ISRAEL CONTROLS THE UNILATERAL CEASEFIRE-CAN NUKE OR BOMB ARABS AT WILL

 DISEASES-ANIMAL TO HUMAN

REVELATION 6:7-8 (500 MILLION DEAD EACH FROM THE 4 JUDGEMENTS)(2 BILLION TOT DEAD HERE)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 billion) of (8 billion) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS)(500 million) and with hunger,(FAMINE)(500 million) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES)(500 million) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE)(500 million).

THE COVID-19 TOTALS.
WORLD OVER ALL CASES 168,009,898 DEAD 3,488,029 AS OF TUE MAY 25,21

AMIR SARFATI SAID THE SO CALLED CEASEFIRE IS A UNILATERAL CEASEFIRE - MEANING ISRAEL CALLS ALL THE SHOTS. THE MUDERER AHAB THE ARABS ACT UP-SHOOTING ROCKETS AT ISRAEL-ISRAEL CAN RETALIATE ON GAZA INSTANTLY. NO COMPLAINING BY THE WORLD OR UN-ITS USELESS. ISRAEL HAS CONTROL OF THE CEASEFIRE AND CAN BOMB OR NUKE THE ARABS AT THEIR WILL. THANK GOD-ISRAEL FINALLY GOT THE ADVANTAGE ON THE SEX FOR MURDER DEATH CULT ISLAMIC, ARAB,MUSLIMS.
ISRAERL CONTROLS VTHE CEASEFIRE

Bad Judeans? Despite biblical ban, non-kosher fish were eaten in ancient Israel-Unlike prohibition on pork, ban on scaleless, finless fish – found twice in the Torah – was apparently not observed. New project looks at origins of Judaism as a religious practice-By Amanda Borschel-Dan-MAY 25,21-Today, 7:00 am

