JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
FEMALE IDF TANK CREWS RAN DOWN DOZENS OF COCKROACH TERRORISTS ON OCT 7.
REVELATION VERESE BY VERSE BY DR JACK AND REXELLA VAN IMPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIYtJAUUx0o&list=PLQ6QjtBzr5_eln4Wwdyqw8niA97w7bpv6
TAPE 1 - REV CH 1 - 4:6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4egxDQbC-Po&list=PLQ6QjtBzr5_eln4Wwdyqw8niA97w7bpv6&ind
TAPE 2 - REV CH 4:7-8 TO 9:31
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAHF8qRW_0c&list=PLQ6QjtBzr5_eln4Wwdyqw8niA97w7bpv6&index=3
TAPE 3 - REV CH 10:1 TO 14:1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8nvow7gDsI
TAPE 4 - REV CH 14:2 TO REV 18:25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jzejO8qr1g
TAPE 5 - REV CH 19:1 TO REV 22:20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFSaL7wuOZU&list=PLQ6QjtBzr5_eln4Wwdyqw8niA97w7bpv6&index=6
TAPE 1 - REVELATION RUMBLINGS
DANIEL VERSE BY VERSE BY DR JACK AND REXELLA VAN IMPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zvrylU6E2A
TAPE 1 - DAN 1:1 TO DAN 3:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dySOniNlbjA
TAPE 2 - DAN 4:1 TO DAN 6:28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPlfIHcQVrE
TAPE 3 - DAN 7:1 TO DAN 9:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHB_jtS6NF8
TAPE 4 - DAN 10:1 TO DAN 12:13
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).
GAYS MARRYING-EVERYBODY CAN JOIN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/pope-francis-opens-meeting-on-future-of-catholic-church-by-saying-everyone-must-be-allowed-in/
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=POPE+FRANCIS+ANYBODY+CAN+JOIN+THE+CATHOLIC+CURCH+VIDEO&t=newext&atb=v387-1&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DMKh2nNVjV24
JVI THE FINAL POPE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIY8wdebNqo
WORLD TERRORISM
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.
STRONGS CONCORDANCE FOR VIOLENCE IN THE BIBLE-SEE IT FOR YOURSELVES.
2554.
chamas - Strong's Concordance - chamas: to treat violently or wrong -
Part of Speech: Verb - Transliteration: chamas -Phonetic Spelling:
(khaw-mas') - Definition: to treat violently or wrong - make bare, shake
off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong -A primitive
root; to be violent; by implication, to maltreat -- make bare, shake
off, violate, do violence, take away violently, wrong, imagine
wrongfully.
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)
SECOND ANGEL: The Middle East DR DOCTORIAN
Then
Isawthat the second angel had a sickle in his hand,such asis used in
harvesting. The second angelsaid, “Harvest time has come in Israel and
the countries all the wayto Iran.” Isawthose countriesin a
fewsplitseconds. “All of Turkey and those other countries that have
refused me and refused my message of love shall hate each other and kill
one another.” I saw the angel raise the sickle and come down on all the
Middle East countries.I saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of
Georgia – Iraq, Syria,Lebanon,Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor – full
of blood. Isaw blood all over these countries. And I saw fire; nuclear
weapons were used in many of those countries. Smoke rising from
everywhere. Sudden destruction – men destroying one another. I heard
these words, “Israel, Oh Israel, the great judgment has come.”The angel
said, “The chosen, the church, the remnant, shall be purified. The
Spirit of God shall prepare the children of God.” I saw fires rising to
heaven.The angel said, “This is the final judgment My church shall be
purified, protected and ready for the final day. Men will die from
thirst. Watershall be scarce all over the Middle East. Rivers shall dry
up, and men will fight for water in those countries.” The angelshowed me
that the United Nationsshall be broken in pieces because of the
crisisin the Middle East. There shall be no more United Nations. The
angel with the sickle shall reap the harvest.
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)
ISAIAH 54:3
03-King James
Bible-For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be
inhabited.
The right hand was a symbol of strength-Exodus 15:6, ”
Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power. Your right hand, O LORD,
shatters the enemy.”
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7
Gebal,(HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and
Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the
inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
8 Assyria (SYRIA) also has joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot. Selah
9 Deal with them as with Midian, As with Sisera, As with Jabin at the Brook Kishon,
10 Who perished at En Dor, Who became as refuse on the earth.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, Yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 Who said, “Let us take for ourselves The pastures of God for a possession.”
13 O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like the chaff before the wind!
14 As the fire burns the woods, And as the flame sets the mountains on fire,
15 So pursue them with Your tempest, And frighten them with Your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame, That they may seek Your name, O Lord.
17 Let them be [e]confounded and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish,
18 That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord, Are the Most High over all the earth.
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.
Senior Fatah official justifies Oct. 7
massacre as ‘defensive war’ against Israel-Jibril Rajoub, secretary
general of Fatah’s Central Committee, says Hamas terror group that
carried out onslaught is part of Palestinian ‘political and social
fabric’By Gianluca Pacchiani Today, 3:46 pm 0-NOV 26,23
Jibril
Rajoub, secretary general of Fatah’s Central Committee, on Sunday
justified the October 7 massacre by Hamas that killed over a thousand
people in Israel, mostly civilians, as an act “in the context of the
defensive war our people are waging.”In a speech he delivered in a
meeting with journalists in Kuwait, Rajoub also said that Israel is
responsible for causing October 7, the worst single-day killing of
Jewish people since the Holocaust, due to its “aggression on all the
Palestinian lands.”He said the Hamas onslaught “thwarted the goal of the
Israeli right to integrate Israel into the region without resolving the
Palestinian issue, based on the principle of peace in exchange for
peace,” referencing the Abraham Accords that Israel signed in recent
years with several Arab nations, and ongoing talks to normalize
relations with other Middle East countries, including Saudi
Arabia.Rajoub, who is also head of the Palestinian Football Association,
added in his speech that “Hamas is part of our political and social
fabric and of our struggle, and their involvement is important,” but
reiterated that the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian
people is the Palestinian Authority.On October 7, Hamas launched a
devastating cross-border attack with over 3,000 terrorists breaching the
border from the Gaza Strip and rampaging through southern regions,
overrunning communities and slaughtering those they found. The attackers
murdered over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, butchering entire
families as they huddled together in their homes, in some cases burning
them alive. The terrorists raped and tortured victims, including
children, mutilating some. Babies were beheaded and 360 people were
killed at an outdoor music festival. In the attack, which came under the
cover of thousands of rockets fired at Israel, the terrorists also
abducted roughly 240 people of all ages and took them to Gaza.Israel
responded with an air, sea, and land military campaign. It has vowed,
along with securing the release of the hostages, to destroy Hamas and
remove it from power in Gaza, where the Islamist group — which openly
seeks Israel’s destruction — has ruled since 2007 after seizing power
from the PA, which is dominated by Fatah, in a coup. Hamas and Fatah
have remained split ever since.PA officials have so far refused to
condemn Hamas’s October 7 massacre. The PA Foreign Ministry even went as
far as to falsely claim on November 19 that Israel fabricated evidence
of the October 7 killings by Hamas to justify its attack on Gaza – a
statement that was later retracted after Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu described it as “preposterous.”Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah chairman, has repeatedly indicated that the PA
is willing to take control over the Gaza Strip after Hamas is removed
from power there — on condition of the establishment of a Palestinian
state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.US
President Joe Biden has also said that a “revitalized” PA should rule
the Gaza Strip following the war, something Israel has repeatedly
rejected, pointing to its refusal to condemn the October 7
onslaught.Israel has not yet given a clear idea of what it intends to do
after destroying Hamas rule. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said the
war could go on for months, and would include an intermediate stage
during which the IDF will begin to seek out new leadership for the
battered enclave while rooting out “pockets of resistance.” Only after
this lower-intensity conflict, which is also expected to take several
months, Gallant has said, will Israel transition to its final phase:
disconnection from the Gaza Strip.
