96 DEAD IN 6.9 PHIL QUAKE.
And here are the bounderies of the
land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the
future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have
every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east
of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The
southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the
Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num
34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE
FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE
FUTURE.
Joel 3:2-King James Version (YOU DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF
- YOUR POKING GOD IN THE EYE - GOD SAYS AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH
FOR A TOOTH- YOU WANNA DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF - HALF OF EARTHS
POPULATION 4 BILLION DIE ON EARTH.
2 I will also gather all nations,
and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead
with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have
scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE
17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS
KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE
BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND
DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in
that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN
WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4
billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37
And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto
them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered
together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against
Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten
by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE
SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE
CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH
IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.
MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Op-ed:
Day 726 of the war-On Yom Kippur, the faint hope of a ‘good
conclusion’There is no shortage of clear-headed grounds for pessimism.
But right now, perhaps more than at any time in the past two years,
there is at least a concerted effort to change the terrible new normal
By David Horovitz-Today, 4:36 pm-0CT 1,25
This Editor’s Note was
sent out earlier Wednesday in ToI’s weekly update email to members of
the Times of Israel Community. To receive these Editor’s Notes as
they’re released, join the ToI Community here.At the start of Yom
Kippur, this most solemn and momentous of days in the Jewish calendar,
let us allow ourselves a modicum of hope.Never short on hyperbole —
hailing “potentially one of the great days ever in civilization” — but
also never blind to the astonishing global power of his office, US
President Donald Trump on Monday managed to line up an unprecedented
array of Arab and Muslim leaders in an attempt to bring an end to two
years of Israel’s war against the mass murderers of Hamas, and secure
the release of all the hostages, living and dead, held in Gaza since the
Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel on October 7,
2023.In presenting his plan, Trump also provided succinct and overdue
clarification of how we got into the dismal reality in which we have
been living for almost two years, reminding a watching world that, for
all the international and internal Israeli anguish over the death and
devastation of the war, this began with Hamas’s invasion, unprovoked and
from territory from which Israel had completely withdrawn. And that it
continues because Hamas refuses to free the hostages and lay down its
arms.After seizing power in post-Israel Gaza, the president recalled,
Hamas “diverted resources to build over 400 miles of tunnels and terror
infrastructure, rocket production facilities, and hid their military
command post and launch sites in hospitals, schools and mosques. So if
you went after them… you ended up knocking out a hospital or a school or
a mosque. A terrible thing, terrible way to have to fight.”There seems
to be no adequate reason why what remains of Hamas would give up its
best means of leveraging its survival and revival, namely the hostages
it seized on that infernal day and has held in its underground hellholes
ever since, and agree to free them all in the very first two or three
days of the framework that Trump presented. Least of all when the
20-point Trump plan gives no clear timeline for an Israeli military
withdrawal, and makes no specific commitment to the establishment of a
Palestinian state.More broadly, there would appear to be no compelling
reason why an organization that exists solely to destroy the state of
Israel and kill Jews would consent, as the terms of Trump’s proposal
require, to a formula clearly constructed to ensure its demise.Why would
Hamas free all the hostages and endorse a proposal designed to ensure
its demise? Why would Hamas backers Turkey and Qatar, now key mediators,
seek its extinction? Most Gazans are sick of this war. Most of Israel
is sick of this war. The Middle East is sick of this war. The world is
sick of this war. But Hamas has vowed to carry out October 7s again and
again until Israel is gone, and one of its leaders, Mahmoud Mardawi,
repeated this week its refusal to give up its weapons, insisting on the
legitimacy of all means of resistance to “the occupation” — by which
Hamas means Israel.And yet, Arab and Muslim leaders from neighboring
Egypt and Jordan, and more distant Turkey, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan and Indonesia — some at peace with Israel, some deeply hostile
to Israel — have pledged to help Trump realize his dryly
self-acknowledged “complex” vision of healing Gaza, ensuring Israel’s
security, and moving toward “eternal peace in the Middle East.”And some
of the most influential of those Arab and Muslim leaderships are in
Qatar right now, ostensibly telling Hamas that it needs to give its
assent to the US president.For his part, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, denounced by a goodly proportion of Israel, including most of
the families of the 48 hostages, for long spurning the potential
opportunity to secure their release in return for ending the war,
accepted Trump’s plan with alacrity, having secured significant input on
its terms.If the proposal moves ahead, and the hostages are indeed
freed, the national Israeli interest and Netanyahu’s own
political-electoral considerations will have aligned, not least with the
prospect of new Abraham Accords normalization agreements with Arab and
Muslim states. The far-right coalition parties’ anger and threats over
the rejection of their destructive calls to resettle and annex Gaza will
be marginalized.If the proposal fails, the prime minister will be seen
to have tried, he will not have crossed Trump, and he has obtained the
president’s public commitment of full US backing for Israel to “finish
the job” of destroying Hamas, whatever that entails.Will Hamas offer its
familiar “yes, but” delaying tactics, attempt to doom this latest
US-led effort and shift all blame, in a misled and feckless world, onto
globally reviled Israel? Well, quite possibly. Does Hamas believe it can
yet wriggle away from its necessary demise? Again, quite possibly.Might
it scheme to fade into the background temporarily in Gaza, and redouble
its efforts to harm Israel from the West Bank, for instance, where it
is potent and the Palestinian Authority is weak and unpopular? President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey, a champion of Hamas now emerging as a
key player in Trump’s new mix as it eyes US F-35s, long hosted Hamas’s
West Bank terror mastermind Salah al-Aruri (eventually assassinated by
Israel in Beirut in January 2024).Qatar, the other key player with the
potential leverage and declared desire to enable Trump’s proposal, has
for years stirred anti-Israel incitement and violence via Al Jazeera and
served as Hamas’s external headquarters. Neither can be credibly
expected to be truly seeking Hamas’s extinction.This is a president
capable of pivoting dramatically on core domestic and international
issues. Having proposed, less than eight months ago, the permanent
relocation of all residents of Gaza and its repurposing as a Middle East
“Riviera,” he is now chairing a new “board” for a new Gaza that no
Gazans will be required to leave.What, if anything, does the president
know that we don’t? We’ll learn soon enough-But as is his want, Trump
exuded absolute belief in the viability of his latest vision. “I’m
hearing that Hamas wants to get this done, too,” he declared, and
elaborated: “The Arab…and Muslim countries are going to be dealing with
Hamas… I think they probably have an understanding. They haven’t maybe
mentioned that, but I would imagine they do. Otherwise, they wouldn’t
have gone as far as they’ve gone.”What, if anything, does the president
know that we don’t? We’ll learn soon enough. There is no shortage of
clear-headed grounds for pessimism.But right now, perhaps more than at
any time in the past two years, there is at least a grand concerted
effort to change the terrible new normal, engendering the hope that a
little light might just be entering those hellish tunnels.And so, as we
enter this most somber of days, may the arrayed forces of those who
truly sanctify life be blessed in the mission to bring that hope — so
faint, but so confidently asserted by the most powerful man in the world
— to fruition.May it indeed, as we Jews wish at this time of year, be a
“Gmar tov,” a “good conclusion.”The final page of Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech is seen on a podium following a joint press
conference between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, at which
Trump set out a plan to end the war in Gaza, in the State Dining Room at
the White House on September 29, 2025, i
Hamas said split on
whether to back Trump’s plan to end Gaza war, seeks amendments-Sources
both within and close to terror group say Hamas is pushing to change
clauses on disarmament and timing of hostage’s release, which are
Israel’s key demands for ending the fighting By Agencies and Nurit
Yohanan-Today, 5:14 pm-OCT 1,25
Hamas officials want amendments
to clauses in US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan including on
disarmament, a Palestinian source close to the terror group’s leadership
told AFP on Wednesday.Hamas negotiators held discussions Tuesday with
Turkish, Egyptian and Qatari officials in Doha, the source said,
requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters and adding that the
group needed “two or three days at most” to respond after Trump stated
it had “three or four days” to agree “or pay in hell.”Trump’s plan,
which is backed by Israel and has received praise from a range of Arab
states and other countries, calls for a ceasefire, the release of
hostages by Hamas within 72 hours, the Islamist terrorist organization’s
disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.But the
Palestinian source said: “Hamas wants to amend some of the clauses, such
as the one on disarmament and the expulsion of Hamas and faction
cadres.”Hamas leaders also want “international guarantees for a full
Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip” and guarantees that no
assassination attempts will be made inside or outside the territory.The
source said Hamas was also in touch with “other regional and Arab
parties,” without giving details.‘Clarification’Another source familiar
with the negotiations told AFP that Hamas was split over Trump’s
plan.“So far there are two views within Hamas: the first supports
unconditional approval because the important thing is to have a
ceasefire guaranteed by Trump, provided that the mediators guarantee
Israel’s implementation of the plan,” the source said, also requesting
anonymity.But others have “great reservations on important clauses,” the
source added. “They reject disarmament and for any Palestinian citizen
to be taken away from Gaza.”“They support a conditional agreement with
clarifications that take into account demands by Hamas and the
resistance factions so that the occupation of the Gaza Strip is not
legitimized while the resistance is criminalized,” the source said.“Some
factions reject the plan, but discussions are ongoing and things will
become clearer soon.”According to a senior Hamas official who spoke with
the BBC, the terror group will likely reject Trump’s proposal, as it
“serves Israel’s interests” and “ignores those of the Palestinian
people.”The official added that Hamas opposes several key provisions of
the plan, among them the entry of a so-called International
Stabilization Force to take control of Gaza as Hamas leaves and the
Israel Defense Forces withdraws.Hamas is also presumed to oppose the
requirement that it release all 48 hostages it is holding within the
first 72 hours after the agreement is adopted, which along with the
terror group’s disarmament is among Israel’s core conditions for ending
the war triggered by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, terror
onslaught.Hamas sources who spoke with the Saudi newspaper Asharq
Al-Awsat similarly said that though the US plan “leans to one side and
creates injustice,” serving Israeli rather than Palestinian interests,
it would still be examined “positively.”The sources said that while the
points contained in the proposal are outlined at length and in detail,
there were no real guarantees for implementing the terms of the
agreement. They added that there may be a need for adjustments regarding
the timeline for releasing hostages, including those who are dead,
since time would be required to locate the burial sites of the slain
captives within the Strip.Hamas sources inside the Strip told the
newspaper that, in conversation with the terror group’s leadership
abroad, Hamas officials in Gaza stressed the importance of responding
positively to the plan in order to bring an end to the war. According to
them, the military wing of Hamas also agrees with this approach.A Hamas
source also told Saudi channel Al-Hadath that the terror group has
requested clarifications from the mediators regarding several clauses in
the plan, which he declared Hamas has the right to introduce changes
to, including demanding a clear timetable for the withdrawal of Israeli
forces from Gaza.He added that Hamas was insisting on distinguishing
between defensive and offensive weapons, referring to the clause in the
agreement that calls for it to disarm. The source claimed that Hamas has
a right to defensive weapons and that the terrorist organization
rejected any international body administering the Gaza Strip.
Analysis-Netanyahu
bets Trump’s Gaza plan will put pressure on Hamas, but risks
coalition-Proposal, welcomed by Arab and Muslim world, asks little from
Israel in short term, but reference to Palestinian state likely to
infuriate far-right partners Smotrich and Ben Gvir By Reuters Today,
1:54 pm-OCT 1,25
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s support for
US President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan is a gamble that may win back
estranged allies abroad and repair his political base at home, but risks
a battle with coalition partners opposed to any hint of a Palestinian
state.Netanyahu, aligning himself with Trump, framed the plan as a joint
effort that meets all his government’s war goals while shifting
international criticism about the war onto Hamas, which must now choose
between accepting it or facing continued siege.The move could shore up
Netanyahu’s support at home by ending an increasingly unpopular war and
winning the release of hostages still held by the terror group,
bolstering his chances at elections due in a year’s time.But even the
plan’s non-definitive reference to a future Palestinian state is likely
to antagonize members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition, the most
right-wing in Israel’s history, where ultra-nationalist allies, National
Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel
Smotrich, hold outsized influence.Plan puts all pressure on Hamas, asks
little of Israel-Nadav Shtrauchler, a former adviser to Netanyahu,
called the deal a “win-win” for the prime minister, saying that it
shifts all the pressure onto Hamas while easing international scrutiny
of Israel, and leaves coalition critics with no alternative.“For him,
it’s checkmate. It’s a very strong move,” Shtrauchler said, that could
see Netanyahu enter the next election with the hostages released and
Israel’s push to expand ties with Arab and Muslim nations, a process
derailed by the war in Gaza, revived.Trump’s proposal, quickly endorsed
by leaders across the Arab and Muslim world, asks little of Israel in
the short term.Instead, it puts all the pressure on Hamas, demanding the
freedom for all of the remaining hostages and the surrender of its
weapons as a precondition for ending Israel’s siege of Gaza.Israel’s
military would remain in Gaza for now, pulling back to positions along
the border only once an international force assumes control. Netanyahu,
who has insisted that Israel must retain overall security control after
the war, said on Tuesday the military would stay in most of Gaza but
offered no timeline.Coalition partner slams plan as ‘political
illusions’In a lengthy post on X on Tuesday, Smotrich, who has openly
called for Israel’s Gaza campaign to continue, denounced Trump’s plan,
arguing it would trade “real achievements on the ground for political
illusions.” His Religious Zionism party holds seven of the Knesset’s 120
seats, though recent polls indicate that he would struggle to win any
if elections were held today.Israel’s war in Gaza, launched in response
to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, has lost support among much of the
public. A survey published on Tuesday by the Jerusalem-based Israel
Democracy Institute found that 66 percent of Israelis believe that it is
time to end the war, including 48.5% on the political right.Eran
Lerman, a former deputy national security adviser, said that Netanyahu
knows Hamas’s acceptance of Trump’s plan could shatter his ruling
coalition, but may still hope to be able to face voters with “a very
different perspective on what happened over the last two years” than he
would be able to present today.“I’m not sure that this is true, but you
know, politicians are easily tempted to believe in things that cohere
with their ambitions,” said Lerman, who is also vice president of the
Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security think tank.Israel’s
opposition, made up of right, center, and left parties, has also called
for an end to the war and is often critical of Smotrich and Ben Gvir,
another far-right minister with outsized coalition influence. Many have
also ruled out joining a future coalition with Netanyahu’s
ultra-Orthodox allies over their communities’ refusal to serve in the
military.A source briefed on the matter said that Netanyahu would not
bring Trump’s 20-point plan to the government for approval and would
instead ask ministers only to vote on the terms to free the hostages.
Israel is to free hundreds of Palestinian detainees in exchange.Former
Israeli diplomat Alon Pinkas cautioned that Netanyahu would likely drag
out negotiations on issues that remain ambiguous, such as the withdrawal
of Israel’s military, with the aim of both surviving politically and
undermining Trump’s plan.For Netanyahu, Arab alliances may outflank
right-wing fury-Israel has faced mounting international isolation over
the nearly two-year-old war in Gaza. This month, some of its closest
allies have formally recognized a Palestinian state despite Israeli
objections, while others have sanctioned senior government ministers and
imposed bans on weapons transfers to Israel.For its part, Hamas, a
terrorist organization avowedly determined to destroy Israel, has little
diplomatic leverage. It can accept the terms or try to negotiate, but
that would risk the plan being enforced in areas it no longer controls,
while Trump gives Israel a green light to continue attacking the group.A
source briefed on the matter said that Netanyahu had pushed to remove a
reference in Trump’s plan to Palestinian statehood, which the Israeli
leader has said would never happen.The document does not offer a clear
path to statehood. Instead, it says that as Gaza is rebuilt and once the
Palestinian Authority’s reform program is “faithfully carried out,”
conditions “may finally be in place for a credible pathway to
Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognize as the
aspiration of the Palestinian people.”That language is likely to anger
many of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition allies, who had publicly warned
ahead of his meeting with Trump against any mention of a Palestinian
state.But standing beside Trump, Netanyahu said the document laid the
groundwork for dramatically advancing peace in the region and beyond,
signaling both leaders’ ambitions to expand Israel’s ties with Muslim
states that still do not recognize it.Neve Gordon, an Israeli scholar at
Queen Mary University of London, said that Netanyahu likely believes he
can win the next election, scheduled to be held by October 2026, if he
has a plan in place to normalize ties with more Arab and Muslim
states.But he cautioned that even after accepting Trump’s plan,
Netanyahu could later break from it and place the blame on Hamas, a
tactic the Israeli scholar noted he has used before, and which could
even strengthen his standing politically.Times of Israel staff
contributed to this report.
