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
UK’s May faces no-confidence vote Wednesday after Brexit plan crushed-British press says May ‘humiliated and crushed’ by defeat; however, PM likely to survive the vote unless lawmakers from her Conservative party rebel-By Agencies-TOI-JAN 17,19
LONDON — British lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce deal with the European Union on Tuesday, plunging the Brexit process into chaos and triggering a no-confidence vote that could topple her government.The defeat was widely expected, but the scale of the House of Commons’ vote — 432 votes against the government and 202 in support — was devastating for May’s fragile leadership.It followed more than two years of political upheaval in which May has staked her political reputation on getting a Brexit deal and was the biggest defeat for a government in the House of Commons in modern history, unprecedented in more than a century.Moments after the result was announced — with Speaker John Bercow bellowing “the noes have it” to a packed Commons chamber — May said it was only right to test whether the government still had lawmakers’ support to carry on.Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn quickly obliged, saying May’s government had lost the confidence of Parliament.Lawmakers will vote Wednesday on his motion of no-confidence. If the government loses, it will have 14 days to overturn the result or face a national election.-Humiliated and crushed-British media were scathing.The words “humiliated” and “crushed” featured prominently in British newspaper headlines following parliament’s massive rejection of a divorce deal with the EU on Tuesday.Dailies said May’s grip on power was waning after the huge vote against the agreement struck between May’s government and Brussels, as she prepared to fight a no-confidence motion on Wednesday.“May humiliated by 230 votes,” The Daily Mirror tabloid said.The Daily Telegraph wrote: “Humiliation for prime minister as MPs overwhelmingly reject deal and Labour tables no confidence vote.”The broadsheet’s parliamentary sketchwriter Michael Deacon said May had somehow defied the odds by making a historic event an anticlimax.“Her speech had all the brio of a mouldy gym sock,” he wrote.“She sounded as winningly persuasive as a mother snapping at her children to eat up their cabbage or go to bed hungry.”The vote itself “was as if Agatha Christie has allowed Miss Marple to solve the murder half way through and spend the rest of the novel pottering about in the garden.”-Likely to survive-Although May lacks an overall majority in Parliament, she looks likely to survive the vote unless lawmakers from her Conservative party rebel. Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which props up May’s government, said it would support her.“The House has spoken and the government will listen,” May said after the vote, which leaves her Brexit plan on life support just 10 weeks before the country is due to leave the EU on March 29.May promised to consult lawmakers on future moves, but gave little indication of what she plans to do next. Parliament has given the government until Monday to come up with a new proposal.She faces a stark choice: Steer the country toward an abrupt “no-deal” break with the EU or try to nudge it toward a softer departure. Meanwhile, lawmakers from both government and opposition parties are trying to wrest control of the Brexit process from a paralyzed government, so that lawmakers by majority vote can specify a new plan for Britain’s EU exit.But with no clear majority in Parliament for any single alternate course, there is a growing chance that Britain may seek to postpone its departure date while politicians work on a new plan — or even hand the decision back to voters in a new referendum on EU membership.-A second referendum? “If you can’t resolve the impasse here in Westminster, than you have to refer it back to the people,” said Labour Party lawmaker Chuka Umunna, who supports a second referendum.May, who had postponed a vote on the deal in December to avoid certain defeat, had implored lawmakers to back her deal and deliver on voters’ decision in 2016 to leave the EU.But the deal was doomed by deep opposition from both sides of the divide over UK’s place in the bloc. Pro-Brexit lawmakers say the deal will leave Britain bound indefinitely to EU rules, while pro-EU politicians favor an even closer economic relationship with Europe.The most contentious section of the deal was an insurance policy known as the “backstop” designed to prevent the reintroduction of border controls between the UK’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland Assurances from EU leaders that the backstop is intended as a temporary measure of last resort completely failed to win over many British skeptics,Two and a half years after the referendum, Britain remains divided over how, and whether, to leave the EU.As lawmakers debated in the chamber, there was a cacophony of chants, drums and music from rival bands of pro-EU and pro-Brexit protesters outside. One group waved blue-and-yellow EU flags, the other brandished “Leave Means Leave” placards.Inside, the government and opposition parties ordered lawmakers to cancel all other plans to be on hand for the crucial vote. Labour legislator Tulip Siddiq delayed the scheduled cesarean birth of her son so she could attend, arriving in a wheelchair-Some Conservatives want May to seek further talks with EU leaders on changes before bringing a tweaked version of the bill back to Parliament, even though EU officials insist the 585-page withdrawal agreement cannot be renegotiated.Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said May was unlikely to get changes to her deal from that could “placate her Brexiteers.”“Or, she reaches out to Labour and goes for a softer Brexit than most Brexiteers would contemplate” — but which the EU might accept, Bale said.-Frustrated EU-Frustrated EU leaders called on May to make her intentions clear on the future of Brexit.“Now, it is time for the UK.to tell us the next steps,” said Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief negotiator.European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker — who returned to Brussels late Tuesday to deal with fallout from the vote — said the rejection of May’s deal had increased “the risk of a disorderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom.”“Time is almost up,” he said.Economists warn that an abrupt break from the EU could batter the British economy and bring chaotic scenes at borders, ports and airports. Business groups expressed alarm at the prospect of a “no-deal” exit.“Every business will feel no-deal is hurtling closer,” said Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry. “A new plan is needed immediately.”European Council President Donald Tusk highlighted the quagmire the U.K. had sunk into, and hinted that the best solution might be for Britain not to leave.“If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?” he tweeted.
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)
Palestinians to launch bid for full UN membership despite block by US-‘We know that we are going to face a US veto but that won’t prevent us from presenting our application,’ says Palestinian Authority FM-By Carole LANDRY-TOI-17 January 2019
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The Palestinians will launch a bid to become a full member of the United Nations even though such a move will be blocked by the United States, the Palestinian Authority foreign minister said Tuesday.The Palestinians have the status of non-member observer state at the world body and full membership would amount to international recognition of Palestinian statehood.Any request to become a UN member-state must first be approved by the Security Council, where the US has veto power, before it is endorsed by the General Assembly.“We know that we are going to face a US veto but that won’t prevent us from presenting our application” for full UN membership, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told journalists.The Palestinians will begin lobbying Security Council members with a view to presenting the application for UN membership in “a few weeks,” said Maliki.The Palestinians presented a request for UN membership in 2011, but the application never came before the Security Council for a vote.