Op-ed: Day 51 of the
war-Hamas’s hostage manipulations show how much control it continues to
hold over Gaza-The amoral, barbaric terror-government plays cynical
games with the families, with Israel, and even forces Biden to get
involved. Of course it does. And it must be dismantled-By David Horovitz
Today, 3:34 pm 1-NOV 26,23
The trouble with trying to do deals
with an amoral, savage terrorist regime that has just slaughtered over
1,000 of your people, abducted over 200 to its underground hell, and is
trying to destroy your country, is, well, precisely that you are dealing
with an amoral, savage terrorist regime that has just slaughtered over
1,000 of your people, abducted over 200 to its underground hell, and is
trying to destroy your country.Israel’s political leaders gradually
internalized that doing everything possible to achieve the return of as
many of those hostages as possible was the most urgent priority of its
fightback against Hamas after October 7. They realized that there could
be no victory, no matter how successful the IDF’s assault on Hamas,
without the return of all of the hostages or at least without the
government being recognized by the people of Israel as having done
everything in its power to get all the hostages back. Otherwise, even
the demolition of Hamas and the deterring of Israel’s other enemies
would not be sufficient to restore public faith in the political and
military leadership that so failed them on October 7 by ignoring Hamas’s
open preparations for its monstrous assault on our people.But as
expected, Hamas is exploiting Israelis’ love of life to extract every
possible advantage from the current four-day lull in the IDF’s war on
its Gaza killing machine. The first day’s scheduled release of hostages,
on Thursday, didn’t happen at all. Postponed to Friday, it only went
ahead amid further delays. Saturday’s phase two was an exercise in
orchestrated psychological terror, with Hamas first stating that it had
transferred the hostages to the Red Cross, immediately saying it hadn’t,
and then issuing spurious accusations against Israel for not supplying
as much fuel and humanitarian aid as promised and releasing the wrong
Palestinian security prisoners.Toying not just with Israel, and
especially the families of those who had been told to expect their loved
ones’ releases, Hamas also made fools of the Qatari and Egyptian
interlocutors, and even compelled the leader of the free world to get
directly involved, with US President Joe Biden working the phones to get
the process back on track. With Israel reportedly threatening to resume
the ground offensive if the hostages were not in Israeli hands by
midnight, Hamas deigned to go through with Saturday’s phase, while
breaching a reported commitment not to release hostage children without
their hostage mothers.As of this writing, there’s no knowing how
Sunday’s phase three of the releases will play out, if at all. As IDF
Spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Saturday night, “nothing is final until
it actually happens.” Or to quote Biden on Friday, “I don’t trust Hamas
to do anything right. I only trust Hamas to respond to pressure.”Not
halfway done-For now, it would seem, seven weeks into the Israeli effort
to tear it apart, Hamas seems to be holding together quite effectively.
The best estimate is that perhaps 4,000-5,000 of its gunmen are dead;
that leaves another 20,000-25,000 who are not.Israel controls much of
northern Gaza, and has destroyed much of Hamas’s infrastructure there,
but most of the Hamas tunnel network in the north may well still be
intact. According to former generals including Amos Yadlin, Yisrael Ziv
and Giora Eiland, the ground operation is certainly not even
half-completed, with central and southern Gaza yet to be tackled,
notably including Hamas strongholds such as Khan Younis. And the
logistics of fighting in southern Gaza, now unprecedentedly populated
with its own residents and hundreds of thousands of evacuees from the
north, will present immense challenges to the IDF, even as almost all of
the international community steps up pressure for a permanent
ceasefire.Yahya Sinwar, the presumed orchestrator of both October 7 and
Hamas’s viciously cynical self-preservation tactics since — including
the sacrifice of any and all Gazan noncombatants to the cause of his
Jew-killing, Israel-destroying, Islamist death cult — would appear to
remain in highly effective control of much of the Strip. And if it’s not
him, then it’s others in the leadership.Since the truce went into
effect, and as of this writing, it has been near-impeccably maintained —
by Hamas and every other terrorist outfit in the Strip — belying widely
cited assessments in Israel that Hamas might prove unable to impose the
halt in fighting on all the armed Israel-haters in Gaza.Saturday
night’s grim theatrics also suggested a leadership managing events,
pushing psychological terror to the limits, and knowing when to climb
down.And the mechanics of the deal itself show tactical and strategic
cunning. There is an emphasis on fuel entering the Strip — fuel that
Israel knows will be subverted for the Hamas war machine — as part of a
wider humanitarian aid influx that the US has been pressuring Israel to
allow throughout the war.Meanwhile, the daily releases of West Bank and
East Jerusalem Palestinian security prisoners — albeit not convicted
murderers, but many would-be murderers, several of them notorious
figures — have seen scenes of celebration that point to rising
popularity for Hamas, at the expense of the Palestinian Authority, as
the liberator of freedom fighters.Unfathomably, unconscionably and
catastrophically surprised by Hamas on October 7, the IDF says it has
held the upper hand in every confrontation with the terrorist army since
the ground operation began, and appears to have anticipated at least
some of Hamas’s planned deadly surprises.Troops have been astounded by
the sheer quantity of deadly weaponry used and prepared for use against
them — the endless rows of booby-trapped homes, the huge quantities of
anti-tank rockets, the vast tunnel network — but they have tackled it
resolutely.The ruins left behind as they have proceeded through the
north of the Strip will take years to rebuild, the IDF acknowledges.
Given the high stakes — the imperative to dismantle a terrorist army
that fully intends to regroup and massacre Israelis again and again if
allowed to — the military is ordering airstrikes in circumstances it
would not have done in the past, with consequent noncombatant
casualties, while insisting it is acting within the laws of war and the
framework of proportionality.Back to the war-Hamas is widely expected to
seek to string out the current pause in fighting, under a four-day deal
for 50 hostages that can be extended an extra day for every 10 more
hostages that it releases. The longer the pause, the more complicated
for the IDF to resume the ground offensive — especially if Hamas can
encourage and force large numbers of northern Gazan evacuees to return
to that part of the war zone — and the greater the international
pressure for a full ceasefire.Israelis are not united behind Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but they are near universally supportive of
the war’s mission to dismantle Hamas and get back the hostages. That
certainly remains the plan: As IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said on
Saturday, “We will return immediately, at the end of the ceasefire, to
attacking Gaza, to maneuver in Gaza. We will do it to dismantle Hamas
and also to create great pressure to return as quickly as possible and
as many hostages as possible, down to the last one of them… We have an
obligation to fight and also to risk our lives so that [Israeli
citizens] can return to live in safety.”To put it in the starkest terms,
Israelis know this country has no future if the fighting ends with
Hamas still a threat, Sinwar still standing, Hezbollah laughing from
across the northern border with 10 times the military muscle, and Iran
arming, training and inspiring its proxies while proceeding toward the
bomb.“Dismantling” Hamas, to Halevi, is understood to include
neutralizing as many of those gunmen as possible, neutralizing Hamas’s
commanders, and destroying Hamas’s weaponry, control systems and
infrastructure. It is no small task, and even if achieved, is not the
end of the challenge.Support for the antisemitic, anti-infidel ideology
predates Israel, and will not be destroyed even if Hamas is defanged as a
fighting force. But a post-war Gaza would be one in which terror groups
do not rule and cannot rearm — as Hamas was able to do these past years
with truckloads of weapons from across the Egyptian border — and in
which those many regional players who detest Hamas and fear Iran should
be encouraged to play a role.But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.
