ISRAELS WESTERN ALLIES BLAST ABBAS FOR HIS ANTI-SEMITIC SPEECH AGAINST ISRAEL.

LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)

JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

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

France, Britain blast Abbas for anti-Semitic speech-London calls PA president's Holocaust-denying comments 'deeply unhelpful,' France says they were 'false' and 'unfortunate'-By TOI staff-MAY 3,18

The United Kingdom and France joined Israel and much of the international community in condemning a speech by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that claimed the Holocaust was the result of Jews’ own “social behavior” and financial conduct rather than anti-Semitism.While stressing Abbas’s role in peace negotiations, UK’s Middle East Minister Alistair Burt said the speech did not help his own people.“President Abbas has shown a commitment to non-violence and a two-state solution,” Burt said in a statement. “But his recent rhetoric does not serve the interests of the Palestinian people and is deeply unhelpful to the cause of peace.”The minister said a hoped-for peace deal could not be based on denying history.“At a highly sensitive time in the region, when we must all look forwards and work urgently towards a resolution of the longstanding issues between Israel and the Palestinian people, the fundamentals of peace cannot be built on views of the Holocaust which fly in the face of history,” he said.During his long-winded speech Monday in front of hundreds at a rare session of the Palestinian National Council in Ramallah, the 82-year-old PA leader alleged that the Holocaust was not caused by anti-Semitism, but rather by Jews’ “social behavior, [charging] interest, and financial matters.”Though he stopped short of calling the speech anti-Semitic, as some other leaders had done, Burt said that it was unacceptable to try and justify the Holocaust.“Palestinian President Abbas’s comments at the Palestinian National Congress were deeply concerning. Any attempt to justify or explain away any element of the Holocaust is unacceptable,” he said.The French Foreign Ministry said it “deplored” Abbas’s speech, calling his words “to be false, unfortunate and untimely.”It urged Israelis and Palestinians to create an atmosphere conducive to a peace deal.“France calls on everyone to act in a spirit of peace and dialogue, in order to create the conditions for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. This requires the greatest responsibility in the public expression of each of the parties,” it said in a statement.Although not calling Abbas’s speech anti-Semitic, in its statement the French Foreign Ministry condemned all anti-Semitism.“France recalls its strongest condemnation of anti-Semitism, in all its forms, as well as its determination to fight relentlessly against this scourge,” the statement read.UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay also strongly criticized the PA leader’s speech, calling it “deeply disturbing,” “dangerous” and “in contrast to reality.”Azoulay, who is Jewish, endorsed the statement of UN special envoy to the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov, who said that Abbas “chose to use his speech at the opening of the Palestinian National Council to repeat some of the most contemptuous anti-Semitic slurs.”Joining my voice to UN envoy @nmladenov regarding comments by President Abbas. All forms of antisemitism, including Holocaust denial and relativization, are unacceptable. @UNESCO promotes Holocaust education against falsifications of history & combats antisemitism thru education. pic.twitter.com/jTjpssS664— Audrey Azoulay (@AAzoulay) May 3, 2018-She added on Twitter: “All forms of anti-Semitism, including Holocaust denial and relativization, are unacceptable. UNESCO promotes Holocaust education against falsifications of history and combats anti-Semitism through education.”Last October, the US and Israel decided to withdraw from UNESCO, citing among other reasons the body’s anti-Israel bias. Israel has slammed the organization for passing resolutions seen as political, downplaying Jewish connection to Jerusalem and referring to contested sites as “Palestinian heritage sites.”The speech has been criticized as anti-Semitic by various political figures in Israel, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, the European Union and Germany, among others. The New York Times called for Abbas’s resignation in an editorial Thursday.The incendiary content of Abbas’s speech, which was reported by The Times of Israel late that night, was not included in the official Palestinian news agency’s English press release about his address or in most initial international coverage of it.Following Mladenov’s comments, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon sent a letter to the UN Security Council demanding condemnation of Abbas’s remarks.Netanyahu said after the speech that “apparently a Holocaust-denier remains a Holocaust-denier,” alluding to Abbas’s 1982 doctoral dissertation, and called on the international community to condemn the speech and its expression of an anti-Semitism “whose time has come to disappear off the face of the earth.”Abbas touched on a number of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories during what he called a “history lesson,” as he sought to prove the 3,000-year-old Jewish connection to the Land of Israel is false.He said, “Their narrative about coming to this country because of their longing for Zion, or whatever — we’re tired of hearing this. The truth is that this is a colonialist enterprise, aimed at planting a foreign body in this region.”“Those who sought a Jewish state weren’t Jews,” Abbas said, repeating a claim he made in January when he said that the State of Israel was formed as “a colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism” to safeguard European interests.“From the 11th century until the Holocaust that took place in Germany, those Jews — who moved to Western and Eastern Europe — were subjected to a massacre every 10 to 15 years,” he said. “But why did this happen? They say ‘it is because we are Jews.’”The “proof” that it was not because they were Jews, he asserted, “is that there were Jews in Arab countries. Why wasn’t there ever one incident against Jews because they’re Jews?” he asked. “Not even once. Do you think I’m exaggerating? I challenge you [to find] even one indecent act against Jews in over 1,400 years — because they were Jews in Arab lands.”He went on to claim that the Holocaust was not the result of anti-Semitism but rather of the Jews’ “social behavior, [charging] interest, and financial matters.”The Palestinian leader has a history of Holocaust denial. His 1982 doctoral dissertation was titled “The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism,” and he has in the past been accused of denying the scope of the Holocaust. The dissertation reportedly claimed that the six million figure of Holocaust victims was hugely exaggerated and that Zionist leaders cooperated with the Nazis.Raphael Ahren and AFP contributed to this report.

