Monday, May 16, 2016

FRANCE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE TALKS TO GO ON EVEN THOUGH NETANYAHU DISAGREES.

JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)

LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)

JOEL 3:2
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(ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(UPROOTED ISRAELIS AND DIVIDED JERUSALEM)(THIS BRINGS ON WW3 BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED,WARNING TO ARABS-MUSLIMS AND THE WORLD).

THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS

Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week:(7 YEARS) and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.

DANIEL 11:21-23
21 And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.
24 He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

ISAIAH 33:8
8  The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

GENESIS 25:20-26
20  And Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+) when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22  And the children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24  And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25  And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26  And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2 TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

PM: International support for Palestinian effort to deny Jewish history is not just immoral, it is dangerous-Netanyahu slams Hollande for backing ‘shameful’ UNESCO resolution on Jerusalem-In blunt letter, PM says he is ‘astounded’ that Paris supported a ‘distortion of truth’ that ignored Jewish ties to Temple Mount-By Times of Israel staff May 14, 2016, 3:34 pm

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a strongly worded letter to French President Francoise Hollande to condemn Paris’s support for a recent controversial UNESCO resolution, days before the French leadership apologized for the vote, Channel 2 news reported Saturday.The UNESCO document spoke of “Occupied Palestine” and made no mention of historic Jewish ties to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It condemned “Israeli aggressions and illegal measures against the freedom of worship and Muslims’ access to their Holy Site Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al Sharif.”France was among the 33 countries that backed the resolution in the 58-member body.In his letter to Hollande, Netanyahu said he was “astounded” by France’s support for what he called “a historic distortion of truth” and “an extremely biased and offensive” resolution.“The organization trusted with the safekeeping of world history has degraded itself to rewriting a basic and indisputable part of human history,” Netanyahu wrote.“While we have no illusions as to the the UN’s commitment to truth or decency, we were honestly astounded to see our French friends raise their hands in favor of this shameful resolution,” he stated.He added: “International support for the Palestinian effort to deny Jewish history and to perpetuate the myth of Jewish aggression in the Temple Mount is not just immoral, it is dangerous.”Several days after Paris received the letter, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that the UNESCO resolution was “clumsy” and “unfortunate” and should have been avoided.French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was expected to arrive in Jerusalem on Saturday in a bid to persuade Netanyahu to accept France’s efforts to engineer a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, based on a two-state solution.The Haaretz daily said Netanyahu is set to strongly criticize the French plan during his talks with Ayrault in Jerusalem, while the foreign minister “will try to persuade him not to reject it out of hand.”According to Haaretz, Ayrault will arrive in Israel on Saturday night, meet with Netanyahu on Sunday morning, then head to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The foreign minister will depart on Sunday evening.The paper quoted French diplomats as saying that although the prime minister has publicly opposed the French plan, Ayrault “wants to hear Netanyahu’s views in person.”The meeting comes a week before Valls is also due to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories, in what his office said was an attempt to relaunch the peace process following the worst flare-up of violence in the Gaza Strip for two years.Valls’ May 21-24 visit will take place ahead of a May 30 summit that France is organizing for ministers from 20 countries to discuss reviving the peace negotiations. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian officials have been invited. Ayrault has previously said the aim of the meeting is to prepare an international summit in the second half of 2016, which would include Israeli and Palestinian leaders.The May 30 meeting has been welcomed by the Palestinians, who suspended a planned UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements to focus on the French efforts. Israel, however, has consistently argued that peace can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the two sides, rather than in international forums.According to Ayrault, a former French prime minister, discussions at the meeting would be based on the 2002 Saudi peace initiative — approved by the Arab League but not Israel — which called on the Jewish state to withdraw from Palestinian territory captured in the 1967 Six Day War, including East Jerusalem, in exchange for a normalization of ties with Arab countries. It also outlined the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza and envisaged a “just solution” of the refugee issue.Valls will meet with Netanyahu a day after his arrival in Israel. He also plans to hold talks with President Reuven Rivlin, former president Shimon Peres and opposition leader Isaac Herzog.He is then scheduled to travel to Ramallah, where he will meet with PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.AFP contributed to this report.