Israel ‘hampering development’-Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday addressed a ceremony at the United Nations marking the start of the Palestinian chair of the Group of 77 and China, raising their profile by leading the biggest UN bloc of developing countries.Abbas charged that Israel was hampering development in the Middle East and renewed his commitment to a two-state solution.“Israel’s continued colonization and occupation of the state of Palestine undermines our development and capacity for cooperation, coordination and obstructs the cohesive future development of all peoples of the region,” Abbas told the gathering.The Palestinian leader said he was committed to a “peaceful solution that brings an end to the occupation and the realization of the independence of the state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side-by-side in peace and security with the state of Israel.”The Palestinians reacted furiously to US President Donald Trump’s decision in December 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, breaking with the international consensus that the status of the city would be decided in negotiations.Abbas has broken off ties with the Trump administration and has vowed to oppose any US peace proposal that he has warned would be biased in favor of Israel.The US has also cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for the Palestinians including funds to the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which was forced to scale back its education and health programs.The General Assembly last year adopted a resolution granting the observer-state of Palestine additional rights to act as chair of the G77, a bloc of 134 countries at the United Nations.The US voted against that measure, arguing that the Palestinians should not be allowed to take the chair because it is not a full member-state.
Netanyahu said to have asked Trump for support ahead of Mossad operation in Iran-TV report says PM sought assistance from US president in case intelligence agents had to be rescued during mission to obtain nuclear files-By TOI staff-17 January 2019
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Donald Trump before a major Israeli intelligence operation in Iran, in order to secure American support if the mission were to go awry, Israeli television reported Tuesday.In April, Netanyahu revealed a trove of documents he said proved that Iran had lied about its nuclear program. He said that the Mossad intelligence agency had spirited the documents out of a warehouse in the the Iranian capital, Tehran, and called the haul was one of the “greatest achievements” of Israeli intelligence.Netanyahu discussed the mission with Trump when the two met in Davos last January, according to Hadashot TV news, with the prime minister seeking US assistance in case the Israeli operatives had to be rescued during the mission.It was not clear from the report how Trump responded to the request or whether it was the first time he heard about the operation. The New York Times previously reported that Trump was informed of the operation by Mossad chief Yossi Cohen during a visit to Washington in January.The report did not say how Trump responded to the request.The network also reported that the extraction of the Mossad agents was far more complicated than previously reported, but did not provide any details.Though Netanyahu gave few details of the operation during his April speech, a senior Israeli official told The New York Times that the Mossad had discovered the warehouse in February 2016, and had the building under surveillance since then.The operatives broke into the building one night last January, removed the original documents and smuggled them back to Israel the same night, the official said, according to the paper.The official said the delay in making the material public was due to the time it took to analyze the documents, the vast majority of which were in Persian.Netanyahu described the archive as looking like a “dilapidated warehouse” in the Shorabad District in southern Tehran.“This is where they kept the atomic archives. Right here. Few Iranians knew where it was, very few, and also a few Israelis,” Netanyahu said.“Now, from the outside, this was an innocent looking compound. It looks like a dilapidated warehouse. But from the inside, it contained Iran’s secret atomic archives locked in massive files,” he said.Netanyahu showed a picture of long rows of safes and said that the agents managed to bring back “half a ton of the material” consisting of 55,000 pages and another 55,000 files on 183 CDs.The cache, he said, contained “incriminating documents, incriminating charts, incriminating presentations, incriminating blueprints, incriminating photos, incriminating videos and more.“We’ve shared this material with the United States, and the United States can vouch for its authenticity,” he said of the information.
Top Dem accuses Republicans of using Israel as a wedge issue-Robert Menendez drops support for Israel-related bill, says GOP’s advancement of legislation is ‘about scoring political points’-By Ron Kampeas-TOI-17 January 2019
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Senator Robert Menendez, one of the most reliable pro-Israel voices among Democrats, dropped his support for an Israel-related bill because he said the Republican leadership is trying to use it as a wedge issue.“I don’t like the Majority Leader using the US-Israel relationship as a political pawn,” Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, told Al-Monitor on Monday, after the third bid in a week by Republicans to advance the bill. The New Jersey senator had voted to advance the bill the two previous times.Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, has tried to advance a Middle East mini-omnibus bill that includes codification of the $38 billion former president Barack Obama pledged to Israel over the next 10 years and legislation that would protect from lawsuits against states that pass legislation banning state business with Israel boycotters.McConnell needs 60 votes to advance the bill, but Democrats have stood in the way, saying that McConnell should first move on their proposals to reopen the government. US President Donald Trump has said he will not consider spending legislation that would reopen the government unless it includes $5.7 billion to build a wall with Mexico. The government shutdown is in its fourth week.Most Democrats also oppose the anti-boycott component of the bill because they say it infringes on speech freedoms, but four pro-Israel Democrats who back the anti-boycott legislation had backed advancing the measure until Tuesday, when Menendez changed his vote.“At the end of the day this isn’t about getting this done; this is about scoring political points,” Menendez said.The other three Democrats are Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Doug Jones of Alabama.
Eisenkot: Netanyahu’s national security decisions were never political-Echoing outgoing IDF chief, PM says government ‘made pertinent decisions whose purpose was to safeguard the state’s existence’-By TOI staff-JAN 17,19
Following a changing-of-the-guard ceremony at IDF headquarters Tuesday, in which outgoing chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot handed over the reins to his successor, Aviv Kochavi, Eisenkot said that neither he nor Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ever made a national security decision for political reasons.At a meeting of the General Staff of the army at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv, Eisenkot offered his parting thoughts to the army’s top brass.Known as a man of few words, Eisenkot said, “My recommendations [to the government] were shaped by Israel’s security needs. There were never any political concerns behind my decisions; nor were there in the prime minister’s considerations” when it came to national security, he affirmed.Netanyahu was accused last month by opposition figures of playing up an IDF operation to locate and destroy cross-border attack tunnels dug from Lebanon for political gain, with the announcement coming in the midst of a coalition crisis that threatened to topple his government.The prime minister would go on to declare early elections just weeks later, despite the security situation seemingly staying unchanged.In a series of interviews last week ahead of his retirement, Eisenkot said the tunnels were a central aspect of Hezbollah’s plans for a surprise attack and that their destruction represented a significant setback for the terror group, potentially putting off a confrontation with Israel by several years.Echoing Eisenkot, Netanyahu said Tuesday that the security decisions he and the outgoing chief of staff made were motivated by defense concerns.“We made pertinent decisions whose purpose was to safeguard the state’s existence,” he said during a toast at the ceremony.Turning to Kochavi, Netanyahu said, “We trust you.”Kochavi, until now the deputy chief of staff, takes over as Israel faces an array of challenges on its borders.As expected, he hit the ground running, meeting his general staff on Tuesday afternoon, after which he was scheduled to issue a daily order sent out to all IDF commanders and soldiers.The new IDF commander takes over at a time when Israel is openly engaged in military operations to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria, while also facing weekly violent confrontations in the south on the border with the Gaza Strip and the constant threat of tensions with Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group.Internally, Israel is in the midst of an election season, with security matters always high on the agenda, and the army has been subjected to criticism from lawmakers and an outside ombudsman that it may not be prepared for war.