Israel marks tense Yom Kippur, as
Hamas mulls Trump’s offer and army fights in Gaza-On Day of Atonement,
Navy prepares to intercept large Gaza-bound aid flotilla while troops
have been reinforced along all fronts amid concerns for potential
friction By ToI Staff Today, 4:31 pm-OCT 1,25
Israel shut down
late on Wednesday afternoon for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement
and the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, nearly two years since the
beginning of the war against Hamas in Gaza.The country was on edge as it
awaited Hamas’s response to US President Donald Trump’s peace proposal —
already accepted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — to end the
fighting in the Gaza Strip.In the meantime, the war pressed on over the
fast, with IDF troops carrying out an offensive in Gaza City, and the
Navy preparing to intercept the 47-boat Global Sumud Flotilla
approaching the Strip with aid.Israel was also bracing for potential
friction in the West Bank, with the military sending reinforcements in
the form of combat trainees to various fronts over the Jewish holiday
season.On Monday night, a day before Yom Kippur eve, thousands gathered
at the Western Wall for the last night of solemn Selichot prayers, with
families of hostages in Gaza in attendance.Einav Zangauker, mother of
hostage Mtan Zangauker, placed a note in the wall asking God for the
return of all the captives and the safe return of all soldiers fighting
in the Strip.Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch read out the names of
all the 48 remaining hostages during the service, in which observant
Jews traditionally ask God for forgiveness for their sins during the
past year.Despite the ongoing war, much of the country shut down in
accordance with traditions.All flights in and out of Ben Gurion Airport
ceased at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. The airport will reopen Thursday night,
with arrivals starting at 10:00 p.m., while departures will resume an
hour later. During this period, Israel’s airspace is also closed to
flights passing through.Border crossings were also shut and were to
reopen late Thursday.Trains stopped operating at 1 p.m. and will only
resume on Friday morning, as inner-city buses and inter-city transport
also halted their routes starting at 2 p.m. They will gradually restart
on Thursday evening.Cars on roads are usually replaced with multitudes
of people on bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles. Driving during
the Jewish Day of Atonement is considered taboo, and many secular
Israelis have turned the day into a biking holiday, taking advantage of
the car-free roads.Yom Kippur is one of the busiest days of the year for
emergency calls, with hundreds of extra medics, paramedics, ambulances
and volunteers deployed across the country.Most injuries over Yom Kippur
come from accidents on the roads as tens of thousands of children and
teens take advantage of the deserted streets to ride their bicycles.
Other common Yom Kippur injuries are caused by parents leaving children
unattended outside synagogues and, of course, dehydration and
complications from fasting.The Jewish High Holidays have been considered
a time of heightened tensions in the West Bank even before Hamas’s
October 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel that started the Israel-Hamas war
in Gaza. The same period in previous years often saw closures of
crossings between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza.
Katz: IDF
has nearly encircled Gaza City, residents have ‘last opportunity’ to
leave-Medical sources in Hamas-run Strip report at least 35 killed by
Israeli fire, mainly in Gaza City; IDF downs two rockets that were
launched from northern Gaza at southern Israel By Emanuel Fabian,ToI
Staff and Agencies Today, 6:01 pm-OCT 1,25
Defense Minister
Israel Katz said Wednesday that the IDF is close to encircling Gaza City
and that residents have a “last opportunity” to flee but will need to
go through Israeli checkpoints, as Hamas was set to respond to a US
ceasefire proposal that Israel agreed to.Katz’s ultimatum came as
medical sources in Hamas-run Gaza reported at least 35 people killed by
Israeli fire across the enclave. Israel, which is seeking to conquer
Gaza City, on Wednesday announced the closure of a road leading to the
city, while the Red Cross said the fighting forced it to temporarily
suspend operations there.Meanwhile, terrorists in the northern Gaza
Strip fired two rockets at southern Israel, which were intercepted by
the IDF Wednesday afternoon. The attack, which set off sirens in Gaza
border communities, did not result in damage or injuries.In a press
release, Katz said the IDF is currently seizing the western portion of
the Netzarim Corridor — south of Gaza City — up to the coast, “bisecting
Gaza between its north and south.”“This will tighten the encirclement
around Gaza City and everyone leaving it to the south will be forced to
pass through IDF checkpoints,” said Katz. “This is the last opportunity
for Gaza residents who wish to do so to move south and leave Hamas
terrorists isolated in Gaza City, in the face of IDF activity that
continues with full force.”People remaining in Gaza City will be
“terrorists and supporters of terror,” Katz continued. “The IDF is
preparing for all possibilities and is determined to continue its
operations, until the return of all the hostages and the disarmament of
Hamas, en route to ending the war.”The IDF later announced it had
achieved “operational control” over the Netzarim Corridor’s western
portion, preventing Palestinians from returning to Gaza City. The vast
majority of the city’s roughly 1 million residents have fled, according
to a military assessment.In the past day, the 99th Division began a
ground operation aimed at “strengthening and maintaining operational
control over the Netzarim Corridor,” added the military. “The troops
operated to disrupt the operational capabilities of the Hamas terror
organization in the area and to expand operational control in the
sector.”Southbound movement from Gaza City is still permitted via the
Rashid coastal road, whose northbound direction Israel said earlier
Wednesday that it would seal off.Witnesses said Israeli tanks began
moving towards the coastal road coming from the east, but were not yet
there.In recent weeks, few people have moved from the south to the north
amid the IDF’s intensifying siege on Gaza City.However, the decision
will put pressure on those who are yet to leave Gaza City and also
prevent hundreds of thousands of residents who have fled south from
returning to their homes, likely deepening fears in the Strip of
permanent displacement.The IDF previously held the entire Netzarim
Corridor. It withdrew from the western portion in February as part of a
ceasefire-hostage deal with Hamas.Ground forces press on in Gaza City-In
a daily update on Wednesday, the IDF detailed recent operations by
ground troops operating in Gaza City and its outskirts.Troops of the
36th Division raided a building used by Hamas and seized weapons and
military equipment, and in separate operations, killed terror operatives
and destroyed infrastructure used by terror groups, the military
said.The IDF said forces of the 162nd Division directed a drone strike
against several terror operatives who were identified in their area of
operations, deep in Gaza City.The 98th Division located several
abandoned Hamas positions, where troops found numerous weapons and
military equipment, and separately directed a strike that killed several
Hamas operatives at a weapons depot, the army said.On the outskirts of
Gaza City, the IDF said, the 99th Division killed terror operatives who
had posed a threat and struck several buildings used by terror
groups.The military also said Wednesday that a munition launched by an
Israeli Air Force fighter jet at a target in the Gaza Strip exploded
midair over the Mediterranean Sea due to a technical fault.The IDF said
there was no danger to the plane, and no damage or injuries were caused.
The incident is under further investigation by the IAF.‘The explosions
do not stop’Gaza City residents said Israeli planes and tanks pounded
residential neighborhoods throughout the night.“The explosions do not
stop,” said Rabah Al-Halabi, 60, who is living in a tent on the premises
of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital.“I will not leave because the
situation in Gaza City is no different from the situation in the
southern Gaza Strip. All areas are dangerous, the bombing is everywhere,
and displacement is terrifying and humiliating,” he told AFP.“We are
waiting for death, or perhaps relief from God and for the truce to
come.”Fadel Al-Jadba, 26, said he also would not leave Gaza City.He said
tanks were in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood and that he “would not be
surprised if they advance into Al-Rimal,” where he was sheltering.“We
want a ceasefire at any cost because we are frustrated, exhausted, and
find no one in the world standing with us.”Hamas’s civil defense agency
reported that Israeli strikes killed at least 13 people in Gaza City on
Wednesday, including seven in a family home and six in a strike on the
Al-Falah school-turned-shelter in the city’s eastern Zeioun
neighborhood. The school was hit twice, minutes apart, according to
officials at Al-Ahli Hospital.Among the casualties were first
responders, they said. Five Palestinians were killed later on Wednesday
morning, when a strike hit people gathered around a drinking water tank
on the western side of Gaza City, the same hospital said.Also in Gaza
City, the Shifa Hospital said it received the body of a man killed in a
strike on his apartment west of the city.Israeli strikes also hit the
Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing a husband and wife, the
Al-Awda hospital said. Another man was killed in a separate strike in
the Bureij refugee camp, according to the same hospital.A funeral was
planned for Yahya Barzaq, a journalist working for Turkish broadcast
outlet TRT, who was killed in a strike in Gaza on Tuesday, according to
the broadcaster.The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for
comment on Barzaq or Wednesday’s strikes. The military says it takes
measures to mitigate civilian casualties, and accuses Hamas of embedding
itself in civilian infrastructure, including schools, shelters and
residential buildings. It has also targeted several journalists,
accusing them of ties to Hamas.Due to the escalating hostilities, the
International Committee of the Red Cross said it was forced to
temporarily suspend operations in Gaza City and relocate staff.“The ICRC
will continue to strive to provide support to civilians in Gaza City,
whenever circumstances allow, from our offices in Deir al-Balah and
Rafah, which remain fully operational,” it said in a statement,
referring to areas farther south in the Strip.The departure will deepen
the humanitarian crisis in the city, where the UN declared a famine in
August in a report rejected by Israel. At least two hospitals had
already shut down in Gaza City, and makeshift clinics there are
overwhelmed, according to local authorities and a peer-reviewed
study.According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 66,000
people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead since the
terror group invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking the Gaza
war.The toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between
civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants
in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel
during the October 7 onslaught.On Monday, US President Donald Trump
presented a ceasefire-hostage deal proposal in a joint press conference
at the White House with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accepted
the offer.The proposal would release the remaining 48 hostages within 72
hours. In exchange, Israel would release 250 Palestinian prisoners
serving life sentences; 1,700 Gazans, including all women and children,
detained since the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the
war in Gaza; and 15 bodies of deceased Gazans for every body of an
Israeli hostage.The proposal would also require a three-phase Israeli
withdrawal from Gaza, disarm Hamas, demilitarize Gaza, ensure
uninhibited humanitarian aid to the Strip and hand the enclave over to
an international transitional government without Hamas or the
Palestinian Authority.Hamas has refused to disarm absent Palestinian
statehood, which Israel rejects, and until “the occupation” is ended. It
regards Israel’s existence as occupation, and avowedly seeks to destroy
the Jewish state-The deal is supported by European, Arab and Muslim
countries, as well as the Palestinian Authority. Hamas has yet to
formally respond to the offer. Trump said Tuesday that the terror group
would have “three or four” days to do so.
'Take it or leave it,'
US president reportedly told Netanyahu-Failed Israeli strike in Doha
sparked push that led to Trump’s Gaza plan — report-Sources tell Axios
that attack in Qatar prompted a diplomatic ‘rallying cry’ and ‘changed
the regional dynamics,’ opening the door for ‘a real discussion’ on
ending the Gaza war By ToI Staff Today, 6:54 pm-OCT 1,25
Israel’s
failed attempt to assassinate Hamas leaders in Qatar last month sparked
the diplomatic push that lead to the formulation of US President Donald
Trump’s newly proposed Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, according to a
Wednesday report citing US and Israeli sources.According to Axios, the
unprecedented strike in Doha on September 9, which targeted several top
Hamas leaders at their offices in the wealthy Gulf nation’s capital, led
to a wave of outrage among Arab leaders against Israel and renewed
calls to find a diplomatic end to the war in Gaza.“The Arabs were
speaking with one voice,” the report quoted a Trump adviser as saying,
noting that the backlash against Israel presented “a rallying cry that
seemed negative at first” but could be “turned into something
positive.”At the time, Trump’s advisers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner
were already holding discussions with Israeli officials, including
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, about a post-war vision for Gaza,
the report said. When they learned about the Israeli strike, the two
were furious, it added.Recognizing the diplomatic opportunity, Witkoff
and Kushner got Trump’s approval to begin crafting a broader peace plan,
the outlet added, building on the US ceasefire proposal and a post-war
framework Kushner had already worked on with former UK prime minister
Tony Blair. This evolved into the current 20-point plan recently
approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which Hamas has yet to
respond to.“The failed Doha attack changed the regional dynamics and
opened the door for a real discussion about how to end the war in Gaza,”
a US official was reported to say.On the sidelines of last week’s UN
General Assembly, Qatar proposed a summit in New York between Trump and
leaders from eight Arab and Muslim countries, during which the regional
leaders bashed Israel for its strikes in Doha and for the humanitarian
crisis in Gaza.At the meeting, Trump and Witkoff presented their newly
formulated plan to end the war, which received “positive reactions in
the room,” according to Axios. By the next evening, the US and Arab
leaders had reached a preliminary agreement, and the plan was forwarded
to the Israelis.Once these regional countries backed the deal, Trump
turned to pressure Israel and after initial pushback from Netanyahu, the
US president reportedly told the Israeli premier to “Take it or leave
it.”“And leave it means we walk away from you,” Trump said, according to
a source, who added: “Donald Trump has had enough, for many
reasons.”“If you accept this plan and Hamas rejects it, I will give you
full backing to continue fighting them,” Trump assured Netanyahu, and
within days, Netanyahu was publicly on board.“Netanyahu knew what he had
to do,” a source told Axios. “Give him credit: when he realized he had
to do it, he did it.”According to the report, Trump told Netanyahu that
he was looking for a “clear yes” to the proposal, not a “yes, but.”Trump
also demanded that Netanyahu personally apologize to his Qatari
counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, for violating Qatar’s
sovereignty. Netanyahu acquiesced, and Trump arranged a phone call
between the two Mideast leaders while the Israeli premier was in the
Oval Office.Netanyahu agreed to Trump’s proposal with several
amendments, the report added, including over the terms of the IDF’s
withdrawal from Gaza. This infuriated the Arab leaders, who demanded a
delay in public announcements about the plan pending approved
changes.“[Netanyahu] told Trump… he won’t just withdraw and let Hamas
reconstitute,” said an Israeli official. Trump agreed.Despite Arab
frustration and Qatari advising to delay the plan’s release, Trump went
ahead with publishing it on Monday.The next day, Trump said he expects a
response from Hamas within “three or four days.” While some Arab
officials welcomed the announcement, they emphasized the deal is still
under negotiation.“Tweaks” may still happen, a US official said, but
Trump won’t renegotiate the full plan to satisfy the demands of either
Israel or Hamas.Now that Israel has agreed, at least publicly, to the
plan, the US is now relying on Qatar, Egypt and Turkey to bring Hamas on
board.“If Hamas walks away, they will be unfunded and on an island… So
fingers crossed for Hamas,” a US official told Axios.