Right now, there’s a lull in fighting that Hamas is determined to
exploit. An Israel yearning for its hostages to be home — with the
families whose loved ones have not been freed, and may not be for a long
time, showing astounding nobility and solidarity. International
pressure for a permanent ceasefire. A wide, essential determination in
Israel to ensure the campaign indeed demolishes Hamas. And a key figure,
amid pressures of his own, providing moral clarity and support.In his
remarks on Friday, Biden said he saw a “real chance” that the current
pause could be extended — not into a long-term ceasefire but to enable
more hostages to be released. He was explicit in supporting Israel’s
effort, under Netanyahu, to destroy Hamas: “I’ve encouraged the prime
minister to focus on trying to reduce the number of casualties while he
is attempting to eliminate Hamas, which is a legitimate objective he
has,” said the president. “That’s a difficult task, and I don’t know how
long it will take.”
Concealing kippahs in public, hiding
mezuzahs: Europe’s Jews worry about antisemitism-The fallout from the
Israel-Hamas conflict ripples through Europe, shaking a continent all
too familiar with deadly anti-Jewish hatred-By Agencies and ToI Staff
Today, 2:34 pm 1-NOV 26,23
Living in Geneva, Michel Dreifuss does
not feel all that far away from the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7
and Israel’s subsequent bombardment of Gaza. The ripples are rolling
through Europe and upending assumptions both global and individual —
including those about his personal safety as a Jew.“Yesterday I bought a
tear-gas spray canister at a military-equipment surplus store,” the
64-year-old retired tech sector worker said recently at a rally to mark a
month since the Hamas killings. The purchase, he says, is a
“precaution,” driven by a surge of antisemitism in Europe.War erupted
after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst
across the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea,
killing some 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages of all ages
under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli
towns and cities. The vast majority of those killed as gunmen seized
border communities were civilians — including babies, children and the
elderly.The murderous rampages represent the biggest killing of Jews
since the Holocaust, while health officials in Hamas-controlled Gaza say
at least 13,300 Palestinians have been killed since October 7. However,
those figures cannot be independently verified, and are believed to
include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a
consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires.The fallout from the
conflict has extended to Europe, shaking a continent all too familiar
with centuries of deadly anti-Jewish hatred.The past century is of
particular note, of course. Concern about rising antisemitism in Europe
is fueled in part by what happened to Jews before and during World War
II, and that makes it particularly fearsome for those who may be only
one or two generations removed from victims of riots against Jews and
Nazi brutality.What most chills many of the Jews interviewed is what
they see as a lack of empathy for the Israelis killed during the
massacre and for the relatives of the hostages — about 30 of whom are
children — suspended in an agonizing limbo.“What really upsets me,” said
Holocaust survivor Herbert Traube at a Paris event commemorating the
85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 government-backed pogroms
against Jews in Germany and Austria, “is to see that there isn’t a
massive popular reaction against this.”Acts of antisemitism – and how
that’s defined-Antisemitism is broadly defined as hostility or prejudice
towards Jews. But a debate has been raging for years over what actions
and words should be labeled antisemitic.Criticism of Israel’s policies
have long been conflated with antisemitism by Israeli leaders such as
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some watchdog groups. Critics say
that blurring helps undermine opposition to the country’s policies and
amps up perceptions that any utterance or incident against Israeli
policy is antisemitic.Some language — whether for or against Israel or
the Palestinians – “makes it sound like a football match,” says Susan
Neiman of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam, Germany. “We are perpetuating
the idea that you’ve got to be on one side or the other instead of being
on the side of human rights and justice,” she said.Others argue that
antisemites often use criticism of Israel as a placeholder for
expressing their views.The list of examples of anti-Jewish sentiment
since the October 7 attacks is long and documented by governments and
watchdog groups across Europe.Little more than a month after the attack
in Israel, the French Interior Ministry said 1,247 antisemitic incidents
had been reported since October 7, nearly three times the total for all
of 2022.Denmark’s main Jewish association said cases were up 24 times
from the average of the last nine months.The Community Security Trust,
which tracks antisemitic incidents in Britain, reported more than 1,000
such events — the most ever recorded for a 28-day period.That all comes
despite widespread denunciations of anti-Jewish hatred — and support for
Israel — from leaders in Europe since the attack.Some of Europe’s Jews
say they see it on the streets and the news. Jewish schoolchildren face
bullying on their way to class, or — in one instance — have been asked
to explain Israel’s actions, according to Britain’s Community Security
Trust. There’s been talk of blending in better: covering skullcaps —
yarmulkes, or kippot in Hebrew — in public and perhaps hiding mezuzahs,
the traditional symbol on doorposts of Jewish homes.In Russia, a riot
broke out at an airport in which there were antisemitic chants and
posters from a crowd of men looking for passengers who had arrived from
Israel. A Jewish woman was stabbed twice in the stomach at her home in
Lyon, France, according to her lawyer. In Prague’s Little Quarter last
month, staffers at the well-known Hippopotamus bar refused to serve beer
to several tourists from Israel and their Czech guides, and some
patrons served up insults. Police had to step in. In Berlin,Jews are
still reeling from an attempted firebombing of a synagogue last
month.“Some of us are in a state of panic,” said Anna Segal, 37, the
manager of the Kahal Adass Jisroel in Berlin, a community of 450
members.Coming to grips with a feeling of dread-Some community members
are changing how they live, Segal said.Students no longer wear uniforms.
Kindergarten classes don’t leave the building for field trips or the
even playground next door. Some members no longer call taxis, or they
hesitate to order deliveries to their homes. Speaking Hebrew in public
is fading. Some wonder if they should move to Israel.“I hear more and
more from people from the Jewish community who say they feel safer and
more comfortable in Israel now than in Germany, despite the war and all
the rockets,” Segal said. “Because they don’t have to hide there.”And in
pro-Palestinian demonstrations, some protesters are shouting, “From the
river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Some say that’s a call for
Palestinian freedom and is not anti-Jewish but anti-Israel; the land
between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea includes not only
Israel, but also the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where Palestinians
have lived under Israeli occupation since 1967. Many Jews, though, say
the chant is inherently anti-Jewish and calls for the destruction of
Israel.Faced with fears that antisemitism will spread, communities are
taking action. A hotline has been set up in France to help provide
psychological support for Jews. In Britain, the Community Security
Trust, which aims to protect the Jewish community and foster good
relations with others, has joined with the government to distribute
primers on how to address antisemitism in primary and secondary
schools.Peggy Hicks, a director at the UN human rights office, says the
actions of governments and political movements are fair game for
criticism but warned against discrimination, which the Geneva-based
office has long battled. In the chaos of the past weeks, she sees reason
to hope.“I’ve been amazed in the course of my working in human rights
about the amount of compassion and the resilience of of human beings,”
Hicks said.“People who have lost children and come together on both
sides of a conflict, who have shared a loss — but from opposing sides —
and who have found a way to get past the fact that they should actually
be enemies.”She added: “I don’t think everybody has the ability to show
that kind of courage. But the fact that it exists, I think, gives us all
something to aspire to.”