A new study scrutinizing 2,000 years of fish consumption in the ancient holy land has found that — despite clear Torah prohibitions — non-kosher finless and scaleless fish were generally eaten by all peoples, regardless of ethnic and religious affiliation.The requirement to eat only fish that has both fins and scales is found twice in the Bible: in Leviticus 11: 9–12 and in Deuteronomy 14: 9–10. In both cases, the proscription follows the more widely known prohibition against eating pig. Indeed, as one might infer from the Bible, there is scant archaeological evidence of pork consumption among the early Judahites and Israelites. Not so with the “treyf” (non-kosher) fish.In “The Pentateuchal Dietary Proscription against Finless and Scaleless Aquatic Species in Light of Ancient Fish Remains,” published in the peer-reviewed Tel Aviv archaeological journal on Tuesday, co-authors Dr. Yonatan Adler of Ariel University and Prof. Omri Lernau, present evidence from some 56 fishbone assemblages from 30 sites spanning from 1550 BCE to 640 CE, to establish whether common, everyday Judahites actually adhered to this Torah prohibition.In all, some 21,646 skeletal elements were studied, revealing that, at most of the sites there was a preponderance of non-kosher fish, mostly catfish, but also shark, eel, and ray remains, alongside the kosher fish bones.“Catfish were clearly exploited as a suitable source of nutrition for various population groups living in the region over considerable periods,” write the authors. During the Iron Age II, for example, “at over three-quarters of the sites with available evidence, scaleless fish remains are present in modest to moderate amounts: 13% on average (excluding outliers below 5% and above 30%).”And even in the holy, land-locked capital of Jerusalem, non-kosher fish remains were in evidence. “Significantly, all the fish assemblages from sites within the Southern Kingdom — first and foremost Jerusalem — presented evidence of modest to (more often) moderate amounts of scaleless fish remains,” they write.Apparently, not all the Judahites got the memo on the ban on catfish, but that is not surprising to Adler.The current fish study is part of a larger project headed by Adler called the Origins of Judaism Archaeological Project, which looks at both textual sources and archaeological remains for evidence of when the ancient Judeans began keeping the laws of the Torah. The project looks for evidence for purity laws, such as ancient ritual baths and stone vessels, as well as other biblical commandments, which could be represented by ancient tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzot, or the existence of figurative art (which may defy the second commandment). This new study focuses on evidence for the kosher dietary laws, which is also explored in the project.“What I’m interested in is the question of, from which point in time do we have evidence that ancient Judeans were aware of the Torah and saw the Torah as something authoritative, which they should be keeping,” Adler told The Times of Israel.Modern scholars believe the first five books of the Bible, or the Torah, was written or compiled in the Persian period — from 539 to 332 BCE. According to Adler, the fact that a select elite redacted the Bible does not at all mean that the contents were known to the common Judahite.“There’s a very important distinction that I’d like to make between when a book is written down, edited, and put together, and when the general public knows of its existence and regards that book as authoritative,” said Adler.A project is hatched-The fish study was spawned after Adler heard a 2017 lecture by co-author Lernau, a retired MD whose hobby — shared by his father — of studying ancient fish bones made him the foremost expert in Israel.During the lecture, Lernau happened to mention the existence of evidence of catfish in ancient Jerusalem and Adler’s ear perked up. Lernau has a huge database documenting fish remains from throughout the country, which allowed the study to work on a large scale, despite a relative paucity of systematically collected fishbone samples. (Indeed, the authors call on their fellow archaeologists to take more care, and to dry- and wet-sift for fish bones, at any site, when possible.)“We took a particular snapshot — a snapshot of 2,000 years — but a window from 1550 BCE until 640 CE, within which this period of time, we can say for sure the Pentateuch came about and Judaism was born,” said Adler. Through this long prism, the authors discovered that non-kosher fish were a regular part of people’s diets, including species that were imported from far-away Egypt and elsewhere.The authors compared the proliferation of non-kosher fish remains with the absence of pig evidence during the same eras and concluded that the two biblical prohibitions come from starkly different backgrounds.“There have been some very important studies in recent years, which showed that pig was not being eaten by all ethnic groups in the ancient Levant. Already in the Bronze Age,” there are “many sites where we don’t find pig remains and a limited number of sites where we do find pig remains,” said Adler.Adler cautions that the absence of a certain kind of food does not necessarily mean abstention nor necessarily imply a taboo, however.But what is clear, he said, is that “when the pentateuchal laws are written down and compiled and the prohibition against pig was being written down, if you will, pig was not being eaten by Judeans. And that had been the case for quite some time. Their Canaanite ancestors had not been eating pig for hundreds of years. And the pentateuchal prohibition against pig was written on that backdrop,” he said.“That was not the case with the fish. Scaleless fish was being eaten by Judeans for hundreds of years and, when the pentateuchal laws came to be written down, they contradicted long-standing Judean dietary behaviors,” he said.To date the genesis of the non-kosher fish ban is still unknown. Adler said he is unaware of any other contemporary culture that prohibited these scaleless, finless fish. But it appears that the fish prohibition “had a very different background from the pig prohibition, despite the fact that the fish prohibition appears immediately after the pig prohibition in both places that it appears in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.”Birth of a religion-Ariel University’s Dr. Yonatan Adler in the field. (courtesy)-In Adler’s upcoming 2022 book from Yale University Press on the Origins of Judaism, he will discuss more fully when the religion as a practice was born. Spoiler: It’s centuries later than when the Torah was redacted.“We don’t have evidence for any of these [Torah] practices or prohibitions prior to the second century before the common era, that is to say from the period of the Hasmonean Dynasty,” said Adler. “We do not have any evidence that the Judean masses, that your regular every day Judean you would have met on the street of Jerusalem, prior to the middle of the second century BCE had any knowledge of the Torah and or that he observed the rules of the Torah.”Adler is the first to emphasize the archaeology maxim that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.“Judaism could have begun before the mid-2nd century,” he said, but the lack of evidence currently makes that conjecture. “It could have emerged during the long Hellenistic period — sometime during this time is the best time to be seeking the emergence of Judaism.”

Hundreds of Dutch academics sign call to cut ties with Israel over Gaza fighting-564 people put their names to letter urging their government to boycott Israeli academic institutions; one signatory works at state Holocaust research institute-By JTA and TOI staff-MAY 25,21-Today, 7:57 am