Analysis-When the NY Times says Abbas is no partner, something fundamental is shifting-World response to PA head's vile speech shows a growing awareness that peace requires Palestinian recognition of Jewish rights here. That's not to say Israel will get a free pass-By Raphael Ahren-TOI-MAY 3,18

The global chorus condemning Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for his incendiary speech on Monday, during which he blamed the Jews for their own mass murder in the Holocaust and denied any Jewish connection to the Holy Land, is largely helpful for Israeli government public diplomacy, but it does come with a caveat.Broadly speaking, Jerusalem welcomes any statement, from anybody, criticizing the Palestinian leader, whom Netanyahu government members have long accused of duplicity, anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, and, perhaps most relevantly, a persistent refusal to accept the idea of Jewish self-determination anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.Two days after Abbas’s speech, when the import of what he had said in a televised address before hundreds in Ramallah began to sink in, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday called on the international community to “condemn Abu Mazen’s severe anti-Semitism.”With rare alacrity, much of the world heeded his call.Condemnations poured in, not only from the governments of Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Lithuania, but also from more unlikely quarters: the United Nations’ Middle East envoy; the European Union’s foreign policy chief; the main pro-Palestinian lobby group in Germany; even the head of UNESCO, the UN cultural agency that Israel is leaving because of its notorious anti-Israel bias.“The utterly unacceptable remarks of President Mahmoud Abbas regarding the victims of Shoa are an inexcusable insult to the memory of the millions murdered by the Nazis and an outrageous distortion of truth,” tweeted Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl. Kneissl is affiliated with the far-right Freedom Party, which Israel boycotts due to its neo-Nazi past and alleged xenophobia.Greeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Netanyahu once more “condemned Abu Mazen’s anti-Semitic remarks and said that they reveal the true reason why there is no peace,” according to a readout provided by Netanyahu’s office.Abbas’s vile remarks, the latest and worst of his inflammatory efforts at inciting anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment among his people, indeed constitute a vindicating moment from the perspective of a prime minister who has for years argued that the absence of peace is due neither to Israel’s settlement enterprise nor to any other ostensible hardline policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians.Rather, Netanyahu has stressed countless times over the years, peace has been elusive simply because the Palestinian Arabs and their leadership adamantly refuse to accept a Jewish state in any boundaries.It is for this very reason that he repeatedly cites Palestinian recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people as one of two essential pillars on which any future peace agreement must stand (the other being the demilitarization of a Palestinian state and ironclad security arrangements for Israel).Many Western leaders, and even many centrist and left-leaning Israeli politicians, consider Netanyahu’s insistence on Palestinian recognition of a Jewish state to be an unnecessary obstacle.But Abbas’s speech to the Palestinian National Council — in which he claimed the Holocaust was caused by European Jews’ “social behavior” including lending gentiles money for interest, and that Ashkenazi Jews are descended from Khazars and therefore had “no historical ties” to the Land of Israel — served to underline Netanyahu’s point: How can you expect Israelis to make peace with those who deny their basic connection to this land?This has not been lost on the international community.Abbas’s rhetoric “does not serve the interests of the Palestinian people and is deeply unhelpful to the cause of peace,” UK Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt said Thursday, echoing a line articulated by other Western officials.The international community is not about to start supporting West Bank settlements or backing the IDF’s use of live ammunition against protesters at the Gaza border. It certainly won’t abandon its support for the two-state solution Netanyahu may or may not still endorse.But the negative response to Abbas’s remarks shows that the argument that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not merely a dispute over real estate that could be solved easily if only Israel were willing to make the required territorial concessions is gaining traction.Based on the many statements issued, many international players are internalizing that for peace to prevail, the Palestinians must come to terms with the fact that Jews have millennia of history in this land and a right to sovereignty here that has nothing to do with the Holocaust.When The New York Times editorializes that Abbas, by “feeding reprehensible anti-Semitic myths and conspiracy theories” has now “shed all credibility as a trustworthy partner,” something fundamental has patently begun to shift.So why the caveat? Why does the fallout also have a partial downside for pro-Israel advocacy, known as hasbara? Because defenders of Israel’s good name can no longer easily claim that the international community is hopelessly biased in favor of the Palestinians. The automatic Arab majority in UNESCO will still be there after this Abbas controversy fades from the headlines. The UN’s anti-Israel numerical bias won’t quickly be remade. But it will nevertheless be a little more difficult to argue that “everyone is instinctively against us” or that the Europeans have it in relentlessly for Jews and Israel.In January, the EU refused to condemn Abbas for saying Israel was “a colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism.”“Our policy is not to comment on comments,” an EU spokesperson in Brussels told The Times of Israel at the time.On Wednesday, by contrast, the EU denounced Abbas’s “unacceptable remarks concerning the origins of the Holocaust and Israel’s legitimacy.”Apparently, Brussels’ policy is no longer not to comment on comments. Abbas’s rhetoric was too vicious to be left unremarked upon.But that doesn’t mean Israel will be getting a free pass from now on. It means criticism of Israel from those many quarters that this week spoke out against Abbas might be a little harder to shrug off.