Jewish groups ask Pope Francis to
clarify Israel ‘terrorism’ comments-Criticism from European, US groups
comes after ambiguous comment last week: ‘We have gone beyond wars. This
is not war. This is terrorism’By JTA and ToI Staff Today, 11:40 am
5-NOV 26,23
Jewish groups have criticized Pope Francis for
appearing to accuse both Israel and Hamas of “terrorism” in their
ongoing war that started on October 7, sparked by the terror group’s
murderous attack on Israeli communities in the south.“This is what wars
do,” the pope had said at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on
Wednesday. “But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is
terrorism.”Francis’ comments followed separate meetings with Jewish
relatives of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinians with family in Gaza
on Wednesday. His remarks came a month after he called on Hamas to free
the hostages being held in Gaza, and weeks after calling for a
ceasefire and for more Palestinian aid.Noemi Di Segni, the president of
the Union of Jewish Communities in Italy, issued a statement Wednesday
saying that she would have preferred Francis had issued a clear
condemnation of October 7.“Certainly we cannot equate the
responsibilities of those who have a design of extermination and terror
versus those who are defending themselves and defending an entire
country and a community that includes both Muslims and Palestinians,” Di
Segni said.In a statement published on the official website of the
Jewish community of Milan, the Council of the Assembly of Italian Rabbis
(ARI) charged the pope with “publicly accusing both sides of
terrorism.”In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, the
American Jewish Committee expressed gratitude for the pope’s meeting
with families of the hostages and calling for their release, while also
criticizing his other remarks.“Hamas’ butchering and kidnapping of
civilians is terrorism. Israel’s self-defense is not,” the AJC wrote.
“Vatican, please clarify.”Grateful @Pontifex met today for the first
time with hostage families and for his repeated calls to free the
hostages. Later in the day, he described the Israel-Hamas war as “beyond
war,” as “terrorism.” Hamas’ butchering and kidnapping of civilians is
terrorism. Israel’s… pic.twitter.com/Ww0iaJju9s— American Jewish
Committee (@AJCGlobal) November 22, 2023-Cardinal Matteo Zuppi,
archbishop of Bologna, defended Francis on Thursday.“The pope is
careful,” Zuppi told reporters. “And look, this does not mean putting
everyone on the same level… It is not that he does not understand the
motivations of the Israeli government,” Zuppi added.Following Francis’s
meeting with 10 Palestinians on Wednesday, a dispute also arose as to
whether he used the word “genocide” to describe the situation in Gaza,
Reuters reported. Palestinian participants in the news conference say
they heard him use the word, while a statement sent by Vatican
spokesperson Matteo Bruni said he did not.War erupted with Hamas’s
October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the
border into Israel from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea, killing
some 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages of all ages under the
cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and
cities. The vast majority of those killed as gunmen seized border
communities were civilians — including babies, children and the elderly.
Entire families were executed in their homes, and over 360 people were
slaughtered at an outdoor festival, many amid horrific acts of brutality
by the terrorists.
Chinese-owned illegal bio lab uncovered in
California, hidden viruses found-By - TIMESOFINDIA.COM-Created: Nov 17,
2023, 22:00 IST
An illegal biolab owned by China in California
was discovered to be hiding pathogens labelled as HIV and Ebola. The
authorities found this secret lab in December 2022, where they believed
dangerous viruses were being handled. The discovery was accidental when a
police officer patrolling the area noticed a green garden hose inside a
hole in a warehouse.This hidden Chinese lab contained thousands of
vials with various bio-substances, some specifically labelled as "HIV,"
and a freezer marked "Ebola." The FBI and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) had previously refused to investigate the
warehouse, as stated in a committee report from November 15.Is Covid a
bio-weapon? The illegal lab came to light when Officer Jesalyn Harper
noticed the garden hose near the vacant warehouse, which had been empty
for more than a decade. The lab she found contained alarming evidence,
including lab equipment, vials, medical freezers, and even lab rats. The
containers were labelled in either English or Mandarin, using a code
language that has yet to be deciphered.Harper observed individuals
claiming to be Chinese nationals wearing lab coats. This discovery
shocked officials, leading to a nine-month investigation. Representative
Jim Costa became involved after the FBI and CDC ignored the case.A
select committee in the Chinese community reported shocking findings in
the alleged research lab, stating, "Local officials spent months trying
to get answers from the CDC, but it refused to communicate with them. On
several occasions, local officials reported that the CDC hung up on
them."When locals reached out to federal agencies like the FBI, they
received no assistance, as the FBI claimed to have already closed the
investigation, considering the property not "dangerous."With additional
help, CDC officials eventually located a lab containing 20 containers of
alleged virus-carrying substances, including SARS-CoV-2, Chlamydia,
HIV, E. coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Hepatitis B and C, Dengue Virus,
Rubella Virus, and Malaria.The report concluded that CDC officials
refused to test the samples or check vials without labels, despite city
officials offering to cover the costs.
Troops arrest Palestinian
suspected of killing Israeli father, son in terror attack-Osama Bani
Fadl suspected in shooting of Shay Silas Nigreker and son Aviad Nir at
carwash in West Bank town of Huwara; 8 Palestinians reported killed in
clashes-By Emanuel Fabian Today, 11:04 am-NOV 26,23
Israeli
troops arrested Osama Bani Fadl, a Palestinian wanted on suspicion of
killing an Israeli father and son in a terror attack in the West Bank
town of Huwara in August, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet
security agency said in a joint statement Sunday.Shay Silas Nigreker,
60, and his 28-year-old son Aviad Nir, residents of Ashdod, were gunned
down at a carwash in the town, south of Nablus.The arrest came during 24
hours of intense clashes in the West Bank in which eight Palestinians
were killed, according to Palestinian health officials.Bani Fadl was
arrested in the Jenin refugee camp during an hours-long operation. The
IDF and Shin Bet said he was armed and hiding in an apartment used by
local terror operatives.Troops were searching a home in Jenin when they
found Bani Fadl hiding in an attic space, above a door hidden behind a
double wall, footage released by the IDF showed. He was found hiding
with an M-16 rifle, magazines, and a Hamas flag.The suspected
terrorist’s home in Aqraba, near Nablus, was mapped out for demolition
days after the shooting attack.Nigreker, a native of India, and son Nir,
were shot dead by a terrorist who approached on foot and opened fire
from close range with a handgun. The gunman then fled.Huwara has long
been a flashpoint in the West Bank, with a main thoroughfare running
through the town also being used regularly by Israelis to travel to and
from settlements.In a separate statement, the IDF said other operations
were carried out in Jenin. Clashes broke out between Israeli troops and
rioters who threw explosive devices. There were also firefights between
local gunmen and security forces.The Jenin raid was spearheaded by
soldiers of the 646th Reserve Brigade. Reservists have been used in the
West Bank rather than troops of the standing army, as many of Israel’s
frontline soldiers are participating in the war that erupted last month
against the terror group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.The IDF said that in
Jenin, troops killed five Palestinian gunmen, wounded others, and
arrested 21 wanted Palestinians. It also said a drone strike was carried
out against a group of armed Palestinians that had “endangered our
forces.”The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry said that five
Palestinians were killed in Jenin, and three others were killed in
separate areas of the West Bank since Saturday morning. One of those
killed, in al-Bireh in the central West Bank, was a teenager, the
ministry said.Palestinian media reported that one person was killed in a
drone strike on a house in the Damaj neighborhood of the Jenin refugee
camp that also injured four other people. The Wafa news agency reported
Sunday that another Palestinian man was shot dead during an IDF raid in
the village of Yatma, south of Nablus.During the Jenin operation, an
explosive laboratory was destroyed, the IDF said. Engineering troops
also uncovered explosive devices hidden at the sides of and beneath
roads. The troops also seized weapons, explosives, and other military
and surveillance equipment, the IDF said.The Palestinian Authority’s
Jenin Governorate called for a general strike on Sunday as a mark of
mourning, local media reported.Tensions in the West Bank have been high
since October 7, when Hamas led thousands of terrorists in a
cross-border attack from Gaza on Israel that killed over 1,200 people,
mostly civilians. Terrorists also abducted around 240 people of all ages
as captives in the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with a military
campaign aimed at destroying Hamas a removing if from power in
Gaza.Since Hamas’s devastating attack on Israel and amid the ensuing
war, troops have arrested some 2,000 wanted Palestinians across the West
Bank, including more than 1,100 affiliated with Hamas. According to the
Palestinian Authority health ministry, some 200 West Bank Palestinians
have been killed by Israeli forces, and in some cases settlers.Jenin has
been the focus of a previous large-scale raids by the military during
the recent unrest.The IDF is preparing for a possible escalation of
violence following the release of Palestinian prisoners in the exchange
deal for abducted Israeli hostages that began over the weekend. A major
concern is rioting in villages and cities leading to clashes with
security forces as well as possible terror attacks on Israelis traveling
on roads in the West Bank.So far, 26 Israeli hostages have been
released from Hamas captivity, along with 14 foreign citizens. In
exchange, Israel released Palestinian women and underage prisoners held
in security cases. The deal also includes a temporary lull in fighting
in the Gaza Strip. More hostages are scheduled to be released in the
coming days, but the arrangement will still leave most in captivity.The
intensified violence follows more than a year of escalating raids and
arrests in the West Bank and deadly Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Before the Hamas assault, 2023 already was the deadliest year for
Palestinians in the West Bank in over two decades.Agencies and Times of
Israel staff contributed to this report.