Hundreds of academics have signed a petition calling on the Dutch government to sever relations with Israel over what they perceive as Israeli violations of international law in responding to Hamas terror group rockets from the Gaza Strip.Among the 564 signers is a researcher at a state Holocaust research institute.“We declare we join the calls of our Palestinian colleagues to boycott Israeli academic institutions,” reads the petition, which is titled “Netherlands higher education stands in solidarity with Palestinians.” The document also calls on the Dutch government to “sever all economic, political and military ties with Israel.”The document says Israel violated international law in its response to the thousands of rockets launched into its cities this month by Hamas. Israel struck back at Hamas in Gaza with intensive airstrikes.Kylie Thomas, a South Africa native, was the only one from the Netherlands Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, or NIOD, who signed the petition.Its director, Frank van Vree, said Thomas’s views do not represent the institution, “which as a research institute does not take a position on this action,” he wrote to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. NIOD has no intention of limiting its cooperation with any of its current partners, he added.The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says at least 243 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children and teens, with 1,910 people wounded. It does not differentiate between terror group members and civilians. The Israeli military maintained that it killed some 225 terrorist operatives and that the Palestinian death toll was in fact considerably higher than was reported. It said some of the civilian fatalities were caused by Hamas rockets falling short and landing in the Strip.Thirteen people were killed in Israel, all but one of them civilians, including a 5-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl.A ceasefire was reached early Friday following 11 days of fighting.

PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH)

REVELATION 6:7-8 (8 BILLION- 2 BILLION = 6 BILLION)
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth,(2 BILLION) to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

REVELATION 9:15,18 (6 BILLION - 2 BILLION = 4 BILLION)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,
18 By these three was the third part of men killed,(2 BILLION) by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMBS)

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37 (8 TOTAL BILLION - 4 BILLION DEAD IN TRIB = 4 BILLION TO JESUS KINGDOM) (HALF DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE THE BIBLE SAYS)(GOD DOES NOT LIE)(AND NOTICE MOST DIE IN WAR AND DISEASES-NOT COMETS-ASTEROIDS-QUAKES OR TSUNAMIS)
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other shall be left.(half earths population 4 billion die in the 7 yr trib)
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES.BECAUSE NOT HALF OF PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE CHRISTIANS.AND THE CONTEXT IN LUKE 17 IS THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION OR 7 YR TREATY PERIOD.WHICH IS JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH.NOT 50% RAPTURED TO HEAVEN.

MATTHEW 24:37-42 (THESE ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES-SURE NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken,(IN WW3 JUDGEMENT) and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:(FOR THE LAST DAYS SIGNS HAPPENING) for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)(NUKED BY SNEAK ATTACK FROM RUSSIA)

IN REVELATION 17 & 18 IS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL BABYLONS.IF YOU CAN NOT DECERN BETWEEN THE 2 BABYLONS IN REV 17 & 18.YOU WILL JUST THINK THEIR BOTH THE SAME.BUT NO-THERES A RELIGIOUS BABYLON (THE VATICAN IN REV 17)(AND THE POLITICAL BABYLON IN REV 18 (AMERICA OR NEW YORK TO BE EXACT)

ISAIAH 34:10
10  It (AMERICA-POLITICAL BABYLON) shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

JEREMIAH 51:29-32 (CYBER ATTACK 1ST)
29  And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon,(AMERICA-NEW YORK) to make the land of Babylon (AMERICA) a desolation without an inhabitant.
30  The mighty men of Babylon (AMERICA) have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.
031  One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon (NEW YORK) that his city is taken at one end,
32  And that the passages are stopped,(THE WAR COMPUTERS HACKED OR EMP'D) and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.(DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO)

COMPLETE SILENCE AFTER AN EMP GOES OFF
REVELATION 8:1
1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.

JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north (RUSSIA) there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon,(AMERICA) and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK CYBER,EMP ATTACK,THEN NUKE ATTACK ON AM

EZEKIEL 39:11-22
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)
13 Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)(EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN THE JORDAN VALLEY)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY SPRING,FALL) 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 THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ARMIES)
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.

Iran’s constitutional watchdog approves just 7 out of 590 to run for president-Top-level panel of clerics and jurists disqualifies vast majority of would-be candidates who registered for coming election to succeed Hassan Rouhani-By AP-MAY 25,21-Today, 10:52 am

TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian state television announced Tuesday that only seven candidates have been approved by the country’s constitutional watchdog to run for president next month, drastically narrowing the field of hopefuls for who will replace outgoing President Hassan Rouhani.The report did not name those selected, though rumors have circulated that reformists and moderates vying for the spot may have been barred from running by the Guardian Council.State TV quoted Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman of the Guardian Council, as saying “only seven” had been approved out of some 590 who registered by the panel of clerics and jurists overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Kadkhodaei did not name those selected.Iran’s Interior Ministry, which oversees its police and elections, typically announces the candidates. In 2017, 1,630 hopefuls registered to run.Iran’s judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline cleric who ran against Rouhani in 2017, is considered among analysts to be the strongest candidate in the upcoming June 18 vote. Many in Iran have grown frustrated with Rouhani, whose signature achievement was the 2015 nuclear deal that’s now in tatters after then-US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord.