French FM: Peace confab to go ahead despite Netanyahu opposition-After meeting with Israeli, Palestinian leaders, Jean-Marc Ayrault says summit will start process to bring about direct negotiations-By Raoul Wootliff May 15, 2016, 4:57 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Sunday that the Middle East peace conference his country is organizing will take place as planned, despite public opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the lack of either Israeli or Palestinian representatives attending.Speaking at Ben Gurion airport after a fleeting visit to the region to meet with Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Ayrault said the conference is not a replacement for direct talks and is just the beginning of a process aimed at bringing Israelis and Palestinian to the negotiating table.“It’s clear to us — and I said this to Netanyahu and Abbas — that we cannot fulfill the role of the two sides,” Ayraulet said. “They will need to carry out direct negotiations but because the process is stuck, they need external help. The goal [of the conference] is to encourage them return to the negotiating table.”The May 30 summit will include ministers from 20 countries to discuss reviving peace negotiations. The conference has been welcomed by the Palestinians, who suspended a planned UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements to focus on the French efforts. Israel, however, has consistently argued that peace can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the two sides, rather than in international forums.PA Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki told reporters after Ayrault’s meeting with Abbas that unlike the Israelis, the Palestinians welcomed the French initiative.“We wish France and its efforts success because the French efforts are the only ones on the ground now, and could eventually result in giving the political process a good push forward at this stage,” Malki said.Ayrault reiterated Sunday that the aim of the meeting is to prepare an international summit in the second half of 2016, which would include Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The second conference would take place “some time in the autumn,” he said.According to Ayrault, a former French prime minister, discussions at the meeting would be based on the 2002 Saudi peace initiative — approved by the Arab League but not Israel — which called on the Jewish state to withdraw from Palestinian territory captured in the 1967 Six Day War, including East Jerusalem, in exchange for a normalization of ties with Arab countries. It also outlined the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza and envisaged a “just solution” of the refugee issue.Netanyhau told Ayrault Sunday morning that France’s “scandalous decision” to vote in favor of a UNESCO resolution “which doesn’t recognize the millennia-old connection between the Jewish people and the Temple Mount casts a shadow on France’s evenhandedness in any forum it’s trying to convene.”Sources close to Ayrault said on Sunday that France “regretted” the resolution, echoing remarks by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls who on Wednesday called it “clumsy” and “unfortunate” and said it should have been avoided.Ayrault said that the opposition to the summit does not weaken France’s resolve and the conference will take place next month as planned.“We are not giving up, and neither are our partners,” he said.“France has no vested interest, but is deeply convinced that if we don’t want to let the ideas of the Islamic State group prosper in this region, we must do something,” he added, stressing that the international community feels there is an urgent need to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.He did however say that France would be willing to move the conference “a day or two,” in order to allow US Secretary of State John Kerry to attend, signaling for the first time the involvement and support of the United States.Ayrault’s visit comes a week before Valls is due to arrive in the region to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.Valls will meet with Netanyahu a day after his arrival in Israel on May 24. He also plans to hold talks with President Reuven Rivlin, former president Shimon Peres and opposition leader Isaac Herzog. He is then scheduled to travel to Ramallah, where he will meet with PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.AFP and Times of Israel contributed to this report.