NY Times calls for Abbas ouster over ‘vile’ claim on Jews and Holocaust-In rare rebuke, editorial board says Palestinian leader's anti-Semitism reached 'new low,' proving he is not a trustworthy peace partner-By Tamar Pileggi-TOI-MAY 3,18

The New York Times’ editorial board has called for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ouster after he attributed the genocide of Jews during the Holocaust to their “social behavior” in what the US paper called a “vile speech”  earlier this week.In Wednesday’s editorial titled “Let Abbas’s vile words be his last as Palestinian leader,” the paper called his remarks “a new low,” even for a leader who has shown “anti-Semitic tendencies” in the past.In an unusual rebuke of a foreign leader, the paper said Abbas’s remarks in front of hundreds at a rare session of the Palestinian National Council in Ramallah fueled anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and demonstrated that Israel does not have a trustworthy peace partner in the PA president. “Feeding reprehensible anti-Semitic myths and conspiracy theories,” it said, “Abbas shed all credibility as a trustworthy partner if the Palestinians and Israelis ever again have the nerve to try negotiations.”In a rambling speech on Monday, Abbas gave what he called a “history lesson” claiming that Jewish connections to Europe’s finance and banking sectors had bred hostility against them.Abbas claimed that the Holocaust was not a result of anti-Semitism, but instead the Jews’ “social behavior, [charging] interest, and financial matters.”Abbas also portrayed the creation of Israel as a European colonial project, saying “history tells us there is no basis for the Jewish homeland.”The speech has prompted outrage in Israel and around the world, with the US, EU, UN, Germany and others issuing condemnations. On Wednesday, an aide to Abbas asserted that his remarks, which were televised, had been distorted by Israel.The New York Times noted that Abbas’s failed effort to mend the rift with political rival Hamas, the dwindling prospects for renewed peace talks with Israel, Arab nations’ lack of interest in the conflict, a lack of support from his people, and a perception that US President Donald Trump’s administration favors Israel have left the Palestinian leader in a desperate position.“Even in this gloomy climate, however, Mr. Abbas’s vile speech was a new low. No doubt he feels embittered and besieged on all sides,” the paper declared. “But by succumbing to such dark, corrosive instincts he showed that it is time for him to leave office.”The editorial concluded with a declaration urging a change of Palestinian leadership.“Palestinians need a leader with energy, integrity and vision, one who might have a better chance of achieving Palestinian independence and enabling both peoples to live in peace.”Abbas, 82, has been leader of the Palestinian Authority since November 2004. The last Palestinian parliamentary elections were in 2006 and there have been no presidential elections since 2005. The aging Palestinian leader has not designated a successor.Monday’s speech was not the first time Abbas has been accused of anti-Semitism. In 2016 he gave apparently unscripted remarks to the European Parliament in which he said that “a number of rabbis in Israel made a clear declaration and asked their government to poison water to kill the Palestinians.”He gave no source for the accusation, but said it was part of a wider Israeli campaign of incitement against Palestinians. His office later admitted the claim was baseless and retracted it.In January, Abbas told PA officials that European Jews opted for “murder and slaughter” in the Holocaust over emigration to British-held Palestine. He also asserted that Israel was created to safeguard European interests as “a colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism.”Abbas’s 1982 doctoral dissertation was titled “The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism,” and he has in the past been accused of denying the scope of the Holocaust. The dissertation reportedly claimed that the six million figure of Holocaust victims was hugely exaggerated and that Zionist leaders cooperated with the Nazis.

Trump ‘all but decided’ to withdraw from Iran deal – report-Tehran says it will not remain in nuclear accord if US pulls out, Zarif rejects European efforts to negotiate a new pact-By TOI staff and Agencies-MAY 3,18

US President Donald Trump has “all but decided” to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, but may not pull out completely, Reuters reported Thursday.Two White House officials and a third source source told the news agency that the president would most likely end the waivers on the Iran sanctions on May 12 when they next come up for renewal. However, an official said it was possible that he would decide on a compromise that was “not a full pullout,” though it was unclear what form such a decision would take.The source said Trump’s meeting last week with French President Emmanuel Macron may have pushed the president to remain in the deal somehow. Macron made a three-day state visit to Washington primarily to convince Trump to not leave the 2015 deal, negotiated between Tehran and six world powers.Macron on Wednesday reiterated his commitment to the accord but admitted that it needed strengthening.“I don’t know what the US president will decide on May 12,” Macron said during a visit to Sydney.Britain, France and Germany — the three European countries that signed the deal — have repeatedly tried to persuade Trump not to abandon it.A senior adviser to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced Thursday that Iran will not remain in the deal if the US decides to pull out.“If the United States withdraws from the nuclear deal, then we will not stay in it,” his foreign policy adviser Ali Akbar Velayati was quoted as saying by state television.“Iran accepts the nuclear agreement as it has been prepared and will not accept adding or removing anything,” he said.“Even if countries allied with the United States, especially the Europeans, seek to revise the nuclear agreement… one of our options will be withdrawing from the accord,” Velayati added.“I just want to say whatever the decision will be, we will have to prepare such a broader negotiation and a broader deal, because I think nobody wants a war in the region, and nobody wants an escalation in terms of tension in the region,” he said.Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister took to YouTube to criticize Trump’s threat to withdraw from the nuclear deal, and also slammed European talk of a new treaty, saying Iran will not “renegotiate or add onto” the atomic accord.Mohammad Javad Zarif’s video, which was also posted to Trump’s favorite social media platform, Twitter, appeared to be taking his message to the masses after earlier speaking to news outlets across the US to defend the deal.The five-minute video showed Zarif behind his desk, delivering his message on the deal. He offers background first about the deal before laying into Trump and criticizing Europe for offering “the United States more concessions from our pocket.”“On 11 occasions since, the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed that Iran has implemented all of its obligations,” Zarif, who studied in the US, said in American-accented English. “In contrast, the US has consistently violated the agreement, especially by bullying others from doing business with Iran.”He lashed out at the European nations who were trying to convince Trump that a new deal could be struck to shore up what the president saw as the weaknesses of the deal.Iran's Message: There is Only One Way Forward, and It's U.S. Compliance; Not Appeasement. #IranDeal https://t.co/CBehxCAv26— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) May 3, 2018-“It now appears that the response from some Europeans is to offer the United States more concessions — from our pocket,” Zarif said. “This appeasement entails promises of a new deal that would include matters we all decided to exclude at the outset of our negotiations, including Iran’s defensive capabilities and regional influence.”“We have not attacked anyone in centuries,” he continued, “but we have been invaded, most recently by Saddam Hussein, who was then backed by the US and its regional allies.”Zarif added: “Let me make it absolutely clear once and for all: We will neither outsource our security nor will we renegotiate or add onto a deal we have already implemented in good faith.”There was no immediate response from Washington.In the video, Zarif also appeared to troll Trump, a real estate mogul, saying: “To put it in real estate terms, when you buy a house and move your family in it or demolish it to build a skyscraper, you cannot come back two years later and renegotiate the price.”In a possible veiled allusion to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s elaborate Monday night presentation  on live television of an intelligence trove on Iran’s shelved nuclear weapons program, Zarif said the US was already breaking the deal it had made, using “cartoonish allegations.”“Relying on cartoonish allegations, rehashed from more than a decade ago, and dealt with by the IAEA to make a case for nixing the deal has fooled no one,” he said.Netanyahu said tens of thousands of documents recently recovered by intelligence operatives in Tehran proved his country’s main enemy, Iran, had a secret nuclear weapons program it could put into action at any time.But some analysts and proponents of the nuclear agreement, including the IAEA, charged with monitoring Iran’s compliance with the 2015 deal, said Netanyahu had presented previously known details and failed to produce evidence that showed Iran was not abiding by the accord.