Hundreds rally against antisemitism in Jewish suburb of Chicago-Skokie sees 500-strong group demonstrate after synagogue vandalized a week ago; local rabbi says ‘this is not a protest, but a cry of pain’By Yvette Alt Miller-24 May 2021, 9:04 pm

SKOKIE, Illinois (JTA) — After a synagogue in this Chicago suburb was vandalized on May 16 in what police are calling a hate crime, local rabbis could not dwell on the damage: they had to prepare for Shavuot, the two-day Jewish holiday that began that evening.A week later, though, the rabbis were the engine behind a 500-person rally in this heavily Jewish town against antisemitism.Skokie perhaps is best known as the town where, in 1977, free-speech advocates fought for neo-Nazis to be able to march, only to have the eventual rally be outnumbered by local Jews and their allies.This time, too, Chicago-area Jews were joined by allies from other communities on Sunday, one week after pro-Palestinian protesters vandalized Skokie’s Persian Hebrew Congregation and left local Jews rattled and fearful for their safety.“This is not a protest,” Rabbi Zvi Engel of Congregation Or Torah told the crowd gathered next to his synagogue on one of the town’s main thoroughfares. “This is a cry of pain.”The rally was a message that Chicago-area Jews will not accept recent anti-Jewish vitriol and the vandalism of a local synagogue in silence. It was one of several public gatherings held in recent days by Jewish communities and pro-Israel groups in many cities in response to sweeping pro-Palestinian rallies and incidents of antisemitism during the Israel-Gaza conflict.Synagogues of all Jewish denominations in Skokie served as co-sponsors of the rally along with several other Jewish organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles-based group that advocates against antisemitism.Alison Pure-Slovin, director of the center’s Midwest region, said she had heard from an unusual number of non-Jews asking to be included in advocacy against antisemitism.“People have been reaching out to me for the past few weeks saying what can we do to support the Jewish people?’” Pure-Slovin said, but adding that the number remained disappointingly small.“We as Jews march against hate — why don’t others reach out to us?” she wondered.Two non-Jewish organizations officially partnered with the rally: the Iraqi Christian Relief Council and the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, whose members added Italian flags alongside the American and Israeli ones on display.“We want to represent the Italian-American community,” Frank Di Paolo said. “We’ve also been discriminated against.”Others joined to demonstrate solidarity with the local Jewish community.“It’s important to stand against hate and antisemitism,” said Josina Morita, commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and a Skokie resident who brought her 1-year-old daughter, Mei Mei, to the rally.Others called attention to who was not there.Patrick John, the first Black Christian president of the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, a Jewish legal society in Chicago, in a speech criticized the Black Lives Matter movement for taking up the cause of Palestinian rights uncritically. John lamented that there were not more African-Americans at the rally supporting their Jewish neighbors.Chicago’s Jewish federation, the Jewish United Fund, was not among the rally organizers, leaving that work to local Jewish leaders. The federation had worked with local authorities to ensure that last week’s vandalism was treated as a hate crime, according to its president, Lonnie Nasatir.“Right now, we’re encouraged by different parts of the community,” Nasatir said.The federation’s approach drew support from some of the rally participants.“I think the response [to antisemitism] should always be a grassroots response,” said Rabbi Leonard Matanky of Congregation KINS in Chicago, a rally sponsor.The Skokie rally’s organizers hope that their grassroots activism can serve as a model for other communities at a time of fear and uncertainty.“We’re stronger together,” said Rabbi Ari Hart of Skokie Valley Agudas Jacob, an Orthodox synagogue and another rally organizer.Hart said the rally’s organizers — who ultimately included Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Jews — put aside any differences and came together to fight hate.“Part of what ‘achdus’ means is you have to be flexible and inclusive,” Hart said, using the Hebrew word for Jewish unity.Or Torah’s Rabbi Engel suggested that other communities organize across denominations.“Those who wish us ill couldn’t care less what siddur [Jewish prayer book] you pray from,” he said. “They know we all have the same Torah, the same State of Israel, and that we are all from the same family.“In times like these, we must stand together to give each other strength and to raise consciousness.”