COUNTRIES WITH ISRAEL AND THE ENEMIES OF THE WEST

EZEKIEL 38:10-19
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA,ARAB,MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13 Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDIA ARABIA)(JORDAN) and the merchants of Tarshish,(ENGLAND) with all the young lions thereof,(USA,CANADA,AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND,EU,ENGLAND,ENGLISH SPEAKING shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
PSALMS 83:3-7 (COUNTRIES AGAINST ISRAEL)(EXCEPT JORDAN)
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
ISRAEL-WEST ENEMIES EZEK 38:4-6,15-19
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
15 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts,(RUSSIA-ARAB/MUSLIMS) thou, and many people with thee,(AFRICAN ISLAMIC COUNTRIES) all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
DANIEL 11:44 (CHINA WITH RUSSIA-MUSLIMS)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
EZEKIEL 39:1-6 ISRAELS ENEMIES DESTROYED
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Iran ‘preparing another Holocaust,’ Netanyahu charges-After meeting French FM, prime minister calls on world to condemn Islamic Republic for ‘denying and mocking’ the Shoah-By Times of Israel staff May 15, 2016, 11:45 am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed at Iran Sunday for holding its annual Holocaust denial cartoon contest, charging that the Islamic Republic was “preparing another Holocaust” against the Jewish people.Iran “denies the Holocaust, mocks the Holocaust, and is preparing another Holocaust,” he told ministers at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in his Jerusalem office, “and I think all the countries of the world need to stand up and condemn this unequivocally.”Israel’s problem with Iran, he said, “isn’t just its subversive, aggressive policy in the region. It’s the values on which it’s based.”Iran’s annual international cartoon contest lampooning the Holocaust features around 150 works from 50 countries. It began Saturday and is running for the next two weeks.The contest secretary said Saturday it was not denying the Nazi genocide and wasn’t “ridiculing its victims,” but then went on to equate Nazi crimes with Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.Netanyahu also said that France’s support for a UNESCO resolution that neglected to mention the Temple Mount’s Jewish history casts a pall over Paris’s impartiality in attempts to resuscitate peace talks.He was speaking shortly after meeting with visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. Ayrault traveled to Ramallah to convene with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas after his tete-a-tete with the Israeli prime minister.The prime minister said that he told Ayrault that France’s “scandalous decision” to vote in favor of a UNESCO resolution “which doesn’t recognize the millennia-old connection between the Jewish people and the Temple Mount casts a shadow on France’s evenhandedness in any forum it’s trying to convene.” Netanyahu wrote a furious letter to President Francois Hollande last week protesting the French support for the decision.Ayrault reassured Netanyahu that France maintains complete transparency regarding its relations with Israel, and reiterated Hollande’s assertion that the UNESCO vote was a “misunderstanding.”“The only way to advance real peace between us and the Palestinians is through direct negotiations… with no preconditions,” Netanyahu restated.Ayrault is promoting a bid to persuade Netanyahu to accept France’s efforts to engineer a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, based on a two-state solution.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Hezbollah terror chief blown up. Israel not blamed!-The Shiite terror group, most unusually, is not accusing Israel of assassinating Mustafa Badreddine, killed in Damascus. So who did it?-By Avi Issacharoff May 13, 2016, 6:02 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