Palestinian designer seeks to empower women-Yasmeen Mjalli, 22, grew up in America and sees her BabyFist fashion label clothes helping to create a community for Palestinian women facing unwelcome male attention in public-By Clothilde Mraffko-TOI-JAN 17,19
RAMALLAH (AFP) — It’s only three words on a T-shirt or embroidered on a denim jacket in Palestinian designer Yasmeen Mjalli’s collection, but they carry a powerful message: “Not your habibti,” or darling.Mjalli sees the clothes as helping empower Palestinian women facing unwelcome male attention in public.“When a woman is exposed to so much harassment on the street, she begins to dress to protect herself, to hide herself as opposed to expressing herself,” the 22-year-old art history graduate says, leaning against the counter of her shop in Ramallah in the West Bank.On fabrics of muted colors and on canvas bags from her BabyFist label, she places messages in English and Arabic inside drawings of flowers and other designs.“Every rose has its revolution,” one says.Mjalli grew up in the United States, where she lived with her Palestinian parents.She started painting slogans on her own clothes when the family relocated to the West Bank and she found herself facing a different reality.“I have experienced things like comments, really uncomfortable stares, the kind that make you feel very violated,” she said.“I have been assaulted in the streets, people touching me,” she adds, catching one tattooed arm in her other hand to mimic being grabbed.In August 2017, she launched her first collection and a few months later opened the Ramallah shop to complement her existing online sales.Made in Palestine-“It’s not like the T-shirt is going to stop harassment,” she says.But it’s “a reminder that you are part of something bigger that is working to empower women and to give back in some way and that is trying to have this conversation that challenges all of these structures which we are victims of too,” she adds.The goal, Mjalli says, is to create a community.Using Instagram, free workshops in her shop and public places where she sometimes installs herself with a typewriter, she offers Palestinian women the freedom to express their feelings and tell stories they cannot share elsewhere.She donates around 10 percent of her fashion earnings to a local women’s group.One project she funds sent a doctor and volunteers into schools to teach Palestinian girls about menstruation, a subject still largely taboo.While defining herself as a feminist, Mjalli says that her fight against harassment of women is unconnected to the #MeToo movement.“I don’t think it’s related even though it happened at the same time,” she said, though acknowledging that the movement gave her own efforts a boost.“It’s a very American and it’s a very white feminism, and it’s not what we are doing here.”All BabyFist garments are made in the West Bank or Gaza.Jackets are sewn in Hassan Shehada’s Gaza workshop.Among the sewing machines humming under florescent lights, Shehada shows a denim jacket embroidered with “Not your habibti.”“I am proud that women wear the fruits of my labors and I am also very proud that they are labeled ‘Made in Palestine,‘” he says.In the past three months, he has made 1,500 items for BabyFist.It was a breath of fresh air for Shehada’s business in the Gaza Strip, under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade for more than a decade aimed at preventing terror groups from smuggling in weapons and with endemic high unemployment.“Working with BabyFist has given me back hope,” he says, adding that it has fulfilled a dream of exporting to Europe.But manufacturing in Gaza comes at a cost.Israeli restrictions mean jackets have been held up for weeks when the land crossing through Israel was closed due to mass Palestinian protests and clashes along the fence, Mjalli said.“The border was closed indefinitely and we couldn’t get anything in or out,” she said. “It’s a constant battle.”She says that around 40 percent of her sales are made in the Ramallah store and 60 percent online, mostly to the Palestinian and broader Arab diaspora.-Opposition-Not everyone, however, is a fan.Mjalli has come under fire from conservatives, who say she draws attention to women’s bodies by designing clothes that carry provocative messages.Her criticism of some aspects of Palestinian society has also raised the hackles of those who believe that the struggle against Israel is the only legitimate public campaign.For her, the fight for Palestinian independence and campaigning for women’s rights are intertwined.“The occupation robs men in our society of any sense of control, any sense of masculinity which in turn affects women’s rights,” she says.For Mjalli, there have been “already two or three generations of women that have had to suffer while we say: ‘OK, you can wait.'”
West Bank Palestinians strike against Abbas’s social security law-Citing growing rift with Hamas and increased Israeli incursions, protesters say PA government cannot be trusted to manage fund-By AFP and TOI staff-17 January 2019
Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank joined a strike on Tuesday against their government’s proposed new social security law, fearing the fund will be mismanaged.The strike, which saw much of Ramallah, Hebron and other West Bank cities closed, came hours before Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is due to address the United Nations.A few thousand people protested outside the Social Security Institution in Ramallah, where Abbas’s government is based.Under the proposed system, both private employers and their employees would pay monthly into a government-managed fund, with employees receiving a pension when they retire.The PA says it will provide new security for employees, arguing similar systems exist in countries across the globe.Polls show that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians view PA institutions as corrupt, and protesters say they do not trust the Ramallah-based government to manage the fund.They also say Israel’s continued occupation of the the West Bank means that the long-term existence of the Palestinian Authority government is far from secure.Israeli soldiers entered Ramallah several times in recent weeks, including near Abbas’s headquarters following two deadly terror attacks in the West Bank.Amer Farah, who works at Bank of Palestine in Ramallah, said that in functioning states the social security laws were important to protect citizens’ futures.“But we are still under occupation, and there is no contact between parts of the country,” he told AFP, alluding to the decade-long split between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where Abbas’s rivals Hamas are in control.The Hamas terror group, which seized control of the coastal enclave from Abbas in 2007, has stated that it strongly opposes the Social Security Institution, claiming it violates quasi-constitutional Palestinian laws.“The country is not stable, neither economically nor politically,” Farah added. “How will they implement the law?”The decade-long Palestinian split looks set to deepen in the coming months, with Abbas poised to take multiple measures against Hamas.A breakthrough came in late 2017 when the two sides reached an agreement to eventually share power; however the reconciliation agreement has since collapsed acrimoniously.Abbas was due to speak later Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly, where he was expected to again call on world powers to recognize Palestine as a state despite the divided governments.