WhatsApp blocks accounts of Gaza-based journalists in Hamas chat-Accounts of 17 correspondents in the coastal enclave disabled, only 4 have been restored; media giant says it bans users ‘to prevent harm as well as applicable law’By AP and TOI staff    25 May 2021, 1:18 am

A few hours after the latest ceasefire took effect in the Gaza Strip on Friday, a number of Palestinian journalists in the coastal enclave found they were blocked from accessing WhatsApp messenger.The Associated Press reached out to 17 journalists in Gaza who confirmed their Whatsapp accounts had been blocked. By midday Monday, only four journalists — working for Al Jazeera — confirmed their accounts had been restored.The incident marks the latest puzzling move concerning WhatsApp’s owner Facebook Inc. that’s left Palestinian users or their allies bewildered as to why they’ve been targeted by the company, or if indeed they’d been singled out for censorship at all.Twelve of the 17 journalists contacted by the AP said they had been part of a WhatsApp group that disseminates information related to Hamas operations. Hamas, which rules over the Gaza Strip, is viewed as a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States, where WhatsApp owner Facebook is headquartered.It remained unclear if the journalists were targeted because they’d been following that group’s announcements on WhatsApp.Members of the Izz-Al Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas terror group, march in Gaza City on May 22, 2021. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP)-The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza has a WhatsApp group followed by more than 80 people, many of them journalists. That group, for example, has not been blocked.Hassan Slaieh, a freelance journalist in Gaza whose WhatsApp account is blocked, said he thinks his account might have been targeted because he was on a group called Hamas Media.“This has affected my work and my income because I lost conversations with sources and people,” Slaieh said.Al Jazeera’s chief correspondent in Gaza, Wael al-Dahdouh, said his access to WhatsApp was blocked around dawn on Friday before it was reinstated Monday. He said journalists subscribe to Hamas groups only to get information needed to do journalistic work.A WhatsApp spokesperson said the company bans accounts to comply with its policies “to prevent harm as well as applicable law.” The company said it has been in touch with media outlets over the last week about its practices. “We will reinstate journalists if any were impacted,” the company said.Al Jazeera said that when it sought information regarding its four journalists in Gaza impacted by the blockage, they were told by Facebook that the company had blocked the numbers of groups based out of Gaza and consequently the cell phone numbers of Al Jazeera journalists were part of the groups they had blocked.Among those affected by the WhatsApp blockage are two Agence France-Presse journalists. The Paris-based international news service told the AP it is working with WhatsApp to understand what the problem is and to restore their accounts.The 11-day war caused widespread destruction across Gaza with 253 Palestinians, including 66 minors killed in the fighting, according to the Hamas Health Ministry. It did not differentiate between terror group members and civilians. The Israeli army said some of the Gaza casualties were caused by the terror groups’ rockets falling short and landing inside Gaza.One soldier and 12 civilians in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, were killed in the terror groups’ rocket fire, and hundreds were injured.It’s not the first time journalists have been suddenly barred from WhatsApp. In 2019, a number of journalists in Gaza had their accounts blocked without explanation. The accounts of those working with international media organizations were restored after contacting the company.Facebook and its photo and video-sharing platform Instagram were criticized this month for allegedly removing posts and deleting accounts by users posting about protests against efforts to evict Palestinians from their homes in east Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. It prompted an open letter signed by 30 organizations demanding to know why the posts had been removed.WhatsApp said it does not have access to the contents of people’s personal chats, but that they ban accounts when information is reported they believe indicates a user may be involved in causing imminent harm. The company said it also responds to “valid legal requests from law enforcement for the limited information available to us.”The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, or 7amleh, said in a report published this month that Facebook accepted 81% of requests made by Israel’s Cyber Unit to remove Palestinian content last year. It found that in 2020, Twitter suspended dozens of accounts of Palestinian users based on information from the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs.Al-Dahdouh, the Al Jazeera correspondent, said although his account was restored, his past history of chats and messages was erased.“The groups and conversations were back, but content is erased, as if you are joining a new group or starting a new conversation,” he said. “I have lost information, images, numbers, messages, and communications.”Al Jazeera said its journalists in Gaza had their WhatsApp accounts blocked by the host without prior notification.“Al Jazeera would like to strongly emphasize that its journalists will continue to use their WhatsApp accounts and other applications for newsgathering purposes and personal communication,” the news network told the AP. “At no time, have Al Jazeera journalists used their accounts for any means other than for personal or professional use.”The Qatar-based news network’s office in Gaza was destroyed during the war by Israeli airstrikes that took down the high-rise residential and office tower, which also housed The Associated Press offices. The military, which has said it gave journalists and other tenants “sufficient time” to evacuate, alleges the Hamas terror group used the building for a military intelligence office and weapons development.Sada Social, a West Bank-based center tracking alleged violations against Palestinian content on social media, said it was collecting information on the number of Gaza-based journalists impacted by the latest WhatsApp decision.