Trump assails Biden as
no US citizens released yet from Gaza in current deal with Hamas-Former
president and GOP frontrunner says terror group has no respect for
America or its leadership, predicts hostage deal ‘is not going to end
well’-By ToI Staff Today, 12:42 pm 1-NOV 26,23
Former US
president Donald Trump criticized the Biden administration for not
ensuring that US citizens were among the initial group of hostages
released from captivity in the Gaza Strip as part of a deal between
Israel and the Hamas terror group.“Has anybody noticed that Hamas has
returned people from other Countries but, so far, has not returned one
American Hostage?” Trump wrote on his Truth social media platform
Saturday.“There is only one reason for that, NO RESPECT FOR OUR COUNTRY
OR OUR LEADERSHIP. This is a very sad and dark period of
America!”Twenty-six Israeli hostages — women, children, and elderly
people who were among the hundreds of people abducted by Hamas-led
terrorists last month during a devastating attack on Israel — were set
free over the weekend in two groups.Another 14 Thai nationals and one
Filipino were also freed as part of a separate deal negotiated by Egypt
with the involvement of Qatar and Iran.The Israeli hostages were handed
over following intense talks mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United
States, as part of a four-day truce deal whose terms called for a pause
in fighting in Gaza in exchange for Hamas freeing a total of about 50
Israeli hostages overall, in groups of roughly a dozen per day, by
Monday.Some of the 17 hostages released from Gaza late on November 25,
2023. (Social media used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright
law)-Meanwhile, the Israel Prison Service has released 78 Palestinian
prisoners as part of the deal with Hamas.“Hamas now wants a better deal
for hostages,” Trump wrote without elaborating. “This is not going to
end well!”The hostage deal went into effect with a pause in fighting
Friday at 7 a.m., followed by the release of the first group of 13
Israeli hostages on Friday afternoon, after 49 days in Gaza.The deal
incentivizes additional hostage releases, with Israel agreeing to an
additional day of a truce for every 10 additional hostages released by
Hamas.The released hostages are only a fraction of the some 240 held in
Gaza since they were abducted on October 7, when 3,000 Hamas-led
terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them
civilians, amid shocking acts of brutality.Washington officials believe
around ten US citizens are among those being held.US President Joe Biden
on Friday welcomed the release of the initial group of hostages and
said that he expects US citizens to be returned to Israel.“We don’t know
when that will occur, but we expect it to occur,” Biden said in
prepared remarks to the press in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he was
celebrating Thanksgiving.The US president highlighted the three American
citizens who fit the criteria for release in the current agreement,
including Avigail Idan, who turned 4 on Friday and whose parents were
murdered on October 7 by Hamas terrorists.Two dual Israeli-US citizens
were previously released on October 20 from captivity in Gaza. The
circumstances of their release have not been made public.Rep. Lauren
Boebert, Republican of Colorado, also criticized Biden, writing on X,
formerly Twitter, that “Hamas is refusing to release the American
citizens they have taken hostage.”“What is the President of the United
States doing about this?” Boebert tweeted Saturday. “He’s continuing to
enjoy his holiday vacation in a $40 million dollar mansion.”Hamas is
refusing to release the American citizens they have taken hostage. What
is the President of the United States doing about this? He’s continuing
to enjoy his holiday vacation in a $40 million dollar mansion.— Rep.
Lauren Boebert (@RepBoebert) November 25, 2023-Earlier this month,
Trump, the current GOP frontrunner for the 2024 presidential elections,
gave an interview with Univision in which he said of the Israel-Hamas
war, “You’re probably going to have to let this play out.”He also
claimed the Hamas attack would never have happened while he was
president because of his tough approach to Iran, which backs the terror
group.Trump earlier this month sharply criticized Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu; faulted Israel’s intelligence agencies, saying they
needed to “step up their game”; and referred to Hezbollah, the
Iran-backed terror group that has been skirmishing with Israeli forces
along the Lebanese border throughout the war in Gaza, as “very
smart.”Agencies contributed to this report.
Israel’s valiant Lone
Soldiers have given their lives for the Jewish state since 1948-Among
the casualties of the current war with Hamas are 18 brave volunteers who
came from abroad to defend the country. Their history spans back to
Israel’s foundation-By Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am Today, 9:37 am 3-NOV
26,23
The Jerusalem Light Rail was unusually full when we entered
at one of the very first stops. And although more and more people got
on the train as we continued on our way, no one got off downtown at the
city’s famous Mahane Yehuda market, or even when we reached the Central
Bus Station.No, the hundreds of souls packed together on the train
exited, with us, at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, headed for the
funeral of a young woman not one of us had ever met. She was Staff Sgt.
Rose Ida Lubin, who was visiting a kibbutz on the border with Gaza
during the Hamas massacre on October 7 that saw 1,200 killed, mostly
civilians, and some 240 kidnapped. Lubin survived the onslaught but was
stabbed to death by a terrorist while on patrol in Jerusalem a month
later. She was 20 years old.Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Lubin immigrated
to Israel soon after graduating high school. Her goal: To serve the
Jewish people by joining the IDF. Because she had no family in Israel
offering both practical and emotional support, she was a Lone Soldier.
