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)
RUSSIA-IRAN SIGN 20 YEAR DEFENCE DEAL,TO COME TO EACH OTHERS DEFENCE.A NATO OF RUSSIA, IRAN.
HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER
JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a
witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have
heaped treasure together for the last days.
REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that
great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment
come.(IN 1 HR THE STOCK MARKETS WORLDWIDE WILL CRASH)
17 For in one
hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all
the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood
afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping
and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich
all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one
hour is she made desolate.
EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast
their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be
removed:(CONFISCATED) their silver and their gold shall not be able to
deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy
their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the
stumblingblock of their iniquity.
MARK OF THE BEAST (engraved microchip in your hand or forehead)
REVELATION 13:16-18
16
And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, (SLAVE) to receive a mark in their right hand, or in
their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the
beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred
threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 16:1-2
1
And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels,
Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the
earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth;
and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the
mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
I
KNOW THIS MARK WILL BE A MICROCHIP IMPLANT UNDER THE SKIN. LETS LOOK UP
WHAT THE WORD MARK SAYS IN REVELATION 13:16-18, 14:9,11, 15:2, 16:2,
19:20, 20:4-ALL THESE VERSES FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION SPEAK OF THIS
DICTATORS MARK. NOW LETS SEE WHAT IT MEANS FROM STRONGS EXAUSTIVE
CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE. UNDER MARK PAGE 684.MARK UNDER MARK. THE OLD
TESTAMENT IS UNDER HEBREW AND THE NEW TESTAMENT IS UNDER GREEK. SO WHEN
WE LOOK UNDER REVELATION 13:16-17 WE SEE IT IS UNDER GREEK, SO WE GO TO
GREEK IN THE BACK SECTION AND GO TO 5480 TO SEE WHAT IT SAYS THIS MARK
WOULD BE. SO LETS GET TO IT.MARK IN STRONGS GREEK 5480 XAPAYUA CHARAGMA,
KHAR-AG-MAH: FROM THE SAME AS 5482: A SCRATCH OR ETCHING, I.E STAMP (AS
A BADGE OF SERVITUDE), OR SCULPTURED FIGURE-(STATUE):-GRAVEN, MARK FROM
5482 XAPAE CHARAX, KHAR-AX; FROM XAPAOOW CHARASSO (TO SHARPEN TO A
POINT; AKIN TO 1125 THROUGH THE IDEA OF SCRATCHING); A STAKE, I.E
(BYIMPL.) A PALISADE OR RAMPART (MILITARY MOUND FOR CIRCUMVALLATION IN A
SIEGE): - TRENCH FROM 1125 YPAPOE GRAPHO, GRAF-0; A PRIM. VERB; TO
"GRAVE", ESPEC. TO WRITE; FIG. TO DESCRIBE:-DESCRIBE, WRITE (-ING,
-TEN).G5516-GO TO G4742-666 - STRONGS NT 4742: στίγμα - στίγμα,
στιγματος, τό (from στίζω to prick; (cf. Latinstimulus, etc.; German
stechen, English stick, sting, etc.; Curtius, § 226)), a mark pricked in
or branded upon the body. According to ancient oriental usage, slaves
and soldiers bore the name or stamp of their master or commander branded
or pricked (cut) into their bodies to indicate what master or general
they belonged to, and there were even some devotees who stamped
themselves in this way with the token of their gods (cf. Deyling,
Observations, iii., p. 423ff); hence, τά στίγματα τοῦ (κυρίου so Rec.)
Ἰησοῦ, the marks of (the Lord) Jesus, which Paul in Galatians 6:17 says
he bears branded on his body, are the traces left there by the perils,
hardships, imprisonments, scourgings, endured by him for the cause of
Christ, and which mark him as Christ's faithful and approved votary,
servant, soldier (see Lightfoots Commentary on Galatians, the passage
cited). (Herodotus 7, 233; Aristotle, Aelian, Plutarch, Lcian, others.)
THE INVENTOR OF THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT-CARL SANDERS MICROCHIP ENGINEER LEADER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgH9D6n4ZWo
THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD.
LEVETICUS 19.28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
FAMINE
EZEKIEL 5:16
16
When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be
for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will
increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
REVELATION 6:5-6
5
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say,
Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him
had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the
midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three
measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the
wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7For
nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there
shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and
there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines
and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and
pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from
heaven.
DEUTORONOMY 28:24
24 The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
LOCUSTS (DEMONIC) TORTURES SINNERS 5 MONTHS
REVELATION 9:1-6
1
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the
earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
2 And he
opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as
the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by
reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 And there came out of the smoke
(DEMONIC) locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the
scorpions of the earth have power.
4 And it was commanded them that
they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing,
neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in
their foreheads.
5 And to them it was given that they should not kill
them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment
was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Emerging biometrics markets draw a crowd-Jan 18, 2025, 11:51 am EST | Chris Burt
Biometrics
startups and giant multinationals collide as each tries to navigate
emerging markets in the most-read stories of the week on Biometric
Update. Sri Lanka needs more biometric passports while its contract with
Thales and a much smaller local partner is on hold, and Intel is
spinning out RealSense to tackle 3D facial authentication and other
applications on its own. J.P. Morgan is angling in on the retail
biometric payments market, and BorderAge is planning to challenge age
assurance incumbents with a novel and privacy-preserving technology.Top
biometrics news of the week-The FBI’s CJIS has started the process to
contract the ongoing operation and maintenance of an ABIS in Somalia
with an RFI. The biometric system is used by Somalia’s federal police to
identify criminal and terrorist suspects, and its database holds more
than two million ten-print fingerprint biometrics records. Responses are
due by the end of next week.Ethiopia is seeking to separately contract
the development of an IT system and 3,000 biometric registration kits,
each in support of a project to improve inclusion and access to services
through digital ID. The IT system involves two lots, the first for the
design and installation of a secure computer network, and the second to
stand up a data center.Sri Lanka’s biometric passport issuance saga has
taken another twist, with the government considering running a new
tender to keep up with demand while a legal challenge of its
recently-awarded contract plays out. The portion of the contract awarded
to Thales and local partner Just in Time Technologies for
machine-readable passports has been allowed to proceed, but will run out
soon.The deadline for U.S. federal agencies to enforce REAL ID
specifications for identity credentials has been pushed back by two more
years to May 5, 2027 by the TSA. The previous deadline to meet the
security standard for ID documents did not give states sufficient time
to implement the changes, coming a mere 20 years after the passage of
the legislation mandating the change.An eleventh-hour executive order by
U.S. President Biden presents the adoption of digital ID, in the form
of mobile driver’s licenses, as a national cybersecurity imperative. The
EO stipulates security requirements for software supply chains and
policy changes to enable better threat detection and more stringent
access control measures. Federal agencies are instructed to consider
grants to support mDL rollouts by states.U.S. President-elect Trump’s
nominees for border czar and leadership of the Department of Homeland
Security, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement could align with a Republican trifecta to advance biometrics
at America’s borders. Increased investment in biometric border security
would be welcomed by the tech community, but could face pushback,
including from Congressional Republicans like the two House committee
chairs asking for a detailed GAO review of TSA’s biometrics use.A pair
of multimodal biometric authentication terminals for retail
points-of-sale have been introduced by J.P. Morgan as the company
continues its aggressive push into biometric payments. The Paypad and
the smaller Pinpad each feature infrared cameras and offer
authentication with palm vein and face biometrics, as well as support
for QR codes, and touchless or contact-based transactions through
electronic chips or magnetic stripes.Intel is spinning out its RealSense
division, maker of 3D cameras for facial recognition and other
specialized applications, as its own company. The plan is for RealSense
to target the markets for facial authentication, autonomous mobile
robots and physical therapy metrics as an Israeli startup within the
first half of 2025.French startup BorderAge has developed an age
assurance method based on the analysis of hand gestures and without
collecting any personally identifying information, executive Jean-Michel
Polit tells Biometric Update in an interview. The ACCS has found the
method 99 percent accurate, and it avoids adult content websites having
to ask people to submit face biometrics or ID documents, which Polit
says is the industry’s biggest barrier.Age verification was as area of
significant activity on both sides of the Atlantic this week. Ofcom
published guidance that approves of both age estimation and reusable
digital ID in its Age Assurance and Children’s Access Statement, and the
U.S. Supreme Court has begun hearing arguments in a challenge of Texas’
age assurance law.A broader implementation of biometric ticketing at
the Australian Open this year is supplied by Wicket, but Information Age
reports that consent was not handled with the degree of transparency
some attendees and privacy advocates would like.Turkey is up to 99
percent coverage for its national digital ID, which includes fingerprint
biometrics and has integrated it with a wide range of public services.
Regulations requiring biometric identity verification for cryptocurrency
wallets are taking effect in February, and businesses like Colle AI are
integrating the national ID system with blockchain to further digitize
the economy.The UK government has introduced its plan for “national
renewal” through AI, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer suggesting the
technology can boost productivity and economic competitiveness. Former
Labour PM Tony Blair argues the nation’s AI potential positions it well
to benefit from digital ID.Please let us know if you spot any opinion
pieces, research articles or other content you think we should share
with the people in biometrics and the digital identity community either
in the comments below or through social media.
Laxton to supply hundreds of biometric kits to Honduras under $1.9M UNDP contract-Jan 17, 2025, 3:04 pm EST | Chris Burt
The
United Nations Development Programme has selected Laxton to provide
hundreds of Biometric Citizen Registration (BCR) kits for Honduras.The
$1.89 million contract includes shipping the kits by air, warranties and
technical support services, according to the procurement disclosure by
UNDP.UNDP announced in August that it would seek 460 biometric
registration kits to help Honduras update and maintain its civil
registry. The country’s Registro Nacional de las Personas (RNP) recently
extended registration to those between 16 and 18 years of age.Honduras
was awarded a $40 million loan by the World Bank in late-2023 to
digitize its CRVS system and introduce national identity verification
services.Laxton supplied Chameleon 8 mobile biometric registration
devices across to the government of neighboring El Salvador for its push
to improve government services in rural areas, as described in a
company case study. Nearly a quarter of El Salvador’s 6.3 million people
live in remote areas with limited access to ID registration, healthcare
and financial services, Laxton says. The government addressed this
situation with a pilot program using the Chameleon, and then a broader
rollout following the pilot’s success.Several countries in Africa are
also using Laxton hardware for biometrics enrollment, including
Ethiopia, where it is supporting the rollout of a MOSIP-based national
digital ID program by the NIDP.
Leadership change at IBIA follows layoffs at Thales-Jan 17, 2025, 2:58 pm EST | Chris Burt
A
major leadership change has been kicked off at Thales Digital Identity
& Security and the International Biometrics and Identity Association
(IBIA).Neville Pattinson is being let go as head of business
development and strategic marketing at Thales DIS’ Identity and
Biometric Solutions (IBS) division.Pattinson told Biometric Update that
the entire Thales DIS IBS business development team is being laid off,
and that business development efforts will likely be transferred to a
different part of the company.“Some personnel changes were made, but the
Identity & Biometrics Solutions business remains committed to their
customers and focused on the industry,” Thales North America Media
Relations Director Jennifer Tumminio told Biometric Update in an emailed
statement. “The business is not closing.”Pattinson also serves as the
chairman of the IBIA’s Board of Directors, a position he will vacate as a
result of the change at Thales. He was elected to a two-year term in
the role last August.The IBIA’s webpage does not yet indicate a change,
and also still lists Board member and former Aware CEO Robert Eckel,
whose resignation as of December 31, 2024 was disclosed on October 30,
in his previous role.
Reusable ID for AML acquired by global
fintech as compliance costs rise-Acquisition for Parallel Markets, fine
for Block, funding for Quantifind-Jan 17, 2025, 2:55 pm EST | Joel R.
McConvey
Global fintech platform iCapital has entered a
definitive agreement to acquire U.S.-based Parallel Markets, which
provides reusable identity tools for investor onboarding, verification
and monitoring.In a company release, Lawrence Calcano, chairman and CEO
of iCapital, says “onboarding and verifying digital investor identity
and compliance is a major friction point in private markets investing.
Parallel Markets has pioneered software that supports a reusable
investor passport, streamlining these duplicative processes for
advisors, investors, and fund managers.”The reusable KYC/AML passport
technology for alternative investments aims to be a “turnkey onboarding
solution,” creating a universal reusable identity for the investor that
can be used across iCapital Marketplace.The ID will function as a “data
locker for storing, managing, and sharing personal information needed
for fund subscription and compliance verification in private markets.”
It is intended to simplify KYC/KYB processes, make scaling smoother and
ensure consistency in compliance with AML standards.“As we continue to
evolve our tech stack, we will enhance automated entry for alternative
investing and leverage AI and machine learning to offer a complete,
intuitive end-to-end solution. This is expected to result in faster
onboarding, reduced costs, and a more efficient investment process.”For
Parallel Markets, the acquisition refines its focus and purpose. “As of
today, we have focused on fund managers and the broader private wealth
channel which is an increasingly important focus for leading financial
institutions,” says Tony Peccatiello, CEO of Parallel Markets, who will
be joining iCapital as part of the acquisition.Terms of the agreement
were not disclosed.Block hit with $80M fine for AML compliance
violations-Oakland-based Block Inc., which owns the mobile payment
platform, Cash App, has agreed to pay a fine of $80 million to a
coalition of 48 state financial regulators who deemed the company’s AML
measures to be insufficient.Reuters reports that the Conference of State
Bank Supervisors announced the settlement, which would also compel the
fintech firm to hire an independent consultant to review its Bank
Secrecy Act and AML program.A spokesperson for Block Inc. says the firm,
which has waded into mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) and decentralized
ID, “will continue to invest across our operations to help promote a
safe and healthy fintech ecosystem.”$22 million to boost Quantifind’s AI
platform-Following a year that saw it grow by 200 percent, Quantifind
has raised $22 million in funding from Deloitte Ventures and Stephens
Group as well as existing investors, Citi Ventures, S&P Global, DNS
Capital, and USVP, per a news release.The investment will accelerate the
global expansion of Quantifind’s flagship platform, Graphyte, and power
the launch of its Payments Risk Intelligence product for AI-powered
financial crime intelligence.“AI has become the weapon of choice for
fraudulent and criminal actors within the financial services ecosystem,”
says Ryan Morrow, managing director at Stephens Group. “Our investment
in Quantifind reflects our belief that Quantifind’s AI Graphyte
technology tips the balance back in favor of bank compliance and law
enforcement.”Ari Tuchman, CEO of Quantifind, says its biometric
transaction screening for payments performs contextual analysis of
counterparty relationships, offering the accuracy of large language
models with the speed of real-time machine learning.Technological
advancements to Graphyte’s machine learning operations address “the
dynamic and high-stakes nature of transaction and name screening,”
maximizing signals from metadata and hidden features, and separating
feature discovery from runtime decisions to optimize speed and scale.