Mustafa Badreddine, the heir to Imad Mughniyeh as Hezbollah’s terror chief, had no shortage of enemies.He was wanted in the US and in Saudi Arabia for his part in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. He was the sworn enemy of opposition activists in Syria. Of Islamic State. Of Al Nusra Front. Of Israel. And that’s not the full list.Badreddine was also involved in a great deal of the clandestine, illicit activities — drugs smuggling, weapons smuggling and more — by which the Shiite terror ground funds its various military actions.Hard to know, then, who killed him.In an official statement on Friday morning, Hezbollah didn’t claim to be certain. While pro-Hezbollah media had quickly pointed the finger of blame at Israel, the statement did not. It said only that “an initial investigation shows that Mustafa Badreddine was killed as a result of a large explosion at one of our bases near the Damascus International Airport. We are conducting an investigation to find out the circumstances of the explosion – whether it was caused by an aerial assault, artillery strike or a rocket. We will publish our findings soon.”And the early reports on Al-Mayadeen, a website affiliated with Hezbollah, to the effect that Badreddine was killed in an Israeli airstrike, were subsequently taken down.After similar incidents in the past, Hezbollah has often been quick to hold Israel responsible. That was the case with the assassination of Hassan al-Lakis in the center of Beirut in December 2013, and with Jihad Mughniyeh — son of Imad and a relative of Badreddine — in January 2015.This time, it would seem, therefore, Hezbollah has good reason for thinking Israel was not responsible.The location of the assassination — if, indeed, this was not a “work accident” — shows the degree to which Hezbollah has lost its shame regarding the extent of its involvement in the Syrian civil war.“One of our bases near the Damascus International Airport,” the statement says, indicating that, as far as Hezbollah is concerned, Syria and Lebanon have become one front today — with Islamic State threatening the Shiite axis on the one hand, and several Lebanese parties continually harassing Hezbollah over intra-Lebanese issues on the other.Lebanon and Syria have morphed into a single cause for the Shiite terror army. The best Hezbollah fighters and commanders are dispatched to Syria, including the likes of Badreddine. Hezbollah has lost more than 1,500 fighters in Syria, and now a respected commander too.Badreddine never attained the notoriety of Imad Mughniyeh, the mass bomber, kidnapper and assassin responsible for innumerable attacks and regarded by the US as to blame for the killings of more American citizens than anybody else prior to 9/11.Badreddine’s “successes” in terror attacks against Israel were limited, and his involvement with Rafik Hariri’s death earned him enemies across the Sunni Arab world. Social media on Friday was brimming with invective against Badreddine and others over Hariri.Hezbollah expert Matthew Levitt, from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, wrote that Badreddine was considered the organization’s No. 2 man but was also seen as a “loose cannon,” compared to Mughniyeh. According to Levitt, Badreddine was also known as a bit of a playboy and was not a very religious man.Who killed him? If it were Islamic State or the Nusra Front, they would likely rush to boast of their success.So perhaps the men behind the attack are from the intelligence corps of a country – not Israel – which wanted to settle a score with Badreddine. And which is now doing its best to cover its tracks.

Only US to join annual Jordan war games-As 17 other nations opt out of ‘Eager Lion’ drills, Jordanian general downplays their absence-By AFP May 15, 2016, 5:36 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

Only Jordan and the United States are to take part in this year’s Eager Lion military exercise, commanders said on Sunday, compared with the 18 nations that participated last year.A total of 6,000 troops will undertake 10 days of maneuvers in the kingdom — 3,000 from each country and including special forces as well as air, ground and naval forces, Brigadier General Ralph Groover said.Jordan’s Brigadier General Fahd al-Damen said nothing should be read into the absence of other participating countries this year.“This exercise was from the outset a bilateral event but in recent years we organized multilateral maneuvers at the request of other countries,” he told a news conference.

Nakba rally faces right-wing protest at Tel Aviv University-Opposing activists prop up 15-foot-tall Pinocchio near Palestinian commemoration ‘to emphasize the lie of the Nakba’-By Dov Lieber May 15, 2016, 4:54 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

Two hundred Jews and Arabs attended a ceremony at Tel Aviv University on Sunday to mark the 68th anniversary of the Palestinian “Nakba,” a term used by Palestinians to refer to the “catastrophe” of the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.The event was held, as in years past, in front of the main entrance to the university rather than within the grounds of the institution.Following instructions on the Facebook page for the event, many of the participants wore black and refrained from bringing partisan symbols, including Palestinian flags. Photos from the event, however, showed one Palestinian flag was placed on the speaker’s podium.The event was attended by many members of the Joint (Arab) List, including party leader MK Ayman Odeh, MK Hanin Zoabi, MK Dov Khenin and MK Jamal Zahalka.“The Nakba is our catastrophe: 531 villages were destroyed and whole families lost their entire worlds,” Odeh said during the event.The Joint List leader continued: “It’s important to commemorate this day, especially in Tel Aviv, with a message to all of the citizens of Israel: The Nakba is not just a painful past, but also a possibility for a shared future. Only the recognition of past crimes will allow for the building of a shared citizenship based on equality and mutual respect.”Joint List MK Osama Saadi, who also attended the ceremony, said, “At this extremely symbolic event at Tel Aviv University, Arab students are standing tall. In one hand, they are carrying the torch of knowledge and learning, and in the other hand the struggle for social and national justice as well as a just peace between two nations, which must be based on the principle of recognizing the Nakba of the Palestinian people.”Protesters from the right-wing Im Tirtzu organization set up a small counter-protest near the Nakba Day event. The counter-protesters waved Israeli flags, held up signs that said “Nakba Day equals day of lies,” and set up a 15-foot-tall inflatable Pinocchio nearby – “to emphasize the lie of the Nakba,” a statement from Im Tirztu said.While last year’s Nakba Day event at the university saw a clash between participants and right-wing protesters, this year there were no reports of violence.Every May, Palestinians and Arab Israelis – many of whom see themselves as Palestinians – hold rallies to commemorate the Nakba, the defeat and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Arabs in the 1948 war in which Israel gained its independence. Many of those refugees and their descendants, now numbering some five million according to the UN, live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip or in neighboring Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.On Thursday, thousands of Israeli Arabs participated in the 19th annual “March of Return,” in which participants assert the right of descendants of Palestinians who fled Israel as a result of the 1948 War of Independence to return to the homes, or at least the land, they left.Adiv Sterman contributed to this report.