As pandemic wanes, Israel’s indoor mask mandate said set to be lifted in 2 weeks-But Health Ministry official says she won’t commit to timeframe; travel restrictions needed to prevent entry of new variants-By TOI staff-25 May 2021, 12:19 am

Health Ministry officials reportedly said Monday that the requirement to wear face masks indoors may be lifted within two weeks if the trend of declining contagion continues despite pandemic restrictions being steadily eased.Responding to the report by Channel 12 news, Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the Health Ministry’s chief of public health, told the network she would not give a specific timeframe, but “we are taking action and checking” the possibility.Israel has all but emerged from the pandemic, with most businesses and schools back to normal and the government announcing the imminent reopening of movie theaters and arts venues following the country’s world-leading vaccination drive over the past few months.Health officials are still keeping in place restrictions on incoming travelers, and are planning on tightening those restrictions to prevent the entry of potential vaccine-resistant variants.“It’s still important to ensure that contagion does not arrive from outside,” Alroy-Preis said, reiterating a Health Ministry statement from a day earlier.“On that front, not only will the restrictions remain, but they will be increased. We haven’t yet identified a variant that’s resilient to the vaccine,” she said. “We’re conducting many tests to prevent the entry of any such variant.”All incoming travelers must still quarantine for about two weeks, and must receive a COVID test on their ninth day in the country, she said.On Sunday, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said that almost all remaining virus restrictions will be lifted in the beginning of next month.A Health Ministry statement said that from June 1, Israel will lift the remaining coronavirus restrictions on gatherings, and will no longer limit entry to certain venues only to the vaccinated, following the near-vanquishing of COVID-19 in the country as a result of its successful vaccine drive.The so-called Purple Badge and Green Pass systems will be scrapped, meaning that Israelis will no longer require proof of vaccination or recovery to enter various venues, and capacity limits at stores, restaurants and other sites will be lifted. There will be no further caps on gatherings, indoors or outdoors.Only the wearing of face masks indoors and travel restrictions will remain in place for the time being, Edelstein said.Earlier this month, the Health Ministry announced that it was extending the Green Pass system through 2021, and attributed the decision to Edelstein himself.Additionally, members of the Health Ministry’s national forum for dealing with the coronavirus outbreak said Monday that no discussions had been held with experts ahead of the announcement. According to the Kan public broadcaster, one unnamed member of the forum expressed great surprise at the decision and raised questions as to the motives behind it.Others told the outlet that they had only heard about the decision from news reports and suspected there were political motives behind the move.However, Deputy Health Minister Yoav Kisch told Kan on Monday that there was nothing untoward about the development, and said that the Health Ministry’s leadership had decided to take the step.Edelstein said Sunday that the return to normal comes with a caveat.The Health Ministry is working to continue the low morbidity and will continue to comprehensively observe the situation to prevent an outbreak. Of course, if there is an outbreak, we will have to go back” to upholding the restrictions, he said.Edelstein urged Israelis not to travel to countries with high morbidity rates, and to stick to distancing rules when abroad.Israel has made dramatic gains in stamping out the virus through its vaccination campaign, driving down the number of daily cases (based on a weekly average), from 8,600 at the peak of the health crisis to just 27 this week. At the height of the pandemic, there were 88,000 active cases in the country and 1,228 serious cases; as of Monday evening, there were 514 active infections and 59 people in serious condition.According to the ministry, over 5.1 million Israelis received both doses of the vaccine and 92% of Israelis over 50 are fully vaccinated.The morbidity rates in the country have remained low despite the reopening of most of the economy and of the school system.