Abbas likely to visit Syria soon, senior Palestinian official says-Azzam al-Ahmad says trip by PA president, who was last in the country before civil war, is ‘possible at any time’-By Adam Rasgon-TOI-17 January 2019
A senior Palestinian predicted that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Syria in the near future.The PA president has not visited Syria or met Syrian President Bashar Assad since civil war broke out in the country in 2011.“The visit of the President Mahmoud Abbas is possible at any time… I believe [it] will happen soon, if God wills it,” Azzam al-Ahmad told al-Watan, a pro-Syrian government newspaper, at the opening of a new office for Palestine TV, the official PA channel, in Damascus on Monday.Several Palestinian officials attended the opening of the Palestine TV office including Ahmad, a member of both the Fatah Central Committee and Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee; the PA’s Jenin Governor Akram Rajoub; and PLO Executive Committee member Wasel Abu Yousef.Abu Yousef told The Times of Israel in a phone call earlier this week that he and Ahmad traveled to Damascus by car via Jordan.Syria was expelled from the 22-member Arab League soon after the civil war erupted. Arab countries have sanctioned Damascus and condemned Assad for using overwhelming military force and failing to negotiate with the opposition.More than 360,000 people have been killed in the war and Assad has been accused of perpetrating war crimes.But as the war winds down in favor of Assad, with his troops recapturing key population centers, Syria’s relations with the Arab world appear to be warming.In mid-December, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir became the first Arab head of state to visit Syria since the civil war broke out.Later that month, the United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus, some seven years after shuttering it.In October, Assad told a little-known Kuwaiti newspaper that Syria had reached a “major understanding” with Arab states. He did not name those countries in the interview, which was his first with a Gulf paper since the war erupted, but he said Arab and Western delegations had begun visiting Syria to prepare for the reopening of diplomatic and other missions.Unlike many of his Arab counterparts, Abbas has not staked out a stnace on the civil war since it began, Ziad Iyad, a professor of political science at Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem, said in a phone call.“Abbas never took a clear position on the crisis because he did not want Palestinian refugees in Syria to pay a price for his comments,” Iyad said. “He did not want Syria to carry out reprisals against Palestinian refugees for something he says.”There are hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Syria who live in 12 refugee camps, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.In the past year, he has met with at least three Syrian officials during trips abroad.On a trip to Latin America in May 2018, Abbas met the Syrian ambassadors to Venezuela and Cuba, Khalil Bitar and Idris Mayya, respectively.On a trip to Russia in July 2018, he also met Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Riyad Haddad.Agencies contributed to this article.
Germany arrests military adviser suspected of spying for Iran-Media report says Afghan-German man worked for Tehran intelligence services for years, had access to highly sensitive information, including Afghanistan troop deployment-By AFP-TOI-JAN 17,19
BERLIN, Germany — Germany on Tuesday detained a German-Afghan man on suspicion he was spying for Iran while working for the German army as a linguistic and cultural adviser.The 50-year-old identified as Abdul Hamid S. was arrested in western Germany, federal prosecutors said in a statement.“The accused was a language evaluator and cultural issues adviser of the German armed forces. In this capacity, he is believed to have passed on information to an Iranian intelligence service,” they added.According to Spiegel Online, he is suspected of working for Iranian secret services for several years.While working for the German army, he had access to highly sensitive information including on troop deployment in Afghanistan, the report added.Previous cases of infiltration by a foreign agency have sparked outrage and shock in Germany.In 2016, Markus Reichel, himself a former intelligence agent for Germany, was convicted for spying for both the CIA and the Russian secret service.He admitted handing over “scores of documents and internal information” to the CIA, including papers detailing Germany’s counter-espionage strategies.Reichel also delivered three classified documents to the Russians.In 2011, Germany jailed a married couple for spying for the Russian secret services for more than 20 years.The pair, identified only by the code names Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag, were planted in the former West Germany from 1988 by the Soviet Union’s KGB and later worked for its successor the SVR.The couple had obtained NATO and EU political and military secrets, focused especially on the relationship of NATO and the EU with eastern European and central Asian countries.
Turkey’s Erdogan okays Syria ‘security zone’ proposed by Trump-Announcement of ‘agreement of historic importance’ comes after US president threatened to devastate Turkish economy if Ankara launched offensive against US-allied Kurdish fighters-By AFP-TOI-17 January 2019
ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Ankara would set up a “security zone” in northern Syria suggested by US President Donald Trump.Erdogan said he held a “quite positive” telephone conversation with Trump late on Monday where he reaffirmed that “a 20-mile (30 kilometer) security zone along the Syrian border… will be set up by us.”Turkey has welcomed the planned withdrawal of some 2,000 US troops from Syria but the future of US-backed Kurdish militia forces regarded as terrorists by Ankara has poisoned Ankara-Washington ties.Trump on Sunday tweeted that the United States would “devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds,” a threat that drew angry retorts from the government in Ankara.Erdogan on Tuesday said Trump’s tweet “saddened me and my friends,” but added that the two leaders reached an agreement during Monday’s phone conversation.“We have reached an agreement of understanding that is of historic importance,” he said.Erdogan said Turkey would solve issues with a “spirit of alliance” with Trump as long as his country’s sensitivities were taken into account.US support for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) during the Syria conflict has been a major source of friction between the NATO allies. The US regards the YPG as an effective ground force in the fight against Islamic State (IS) jihadists.Ankara has however threatened to launch a cross-border operation to eradicate Syrian Kurdish fighters it sees as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).The PKK is blacklisted by Turkey as well as by the United States.
EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH IN NOAHS DAY(BECAUSE OF SIN,VIOLENCE AND GODLESS PEOPLE)
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.
HOSEA 4:1-3
1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
DEUTORONOMY 28:22-24
22 The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Winter weather kills 15 displaced children in Syria, UN says-Aid organization says freezing temperatures and lack of medical care claimed victims, most aged under a year and one just an hour old; thousands continue to flee fighting-By AFP-TOI-JAN 17,19
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Freezing temperatures and the lack of medical care have killed at least 15 displaced Syrian children in recent weeks, the United Nations reported on Tuesday.The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said eight of them had died as a result of the cold in the Rukban camp in southeastern Syria and seven others during the displacement from the jihadist bastion of Hajin, further north.“Freezing temperatures and harsh living conditions in Rukban… are increasingly putting children’s lives at risk,” UNICEF regional director Geert Cappelaere said.“In just one month, at least eight children — most of them under four months and the youngest only one hour old — have died,” he said.Cappelaere explained that the cold in the isolated desert camp on the Jordanian border, where 80 percent of the 45,000 residents are women and children, was increasing infant mortality.The cold snap that has hit the region is also having dire consequences on the people fleeing the fighting in the so-called Hajin pocket in eastern Syria.The area near the Iraqi border has seen intense fighting between Islamic State group jihadists defending the last remnants of their “caliphate” and Kurdish-led forces backed by US airstrikes.According to the UN, more than 10,000 people have fled the area since December.“Families seeking safety face difficulties leaving the conflict zone and wait in the cold for days without shelter or basic supplies,” Cappelaere said.“The dangerous and difficult journey has reportedly killed seven children — most of them under one year old” in Hajin, he said.According to the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces battling the jihadists and to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, significant numbers of IS members have attempted to blend in with fleeing civilians.