Services
Australia to run Trust Exchange pilot with largest Australian bank-TEx
proof of concept proceeds as minister vacates position-Jan 17, 2025,
2:53 pm EST | Joel R. McConvey
A pilot with Commonwealth Bank
will test the Australian government’s digital identity exchange scheme,
Trust Exchange (TEx), using digital medical credentials housed in the
myGov app.A report from InnovationAus.com quotes outgoing Services
Minister Bill Shorten, who says “Services Australia has been working
with the Commonwealth Bank on a concept that would look to use the
Medicare card in your myGov app digital wallet to contribute to the
identity verification process.”The pilot at a Canberra branch will use
QR codes for sharing only necessary government-verified information. The
idea is that TEx will eventually allow Australians to perform identity
verification and share digital credentials, without handing over
physical ID documents or sharing data not relevant to the transaction,
in a wide variety of use cases.TEx came with a AU$11.4 (US$7.3) million
investment for proof of concept. Shorten first alluded to the
Commonwealth Bank in December, in a media release announcing the first
identity verification prototype of TEx, at a General Practice medical
clinic in Brisbane, Queensland.Both TEx and Australia’s myGov app have
faced questions about its vulnerability to fraud, with myGov having
posted billions in losses to identity scams. Around 5.6 million people
now use the app to sign in to myGov, which recently integrated biometric
passkey security.Shorten has been a major advocate for TEx, which rolls
out at roughly the same time as an Australian national digital identity
system. But the minister is leaving politics to take up a role as
vice-chancellor at the University of Canberra, and will vacate his seat
this coming Monday, nine days earlier than expected.
COPPA
changes specify children’s biometrics and government IDs for
protection-Rule expands protections for children's data and requires
that operators provide more information to parents-Jan 17, 2025, 2:29 pm
EST | Anthony Kimery
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Thursday issued notice that it finalized substantial changes to the
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), signaling a
significant step toward enhancing online privacy safeguards for
children.The updated COPPA rule represents a pivotal moment in the
ongoing effort to protect children’s privacy online. By introducing
stricter requirements for data collection, use, and sharing, the FTC is
setting a higher standard for how companies interact with their youngest
users. The updated rule imposes stricter requirements, introduces new
protections for parents, and seeks to mitigate the risks associated with
the monetization of children’s data.The rule not only empowers parents,
but it also sends a clear message to the industry: children’s data is
not a commodity to be exploited. As the rule takes effect, its impact
will be closely watched, serving as a benchmark for future privacy
regulations.At the core of the changes is a groundbreaking provision
requiring parental opt-in for third-party advertising practices. This
marks a pivotal shift in the regulation of targeted advertising aimed at
children. Companies must now secure explicit, verifiable parental
consent before disclosing children’s personal information to third
parties for advertising or other purposes. By implementing this rule,
the FTC is targeting practices that have allowed businesses to profit
from children’s data without active parental involvement.FTC Chairman
Lina M. Khan emphasized the importance of the changes. She said, “The
updated COPPA rule strengthens key protections for kids’ privacy online.
By requiring parents to opt in to targeted advertising practices, this
final rule prohibits platforms and service providers from sharing and
monetizing children’s data without active permission. The FTC is using
all its tools to keep kids safe online.”The COPPA rule, first
implemented in 2000, underwent its last significant revision in 2013.
However, the rapid evolution of technology and online services has
rendered many aspects of the rule insufficient to address emerging
threats to children’s privacy. In January 2024, the FTC proposed a
series of amendments designed to modernize COPPA, reflecting the
realities of the current digital environment. The finalized changes are a
culmination of this effort, incorporating insights from nearly 300
public comments on the proposed revisions.One notable update involves
stringent limits on data retention. Businesses subject to COPPA are now
required to retain children’s personal information only as long as it is
reasonably necessary to fulfill the specific purpose for which the data
was collected. This provision is explicitly designed to prevent
indefinite retention of sensitive information which can increase the
risk of misuse or data breaches. By mandating that companies adopt more
disciplined data retention practices, the FTC aims to reduce potential
harm to children resulting from long-term exposure of their data.“In
recent years, the FTC has repeatedly encountered and filed suit against
companies who apparently never deleted children’s data,” Commissioners
Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter said in a joint statement that
“claims from businesses that data must be indefinitely retained to
improve algorithms do not override legal bans on indefinite retention of
data. Companies eyeing children’s data would do well to heed this
lesson. [We are] glad that this rule update will make those obligations
even more explicit.”The FTC also bolstered transparency within its Safe
Harbor programs, which allow industry groups to develop self-regulatory
guidelines in compliance with COPPA. Approved programs will now be
required to disclose their membership lists publicly and submit
additional reports to the FTC. This enhancement is intended to increase
accountability and ensure that Safe Harbor programs uphold robust
standards for protecting children’s privacy. By shining a light on these
programs, the FTC seeks to build trust among parents and advocates
while encouraging greater compliance from participating
organizations.Another significant change is the expansion of COPPA’s
definition of personal information. The revised definition now
encompasses biometric identifiers, such as fingerprints and facial
recognition data, as well as government-issued identifiers. This change
reflects the FTC’s acknowledgment of the growing prevalence and
potential risks of advanced data collection technologies. By broadening
the scope of protected information, the FTC is addressing concerns about
the exploitation of increasingly sophisticated data types in ways that
could compromise children’s privacy.Despite these advancements, however,
the FTC decided against adopting some of the proposed changes. It
declined, for example, to finalize requirements aimed at limiting the
use of push notifications directed to children without parental consent
and specific provisions related to educational technology companies
operating in school environments.The FTC expressed ongoing concerns
about the use of engagement techniques, such as push notifications, to
retain children’s attention online in ways that could harm their mental
health. However, it concluded that further evaluation is necessary
before implementing additional regulations.The final rule also
underscores the importance of balancing regulatory objectives with
practical implementation timelines. While the rule will take effect 60
days after its publication in the Federal Register, entities subject to
the amendments will have one year from the publication date to achieve
full compliance. This phased approach provides organizations with a
reasonable timeframe to adjust their practices and ensure adherence to
the new requirements.The unanimous 5-0 vote to approve the final rule
reflects broad consensus among the FTC’s commissioners on the need for
strengthened protections for children’s online privacy. Khan and
Commissioner Andrew Ferguson issued separate concurring statements,
while Commissioners Bedoya and Slaughter released a joint concurring
statement. The statements highlight the FTC’s shared commitment to
safeguarding children’s digital experiences while addressing emerging
privacy concerns.“Today, the Commission takes the important step of
finalizing its amendments to the COPPA Rule,” Bedoya and Slaughter said.
“These changes are a necessary effort by the Commission – and
authorized by Congress – to modernize the COPPA Rule and ensure it keeps
up with advancements in technology.”Commissioner Ferguson – Trump’s
pick to lead the FTC – issued a politically charged statement in which
he said there are “serious problems with the final rule, problems that
are the result of the outgoing administration’s irresponsible rush to
issue last-minute rules two months after the American people voted to
evict them from office, which the Commission under President Trump will
have to address.”Biometric Update earlier reported that Trump’s choice
of Ferguson to lead the FTC could indicate an inclination by the
incoming administration to deprioritize FTC rulemaking and enforcement
activities related to data privacy, which also could indicate a broader
regulatory philosophy that emphasizes legislative action over
administrative rulemaking.Nevertheless, the updated COPPA rule is not
merely a regulatory milestone, it is a response to the growing public
demand for greater accountability in how companies handle children’s
data. The Internet and digital technologies have become integral to
children’s lives, offering educational, social, and recreational
opportunities, but these benefits often come with significant risks,
including exposure to intrusive advertising, data exploitation, and
threats to mental health. The FTC’s amendments to COPPA are intended to
mitigate these risks by empowering parents and ensuring that businesses
prioritize the privacy and safety of their youngest users.One of the
most transformative aspects of the updated rule is its potential to
reshape the online advertising landscape. Targeted advertising has long
been a lucrative revenue stream for companies, but its reliance on
personal data has drawn increasing scrutiny, particularly when children
are involved. By requiring opt-in consent, the FTC is effectively
curbing the unchecked monetization of children’s data and ensuring that
parents retain control over what information is shared. This move not
only protects children’s privacy but also sets a precedent for broader
industry practices, potentially influencing how data is handled across
other demographics.The inclusion of biometric and government-issued
identifiers in the definition of personal information addresses another
critical concern: the growing use of advanced technologies to collect
and analyze sensitive data. As biometric tools become more widespread,
the risks of misuse or unauthorized access increase. By extending
COPPA’s protections to these data types, the FTC is proactively
addressing potential threats and ensuring that its regulatory framework
keeps pace with technological advancements.The emphasis on data
minimization and transparency aligns with broader trends in privacy
regulation, both domestically and internationally. By mandating that
companies retain personal information only for as long as necessary, the
FTC is reinforcing the principle that data should not be collected or
stored beyond its intended purpose. Similarly, the increased
transparency within Safe Harbor programs mirrors global efforts to
enhance accountability and build public trust in self-regulatory
initiatives.While the updated COPPA rule marks significant progress, it
also leaves room for further action. The FTC’s decision to hold off on
regulating push notifications and engagement techniques suggests that
these issues will remain on the agency’s radar. As digital platforms
continue to evolve, the FTC is likely to revisit these topics,
potentially introducing additional safeguards to address emerging
risks.Commissioner Ferguson – Trumps pick to head the FTC – criticizes
changes-In a statement, Ferguson criticized several aspects of the FTC’s
final amendments to COPPA. While he supports certain provisions, such
as requiring businesses to disclose third-party data recipients to
parents and obtain parental consent for specific disclosures, he raises
concerns about how these measures could inadvertently stifle competition
among third-party service providers.Ferguson argues that the
requirement to seek fresh parental consent for changes in third-party
data recipients, while well-intentioned, could impose high compliance
costs on businesses and create market stickiness, entrenching the
dominance of incumbent providers.Ferguson also critiques the new rule
prohibiting the indefinite retention of children’s data. He acknowledges
its good intentions, but warned it might result in unintended negative
consequences, such as the irreversible loss of digital content with
personal significance.Additionally, he questions the practical
definition of “indefinite” and how it differs substantively from
existing rules that already limit data retention.Finally, he expressed
disappointment that the rule fails to include an exception for the use
of children’s personal information solely for age verification. He
argues that this omission complicates compliance for mixed-audience
platforms seeking to adopt more reliable age verification methods than
self-declaration, as they must obtain parental consent to collect data
for verification purposes.Ferguson attributes these shortcomings to the
hasty finalization of the amendments during the transition between
presidential administrations and calls on the new FTC leadership under
Trump to address these flaws.
FC Copenhagen will use facial recognition to stop violent football fans-Jan 17, 2025, 2:06 pm EST | Masha Borak
Football
Club Copenhagen has received permission to use automated facial
recognition to boost security and prevent banned football fans from
entering its games.The technology can be used during matches at Parken
Stadium and in other sports venues during the club’s away games, the
Danish Data Protection Agency (Datatilsynet) ruled on Thursday.FC
Copenhagen is introducing the tech to solve problems with escalating
violence. In October last year, the Danish League organization banned
visiting supporters from attending Danish Superliga games between FC
Copenhagen and Brondby, following violent incidents which included
throwing stones at trains.Brondby IF football club acquired permission
to use facial recognition in 2019 while in 2023 it expanded the use of
the technology in an attempt to keep banned fans out of the stadium. FC
Copenhagen applied for a similar permit in April 2024. According to the
Danish Data Protection Act, processing sensitive information, including
facial recognition, requires approval from the Danish data
watchdog.Facial recognition use has been growing across European
football stadiums, from Italy and Belgium to Cyprus and Spain. National
football player unions have reported that workplace safety and fan
violence are a growing concern.But safety is not the only reason sports
venues are looking towards biometric technology. NFL football clubs in
the U.S. have been experimenting with biometric ticketing and
streamlining entering into stadiums.
Rights groups urge priority to human rights in AI Act implementation-Jan 17, 2025, 1:54 pm EST | Masha Borak
A
group of more than 20 civil rights organizations has signed a letter
urging the European Commission to prioritize human rights in formulating
the upcoming guidelines for implementing the AI Act, including better
measures for biometric systems – one of the most controversial issues
within the legislation.The AI Act guidelines are designed to specify the
practical implementation of the rulebook, which entered into force in
August last year. Rights groups have highlighted guidelines related to
remote biometric identification, biometric categorization according to
race, gender, and other markers, scraping facial images from the
internet, and emotion recognition.All of these AI use cases are
considered to pose an “unacceptable risk” to fundamental rights and are
banned, according to the AI Act. The law, however, makes exceptions for
specific circumstances, including for law enforcement purposes.The AI
Act should specify that the development of remote biometric
identification for export falls under the ban. The organizations also
say that it shouldn’t be enough for police forces to put up a sign or
distribute flyers saying that an area is surveilled to ensure the
legality of biometric surveillance. Finally, the groups call for a ban
on retrospective biometric identification (RBI).“While we continue to
call for a full ban on retrospective RBI by private and public actors,
we urge that the ‘significant delay’ clause should be at a minimum of 24
hours after capture,” the groups say.The current ban on non-targeted
scraping of facial images leaves room for problematic loopholes: Systems
like Clearview AI or PimEyes, which claim to store only biographical
information or URLs and not the actual facial images currently fall
outside of the prohibition and the Commission should consider deleting
the proposed definition of a facial image database to prevent this.The
biometric categorization ban should be expanded to include categories
such as “ethnicity” and “gender identity.” The civil rights groups also
expect that companies will try to masquerade emotion recognition
products as health and safety tools to escape the ban and urge EU
lawmakers to clearly define the difference between these systems.These
specifications should be included in the AI Act guidelines to prevent
the weaponization of technology against marginalized groups and the
unlawful use of mass biometric surveillance. The EU should also ensure
that future consultations related to the implementation of the rulebook
give a meaningful voice to civil society and impacted communities, the
groups conclude.The signatories include Privacy International, Access
Now, European Digital Rights (EDRi), AlgorithmWatch, Amnesty
International and more.The European Commission’s guidelines for national
authorities and AI providers and deployers are set to be released in
early 2025. In December, the European AI Office concluded a consultation
aimed to define AI systems and the prohibited AI practices used to
formulate the guidelines.