Cities
fight decision to allow rebuild of oil refinery plant destroyed by Iran
missile-Accused of not considering cleaner alternatives, planners accept
Energy Ministry request to allow Bazan oil refineries to fast-track
construction of new Haifa power plant without permits By Sue
Surkes-Today, 2:14 pm-OCT 1,25
Cities in and around the Haifa Bay
area in northern Israel vowed Tuesday to fight a decision by the
National Planning and Building Council to allow the Bazan oil refineries
— supposed to shut down by the end of the decade — to build a new power
facility without a building permit.The new gas-driven facility is
intended to replace an old one damaged by Iranian missiles during
Israel’s brief war with Iran in June.Two missiles hit the Bazan compound
on June 15 and 16. Three workers were killed in a resulting fire, and
pipelines and transition lines were damaged. The facility, which was
closed for nearly two weeks, has been undergoing repairs and aims to
return to full operation this month.Central to the issue of exemption
from a permit is a temporary order under the planning and building law,
which allows the Interior Ministry to waive aspects of the national
planning law to fast-track repairs and rehabilitation caused by the
October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion of southern Israel, and subsequent
war.The order, known as Section 266E, has been employed in dozens of
cases to help rebuild communities along the Gaza border.In July, in
response to an Energy Ministry request, the Interior Ministry proposed
exempting Bazan from obtaining a building permit to repair the damage
caused during the war with Iran. It explained that “significant damage
was caused [by the Iranian attack] to essential facilities required for
the refinery’s continued operation and production of its products,
including the power plant responsible for generating electricity and
steam used by the facilities in the complex, pipelines and operational
infrastructure.”That month, the planning and building council
greenlighted the replacement of certain kinds of equipment, such as
pipes and steam boilers, without a permit, but held off on approving a
replacement power facility.Residents, environmental activists and others
have pressed for years to have the Bazan compound closed and the
materials it produces imported due to the heavy pollution it causes in
Haifa and its surroundings, a reportedly high prevalence of cancer and
asthma, and fears of a missile attack, which materialized during
Israel’s war with Iran.Three years ago, the cabinet decided to shut down
the refineries and related oil storage complex within a decade and
instead import the materials they produce, known as distillates. A
Directorate for the Development of Haifa Bay was established within the
Prime Minister’s Office to undertake this task and plan the
transformation of Haifa Bay from a polluted industrial area into a green
residential and tech hub.During Tuesday’s council discussion about the
power facility, the Haifa Bay Cities Association for Environmental
Protection argued that, as Bazan had successfully continued to operate
from cleaner electricity supplied by the national grid, it could go on
doing so, without the need for a new facility that would add to Haifa’s
already over-polluted air.Avihu Han (left), deputy mayor of the northern
city of Haifa, and chairman of the Haifa Bay Cities Association for
Environmental Protection, poses with association CEO Lihi Shahar Berman
in front of an oil storage tank adjacent to the city of Kiryat Haim.
(Haifa Bay Cities Association for Environmental Protection)Saying the
association would work with the Haifa Municipality to petition the High
Court against the planners’ decision, Avihu Han, Deputy Haifa Mayor and
Chairman of the association, accused planners of “playing into the
hands” of Bazan’s attempts to torpedo its closure, while endangering the
health and safety of a million residents of the Haifa metropolitan
area.Elad Pinchas, head of environmental planning at the Environmental
Protection Ministry, said there had been no substantive discussion about
the alternatives.In a statement, the National Planning and Building
Council said the Energy Ministry’s request was submitted in accordance
with the law.“After examining all existing alternatives, the Council
selected the best alternative — one that would enable the replacement of
the damaged facility with a facility featuring improved technology,
while also allowing for the potential dismantling of the facility in the
future when activity at the Bazan site ceases.”
Iran’s
Revolutionary Guards call to extend missile range in wake of war with
Israel-‘Our missiles will reach the range they need to,’ senior IRGC
commander tells state media, hinting that 1,200-mile limit previously
thought sufficient to hit Israel will be lifted-By Reuters and ToI Staff
Today, 7:34 pm-OCT 1,25
He added the power and range of Iranian
missiles had limited the war in June to just 12 days, hinting that a
wider missile range would improve the countries capabilities should
another war with Israel erupt in the near future.Israel sparked the war
with a sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear
scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program,
arguing that it was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from
realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.Iran has
consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it
enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed
international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and
expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said Iran had
recently taken steps toward weaponization.Iran retaliated to Israel’s
strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones
at Israel. The attacks killed 31 people and wounded over 3,000 in
Israel, according to health officials and hospitals.In all, there were
36 missile impacts and one drone strike in populated areas, causing
damage to 2,305 homes in 240 buildings, along with two universities and a
hospital, and leaving over 13,000 Israelis displaced.
Israeli
Navy expected to intercept boats before they near Gaza-Documents from
Gaza show Hamas’s ‘direct involvement’ with aid flotilla, Israel
claims-Foreign Ministry says material shows ties between Hamas and its
foreign arm PCPA, whose leader in UK is flotilla organizer, while
Spanish member owns some of the boats sailing to Strip By Emanuel
Fabian-Today, 1:30 pm-SEP 30,25
Hamas documents recovered by
Israeli troops in Gaza allegedly reveal the terror group’s “direct
involvement” in an activist mission currently sailing dozens of boats to
challenge Israel’s blockade of the Strip, Israel’s Foreign Ministry
said on Tuesday.In a statement, the ministry claimed that the documents
“show a direct link between the flotilla leaders and the Hamas terrorist
organization,” especially the group’s foreign arm, the Palestinian
Conference for Palestinians, or PCPA.The PCPA was established in 2018,
and according to Israel, “functions as Hamas’ representative body
abroad, operating de facto as Hamas’ embassies.” PCPA was designated by
Israel as a terror group in 2021, due to its being a Hamas arm.“The
organization operates under civilian cover and is responsible, on behalf
of Hamas, for mobilizing actions against Israel, including violent
demonstrations, marches against Israel, and flotillas of protest and
provocation,” the ministry said.One document published by the ministry,
which was recently found in Gaza, was a letter from 2021 signed by
then-Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, “directly and explicitly
calling on the PCPA chairman for unity.”“In the letter, Haniyeh publicly
endorses the PCPA organization,” the ministry said.The ministry said a
second document, found in a Hamas outpost in Gaza, showed a list of PCPA
operatives, “some of whom are high-ranking, well-known Hamas
operatives.”Among them was Zaher Birawi, who serves as the head of PCPA
in the United Kingdom and is known for organizing activist flotilla
missions to Gaza over the past 15 years. In 2010, he was one of the
spokesmen of the Turkish Mavi Marmara flotilla.Birawi is described on
the pro-Palestinian outlet Middle East Monitor as a journalist, the
chairman of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza, and a
founding member of the International Freedom Flotilla Coalition.Also on
the list was Saif Abu Kashk, a PCPA member in Spain, who the ministry
said is also the CEO of Cyber Neptune, “a front company in Spain that
owns dozens of the ships participating in the ‘Sumud’ flotilla.”It
claimed that Kashk’s involvement proves that the ships “are secretly
owned by Hamas.”The ministry published photos of Birawi with flotilla
activists and other pictures showing him alongside senior Hamas
officials.The 47-boat flotilla is currently some 150 nautical miles from
Gaza, according to the organizers, and is set to reach the Strip this
week. It is carrying dozens of activists, including Swedish campaigner
Greta Thunberg.The Israeli Navy is set to intercept the boats, and in
the past has done so well before the activists were able to get close to
Gaza’s coast. Israel has previously dismissed the flotillas as
publicity stunts.IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Thursday
that the Navy is ready to intercept the boats, although he noted that it
would be a greater challenge than past flotilla attempts due to the
number of vessels.Due to the large number of vessels, the Navy is
expected to board the boats, detain the activists, and bring them to one
large Navy ship, and from there, bring them to Ashdod Port to be
deported from the country. Some of the activists’ vessels may be towed
to Ashdod Port as well, though military sources said they expect that
some may be sunk at sea by the Navy.The Sumud flotilla is being escorted
by one Spanish and two Italian navy vessels, which their respective
governments have clarified are not expected to use military force.Israel
and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since the
Hamas terror group seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007 in
a violent coup.Israel said it was necessary to limit Hamas’s ability to
smuggle in arms. Critics of the blockade said it amounted to collective
punishment of Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.Israel has come
under huge international pressure over its war in Gaza. The war started
on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded
Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.The war has
sparked a humanitarian crisis in the Strip, with most of the population
displaced.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 66,000
people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the
fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not
differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it had killed
over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600
terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.Israel has said
it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses
Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas,
including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
Inside story'I
told myself that no one would believe it'-Gazan women say aid workers
promised food, money or work in exchange for sexual acts-Aid groups say
sexual exploitation has risen during war; some claims involve UN staff,
aid workers; women’s nonprofit director says cases downplayed to keep
focus on blaming Israel-By AP and ToI Staff Today, 12:21 pm-SEP 30,25
After
weeks of scraping by to feed her six children in Gaza, the 38-year-old
woman thought she’d found a lifeline.At a shelter, a friend told her
about a man who could help with food, aid, maybe even a job. The woman —
separated from her husband, and forced to shutter the business that
once kept the family afloat — approached him.It was about a month into
the war in Gaza, she said, and he promised her work, a six-month
contract with an aid agency. She said he drove a car with United Nations
markings.On the day she believed she’d sign the paperwork, he drove her
not to an office but to an empty apartment. He complimented her, she
said, and told her to remove her headscarf.He told her he loved her and
wouldn’t force her, she said, but he also wouldn’t let her leave.
Eventually, they had a sexual encounter, she said. She declined to give
details of the nature of their interaction, saying she felt fear and
shame.“I had to play along because I was scared, I wanted out of this
place,” the woman said.Before she left, she said, he handed her some
money — NIS 100 ($30). Two weeks later, he gave her a box of medicine
and a box of food. But for weeks, the job didn’t materialize.As Gaza’s
humanitarian crisis grows amid Israel’s war with Hamas, women say they
have been exploited by local men — some associated with aid groups —
promising food, money, water, supplies or work in exchange for sexual
interactions. Six women detailed their experiences to The Associated
Press, each speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution
from their families or the men, and because sexual harassment and
assault are considered taboo topics.Sometimes, they said, the men’s
solicitation was blatant: “Let me touch you,” one woman recalled being
told. Other times, it was culturally coded: “I want to marry you,” or
“Let’s go together somewhere.”Israeli women taken hostage by Hamas in
the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack that launched the war have
also testified to sexual harassment and abuse. They have described being
humiliated, coerced into committing sexual acts for their captors, and
being subjected to unwanted touching. Multiple released hostages have
likewise recounted their captors professing to want to marry them.Aid
groups and experts say exploitation often arises during conflicts and
other times of desperation, particularly when people are displaced and
reliant on assistance. Reports of abuse and exploitation have emerged
during crises in South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Congo, Chad and Haiti.“It’s a
horrible reality that humanitarian crises make people vulnerable in
many ways — increased sexual violence is often a consequence,” said
Heather Barr, associate director for the women’s rights division at
Human Rights Watch. “The situation in Gaza today is unspeakable,
especially for women and girls.”Psychologists and women’s groups said
such cases in Gaza have increased as the crisis has worsened — with more
people displaced, reliant on aid, and crammed into camps. One
psychologist said some women were kicked out when their husbands learned
what happened.Before the war, exploitation reports happened once or
twice a year, but are up dramatically, said Amal Syam, director of the
Women’s Affairs Center, a local group.But she said many organizations
won’t highlight the numbers or the issue because it distracts from their
emphasis on condemning Israel.“Most of us prefer to keep the focus on
the violence and violations committed by the Israeli occupation,” Syam
said.Four psychologists working with women in Gaza described patients’
accounts to AP. One said her organization — focused on protecting women
and children — treated dozens of cases involving men sexually exploiting
vulnerable women, including some in which they became pregnant.The
psychologists, all Palestinians working for local organizations in Gaza,
spoke on condition of anonymity because of privacy concerns for the
women involved and the sensitive nature of the cases, in a conservative
culture where sex outside of marriage in any context is seen as a grave
offense. They said none of their patients wanted to speak with AP
directly.Five of the women who shared their stories with AP said they
did not engage in sexual interaction with the men. The psychologists
said some women who came to them agreed to the men’s demands, while
others refused.Six human rights and relief organizations — including the
Women’s Affairs Center and the Protection from Sexual Exploitation and
Abuse network, which coordinates with various aid groups, including UN
agencies — told AP they were aware of reports of sexual abuse and
exploitation linked to receiving aid.Aid groups say the context in Gaza —
nearly two years of war, the displacement of at least 90 percent of the
population, and turmoil over aid access — has made humanitarian work
for vulnerable people particularly challenging. As hunger and
desperation grow across the enclave, women in particular say they’ve
been pushed to make impossible decisions.The groups, operating in a
territory long governed by Hamas, blame Israel’s offensive and blockade
for the humanitarian crisis and say the war has made documenting
exploitation cases difficult.“Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip and the
restrictions on humanitarian aid are what’s forcing women to resort to
this,” Syam said.Israel has denied reports of widespread starvation in
Gaza and has taken steps to expand the delivery of aid there. Israel
also accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid and blames UN agencies for
failing to deliver food it has allowed in. The UN has denied that there
is widespread aid diversion and called on Israel to do more to deliver
assistance.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 66,000
people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the
fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not
differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel has said it seeks
to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s
civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including
homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.One of the women who spoke to AP
described phone calls that began in October 2024, a year into the war.
At first, she said, the man’s questions were simple. What happened to
her husband? How many children did they have? But, the 35-year-old widow
said, his tone took a turn. What underwear was she wearing? How did her
husband please her?She said she’d met the man in Al-Mawasi, a strip of
land Israel designated a humanitarian zone. She described standing in
line to get assistance and giving her phone number to an aid worker — a
Palestinian in a uniform labeled UNRWA, or the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency.Shortly after he took
her number, the late-night calls began. He would ask sexual questions,
she said, and she’d stay silent. She said that at one point, he asked to
come to her for sex. She refused, and after nearly a dozen calls but no
aid, she blocked his number, she added.The woman said she reported him
to UNRWA in Gaza in a verbal complaint. She said she was told she needed
a recording of the conversations as proof, but she had an old phone
that couldn’t record calls.UNRWA communications director Juliette Touma
said via email that the agency has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual
exploitation, takes each report seriously, and doesn’t require proof.
But she wouldn’t say whether staff were aware of this particular
incident, citing UNRWA’s policy against discussing individual cases, and
wouldn’t comment further on its awareness or work on exploitation cases
overall.The PSEA network — to which UNRWA belongs — said survivors can
report anonymously or without naming the perpetrator and are never
required to provide proof.Understanding the scale of exploitation is
challenging, said Sarah Achiro, a coordinator for the network, which
works to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse in a range
of humanitarian and development settings. Gaza’s limited connectivity
restricts calls that could report abuse, and constant displacement makes
it harder for survivors to seek in-person help and for aid groups to
build trust.Achiro noted that sexual violence is vastly underreported,
particularly in humanitarian and conflict settings, where data often
shows just “the tip of the iceberg.”The PSEA network said that last
year, it received 18 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation linked
to receiving humanitarian aid in Gaza, all involving either aid workers
or those associated with assistance, such as community representatives
or private contractors. Allegations against aid workers are investigated
by the employer organization. The network wouldn’t indicate how many of
the cases were being investigated, saying it can’t disclose information
unless they are formally concluded.Four of the women who spoke to AP
said the men who solicited them identified themselves as aid workers,
and, in one case, a community leader promising aid.Like the widow,
several women said it happened while registering or trying to register
for aid, with men taking their numbers — frequently a step in the aid
process — and later calling.The women said all the men were Palestinian.
Several said they weren’t able to identify which aid group the men
seemed to be associated with.The UN and aid groups generally work with
local communities: paying people as contractors, using volunteers, or
having leaders appointed by the community as liaisons.The mother of six
who recounted being exploited said that after the interaction, the
messages kept coming — late-night sexual calls and requests for photos.
She described dodging them with excuses: She was busy, her phone was
broken, she couldn’t talk.But about a month after their sexual
interaction, in December 2023, she saw the man at an aid site. He then
helped her get a six-month position with UNRWA, which she completed, she
said.She told AP she never reported the man, their encounter or his
exploitation attempts.“I told myself that no one would believe it,” she
said. “Maybe they would say I am only saying this so that they would
give me a job.”Asked about the woman’s story, UNRWA’s Touma emphasized
the organization’s zero-tolerance policy and said it would seek more
information on the exploitation incidents and accusations.Since the
interaction and her job, the woman has been displaced, doesn’t have work
and struggles to feed her family. She said she blocked the man’s
number, but he’s tried to contact her as recently as this summer.Groups
say that despite stigma, exploitation is clearly on the rise. Some women
say they’ve been solicited multiple times by various men throughout the
war.A 37-year-old mother of four told AP she was approached twice, once
by the head of a shelter. She said the man offered food and shelter if
they could “go together somewhere,” like the sea. She said she
understood he was asking for something sexual. She refused.The women who
spoke to AP said it’s important to try to hold on to their dignity as
the war continues.For weeks last fall, a 29-year-old mother said she
received calls from an aid worker asking her to marry him in exchange
for nutritional supplements for her four children.She refused and
blocked his number, she said, but he called from different phones. He
insisted he liked her and made distasteful comments that she called too
vulgar to repeat.“I felt completely humiliated,” she said. “I had to go
and ask for help for my children. If I didn’t do it, who would?”