That’s why thousands of Israelis of all ages and from every possible
walk of life thronged to her funeral to pay their respects and mourn her
passing — as they do for the funeral of every fallen Lone Soldier.At
the moment there are nearly 7,000 lone soldiers in Israel. Half of them
come from 50 countries — mainly Ukraine, Russia, the United States,
France and South America. They all left their homes abroad and bravely
set out for the Holy Land to enlist in the Israeli army. The other half
consists of Israelis who have no immediate families on which to
depend.One of the earliest Lone Soldiers was Pvt. David Livingston. Born
in Germany in 1919, he moved with his mother and stepfather to the
United States in 1935 and became an American citizen. While he served in
the American navy during World War II, he dreamed of defending the
Jewish people in Palestine.In 1946 he joined the Haganah — the Jewish
paramilitary force that would become the IDF upon Israel’s establishment
— and became part of a clandestine effort to bring Jews to Palestine by
sea in violation of British policy. Livingston was working in the
engine room of the Haim Arlozorov when, on February 27, 1947, the ship
was caught by the British. Almost everyone on board, including
Livingston, was sent to the Displaced Persons camps in Cyprus.As soon as
he was able to get to Palestine, in early spring of 1948, Livingston
joined the Yiftah Infantry Brigade in the Palmach, the elite fighting
force of the Haganah.When Kibbutz Mishmar Haemek was attacked by Arab
forces on April 4, 1948, Livingston’s unit was ordered to help in the
kibbutz’s defense. He was killed in battle on April 13, 1948, at the age
of 28. It is not known where he was buried.Livingston is remembered in
the Garden of the Missing in Action on Mt. Herzl, where a stone
monument, called a “pillow” in Hebrew, is inscribed with his name, birth
date, and the day on which he fell. His name is also written on a wall
in a memorial put up by the Association of Americans and Canadians in
Israel (AACI) for those who have fallen in battle. His name appears, as
well, at the Mahal memorial honoring 119 overseas volunteers who were
killed or went missing in action during Israel’s War of Independence in
1947-1948.Pvt. David Livingston, killed in action on April 13, 1948.
(Izkor)-First Lieutenant Alexander (Alex) Singer, a Lone Soldier from
New York, was born on September 15th, 1962. When he was 11, his parents
decided to take a sabbatical in Israel, arriving just a few short weeks
before the Yom Kippur War in October of 1973. In the end, the family
extended its stay for another three years, with Singer attending local
schools.Back in the United States, Singer finished high school and
continued his studies at Cornell University. Because he demonstrated
unusual promise, he was chosen for a special, individualized program
that included Russian and Jewish studies. In the context of his constant
search for a way to make his life count for something, he immigrated to
Israel in 1984. In one of his letters home, he wrote that he preferred
the challenges of Israel to the easy life in America.At the beginning of
February 1985, Singer joined the Israeli army. As a new immigrant, and
because of his age, he was only required to serve for a year and a half.
But he refused to take the easy way out — besides, he was adamant about
seeing combat. After completing his officer’s training, he joined the
Givati Infantry Brigade and was sent to Israel’s northern border. On his
25th birthday, September 15, 1987, he was killed in a battle with a
large group of terrorists who had been planning a major attack on
civilian targets in Israel.Singer is remembered on the AACI memorial
wall, at the Yoav Fortress, as one of the schools he attended in
Jerusalem and on a memorial monument in Kibbutzim Forest.The IDF
memorial by the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel.
(Shmuel Bar-Am)-In the summer of 1970, Jerusalemite Judy Brown was put
in charge of the dance program at a Jewish summer camp in the
Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains. It was during her many decades there that
she met a young camper named Michael Levin for the first time.Levin
later immigrated to Israel, enlisting in 2004 as a Lone Soldier and
volunteering for the Paratroopers’ Brigade. Like other Lone Soldiers,
Staff Sgt. Levin was allowed “home leave” each year. He popped into the
camp on visitors’ day in 2006, where he was approached by Brown. She
asked him when he was returning to Israel.The Second Lebanon War had
just broken out (the first one, Shalom Hagalil, took place in 1982). “I
go back to Israel tomorrow,” he told Brown, “because my unit is being
sent to up north and I want to be with them.”Alex Singer, Michael Levin,
and Max Steinberg, three fallen IDF lone soldiers, who were
commemorated at a ceremony in Jerusalem on April 17, 2018.
(courtesy)-Levin’s unit was ordered to the Lebanese village in which
Hezbollah forces were holding two kidnapped Israeli soldiers. Twenty-two
year old Levin was killed on August 8, during fierce battles that raged
inside the village.On his last visit to Philadelphia he had told his
parents that if anything should happen to him, he wanted to be buried on
Mount Herzl. And so he was, at a funeral attended by thousands.The
funeral of lone soldier Michael Levin at Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery in
Jerusalem, August 2006. (Courtesy)-His name is inscribed on the memorial
walls of the Paratrooper Monument, and the AACI monument. And he is
remembered, of course, at the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center.A fourth
Lone Soldier, Sgt. Max Donald Steinberg, was born in Los Angeles in
1989. When he turned 23, Steinberg went on Birthright Israel, a 10-day
Jewish heritage program for young adults. Although he returned home
after the trip, he came back to Israel a few months later in order to
join the IDF. He served as a sharpshooter in the famed Golani
Brigade.Hamas terrorists had been firing rockets at Israel for years,
but in 2014 their frequency increased. As a result, on July 8, Israel
began Operation Protective Edge. It commenced with the Israel Air Force
bombing Gaza, and nine days later the infantry moved in.Steinberg fell
in Gaza on July 20, 2014, along with six of his comrades in arms. He is
remembered at the Golani Museum, and his name is inscribed on the
memorial wall of the AACI monument.Sgt. Nathanel Young. (Courtesy of the
Young family)-Eighteen Lone Soldiers have fallen during the current war
against Hamas in Gaza. Among them is 20-year-old Sgt. Nathanel Young, a
Lone Soldier from England who even as a youngster announced his
intention of protecting the State of Israel and the Jewish people.Young
had come to Israel for a short stay in 2021 but ended up remaining an
entire year. Full of love for Israel, he then joined the IDF’s Golani
Brigade. High-spirited, the life of every party, he loved music and was a
talented DJ. Young fell on the Gaza border while defending the towns
and kibbutzim that were invaded by Hamas terrorists on Saturday, October
7, 2023.Staff Sgt. Valentin (Elie) Ghnassia was a Lone Soldier from
France who moved to Israel after completing a law degree at Montpellier
University. Several years prior he had visited Israel with the
Taglit-Birthright Israel program; now he planned to realize his dream of
serving in the IDF. Fired by a strong sense of mission and a fierce
attachment to Israel, he volunteered for the Paratroopers’
Brigade.Ghnassia, who learned Hebrew in three short months, preferred to
be called by his Hebrew name of Eli, and not by the French Valentin.
His family remembers him as always smiling, as well as constantly
demanding more of himself, and of others.Valentin Elie Ghnassia, a
22-year-old French national, killed in action by Hamas terrorists in
Kibbutz Be’eri, October 7, 2023. (Courtesy/Facebook)-On that horrific
Saturday, Ghnassia fought Hamas terrorists who had invaded Kibbutz
Be’eri with staunch and extraordinary courage that saved countless
lives. He fell in battle just a few days short of his 23rd birthday.Lone
Soldier Rose Ida Lubin was visiting at a kibbutz on the Gaza border
when it was attacked on that black Saturday, but the terrorists were
repulsed. Tragically, only a month later, she was stabbed to death while
on duty next to the Old City walls by a teenage terrorist. Her hometown
rabbi, in Israel for her funeral, had known Rose almost her whole life.