Satellite images claim to reveal ‘unusual activity’ at Iran nuclear site By Tamar Pileggi-TOI-MAY 3,18

Satellite images published online today claim to show “unusual activity” at Iran’s uranium enrichment facility in Fordow in recent days.Israeli company ImageSat posts satellite images to Twitter showing new building projects and with cars and busses in the facility’s parking lot. The company posts a satellite photo of an apparently inactive Fordow from July 2016 for comparison.Has #Iran prepared a bargaining chip? Signs of activity in #Fordow #uranium enrichment #nuclear plant, #Qom. pic.twitter.com/ZcXIftuEaw— imagesatintl (@imagesatint) May 3, 2018-The underground facility is under UN monitoring under the 2015 nuclear agreement that the US has threatened to withdraw from unless it is amended.ImageSat says the renewed activity at Fordow could be a sign that Iran could be preparing a response to a US exit from the multi-national accord.

Russian fighter jet crashes off Syria, both pilots killed-Moscow said bird possibly 'fell into engine' of Su-30SM plane, causing it to crash shortly after takeoff-By AFP-TOI-MAY 3,18

MOSCOW, Russia — A Russian fighter jet crashed after taking off from an airbase in Syria on Thursday, killing both pilots, Moscow’s defense ministry said in a statement carried by news agencies.“As it was climbing after taking off from the Hmeimim airbase, the Russian fighter Su-30SM crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. Two pilots, who fought until the last minute to save the plane, died, according to reports from the scene,” the statement said.The ministry said the plane had not come under fire, adding that “according to preliminary information, the reason for the crash could have been a bird falling into the engine.”The accident brings Russia’s official military losses in Syria to 86.The most recent acknowledged military loss came when a transport plane crashed on landing at the Hmeimim airbase in March, killing all 39 people on board.But Russian nationals are regularly reported to be serving as paid mercenaries in Syria and taking on dangerous missions that often lead to casualties.Moscow began conducting airstrikes in Syria in September 2015, and its intervention has swung the nearly seven-year conflict firmly in favor of its ally in Damascus.

Shin Bet: Palestinian student leader received €150k for Hamas through Turkey-Omar al-Kiswani, whose on-campus arrest in March by undercover forces was filmed and went viral, said to have funneled funds with aid from Gaza-based operative-By Michael Bachner-TOI-MAY 3,18