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and
the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the
light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of
his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold,
the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the
burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his
tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22
And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED)
there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE)
those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID
HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and
the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God,
which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him
glory.
EZEKIEL 32:6-9
6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
7
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the
stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon
shall not give her light.
8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
9
I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy
destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not
known.
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his
vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every
living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5
And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord,
which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6
For they(False World Church and Dictator and baby murderers by abortion)
have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them
blood to drink; for they are worthy.
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the
light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the
light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of
his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold,
the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the
burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his
tongue as a devouring fire:
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC
GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall
be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE
SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great
signs shall there be from heaven.
2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire,
being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
LUKE 21:25-26
25
And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in
the moon,(MAN ON THE MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the
stars;(ASTEROIDS-PROPHECY SIGNS) and upon the earth distress of nations,
with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE
WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for
fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things
which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven
shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
4.8-4 km WNW of Tabonok, Philippines-2025-10-01 13:03:03 (UTC)-10.0 km
4.7-2 km NW of Nailong, Philippines-2025-09-30 19:30:27 (UTC)-10.0 km
4.6-8 km E of Calape, Philippines-2025-09-30 18:40:02 (UTC)-10.0 km
5.0-15 km ESE of Calape, Philippines-2025-09-30 16:34:32 (UTC)-10.0 km
4.7-3 km NW of Sogod, Philippines-2025-09-30 16:01:51 (UTC)-10.0 km
5.0-0 km SE of Guadalupe, Philippines-2025-09-30 14:39:39 (UTC)-10.0 km
5.0-0 km ENE of Libertad, Philippines-2025-09-30 14:33:00 (UTC)-10.0 km
5.2-7 km ESE of Talisay, Philippines-2025-09-30 14:12:58 (UTC)-10.0 km
6.9-11 km ESE of Calape, Philippines-2025-09-30 13:59:43 (UTC)-10.0 km
Rescuers
in desperate search after a powerful earthquake hit the Philippines,
killing at least 69-By The Associated Press-Updated: October 01, 2025 at
8:54AM EDT
BOGO, Philippines -- Rescuers used backhoes and
sniffer dogs to look for survivors in collapsed houses and other damaged
buildings in the central Philippines on Wednesday, a day after an
earthquake killed at least 69 people and injured more than 200
others.The death toll was expected to rise from the 6.9 magnitude quake
that hit at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday and trapped an unspecified number
of residents in the hard-hit city of Bogo and outlying rural towns in
Cebu province.Sporadic rain and damaged bridges and roads have hampered
the race to save lives, officials said.A dangerous quake-On Wednesday
night, rescuers in orange and yellow hard hats used spotlights, a
backhoe and bare hands to sift through the rubble of concrete slabs,
broken wood and twisted iron bars for hours in a collapsed building in
Bogo city. No survivor was found.“We’re still in the golden hour of our
search and rescue,” Office of Civil Defense deputy administrator
Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said in a morning news briefing in
Manila, the country’s capital. “There are still many reports of people
who were pinned or hit by debris.”The epicentre of the earthquake, which
was set off by movement in an undersea fault line at a dangerously
shallow depth of five kilometres, was about 19 kilometres northeast of
Bogo, a coastal city of about 90,000 people in Cebu province where about
half of the deaths were reported, officials said.The Philippine
government is considering whether to seek help from foreign governments
based on an ongoing rapid damage assessment, Alejandro said.The United
States, Japan, Australia and the European Union expressed
condolences.“We stand ready to support the Philippine government’s
response as friends, partners, allies,” MaryKay Carlson, U.S. ambassador
to the Philippines, said in a post on social media platform X.A
desperate search-Workers were trying to transport a backhoe to hasten
search and rescue efforts in a cluster of shanties in a mountain village
hit by a landslide and boulders, Bogo city disaster-mitigation officer
Rex Ygot told The Associated Press early Wednesday.“It’s hard to move in
the area because there are hazards,” said Glenn Ursal, another disaster
mitigation officer, who added that some survivors were brought to a
hospital from the mountain village.Deaths also were reported from the
outlying towns of Medellin and San Remigio, where three coast guard
personnel, a firefighter and a child were killed separately by
collapsing walls and falling debris while trying to flee to safety from a
basketball game in a sports complex that was disrupted by the quake,
town officials said.The earthquake was one of the most powerful to
batter the central region in more than a decade and it struck while many
people slept or were at home.A traumatized region-The Philippine
Institute of Volcanology and Seismology briefly issued a tsunami warning
and advised people to stay away from the coastlines of Cebu and the
nearby provinces of Leyte and Biliran due to possible waves of up to one
metre.No such waves were reported and the tsunami warning was lifted
more than three hours later, but thousands of traumatized residents
refused to return home and chose to stay in open grassy fields and parks
overnight despite intermittent rains.Cebu and other provinces were
still recovering from a tropical storm that battered the central region
on Friday, leaving at least 27 people dead mostly due to drownings and
falling trees, knocking out power in entire cities and towns and forcing
the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.Schools and government
offices were closed in the quake-hit cities and towns while the safety
of buildings were checked. More than 600 aftershocks have been detected
after Tuesday night’s temblor, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and
Seismology director Teresito Bacolcol said.Rain-soaked mountainsides
were more susceptible to land- and mudslides in a major earthquake, he
warned.“This was really traumatic to people. They’ve been lashed by a
storm then jolted by an earthquake,” Bacolcol said. “I don’t want to
experience what they’ve gone through.”The Philippines, one of the
world’s most disaster-prone countries, is often hit by earthquakes and
volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an
arc of seismic faults around the ocean. The archipelago is also lashed
by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.------By Joeal Calupitan And
Aaron FavilaAssociated Press journalist Jim Gomez in Manila,
Philippines, contributed to this report.
THE SUN IS BLOWING A
GALE: Earth has entered a stream of solar wind blowing faster than 700
km/s (1.6 million mph). This is extending geomagnetic unrest for the
third day in a row. NOAA forecasters say G2-class geomagnetic storms are
possible on Oct. 1st with continued auroras at high latitudes. Aurora
alerts: SMS Text.
NOT ALL THOSE LIGHTS WERE AURORAS: A strong
G3-class geomagnetic storm erupted on Sept. 29th, sparking intense
auroras around the Arctic Circle. Vacationing from Florida, Bill
Williams photographed the spray of color from the Gullfoss Waterfall in
Iceland:"The auroras were visible as soon as it got dark, but we were
fighting misty moisture coming off the waterfall soaking us and our
cameras!" says Williams. "Fortunately, the wind switched direction and
provided us with drier conditions to photograph the light show."Not all
the lights in the sky were auroras. Many observers also witnessed STEVE
-- a bright mauve ribbon of light caused by hot plasma currents in the
upper atmosphere. Daryl Pederson saw STEVE making a majestic 'X' with
the Milky Way over Sterling, Alaska:"After shooting the northern lights
for 40 years, it's fairly rare to come up with something new, but last
night STEVE showed up and did the trick. Score!" says Pederson.STEVE
(Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) was discovered by sky
watchers in Alberta only about 10 years ago, although the phenomenon was
surely active long before it was documented in scientific literature.
STEVE is tricky, because it looks so much like an aurora. However,
studies show that STEVE is not lit up by the same downward rain of
electrons that causes ordinary Northern Lights. STEVE is its own
thing.This was a complicated storm. In addition to auroras and STEVE,
some sky watchers also saw SAR arcs. These are deep red arcs caused by
heat energy leaking into Earth's upper atmosphere from our planet's
Saturn-like ring current system. In Michigan, Quinn Keon photographed a
beautiful example of an SAR arc. In Finland, Matti Helin saw all three
phenomena at the same time.
G2 (Moderate) Geomagnetic Storm
Watch for 01 OCT UTC-day-published: Wednesday, October 01, 2025 05:52
UTC-G2 (Moderate) geomagnetic storm periods are likely on 01 OCT due to
lingering magnetic cloud influences and CH HSS effects.
Houses
collapse in North Carolina from Imelda as Bermuda braces for hurricane's
impacts-Imelda strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday, with
maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.Hurricane Humberto pulls Tropical
Storm Imelda away from U.S.Updated Sept. 30, 2025, 7:08 PM EDT By Phil
Helsel, Rebecca Cohen and The Associated Press.
Five homes on
North Carolina’s Outer Banks collapsed amid warnings of dangerous surf
as a pair of hurricanes passed far off the U.S. East Coast, officials
said Tuesday, and authorities in Bermuda said that the worst was yet to
come.Hurricane Humberto was already affecting Bermuda with winds of
around 25 mph, Phil Rogers, director of the Bermuda Weather Service,
said in a briefing early Tuesday afternoon.But behind Humberto was
Hurricane Imelda, which strengthened to a Category 1 storm Tuesday and
was expected to bring hurricane conditions Wednesday night into
Thursday, officials said.Of the two, Imelda is “the storm of greatest
concern to us,” said Michael Weeks, Bermuda’s minister of national
security.“Bermuda, I cannot overstate the seriousness of this threat,”
he said.The storm is to bring hurricane-force winds for four to six
hours overnight Wednesday into Thursday, Weeks said.Neither Humberto nor
Imelda hit the U.S., and they stayed out to sea. Imelda was centered
east of Florida and was forecast to keep moving northeast toward
Bermuda, the National Hurricane Center said.But the storms still created
danger for the U.S. East Coast, bringing strong surf and rip currents,
the hurricane center said.In Buxton on the Outer Banks, five homes — all
unoccupied — collapsed Tuesday afternoon, Cape Hatteras National
Seashore said on Facebook. The homes collapsed between 2 p.m. and 2:45
p.m., it said. There were no injuries reported.Two people died in Cuba
due to Imelda, which earlier affected the eastern part of the island
nation, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said late Monday. Marrero
said on X that the two people died in Santiago de Cuba province, but he
didn’t give any details.Hurricane Humberto, churning in open waters, was
thought to cause Imelda to abruptly turn to the east-northeast, away
from the Southeastern U.S. coast.“This is really what’s going to be
saving the United States from really seeing catastrophic rainfall,” said
Alex DaSilva, lead hurricane expert for AccuWeather, a private U.S.
weather forecasting company.Because the two storms were so close, they
are subject to each other’s influence in a phenomenon called the
Fujiwhara effect.“It doesn’t happen that often to get two storms this
close together — especially two strong ones,” Andy Hazelton, a hurricane
modeler and associate scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Marine
and Atmospheric Studies at the University of Miami, said earlier this
week.Officials in the Carolinas prepared for the effects of the storms
on their shores.North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of
emergency even before Imelda formed, which allows for state aid, and
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said authorities were pre-positioning
search-and-rescue crews.Both hurricanes are expected to cause
life-threatening swells on parts of the U.S. East Coast for the next few
days, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said.In Florida,
crews found a couple of turtle hatchlings that rough surf had tossed
ashore.“We actually had two washbacks come in over the weekend,” said
Justin Perrault, vice president of research at Loggerhead Marinelife
Center in Juno Beach. “We may get more as the day goes along.”Imelda had
maximum sustained winds of 85 mph and was around 665 miles
west-southwest of Bermuda around 5 p.m. Tuesday, the hurricane center
said in a bulletin. It was moving east-northeast at 12 mph.
FINALLY THE EUROPEAN UNION IS TALKING ABOUT HAVING THEIR OWN ARMY.AND IT MUST HAPPEN.
REVELATION 19:16-21
16
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of
Kings, And Lord Of Lords.(JESUS RETURNG TO EARTH LITERALLY ON A WHITE
HORSE WITH THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS 7 YEARS EARLIER)
17 And I saw an
angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all
the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves
together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the
flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men,
and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of
all men, both free and bond, both small and great.(2ND TIME GOD-JESUS
TELLS THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS TO GET READY TO EAT HUMAN
FLESH.THE FIRST TIME WAS WHEN GOD TOLD THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING
BIRDS-TO EAT RUSSIA,GERMAN,ARAB, MUSLIM BODIES FOR 7 MONTHS IN EZEK 38 @
39.
19 And I saw the beast,(E.U WORLD LEADER) and the kings of the
earth, and their armies,(HERE IT SAYS THE E.U WILL HAVE ITS OWN ARMY)
gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, (JESUS)
and against his army.(RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
20 And the beast (E.U
WORLD LEADER) was taken, and with him the false prophet (POPE FRANCIS)
that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had
received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21
And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the
horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were
filled with their flesh.
Zephaniah 2:1-15
1 Gather together, yes, gather,O shameless nation,
2
before the decree takes effect[a] -before the day passes away like
chaff—before there comes upon you the burning anger of the Lord, before
there comes upon you the day of the anger of the Lord.
3 Seek the
Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands;[b] seek
righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of
the anger of the Lord.
4 For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon
shall become a desolation; Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon,
and Ekron shall be uprooted.
5 Woe to you inhabitants of the
seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against
you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no
inhabitant is left.
6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures, with meadows[c] for shepherds and folds for flocks.
7
The seacoast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of
Judah, on which they shall graze, and in the houses of Ashkelon they
shall lie down at evening. For the Lord their God will be mindful of
them and restore their fortunes.
8 “I have heard the taunts of Moab
(JORDAN) and the revilings of the Ammonites, how they have taunted my
people and made boasts against their territory.
9 Therefore, as I
live,” declares the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab shall become
like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah, a land possessed by nettles
and salt pits, and a waste forever.The remnant of my people shall
plunder them, and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride, because they taunted and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts.
11
The Lord will be awesome against them; for he will famish all the gods
of the earth, and to him shall bow down, each in its place, all the
lands of the nations.
12 You also, O Cushites, shall be slain by my sword.
13
And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy
Assyria,(SYRIA) and he will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like
the desert.
14 Herds shall lie down in her midst, all kinds of
beasts;[d] even the owl and the hedgehog[e] shall lodge in her
capitals; a voice shall hoot in the window; devastation will be on the
threshold; for her cedar work will be laid bare.
15 This is the
exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, “I am, and
there is no one else.” What a desolation she has become, a lair for wild
beasts! Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.Sa'ar: No
free meals; talks possible if more hostages freed Israel halts aid into
Gaza, citing Hamas refusal to extend first phase of truce
Footnotes-a
-Zephaniah 2:2 Hebrew gives birth, b-Zephaniah 2:3 Or who carry out his
judgment, c-Zephaniah 2:6 Or caves, d-Zephaniah 2:14 Hebrew beasts of
every nation, e-Zephaniah 2:14 The identity of the animals rendered owl
and hedgehog is uncertain
DANIEL 2:37-45
37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38
And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and
the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made
thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
39 And after
thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third
kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40 And
the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh
in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these,
shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas thou sawest the
feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom
shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron,
forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle
themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to
another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of
these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never
be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it
shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand
for ever.
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of
the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the
brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known
to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is
certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
DANIEL 7:17-26
17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
19
Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from
all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his
nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue
with his feet;
20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of
the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn
that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was
more stout than his fellows.
21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
22
Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of
the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
23
Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,
which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole
earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the
ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and
another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first,
and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words
against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High,
and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his
hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
THE WORLD IN 10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS LEAD BY THE EUROPEAN UNION THE WORLD LEADER, NOT AMERICA.I PREDICT.
THE EUROPEAN UNION AND REVIVED ROMAN WORLD GOVERNMENT
DANIEL 2:31-33,36-43, DAN 7:3-8,17
First From Daniel Chapter 2
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (HEAD OF GOLD) DAN 2:31-32,36-38, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (CHEST & ARMS OF SILVER) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (WAIST & HIPS OF BRONZE) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (2 LEGS OF IRON) DAN 2:33,40, ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) (FEET IRON & CLAY) DAN 2:33,41-43,10 TOES
Now From Daniel Chapter 7
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (LION WITH EAGLES WINGS) DAN 7:4, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (BEAR ON HIND LEGS) DAN 7:5, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (LEOPARD 4 WINGS, 4 HEADS) DAN 7:6, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (HUGE IRON TEETH) DAN 7:7 (10 HORNS), ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) DAN 7:8,19-20,23-25 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS
REV
17:9,12, 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS, 7 HILLS ROME. REV 13:1 BEAST WITH 7 HEADS.