As ceasefire holds, Israel reopens Gaza crossings for humanitarian aid-Hamas said to threaten renewed fighting over any change to ‘status quo,’ reject proposed condition of releasing captives in exchange for Strip’s reconstruction-By Emanuel Fabian and Aaron Boxerman-MAY 24,21-Today, 11:46 pm

Israel decided to reopen its crossings with Gaza on Tuesday to allow fuel and humanitarian aid to enter the coastal enclave for the first time in more than two weeks, Israel’s liaison to the Palestinians said on Monday night.All crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip were completely shut down two weeks ago, when the Hamas terror group launched rockets at Jerusalem and initiated 11 days of fighting.Sporadic exemptions for foreign journalists and some aid convoys were granted since hostilities ceased on Friday morning. Starting Tuesday morning, however, Erez Crossing will open for humanitarian cases — such as Gazans seeking medical treatment in Israel — and for foreign journalists and aid workers.The Kerem Shalom commercial crossing will reopen for fuel and humanitarian aid, the office acting as liaison to the Palestinians, commonly known by its acronym COGAT, said in a statement.The Israeli government also authorized reopening the Gaza fishing zone to its usual six miles. Fishing is a significant source of revenue for the beleaguered enclave, and Israel has raised and lowered the limit several times in recent years in a bid to pressure Hamas.“These civilian measures, approved by the political echelon, are conditional upon the preservation of security stability,” COGAT said.Leaders of Hamas, meanwhile, have reportedly rejected conditions that Israel is seeking to impose on Gaza’s reconstruction, including a proposal to limit the entry of goods into the coastal enclave.Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Sunday said Israel will not permit the full reconstruction of Gaza, as well as the entry of aid that is not humanitarian, until the terror group releases two Israeli civilians who crossed into the Strip, and returns the bodies of two soldiers.Hamas “cannot be blackmailed,” the Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper quoted officials in the terror group as saying on Monday in response to Gantz’s proposal.The two Israelis — Avraham Avera Mengistu and Hisham a-Sayed — entered the Gaza Strip of their own accord, and their families say they suffered from mental illness. Hamas is also holding the bodies of Oren Shaul and Hadar Goldin, two IDF soldiers who were killed in the Strip during the 2014 Gaza war.“The most desirable change in my view is to strengthen the Palestinian Authority as much as possible,” Gantz told reporters on Sunday, “and not to let Hamas be the one that sets the agenda, not in the area of the Gaza Strip or in Gaza itself.”Hamas officials have also threatened to resume rocket attacks if Israel seeks to impose a new status quo on Gaza following the 11 days of fighting, after some officials called for a harsher response, including the renewal of assassinations of Hamas leaders.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday vowed that Hamas would see a much tougher Israeli stance, and that any future rocket fire from Gaza would be met with “a whole new level of force.”“We changed the equation not only with regard to the operation but also with regard to the future. If Hamas thinks we will tolerate a ‘drizzle’ of rockets, it is mistaken,” Netanyahu said, referring to the sporadic fire often seen from Gaza between major conflicts in recent years.Also Monday, Gantz ordered the confiscation of shipments of materials and equipment to Gaza that the military claims are intended for Hamas’ military efforts.In the days that preceded the latest round of fighting that began May 10, inspectors at the Kerem Shalom crossing nabbed shipments of potassium chloride, glycerin, polyurethane, fiberglass, and other materials, as well as sophisticated communications equipment, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.Gantz also ordered the confiscation of an estimated NIS 1 million ($310,000) worth of gold that the Israel Defense Forces caught being smuggled from Gaza to the West Bank, which officials said was intended to fund Hamas terror operations in the West Bank.Meanwhile, in Gaza on Monday, a spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing told a crowd of supporters that Hamas will respond to any Israeli escalation in kind. “Our actions precede our words and our missiles are in their silos ready and awaiting the decision,” a spokesperson for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades said.The spokesperson delivered the remarks at an event mourning terrorists who were killed during the recent hostilities with Israel, attended by the group’s Gaza leader, Yahya Sinwar.“We say to the occupation with consistency and clarity: if you return, so shall we. If you escalate, so shall we. Our fingers are on the trigger, and our battle has chapters still unwritten,” the spokesperson said.