Kerry in Saudi Arabia for talks on Syria, Libya, Yemen-US seeks to shore up the shaky truce in Syria amid violations and ongoing fighting against jihadist groups-By Matthew Lee May 15, 2016, 4:21 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — US Secretary of State John Kerry met Sunday with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman for talks on the conflicts in Syria, Libya and Yemen ahead of larger meetings on those crises in Europe this week.Kerry was also scheduled to meet Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, deputy crown prince and foreign minister. His visit comes at a critical time in efforts to rein in fighting and encourage political dialogue in all three countries that have been wracked by violence for years.Kerry is trying to shore up the shaky truce in Syria, which has been fraught with violations on both sides. While the US and its partners accuse the government of the vast majority of breaches, they have also acknowledged violations by the opposition.The situation has been further complicated by the intermingling of some western and Arab-backed rebels with groups such as the al-Qaeda affiliate known as the Nusra Front, which the UN has designated a terrorist organization and therefore not covered by the truce. Saudi Arabia and the US have rejected attempts by Russia to get those rebels placed on the UN terrorist list.Kerry travels later Sunday to Vienna where he will co-host group talks on Libya with Italy’s foreign minister and then on Syria with his Russian counterpart. He will then visit Brussels for a meeting of NATO foreign ministers before flying on to Asia to meet US President Barack Obama in Vietnam.

Egypt sentences 101 protesters to 5 years in prison-Cairo cracking down on demonstrations against handing over 2 Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia-By Hamza Hendawi May 15, 2016, 4:48 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL-AP

CAIRO (AP) — Two Cairo courts have convicted and sentenced to five years in jail a total of 101 protesters for taking part in peaceful, anti-government demonstrations last month, officials said on Sunday.They said the 101 were convicted of breaking a disputed 2013 law that effectively bans street protests. Of the 101, 79 were fined 100,000 pounds (about $10,000) each and 54 were convicted and sentenced in absentia.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.The sentences were passed late Saturday, hours after another Cairo court sentenced another 51 protesters to two years in jail for their part in last month’s demonstrations, which were called to protest Egypt’s decision to hand over control of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia as part of a demarcation deal.The deal, negotiated in near total secrecy, has earned mounting criticism of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi by activists who claim the transfer was a sell-off to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which last month announced a multibillion dollar aid package to Egypt.Sissi maintains that the islands belong to the Saudis and has angrily demanded an end to public criticism of the deal.A massive police deployment on April 25 stifled the planned demonstrations, prompting activists to stage small, flash protests in various parts of the capital. More than 1,200 arrests were made in the run-up to April 25 and on the day. Most of them have been released but nearly 300 faced formal charges and were referred to trial for breaking the protest law.The arrests and Saturday’s sentences signaled the government’s zero tolerance for dissent. Sissi says he has to balance safeguarding rights with his government’s fight against a resilient insurgency by Islamic militants in Sinai and efforts to revive the economy.He has repeatedly insisted that Egypt’s human rights record must not be judged by Western standards.