“Anyone that knew Rose, anyone that had an interaction with Rose,
remembers that interaction,” he said in his eulogy, noting that “Rose
was color, Rose was music… she was light itself.” He added that “Rose
didn’t have to come here — but she did.”Sgt. Rose Lubin, speaking at an
FIDF dinner in April 2023, in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
(Courtesy)-During his army service, Michael Levin spoke about his dream
of a center for lone soldiers, where they could get meals, support and
advice. That dream was realized in 2009, three years after he fell in
battle, with the establishment of a non-profit in his memory. Over the
years the Michael Levin Lone Soldier Center has provided over 15,000
Lone Soldiers with physical and emotional support both before they
enlist, during their army service and for the next five years.The center
offers housing for Lone Soldiers, along with Sabbath meals, ongoing
support that can include accompaniment to induction centers, social
events, and even laundry services. Lone Soldiers have the opportunity to
rest and unwind in clubhouses located in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and
Beersheba. Steinberg, Lubin, Ghnassia and Young were all involved with
the center, which offers a home away from home to 3,500 of Israel’s Lone
Soldiers.A new plot of graves in Jerusalem’s Mt. Herzl Military
Cemetery for soldiers killed since the October 7 Hamas atrocities.
(Shmuel Bar-Am)-As yet there are no monuments and memorials in honor of
the brave soldiers who fell in the current Gaza rar: their graves are
still fresh. May their memories be a blessing.Aviva Bar-Am is the author
of seven English-language guides to Israel.Shmuel Bar-Am is a licensed
tour guide who provides private, customized tours in Israel for
individuals, families and small groups.
Hamas onslaught was
originally planned for first night of Passover – report-Assault
reportedly called off after Israel caught wind; intel officers outlined a
mass invasion one month before October 7, but top officers waved off
manual showing detailed plans
By ToI Staff Today, 9:00 am 5-NOV 26,23
Hamas
had initially planned its October 7 cross-border onslaught for the eve
of Passover, but canceled the attack after Israel raised the alert
level, according to a Saturday report.Military intelligence caught the
early signs of an attack on Passover, which this year fell on April 5,
and raised the alert, leading Hamas to cancel and the IDF to consider
the incident a false alarm, Channel 12 reported, citing unnamed soldiers
in the IDF’s 8200 signal intelligence unit.In the period after that
attempt, Hamas, fearing it had Israeli informants in its ranks, raised
its internal security and kept most of its members unaware of subsequent
plans and of the new timing for the incursion, the report said.On the
morning of October 7, on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, some 3,000
terrorists burst across the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip by
land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing over 240
hostages of all ages under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets
fired at Israeli towns and cities. Nearly 50 of the hostages have since
been released, including 26 women and children as part of a Qatar-led
deal, and 15 foreign nationals.The vast majority of those killed as
gunmen seized border communities were civilians — including babies,
children and the elderly. Entire families were executed in their homes,
and some 360 people were slaughtered at an outdoor festival, many amid
horrific acts of brutality by the terrorists.Saturday’s exposé on the
planned Passover attack followed several others in the past month that
revealed IDF intelligence on a possible invasion, including reports
filed by surveillance soldiers on the Gaza border who detailed unusual
Hamas training exercises three months before October 7.Soldiers in the
8200 unit reportedly warned senior officers before the October 7
atrocities that Hamas was preparing a highly organized and meticulously
planned mass invasion of Israel, but were told their concerns were
“fantasies.”A senior and experienced non-commissioned officer as well as
a junior officer in 8200 alerted senior IDF officers well in advance
that a major operation was being planned by Hamas, but their warnings
went unheeded, according to Thursday reports.Channel 12 reported that
the NCO in Unit 8200 put together a report from an range of raw
intelligence data detailing a scenario that essentially predicted the
October 7 invasion.Together with the junior officer, she also pointed to
a Hamas drill a month before the attack, noting that it included
preparations for a mass invasion with multiple entry points into Israel.
“They were told in real-time. There were so many things that should
have set off red flags,” an unnamed source from the 8200 unit told the
network.The Kan public broadcaster reported similar details, noting that
the non-commissioned officer stated that the Hamas drill included the
use of vehicles to carry out the attack and terrorists practiced taking
over Israeli towns. The NCO also warned that the assault Hamas was
planning was on such a large scale that it could spark an all-out
war.The senior officer briefed by the NCO reportedly agreed that the
information she had was substantive, but said a distinction needed to be
made between what Hamas could drill for and what it could accomplish in
reality.Separately, Kan reported that before October 7, the IDF had
come into possession of a Hamas terror manual that described ways to
capture the Gaza border region in southern Israel.The manual described
taking over IDF positions, capturing kibbutzim and towns in the region,
killing and kidnapping residents, and attacking and capturing the three
regional cities of Sderot, Ofakim and Netivot. It described how pickup
trucks would be used to stage the invasion along with motorbikes and
hang gliders, as well as the use of anti-tank missiles under the cover
of rocket and mortar fire from Gaza — in much the same way that events
unfolded on October 7.Unconfirmed reports of at least one paraglider
attempting to infiltrate southern Israel during rocket fire from the
Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/GerPyGkFw1 — Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman)
October 7, 2023-The manual also described a strategy to lull Israel into
complacency by holding negotiations for some form of long-term
arrangement, while at the same time staging frequent drills and small
security incidents on the border on Saturdays and Jewish holidays to
lull the IDF into a false sense of security when Hamas forces turned up
en masse at the border fence.The plan was reportedly drilled with two
companies of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force, which was responsible for the
October 7 attacks, and included capturing an imitation kibbutz.Kan
reported that the plans detailed in the manual were passed along to
senior ranks in the IDF, who dismissed it on the grounds that Hamas did
not have the operational capabilities to carry out such an
attack.Responding to the report, the IDF said it was “operating and
fighting in these very days against the murderous terror organization
Hamas in the Gaza strip. All of the [IDF’s] commanders and soldiers are
focused on this mission alone in order to complete the goals of the war.
When the war is finished, a detailed and thorough investigation will be
conducted clarifying every last detail.”In late October, an opinion
poll published by the Maariv newspaper found that the vast majority of
Israelis believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should publicly
accept responsibility for the staggering failures that led to Hamas’s
devastating onslaught on October 7.