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
UK’s May faces no-confidence vote Wednesday after Brexit plan crushed-British press says May ‘humiliated and crushed’ by defeat; however, PM likely to survive the vote unless lawmakers from her Conservative party rebel-By Agencies-TOI-JAN 17,19
LONDON — British lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce deal with the European Union on Tuesday, plunging the Brexit process into chaos and triggering a no-confidence vote that could topple her government.The defeat was widely expected, but the scale of the House of Commons’ vote — 432 votes against the government and 202 in support — was devastating for May’s fragile leadership.It followed more than two years of political upheaval in which May has staked her political reputation on getting a Brexit deal and was the biggest defeat for a government in the House of Commons in modern history, unprecedented in more than a century.Moments after the result was announced — with Speaker John Bercow bellowing “the noes have it” to a packed Commons chamber — May said it was only right to test whether the government still had lawmakers’ support to carry on.Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn quickly obliged, saying May’s government had lost the confidence of Parliament.Lawmakers will vote Wednesday on his motion of no-confidence. If the government loses, it will have 14 days to overturn the result or face a national election.-Humiliated and crushed-British media were scathing.The words “humiliated” and “crushed” featured prominently in British newspaper headlines following parliament’s massive rejection of a divorce deal with the EU on Tuesday.Dailies said May’s grip on power was waning after the huge vote against the agreement struck between May’s government and Brussels, as she prepared to fight a no-confidence motion on Wednesday.“May humiliated by 230 votes,” The Daily Mirror tabloid said.The Daily Telegraph wrote: “Humiliation for prime minister as MPs overwhelmingly reject deal and Labour tables no confidence vote.”The broadsheet’s parliamentary sketchwriter Michael Deacon said May had somehow defied the odds by making a historic event an anticlimax.“Her speech had all the brio of a mouldy gym sock,” he wrote.“She sounded as winningly persuasive as a mother snapping at her children to eat up their cabbage or go to bed hungry.”The vote itself “was as if Agatha Christie has allowed Miss Marple to solve the murder half way through and spend the rest of the novel pottering about in the garden.”-Likely to survive-Although May lacks an overall majority in Parliament, she looks likely to survive the vote unless lawmakers from her Conservative party rebel. Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which props up May’s government, said it would support her.“The House has spoken and the government will listen,” May said after the vote, which leaves her Brexit plan on life support just 10 weeks before the country is due to leave the EU on March 29.May promised to consult lawmakers on future moves, but gave little indication of what she plans to do next. Parliament has given the government until Monday to come up with a new proposal.She faces a stark choice: Steer the country toward an abrupt “no-deal” break with the EU or try to nudge it toward a softer departure. Meanwhile, lawmakers from both government and opposition parties are trying to wrest control of the Brexit process from a paralyzed government, so that lawmakers by majority vote can specify a new plan for Britain’s EU exit.But with no clear majority in Parliament for any single alternate course, there is a growing chance that Britain may seek to postpone its departure date while politicians work on a new plan — or even hand the decision back to voters in a new referendum on EU membership.-A second referendum? “If you can’t resolve the impasse here in Westminster, than you have to refer it back to the people,” said Labour Party lawmaker Chuka Umunna, who supports a second referendum.May, who had postponed a vote on the deal in December to avoid certain defeat, had implored lawmakers to back her deal and deliver on voters’ decision in 2016 to leave the EU.But the deal was doomed by deep opposition from both sides of the divide over UK’s place in the bloc. Pro-Brexit lawmakers say the deal will leave Britain bound indefinitely to EU rules, while pro-EU politicians favor an even closer economic relationship with Europe.The most contentious section of the deal was an insurance policy known as the “backstop” designed to prevent the reintroduction of border controls between the UK’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland Assurances from EU leaders that the backstop is intended as a temporary measure of last resort completely failed to win over many British skeptics,Two and a half years after the referendum, Britain remains divided over how, and whether, to leave the EU.As lawmakers debated in the chamber, there was a cacophony of chants, drums and music from rival bands of pro-EU and pro-Brexit protesters outside. One group waved blue-and-yellow EU flags, the other brandished “Leave Means Leave” placards.Inside, the government and opposition parties ordered lawmakers to cancel all other plans to be on hand for the crucial vote. Labour legislator Tulip Siddiq delayed the scheduled cesarean birth of her son so she could attend, arriving in a wheelchair-Some Conservatives want May to seek further talks with EU leaders on changes before bringing a tweaked version of the bill back to Parliament, even though EU officials insist the 585-page withdrawal agreement cannot be renegotiated.Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said May was unlikely to get changes to her deal from that could “placate her Brexiteers.”“Or, she reaches out to Labour and goes for a softer Brexit than most Brexiteers would contemplate” — but which the EU might accept, Bale said.-Frustrated EU-Frustrated EU leaders called on May to make her intentions clear on the future of Brexit.“Now, it is time for the UK.to tell us the next steps,” said Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief negotiator.European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker — who returned to Brussels late Tuesday to deal with fallout from the vote — said the rejection of May’s deal had increased “the risk of a disorderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom.”“Time is almost up,” he said.Economists warn that an abrupt break from the EU could batter the British economy and bring chaotic scenes at borders, ports and airports. Business groups expressed alarm at the prospect of a “no-deal” exit.“Every business will feel no-deal is hurtling closer,” said Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry. “A new plan is needed immediately.”European Council President Donald Tusk highlighted the quagmire the U.K. had sunk into, and hinted that the best solution might be for Britain not to leave.“If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?” he tweeted.
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)
Palestinians to launch bid for full UN membership despite block by US-‘We know that we are going to face a US veto but that won’t prevent us from presenting our application,’ says Palestinian Authority FM-By Carole LANDRY-TOI-17 January 2019
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The Palestinians will launch a bid to become a full member of the United Nations even though such a move will be blocked by the United States, the Palestinian Authority foreign minister said Tuesday.The Palestinians have the status of non-member observer state at the world body and full membership would amount to international recognition of Palestinian statehood.Any request to become a UN member-state must first be approved by the Security Council, where the US has veto power, before it is endorsed by the General Assembly.“We know that we are going to face a US veto but that won’t prevent us from presenting our application” for full UN membership, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told journalists.The Palestinians will begin lobbying Security Council members with a view to presenting the application for UN membership in “a few weeks,” said Maliki.The Palestinians presented a request for UN membership in 2011, but the application never came before the Security Council for a vote.
