test Like earthquakes, large explosions send out shockwaves that can be detected on seismographs. Big nuclear bombs make big waves, with clear signatures that make them fairly easy to detect, analyze and confirm that they were caused by splitting atoms. But smaller blasts _ as North Korea's appears to have been _ are trickier to break down. The natural sound of the Earth, with its constant seismic activity of tectonic plates grinding together, complicates the task of trying to determine whether a smaller blast was caused by conventional explosives or a nuclear device, said Xavier Clement of France's Atomic Energy Commission. ... http://asia.news.yahoo.com/061009/ap/d8kl919g0.html North Korea goes nuclear WORLDNETDAILY - October 8, 2006 -- Defying worldwide appeals and threats of sanctions, North Korea appears to have made good on a promise to conduct its first nuclear bomb test. A South Korean government official first reported a test had been detected, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency. South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun later convened a meeting of top security officials, the news agency said. In Washington, a senior Bush administration official confirmed for Fox News Channel just before midnight that the test had been detected by the U.S. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 4.2 tremor in North Korea coinciding with the time of the test. North Korea gleefully announced its test was successful. "The nuclear test is a historic event that brought happiness to our military and people," the official news agency KCNA said. The agency said the underground test was performed successfully "with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent," and that no radioactive material leaked from the test site. "The test is 100 percent safe," said the KCNA. South Korea 's Yonhap news agency said the test was conducted at 10:36 a.m. (9:36 p.m. EDT Sunday) in Hwaderi near Kilju city, citing defense officials. China reportedly received a 20-minute warning that the test would take place. North Korea had threatened to conduct its first nuclear test as early as the weekend. But Japan and China issued warnings to President Kim Jong-il not to go ahead with that plan. "We saw eye to eye on the North Korean nuclear test, which is that it can't be tolerated,'' Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a press conference late yesterday after meeting Chinese President Hu Jintao. North Korea must return "unconditionally'' to six-party talks aimed at dismantling the nation's nuclear weapons program, Abe said. Abe was on his way to South Korea to meet with officials there for a face-to-face discussion about the crisis in North Korea. China is Japan's second-biggest trading partner, and Japanese exports there rose 26 percent to 4.96 trillion yen ($42 billion) in the first six months of the year from the same period in 2005, according to Japanese finance ministry figures. Japan feels particularly threatened by Kim's nuclear ambitions as missile tests by North Korea have been conducted in and around the Sea of Japan. Japan, of course, is also the only nation in the world to have suffered a nuclear attack. Many expected North Korea to wait three months to test its bomb in an effort to get the U.S. to lift financial sanctions imposed last year. North Korea's bomb has an estimated yield of 20 kilotons, making it capable of killing as many as 200,000 people and destroying everything in a five-mile radius. The yen skidded to its weakest in seven months and Asian stocks were rattled today after the test. Worries about North Korea have cast a shadow over otherwise strong Asian markets in the past several days as investors have braced for an escalation of tensions. After opening higher, South Korea's benchmark stock index, KOSPI <.KS11>, reversed direction on the reports, falling as much as 3.6 percent to levels last seen in Aug. 14. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52353 North Korea warns on border shots The reclusive Stalinist state warned of catastrophic consequences if South Korea's military engaged in more "unforgivable military provocation" like a weekend skirmish at the heavily fortified border between the two Koreas. South Korea 's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its soldiers fired warning shots on Saturday at five North Korean soldiers who had climbed over the military demarcation line despite several verbal warnings over loudspeakers. But the North's KCNA news agency said: "This was an undisguised challenge against us and an unforgivable military provocation. It was only the high patience and self control of our soldiers that the incident did not spread to an armed clash on both sides." KCNA said North Korean soldiers were carrying out normal military duties on its side of the border when South Korean guards fired 60 machine gun shots at them. "The South's military authorities must not run wildly but instead deliberate on what catastrophic consequences will result from provocative acts at the frontlines where the militaries of both sides stand tensely against one another," it said. ... http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C23599%2C20547980-23109%2C00.html A nuclear North Korea This is not good. Imagine Adolf Hitler with a nuclear weapon. That would be the moral equivalent of Kim Jong-il with one. There is no difference. Kim is a mass murderer, possibly on the scale of Hitler. The only difference, so far, is that Kim has killed millions of his own people through starvation, forced labor camps and executions – more in the style of Josef Stalin. But Kim's dream, like his Stalinist father's, remains reunification of his country through military force. His million-man-plus army, as always, is massed near the border with South Korea, just waiting for the right moment. South Korea was destroyed once by invasion from the north. The city of Seoul was leveled – with conventional weapons. Kim wouldn't think twice about using more efficient means, like nuclear, to do it again. This is not just a matter of brinksmanship. The lives of millions – and not just Koreans – hang in the balance. I continue to be disturbed at U.S. policy regarding this crisis. Let me put it bluntly: This is not a matter for the United Nations. It will not be resolved there. Most of the world, including China, is not going to help defuse the crisis. We have some allies – notably Japan, Taiwan and South Korea – but Russia and China know North Korea's nuclear weapons are not targeted in their direction. They are targeted at us. And, as the old saying goes: "One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day." Vague warnings alone will not stop North Korea from pursuing its nuclear arsenal and deploying it. Threats of U.N. sanctions will not deter Pyongyang. The U.S. needs to be very clear about the dire consequences it alone will bring on North Korea – because this is a matter of national security for us, not just a threat to "world peace." It's much more than a matter of "deep concern," as the U.S. State Department has labeled it. It's a matter of life and death. If we go the U.N. route again on this crisis, debates over resolutions will take years. China will lead the U.S. to believe it will be an ally, only to ensure Washington does not take unilateral action. Ultimately, as is so often the case, China will reject any meaningful multilateral action against North Korea – just as it has with Iran. Banking on China to join us is a mistake. It won't happen. China would like nothing better than to see the U.S. knocked off as a superpower. It would clear the field for its planned ascendancy on the world stage. The West has made this mistake many times in the past. The clearest example is Neville Chamberlain's trip to Munich. He asked Adolf Hitler what he wanted – how he could be "bought off." Hitler said all he wanted was the Sudetenland. Chamberlain said he could have it. Then, of course, Hitler took all of Czechoslovakia. Later, Chamberlain still hadn't figured it out. He said everything would have been just peachy if Hitler hadn't lied. Well, guess what? That's what evil tyrants do. And, no matter how many cheap gizmos you may have purchased from China in recent years, the leadership there is every bit as evil and cunning as Hitler was. We can't put our fate in their hands. Here's what we need to do to stop North Korea: President Bush should announce that any mi |