THE E.U LEADER OF WORLD GOVERNMENT DAN 2:40-45, 7:7-8,23-25,27, 8:23,
REV 13:3,7,8,12,14,16
REVELATION 17:10-12
10 And there are
seven kings (7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY) five are fallen, (EGYPT,
ASSYRIA, BABYLON,:MEDO-PERSIAN,GREECE and one is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS
DAY-ROME) and the other is not yet come; and when he
cometh,(FUTURE-REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE-EUROPEAN UNION TODAY) he must
continue a short space.(7 YEARS OF WORLD DOMINATION-BUT 3 1/2 YEARS OF
NEW WORLD ORDER OR ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT)
12 And the ten horns (10
WORLD TRADE BLOCS OR REGIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which
have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour
with the beast.
REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (10
WORLD TRADE BLOCS-NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have
received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the
beast.
13 These have one mind,(WORLD SOCIALISM) and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
We
shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only
question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or
consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February
1950
Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in
1957:We need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a
man who is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection
to himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten
to sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept
him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.
DICK
MORRIS-This truly creates a global economic system. From now on, don’t
look to Washington for the rule making, look to Brussels.
THE CLUB OF ROME FOUNDER AURELIO PECCEI WANTS THE WORLD IN 10 REGIONAL TRADING BLOCKS.
REVELATION 16:1-2
1
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels,
Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the
earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth;
and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the
mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16
And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, (SLAVE) to receive a mark in their right hand, or in
their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the
beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred
threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
I KNOW THIS MARK WILL
BE A MICROCHIP IMPLANT UNDER THE SKIN. LETS LOOK UP WHAT THE WORD MARK
SAYS IN REVELATION 13:16-18, 14:9,11, 15:2, 16:2, 19:20, 20:4-ALL THESE
VERSES FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION SPEAK OF THIS DICTATORS MARK. NOW
LETS SEE WHAT IT MEANS FROM STRONGS EXAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE.
UNDER MARK PAGE 684.MARK UNDER MARK. THE OLD TESTAMENT IS UNDER HEBREW
AND THE NEW TESTAMENT IS UNDER GREEK. SO WHEN WE LOOK UNDER REVELATION
13:16-17 WE SEE IT IS UNDER GREEK, SO WE GO TO GREEK IN THE BACK SECTION
AND GO TO 5480 TO SEE WHAT IT SAYS THIS MARK WOULD BE. SO LETS GET TO
IT.MARK IN STRONGS GREEK 5480 XAPAYUA CHARAGMA, KHAR-AG-MAH: FROM THE
SAME AS 5482: A SCRATCH OR ETCHING, I.E STAMP (AS A BADGE OF SERVITUDE),
OR SCULPTURED FIGURE-(STATUE):-GRAVEN, MARK FROM 5482 XAPAE CHARAX,
KHAR-AX; FROM XAPAOOW CHARASSO (TO SHARPEN TO A POINT; AKIN TO 1125
THROUGH THE IDEA OF SCRATCHING); A STAKE, I.E (BYIMPL.) A PALISADE OR
RAMPART (MILITARY MOUND FOR CIRCUMVALLATION IN A SIEGE): - TRENCH FROM
1125 YPAPOE GRAPHO, GRAF-0; A PRIM. VERB; TO "GRAVE", ESPEC. TO WRITE;
FIG. TO DESCRIBE:-DESCRIBE, WRITE (-ING, -TEN).G5516-GO TO G4742-666 -
STRONGS NT 4742: στίγμα - στίγμα, στιγματος, τό (from στίζω to prick;
(cf. Latinstimulus, etc.; German stechen, English stick, sting, etc.;
Curtius, § 226)), a mark pricked in or branded upon the body. According
to ancient oriental usage, slaves and soldiers bore the name or stamp of
their master or commander branded or pricked (cut) into their bodies to
indicate what master or general they belonged to, and there were even
some devotees who stamped themselves in this way with the token of their
gods (cf. Deyling, Observations, iii., p. 423ff); hence, τά στίγματα
τοῦ (κυρίου so Rec.) Ἰησοῦ, the marks of (the Lord) Jesus, which Paul in
Galatians 6:17 says he bears branded on his body, are the traces left
there by the perils, hardships, imprisonments, scourgings, endured by
him for the cause of Christ, and which mark him as Christ's faithful and
approved votary, servant, soldier (see Lightfoots Commentary on
Galatians, the passage cited). (Herodotus 7, 233; Aristotle, Aelian,
Plutarch, Lcian, others.)
THE INVENTOR OF THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT-CARL SANDERS MICROCHIP ENGINEER LEADER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgH9D6n4ZWo
THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD.
LEVETICUS 19.28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
HERES WHAT THE WORLD WOULD LOOK LIKE (SINCE THERE WILL BE WORLD GOVERNMENT IN THE FUTURE)-UPDATED VERSION (10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)
01 CANADA, U.S.A, MEXICO
02 EUROPEAN UNION,WESTERN EUROPE
03 JAPAN
04 AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND, S AFRICA, ISRAEL AND PACIFIC ISLANDS
05 EASTERN EUROPE
06 SOUTHERN, CENTRAL AND LATIN AMERICAS
07 NORTH AFRICA, AND MIDEAST (MOSLEMS)
08 CENTRAL AFRICA
09 SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
10 CENTRAL ASIA
THE
CLUB OF ROME WANTS A WORLD CHARISMATIC DICTATOR (EITHER RELIGIOUS,
POLITICAL OR SCIENTIFICAL) TO HEAD THIS WORLD GOVERNMENT. REV 13:3,7-8,
DAN 7:23-24
WORLD POWERS IN THE END TIME
NORTH - RUSSIA EZEK 38:1-2, 39:1-2
SOUTH - EGYPT DAN 11:42
EAST - CHINA DAN 11:44,REV 16:12
WEST - EUROPEAN UNION DAN 7:23-24 (NOT THE U.S.A)
http://israel7777777.blogspot.ca/2012/03/10-world-trade-blocs-one-world.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2006/09/how-eu-takes-world-control.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2012/05/one-world-religion-crislam.html
FINALLY THE EUROPEAN UNION IS TALKING ABOUT HAVING THEIR OWN ARMY.AND IT MUST HAPPEN.
REVELATION 19:16-21
16
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of
Kings, And Lord Of Lords.(JESUS RETURNG TO EARTH LITERALLY ON A WHITE
HORSE WITH THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS 7 YEARS EARLIER)
17 And I saw an
angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all
the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves
together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the
flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men,
and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of
all men, both free and bond, both small and great.(2ND TIME GOD-JESUS
TELLS THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS TO GET READY TO EAT HUMAN
FLESH.THE FIRST TIME WAS WHEN GOD TOLD THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING
BIRDS-TO EAT RUSSIA,GERMAN,ARAB, MUSLIM BODIES FOR 7 MONTHS IN EZEK 38 @
39.
19 And I saw the beast,(E.U WORLD LEADER) and the kings of the
earth, and their armies,(HERE IT SAYS THE E.U WILL HAVE ITS OWN ARMY)
gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, (JESUS)
and against his army.(RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
20 And the beast (E.U
WORLD LEADER) was taken, and with him the false prophet (POPE FRANCIS)
that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had
received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21
And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the
horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were
filled with their flesh.
COUNCIL FOR EUROPE ON DEFENCE
https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/document/download/6d6f889c-e58d-4caa-8f3b-8b93154fe206_en?filename=SAFE%20Regulation.pdf
EU leaders plot defence boost in shadow of Denmark drones-By Max DELANY and Camille BAS-WOHLERT, Camille BAS-WOHLERT.
Copenhagen
(AFP) Oct 1, 2025-EU leaders will discuss bolstering Europe's defences
and Ukraine's financial firepower at a Wednesday summit in Denmark,
where mysterious drone flights have ramped up fears about the threat
from Russia.Thousands of police are on high alert, civilian drones have
been banned and NATO allies have sent reinforcements as the continent
converges on Copenhagen for the long-planned talks, followed by a
broader gathering of European leaders Thursday.Denmark -- which holds
the EU's rotating presidency -- has been rattled in recent days as
unidentified drones shut down airports and flew near military
sites.Nordic neighbours as well as allies from the United States to
Ukraine have dispatched anti-drone technology and specialists to bolster
Denmark's capabilities ahead of the summit talks.Suspicions have
pointed at Russia for what Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called a
"hybrid attack" -- but so far no culprit has been definitively
named.Nonetheless the drone incidents have sharpened the focus on the
chinks in Europe's defences after high-profile air incursions by Moscow
in Poland and Estonia.EU leaders meeting in the Danish capital are
looking to flesh out details for priority projects, including a "drone
wall" aimed at countering Russia's threat.Defence ministers from some 10
countries mostly along the EU's eastern flank last week kicked off
talks on the plan to build a system of defences to detect, and
ultimately take down, drones.The EU is looking to tap the war-tested
expertise of Ukraine, whose President Volodymyr Zelensky will join for
Thursday's gathering of the European Political Community."Europe must
deliver a strong and united response to Russia's drone incursions at our
borders," EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.Wednesday's
discussion is the latest step in the EU's efforts to get ready for a
potential conflict with Russia by 2030 -- as warnings swirl Moscow could
look to attack in the coming years.Leaders will seek to lay out a
roadmap for addressing Europe's most pressing defence needs as
confidence wavers in US backing under President Donald Trump.The
27-nation bloc has already come up with a 150-billion-euro loan scheme
to help fund defence spending, with the lion's share being snapped up by
eastern countries.Brussels has proposed countries now club together on
four "flagship" projects -- the drone wall, securing the eastern flank,
missile defences and a space "shield".- Tapping Russian frozen assets?
-But while the EU looks to prepare for a possible future war, a crucial
pressing issue is how to help finance Ukraine as it tackles Moscow's
ongoing invasion."Putin wants to have us talking about ourselves, not
about Ukraine, not about helping Ukraine, not to push back Russia in
Ukraine," Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told AFP in an
interview on the eve of the summit.Leaders will pick over a proposal
from Brussels to use frozen Russian central bank assets to fund a new
140-billion-euro loan for Kyiv.That push could face resistance from
Belgium, where most of the assets are held, but it is seen as crucial to
help Kyiv plug looming budget shortfalls.As US support for Ukraine has
dried up under Trump, the plan last week won the backing of key
powerbroker, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.Officials say they hope to
get a green light from leaders to continue work on the plan."The
positions are not necessarily black and white, no and yes, some may say
that they could ponder going down that road if certain conditions are
met," a senior EU official said.Beyond the push to keep Ukraine going
financially, officials are also trying to keep Kyiv's bid to join the EU
on track despite a block from Hungarian leader Viktor
Orban.Russia-friendly Orban has been flexing his veto to stop
negotiations with Ukraine from progressing.European Council chief
Antonio Costa, who chairs the summit, has been canvassing support for a
plan that would mean countries cannot veto each new step of talks."No
leader to this day has replied with a total 'no', in a totally negative
way to this idea," the EU official said.But it appears it would be a
stretch -- and need the consent of Orban and all the other leaders.
Denmark warns EU over Russia 'hybrid war' as leaders talk defence.
Copenhagen,
Oct 1 (AFP) Oct 01, 2025-Danish premier Mette Frederiksen on Wednesday
urged Europe to step up its response to Russia's "hybrid war", as she
hosted EU leaders for defence talks held under tight security following
mystery drone flights.Thousands of police were on alert, civilian drones
banned and reinforcements deployed from NATO allies to help protect the
summit at the grand Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen."I hope that
everybody recognises now that there is a hybrid war," Frederiksen
said.Denmark -- which holds the EU's rotating presidency -- has been
rattled in recent days as unidentified drones shut down airports and
flew near military sites.Suspicions have pointed at Russia -- but so far
no culprit has been definitively named.Nonetheless the drone incidents
have sharpened the focus on chinks in Europe's defences, after
high-profile air incursions by Moscow in Poland and Estonia."We face the
greatest security challenge since the end of the Second World War,"
Frederiksen said.EU leaders in the Danish capital were pressing to flesh
out details for priority defence projects, including a "drone wall"
aimed at countering Russia's threat."It's a pattern, and this pattern is
coming from Russia," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen
told reporters."Russia tries to test us, but Russia also tries to sow
division and anxiety in our societies. We will not let this happen."The
EU says it wants to build a system of defences to detect, and ultimately
take down, drones.The bloc is looking to tap the war-tested expertise
of Ukraine, whose President Volodymyr Zelensky will join for a broader
gathering of European leaders on Thursday.Wednesday's discussion was the
latest step in the EU's efforts to get ready for a potential conflict
with Russia by 2030 -- as warnings swirl Moscow could look to attack in
the coming years."We are in a confrontation with Russia," French
President Emmanuel Macron said, pointing at Moscow's disinformation
campaigns, cyber attacks and airspace violations.The 27-nation bloc has
already come up with a 150-billion-euro loan scheme to help fund defence
spending, with the lion's share being snapped up by eastern
countries.Brussels has proposed countries now club together on four
"flagship" projects -- the drone wall, securing the eastern flank,
missile defences and a space "shield".- Tapping Russian frozen assets?
-But while the EU looks to prepare for a possible future war, a crucial
pressing issue is how to help finance Ukraine as it tackles Moscow's
ongoing invasion.Leaders were picking over a proposal from Brussels to
use frozen Russian central bank assets to fund a new 140-billion-euro
loan for Kyiv."Russia is causing tremendous damage in Ukraine right now,
and it is not right that anybody else should pay for it other than
Russia," said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.As US support for
Ukraine has dried up under Trump, the plan last week won the backing of a
key powerbroker, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.But some countries
remain sceptical, despite insistence from others that it is crucial to
help Kyiv plug looming budget shortfalls.Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc
Frieden said the plan raised a "whole series of questions, and I would
like to have answers to those first.""All proposals are welcome, but we
must first ensure that they work in practice," he said.Beyond the push
to keep Ukraine going financially, officials are also trying to keep
Kyiv's bid to join the EU on track despite a block from Hungarian leader
Viktor Orban.European Council chief Antonio Costa, who chairs the
summit, has been canvassing support for a plan that would mean countries
cannot veto each new step of talks.But Orban appeared to pour cold
water on the project as he gave a firm "no" when asked if Ukraine had
any prospects of joining the bloc.
Drones spotted over Danish military bases, other European nations-by Allen Cone.
Washington
DC (UPI) Sep 27, 2025-Denmark on Saturday reported more suspicious
drones flying above its largest military base, the second time its
airspace was violated this week after another group of drones grounded
commercial flights days ago.Finland, Germany and Lithuania on Saturday
also reported sighting drones in their airspace, which follows reports
from other NATO nations, including Estonia, Poland and Romania, that
reported airspace violations.In the latest incident, the BBC reported
drones were observed above Karup airbase, forcing the nation's military
base to close airspace to commercial traffic. Drones were spotted flying
over the country on Thursday near Skrydstrup air base, causing the
closure of Aalborg Airport, as others were detected over the southern
cities of Esbjerg and Sonderborg.Additionally, on Saturday, Lithuania
report that three drones were noticed near Vilnius, which delayed
several commercial flights, Lithuanian broadcaster LRT reported, while
Yle reported that a drone flew over the Valajasosky power plant in
Rovaniemi, Finland.Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen has said
that there is no evidence directly linking the aircraft to Russia,
though there has been a significant rise in Russian violations of allied
airspace, according to European leaders."There can be no doubt that
everything points to this being the work of a professional actor when we
are talking about such a systematic operation in so many locations at
virtually the same time. This is what I would define as a hybrid attack
using different types of drones," Poulsen said Thursday after drones
were spotted over the country.In a separate incident, Danish authorities
said a Russian warship was spotted near their waters with the tracking
system off, the Danish outlet Ekstra Bladet reported.Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov called the allegations "unfounded."The Danish Defense
Ministry confirmed that drones appeared near multiple military
installations but did not specify which ones, according to the BBC.