Microblink, Au10tix, Veriff answer increased demand for AI-enabled IDV-Jan 17, 2025, 1:02 pm EST | Joel R. McConvey
A
growing demand for advanced identity verification has driven recent
wins for digital identity vendors. Microblink, Au10tix and Veriff are
showing growth, expanding operations and preventing massive amounts of
fraud.Microblink added 200 documents, saw double-digit revenue growth in
2024-A release from Microblink says the Brooklyn, New York firm
achieved several key milestones in 2024.The company saw revenue grow by a
double-digit percentage for the fifth consecutive year, as 20 percent
of their clients expanded product use.Its flagship products, BlinkID and
BlinkID Verify, became available on Google Cloud Marketplace. It
expanded its identity document verification services into industry
verticals including human resources, travel, hospitality and banking. It
added features and capabilities to BlinkID, BlinkID Verify and
BlinkCard, including real-time advanced fraud detection.And its Fraud
Lab implemented synthetic data generation to replicate fraud attacks and
accelerate support for new identity documents, leading to the addition
of more than 200 new ID document types.“We are proud of the significant
progress we made in 2024,” says Microblink President of Identity Hartley
Thompson. “We are committed to continuing to innovate and deliver
world-class identity verification solutions that help businesses stay
ahead of emerging threats and create seamless digital experiences.”Per
the release, Microblink’s proprietary in-house machine learning tech
powers verification for more than 20 leading identity solution
providers, including 50 percent of the digital identity verification
providers (as listed in the Gartner 2024 Magic Quadrant for IDV.)-It has
more growth planned for 2025, with several new product initiatives
scheduled for Q1, evolving strategic relationships with key partners,
and ongoing investment in research and development.Au10tix India office
aims to expands IDV offerings globally-Israel-based identity
verification and risk management firm Au10tix says that in 2024 its
products protected businesses worldwide against an estimated $7.5
billion in fraud, much of it generated by AI.A release says that brings
the company’s total amount of fraud prevention to approximately $24
billion since 2021.The company expanded its identity verification
product portfolio last year, adding Know Your Business (KYB) and
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) tools and a digital ID verification hub. It
offers a free, data-driven risk assessment model tool to help
organizations craft fraud prevention strategies. And its orchestration
engine enables customization to fit clients’ specific business
needs.Au10tix also opened an office in Bengaluru, India, to strengthen
its presence in the global IDV market.Dan Yerushalmi, CEO of Au10tix,
says the firm’s “continued growth and expansion, particularly in
developing innovative solutions and building our global team, positions
us strongly to address evolving fraud challenges across
industries.”Veriff continues upward trend in revenue growth-Identity
verification and authentication platform Veriff also saw significant
growth in 2024. According to a company release, the firm saw strong 75
percent year-over-year revenue growth in Q4 2024, tripling its volumes
and increasing the number of customers by 60 percent compared to the
same period last year.Kaarel Kotkas, founder and CEO of Veriff, says the
Estonian verification company “is in the strongest position ever – we
are the fastest growing company in the identity space with a solid
balance sheet, and we are focusing on profitable growth.”While most of
the company’s revenue comes from the U.S., some of its focus for 2025 is
on Latin America, where the company’s business volumes grew most
strongly last year. It has plans to expand its footprint in the region
by opening a tech hub in São Paulo, Brazil, this spring.“I am proud that
a number of globally renowned large tech companies that we as consumers
use daily are Veriff customers today,” Kotkwas says.2024 also saw the
firm significant updates to its IDV product suite in enabling AI
automation, as well as enhancements to the Veriff Biometric
Authentication product, and successful completion of iBeta Level 2
biometric liveness detection compliance.
Biometric authentication
required for SIM card registration in India and Thailand-Jan 17, 2025,
10:01 am EST | Ayang Macdonald
Following a spike in mobile
telecommunications fraud and other related crimes, the government of
India has directed that all new SIM card connections must henceforth be
mandatorily activated with biometrics from the Aadhaar digital ID
system.The directive was issued this week by the Prime Minister’s
Office, India TV reports, and it comes off as a response to a surge in
criminality perpetrated through improperly identified SIM cards.Going by
the new rule, mobile telecoms companies are prohibited from selling new
SIM cards without verifying the buyer’s biometrics using their Aadhaar.
Biometric ID verification for SIM card activation in India was first
announced in 2023.The move is a more stringent rule than what obtained
in the past and is provided for by the Telecommunications Bill 2023
which was okayed by both houses of parliament in 2023. Before now, users
could present any government ID document such as a passport or voter ID
to activate a SIM card.According to reports, the mandatory Aadhaar
biometrics verification measure comes after a meeting by stakeholders in
the telecoms sector who noted the alarming nature of mobile
phone-enabled criminal activities in the country.Crackdowns on SIM fraud
criminal networks have been conducted in India over the years, with
cases of such criminal activities prompting huge financial losses by
individuals and even enterprises and organizations.It is expected that
the new measure will lead to a substantial drop in unverified mobile
telephone numbers and enhance the safety and security of financial
transactions.As part of the implementation of the directive, the
Department of Telecommunications (DOT), which is at the forefront of the
policy, has been called upon to work in close collaboration with law
enforcement agencies to track down and punish those who will flout the
orders, Telecom Talk relays.The development in India follows a growing
global trend where several countries have resorted to biometric SIM
identification as a means of curbing crimes committed through
telephone-enabled transactions.Thai regulator approves measures to
combat unauthorized SIMs-Thailand’s National Broadcasting and
Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has also approved plans requiring
biometric authentication for SIM card registration as part of its
overall strategy to fight telecom technology related crimes and online
scams.The Nation reports the regulator has also approved measures
limiting some foreigners to three SIM cards per person per operator and
requiring passports for SIM card purchases.Police are being directed to
step up enforcement of SIM card registration rules. Retailers that
breach the regulations can be subject to fines or jail time.Countries
including Indonesia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Cameroon, Russia and Pakistan are
turning to biometric SIM card registration as a response to the rise in
mobile phone fraud.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25
And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in
the moon,(MAN ON MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS ETC)
and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION)
the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing
them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those
things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of
heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
THE FIRST
JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST
GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING (BUT WILL NOT KILL EVERY BODY WITH
WATER)(BUT 50% OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE (4 BILLION PEOPLE) FROM NUCLEAR
WAR)(THE BIBLE SAYS BY FIRE OR ATOMIC BOMBS THIS TIME)
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the
seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
OZONE DEPLETION JUDGEMENT ON THE EARTH DUE TO SIN
ISAIAH 30:26-27
26
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and
the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the
light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of
his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold,
the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the
burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his
tongue as a devouring fire:
MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22
And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED)
there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE)
those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID
HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and
the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken:
REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God,
which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him
glory.
EZEKIEL 32:6-9
6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
7
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the
stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon
shall not give her light.
8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
9
I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy
destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not
known.
REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his
vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every
living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5
And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord,
which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6
For they(False World Church and Dictator and baby murderers by abortion)
have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them
blood to drink; for they are worthy.
2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire,
being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
We
shall have World Government, whether or not we like it. The only
question is whether World Government will be achieved by conquest or
consent.James Paul Warburg appearing before the Senate on 7th February
1950-Like a famous WWII Belgian General,Paul Henry Spock said in 1957:We
need no commission, we have already too many. What we need is a man who
is great enough to be able to keep all the people in subjection to
himself and to lift us out of the economic bog into which we threaten to
sink. Send us such a man. Be he a god or a devil, we will accept
him.And today, sadly, the world is indeed ready for such a man.
JUDGEMENT-WE ALL(EVERYONE) STAND IN FRONT OF GOD TO GIVE ACCOUNT
JOHN 14:3
3
And if I (JESUS OUR JEWISH MESSIAH) go and prepare a place for you, I
will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye
may be also.
MATTHEW 24:33
33 So likewise ye, when ye shall
see all these things,(IN THERE BEGGINING STAGES-NOT FINAL STAGES) know
that it is near, even at the doors.
LUKE 21:32
32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:10
10
For we must all (MEANS EVERYONE EVER BORN ON EARTH FROM ADAM-EVE ON)
appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive
the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it
be good or bad.(THIS IS THE CHRISTIANS IN FRONT OF JESUS)
LUKEWARM CHURCHES
REVELATION 3:15-19
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I(GOD) will spue (VOMIT) thee out of my mouth.
17
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need
of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and
poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried
in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou
mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;
and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent
EARTHQUAKES
EZEKIEL 37:7,11-14
7
So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a
noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his
bone.(POSSIBLE QUAKE BRINGS ISRAEL BACK TO LIFE-SO NOISE AND
SHAKING-QUAKES WILL ALSO DESTROY ISRAELS ENEMIES)
11 Then he said
unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold,
they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for
our parts.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the
Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to
come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14
And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place
you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it,
and performed it, saith the LORD.
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation
shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall
be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be
earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles:
these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great
earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME)
and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall
there be from heaven.
REVELATION 11:11-14
11 And after three
days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they
stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
12
And they(ELIJSH-MOSES) heard a great voice from heaven saying unto
them, Come up hither.(REV 4:1 WE KNOW IS THE RAPTURE FOR SURE) And they
ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld
them.(RAPTURED)
13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake,
and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of
men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to
the God of heaven.
14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
REVELATION 16:18-20
18
And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a
great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so
mighty an earthquake, and so great.
19 And the great city (JERUSALEM)
was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and
great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup
of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
FEARFUL SIGHTS AND GREAT SIGNS FROM HEAVEN
LUKE 21:11
11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and
pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from
heaven.so was not yet deemed a threat to land.The storm was located
about 580 miles (930 kilometers) west-southwest of the southernmost tip
of the Cabo Verde Islands and had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85
kph), the center said.The storms churned in the Atlantic as rescuers in
the U.S. Southeast searched for people unaccounted for after Hurricane
Helene struck last week, leaving behind a trail of death and
catastrophic damage.
REV 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and
there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon
the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green
grass was burnt up.
JAMES 1:11
11 For the sun is no sooner
risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower
thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also
shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
The Hebrew noun
accurately translated “oven” refers to a “baking oven” as distinct from a
kiln or smelting furnace—both of which burn much hotter. (The Hebrew
nouns for “kiln” or for “smelting furnace” are more likely to appear in
contexts of God's wrath or judgment.)
21 They have roused me to
jealousy with a non-god, they have exasperated me with their idols. In
my turn I shall rouse them to jealousy with a non-people, I shall
exasperate them with a stupid nation.
22 Yes, a fire has blazed from
my anger, it will burn right down to the depths of Sheol; it will devour
the earth and all its produce, it will set fire to the footings of the
mountains.
23 I shall hurl disasters on them, on them I shall use up all my arrows.
Ecclesiastes 1:6 ESV
6
The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and
around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
Jonah 1:4 ESV
4
But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty
tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.
Psalm 135:7 ESV
7
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes
lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
Psalm 78:26 ESV
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;
Psalm 1:4 ESV
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Acts 27:14 ESV
14 But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the land.
Amos 4:13 ESV
13
For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and
declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and
treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord, the God of hosts, is his
name!