Female IDF tank crews ran
down dozens of Hamas terrorists on October 7-Channel 12 interviews
soldiers from all-woman company within mixed-gender battalion who say
there was no time for fear or hesitation, battled terrorists for 17
hours-By ToI Staff Today, 1:03 am 29-NOV 26,23
When a group of
young Israeli women were woken up at 6:30 a.m. on October 7, they had no
idea they would be making history as the first female armored crews in
Israel, and perhaps the world, to participate in active battle.In an
interview with Channel 12 this week, the combat soldiers spoke of
thundering along main roads to get to some of the 20 southern Israeli
communities that came under massive assault that morning, running down
terrorists, and securing breaches on the border with the Gaza Strip.One
of the officers in the unit, identified as Hagar, told Channel 12: “[My
commander] comes into our room at 6:30 a.m., wakes me up and tells us
that there’s a terrorist infiltration. We didn’t really understand the
enormity of the event.”The soldiers are part of a company of all-women
tank operators, which was made permanent in the Israel Defense Forces in
2022 after a two-year pilot program. The company, in the Caracal
mixed-gender light infantry battalion, usually operates along the
Egyptian border — not in wars or in fighting behind enemy lines.On the
morning of October 7, they left their base at Nitzana, on the Egyptian
border, and drove north as fast as they could, in tanks and an armored
Humvee. In one of a number of highly irregular decisions IDF commanders
were forced to make that day, the tanks were given the okay to drive on
civilian roads — at speeds far higher than recommended.At first, they
discovered breaches along the border with Gaza, along with dozens of
terrorists. Leaving a tank there to protect the border and prevent more
Gazans from flooding into Israel, they headed to Kibbutz Holit, while
also sending a tank to battle Hamas terrorists at Kibbutz Sufa.#EPIC
#BREAKTHROUGH These are the female tank warriors who saved an entire
community on Oct 7.Israel is the first country that incorporate women as
warriors in tanks. via Keshet 12 News pic.twitter.com/9HgmQowGkv — Niv
Calderon (@nivcalderon) November 26, 2023-Another of the armored crew
commanders, Karni, spoke of the devastation they witnessed on the
approach to Kibbutz Holit: “We realized we’re at war.”“They told me
there were terrorists in all the trees around me, so we just started
firing. We started firing bunker busters at the terrorists that were up
close, and then mortar shells at those further away,” Michal, another
officer in the unit, said in the Channel 12 report.“I could see the
hits, I saw [the terrorists] fall down,” she added.Hila, also a
commander, told Channel 12 that none of them had been trained on the
weapons system installed on the armored Humvee. “Within 10 minutes, we’d
all become experts: how to run it, how to fire, how to slam the
brakes,” she said.“We approached the border and saw burned bodies of
terrorists hiding in the trees. We were still firing as we went through
to make sure we got everyone,” Michal said.Another commander, also
called Michal, described her experience at one of the border breaches at
the southern end of the Gaza Strip. “As we continued we realized that
those 50 terrorists — that was just the beginning. Then we started
getting eyewitness reports from Kibbutz Holit, so I left a tank at the
border, told [the operator] she had permission to fire at will, and then
set out for Holit.”“We saw terrorists everywhere, and I told the driver
— just run them down… We get there and the gate is closed, a
shell-shocked soldier runs out shouting “terrorists, terrorists!… So we
smashed through the gate,” she said.Asked about their first time
shooting at terrorists, the soldiers were stoic.“I feel like it’s
exactly what we trained for. We were really prepared for everything,” a
commander identified as Tamar told Channel 12. “We just did what our
brains and our hands knew how to do.”“In the moment you don’t think, ‘Am
I saving that person, or that home?’ You understand — there’s a
terrorist and I have to kill him before he gets into one of the border
communities,” she added.The newly appointed commander of the Paran
Brigade, Col. Shemer Raviv, couldn’t be prouder of his female armored
crews, who battled terrorists for some 17 hours straight on that
day.“When the tanks arrived, they broke up the battles,” Raviv told
Channel 12. “Once they took those two positions… the terrorists
understood they could either run or they would die. And the girls in
those tanks, the warriors, with three tanks at that point in the attack,
they fought in a most impressive way. They operated in such a way that
they were seemingly not trained for. They fired inside Israeli
communities, drove on main roads, and I believe that thanks to their
actions in that area, we prevented the attack from moving further
south.”But these soldiers weren’t quick to accept accolades for their
“historic” battle.“So what? What does it matter? Did the terrorist know
there were girls in the tanks? No. You think they saw Michal’s hair
sticking out of the helmet? No. Boys, girls — what does it matter?” Hila
said.Tamar agreed. “You keep saying ‘heroines’ and ‘historic’… I don’t
feel like a hero. I feel like I’m a soldier that was given a job, and I
did my job. I think anyone would have done that.”“This was not a battle
with human beings. There was no humanity here, and my aim is to protect
people. Their aim was to kill people,” Hila added.For her part, Hagar
said that there was no time to be scared. “You think about the civilians
trapped in their homes and the people that needed us. You understand
that there was no room for fear.”Critics of gender integration in the
military often decry it as a dangerous social experiment with potential
ramifications for national security, while defenders generally trumpet
it as a long-needed measure, one that has already been implemented in
many Western countries.Detractors note that some requirements for female
combat soldiers have been lowered — which they say is a sign that
effectiveness is being sacrificed — and that servicewomen suffer stress
injuries at a higher rate.The army insists that it is allowing more
women to serve in combat positions out of practical considerations, not
due to a social agenda, saying it requires all the woman- and manpower
available to it.For Raviv, the battle was proof that female combat
soldiers are in the IDF to stay.
Tens of thousands march in
pro-Palestinian London rally calling for Gaza ceasefire-One arrested
with Nazi placard as 1,500 police officers deployed; additional rallies
take place in Paris and other French cities-By AP and ToI Staff 25
November 2023, 9:14 pm 5
LONDON — A protester was arrested
Saturday in London on suspicion of inciting racial hatred, as tens of
thousands of people turned out on central London’s streets for a
pro-Palestinian march calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.The
National March for Palestine, which aimed to finish in Whitehall,
central London, was the latest in several huge protests staged in the
British capital every weekend since the Israel-Hamas war began last
month after the terror group’s October 7 atrocities.Saturday’s protests
came on the second day of a precarious four-day lull in fighting that
has allowed humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.The Metropolitan Police
said it arrested a man on suspicion of inciting racial hatred “near the
start of the protest.”“Officers spotted him carrying a placard with
Nazi symbols on it,” police said.Officers handed out leaflets at the
march that sought to clarify what would be deemed an offense, after the
force faced pressure from senior government officials to be tougher on
displays of antisemitism at the protests.“Anyone who is racist or
incites hatred against any group should expect to be arrested. As should
anyone who supports Hamas or any other banned organization,” said
Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner Ade Adelekan.“We will not tolerate
anyone who celebrates or promotes acts of terrorism – such as the
killing or kidnap of innocent people – or who spreads hate speech,” he
added.The force said 1,500 officers were deployed to police the
march.Earlier this month, the UK’s former interior minister, Suella
Braverman, came under heavy criticism when she described pro-Palestinian
protesters as “hate marchers.” Critics accused her of inflaming
tensions, and she was sacked by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak soon
after.New UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron, a former prime minister,
made a trip to Israel this past week and visited Kibbutz Be’eri, among
the southern Israeli communities hit hard by Hamas’s shock October 7
onslaught in which thousands of terrorists invaded Israel and killed
1,200 people, mostly civilians in their homes and at an outdoor music
festival.They also took some 240 hostages, 24 of whom were freed Friday
in two separate deals. Some 50 Israeli hostages — children, their
mothers and other women — are set to be freed overall over the four
days, during which the IDF is halting its military campaign to destroy
Hamas in Gaza, with three Palestinian security prisoners to be freed in
exchange for each hostage.Hamas freed 13 Israeli hostages Friday, and
another 11 foreign nationals from Thailand and the Philippines in a
separate deal, Hamas’s backers.According to the Israel-Hamas deal, the
truce can potentially be extended for one extra day for each additional
group of 10 more hostages freed by Hamas.On Saturday, Hamas delayed the
release of the slated second group of Israeli hostages as the fragile
truce deal hung in the balance.In Paris on Saturday, a march staged for
the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women drew
both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli activists, as well as other
groups.Some protesters, waving Palestinian flags and posters reading
“Free Palestine,” walked in a show of solidarity with “Gaza and
Palestine’s women who are being murdered.”A group of Jewish women also
joined the march to denounce crimes committed by Hamas, including rapes
and killings, chanting, “We are women, we are proud, we are Jewish and
we are angry.”Meanwhile, some pro-Palestinian protests were organized
over the weekend in France’s major cities including Strasbourg, Lyon and
Marseille.Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group, also protested Saturday
outside the Egyptian Embassy in London.Tens of thousands of people are
also expected to take part in a march organized by the Campaign Against
Antisemitism organization on Sunday to show solidarity with the Jewish
community in the UK.
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