As Blinken due, Netanyahu hints Israel may take independent action against Iran-In unusually stark remarks, PM says he appreciates US friendship, but there could be a situation where Tehran’s nuclear threat necessitates ‘brave and independent decisions’-By TOI staff and Agencies-MAY 24,21-Today, 10:49 pm

On the eve of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s first visit to Israel and neighboring countries, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made unusually tough remarks regarding Iran, including hinting that Jerusalem could take military action against the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites without Washington’s okay.In a ceremony marking the appointment of incoming Mossad chief David Barnea, and with many Mossad members in attendance, Netanyahu said: “The first task of each one of you is to prevent Iran from arming itself with nuclear weapons.”“I very much appreciate our friend the United States, which has been standing by our side for many years. That’s an integral part of our national security,” Netanyahu continued.“But there could be a situation in which our highest goal — to guarantee that the ayatollahs don’t end the thousands of years of existence of the Jewish people — will require us to take brave and independent decisions,” the premier said.“In any event — with or without a deal — we will do everything to deny Iran nuclear weapons, because this concerns our very existence.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, outgoing Mossad director Yossi Cohen, right, and incoming director David Barnea at a ceremony conferring the Prime Minister’s Award on exception Mossad agents, May 24, 2021. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)-Global powers have been meeting in Vienna since early April in a bid to bring Washington back to the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, which the US left in 2018.The withdrawal under then-US president Donald Trump and the reimposition of sanctions has led Iran to step up its nuclear activities.Iran’s parliament speaker said Sunday that international inspectors may no longer access surveillance images of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear sites, escalating tensions.Over a year ago, a US drone strike killed a top Iranian general, prompting Tehran to later launch ballistic missiles that wounded dozens of American troops in Iraq.A mysterious explosion also struck Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility, which Iran has described as sabotage and blamed on Israel. In November, Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who founded the country’s military nuclear program some two decades earlier, was killed in an attack Tehran also blame.Blinken was heading to Israel Monday for his first trip to the region as US secretary of state, days after Washington helped broker a ceasefire that brought an end to the most significant escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas in seven years.The goals of the three-day trip — which will also include stops in Ramallah, Cairo and Amman — will be to ensure that the ceasefire between Israel and Gaza terror groups holds while also pushing steps that will improve the quality of life for both sides in the absence of immediate peace talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a senior State Department official told reporters in a phone briefing ahead of Blinken’s takeoff.The secretary will also work with the parties to help kickstart efforts to rehabilitate Gaza, while preventing international aid from reaching the enclave’s ruling Hamas terror group, the official added.In Israel, Blinken will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, and other senior Israeli officials, discussing the Biden administration’s “ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” the White House said in a statement.Jacob Magid contributed to this report.

Syria blames Israel for mysterious attacks on oil tankers-Without providing evidence for Jerusalem’s involvement, foreign minister threatens ‘these attacks cannot continue with Israel not paying a price’By Agencies and TOI staff-may 25,21-Today, 9:14 pm

Syria’s foreign minister has blamed Israel for mysterious attacks over more than a year targeting oil tankers heading from Iran to Syria, claiming they violate international law and will not go unpunished.Faisal Mekdad told Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV in an interview aired late Sunday that oil tankers coming to Syria now move under Russian protection. He did not provide any evidence for Israel being behind the attacks.There was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities on the matter.Israel has clamped down on alleged Iranian entrenchment in Syria, and has taken action to prevent Iranian missiles and their components from reaching Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group, which is supported by Tehran and Damascus.Syria’s oil resources are mostly outside of government-controlled areas, but two of its refineries are operating. This makes Syria reliant on Iran for fuel.US Treasury sanctions have targeted a network that spans Syria, Iran and Russia responsible for shipping oil to the Syrian government, as the country has been going through a civil war for more than a decade.For more than a year, vessels carrying oil to Syria, as well as some oil facilities in government-held parts of the war-torn country, have been subjected to mysterious attacks.Vessels carrying oil to Syria travel from the gulf to the Red Sea to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal.“There should be deterrence to Israeli attacks on ships,” Mekdad said, without going into details. “The Israeli government and arrogant Israeli leaders must understand that these attacks cannot continue with Israel not paying a price.”Last month, Syria’s oil ministry said a fire erupted in a tanker on its coast after what it said was a suspected drone attack.Also in April, an attack targeted an Iranian cargo ship that is said to serve as a floating base for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces off the coast of Yemen.A shadow war in Mideast waters emerged in 2019, when the US Navy blamed a series of blasts in June that year in the Gulf of Oman off the coast of the United Arab Emirates on Iran.