Los Angeles wildfires timeline: How the deadly blazes unfolded
The Palisades and Eaton fires both erupted on Jan. 7.ByMeredith Deliso-Video byJulian Kim-January 17, 2025, 11:11 AM
Timeline:
How the deadly California wildfires unfolded-Timeline: How the deadly
California wildfires unfoldedAnalysts say the Palisades Fire and Eaton
Fire, which started on Jan. 7, together are on track to be the worst
natural disaster in U.S. history by cost.Los Angeles County has been
devastated by two deadly wildfires that have become some of the most
destructive in California history.The Palisades and Eaton fires both
erupted on Jan. 7, fueled by severe drought conditions and strong Santa
Ana winds.Dozens of people are believed to have died in the fires, which
have burned down whole swaths of communities, including in the Pacific
Palisades, Malibu, Altadena and Pasadena. More than 12,000 structures
have been damaged or destroyed in the two fires, with the Eaton Fire the
most destructive in Los Angeles history.With the fires continuing to
rage, the full scope of the lives lost and destruction remains to be
seen.While working to contain the Palisades and Eaton fires,
firefighters also have had to contend with several smaller fires that
have ignited amid the hazardous fire conditions.Here's a look at how the
deadly blazes unfolded.Jan. 7-A dayslong red flag warning goes into
effect for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, with very strong
winds in the forecast amid dry conditions."Strong, damaging and
potentially life-threatening #SantaAnaWinds are still on track for
#SoCal," the National Weather Service in Los Angeles warns. "Be prepared
for strong winds and high fire danger."8 a.m.: The Los Angeles Fire
Department pre-deploys and pre-positions resources, including fire
engines, command teams, brush patrols, water tenders and air operations
personnel, due to the red flag conditions, according to Chief Kristin
Crowley.10:20 a.m.: A live camera with AlertCalifornia, a UC San Diego
program to monitor wildfires and disasters in real-time, picks up smoke
rising. This is the first sighting of the Palisades Fire.10:30 a.m.: Cal
Fire reports the Palisades Fire has started southeast of Palisades
Drive in the Pacific Palisades.This handout image released by The
European Space Agency (ESA) from Copernicus Sentinel-2 on Jan. 8, 2025,
shows smoke rising north of the Santa Monica area on Jan. 7, 2025, as
wildfires raged across the United States' western state of
California.11:44 a.m.: Evacuation warnings -- voluntary notices to leave
-- begin to be issued in the Palisades Fire.Noon: Mandatory evacuation
orders start in the Palisades Fire. Long lines of vehicles can be seen
amid evacuations, as well as abandoned cars.California Gov. Gavin Newsom
declares a state of emergency due to the Palisades Fire, which has
grown to 1,200 acres at the time of his declaration.6:18 p.m.: Cal Fire
reports the Eaton Fire has begun in Altadena, describing the incident as
a "fast-moving fire burning brush fueled by high winds," prompting
evacuation orders.6:26 p.m.: The Los Angeles Fire Department calls on
all of its firefighters to report for duty.7:30 p.m.: Firefighting
aircraft is grounded due to high winds, according to Crowley.10:29 p.m.:
Cal Fire reports the Hurst Fire has begun in Sylmar, prompting
evacuations.Jan. 8-Newsom says more than 1,400 firefighting personnel
and hundreds of "prepositioned assets" have been deployed to battle the
"unprecedented fires" ravaging parts of Los Angeles, with the Palisades
Fire growing to nearly 3,000 acres and the Eaton Fire to 1,000 acres by
the morning.5 a.m.: A wind gust of 100 mph is recorded at Mountain
Lukens in the San Gabriel Mountains, northeast of La Canada Flintridge
-- very close to the Eaton Fire.6:15 a.m.: Cal Fire reports the Woodley
Fire has begun in the Sepulveda Basin.10:45 a.m.: Firefighting air
operations resume after being grounded due to extreme weather
conditions, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says.At a morning press
briefing, LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone reports that two people
have died in the Eaton Fire, as it continues to rage uncontrolled.The
city of Pasadena issues a do-not-drink-water notification alert due to
damage to water reservoirs, tanks and pumping stations, and an air
quality alert is issued for parts of Los Angeles County, amid the
wildfire impacts.President Joe Biden approves a major disaster
declaration for California, allowing impacted communities to immediately
access recovery funds and resources related to the major wildfires
burning in the Los Angeles area.Maxar-2:07 p.m.: Cal Fire reports the
Lidia Fire has begun in Acton, prompting evacuations.5:57 p.m.: A fire
has begun in the famed Hollywood Hills, Cal Fire reports. The Sunset
Fire prompts evacuations.8:07 p.m.: The Woodley Fire in the Sepulveda
Basin is now fully contained, Cal Fire reports.By the evening, Newsom
updates that more than 7,500 firefighting personnel are on the ground to
respond to "California's ongoing historic wildfires."Jan. 9-The
Palisades Fire has now burned more than 17,000 acres, while the Eaton
Fire has grown to more than 10,000 acres, as both are 0%
contained.Newsom announces he has approved a request from Los Angeles
County to deploy the California National Guard to support law
enforcement efforts in the region, including in efforts to target
looting in evacuated communities.Biden also announces the federal
government will cover 100% of the disaster response to the Los Angeles
wildfires for 180 days, up from the 75% to 90% that is typically
covered.3:34 p.m.: Cal Fire reports the Kenneth Fire has started in West
Hills, prompting evacuations.3:55 p.m.: Cal Fire reports the Sunset
Fire in Hollywood Hills is 100% contained.Around 4 p.m.: An evacuation
alert is mistakenly sent to millions of Los Angeles County residents,
officials said. The county subsequently called the error a "serious
breach of public trust" and said, for now, the state's Office of
Emergency Services would be handling alerts to the public.Jan. 10-The
Palisades Fire has grown to nearly 20,000 acres with 6% containment, and
the Eaton Fire to nearly 14,000 acres with 0% containment.Los Angeles
officials announce that a 12-hour curfew, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., is in
effect for all evacuated areas to protect homes and prevent
looting.11:24 a.m.: Cal Fire reports the Archer Fire has begun in
Granada Hills, prompting evacuations.That afternoon, Newsom calls for an
independent investigation into the "loss of water pressure to local
fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water supplies" from
the Santa Ynez Reservoir, following a Los Angeles Times report that the
Pacific Palisades reservoir had been closed for repairs at the time the
destructive fire started."We need answers to ensure this does not happen
again and we have every resource available to fight these catastrophic
fires," he says on X.Jan. 11-The Palisades Fire is now more than 21,000
acres with 11% containment, while the Eaton Fire is more than 14,000
acres with 15% containment.The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives is leading a task force investigating the cause and origin of
the fires, officials announce. The task force is made up of local,
state and federal partners designed to investigate the cause of these
fires and to see if there's any connection between them.Newsom also
announces he is doubling the California National Guard's deployment to
the Los Angeles fires to 1,680 service members, as they are "continuing
to rush in resources to rapidly respond to the firestorm in Los Angeles
fueled by hurricane-force winds," he says in a statement.7:40 a.m.: Cal
Fire reports the Lidia Fire in Acton is 100% contained.8:41 a.m.: The
Archer Fire in Granada Hills is fully contained, Cal Fire reports.Jan.
12-The Palisades Fire is now more than 23,000 acres and 11% contained
while the Eaton Fire is more than 14,000 acres and 27% contained.There
have been at least 24 fire-related deaths -- eight in the Palisades Fire
and 16 in the Eaton Fire, according to the latest tally from the County
of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner.As the wildfires continue
to burn, the National Weather Service issues another red flag warning
for fire danger in Southern California through Jan. 15, with high winds
again in the forecast. Power shutoffs in evacuated areas will remain
through the red flag warning, fire officials said.The California
Community Foundation Wildfire Recovery Fund has collected more than $6
million in donations, Mayor Bass announces, with more than 13,000 people
from across the country and the globe donating.7:48 a.m.: Cal Fire
reports the Kenneth Fire in West Hills is 100% contained.Jan. 13-The
Palisades Fire is now 14% contained, while the Eaton Fire is 33%
contained. More than 15,000 firefighting personnel have been deployed
for the fires, ahead of the latest fire threat, Newsom says.Four
separate lawsuits are filed against Southern California Edison, a
utility company in California, by homeowners and renters who lost their
homes in the Eaton Fire. The lawsuits each allege the company failed to
de-energize all of its electrical equipment despite red flag warnings
issued by the National Weather Service.A group of Pacific Palisades
residents and businesses impacted by the Palisades Fire also files a
lawsuit against Los Angeles’ Department of Water and Power, alleging
that the city and its agency were unprepared for the Palisades Fire.The
cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Fire agencies are
investigating whether Southern California Edison -- a subsidiary of
Edison International -- infrastructure sites caused fires in areas
devastated by the Eaton and Hurst wildfires.Pedro Pizarro, the president
and CEO of Edison International, tells "Good Morning America" that the
company cannot yet rule out the possibility that its energy
infrastructure played a role in the fires, as they have not yet been
able to examine the equipment.6:27 p.m.: Cal Fire reports the Hurst Fire
is 97% contained after burning nearly 800 acres in Sylmar.9:25 p.m.:
Cal Fire reports the Auto Fire has started in Ventura, prompting
evacuations.
MORE: The science behind the LA wildfires-Jan. 14-The
Palisades Fire is now 17% contained, while the Eaton Fire is 35%
contained.In the afternoon, the County of Los Angeles Department of
Medical Examiner reports an additional fire-related death in the Eaton
Fire, bringing the total fatalities in the two wildfires to 25. The
Eaton Fire is the fifth-deadliest in the state's history, with 16
reported deaths.Jan. 15-The Palisades Fire is now 19% contained and the
Eaton Fire 45% contained, as firefighters continue to work to contain
and suppress the fires with the red flag warning in effect through the
afternoon.Jan. 16-The Palisades Fire is now 22% contained, and the Eaton
Fire is now 55% contained, with search and rescue efforts and damage
assessments ongoing in both fires.Residents forced to evacuate from the
fires are still "probably at least a week out" from returning home, Los
Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna says during a briefing. Though later
in the day, some evacuees are allowed back into their residences.The
death toll from the fires rises, with the County of Los Angeles
Department of Medical Examiner reporting two additional fire-related
deaths, bringing the total to 27.At least 18 people also remain missing
in the wildfires, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says.Jan.
17-The Palisades Fire is now 31% contained, while the Eaton Fire is now
65% contained, as fire crews continue to improve containment lines.ABC
News' James Hill, Laura Romero, Alexandra Myers, Kate Holland, Kerem
Inal, Helena Skinner, Lena Camilletti, Kirsten Cintigo, Tonya Simpson,
Tomas Navia and Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.
INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.
2 PETER 3:10-11
10
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
(NUKES) shall melt with fervent heat,(BLAST) the earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned up.(BUT ITS NO END OF THE WORLD
HOGWASH)
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,(BY
NUKES INCLUDING 3 BILLION PEOPLE) what manner of persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation and godliness,
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
JESUS
SHED HIS BLOOD FOR US THAT WE CAN BE SAVED FOREVER.AND DURING WW3
PEOPLES BLOOD WILL BE SHED AS A JUDGEMENT FOR HATING HIM AND ISRAEL.GOD
IS NOT MOCKED.
ZEPHANIAH 1:2-3
2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
3
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven,
and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I
will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
PSALMS 97:3
3 A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.
EZEKIEL 5:15-17
15
So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an
astonishment unto the (ARAB/MUSLIM) nations that are round about
thee,(ISRAEL) when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in
fury and in furious rebukes. I the LORD have spoken it.
16 When I
shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their
destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase
the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread:
17 So will I
send upon you famine and evil beasts,(WHEN RUSSIA/MUSLIMS GET DEFEATED
THIER BODIES GET EATEN BY BIRDS,ANIMALS IN ISRAEL MIGRATION SEASON) and
they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through
thee;(NUKES) and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have
spoken it.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out
from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to
him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and
gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully
ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and
gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of
the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the
city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the
horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200
MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold,
the LORD will come with fire,(NUKES) and with his chariots like a
whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of
fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17
They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens
behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination,
and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I
know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather
all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants
of the earth for their iniquity:(GOD/ISRAEL HATE AND BRAKING OF HIS
COMMANDMENTS) the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more
cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die - 3 BILLION).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8
And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;
they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed
one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of
the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land
desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For
the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their
light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall
not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for
their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the
arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the
terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13
Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of
her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his
fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18
And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the
fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of
the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are
open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20
The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed
like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it;
and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass
in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that
are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they
shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and
shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be
visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed,
when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and
before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:3,30
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12
And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the
people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume
away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and
their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)
and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM
ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD
PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that
day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they
shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand
shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN
WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say
to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the
Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour
every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall
not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be
burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor
their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath;
but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for
he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC
BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be
stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of
hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with
blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees
was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
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.(ATOMIC BOMBS)(RUSSIA CHINA DESTROYED BY ISRAELS ATOMIC BOMBS)
REVELATION 16:12-16
12
And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates;(WERE WW3 STARTS IN IRAQ OR SYRIA OR TURKEY) and the water
thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be
prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of
the mouth of the dragon,(SATAN) and out of the mouth of the beast,(WORLD
DICTATOR) and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(FALSE POPE)
14
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to
the battle of that great day of God Almighty.(WERE 2 BILLION DIE FROM
NUKE WAR)
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a
great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is
done.
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.
NAHUM 3:13
13
Behold, your troops are women in your midst. The gates of your land are
wide open to your enemies; fire has devoured your bars.
Russia,
Iran deepen defense ties as Putin and Pezeshkian sign 20-year pact-While
agreement doesn’t specify arms transfers between the two sanctioned
countries, Putin offers aid to Tehran’s nuclear program as he and
Pezeshkian express hope for a Gaza truce-By ToI Staff and Agencies 17
January 2025, 11:37 pm
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his
Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian deepened military ties between
their countries on Friday by signing a 20-year strategic partnership
that is likely to worry the West.Though the agreement, which can be
extended, does not specify arms transfers between the two countries,
Putin said Moscow was willing to undertake more nuclear projects on
behalf of Iran.At their joint press conference in Moscow, the two
leaders, whose countries are subject to heavy Western sanctions, also
expressed hope for the success of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire
deal.Moscow’s new agreement with Tehran comes three days before the
inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, who is expected to
resume his first term’s “maximum pressure” policy toward Iran, and to
pursue a political settlement to Russia’s three-year-old war in Ukraine,
which triggered the Western sanctions on Moscow.However, Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed any link between the agreement and
Trump’s inauguration, saying that Pezeshkian’s visit had been planned
long ago.The agreement also came as Iran and Russia’s influence in the
Middle East appeared to be waning after the fall of their client, Syrian
President Bashar Al-Assad, who fled to Moscow when rebels overtook
Damascus last month. Following Assad’s fall, the fate of two major
Russian military facilities in Syria remains uncertain.Speaking
alongside Pezeshkian, Putin said Russia regularly consults with Iran on
events in the Middle East and the South Caucasus region and kept Iran
updated about the Ukraine conflict.Under their new agreement, Russia and
Iran will boost cooperation in a range of areas including their
security services, military drills, warship port visits, and joint
officer training.Neither will allow their territory to be used for any
action that threatens the other and will provide no help to an aggressor
attacking either nation, according to the text, which also said they
would work together to counter military threats.The agreement did not
include a mutual defense clause of the kind included in a treaty between
Russia and North Korea, which the West says has seen North Korean
troops deployed to fight in Ukraine, something Moscow has neither
confirmed nor denied.Vague on arms transfers, but boost to Iran’s
nuclear aspirations-The agreement made no specific mention of arms
transfers, a topic of particular concern to the US and its allies,
though the two sides said they would develop “military-technical
cooperation.”Iran has already supplied Russia with self-detonating
“Shahed” drones that Moscow fires on Ukraine in nightly barrages,
according to Ukrainian and Western officials.Iran, in turn, wants
sophisticated Russian weapons like long-range air defense systems and
fighter jets to help fend off possible attacks by Israel. Russia has
supplied Iran with S-300 air defense missile systems in the past, and
there have been reports in Iranian media of potential interest in buying
more advanced systems such as the S-400 and acquiring advanced Russian
fighter jets.Tehran has long hoped to obtain advanced Sukhoi Su-35
fighter jets from Russia to upgrade its aging fleet that’s been hobbled
by international sanctions, but only received a few Yak-130 trainer jets
in 2023.However, speaking alongside Pezeshkian Friday, Putin said his
country was open to taking on more nuclear projects in Iran despite
delays in building new nuclear reactors there.Russia built Iran’s first
nuclear plant that was launched in 2013 and is building two more nuclear
reactors there.The Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program was
reportedly dealt a serious blow when Israel struck Iran on October 26,
in retaliation for the Iranian missile barrage that drove millions of
Israelis into bomb shelters on October 1.Russia had been part of the
2015 deal between Iran and six nuclear powers offering sanctions relief
for Tehran in exchange for curbing its atomic program, and the Kremlin
offered political support to Iran when the US unilaterally withdrew from
the agreement during Trump’s first term.Iran has repeatedly expressed
willingness to revive the deal.The Islamic regime maintains that its
nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and denies any intention
to develop atomic weapons.Notwithstanding, Iran has in recent years
increased its manufacturing of enriched uranium, and it is the only
non-nuclear weapons state to possess uranium enriched to 60 percent, the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog says.That
level is well on the way to the 90% required for an atomic bomb and
beyond anything needed for a civilian nuclear program.Iran, which is
openly committed to Israel’s destruction, also operates an “Axis of
Resistance” network of regional proxies — including Gaza’s Hamas,
Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis — in pursuit of that goal.Amid
the nascent agreement for a hostage-ceasefire between Israel and Hamas,
Putin expressed hope Friday for a “long-term stabilization” in Gaza. He
called for the world not to “weaken efforts for a comprehensive
settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of
international law” and the creation of an independent Palestinian
state.Pezeshkian, whose country fired two massive missile and drone
barrages at Israel during the war, said he hoped a “permanent ceasefire
will be established in Gaza and the aggressions on this land will end.”