Israel ‘hampering development’-Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday addressed a ceremony at the United Nations marking the start of the Palestinian chair of the Group of 77 and China, raising their profile by leading the biggest UN bloc of developing countries.Abbas charged that Israel was hampering development in the Middle East and renewed his commitment to a two-state solution.“Israel’s continued colonization and occupation of the state of Palestine undermines our development and capacity for cooperation, coordination and obstructs the cohesive future development of all peoples of the region,” Abbas told the gathering.The Palestinian leader said he was committed to a “peaceful solution that brings an end to the occupation and the realization of the independence of the state of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side-by-side in peace and security with the state of Israel.”The Palestinians reacted furiously to US President Donald Trump’s decision in December 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, breaking with the international consensus that the status of the city would be decided in negotiations.Abbas has broken off ties with the Trump administration and has vowed to oppose any US peace proposal that he has warned would be biased in favor of Israel.The US has also cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid for the Palestinians including funds to the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which was forced to scale back its education and health programs.The General Assembly last year adopted a resolution granting the observer-state of Palestine additional rights to act as chair of the G77, a bloc of 134 countries at the United Nations.The US voted against that measure, arguing that the Palestinians should not be allowed to take the chair because it is not a full member-state.
Netanyahu said to have asked Trump for support ahead of Mossad operation in Iran-TV report says PM sought assistance from US president in case intelligence agents had to be rescued during mission to obtain nuclear files-By TOI staff-17 January 2019
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Donald Trump before a major Israeli intelligence operation in Iran, in order to secure American support if the mission were to go awry, Israeli television reported Tuesday.In April, Netanyahu revealed a trove of documents he said proved that Iran had lied about its nuclear program. He said that the Mossad intelligence agency had spirited the documents out of a warehouse in the the Iranian capital, Tehran, and called the haul was one of the “greatest achievements” of Israeli intelligence.Netanyahu discussed the mission with Trump when the two met in Davos last January, according to Hadashot TV news, with the prime minister seeking US assistance in case the Israeli operatives had to be rescued during the mission.It was not clear from the report how Trump responded to the request or whether it was the first time he heard about the operation. The New York Times previously reported that Trump was informed of the operation by Mossad chief Yossi Cohen during a visit to Washington in January.The report did not say how Trump responded to the request.The network also reported that the extraction of the Mossad agents was far more complicated than previously reported, but did not provide any details.Though Netanyahu gave few details of the operation during his April speech, a senior Israeli official told The New York Times that the Mossad had discovered the warehouse in February 2016, and had the building under surveillance since then.The operatives broke into the building one night last January, removed the original documents and smuggled them back to Israel the same night, the official said, according to the paper.The official said the delay in making the material public was due to the time it took to analyze the documents, the vast majority of which were in Persian.Netanyahu described the archive as looking like a “dilapidated warehouse” in the Shorabad District in southern Tehran.“This is where they kept the atomic archives. Right here. Few Iranians knew where it was, very few, and also a few Israelis,” Netanyahu said.“Now, from the outside, this was an innocent looking compound. It looks like a dilapidated warehouse. But from the inside, it contained Iran’s secret atomic archives locked in massive files,” he said.Netanyahu showed a picture of long rows of safes and said that the agents managed to bring back “half a ton of the material” consisting of 55,000 pages and another 55,000 files on 183 CDs.The cache, he said, contained “incriminating documents, incriminating charts, incriminating presentations, incriminating blueprints, incriminating photos, incriminating videos and more.“We’ve shared this material with the United States, and the United States can vouch for its authenticity,” he said of the information.
Top Dem accuses Republicans of using Israel as a wedge issue-Robert Menendez drops support for Israel-related bill, says GOP’s advancement of legislation is ‘about scoring political points’-By Ron Kampeas-TOI-17 January 2019
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Senator Robert Menendez, one of the most reliable pro-Israel voices among Democrats, dropped his support for an Israel-related bill because he said the Republican leadership is trying to use it as a wedge issue.“I don’t like the Majority Leader using the US-Israel relationship as a political pawn,” Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, told Al-Monitor on Monday, after the third bid in a week by Republicans to advance the bill. The New Jersey senator had voted to advance the bill the two previous times.Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, has tried to advance a Middle East mini-omnibus bill that includes codification of the $38 billion former president Barack Obama pledged to Israel over the next 10 years and legislation that would protect from lawsuits against states that pass legislation banning state business with Israel boycotters.McConnell needs 60 votes to advance the bill, but Democrats have stood in the way, saying that McConnell should first move on their proposals to reopen the government. US President Donald Trump has said he will not consider spending legislation that would reopen the government unless it includes $5.7 billion to build a wall with Mexico. The government shutdown is in its fourth week.Most Democrats also oppose the anti-boycott component of the bill because they say it infringes on speech freedoms, but four pro-Israel Democrats who back the anti-boycott legislation had backed advancing the measure until Tuesday, when Menendez changed his vote.“At the end of the day this isn’t about getting this done; this is about scoring political points,” Menendez said.The other three Democrats are Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Doug Jones of Alabama.
Eisenkot: Netanyahu’s national security decisions were never political-Echoing outgoing IDF chief, PM says government ‘made pertinent decisions whose purpose was to safeguard the state’s existence’-By TOI staff-JAN 17,19
Following a changing-of-the-guard ceremony at IDF headquarters Tuesday, in which outgoing chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot handed over the reins to his successor, Aviv Kochavi, Eisenkot said that neither he nor Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ever made a national security decision for political reasons.At a meeting of the General Staff of the army at the Kirya base in Tel Aviv, Eisenkot offered his parting thoughts to the army’s top brass.Known as a man of few words, Eisenkot said, “My recommendations [to the government] were shaped by Israel’s security needs. There were never any political concerns behind my decisions; nor were there in the prime minister’s considerations” when it came to national security, he affirmed.Netanyahu was accused last month by opposition figures of playing up an IDF operation to locate and destroy cross-border attack tunnels dug from Lebanon for political gain, with the announcement coming in the midst of a coalition crisis that threatened to topple his government.The prime minister would go on to declare early elections just weeks later, despite the security situation seemingly staying unchanged.In a series of interviews last week ahead of his retirement, Eisenkot said the tunnels were a central aspect of Hezbollah’s plans for a surprise attack and that their destruction represented a significant setback for the terror group, potentially putting off a confrontation with Israel by several years.Echoing Eisenkot, Netanyahu said Tuesday that the security decisions he and the outgoing chief of staff made were motivated by defense concerns.“We made pertinent decisions whose purpose was to safeguard the state’s existence,” he said during a toast at the ceremony.Turning to Kochavi, Netanyahu said, “We trust you.”Kochavi, until now the deputy chief of staff, takes over as Israel faces an array of challenges on its borders.As expected, he hit the ground running, meeting his general staff on Tuesday afternoon, after which he was scheduled to issue a daily order sent out to all IDF commanders and soldiers.The new IDF commander takes over at a time when Israel is openly engaged in military operations to prevent Iranian entrenchment in Syria, while also facing weekly violent confrontations in the south on the border with the Gaza Strip and the constant threat of tensions with Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group.Internally, Israel is in the midst of an election season, with security matters always high on the agenda, and the army has been subjected to criticism from lawmakers and an outside ombudsman that it may not be prepared for war.