A Palestinian student leader arrested in March in a daylight raid by Israeli commando forces is suspected of illegally receiving hundreds of thousands of euros from Hamas operatives in Turkey to promote the terror group’s activities at a university near Ramallah, the Shin Bet security service said Thursday.The student, 24-year-old Omar al-Kiswani from the West Bank village of Beit Iksa, is a member of Hamas’s student faction at Birzeit University and the head of the student council.“It is another expression of the efforts by Hamas command centers in Turkey and the Gaza Strip to accelerate the activity” of the terrorist group in the West Bank, the Shin Bet said, adding that “the investigation’s findings tell us of the deep involvement” of the overseas Hamas members.The Shin Bet said that Kiswani had contacted Yassin Rabia, a Hamas member who had formerly been jailed by Israel until he was freed and deported to the Gaza Strip in a 2011 prisoner swap deal. More than a thousand Palestinians convicted for terror offenses were released in the exchange for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.An Israeli undercover unit arrested Omar Kiswani (Hamas), chairman of the student union at Birzeit University. The force pretended to be Palestinian journalists who coordinated an interview with him. pic.twitter.com/5VEVxzedSj— Elior Levy(@eliorlevy) March 7, 2018-Kiswani asked Rabia and Hamas members in Turkey for money to promote Hamas activity at the university, and received about 150,000 euros. The funds were split and hidden in several hiding places throughout the West Bank, according to the Shin Bet statement.He would then take some of the money from those hiding places — along with his friend, Yahye Alawi, also a member of Hamas and its student faction at Birzeit —  to promote Hamas activity, the security agency said.The March 7 daylight raid by undercover Border Police officers, dressed as Palestinian civilians on the campus, was caught on camera and shared widely on social media at the time.Birzeit University said in a statement following the arrest in March that “the kidnappers, carrying firearms in their backpacks, entered the campus during working hours and attacked the student in front of the Student Council Building, located at the center of the campus. The operatives forced and pinned the student to the ground while firing their weapons, endangering lives.”“Protecting this group’s intrusion into the university was an armed Israeli army unit. The unit detained the university’s guards in the guards’ room and proceeded to use their firearms against the students while providing cover for the kidnapping operation,” it added.In a video of the arrest, a group of men in civilian clothing can be seen wrestling Kiswani to the ground as other members of the group brandish pistols at onlookers.At the end of the short clip, Palestinians can be seen clashing with Israeli soldiers maintaining a perimeter at the entrance to the university.On social media, the video was compared to popular TV show “Fauda,” about undercover Israeli forces in the West Bank.Reports said the commandos, members of the Border Police’s undercover unit, were disguised as Palestinian journalists.Birzeit University said the raid was a violation of international law.“This is not the first violent intrusion by Israeli army forces, who systematically invade the university’s campus – even though it is specifically protected under international humanitarian law – and constantly harass students, faculty members, and staff at Birzeit University and other Palestinian educational institutions,” it said.But the Shin Bet said the arrest “again points to the great importance Hamas leadership attributes to student activities through its groups in universities as a primary method of recruiting and training Hamas operatives in the West Bank.”Calling these activities “very dangerous,” the statement said that “while it is within the academic institution’s activity, in effect we are dealing with a significant branch of the Hamas movement with the aim of promoting damage to the State of Israel.”The Shin Bet also noted that last year Israel exposed a Hamas terror cell from Gaza that recruited students from the Birzeit University to carry out suicide attacks against Israelis.It added that it is currently in the process of exposing other members of Hamas’s student group in the university who planned shooting attacks near Ramallah.Alexander Fulbright contributed to this report.

77 killed as powerful dust storms ravage north India-Most victims were hit by falling walls, trees, electric pylons and building debris-By AFP-TOI-MAY 3,18

Dust storms tore across northern India killing at least 77 people and injuring 143 as trees and walls were flattened by powerful winds, officials said Thursday.The overnight dust and rain storm ravaged Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan states and the death toll was expected to rise, officials said.There were 46 confirmed deaths in Uttar Pradesh in the north and 31 in the desert state of Rajasthan to the west.The Agra district of Uttar Pradesh was one of the worst hit with more than 30 people killed. The Taj Mahal is in Agra city but officials said the monument escaped damage.Most of the victims were hit by falling walls, trees and electric pylons and houses that collapsed.“We can confirm at least 46 deaths, 41 injuries from around 40 of the state’s 75 districts,” T.P. Gupta of the Uttar Pradesh relief commissioner’s office told AFP.He said there were 36 deaths in Agra district.Officials said 157 animals were also killed across the state.Three districts in Rajasthan, a state popular with tourists for its heritage palaces and colorful culture, were hit the hardest.“Most of (the) 31 deaths and 102 injuries across our state were from three districts Alwar, Dholpur and Bharatpur,” Hemant Gera, Rajasthan’s Disaster Management and Relief Department’s secretary, told AFP.Power supply was cut in Bharatpur as more than 1,000 electricity pylons were destroyed. Officials said it could take more than two days to restore power.The state government quickly released funds to compensate the families of those killed or suffered damage.“Saddened by the loss of lives due to dust storms in various parts of India. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter.“Have asked officials to coordinate with the respective state governments and work towards assisting those who have been affected,” he added.Last month, a storm killed at least 15 people in Uttar Pradesh and destroyed two ancient pillars at the entryways to the Taj Mahal.

MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL EATS HUMANS FLESH FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL-JERUSALEM

EZEKIEL 39:11-12,18
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)

EZEKIEL 39:17-21
17  And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF RUSSIAN/ISLAMIC HORDES AGAINST ISRAEL)
18  Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19  And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20  Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21  And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22  So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.

REVELATION 19:17-18
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;(AGAINST ALL NATIONS ARMIES THAT COME AGAINST JERUSALEM AND ISRAEL)
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.

EZEKIEL 38:1-7
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
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)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
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.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

Liberman to Russian media: Israel ‘did not join’ Western action against Moscow-In interview with Kommersant, defense minister reiterates that Israel would destroy S-300 missile defense system in Syria if was used against Israeli jets-By Judah Ari Gross-TOI-MAY 3,18