US
said leading efforts to replace UNRWA, as ban that would paralyze
operations looms-Laws banning Israeli cooperation with UN’s Palestinian
relief agency set to come into effect in two weeks, with no clear
alternative in place By ToI Staff Today, 6:14 pm-JAN 16,25
The US
is leading talks at the United Nations to find a replacement for the
global body’s Palestinian refugee aid agency, as a deadline fast
approaches when Israeli laws banning cooperation with the body come into
effect, the Haaretz newspaper reported Thursday.Legislation passed by
the Knesset on October 28 bars the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency (UNRWA) from operating in Israeli territory and prevents Israeli
authorities from holding any contact with the agency. The laws were to
go into effect at the conclusion of a 90-day grace period from their
passage, which expires in two weeks.The law is expected to effectively
cripple the agency’s ability to operate, as its operations are dependent
on contact with Israeli authorities.With no replacement set up, Israel
is under pressure to find an alternative for institutes and services
operated by UNRWA that are expected to collapse, the report said.UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is refusing to even speak directly
with Israel about a replacement, several unnamed sources familiar with
the situation told Haaretz (Hebrew link).Senior UNRWA officials said
they were open to talk with Israel but no solution has been presented so
far.An emerging ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza is not
likely to make a significant impact on the situation, with the
legislation coming after long years of adversarial relations between
UNRWA and Jerusalem.The Foreign Ministry is in talks with senior United
Nations officials, as well as the US, on the possibility of transferring
UNRWA responsibilities to other UN agencies, the report said, adding
that the Israel Defense Forces, the Coordinator of Government Activities
in the Territories (COGAT), and the Shin Bet are all interested in
working with the UN on a solution. Discussions are looking at temporary
measures to enable continued humanitarian operations in Gaza during a
transitional period.Israel notes that currently only 13 percent of aid
entering Gaza is provided by UNRWA, but international groups say the
agency remains a key element in providing aid to residents.A security
source told Haaretz, “If the other bodies see that Israel is serious [in
its ban], they will slowly step in and replace UNRWA.” That process is
already happening, the source argued.“Until the war, UNRWA had a
monopoly on municipal services in Gaza,” the official said. “Now other
organizations will take on more responsibility for them, because UNRWA
is disintegrating.”Fuel deliveries to bakeries and hospitals have
already been taken over by the United Nations Office for Project
Services, the report said.While Israel’s defense establishment believes
such agencies could provide a solution, a European diplomat told Haaretz
that even Jerusalem realizes there are limitations to this.
Humanitarian aid operations and health services could be taken over by
other UN bodies but Israel also understands that UNRWA’s provision of
shelter for war-displaced Gazans would be more of a challenge.One option
being discussed is to replace UNRWA’s international directors but leave
in place Palestinian employees on the ground, who would be transferred
to another UN agency, such as the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP), the report said. A senior security source told Haaretz that
Israel’s security officials don’t oppose the idea in principle since UN
agencies share employee lists.However, there are obstacles. Israel
accuses many of those employees of being tied to Gaza terror groups.
Also, the UN asserts that UNRWA’s mandate cannot be moved to another
agency.Israel has long had an adversarial relationship with UNRWA,
accusing it of promoting hatred of Israel through its education system
and perpetuating Palestinian victimhood, as it allows Palestinians to
maintain refugee status for generations both in and outside the
Palestinian territories — a policy not afforded to any other refugees by
global agencies. But Jerusalem’s campaign against UNRWA intensified
significantly following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, which killed 1,200
people in southern Israel, mostly civilians.Over a dozen UNRWA staffers
were found to have participated in the attack, and there has been a
series of revelations since then regarding the extent to which Hamas has
managed to infiltrate the agency.While Israel has sought to box out the
agency from the humanitarian effort over the past year, UNRWA remains
central to operations, providing shelters to repeatedly displaced
Palestinians, storing and distributing aid to civilians and providing
logistical support to the various international organizations operating
in Gaza.UNRWA Director in the West Bank Ronald Friedrich told Haaretz,
“In Gaza and the West Bank, we provide education to more than half a
million children, and we integrate tolerance education into our
programs. If this collapses, the risk of radicalization will
increase.”The agency also operates in East Jerusalem, where it has six
schools with a total of 750 students, as well as two clinics.Two rights
groups on Thursday filed petitions to the High Court of Justice against
the UNRWA laws, Ynet reported.The Adalah Center and the Gisha Center
filed a petition on behalf of 10 Palestinian residents of East
Jerusalem. In it, they argue the laws harm basic human rights and the
state’s obligations under international law.Petitioners asked that the
court order a delay in implementing the laws.One Palestinian said in the
petition that ending operations means “I won’t be able to buy drugs for
a chronic disease that would ensure my survival.”Another said that
without the supplementary income he receives from UNRWA, he will be
forced to choose between buying medicine and food, the report said.
Top
Trump official says US will back renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza if
needed-National security adviser pick Mike Waltz praises
hostage-ceasefire deal but says Hamas must be destroyed, claims all
hostages would have died if not for incoming US president By ToI Staff
Today, 3:07 pm-JAN 16,25
US President-elect Donald Trump’s top
national security nominee has said the US will back Israel if it needs
to reenter Gaza, while speaking out in support of a ceasefire-hostage
deal with Hamas and crediting his future boss with its apparent
success.Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, who is in line to become the White
House’s national security adviser, also said Washington would not impose
curbs on arms supplies to Israel, while criticizing the outgoing
administration for trying to hold Israel back.Speaking to Fox News
Wednesday evening, Waltz praised the announcement of a deal between
Israel and Hamas that will gradually end fighting in Gaza and see the
remaining hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, while
seeking to assuage fears that the terror group could reconstitute and
rearm.“We’ve made it very clear to the Israelis, and I want the people
of Israel to hear me on this: If they need to go back in, we’re with
them,” he said. “If Hamas doesn’t live up to the terms of this
agreement, we are with them.”While Hamas has demanded a complete end to
the war, Israel says it must retain the ability to ensure Hamas does not
become a major threat again. The staged nature of the deal will leave
Israeli troops in parts of Gaza for the first month and a half, and
fighting could resume if no agreement is reached on implementing the
second and third phases.“Hamas is not going to continue as a military
entity and it’s certainly not going to govern Gaza,” Waltz promised.He
said he understood that “about 25” of the 33 hostages to be released in
the first tranche were still alive.“I’m convinced they all would have
died if President Trump didn’t come in and say ‘get them out,'” Waltz
said, crediting a “Trump effect” with getting the deal done.“Clearly,
the entire world recognizes that this was the Trump effect. We’re
hearing that from Arab leaders that were involved, we’re hearing that
from the Israelis that were involved,” he said.“Hamas knew… they had no
choice and they believed President Trump when he said there would be all
hell to pay, and any deal that was on the table would just get worse
once he was in office,” he added, noting the terror group had also been
isolated by the loss of fellow Iranian allies like Hezbollah.The
Republican predicted that hostages would likely first be released on
January 20, comparing the timing to American hostages held in Iran
released moments after former US president Ronald Reagan replaced Jimmy
Carter at the White House in 1980.“We will see hostages walking out and
hugging their families as President Trump is being sworn in as the next
president of the United States,” he said. “This is in my view, and the
world’s view, a Reagan moment because they understood the consequences
if they didn’t get this done.”After being elected, Trump repeatedly
threatened that there would be “hell to pay” if no deal was reached by
the time he took office. While he never elaborated on the threat, many
assumed it would involve the removal of US demands to curb fighting in
certain areas and the end of US pressure for Israel to increase
humanitarian aid flowing into the Strip.Joe Biden’s administration
played a major role in helping shepherd talks and nearly got to a deal
several times, but was unable to reach a final agreement. While Biden
officials publicly cited the removal of Hezbollah from the battlefield
in autumn 2024 as a needle-mover, privately, some have pointed to the
fact that Trump had more leverage over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
than did Biden.Officials familiar with the matter reported that Trump
envoy Steve Witkoff leaned heavily on the Israeli premier to pave the
way for the breakthrough in talks.Waltz, a Trump loyalist and hawk on
Israel and Iran, indicated in a December interview that the US under
Trump would not be willing to negotiate for the release of Americans
held captive, while also indicating that Hamas could survive under the
terms of a hostage release deal, a position that contradicts Israel’s
stance.“Hamas has every exit blocked except one, and that’s to release
our hostages if you want to live,” he said at the time.Several dual
American-Israeli citizens are believed to be among the hostages set to
be freed in the first stage of the deal.In a podcast interview Tuesday,
Waltz said the incoming administration’s relationship with Israel would
be much more supportive than the Biden administration.“I think we’re in a
very good place because the Israeli government didn’t listen sometimes
to the not-so-good advice coming out of this administration,” Waltz told
Dan Senor.“And now we are where we are, where Iran is in the worst
position it’s been. And that’s not to say this administration didn’t
help with shooting down the missiles, [or that] they didn’t help with
arms, but they also tapped the brakes as well in a way that I just did
not find rational,” Waltz added.Asked if the US will stop restricting
weapons supplies as the Biden administration did by withholding the
supply of 2,000-pound bombs, Waltz replied: “You’re not going to see
this administration tapping the brakes to make sure Israel can arm
itself.”According to Waltz, the US will begin pushing for Saudi Arabia
to normalize ties with Israel once the war ends. He told Senor
jumpstarting the process was a “huge priority.”The lawmaker alleged that
previous bids to broker a deal had been sabotaged by Iran, which he
said “lit the fuse” for Hamas to carry out the October 7, 2023, massacre
once it saw Jerusalem and Riyadh moving closer to a treaty.“But where
is Iran today? Hezbollah is decimated, its sword of Damocles over
Israel, Hamas, is decimated, Assad has fallen, one of Iran’s biggest
proxies, and Iran, the regime, is literally naked militarily with its
air defenses down,” he told Fox News. “That is a very different
situation that we are now going to get back to.”“We needed to get our
people out, we need to destroy Hamas as a military terrorist
organization and we 100 percent support that,” he said, “and then we can
get back to crafting peace deals in the Middle East.”
Nazi
flag-bearing man gets 8 years in jail for crashing truck near White
House-Sai Varshith Kandula praised Hitler, unfurled Swastika after
ramming into barrier in May 2023, injuring no one; defense says he’s
schizophrenic, amenable to treatment By Michael Kunzelman Today, 4:30
pm-JAN 18,25
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Missouri man who crashed a
rental truck into barriers protecting the White House was sentenced
Thursday to eight years in prison for an attack that prosecutors said
was inspired by his fascination with Nazi ideology, court records
show.Sai Varshith Kandula, then 19, nearly struck two people standing
next to a park bench when he steered a U-Haul box truck onto a sidewalk
and toward metal bollards that prevent vehicles from entering Lafayette
Square, which is located north of the White House. He retrieved a Nazi
flag from a backpack after the May 22, 2023, crash, which didn’t injure
anybody.Kandula wanted to “attack and destroy” the United States
government, prosecutors said.“He wanted to eliminate the democratic
process in America and replace the government with a Nazi-style
dictatorship,” they wrote.US District Judge Dabney Friedrich also
sentenced Kandula to three years of supervised release after his prison
term and ordered him to pay nearly $57,000 in restitution, according to
court records.Defense attorney Scott Rosenblum said Kandula was
suffering from schizophrenia and was overwhelmed by delusional thoughts,
including his belief that “a reptilian race had installed a puppet
regime to operate the US.”“He’s amenable to treatment, understands its
necessity, and recognizes an illness produced the acts that led to his
current circumstances,” Rosenblum wrote.U-Haul truck ‘intentionally’
rammed into barrier near White House: Driver arrested for deadly
threats, Nazi flag found insideFull story here: https://t.co/7p1WMyfzF3
pic.twitter.com/BItzLhLkZF— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) May 23,
2023-Prosecutors recommended an eight-year prison sentence for Kandula,
who pleaded guilty in May to a property damage charge. He has remained
in custody since his arrest.Kandula planned the attack for weeks before
he took a flight from St. Louis to Washington, DC, only hours before the
crash, prosecutors said. He rented the truck in Herndon, Virginia
approximately three hours before he crashed it into the barriers.After
Kandula backed up and slammed into the bollards a second time, the truck
began smoking from its engine compartment and leaking
fluids.Authorities didn’t find any weapons, ammunition or explosives in
his possession. But prosecutors said the attempted assassination of US
President-elect Donald Trump at a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania shows
that “individuals who carry such destructive intent are capable of
inflicting serious damage to the American political system.”Police body
camera video captured the aftermath of the crash. After his arrest,
Kandula told investigators that he purchased the swastika flag because
“Nazis have a great history.”“He specifically praised Adolf Hitler. And
it wasn’t just words — when his truck was disabled in the attack, the
first thing he did was unfurl the flag of Nazi Germany,” prosecutors
wrote.After Kandula’s arrest, two psychologists diagnosed him with
schizophrenia, according to Rosenblum.“Both also believe his illness led
directly to his offense,” the lawyer wrote.