Palestinian designer seeks to empower women-Yasmeen Mjalli, 22, grew up in America and sees her BabyFist fashion label clothes helping to create a community for Palestinian women facing unwelcome male attention in public-By Clothilde Mraffko-TOI-JAN 17,19
RAMALLAH (AFP) — It’s only three words on a T-shirt or embroidered on a denim jacket in Palestinian designer Yasmeen Mjalli’s collection, but they carry a powerful message: “Not your habibti,” or darling.Mjalli sees the clothes as helping empower Palestinian women facing unwelcome male attention in public.“When a woman is exposed to so much harassment on the street, she begins to dress to protect herself, to hide herself as opposed to expressing herself,” the 22-year-old art history graduate says, leaning against the counter of her shop in Ramallah in the West Bank.On fabrics of muted colors and on canvas bags from her BabyFist label, she places messages in English and Arabic inside drawings of flowers and other designs.“Every rose has its revolution,” one says.Mjalli grew up in the United States, where she lived with her Palestinian parents.She started painting slogans on her own clothes when the family relocated to the West Bank and she found herself facing a different reality.“I have experienced things like comments, really uncomfortable stares, the kind that make you feel very violated,” she said.“I have been assaulted in the streets, people touching me,” she adds, catching one tattooed arm in her other hand to mimic being grabbed.In August 2017, she launched her first collection and a few months later opened the Ramallah shop to complement her existing online sales.Made in Palestine-“It’s not like the T-shirt is going to stop harassment,” she says.But it’s “a reminder that you are part of something bigger that is working to empower women and to give back in some way and that is trying to have this conversation that challenges all of these structures which we are victims of too,” she adds.The goal, Mjalli says, is to create a community.Using Instagram, free workshops in her shop and public places where she sometimes installs herself with a typewriter, she offers Palestinian women the freedom to express their feelings and tell stories they cannot share elsewhere.She donates around 10 percent of her fashion earnings to a local women’s group.One project she funds sent a doctor and volunteers into schools to teach Palestinian girls about menstruation, a subject still largely taboo.While defining herself as a feminist, Mjalli says that her fight against harassment of women is unconnected to the #MeToo movement.“I don’t think it’s related even though it happened at the same time,” she said, though acknowledging that the movement gave her own efforts a boost.“It’s a very American and it’s a very white feminism, and it’s not what we are doing here.”All BabyFist garments are made in the West Bank or Gaza.Jackets are sewn in Hassan Shehada’s Gaza workshop.Among the sewing machines humming under florescent lights, Shehada shows a denim jacket embroidered with “Not your habibti.”“I am proud that women wear the fruits of my labors and I am also very proud that they are labeled ‘Made in Palestine,‘” he says.In the past three months, he has made 1,500 items for BabyFist.It was a breath of fresh air for Shehada’s business in the Gaza Strip, under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade for more than a decade aimed at preventing terror groups from smuggling in weapons and with endemic high unemployment.“Working with BabyFist has given me back hope,” he says, adding that it has fulfilled a dream of exporting to Europe.But manufacturing in Gaza comes at a cost.Israeli restrictions mean jackets have been held up for weeks when the land crossing through Israel was closed due to mass Palestinian protests and clashes along the fence, Mjalli said.“The border was closed indefinitely and we couldn’t get anything in or out,” she said. “It’s a constant battle.”She says that around 40 percent of her sales are made in the Ramallah store and 60 percent online, mostly to the Palestinian and broader Arab diaspora.-Opposition-Not everyone, however, is a fan.Mjalli has come under fire from conservatives, who say she draws attention to women’s bodies by designing clothes that carry provocative messages.Her criticism of some aspects of Palestinian society has also raised the hackles of those who believe that the struggle against Israel is the only legitimate public campaign.For her, the fight for Palestinian independence and campaigning for women’s rights are intertwined.“The occupation robs men in our society of any sense of control, any sense of masculinity which in turn affects women’s rights,” she says.For Mjalli, there have been “already two or three generations of women that have had to suffer while we say: ‘OK, you can wait.'”
West Bank Palestinians strike against Abbas’s social security law-Citing growing rift with Hamas and increased Israeli incursions, protesters say PA government cannot be trusted to manage fund-By AFP and TOI staff-17 January 2019
Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank joined a strike on Tuesday against their government’s proposed new social security law, fearing the fund will be mismanaged.The strike, which saw much of Ramallah, Hebron and other West Bank cities closed, came hours before Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is due to address the United Nations.A few thousand people protested outside the Social Security Institution in Ramallah, where Abbas’s government is based.Under the proposed system, both private employers and their employees would pay monthly into a government-managed fund, with employees receiving a pension when they retire.The PA says it will provide new security for employees, arguing similar systems exist in countries across the globe.Polls show that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians view PA institutions as corrupt, and protesters say they do not trust the Ramallah-based government to manage the fund.They also say Israel’s continued occupation of the the West Bank means that the long-term existence of the Palestinian Authority government is far from secure.Israeli soldiers entered Ramallah several times in recent weeks, including near Abbas’s headquarters following two deadly terror attacks in the West Bank.Amer Farah, who works at Bank of Palestine in Ramallah, said that in functioning states the social security laws were important to protect citizens’ futures.“But we are still under occupation, and there is no contact between parts of the country,” he told AFP, alluding to the decade-long split between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where Abbas’s rivals Hamas are in control.The Hamas terror group, which seized control of the coastal enclave from Abbas in 2007, has stated that it strongly opposes the Social Security Institution, claiming it violates quasi-constitutional Palestinian laws.“The country is not stable, neither economically nor politically,” Farah added. “How will they implement the law?”The decade-long Palestinian split looks set to deepen in the coming months, with Abbas poised to take multiple measures against Hamas.A breakthrough came in late 2017 when the two sides reached an agreement to eventually share power; however the reconciliation agreement has since collapsed acrimoniously.Abbas was due to speak later Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly, where he was expected to again call on world powers to recognize Palestine as a state despite the divided governments.