Denmark's Defense Command, which did not disclose the number of drones
it detected, told the Danish news outlet DR News that it deployed
resources in response to the drone incursions.Karup airbase is home to
all of the Danish Armed Forces' helicopters, airspace surveillance and
parts of the Danish Defence Command.Earlier in the week, on Monday,
Denmark's Copenhagen Airport also halted operations because of drone
sightings, as did authorities Norway's Oslo Airport.Overnight Wednesday,
the airspace above Aalborg Airport in northern Jutland was closed --
several flights were cancelled and two inbound flights were diverted for
about 1 hour -- after police reported a drone, Danish broadcaster TV2
said.German media also reported drone sightings on Friday night in
Schleswig-Holstein, which is near the Danish border.The incursions over
NATO members' borders have increased in the last few weeks after Poland
shot down Russian drones violating its airspace on Sept. 10, which came
at the same time as a massive strike on Ukraine at the same time. This
was the first time NATO had engaged Russian assets over its territory
since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Romania
reported a similar violation on Sept. 13 and scrambled F-16s after
detecting a Russian drone.Three Russian MiG-31 jets later entered
Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland on Sept. 19, which spurred
Estonian leaders to invoke Article 4 of the NATO treaty, which allows
any member of the alliance to call for consultations if it feels its
"territorial integrity, political independence or security" is under
threat.
Germany vows defence against Russia in drone warfare and in space-by AFP Staff Writers.
Berlin
(AFP) Sept 25, 2025-Germany said Thursday it would step up its defences
-- from drone warfare to outer space -- at a time of growing tensions
between Russia and NATO while the Ukraine war grinds on.Recent weeks
have seen Russia send fighter jets and drones into NATO airspace in
Poland and Romania, followed by suspicious drone flights near airports
in Denmark and Norway.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz -- whose
government has also blamed Moscow for multiple drone sightings over
German military and industrial sites -- vowed "all necessary measures to
ensure effective deterrence against these violations of airspace and
other attacks by the Russian military".Europe's biggest economy has
strongly backed Ukraine in its war against Russia and, since Merz took
power in May, vowed to massively step up military spending to help boost
NATO's European capabilities.Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said
Thursday that Germany would spend 35 billion euros ($41 billion) on
outer space defence by 2030, citing the threat posed by Russia and its
ally China."Russia and China have in recent years rapidly expanded their
capabilities for conducting warfare in space," he said. "They can
disrupt, jam, manipulate or even physically destroy
satellites."Germany's space security architecture would comprise "a
resilient system of satellite constellations, ground stations, secure
launch capabilities and related services" as well cybersecurity, he
said.Berlin was also "improving our situational awareness in orbit
through the use of radar, telescopes and the future deployment of space
surveillance satellites".Pistorius warned that any future use of space
weapons could have a severe impact on modern life because "satellite
networks are an Achilles heel of modern society. Those who attack them
can cripple entire nations."- 'Drone arms race' -German Interior
Minister Alexander Dobrindt meanwhile warned of Russian "aggression"
closer to Earth and said Germany was strengthening its "operational
capabilities by developing drone defence systems".In Europe "we are
engaged in an arms race between the threat posed by drones and the means
to counter them," he said, citing the recent incidents in Poland,
Romania, Denmark and Norway.Dobrindt said Germany would boost investment
and change its aviation safety rules to allow it to better "detect,
defend and intercept" unmanned aerial vehicles.While he spoke in
parliament, the German armed forces launched a three-day exercise dubbed
"Red Storm Bravo" in the northern port city of Hamburg.The military
exercise was set to involve around 500 soldiers as well as police,
firefighters and other emergency services, and see a convoy of armoured
vehicles cross through the city."In the fictional exercise scenario of
Red Storm Bravo, we assume an escalating conflict in the Baltic region,"
said a spokeswoman for the German army. "To achieve effective
deterrence, troops and personnel will be deployed through Hamburg."Away
from public view, a drill will simulate a "mass casualty incident" in a
harbourside area, local media reported.Protests under the rallying cry
of "No War Games in Hamburg", organised by left-wing groups, were
expected outside Hamburg's city hall on Friday and near the central
railway station on Saturday.
Russia says situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant under control.
Vienna,
Oct 1 (AFP) Oct 01, 2025-The situation at the Russia-occupied
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine is "under control", the
Moscow-installed operator said Wednesday, a day after Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky warned it was "critical" following a
week-long power cut.Europe's largest atomic energy plant -- which is in a
cold shutdown mode -- lost power on September 23, the longest of the 10
outages from the grid it has undergone since Russia seized the station
following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.The UN nuclear
watchdog has also sought to quell concerns, saying late Tuesday that the
plant faced no imminent danger, as long as backup electricity
generators kept working."The situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power
plant is under control," the press service for the Russian operator of
the plant said on social media, adding that it had enough fuel to keep
backup electricity generators running.It said radiation levels were
normal and that it was in close contact with the Internationl Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), which has inspectors based at the plant.Zelensky
had said Tuesday the situation there was "critical" and that one of the
backup diesel generators had "malfunctioned."Moscow and Kyiv have
repeatedly accused each other of risking a potentially devastating
nuclear disaster by attacking the site and traded blame over the latest
blackout.The plant's six reactors, which before the war produced around a
fifth of Ukraine's electricity, were shut down after Moscow took
over.But the site needs power to maintain the cooling and other safety
systems that prevent the reactors from melting down and releasing
radiation into the atmosphere.- 'Last line of defence' -The IAEA said it
had been informed by the Russian-installed operators that they had fuel
reserves for 10 more days, "with regular offsite supplies maintaining
this level"."While the plant is currently coping thanks to its emergency
diesel generators -- the last line of defence -- and there is no
immediate danger as long as they keep working, it is clearly not a
sustainable situation in terms of nuclear safety," IAEA head Rafael
Grossi said in a statement late Tuesday."Neither side would benefit from
a nuclear accident... I'm in constant contact with the two sides with
the aim to enable the plant's swift re-connection to the electricity
grid," he added.Since the start of the war, Zaporizhzhia has seen
multiple safety threats, including frequent nearby shelling, repeated
power cuts and staff shortages.Located near the city of Energodar, the
site sits on the Dnieper river, the de facto front line in southern
Ukraine.
No immediate danger' at Ukraine nuclear plant after power loss: IAEA.
Vienna,
Oct 1 (AFP) Oct 01, 2025-The Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
in Ukraine, without power for more than a week, faces no imminent
danger -- as long as backup generators keep working, the UN nuclear
watchdog said late Tuesday.Europe's largest atomic energy plant lost
power on September 23, the longest of the 10 outages from the grid it
has undergone since Russia seized the station following its invasion of
Ukraine in February 2022.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on
Tuesday said the situation is "critical" at the plant.Plant management
has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the site
still has fuel reserves for more than 10 days of operation, "with
regular offsite supplies maintaining this level", the agency said in a
statement."While the plant is currently coping thanks to its emergency
diesel generators -- the last line of defence -- and there is no
immediate danger as long as they keep working, it is clearly not a
sustainable situation in terms of nuclear safety," IAEA head Rafael
Grossi said in a statement."Neither side would benefit from a nuclear
accident... I'm in constant contact with the two sides with the aim to
enable the plant's swift re-connection to the electricity grid," he
added.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that
"the Russian side is ensuring safety at the station."Moscow and Kyiv
have repeatedly accused each other of risking a potentially devastating
nuclear disaster by attacking the site and traded blame over the latest
blackout.The plant's six reactors, which before the war produced around a
fifth of Ukraine's electricity, were shut down after Moscow took
over.But the plant needs power to maintain cooling and safety systems,
which prevent reactors from melting -- a danger that could set off a
nuclear incident.Since the start of the war, Zaporizhzhia has seen
multiple safety threats, including frequent nearby shelling, repeated
power cuts and staff shortages.Located near the city of Energodar along
the Dnieper river, the power plant is close to the front line.
Germany warns of growing drone threat as incidents multiply.
Berlin,
Oct 1 (AFP) Oct 01, 2025-German authorities warned Wednesday of a
growing drone threat as they confirmed that unmanned aerial vehicles
flew over military facilities and critical infrastructure last week.It
comes after drones were also spotted recently over airports and military
sites in Denmark and Norway, with suspicion falling on Russia --
allegations rejected by Moscow.Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said
Germany needed to "find new responses to this hybrid threat", including
greater capabilities to detect, assess and potentially shoot down
drones."Much of what we see today can be viewed as provocation -- and
this is also how we assess the incidents we saw last week in
Schleswig-Holstein," a northern coastal state, Dobrindt said.Authorities
had already revealed that a swarm of drones had been spotted over the
state at the end of last week.State interior minister Sabine
Suetterlin-Waack told lawmakers on Wednesday that "drone-like aircraft
were sighted and reported" in several areas, "including over critical
infrastructure and military installations".She did not say who was to
blame, and added the threat level in the state had not
increased.According to news magazine Der Spiegel, drones were first
spotted hovering over a naval shipyard facility belonging to
Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems on Thursday night.Other facilities
apparently scouted by the drones included a coastal power plant, an
aviation fuel refinery and the Kiel Canal, according to the report.The
Bild tabloid reported that the drones were believed to have been
dispatched from a "foreign-flagged ship" in the Baltic Sea, thought to
belong to Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of sanction-busting
vessels.A large "mother" drone was sent off from the vessel and then
released a swarm of smaller drones, it said.Dobrindt last week announced
that Germany is planning to create a new "drone defence centre" that
will pool the expertise of Germany's federal and state governments.He
also said he wants to revise air safety laws to allow the "shooting down
of drones" by the armed forces.EU leaders are discussing bolstering
Europe's defences at a summit in Copenhagen from Friday.
US, allies reducing forces in Iraq: Pentagon.
Washington,
Oct 1 (AFP) Oct 01, 2025-US and allied forces are reducing their
presence in Iraq, the Pentagon said Wednesday, winding down a more than
decade-long mission there against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group
as planned.Washington and Baghdad agreed last year that the
international coalition against IS -- established in 2014 to help local
forces retake territory seized by the jihadists in Iraq and neighboring
Syria -- would end its military mission in Iraq by the end of September
2025."This reduction reflects our combined success in fighting ISIS and
marks an effort to transition to a lasting US-Iraq security
partnership," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, using
an acronym for IS."The US government will continue close coordination
with the government of Iraq and coalition members to ensure a
responsible transition," Parnell added.The coalition will continue its
military operations in Syria, with international troops permitted to
support anti-IS operations there from Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region
through September 2026.Parnell separately announced in April that the
United States would roughly halve the number of troops it has deployed
in Syria to less than 1,000.IS has suffered major defeats in both Iraq
and Syria, but the jihadists still have some fighters in the countryside
of both countries, and US forces have carried out periodic strikes and
raids to help prevent the group's resurgence.
Macron says 'nothing ruled out' if Russian plane violates European airspace.
Paris,
Oct 1 (AFP) Oct 01, 2025-France's President Emmanuel Macron said
Wednesday he did not rule out downing a Russian fighter jet if it were
to breach European airspace.German daily newspaper Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview asked the French president if he was
"in favour of shooting down a Russian fighter jet if it enters European
airspace without authorisation"."In accordance with the doctrine of
strategic ambiguity, I can tell you that nothing is ruled out," Macron
replied.After Russia was blamed for drone incursions into NATO members
Poland and Romania, Macron last week said the alliance's response would
have to "go up a notch" in the case of "new provocations" from
Moscow.Romania's defence ministry said last month the country's airspace
had been breached by a drone during a Russian attack on infrastructure
in neighbouring Ukraine.NATO member Poland also said last month it had
shot down Russian drones that violated its airspace as Moscow launched a
barrage against Ukraine.Macron earlier on Wednesday said France was
investigating an EU-sanctioned, Russian-linked oil tanker anchored off
the French coast for what he said were "serious offences".The Boracay, a
Benin-flagged vessel, has been blacklisted by the European Union for
being part of Russia's sanction-busting "shadow fleet".According to the
specialist website The Maritime Executive, the vessel is suspected of
being involved in mystery drone flights that disrupted air traffic in
Denmark in September.
Macron says France, Germany must work together on jet.
Paris,
Oct 1 (AFP) Oct 01, 2025-French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday
said France and Germany must "stay the course" and keep working jointly
on the European fighter jet programme, after tension over the
project.Berlin and Paris have been aiming to enhance the continent's
defence autonomy at a time of heightened tensions with Russia."Arms
companies on both sides are claiming leadership," Macron said in an
interview with German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung."It
is therefore up to us to stay the course of what we consider to be in
the general Franco-German interest and to continue working on joint
solutions."The Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme was launched in
2017 to replace France's Rafale jet and the Eurofighter planes used by
Germany and Spain.But the scheme, jointly developed by the three
countries, has stalled as disagreements grow between France's Dassault
Aviation and Airbus, which represents German and Spanish
interests.Macron also said he and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had
requested their defence ministers conduct a review of the project by the
end of the year."And it is on this basis that we will rule and take the
necessary decisions," he added.Both France and Germany said recently
they can develop the fighter jet project without each other.Last week,
both Dassault Aviation and a government official said that France was in
a position to develop the project alone should negotiations with
Germany and Spain fail."I don't mind if the Germans are complaining. If
they want to do it on their own, let them do it on their own," said
Dassault Aviation chief Eric Trappier.Berlin and Madrid have been
particularly exasperated by the position of Dassault, which has been
vying for a leadership role in the project.France and Germany have also
sought to jointly develop a next-generation battle tank equipped with
artificial intelligence and laser technology, billed as a game changer
in modern warfare.But those plans have also faced delays amid rivalry
between French and German industrial companies.Macron said that both the
fighter jet project and the advanced battle tank dubbed the Main Ground
Combat System (MGCS) still meet the "strategic needs" of both
countries."We knew from the outset that it would be very difficult,
because competing manufacturers were forced to join forces for a
project," Macron said.But he added that he was "in favour of maximum
integration, because we need to produce more, and we need to do so at
the European level".
UN Security Council OKs new military force to fight Haiti 'terrorist' gangs.
United
Nations, United States, Sept 30 (AFP) Sep 30, 2025-The United Nations
Security Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution to transform a
UN-backed security mission in gang-dominated Haiti into a larger,
full-fledged force with military troops.The new force can now have a
maximum of 5,500 uniformed personnel, including police officers and
soldiers, unlike the current mission, which is just law enforcement.US
ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said the vote by 12 council members "to
transform the Multinational Security Support mission to the new gang
suppression force, a mission five-times the size of its predecessor"
showed the "international community was sharing the burden.""This
resolution offers Haiti hope. It is a hope that has been rapidly
slipping away as terrorist gangs expanded their territory, raped,
pillaged, murdered and terrorized the Haitian population," he
said.Washington co-sponsored the enlargement push with Panama.Currently,
just 1,000 police officers, mostly from Kenya, are deployed in Haiti
under the Multinational Security Mission (MSS) to support the
overwhelmed Haitian police in their fight against rampant gang
violence.But the mission, which was approved in 2023, has had mixed
results."This marks a decisive turning point in my country's fight
against one of the most serious challenges in its already turbulent
history," said Haiti's ambassador to the UN Ericq Pierre."Multiple
heavily armed gangs have extended their control over large parts of the
territory, particularly in the capital."These gangs are no longer mere
groups of petty criminals. They have for some time now become powerful
criminal organizations that mock and challenge the authority of the
state and even threaten regional stability."- 'Merciless gangs' -Haiti's
Laurent Saint-Cyr, who heads the country's Transitional Presidential
Council, had thrown his support behind the US and Panamanian proposal to
evolve the MSS into a more resilient force for an initial period of one
year."The Council can help restore peace in a nation currently
suffocated by merciless gangs," Panama's ambassador to the UN Eloy
Alfaro de Alba said ahead of the vote.Kenya's president William Ruto
said last week that "with the right personnel, adequate resources,
appropriate equipment and necessary logistics, Haiti's security can be
restored."The major force boost will be accompanied by the creation of a
support office within the UN, suggested several months ago by
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to provide the required logistical
and financial support.China had expressed skepticism about the role of
the MSS without political transition in Haiti, but it abstained during
the vote to create it in 2023, as did Russia.China and Russia abstained
again on Tuesday's vote."Resorting to military force to combat violence
with violence at this juncture is not only unlikely to succeed, but
could further complicate Haiti's already intractable situation," said
China's ambassador to the UN Fu Cong.He warned the resolution left
specifics like the rules of engagement and force composition unanswered,
saying Beijing did not block the resolution only "in light of Haiti's
dire security situation."The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has
long suffered at the hands of violent criminal gangs that commit
murders, rapes, looting, and kidnappings against a backdrop of chronic
political instability.The situation has worsened significantly since
early 2024, when gangs drove then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry to
resign.The country, which has not held elections since 2016, has since
been led by a Transitional Presidential Council.