Gunman shoots dead 2
judges in Iran’s capital tied to 1988 mass executions-Assailant said to
kill himself after attack at high-security Palace of Justice in Tehran;
bodyguard also wounded-By AP Today, 3:01 pm-JAN 18,25
DUBAI,
United Arab Emirates — A man fatally shot two prominent hard-line
judges in Iran’s capital Saturday, officials said, both of whom
allegedly took part in the mass execution of dissidents in 1988.No group
immediately claimed responsibility for the shootings of the judges,
clerics Mohammad Mogheiseh and Ali Razini. However, Razini’s involvement
in the 1988 executions had likely made him a target in the past,
including an assassination attempt in 1999.Their killings, a rare attack
targeting the judiciary, also come as Iran faces economic turmoil, the
mauling of its Mideast allies by Israel and the return of Donald Trump
to the White House on Monday.Both clerics served on Iran’s Supreme
Court, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. A bodyguard for one of
the judges also was wounded in the attack at the Palace of Justice in
Tehran, which also serves as the headquarters of the country’s judiciary
and typically has tight security.The attacker, who was armed with a
handgun, killed himself, IRNA said.“According to initial investigations,
the person in question did not have a case in the Supreme Court nor was
he a client of the branches of the court,” the judiciary’s Mizan news
agency said. “Currently, investigations have been launched to identify
and arrest the perpetrators of this terrorist act.”Asghar Jahangir, a
spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, separately told Iranian state television
that the shooter had been an “infiltrator,” suggesting he had worked at
the courthouse where the killings took place.Today, two judges of
Iran's Supreme Court, Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghiseh, were killed in a
shooting outside the Judicial Palace in Tehran. A third judge was
injured during the attack.The assailant, a member of the Judicial
Security Service, committed suicide following the…
pic.twitter.com/AfsAbR9hky— Imtiaz Mahmood (@ImtiazMadmood) January 18,
2025-Unlike the US Supreme Court, the Iranian Supreme Court has many
branches spread across the country. It is the highest court in Iran and
can hear appeals on decisions made by lower courts.Razini had been
targeted previously. In January 1999, attackers on motorcycles hurled an
explosive at his vehicle, wounding him as he left work as the head of
the judiciary in Tehran.Mogheiseh had been under sanctions from the US
Treasury since 2019. At the time, the Treasury described him as having
“overseen countless unfair trials, during which charges went
unsubstantiated and evidence was disregarded.”“He is notorious for
sentencing scores of journalists and internet users to lengthy prison
terms,” the Treasury said. Mogheiseh had pressed charges against members
of Iran’s Baha’i minority “after they reportedly held prayer and
worship ceremonies with other members,” the Treasury said.Both men had
been named by activists and exiles as taking part in the 1988
executions, which came at the end of Iran’s long war with Iraq. After
Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini accepted a UN-brokered
ceasefire, members of the exiled Iranian opposition group
Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK, heavily armed by Saddam Hussein, stormed
across the Iranian border in a surprise attack.Iran ultimately blunted
their assault, but the attack set the stage for the sham retrials of
political prisoners, militants and others that would become known as
“death commissions. ”International rights groups estimate that as many
as 5,000 people were executed, while the MEK puts the number at 30,000.
Iran has never fully acknowledged the executions, apparently carried out
on Khomeini’s orders, though some argue that other top officials were
effectively in charge in the months before his 1989 death.The MEK did
not immediately respond to a request for comment.While Mogheiseh never
addressed the accusation he took part in the 1988 “death commissions,”
Razini gave a 2017 interview published by Iran’s Shargh newspaper in
which he defended the panels as “fair and completely in accordance with
the law.”“Our friends and I who are among the 20 judges in the country,
we did our best to ensure the security of that time and the years after
and from then, we guaranteed that the hypocrites (the MEK) could never
become powerful in this country,” he reportedly said.
IDF: Two
ballistic missiles launched from Yemen at Israel intercepted; no
injuries-First attack sends millions to bomb shelters in central Israel,
Jerusalem area; debris falls in communities near capital without
causing damage; 2nd missile targets Eilat area-By Emanuel Fabian and ToI
Staff Today, 2:04 pm-JAN 18,25
The Israel Defense Force said it
successfully intercepted two ballistic missiles fired at the country
from Yemen on Saturday, in the fourth and fifth attacks by the Houthi
terror group this week. There were no reports of injuries or major
damage.The first attack in the morning hours triggered sirens across a
wide swath of central Israel and the Jerusalem area and sent millions
running to bomb shelters.The Houthis claimed responsibility for the
attack, saying that they targeted the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv.“The
missile reached its target with high accuracy, thanks to Allah, and the
interception systems failed to intercept it,” the Houthis claimed.There
were no reports of direct impacts. The Defense Ministry is located at
the IDF headquarters in central Tel Aviv.Hours later, another ballistic
missile fired from Yemen was shot down by Israeli air defenses, the
military said.During the incident, sirens had sounded in Israel’s
southernmost city of Eilat and nearby towns. There were no reports of
injuries or damage in the second attack.The attacks came hours after
Israel’s government approved a hostage release and ceasefire deal in
Gaza, set to take effect Sunday. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houth had
said Thursday that the Iran-backed group would continue “to provide
military support to the Palestinian people” if Israel does not comply
with the ceasefire.The Israel Police said debris and shrapnel from the
first intercepted missile fell in the Jerusalem area. Fragments fell in
an open area near Beitar Ilit, Moshav Bar Giora, and near a gas station
next to Mevo Beitar, where earlier this week a large chunk of a Houthi
missile fell on a house.Police said it was searching for further debris.
It urged the public not to touch the fragments and said sappers were
working at the scene to remove them.The Ynet news site reported that
during the sirens, a Royal Jordanian flight, from Amman over Israel to
Chicago, was ordered to steer clear of Israeli airspace, and a FlyDubai
flight to Dubai stayed on the tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel
Aviv.Over the past week, Israel intercepted three Houthi attacks: a
drone on Monday morning, and two missiles on Monday evening and early
Tuesday morning.The attacks came after Israel last Friday struck Houthi
ports and a power plant in Yemen.The Houthis — whose slogans call for
“death to Israel” and “a curse upon the Jews” — have launched more than
40 ballistic missiles and some 320 drones at Israel since they started
attacking the country in 2023, in support of fellow terror group Hamas
in the Gaza Strip amid the war.In the vast majority of the Houthis’
attacks, the missiles have been intercepted by Israeli air defenses, or
have fallen short before reaching the country. However, a few drones and
missiles have hit sites, causing casualties and damage.In December, 16
people were wounded in Tel Aviv in one of their drone attacks on Israel,
and in July a a drone there killed a person and wounded several
others.Israel and Western allies carried out several sorties against
Houthi targets in Yemen, but they have failed to stem the attacks.The
Yemeni rebels have also been firing at ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of
Aden — destabilizing a vital shipping lane and prompting reprisal
strikes by the United States and sometimes Britain against Houthi
targets.They have pledged to continue the attacks until there is a
ceasefire in Gaza. The war in Gaza was sparked when fellow Iran-backed
group Hamas stormed southern Israel by the thousands on October 7, 2023,
killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.AFP contributed to
this report.
PA makes deal with Jenin Battalion, ending standoff
in West Bank city and camp-Truce comes after rupture said caused by
IDF’s resumption of airstrikes in area; members of battalion, affiliated
with terror groups, to surrender arms to Ramallah after 6-week op By
Jacob Magid and ToI Staff Today, 9:49 am-JAN 18,25
The
Palestinian Authority has reached an agreement with the Jenin Battalion
that will end a six-week standoff in the northern West Bank city and
adjacent refugee camp, a Palestinian official confirmed to The Times of
Israel on Friday.The West Bank-based PA has been targeting the so-called
Jenin Battalion, made up of operatives affiliated with terror groups
such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in a bid to show incoming
US President Donald Trump that Ramallah can maintain order in the West
Bank, amid its push to take the reigns of Gaza from Hamas after the war
there.According to the official, the truce was reached Friday evening, a
day after negotiations resumed following a rupture earlier this week,
said to have been caused by Israel’s resumption of airstrikes on
Jenin.The truce deal requires specific members of the Jenin Battalion to
hand over their weapons and allows the PA to operate freely in the
refugee camp, the official said.PA vehicles were already filmed entering
the refugee camp on Friday evening with bomb-squad units to detonate
explosives that the Jenin Battalion placed throughout the area to harm
Israeli and PA forces. Palestinian media reported that as PA vehicles
entered the camp, dozens of people gathered to chant slogans in favor of
the armed groups.Ramallah has accused Iran of funding and arming the
Jenin Battalion and other armed factions throughout the West Bank. The
armed groups have gained significant prominence in the northern West
Bank over the past several years.The PA, established under the 1993 Oslo
Accords, has a relatively strong presence in southern and central West
Bank cities, but has struggled to exert authority over the territory’s
north, especially refugee camps in Jenin, Nablus and Tulkarem.Arabic
media has reported 15 Palestinians killed in the PA operation in Jenin,
including six members of the PA security forces, eight civilians, and
one terror suspect, and PA forces have arrested a handful of Jenin
Battalion members.Among those killed was a journalist whose family said
she was struck by a PA sniper despite no fighting taking place in her
vicinity.The counterterrorism operation has emboldened the view of the
PA’s Palestinian critics that Ramallah was acting on behalf of Israel.
Amid the operation, the PA has cracked down on dissent, including by
shutting down the West Bank offices of Qatari-owned news outlet Al
Jazeera for its “interference in Palestinian affairs.”Early on in the
operation, the Jenin Battalion managed to steal a pair of vehicles
belonging to the PA security forces, who subsequently intensified the
raid of the refugee camp.The IDF, which also staged large-scale
counterterrorism operations in the northern West Bank in recent months,
has said that it was bolstering the PA forces to help them in the fight
against the Jenin Battalion. The military paused its airstrikes on Jenin
as PA forces operated there, but ended that policy this week with a
pair of airstrikes that killed a dozen people, including civilians, on
Tuesday and Wednesday.Two Palestinian officials have told The Times of
Israel that the airstrikes had caused a rupture in the ongoing truce
talks between the PA and the Jenin Battalion.One of the officials
speculated that the airstrikes were pushed by far-right elements in the
military and government who wanted to scuttle the deal and see the PA
fail in its effort.Israel has accused the Authority of inciting
terrorism in its education system and by paying stipends to families of
Palestinians detained for violent crimes.The West Bank has seen a sharp
rise in violence since the Gaza war was sparked on October 7, 2023, when
thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some
1,200 people and take 251 hostages.Since then, the IDF has detained some
6,000 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than
2,350 affiliated with Hamas. According to the PA health ministry, more
than 835 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time.The IDF
says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire,
rioters who clashed with troops or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 46 people, including Israeli security personnel,
have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another
six members of the security forces were killed in clashes with terror
operatives in the West Bank.
PA premier says Ramallah has
'100-day plan' for the Strip-Abbas: PA ready to assume ‘full
responsibility’ in Gaza Strip when ceasefire begins-President of
Palestinian Authority, which isn’t a party to the Israel-Hamas deal,
said to issue 4-page document outlining his West Bank-based government’s
plans for ruling Gaza By AFP and Jacob Magid Today, 1:37 am-JAN 18,25
Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that the PA is ready to
assume “full responsibility” in post-war Gaza, in his first statement
since mediators announced a hostage-ceasefire agreement between Israel
and Hamas on Wednesday.The statement came as the PA reportedly issued a
document outlining its plans for the Gaza Strip — without stating a role
for Hamas — and sent a high-level delegation to Cairo to hammer out the
fate of the enclave’s Rafah Border Crossing, which Israel has sought to
keep out of the Palestinian Authority’s hands.“The Palestinian
government, under President Abbas’s directives, has completed all
preparations to assume full responsibility in Gaza,” including the
return of the displaced, providing basic services, crossings management,
and reconstruction of the war-torn territory, according to a statement
from the PA president’s office.The statement “highly commended” Qatar
and Egypt for their efforts toward the ceasefire agreement — which the
PA is not a party to, and “voiced appreciation” for the efforts of
Riyadh, Amman and Washington, which mediated the ceasefire along with
Doha and Cairo.Meanwhile, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, who met
with European counterparts in Brussels Friday, said the PA had a
“hundred-day plan” for Gaza that could start when the ceasefire is set
to take effect on Sunday.“The Palestinian ministers have clear
instructions on what to do from the moment the ceasefire begins,” said
Mustafa, in comments carried by Belgium’s Belga news agency. “It depends
on how the Israelis will behave in the coming days, but we are trying
to be as ready as possible.”The West Bank-based PA, dominated by Abbas’s
secularist Fatah movement, was ousted from Gaza in 2007 after a war
with Hamas, which has controlled the Strip since then. Sources from the
Gaza-ruling terror group have told AFP they would be ready to hand over
the Strip’s civilian affairs to a Palestinian entity.Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to vanquish Hamas, has thus far ruled
out any role for the PA in Gaza, but failed to advance any alternative
amid pressure from his far-right partners who want to establish
settlements in the Strip.Israel has long accused the PA of inciting
terrorism in its education system and by offering stipends to families
of Palestinians detained in Israel for violent attacks.Nonetheless, the
PA option for Gaza’s post-war governance is favored by former defense
minister Yoav Gallant, the White House and a host of Arab nations,
though supporters have said the deeply unpopular Palestinian Authority,
which was established under the 1993 Oslo Accords, must first reform
itself.PA said joining Cairo talks on control of Rafah
crossing-According to report by Israel’s Channel 12 news on Friday,
Abbas sent a document to the leaders of the US, Egypt, Qatar and the
European Union detailing the PA plan for the temporary administration of
Gaza after the war.The four-page document reportedly details the
establishment of two working teams: one headed by the PA planning
minister that will be tasked with the Strip’s reconstruction; and
another led by the PA social development minister, which will be tasked
with providing civil services and humanitarian aid to Palestinians.The
report said the document stresses the PA’s willingness to cooperate with
Arab states and other international allies to stabilize Gaza, while not
specifying the division of labor between them.The document, drafted at
the beginning of January, also doesn’t specify who will oversee security
— including police and border in Gaza, including the Strip’s police and
border patrol, the network added.The plan reportedly stresses that the
PA will be the Gaza Strip’s primary authority, and avoids offering any
role to Hamas.Channel 12 also reported that the PA dispatched a team of
senior officials to Cairo on Friday to join Egyptian-led negotiations
regarding control of the Rafah Border Crossing, which separates Gaza
from Egypt.Israel has said it must retain control of the crossing to
thwart Hamas’s arms smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula, though the
hostage deal states that Israeli forces “will redeploy around the Rafah
[Border] Crossing.”The IDF seized the Gaza side of the crossing in May,
leading Egypt to close the gate until the PA could be the one
controlling the other side. Israel has to date refused Abbas’s demand
that the PA take control of the crossing’s Gaza side.Netanyahu has said
Hamas must be completely defeated before plans can be put in place for
Gaza’s post-war governance — bucking calls from top security officials
and the international community to plan for the so-called day after.The
premier’s critics have warned that failure to plan for the so-called day
after will ensure Israel remains in a state of perpetual war. No force
has been able to fill vacuums that the IDF has temporarily created
through its military operations, allowing Hamas forces to repeatedly
return to places that the IDF had previously cleared.With the ceasefire
slated to enter place on Sunday, analysts fear Hamas will once again be
able to reestablish its authority in Gaza, even if its military
structure has been destroyed. Israel’s government was still deliberating
the ceasefire agreement as of early Saturday morning.If implemented in
full, the agreement would end nearly 16 months of war that have
devastated Gaza, and see the gradual release of the remaining hostages
in the Strip.The war was sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of
Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people
and take 251 hostages.