In an interview with a Russian newspaper, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Thursday touted Israel’s defiance of Western pressure to sanction Moscow, while warning that Israel would not tolerate the use of Russian-supplied weapon defense systems on its jets in Syria.Liberman told the Kommersant daily that Israel maintained a frank and open relationship with Moscow and was not looking to clash with Russia in Syria.“We greatly appreciate our relations with Russia,” Liberman, a former foreign minister, said. “Even when our close partners put pressure on us, like in the case of sanctions against Russia, we do not join them.”The defense minister offered the recent example of a decision by the US and other Western countries to expel dozens of Russian diplomats in response to an assassination attempt on a Russian double agent in Salisbury, England, earlier this year.“Israel did not join that action,” he said.Israel has carefully navigated its relations with Russia in a bid to secure its security interests in neighboring Syria. The government of Vladimir Putin has become a major player in regional affairs, having boots on the ground — and jets in the air — only a few miles from Israel’s borders in the war-wracked country. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with Putin more often in recent years than with any other world leader, and has long painstakingly avoided offending Russia.Liberman also reiterated that Israel would target a Russia-supplied S-300 air defense battery if Syrian dictator Bashar Assad tried to use such a system against Israeli jets.“If the S-300 systems are not used against us — that’s one thing. But if they open fire against our planes, we will certainly retaliate,” Liberman said.The interview focused largely on Iran — both on the country’s activities in Syria, where Israel fears Tehran is establishing a military presence with which it could threaten the Jewish state, and on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, which Liberman said Israel had proved was a military one with this week’s revelation of a trove of documents stolen from Tehran by the Mossad intelligence service.“These documents that were published prove undeniably that Iran was actively working not only to enrich uranium, but to create an atomic weapon,” he said.In recent weeks, Russian officials have indicated that Moscow was prepared to hand over the powerful S-300 missile defense system to Syria, something it has long refused to do in light of significant Israeli opposition.Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Russian media that Moscow’s “moral obligation” against selling the air defense system to Syria had ended.This reversal, Lavrov indicated, was not due to Israeli actions in Syria, but to a joint American-British-French attack on Assad regime sites last month following an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian dictator in the city of Douma.Since then, Liberman has repeatedly stated that Israel would not oppose such a move provided the system is not used against Israeli planes.Liberman said Jerusalem hoped that Russia and Israel could reach an understanding about each other’s goals and interests in Syria — where Moscow is heavily backing Assad — in order to avoid unnecessary confrontation.“We are not looking for any conflicts with Russia. The opposite — in recent years we have held open, clear and transparent dialogue with Russia, when our opinions are in line with one another and when they aren’t,” Liberman told the Russian newspaper.“We are constantly holding transparent dialogue, without hiding anything,” he said.The defense minister repeated Jerusalem’s stated policy as it relates to Syria: Israel will not intervene in the country’s civil war, unless one of its “red lines” is violated, notably the transfer of advanced weapons to terrorist groups, Iranian military entrenchment in Syria, or an attack on Israeli territory, even by errant fire.“In my view, Assad is a war criminal who is responsible for the deaths of more than half a million citizens of his country, but we are not planning to get involved in internal Syrian matters,” Liberman said.“What we won’t tolerate are attempts by Iran to turn Syria into a forward operating base against Israel. Any attempt by Iran to set itself up in Syria will be thwarted,” he said.The defense minister said it would be “very wise” for Assad to not intervene in Israel’s attempts to prevent Iranian entrenchment in his country.“If his forces, his air defenses fire at us, we will open fire at them,” Liberman said.The defense minister was asked if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent revelation that the Mossad had smuggled over 100,000 documents out of Tehran, which detailed Iranian efforts to construct a nuclear bomb and affix it to a ballistic missile, offered proof that Iran had violated the 2015 nuclear accord.The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, now hangs in the balance as US President Donald Trump decides if America will remain party to it.Liberman refused to comment on whether the files proved that Iran had breached the accord.Why does Iran need enriched uranium, why does it need a nuclear program when they have huge natural gas and oil fields? “We are talking about the Iranian nuclear program in general, not about two years or 12 years or 20 years,” he said. “We’re talking about why does Iran need enriched uranium, why does it need a nuclear program when they have huge natural gas and oil fields?”The defense minister accused Iran of freezing its nuclear weapons program “in order to get the most benefit out of the deal and then to go back to it afterwards.”The defense minister repeated an oft-heard Israeli comparison between the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the 1938 Munich Agreement, which was meant to appease Nazi Germany, but ultimately led to World War II.“It’s just like what they tried to do with Hitler, and in the end they paid a dear price. In the end, we will get an Iran with nuclear missiles, and in order to stop them after the fact we will have to pay an even dearer price,” Liberman said.Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.

IDF shoots, arrests Palestinian damaging Gaza fence-Knife found in suspect's possession; in separate incident, group of young men reportedly drag away portion of a secondary security fence near Khan Younis-By Judah Ari Gross-TOI-MAY 3,18

Israeli troops on Thursday shot a Palestinian man, injuring him, as he attempted to damage the security fence around the northern Gaza Strip, in the latest incident along the tense border, the army said.The soldiers arrested the suspect and provided him with medical treatment, according to the Israel Defense Forces.“A wire-cutter and knife were found in the suspect’s possession,” the army said.He was taken to Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center by helicopter in serious condition, with a gunshot wound to the knee, according to a hospital spokesperson.“He is being treated now in the trauma center,” she said.In addition to this incident in northern Gaza, a group of Palestinian youths on Thursday morning dragged away a portion of a secondary barrier set up by the IDF in the buffer zone between southern Gaza and the border with Israel, the Palestinian Ma’an news reported.According to the outlet, the young men brought the barbed wire back to their town — Khusa’a, east of Khan Younis — apparently as some kind of trophy.An army spokesperson said she was “unaware” of the incident.In a bid to keep Gazans away from the main security fence, the IDF set up a number of secondary barriers, in the form of coils of barbed wire, in the buffer zone between the Strip and the Israeli border.The border area has seen a significant increase in the levels of violence in recent weeks, as Gazans have been participating in often violent “March of Return” demonstrations, which began on March 30 and are due to continue through mid-May.Thursday’s two border incidents came a day after dozens of acres of Israeli agricultural fields and grasslands were set on fire by a kite flown across the border from Gaza carrying a container full of burning fuel.This arson-by-kite has become a primary tactic in the “March of Return” protests, one made particularly dangerous in recent days in light of hot, dry, and windy weather that helps fires spread more quickly.On Sunday, six Palestinians in three separate incidents in southern Gaza tried to cross the security fence or succeeded in doing so, including in one case where improvised explosives were thrown at Israeli troops, according to the army.IDF soldiers opened fire at four of the six suspects, killing three of them. The other three Palestinians were arrested and handed over to the Shin Bet security service for questioning.The mass “March of Return” protests are being encouraged by Gaza’s rulers, the terror group Hamas, whose leaders say their goal is to erase the border and liberate Palestine.Last Friday, four Palestinians were killed and over 300 hurt during a particularly violent demonstration along the border, which included a large-scale rush of the security fence.On Thursday morning, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reported that another Palestinian, 19-year-old Anas Shawqi Abu-Aser, had died of wounds sustained during last week’s riot.This brought the casualty count in the border clashes to 45 Palestinian dead and over 1,500 injured by live fire since March 30, according to the Hamas health ministry.These protests were originally described by their Palestinian organizers as nonviolent, but Hamas later took charge of them. Rioters have burned tires, hurled firebombs and rocks at Israeli troops, and repeatedly attempted to sabotage the security fence.Israeli troops have used both less-lethal weapons and live fire to drive back protesters, prompting international — and, to a lesser extent, domestic — accusations of excessive force.The Israeli military maintains that its use of live rounds is within the boundaries of Israeli and international law.

WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)

EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18

WORLD TERRORISM

OH BY THE WAY WHEN THE MEDIA SAYS ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS GOD IS GREAT LIE. IN ISLAM ALLU-AK-BAR MEANS OUR GOD IS GREATER OR GREATEST. THIS IS HOW THE MEDIA SUCK HOLES UP TO ISLAMIC-QURANIC-MUSLIMS. BY WATERING DOWN THE REAL MEANING OF THE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAM. TO MAKE IT SOUND LIKE A PEACEFUL RELIGION (CULT OF DEATH AND WORLD DOMINATION).

GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)

ISAIAH 14:12-14
12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14  I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)

JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)

Syrian rebels start pull-out from south Damascus-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-May 3, 2018

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels began pulling out of an enclave they have surrendered in south Damascus on Thursday, but a few fighters in another besieged area near Homs shelled government areas after their groups agreed to quit.The enclaves in south Damascus and near Homs are the only two besieged areas still held by rebels, though they still control large tracts of northwest and southwest Syria, lying along its international borders, which are not surrounded by the army.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has focused on dislodging rebels from their remaining besieged pockets since driving them from eastern Ghouta last month after a fierce offensive.Syrian state television showed footage of buses arriving at Beit Sahm, driving through narrow streets surrounded by soldiers and with concrete buildings above showing scars of war.It later reported that the first batch of buses had departed, carrying fighters and their families from the area.Some 5,000 fighters and their family members are expected to leave Beit Sahm, Babila and Yalda neighborhoods for the opposition areas in northern Syria, it reported, following an earlier group which left the enclave on Monday.Islamic State fighters holding another part of the same enclave are still fighting after weeks of intense bombardment in the area of al-Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.On Wednesday, insurgents in the biggest of the remaining besieged areas, located between the cities of Hama and Homs around the towns of Rastan, Talbiseh and Houla, also agreed to surrender.However, a small number of them rejected the deal and shelled government areas late on Wednesday and early on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor and two local sources said.(Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Richard Balmforth)

Vice President Pence postpones Brazil trip as North Korea talks loom-[Reuters]-YAHOONEWS-May 3, 2018

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Mike Pence is postponing his plans to travel to Brazil this month to ensure all U.S. resources are focused on President Trump's talks with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, Pence's spokeswoman said on Thursday."The Vice President is delaying his trip to Brazil in order to ensure all diplomatic and national security resources are available as President Trump plans for his historic talks with the Kim regime," said Alyssa Farah, Pence's spokeswoman.(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Group running asylum caravan fears spotlight comes at a cost-[Associated Press]-ELLIOT SPAGAT and MARK STEVENSON-YAHOONEWS-May 3, 2018