Estonia PM says Russia incursions aim to distract EU from Ukraine-By Max DELANY, Olivier BAUBE.
Copenhagen
(AFP) Sept 30, 2025-Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal warned
Tuesday that Russia's recent air incursions were an attempt to distract
Europe from helping Ukraine, ahead of a summit with EU leaders."Putin
wants to have us talking about ourselves, not about Ukraine, not about
helping Ukraine, not to push back Russia in Ukraine," Michal told AFP in
an interview in Copenhagen.EU leaders will discuss boosting their
defences and support for Kyiv at talks in Denmark being held under
heightened security after mysterious drone flights rattled the
country.Those incidents came after a series of high-profile airspace
violations by Moscow in Russia's neighbour Estonia and in Poland had
already frayed nerves in Europe.Michal said he hoped the gathering in
Copenhagen would send a strong message of "unity and resolve to back up
Ukraine and never to let us be distracted on the main topic, which is
the problem with Russia."He urged his EU counterparts to support a new
proposal from Brussels to use frozen Russian assets to fund a
140-billion-euro ($164-billion) loan to Ukraine.The Russians "are the
aggressors, they are killing innocent people, civilians. They are doing
the damage, so they should be the ones to pay," he said.Michal said that
Putin's aggression has been a "miscalculation" as it has pushed Europe
to get serious about arming itself in the face of the looming
threat."Europe is much stronger than it was six months or one year ago,"
Michal said."Europe was a project of peace but without arms. Now,
Europe will be a project of peace but with arms."- 'Move faster'
-However, the Estonian leader still urged the EU to move more quickly on
its efforts to rearm as it discusses bolstering key defences like
anti-drone capabilities."We should move faster because, to be honest,
starting to have new capabilities takes time," he said."Even though you
are ramping up everything, it will probably take a year, maybe more to
have new defence industries going."One of the key priorities being
pushed by Brussels is a so-called "drone wall" of defences to detect and
ultimately shoot down Russian drones.Michal said cheap drones posed a
"big problem" and that his country would have ramped up its ability to
counter them by the end of 2026."In Europe, I would say, hoping to be at
the same timeline would be great, but I would say it probably takes a
little bit more time," he said.Nonetheless the Estonian leader insisted
that "Europe was strong" and NATO had proved in his country and in
Poland that it could cope with Russia's threats."We have certain
capabilities we need to evolve -- but I would say that Europe and
members of NATO are more than capable of defending themselves," he
said.Despite fears over the US involvement in Europe's defence waning
under President Donald Trump, Michal said Washington had sent a strong
signal of its backing after Moscow's incursions."This is an absolutely
clear message to Russia, to everybody," he said."For us, they are good
partners in security against Russia."
Analysis-Israel’s
long-standing ties with Europe crumble as outrage over Gaza war
swells-European cities witness an average of 15 anti-Israel protests a
day, as Jewish state faces cultural boycotts, sanctions and criticism
from historically close allies By AP and ToI Staff Today, 11:55 am-OCT
1,25
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests
are shaking major European cities, and calls are growing to ban Israel
from sporting and cultural events. European navies have been deployed to
protect activists trying to get aid into Gaza, and a wave of countries
have done the once-unthinkable and recognized a Palestinian state.As
outrage over the humanitarian catastrophe grows, more European leaders,
sometimes driven by pressure from their populations, have openly
condemned Israel’s war conduct and sought to push Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to agree to a ceasefire and allow in
further aid.“There has been a ground-breaking shift in Europe where,
somewhere over the last year, populations have been putting more
pressure on their governments, which has helped break taboos at the top
over criticism of Israel,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Chatham
House think tank’s Middle East and North Africa program.Italian Prime
Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of Israel’s closest EU allies, said last
week that she would support European Union sanctions against Israel. It
was her toughest position yet, and followed a nationwide strike in Italy
and anti-Israel protests from Palermo to Milan.Speaking at the UN
General Assembly in New York, Meloni said: “Israel ended up violating
humanitarian norms, causing a massacre among civilians.”The war erupted
on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists murdered some 1,200
people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages, 48 of whom remain held
in Gaza.The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 66,000 people
in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so
far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate
between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000
combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside
Israel during the October 7 onslaught.Israel has said it seeks to
minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s
civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including
homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.The war has also destroyed vast
areas of Gaza, displaced around 90 percent of Gaza’s population and
caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel
protests have grown, according to the Armed Conflict Location &
Event Data Project, or ACLED, which monitors worldwide conflicts. From
December to April, there were 780 protests across Europe. That has grown
to 2,066 in the last five months, an average of at least 15 a day, said
researcher Ciro Murillo.The protests cut across parties and include
members of Europe’s large Muslim communities, an important voting bloc
in countries like France and Germany.In the past six months, there were
only 51 pro-Israel protests in Europe, about half of them in Germany.
ACLED data showed a steep drop in public support for Israel starting a
few months after the war began.Speaking at the UN two days after Meloni,
Netanyahu seemed to acknowledge the turn.“Sure, in the days immediately
following Oct. 7, many…supported Israel. But that support quickly
evaporated when Israel did what any self-respecting nation would do in
the wake of such a savage attack,” he told world leaders. “We fought
back.”Israel’s deep ties with Europe-With a shared birth in the
aftermath of World War II, Israel and the European Union are intricately
interwoven.Almost all Jewish Israelis trace their heritage to either
the broader Middle East or the Jewish communities of Europe laid waste
to by pogroms in the Russian empire and the genocidal Third Reich of
Germany.“Israel is from Europe, and anyone who fails to admit it or
understand it doesn’t really understand this country,” said Sharon
Pardo, a professor at Ben-Gurion University and author of a book on
European-Israeli relations, “Uneasy Neighbors.”Strategic practicality
drove Israel towards Europe, even if many considered it “a continent of
murderers,” Pardo said. Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion,
began building long-standing economic, political and cultural ties with
Europe. Today, the EU is Israel’s top trading partner.“These were the
immediate markets for Israeli agriculture; this was the market for
weapons for Israel,” Pardo said.But the embrace by Netanyahu, Israel’s
longest-serving prime minister, of far-right European parties has
antagonized the European political establishment.“Netanyahu’s Israel is
an anti-European Union country, a Euro-skeptic country that does its
utmost to harm the European integration project,” Pardo said.Criticism
of Israel rises as war in Gaza grinds onThe shocking violence of October
7, 2023, ignited an outpouring of support from European leaders.Ursula
von der Leyen, the EU’s political chief, visited a still-smoldering
kibbutz days later and met with Netanyahu. She pledged EU support for
Israel.But nearly two years later, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar accused
her of “empowering a terrorist organization” with her surprise call for
the EU to increase pressure on Israel to halt the war.Von der Leyen
said there’s been “a more systematic shift in the last months that is
simply unacceptable” in the conflict and that “Europe needs to do
more.”She was likely influenced by growing protests and by EU staff
critical of her policies, said Lisa Musiol, head of EU Affairs for the
International Crisis Group. She pointed to open letters criticizing the
EU’s Gaza policy signed by more than 2,000 current EU staffers and 390
former European ambassadors and officials.Von der Leyen proposed
increasing EU tariffs on some Israeli goods and sanctioning some Israeli
settlers and two members of Netanyahu’s cabinet. She would also
sanction 10 Hamas leaders. EU leaders were to discuss the proposals on
Wednesday in Copenhagen.Major EU measures require unanimity — a likely
impossibility in the 27-nation bloc — but some can be passed with a vote
weighted by population. That would require Italy or Germany to join
nations critical of Israel.All eyes on Merz and MeloniGermany’s support
for Israel is second only to that of the United States. But Germany’s
ruling coalition is split on Gaza, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s
center-right Christian Democrats supporting Israel and the smaller
Social Democrats more critical of the war.Merz has spoken to Netanyahu
about his growing concerns and has curbed arms sales to Israel, but said
he is not considering sanctions.Germany’s historical responsibility for
the Holocaust has shaped its postwar support for ensuring Israel’s
security and combating antisemitism. Still, tens of thousands of
protesters took to the streets of Berlin on Saturday, calling for the
war’s end.More likely to swing the vote would be Meloni, who has said
she supports Italy joining recent moves to recognize a Palestinian state
by European neighbors France, Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta,
Monaco, the United Kingdom and Portugal, as well as Commonwealth nations
Canada and Australia.In contrast to Germany, Italy has a different
historical relationship to Israel, said Elisabetta Brighi, a University
of Westminster professor. Deeply influenced by the country’s strong
trade unions and the Vatican, Italy could switch and join European
efforts to pressure Israel over Gaza.“Italy has not translated the
trauma of fascism the same way that Germany has,” she said.Italy has
joined Spain in sending navy ships to protect a flotilla of boats
carrying activists seeking to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza after the
activists said they were attacked by drones near Greece.Calls have also
grown to ban Israel from some sporting and cultural events, with Spanish
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez saying after protesters disrupted the
Spanish Vuelta cycling race last month that Israel should be excluded
until the “barbarity” in Gaza ends. Some countries have also threatened
to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest — hugely popular in Israel and
Europe — if Israel is allowed to compete.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a
witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have
heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that
great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment
come.(IN 1 HR THE STOCK MARKETS WORLDWIDE WILL CRASH)
17 For in one
hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all
the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood
afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping
and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich
all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one
hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast
their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be
removed:(CONFISCATED) their silver and their gold shall not be able to
deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy
their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the
stumblingblock of their iniquity.
MARK OF THE BEAST (engraved microchip in your hand or forehead)
Gold hits record, Wall St futures drop as US shutdown begins.
Hong
Kong, Oct 1 (AFP) Oct 01, 2025-Gold hit a record high and Wall Street
futures fell with the dollar Wednesday as the US government shut down
after lawmakers failed to reach a funding deal, though most Asian and
European markets edged up.The prospect of services in the United States
being closed overshadowed optimism the Federal Reserve will cut interest
rates again.Democrats and Republicans remain at loggerheads on funding
the government beyond Tuesday -- the end of the fiscal year -- with both
sides blaming each other.Senate Republicans tried to rubber-stamp a
House-passed temporary funding patch, but could not get the handful of
Democratic votes required to send it to President Donald Trump to sign
off.Democrats want to see hundreds of billions of dollars in healthcare
spending for low-income households restored, which the Trump
administration is likely to eliminate.The closure will see non-essential
operations halted, leaving hundreds of thousands of civil servants
temporarily unpaid, and many social safety net benefit payments
potentially disrupted.Trump threatened to punish Democrats during any
stoppage by targeting progressive priorities and forcing mass public
sector job cuts."So we'd be laying off a lot of people that are going to
be very affected," he said."And they're Democrats, they're going to be
Democrats," the president told an event at the White House, adding that
he would use the pause to "get rid of a lot of things we didn't want,
and they'd be Democrat things".Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson
wrote on X that "Democrats have officially voted to CLOSE the
government".Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries said in
a joint statement their party remained "ready to find a bipartisan path
forward to reopen the government in a way that lowers costs and
addresses the Republican healthcare crisis".While most shutdowns end
after a short period with little effect on markets, investors remain
concerned, particularly as it could prevent the release Friday of the
key non-farm payrolls report -- a crucial guide for the Fed on rate
decisions.Still, Pepperstone's Michael Brown wrote: "I remain strongly
of the view that (investors) should continue to look through the
political noise as, in the grand scheme of things, the expiration of
federal funding doesn't make especially much difference."Chiefly, this
is because we all know that, sooner or later, a deal will be cut, the
government will re-open, and any economic data that was delayed... will
be released in due course."Safe-haven gold hit a new peak of $3,875.53
on worries about the shutdown as well as a weaker dollar and bets on
lower borrowing costs.Futures on all three main indexes in New York were
in the red -- with the Dow coming off a record.However, Asian equities
held up, with Singapore, Seoul, Wellington, Taipei, Manila, Mumbai,
Bangkok and Jakarta all in positive territory along with London.Tokyo
sank with Paris and Frankfurt while Sydney was barely moved.Hong Kong
and Shanghai were closed for holidays.The dollar retreated against its
peers owing to concerns caused by the shutdown.India's rupee also made
small inroads as the country's central bank decided against cutting
interest rates, despite inflation remaining low, but the unit continued
to hover around record lows against the greenback.The South Asian
currency has been hit by concerns over stalled trade talks with Trump
that will soften painful tariffs, while Washington's strict immigration
measures have added to worries.The two sides remain in talks despite
sharp disagreements over agricultural trade and New Delhi's purchases of
Russian oil.In company news, Australian mining titan BHP fell 2.5
percent following reports China had told steelmakers to temporarily stop
buying seagoing, dollar-denominated cargoes from the firm, as part of a
pricing dispute.- Key figures at around 0715 GMT -Tokyo - Nikkei 225:
DOWN 0.9 percent at 44,550.85 (close)-London - FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent
at 9,366.15-Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holiday-Shanghai -
Composite: Closed for a holiday-Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1768 from $1.1739
on Tuesday-Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3468 from $1.3448-Dollar/yen: UP at
147.21 yen from 147.86 yen-Euro/pound: UP at 87.37 pence from 87.29
pence-West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $62.59 per barrel-Brent
North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $66.28 per barrel-New York - Dow: UP
0.2 percent at 46,397.89 (close)
New Zealand could have mobile
driver’s licenses by end of 2025-Having passed biometric processing law,
NZ forges ahead on digital transformation-Oct 1, 2025, 4:39 pm EDT |
Joel R. McConvey
Neighboring Australia has hogged the digital
headlines of late, largely through its incoming age restrictions on
social media platforms. But New Zealand has been no less busy on the
digitization front, recently issuing a Biometric Processing Privacy Code
to regulate how organizations in New Zealand use biometric technologies
to collect and process biometric information, while ploughing ahead
with mobile driver’s licenses (mDL) and a national digital identity
program.According to a report from The Platform, Digital Services
Minister Judith Collins says mDLs could be available to Kiwis by the end
of the year. Host Leah Panapa speaks about the matter with Andy Higgs,
executive director at Digital Identity NZ.Higgs says people should be
skeptical of digital credentials, because there’s a dire need to do it
right. He notes that a system which links identities to a number
wouldn’t fly under New Zealand’s privacy law, but understands the
concerns people have.“The big concerns with a number are one, control,
you know, we don’t want to be a social credit score. And two,
surveillance, right? We don’t want big brother watching us. So, we need
to do it in a secure and privacy enhancing way.”For New Zealand, that
means issuing a digital credential encrypted so that it can only be
viewed with a private key. Wallets are part of the picture, “but it’s
not really a wallet. It’s more of an application that lets you view and
then share selectively aspects of your credential with the third part of
the ecosystem, which is the relying parties.”“The whole point of this
is, you don’t want the issuer knowing every time you’re using your
credential, right? That’s why you need this trust triangle.” Higgs
points out that “the triangle is not a loop,” gesturing to the No Phone
Home campaign against server retrieval models.Global, domestic drivers
create fertile ground for digital identity-Laws and frameworks can help
support. In an announcement of its major initiatives for 2025-26,
Digital Identity NZ, an industry membership organization, says “there is
increasing consensus that an effective, use case- and benefits-focused
communication framework is crucial to market adoption.”“The time is now
for trusted decentralized identity,” it says. “Trading partners and
visitors are adopting interoperable credentials, requiring NZ exporters
and operators to adapt.” Domestically, banks, insurers and government
agencies face mounting compliance and fraud costs. And the tech is
mature: “open-standard wallets, zero-knowledge proofs, and consent
dashboards are ready for safe and privacy enhancing adoption.”On the
government level, the Biometric Processing Privacy Code, adopted in
August, comes into effect on November 3. Organizations already using
biometric systems have until August 3, 2026 to comply with the new
rules.Commentary from the International Association of Privacy
Professionals (IAPP) calls the code “a major step” which “covers the
life cycle of biometric information from collection, through storage and
use, to destruction.”“As we have witnessed through inquiries into the
use of facial recognition technologies in both New Zealand and
Australia, there is growing public concern about the use of biometric
systems and their potential to infringe on privacy, introduce bias, or
to be used in non-transparent ways. The code recognizes these heightened
risks and provides a clear regulatory framework to ensure organizations
use biometrics responsibly, transparently and with strong
safeguards.”There has been some criticism of the code from Māori groups,
who say it is too loose on consent and has had its commitments to
cultural practices drafted out.