Man seriously hurt in Tel Aviv stabbing;
Palestinian terrorist shot dead-Armed civilian neutralizers attacker on
Levontin Street; assailant a West Bank resident in Israel illegally-By
Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff Today, 5:53 pm-JAN 18,25
A
Palestinian stabbed a man in central Tel Aviv Saturday afternoon,
seriously injuring him, before being shot and killed by an armed
civilian passerby.Police said the stabbing on Levontin Street was a
terror attack. The victim, a man in his 30s, was taken to Ichilov
Hospital in serious condition.The terrorist was identified as Salah
Yahye, 19, from the West Bank city of Tulkarem.He was in Israel
illegally, according to defense sources. Medics say he was shot dead at
the scene.The suspected attack was initially described as “a shooting
incident,” apparently due to the shots fired by the civilian at the
terrorist.A statement from the police said they were still looking into
“the circumstances of the incident” and that a large number of officers
were on the scene.
ICC prosecutor sees ‘no real effort’ by Israel
to probe alleged Gaza war crimes-Karim Khan say Israel has very good
legal expertise, but ‘the question is have those legal instruments been
used to properly scrutinize allegations’By Reuters and ToI Staff Today,
5:18 pm-JAN 18,25
THE HAGUE (Reuters) — International Criminal
Court Prosecutor Karim Khan has defended his decision to bring war
crimes allegations against Israel’s prime minister, saying Israel had
made “no real effort” to investigate the allegations itself.In an
interview with Reuters, he stood by his decision over the arrest warrant
despite a vote last week by the US House of Representatives to sanction
the ICC in protest, a move he described as “unwanted and unwelcome.”ICC
judges issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
former defense minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Muhammad Deif last
November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the
Gaza conflict (Israel says Deif was killed during the war, but Hamas has
not confirmed this).The Prime Minister’s Office did not immediately
respond to a request for comment on Khan’s remarks to Reuters.Israel has
rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war
crimes. The United States, Israel’s main ally, is also not a member of
the ICC and Washington has criticized the arrest warrants against
Netanyahu and Gallant.“We’re here as a court of last resort and …as we
speak right now, we haven’t seen any real effort by the State of Israel
to take action that would meet the established jurisprudence, which is
investigations regarding the same suspects for the same conduct,” Khan
told Reuters.“That can change and I hope it does,” he said in Thursday’s
interview, a day after Israel and Hamas reached a deal for a ceasefire
and hostage release in Gaza.An Israeli investigation could have led to
the case being handed back to Israeli courts under so-called
complementary principles. Israel can still demonstrate its willingness
to investigate, even after warrants were issued, he said.But Jerusalem
is highly unlikely to launch war crimes probes into Netanyahu or
Gallant.The ICC, with 125 member states, is the world’s permanent court
to prosecute individuals for alleged war crimes, crimes against
humanity, genocide and aggression.Khan said that Israel had very good
legal expertise.But he said “The question is have those judges, have
those prosecutors, have those legal instruments been used to properly
scrutinize the allegations that we’ve seen in the occupied Palestinian
territories, in the State of Palestine? And I think the answer to that
was ‘no.'”Trump’s imminent return-Passage of the “Illegitimate Court
Counteraction Act” by the US House of Representatives on Jan. 9
underscored strong support for Israel’s government among President-elect
Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans.The ICC said it noted the bill with
concern and warned it could rob victims of atrocities of justice and
hope.Trump’s first administration imposed sanctions on the ICC in 2020
over investigations into war crimes in Afghanistan, including
allegations of torture by US citizens. Those sanctions were lifted
during Joe Biden’s presidency.Five years ago, then-ICC prosecutor Fatou
Bensouda and other staff had credit cards and bank accounts frozen and
US travel impeded. Any further US sanctions under Trump would be widely
expected to be more severe and widespread.The ICC, created in 1998, was
intended to assume the work of temporary tribunals that have conducted
war crimes trials based on legal principles established during the
Nuremberg trials against the Nazis after World War II.“It is of course
unwanted and unwelcome that an institution that is a child of Nuremberg
…is threatened with sanctions. It should make people take note because
this court is not owned by the prosecutor or by judges. We have 125
states,” Khan said.It “is a matter that should make all people of
conscience be concerned,” he said, declining to discuss further what
sanctions could mean for the court.Netanyahu has called the arrest
warrants “a black day in the history of nations” and vowed to fight the
allegations. Individuals cannot contest an arrest warrant directly, but
the State of Israel can object to the entire investigation. Israel
argued in a December filing that there were serious procedural
deficiencies in the decision by Khan to seek arrest warrants for
Netanyahu and Gallant.In two appeals, it firstly addressed Israel’s
contention that Khan should have provided new notification of his
investigation into the allegations regarding the prosecution of the war
in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, invasion and massacre that
started the war. He instead relied on a notification issued in 2021 of
an investigation the court had initiated at the time.The second appeal
dealt with Israel’s claim that the ICC lacks jurisdiction over Israelis,
that Jerusalem could look into allegations against its leaders on its
own, and that continuing to investigate Israelis was a violation of
state sovereignty.In Khan’s combined 55-page response, he said the Rome
Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, allowed it to prosecute
crimes that take place in the territory of member states, regardless of
where the perpetrators hail from. Gaza, as part of a state of Palestine,
is a member state.The judges are expected to render a decision in the
coming months.The allegations against Netanyahu and Gallant related in
particular to charges that the two leaders had committed the war crimes
of directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza and of
using starvation as a method of warfare by hindering the supply of
international aid to Gaza.Khan also alleged that the two committed
crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts
as a result of the restrictions they allegedly placed on the flow of
humanitarian aid to Gaza.Israel has strongly rejected the substance of
the allegations, insisting that it has funneled massive amounts of
humanitarian aid through the crossings along the Gaza border and that
any problems with the distribution of that aid to the Palestinian
civilian population were a result of inefficient operations by the aid
organizations on the ground, difficulties arising from the ongoing
conflict in the territory, and the looting of aid by Hamas and other
terrorist organizations.Israel has also rejected allegations that it
targets civilians, insisting that civilian casualties caused by the
operation have resulted in large part due to Hamas’s tactic of embedding
its fighters and installations within Gaza’s civilian
infrastructure.The ICC has said its decision to pursue warrants against
the Israeli officials was in line with its approach in all cases, based
on an assessment by the prosecutor that there was enough evidence to
proceed, and the view that seeking arrest warrants immediately could
prevent ongoing crimes.The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas
military chief Deif, who Israel says was killed by an IDF strike in Gaza
back in July. While Khan had initially sought arrest warrants for Hamas
leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar as well, the two were killed
before the warrants were issued in November.
Biden team resolves
more Title VI antisemitism and anti-Arab cases before departure-Trump
administration will take over a portfolio that includes dozens more
outstanding cases involving allegations of antisemitic and
anti-Palestinian discrimination-By Andrew Lapin Today, 5:51 pm-JAN 18,25
JTA
— In the final days of the Biden administration, the federal Department
of Education has resolved a small number of its many remaining Title VI
cases involving allegations of antisemitic and anti-Palestinian
discrimination.The resolutions at the University of Washington, Emory
University, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and Howard County Public
Schools in Maryland come in the waning days of the administration’s
closely scrutinized handling of campus issues during the Israel-Hamas
war.The Trump administration will now take over a portfolio that
includes dozens more outstanding cases. Trump has signaled hostility to
both higher education and public education, and has even floated the
idea of shuttering the Department of Education altogether.After months
of pressure on the department to resolve the complaints, some now say
things are moving too fast. Kenneth Marcus — a former Trump official and
founder of the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which has
filed several campus complaints — recently accused the department of
being in “a rush to issue weak resolution agreements.” Michigan GOP Rep.
Tim Walberg has called the recent resolutions “toothless” and
“disgraceful.”The new agreements generally follow the patterns of others
the department has resolved in recent weeks, though a few differ in key
ways. The schools have all promised to revise their discrimination and
harassment policies. They are also committing to further staff anti-bias
training, and say they’ll conduct campus climate assessments and report
their findings to the department.Notably, Washington’s agreement —
which involved allegations of both antisemitic and anti-Arab
discrimination tied to protests, encampments and graffiti after Oct. 7,
2023 — also included a pledge for the school to demonstrate
“implementation of actions” from its internal task force on
antisemitism. That task force was criticized by a cohort of Jewish
faculty at the university. This contingent of largely progressive Jews
objected to its survey methods, a lack of participation from the Jewish
and Israel studies departments, and a recommendation that the school
engage the services of the pro-Israel activist group StandWithUs.Emory’s
agreement was also significant, as the complaint related entirely to
allegations of anti-Palestinian discrimination following a crackdown on
an unruly spring protest at the private school’s Atlanta campus. At that
event, 28 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested and authorities were
criticized for what some perceived as the use of violence. Some Jewish
groups contended the school and others like it never should have let the
protests get so out of hand in the first place.The government now says
Emory demonstrated “gratuitous violence of the law enforcement activity”
in quelling the protests. In its resolution agreement, the school
agreed to review its policies for the “equitable” handling of protests —
a rare suggestion on the federal level that a university’s response to
pro-Palestinian protests may have itself violated Title VI. The
agreement stipulated that any such campus protests would need to be
“permitted.”Resolutions at Lehigh and Howard County Public Schools both
involved allegations of antisemitic discrimination. The department also
dismissed an investigation into allegations of antisemitism at the
University of California, Los Angeles, dating back to 2018, citing
insufficient evidence. (Several years-old Title VI cases, unrelated to
the Israel-Hamas war, remain open.)-The remaining cases to be inherited
by Trump’s team include allegations of antisemitic and anti-Arab
behavior at elite universities such as Columbia, Harvard, Stanford,
Cornell, Yale and Princeton. Public colleges such as the University of
North Carolina also remain on the docket, as does a new case at Sarah
Lawrence College. Trump has threatened to rescind federal endowments and
take other drastic measures toward schools that, in his view, appease
“the radical left and Marxist maniacs.”Several large public school
districts also have outstanding antisemitism-related investigations,
including in Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Montgomery
County, Maryland. Jewish groups like the Anti-Defamation League and
Hillel have been involved in bringing some of these complaints to the
department’s Office of Civil Rights.A confirmation hearing for Trump’s
controversial education secretary pick, Linda McMahon, was recently
delayed until after Monday’s inauguration.
Syria’s de facto
leader: Israel no longer has excuse to stay in buffer zone-In joint
press conference with Qatari PM, Ahmed Al-Sharaa says Damascus will
welcome presence of UN peacekeepers in demilitarized area between
countries-By ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 12:17 am-JAN 18,25
Syria’s
de facto leader said Israel no longer had any “excuse” to remain in the
two countries’ buffer zone after Damascus rid itself of Iran’s
presence, and stated that he would welcome United Nations peacekeepers
there under the 1974 Israel-Syria disengagement agreement.Ahmed
Al-Sharaa was speaking to reporters in Damascus during a joint press
conference Thursday with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman
al-Thani, who also condemned Israel’s seizure of the buffer zone.Israel
has said the seizure is temporary and necessary to prevent the border
region from falling into the wrong hands amid the chaos and uncertainty
in Syria after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.Though Sharaa’s
comments appeared to show a hardened tone toward the Israeli incursion,
his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham jihadi group has not commented on an Israeli
strike targeting a weapons convoy in southern Syria Wednesday that was
said to have killed several people, including military officials of the
new government.“Israel’s advance in the region was due to the presence
of Iranian militias and Hezbollah. After the liberation of Damascus, I
believe that they have no presence at all. There are pretexts that
Israel is using today to advance into the Syrian regions, into the
buffer zone,” said Sharaa, whose HTS spearheaded the rebel forces that
toppled Assad last month.“We’ve notified international officials that
Syria honors the terms of the 1974 agreement and is willing to accept UN
peacekeepers to protect them,” he said. “Everyone knows the advance was
a mistake and that [we] should go back to the way things were.”Sharaa
made similar comments soon after Israel moved into the area in
December.Sharaa said his authorities were counting on the support of
Qatar to help stop Israel from making any further advances into Syrian
territory.Qatar “supports this view and will use all means available to
exert pressure on Israel” to withdraw, he added, hailing Qatar’s
“central role” in that pressure.For decades, the Syrian-Israeli border
in the Golan Heights remained largely quiet under the 1974 agreement,
which established a UN-patrolled demilitarized buffer zone between the
two countries after they had fought in the Yom Kippur War.Israel moved
into the buffer zone shortly after Assad fell, saying that the deal was
no longer in effect following the fall of Assad, and citing concern for
national security. Sharaa, who has insisted he does not want conflict
with Israel, said at the time that Israel has “no more excuses” for the
incursion since Iranian forces had left Syria.Iran, which is openly
committed to Israel’s destruction, had propped up the Assad regime since
the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in 2011. In that time, Assad let
Syria become a conduit for arms shipments from Iran to its Lebanese
proxy Hezbollah.Sharaa’s latest criticism of the Israeli incursion came a
day after his foreign minister, Asaad al-Shaibani, also told reporters
in Ankara that Damascus was committed to the 1974 agreement but that
Israel had to “respect Syria’s sovereignty.”Speaking in Damascus
Thursday, Al-Thani also said Israel “must immediately withdraw” from the
buffer zone, assailing the “reckless” entry into the area.The two men’s
press conference marked al-Thani’s first visit to Syria since rebels
overtook Damascus, ending the country’s long civil war.Al-Thani pledged
Qatar’s support to Syria’s rehabilitation effort, saying his country
“extends its hand to our Syrian brothers for future partnerships.”Unlike
the other Arab countries that broke with Damascus at the start of the
war, Qatar never renewed diplomatic relations with the Assad regime.
Together with Turkey, it was also one of the first to back the armed
rebels. Upon Assad’s ouster, Qatar was the second state to recognize the
new Syrian government after Turkey.Last week, Syria’s national
electricity company said Qatar and Turkey would send power plant ships
to increase supply after the United States eased some sanctions on
Damascus. Meanwhile, a diplomatic source said Qatar was weighing a plan
to provide Syria with funds after Damascus decided to increase public
sector salaries.