Abbas likely to visit Syria soon, senior Palestinian official says-Azzam al-Ahmad says trip by PA president, who was last in the country before civil war, is ‘possible at any time’-By Adam Rasgon-TOI-17 January 2019
A senior Palestinian predicted that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Syria in the near future.The PA president has not visited Syria or met Syrian President Bashar Assad since civil war broke out in the country in 2011.“The visit of the President Mahmoud Abbas is possible at any time… I believe [it] will happen soon, if God wills it,” Azzam al-Ahmad told al-Watan, a pro-Syrian government newspaper, at the opening of a new office for Palestine TV, the official PA channel, in Damascus on Monday.Several Palestinian officials attended the opening of the Palestine TV office including Ahmad, a member of both the Fatah Central Committee and Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee; the PA’s Jenin Governor Akram Rajoub; and PLO Executive Committee member Wasel Abu Yousef.Abu Yousef told The Times of Israel in a phone call earlier this week that he and Ahmad traveled to Damascus by car via Jordan.Syria was expelled from the 22-member Arab League soon after the civil war erupted. Arab countries have sanctioned Damascus and condemned Assad for using overwhelming military force and failing to negotiate with the opposition.More than 360,000 people have been killed in the war and Assad has been accused of perpetrating war crimes.But as the war winds down in favor of Assad, with his troops recapturing key population centers, Syria’s relations with the Arab world appear to be warming.In mid-December, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir became the first Arab head of state to visit Syria since the civil war broke out.Later that month, the United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus, some seven years after shuttering it.In October, Assad told a little-known Kuwaiti newspaper that Syria had reached a “major understanding” with Arab states. He did not name those countries in the interview, which was his first with a Gulf paper since the war erupted, but he said Arab and Western delegations had begun visiting Syria to prepare for the reopening of diplomatic and other missions.Unlike many of his Arab counterparts, Abbas has not staked out a stnace on the civil war since it began, Ziad Iyad, a professor of political science at Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem, said in a phone call.“Abbas never took a clear position on the crisis because he did not want Palestinian refugees in Syria to pay a price for his comments,” Iyad said. “He did not want Syria to carry out reprisals against Palestinian refugees for something he says.”There are hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Syria who live in 12 refugee camps, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.In the past year, he has met with at least three Syrian officials during trips abroad.On a trip to Latin America in May 2018, Abbas met the Syrian ambassadors to Venezuela and Cuba, Khalil Bitar and Idris Mayya, respectively.On a trip to Russia in July 2018, he also met Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Riyad Haddad.Agencies contributed to this article.
Germany arrests military adviser suspected of spying for Iran-Media report says Afghan-German man worked for Tehran intelligence services for years, had access to highly sensitive information, including Afghanistan troop deployment-By AFP-TOI-JAN 17,19
BERLIN, Germany — Germany on Tuesday detained a German-Afghan man on suspicion he was spying for Iran while working for the German army as a linguistic and cultural adviser.The 50-year-old identified as Abdul Hamid S. was arrested in western Germany, federal prosecutors said in a statement.“The accused was a language evaluator and cultural issues adviser of the German armed forces. In this capacity, he is believed to have passed on information to an Iranian intelligence service,” they added.According to Spiegel Online, he is suspected of working for Iranian secret services for several years.While working for the German army, he had access to highly sensitive information including on troop deployment in Afghanistan, the report added.Previous cases of infiltration by a foreign agency have sparked outrage and shock in Germany.In 2016, Markus Reichel, himself a former intelligence agent for Germany, was convicted for spying for both the CIA and the Russian secret service.He admitted handing over “scores of documents and internal information” to the CIA, including papers detailing Germany’s counter-espionage strategies.Reichel also delivered three classified documents to the Russians.In 2011, Germany jailed a married couple for spying for the Russian secret services for more than 20 years.The pair, identified only by the code names Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag, were planted in the former West Germany from 1988 by the Soviet Union’s KGB and later worked for its successor the SVR.The couple had obtained NATO and EU political and military secrets, focused especially on the relationship of NATO and the EU with eastern European and central Asian countries.
Turkey’s Erdogan okays Syria ‘security zone’ proposed by Trump-Announcement of ‘agreement of historic importance’ comes after US president threatened to devastate Turkish economy if Ankara launched offensive against US-allied Kurdish fighters-By AFP-TOI-17 January 2019
ANKARA — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Ankara would set up a “security zone” in northern Syria suggested by US President Donald Trump.Erdogan said he held a “quite positive” telephone conversation with Trump late on Monday where he reaffirmed that “a 20-mile (30 kilometer) security zone along the Syrian border… will be set up by us.”Turkey has welcomed the planned withdrawal of some 2,000 US troops from Syria but the future of US-backed Kurdish militia forces regarded as terrorists by Ankara has poisoned Ankara-Washington ties.Trump on Sunday tweeted that the United States would “devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds,” a threat that drew angry retorts from the government in Ankara.Erdogan on Tuesday said Trump’s tweet “saddened me and my friends,” but added that the two leaders reached an agreement during Monday’s phone conversation.“We have reached an agreement of understanding that is of historic importance,” he said.Erdogan said Turkey would solve issues with a “spirit of alliance” with Trump as long as his country’s sensitivities were taken into account.US support for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) during the Syria conflict has been a major source of friction between the NATO allies. The US regards the YPG as an effective ground force in the fight against Islamic State (IS) jihadists.Ankara has however threatened to launch a cross-border operation to eradicate Syrian Kurdish fighters it sees as an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).The PKK is blacklisted by Turkey as well as by the United States.
EARTH DESTROYED WITH THE EARTH IN NOAHS DAY(BECAUSE OF SIN,VIOLENCE AND GODLESS PEOPLE)
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.
HOSEA 4:1-3
1 Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
DEUTORONOMY 28:22-24
22 The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
Winter weather kills 15 displaced children in Syria, UN says-Aid organization says freezing temperatures and lack of medical care claimed victims, most aged under a year and one just an hour old; thousands continue to flee fighting-By AFP-TOI-JAN 17,19
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Freezing temperatures and the lack of medical care have killed at least 15 displaced Syrian children in recent weeks, the United Nations reported on Tuesday.The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said eight of them had died as a result of the cold in the Rukban camp in southeastern Syria and seven others during the displacement from the jihadist bastion of Hajin, further north.“Freezing temperatures and harsh living conditions in Rukban… are increasingly putting children’s lives at risk,” UNICEF regional director Geert Cappelaere said.“In just one month, at least eight children — most of them under four months and the youngest only one hour old — have died,” he said.Cappelaere explained that the cold in the isolated desert camp on the Jordanian border, where 80 percent of the 45,000 residents are women and children, was increasing infant mortality.The cold snap that has hit the region is also having dire consequences on the people fleeing the fighting in the so-called Hajin pocket in eastern Syria.The area near the Iraqi border has seen intense fighting between Islamic State group jihadists defending the last remnants of their “caliphate” and Kurdish-led forces backed by US airstrikes.According to the UN, more than 10,000 people have fled the area since December.“Families seeking safety face difficulties leaving the conflict zone and wait in the cold for days without shelter or basic supplies,” Cappelaere said.“The dangerous and difficult journey has reportedly killed seven children — most of them under one year old” in Hajin, he said.According to the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces battling the jihadists and to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, significant numbers of IS members have attempted to blend in with fleeing civilians.