EC launches public awareness campaign for Europe’s biometric border system-Oct 1, 2025, 3:52 pm EDT | Chris Burt
The
European Commission has launched a campaign to make sure travellers are
aware of the biometric Entry/Exit System (EES) which begins operation
on October 12.“Soon, travelling to Europe will be easier,” says a
promotional video from EU Home Affairs. The official EES website also
offers basic information about the program for consumers. The
information campaign also includes infographics on the automated
self-service system and border check process, four-page leaflets
explaining what data is collected and in what countries, as well as
privacy considerations and exemptions, posters and materials to support
social media posts.Under EES, people arriving at 29 European countries
for short stays will register their fingerprints and face biometrics
with the system. It will take six months for the system to reach full
operation.An article in the Washington Post introduces the EES to an
American audience. The report notes a comment from a security
professional that Europe has strong privacy protections, and adds that
they are “even more stringent than the ones in the States.” Since the
U.S. does not have a comprehensive federal privacy law, the comparison
suggests that some observers are not equipped with the context to
understand basics facts about EES.A representative of France’s Ministry
of the Interior has acknowledged that the initial implementation will be
modest, and it will increase wait times at border crossings. The
country will eventually deploy biometric enrollment systems to 120
border crossings.Eurotunnel and Eurostar are ready for the system’s
launch, after installing hundreds of biometric kiosks between them.How
ready travellers will be remains to be seen.
Biometrics and digital wallet integrations bridge travel’s present and near-future-Sep 27, 2025, 1:44 pm EDT | Chris Burt
Biometrics
and digital wallets are taking their position for the future of travel,
from getting through airports, to crossing (and controlling) borders
and organizing complex supply chains. Biometric Update’s top stories of
the week reflect the widespread change, and provide a few examples.The
UK says it is ready to control it’s borders with digital ID, and rights
groups say they’re ready to push back. Surveys from Amadeus and
Phocuswright say travelers are ready, for instance, Eurotunnel says it
is ready, and digital wallets will soon be ready in Ghana and Djibouti.
But these digital systems also represent potential vulnerabilities, as
seen in a hack that disrupted thousands of flights.Have biometrics,
digital wallet, will travel-Major disruptions at several of Europe’s
largest airports last weekend were traced back to a ransomware attack on
the common-use passenger processing system from Collins Aerospace.
Biometric check-in and boarding systems relying on the software were
affected. The UK’s National Crime Agency has arrested an individual on
Tuesday, the BBC reports, but the investigation remains ongoing.SITA
discusses how the infrastructure fits the biometrics and digital ID
elements together in a blog post, and surveys from Amadeus and
Phocuswright point out the projected benefits of biometrics-based air
travel for all stakeholders and how they can be realized in practice. An
omnichannel approach, like that employed by the ecommerce sector, will
help. That gives digital wallets a prominent place, but also means
making room for AI agents and different forms of digital ID.Authorities
in Ghana plan to build digital wallet functionality into the Ghana Card
to enable payment authentication. The move could turn the national
digital ID card into a revenue-generating tool for the government, while
lowering costs for banks and easing transactions for Ghanaians. The
Ghana Card already has passport functionality as well.Djibouti has
signed an MoU with Visa to work on a national digital wallet, in the
wake of an expanded agreement on digital wallet technology between Visa
and Tech5. Djiboutian officials say the digital wallet will be developed
to ease access to digital public services, payments and digital
identity.Having people get out of their cars, as they will have to when
leaving the UK via the Eurotunnel for EES biometrics checks, is
effectively the opposite approach. But the deployment of biometric
kiosks, including hundreds from IN Groupe, is expected to be completed
on time and avoid chaos.Mandatory digital ID for employment eligibility
checks is the UK’s plan to reduce illegal immigration, Prime Minister
Keir Starmer announced this week. The Tony Blair Institute and Big
Brother Watch argued for and against the plan in anticipation, in ways
familiar to anyone who has been following the situation. In both cases,
the repetitive messaging indicates that convincing people who are new to
the discussion is prioritized over winning over skeptics or finding
common ground.For freight, digital ID bound with biometrics and
cryptography connects people and businesses to a whole range of dynamic
qualifications and authorizations, Trustd CEO Lyle Cresswell tells
Biometric Update in an interview. Cresswell explains the unique
identity-related needs of the logistics sector, and how they are served
within the context of systems like the DIATF and eiDAS 2.0.Bad news-A
new method of delivering deepfakes with jailbroken devices running iOS
15 or later has been discovered by iProov. The method was traced back to
hackers in China, and uses a Remote Presentation Transfer Mechanism
server to inject deepfakes into the device to defeat liveness detection
systems securing identity verification.Policing America-The U.S. federal
government has taken DNA from thousands of American citizens for
inclusion in an FBI database. An issue brief from Georgetown Law’s
Center on Privacy & Technology says roughly 2,000 citizens’ and
nearly 100 minors’ genetic data was collected by CBP between 2020 and
2024 and passed along for inclusion in CODIS.It has also been quietly
expanding ICE’s surveillance capabilities for years, utilizing Palantir
technology in several areas. Gaps in oversight and regulation have
enabled the collection of international students’ biometrics as far back
as 2018, and lead to a blurred statutory boundary, at best, between
civil and criminal enforcement.Age-gating the internet-Digital Identity
New Zealand hosted a pair of roundtable events this week for officials
to hear from the ACCS and AVPA about the country’s age assurance
options. The discussions focussed significantly on Australia’s
recently-concluded trial, but also how international standards and
lessons from around the world can be applied in New Zealand.Instagram is
automating Teen Account determinations in Canada, the UK and Australia
with an age inference based on analysis of user’s behavior and viewing
habits. Those misidentified as teens on Insta can fall back on Yoti’s
facial age estimation. Meta is the second Silicon Valley giant to adopt
its own age inference to gate content.Biometric Update Podcast-Professor
Fraser Sampson, former UK Biometrics and Surveillance Commissioner and
regular Biometric Update contributor, discusses police use of live
facial recognition in the UK and beyond.Wink CEO Deepak Jain talks about
the company’s recent merger with global payment technology and services
provider Phoenix Managed Networks, why Wink made the move, and how the
merger positions it in the global market.Please let us know if you come
across any podcasts, panel discussions or other content we should share
with those in biometrics and the digital identity community in the
comments below or through social media.
IDSA spotlights AI,
non-humans, zero trust and digital wallets as identity trends-Some see
biometrics as a way to improve, some see no benefit-Oct 1, 2025, 3:26 pm
EDT | Chris Burt
Digital identity security is increasing in
some measurable ways, according to the latest research from the Identity
Defined Security Alliance. After a significant increase in incidents of
many types in 2024, the number of security problems decreased in nearly
all categories in the 2025 report. Biometric authentication is seen by
some as a necessary next step, and by some as not necessary at all.The
2025 Trends in Identity Security report indicates 14 percent of
businesses did not suffer an identity-related incident in the past year,
up from 10 percent in the two prior surveys. More than 500
professionals in IT security or digital identity at companies with more
than 1,000 employees were surveyed for the IDSA report.They identified
AI, non-human identities (NHIs), zero trust and digital wallets as the
defining trends of the year in digital identity security.Phishing,
broadly understood, was experienced by 56 percent of organizations, far
ahead of the next most-common type of identity-related incident, which
was stolen credentials (35 percent). Attacks using AI-based identities
affected 20 percent of businesses surveyed.Stolen credentials and
social-engineering to acquire passwords declined slightly, but phishing
was down by 13 percent, companies experiencing brute force attacks
decreased by 8 percent and man in the middle attacks were down 7
percent.The report considers the controls companies have put on AI use,
and its potential benefits to identity security.Humans identities
outnumber NHIs at 49 percent of organizations, compared to 34 percent
with more machine identities than people.Zero trust approaches are in
place for critical or high-risk identities at 48 percent of companies,
and for all identities at 23 percent.Some businesses have moved from
considering digital wallets to integrating them, but 35 percent are not
interested, down only 1 percent from last year’s report.Thirty-two
percent identified implementing biometric authentication for all users
as a step that could have prevented security incidents within the past
year. But implementing biometric authentication is also the most common
answer for the technology or policy least likely to impact identity
security within the organization over the next two to three years, at 30
percent.
Sri Lanka looks to global examples for digital economy blueprint-Oct 1, 2025, 3:17 pm EDT | Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera
Speaking
at last week’s Sri Lanka Fintech Summit 2025, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya,
Chief Advisor to the President on Digital Economy, stressed that the
country’s digital economy is open and adaptable, drawing on both local
and international elements.Referring to the kottu roti analogy to
illustrate the agility and inclusivity of Sri Lanka’s digital economy,
he emphasized its dynamic nature comparable to the local dish that can
incorporate various ingredients.He discussed the development of the
digital economy blueprint, which involved analyzing successful models
from different countries and various markets and merging successful
elements from them. He acknowledged the contributions of past
administrations, underscoring the National Data Exchange as part of this
foundational work.India serves as a model for digital public
infrastructure due to its success, while the structural design is
instigated by Singapore, which is recognized for its citizen engagement
and streamlined access. The institutional framework for Sri Lanka’s DPI
looks to the United Kingdom, Australia, and Singapore, with Estonia
considered for its cybersecurity framework. The strategy involves
incorporating diverse international models to create a flexible
system.Dr. Wijayasuriya pointed out that while many of the referenced
nations had lengthy implementation periods of 10 to 15 years, Sri Lanka
aims for a more aggressive five-year timeline. He recognized the rapid
advancements in AI as a pivotal factor that could enable Sri Lanka to
lead in this space. The execution of various components must occur
concurrently to avoid delays, making parallel development a critical yet
challenging aspect of the project. “We need to ride this wave with
enthusiasm, appropriate change management, process reengineering,
capacity building, handholding and the greatest point of this is
parallelism.”Dr. Wijayasuriya noted that it is important for the country
to recognize that the citizen journey is a business journey. “Getting a
passport, multiple agency certificates, needs to be done from one
single window. This means that the data exchange and the
interoperability are seamless.”Sri Lanka is running procurements with
support from India for its national digital identity system.
Transplanting
biometrics in police CCTV may create Frankenstein effect-Oct 1, 2025,
2:00 pm EDT | Fraser Sampson-By Professor Fraser Sampson, former UK
Biometrics & Surveillance Camera Commissioner
There’s
something quaintly British about the fact that we still talk about
‘CCTV’.The UK has grown up with council operated closed-circuit
television cameras on our streets. We have a rough idea what they do and
why they’re there. We’re comfortable with these overt surveillance
systems and, like other features we drive or walk or cycle past every
day, the cameras have blended into the background. They’ve become
unremarkable.However, the nature and reach of public space surveillance
is changing fast – and it has nothing to do with closed circuits or
televisions. This is not just another British obsession with language –
as a London Borough announces that it is putting police live facial
recognition (LFR) capability in its street surveillance systems, we
should pause before cross-fertilizing CCTV cameras with AI-enabled
biometrics.Asked to think of ‘state surveillance’, most people picture a
classic CCTV system. Cameras – usually white and invariably above head
height – look down on somewhere, recording anything happening below. In
this cinematic scenario, images are relayed to a central control room
where people monitor banks of screens, intervening and directing as the
plot dictates. Most UK streets are covered by these traditional CCTV
systems, but the evolutionary direction of surveillance ecology means
the future will be very different. Private space surveillance is now
conducted by multi-modal devices, accessed remotely by anyone with the
permissions and connectivity to do so, from anywhere in the world. The
focus of AI-driven biometric surveillance will be people rather than
places and it will undoubtedly replace the traditional CCTV we have
grown familiar with. But we’re not there yet and we’re nowhere near
ready.Outwardly the cameras (computers) may look similar but biometric
surveillance systems are a completely different species from CCTV.
Behind the lens nothing is the same. Even with dynamic pan, tilt and
zoom (PTZ) functionality and streaming live images, CCTV cameras are
ingesters and regurgitators of images and sounds. The regulatory
framework for public space surveillance in the UK is still based on this
CCTV model, as is the ‘Orwellian’ vision of the dystopia we are warned
about. Both are historical artefacts and fall far short of the reality
ahead.AI-driven surveillance did not evolve out of cameras on sticks.
CCTV is photography, LFR is biometrics, two different disciplines
processing data in very different ways – if you don’t know why, ask your
national data regulator. Biometric surveillance masquerading as CCTV is
not just a wolf in sheep’s clothing; it’s not even a ‘two mammal’
problem and implanting AI-enabled biometrics into CCTV risks creating a
Frankenstein effect for police surveillance.The council’s announcement
comes just as the Metropolitan Police Service is beginning to recover
from its early LFR setbacks (caused mainly by leaping into biometric
solutions). Success has come from being careful, cautious and
consultative about LFR and keeping it distinct from other public space
surveillance. The results have been promising.Crime statistics in the
retail sector tell us two things about CCTV: 1) the cameras aren’t
working and 2) the introduction of LFR is reducing offending in shops.
Here too, confidence in the technology is growing as the early results
show how it can help retailers assert control of their business space in
a way that publicly funded CCTV has consistently failed to do for 50
years. It’s understandable then that local authorities might want to
replicate this impact. But councils are not controlling private
commercial space – justifying biometric surveillance of our streets is
much more complex than stopping unwanted people coming into shops.When
you next pass a council CCTV camera remember this: all the community
consultation before putting it there took place in a completely
different surveillance era. So did all the research on its impact. Walk
through UK streets today and the likelihood of your being identified,
let alone located, simply by coming within range of one of the many
closed systems of fixed-point street cameras is low to non-existent.
AI-enabled biometrics like facial recognition will change that.
Biometric surveillance devices aren’t just better CCTV cameras scanning a
space and recording whoever passes; they are actively looking for
people and they ‘know’ who those people are. The surveillance device of
the future will know where I have been, where I am probably going, when
and with whom. It can already teach other devices and learn beyond its
original programming; it can comb and combine information in huge
volumes and at extraordinary speeds. It can communicate and problem
solve. These features are incomparable with the traditional
closed-circuit cameras above our streets and staring up at one already
tells you nothing about what it’s doing or who it’s doing it for.The
ability to recognise me instantly, match me with my passport and
driver’s licence, bus dashcam or neighbour’s doorbell image, doesn’t
just change the camera. Knowing the old CCTV can now do all this and may
be actively trying to find me changes both me and the road I am
walking, profoundly and irreversibly.Perhaps that’s the point but we
haven’t begun to understand the impact of this biometric surveillance
future, let alone how it can be regulated.There’s more to accountability
than technical interoperability – and there’s much more to AI-driven
biometrics than facial recognition. Get LFR wrong and the use of other
biometrics for policing such as gait, heartbeat and what I’ve called
zoemetrics, will be a much harder sell. Genetically engineering police
biometrics into first-gen CCTV infrastructure risks a Frankenstein
effect in surveillance, technologically, legally and societally.
Biometric surveillance is not CCTV and needs a totally different
approach from that of the street camera generation. After a few missteps
the recent police case for using accountable facial recognition has
been convincing and consistent – to stick the landing, it now needs
coordination. About the author-Fraser Sampson, former UK Biometrics
& Surveillance Camera Commissioner, is Professor of Governance and
National Security at CENTRIC (Centre for Excellence in Terrorism,
Resilience, Intelligence & Organised Crime Research) and a
non-executive director at Facewatch.