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — The group that organized a monthlong caravan of Central Americans seeking asylum in the United States wanted to draw attention to the plight of people fleeing violence. If headlines are any measure, it has been a smashing success.President Donald Trump and Cabinet members have called the caravan a deliberate attempt to overwhelm U.S. authorities and proof that more must be done to secure the border with Mexico, including construction of a wall. The rhetoric from the White House and its allies has also fueled an outpouring of support from Mexicans and Americans, with food and other staples, financial contributions, free legal advice and offers of a place to live in the U.S.Roberto Corona, founder of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, considers the intense spotlight a mixed blessing. It has raised public awareness of the toll of violence in Central America, but he said it may sharpen a crackdown by the U.S. government."We want to show the humanity of this, not the politics," Corona said. "It's not about the wall."Caravan organizers have been pilloried by the Trump administration. Vice President Mike Pence said during a California border tour Monday that the asylum seekers were being "exploited by open-border political activists and an agenda-driven media." U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Wednesday he was sending more prosecutors and immigration judges to the border.Trump has used the caravan to try to build support for his wall — even though the asylum seekers generally turn themselves in to border inspectors — and to call for an end to so-called "catch-and-release" laws and court rulings that allow some asylum seekers to remain free while their cases wind through immigration court, which can take several years.The latest caravan marks an evolution of Easter-season migrant protests that started around 2008, usually sponsored by Catholic priests who ran shelters. For the first few years, they seldom did more than advance through the southern Mexican states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, often dressing in Biblical garb and carrying crosses in processions meant to echo Jesus' walk to his crucifixion and to protest the violence they suffered themselves.They drew little attention, partly because thousands of Central Americans were openly streaming north through Mexico aboard freight trains every day, headed for the U.S. border.When Mexico cracked down on its southern border and migrants riding trains in 2014, the processions became higher profile. They were a way to defy the government "blockade" of the trains and the highway checkpoints where buses were searched. The 2014 caravan was effectively broken up by Mexican police in the southern state of Tabasco.Even after the government began to take a more hands-off approach, the caravans seldom got as far as Mexico City, though some smaller groups made it to the U.S. border.Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which Corona created at Southern Methodist University in 2008 to ensure Latino day laborers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area got fair treatment from employers, participated in the 2014 caravan but didn't organize its own until last year. The loose-knit group has established two shelters in northern Mexico near the Arizona border but still has no office or paid employees, said Corona, who now lives in San Diego.The group's first caravan of Central Americans traversed Mexico last April and May, reaching about 600 people at one point and dwindling to about 100 by the time it reached Tijuana, organizers said. Most sought asylum. Few noticed.Its second caravan in November attracted about 700 people when arrived in central Mexico but dropped to about 200 in Tijuana, including about 80 who sought asylum, Corona said.Its third caravan has grabbed the most attention by far, departing March 25 from Tapachula, a city of 300,000 in a major coffee-growing region where Pueblo Sin Fronteras had posted flyers in migrant shelters and held meetings in a city park. Central Americans walked for days on roads and train tracks, at one point reaching more than 1,000 people.During the first week of April, organizer Irineo Mujica said Trump's attacks brought more attention and made the effort more difficult to manage. "We do not believe in, nor do we want, a caravan of this size," he said.But the conspicuousness came with advantages, too, namely in the form of assistance from the Mexican authorities who had once targeted such travelers.Valmore Ramirez Cortez, a 32-year-old Salvadoran government worker, had battled coughing and fever while hopping trains whose surfaces were scorching hot by and cold at night. His outlook improved in the southern state of Oaxaca when he, his 18-year-old nephew and two teenage sons got 20-day permits to stay in Mexico. There were police and Red Cross escorts along the way.On Sunday, after two days of legal orientation arranged by Pueblo Sin Fronteras, nearly 200 asylum seekers marched through Tijuana to a U.S. border inspection facility only to be told it had reached its capacity to process asylum claims for the day. By the following afternoon, the first few caravan members had been allowed inside to begin making their cases to be allowed to live in the U.S.As the caravan neared the border, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said people fleeing violence should seek protection in the first safe country they enter, meaning Mexico. But Ramirez, who fled his country Jan. 31 after a gang killed two of his brothers and promised that he and his nephew would be next if they didn't join, said he won't feel comfortable until reaching the United States for good. He hopes to join a cousin in Maryland."I don't come for money or work, I come out of necessity," Ramirez said while reading a Christian-inspired book under a tarp at the Tijuana border crossing, waiting his turn. "There is nothing more beautiful than living in the country where you were born."___Stevenson reported from Mexico City.

Spain's PM vows to track Basque ETA former militants as group disbands-[Reuters]-By Cecile Mantovani and Isla Binnie-YAHOONEWS-May 3, 2018

GENEVA/MADRID (Reuters) - Basque separatist group ETA said on Thursday it had completely dismantled and ended all its activity, ending a 50-year campaign of violence across Spain in which it killed about 850 people.In Madrid, however, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said there would be no impunity for ETA and the government would still track down former militants."Whatever they might choose to do over the next few days, nothing will change the unquestionable reality: ETA's whole project has been a resounding and emphatic failure," Rajoy said.In a letter read out at the headquarters of a Geneva-based conflict resolution group, ETA, founded to fight for an independent state in northern Spain and southern France, said its journey had ended."We have made this, our last decision, in order to foster a new historical phase," said the letter, signed Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA - Basque Country and Freedom in English)."ETA was born from the people and now it dissolves back into the people," said the letter, which was read out by David Harland, director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.The center first facilitated discrete talks between ETA and the former Spanish government of Jose Luis Zapatero in 2004.ETA announced its decision to end attacks in 2011 and in 2017 it handed over 3.5 tonnes of weapons, bringing Western Europe's last major militant campaign to a close.It signaled it had completely dismantled in a letter published by the Spanish online newspaper El Diario on Wednesday.RECONCILIATION OR PUNISHMENT? Calling it a "bitter confrontation," the center's Harland also referred to the killing of ETA suspects by death squads linked to government officials."A long work of reconciliation now lies ahead. It will require recognition, respect, apology and support to all the victims of violence as well as a commitment to the truth and justice wherever that leads," Harland said.However, Prime Minister Rajoy made clear that his government considered ETA as nothing more than criminals."ETA won't find a glimmer of impunity for its crimes. It can announce its disappearance but its crimes will not disappear, nor will the work of justice to track them down and punish them," he told reporters after a speech to inaugurate a Civil Guard training center in Logrono, northern Spain.Regional government head Inigo Urkullu said the organization had inflicted pain and suffering on the people of the Basque Country, adding he doubted it would have more than four or five lines in history books in the future.In an interview with El Pais newspaper on Thursday, Urkullu said ETA should never have existed."Here we have all lost. There are no winners or losers," he said.The group is due to formalize its dissolution at an official event in France on Friday. Last month, it apologized to its victims and their relatives. About 850 people, including police, politicians and ordinary citizens, were killed in ETA attacks.ETA was formed in Madrid in 1959 by students angry at the repressive dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.Its campaign included political assassinations -- most notably of Franco's chosen successor, Luis Carrero Blanco in 1973 -- and bombings.But as Spain returned to democracy after Franco's death in 1975 and the Basque Country gained a large measure of autonomy, its attacks on the general populace, including a 1987 car bomb at a Barcelona supermarket which killed a pregnant woman and two children, horrified people and cost it support.Crackdowns by Spanish and French police also weakened it.(Reporting by Cecile Mantovani and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Isla Binnie in Madrid; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Richard Balmforth)