CIA employee pleads guilty to leaking classified
intel on Israel’s plans to strike Iran-Asif William Rahman admits he
illegally downloaded, printed and distributed classified information on
several occasions; sentencing is scheduled for May-By Reuters and ToI
Staff 17 January 2025, 11:37 pm
A CIA employee accused of leaking
classified documents about Israel’s plans to strike Iran pleaded guilty
on Friday to criminal charges that he willfully retained and
transmitted national defense information, the US Department of Justice
said.In pleading guilty, Asif William Rahman, who worked at the US
intelligence agency since 2016, acknowledged that he illegally
downloaded, printed and distributed classified information on multiple
occasions, including several in 2024.In the spring of 2024, he printed
five documents that were labeled as secret and top secret from his work
computer and took them home, court records in the case said. He then
reproduced and altered them and shared them with people who were not
legally entitled to receive them. To hide his conduct, Rahman deleted
his activity from his electronic devices, brought the records back to
work and had them shredded.A second time, in the autumn of 2024, the
court filings said he printed another 10 documents with a top-secret
classification, took them home, and shared them with others.Then on Oct.
17, 2024, he printed two more documents related to plans by a US ally
to strike a foreign adversary, the court records said.Those documents,
which entailed plans by Israel to strike Iran, later appeared online
after a pro-Iranian Telegram account called “Middle East Spectator”
published them. The strikes on Iranian military sites came in response
to the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile barrage on Israel on October
1.The documents, attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence
Agency and National Security Agency, noted that Israel was moving
military assets in place to conduct its military strike, based on
satellite imagery from October 15-16.They were shareable within the
“Five Eyes,” an intelligence alliance comprised of the US, Great
Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.The case was filed in the US
District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.Rahman, 34, is from
Vienna, Virginia, and was arrested in Cambodia, according to court
records. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 15.
UN chief:
UNIFIL found 100 Hezbollah arms caches in south Lebanon since truce
began-Only peacekeepers, Lebanese military should be in the area, says
Guterres, calling for end to Israeli ‘occupation’; Macron, Aoun also
demand IDF withdraw, as Jan. 26 deadline looms By Agencies and ToI Staff
17 January 2025, 10:41 pm
United Nations Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres said Friday that UN peacekeepers have discovered more
than “100 weapons caches” belonging to Hezbollah and its allies in south
Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire between Israel and the terror
group.Guterres, speaking near the Israeli border, and French President
Emmanuel Macron, speaking in Beirut, also called on Israel to withdraw
from south Lebanon.Guterres reiterated that under the November 27
agreement, Lebanese government forces and UNIFIL peacekeepers are the
only parties entitled to bear arms in Lebanon south of the Litani River,
some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Israel.In an
apparent reference to Israel and Hezbollah, Guterres said that the
“presence of armed personnel, assets and weapons” in south Lebanon —
other than those of the Lebanese army and the UNIFIL peacekeeping force —
would “undermine Lebanon’s stability” and also violate UN Security
Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah
war.Guterres, who spoke on a visit to the UNIFIL headquarters in
southern Lebanon’s Naqura, near the Israeli border, said Israel’s
operations inside Lebanon “must stop.”“The continued occupation by the
Israel [military] inside the UNIFIL area operations and the conduct of
military operations in Lebanese territory are violations of Resolution
1701,” said Guterres, who also met with Macron in Beirut on
Friday.Israel has said its operations in south Lebanon were in response
to Hezbollah’s violations of the ceasefire, and accused UNIFIL and the
Lebanese military of failing to enforce both Resolution 1701 and the
November 27 agreement.Under the agreement, the IDF is required to cede
all of its positions in southern Lebanon to Lebanese and UNIFIL forces
within 60 days, by January 26. At the same time, Hezbollah is required
to retreat north of the Litani.The agreement, which ended almost 14
months of war, allows Israel to act against imminent threats by
Hezbollah, while less imminent threats are to be referred to a
five-member committee comprising representatives of the United States,
France, Lebanon, Israel and UNIFIL.Macron, whose government helped
broker the deal, called on Israel on Friday to accelerate its troop
withdrawal from southern Lebanon.“We need a total withdrawal of the
Israeli army,” Macron said, speaking in Beirut alongside Lebanon’s new
president, Joseph Aoun, who also stressed the “importance of
consolidating the [Israel-Hezbollah] ceasefire and Israel’s withdrawal,”
according to an X post by the Lebanese presidency.Macron said France
supports “the increased power of the Lebanese armed forces and their
deployment in the south.”“The Lebanese Armed Forces constitute a pillar
of the sovereignty of Lebanon,” added Macron.He also hailed Aoun’s
election, saying it represented the possibility of a new path for
Lebanon and that “the true, authentic Lebanon has returned.”Macron is
the first foreign head of state to visit Lebanon since Aoun’s election,
which was supported by France, the United States and Saudi Arabia. As a
former French protectorate, Beirut has strong historical ties with
Paris.Aoun had led the LAF until the Lebanese parliament elected him
head of state on January 9, ending a two-year vacancy.Aoun’s appointment
signaled a shift in Lebanon’s power balance after Iran-backed Hezbollah
was left deeply weakened by its war with Israel.The new president has
vowed to uphold the Lebanese government’s monopoly on the right to bear
arms — a thinly veiled threat against Hezbollah, the only group in
Lebanon that refused to surrender its weapons to the state following the
1975-1990 civil war.Aoun’s election was followed this week by the
designation of International Court of Justice chief Nawaf Salam as prime
minister, against the wishes of Hezbollah, which wanted the incumbent
Najib Mikati to remain in the post.The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire
agreement came two months after the IDF invaded south Lebanon to stem
the persistent rocket fire that had forced the displacement of some
60,000 residents of northern Israel.Unprovoked, Hezbollah began
attacking Israel on a near-daily basis on October 8, 2023 — a day after
fellow Iran-backed terror group Hamas mounted a thousands-strong assault
on southern Israel in which they killed some 1,200 people and took 251
hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.
Exclusive-Biden aides admit
they mistakenly targeted 2 US citizens immune from settler
sanctions-Officials tell ToI vetting process failed to identify pair
accused of violence against Palestinians as dual nationals ineligible
for targeting under executive order signed by US president-By Jacob
Magid 17 January 2025, 10:39 pm
Two US officials acknowledged to
The Times of Israel that Washington didn’t properly vet some of the
settlers it sanctioned last year, leading to the designation of two
Israelis who also have US citizenship, which should have made them
ineligible for targeting under an executive order signed by US President
Joe Biden aimed at curbing rampant settler violence in the West
Bank.Issachar Manne, who was sanctioned in July, and Levi Yitzchak
Pilant, who was sanctioned in August, are both US citizens, but they
were identified in the US Treasury Department announcement as “foreign
persons.”The two US officials acknowledged to The Times of Israel that
the administration’s vetting process failed to identify the pair as US
citizens.The Treasury Department and State Department did not respond to
repeated requests for comment.Manne and Pilant have sued the US
government, arguing that the sanctions violated their constitutional
rights to due process and equal protection. They also note that they
should have been ineligible for sanctions by virtue of their US
citizenship.The settlers’ legal team maintained in their lawsuit that by
imposing the sanctions without a trial, the administration violated the
dual citizens’ right to due process, as guaranteed in the US
Constitution’s Fifth Amendment. They further suggested that the
executive order itself could violate that provision, citing a 1972
ruling by the US Supreme Court that “vague laws may trap the innocent by
not providing fair warning.”In addition, the lawyers disputed that the
accusations against their clients are true, and suggested that by
mistakenly labeling Manne a “foreign person” — a term they argued is
inconsistent with US citizenship — the administration demonstrated it
can’t be trusted to ascertain the facts of the matter in this case.The
US said in its sanctions announcement last year that Manne, who operates
a farm in the West Bank’s Hebron Hills, was connected to acts of
violence against Palestinian civilians and efforts to dispossess
Palestinians of their property.The US alleged that Pilant, the security
coordinator for the Yitzhar settlement, “engaged in malign activities
outside the scope of his authority,” including leading a group of armed
settlers in February 2024 to set up roadblocks and patrols to attack
Palestinians and “forcefully expel them from their lands.”Since Biden
signed the executive order last February, 17 individuals and 16 entities
have been designated in eight separate batches.But this does not appear
to be the first time that the Biden administration has slipped up in
its sanction announcements under the executive order.Issachar Manne’s
farm in the southern West Bank is seen in a YouTube video posted
September 1, 2022. (Screen capture via YouTube, used in accordance with
Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)-In July, the Treasury and State
Departments designated the wrong Israeli man, confusing him with a
similarly named far-right settler activist. After the mistake was
identified in Israeli media, the US government corrected the error.It’s
unclear whether the lawsuit will be seen through, though, because US
President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state Marco
Rubio revealed earlier this week at his confirmation hearing that the
incoming administration will end the Biden administration’s sanctions
regime against allegedly violent Israeli settlers.Biden authorized the
sanctions amid mounting frustration over Israel’s longtime failure to
clamp down on settler violence.The Department for Internal Police
Investigations (DIPI) has opened an investigation into Israel Police
Commander Avishai Muallem, the head of the Judea and Samaria Police
District’s investigations and intelligence department, relating to his
alleged refusal to investigate Jewish nationalist crimes in the West
Bank in the hopes of drawing favor in the eyes of far-right National
Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.In July, outgoing IDF Central Command
chief Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox lambasted settler leaders for failing to curb
the violence, saying that some Israelis have adopted “the ways of the
enemy.”
Chants of 'Death to America, Death to Israel' at Sanaa
rally-US imposes sanctions on Yemeni bank accused of financing
Houthis-US Treasury Department designates Yemen Kuwait Bank, saying
Houthis exploit Yemeni banking sector to launder money and transfer
funds to Hezbollah, facilitate Iran oil sales By Agencies 17 January
2025, 10:05 pm
The US on Friday imposed sanctions on a
Yemen-based financial institution that Washington accused of financially
supporting the Houthis, as President Joe Biden’s administration sought
to further pressure the militant group before Biden leaves office.The US
Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on Yemen
Kuwait Bank, accusing it of helping the Houthis exploit the Yemeni
banking sector to launder money and transfer funds to allies, including
Lebanon’s Hezbollah.The US additionally said the bank helped the Houthis
establish and finance front companies to facilitate Iranian oil
sales.The Houthis seized power in Yemen in late 2014 and control over
most parts of the country including the capital Sanaa.According to the
Israel Defense Forces, the Houthis have launched some 40 ballistic
missiles at Israel as well as dozens of drone attacks since Hamas
invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed some 1,200 people and
took 251 hostages, starting the multifront war. Israel has responded by
striking Houthi areas on several occasions.The Iran-backed Houthis have
also carried out more than 100 attacks on ships since November 2023.
They have sunk two vessels, seized another, and killed at least four
seafarers. The intensity of the attacks has disrupted global shipping
and prompted route changes.The attacks have disrupted international
commerce, forcing some ships to take the long route around southern
Africa rather than the Suez Canal, leading to increases in insurance
rates, delivery costs, and time that stoked global inflation fears.The
US alongside Britain launched a multinational operation in December 2023
to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea and has repeatedly conducted
airstrikes on Houthi strongholds targeting weapons storage
facilities.Biden’s action, ahead of the inauguration on Monday of
President-elect Donald Trump, freezes any of Yemen Kuwait Bank’s US
assets and generally bars Americans from dealing with it. Those who
engage in certain transactions with it also risk being hit with US
sanctions.Earlier Friday, thousands of Yemenis crowded the capital to
express their support for the Houthis, who say they will maintain
pressure on Israel despite the imminent Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal,
due to begin Sunday.Every week for the past 15 months, people have
filled the center of the rebel-held city on the Muslim day of prayer and
rest to chant their backing for the Palestinians.A Houthi rebel, Khaled
al-Matri, told AFP he supported the ceasefire deal for Gaza.But he
added: “We will not give in until the disappearance of the Zionist
state, God willing”, before breaking into chants of “Death to America,
death to Israel!”Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
10
charged over Beirut port blast as probe resumes after Hezbollah
accusations of bias-Investigation into 2020 explosion that killed more
than 220 people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of Lebanon’s
capital, restarts after 2-year hiatus By Layal Abou Rahal and Aya
Iskandarani 17 January 2025, 6:47 pm
BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanese
judge Tarek Bitar resumed his investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut
port blast on Thursday, charging 10 people including security, customs,
and military personnel, a judicial official said.The fresh charges come
after a two-year hiatus in the investigation into the August 4, 2020
explosion that killed more than 220 people, injured thousands, and
devastated swathes of Lebanon’s capital.Authorities said the explosion
was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where a huge stockpile of
ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been haphazardly stored for years.But
nobody has been held responsible for the blast, one of history’s largest
non-nuclear explosions.The probe stalled two years ago after Lebanese
terror group Hezbollah had accused Bitar of bias and demanded his
dismissal, and after officials named in the investigation had filed a
flurry of lawsuits to prevent it from going forward.The resumption comes
with Hezbollah’s influence weakened after its recent war with Israel.It
also follows the election of a Lebanese president after the top
position had been vacant for more than two years, with the new head of
state Joseph Aoun last week pledging to work toward the “independence of
the judiciary.”The judicial official told AFP that “procedures in the
case have resumed,” speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss
sensitive matters.The official said that “a new charge sheet has been
issued, charging three employees and seven high-ranking officers in the
Lebanese army, in the General Security, [and] in customs” with
negligence and “possible intent to commit murder.” Their interrogations
would begin next month.In March and April, “investigating sessions”
would resume for those previously charged in the case, including former
ministers, lawmakers, security and military officers, judges and port
management employees, after which Bitar would ask public prosecutors to
issue indictments, according to the judicial official.‘Hope’Analysts say
Hezbollah’s weakening in its war with Israel last year allowed
Lebanon’s deeply divided political class to elect Aoun last week and
back his naming of Nawaf Salam as premier on Monday.Salam, until
recently the presiding judge at the International Court of Justice in
The Hague, on Tuesday promised “justice for the victims of the Beirut
port blast.”Hundreds of individuals and organizations, including Human
Rights Watch and Amnesty International, had previously called for the
United Nations to establish a fact-finding mission on the disaster — a
demand Lebanese officials have repeatedly rejected.Cecile Roukoz, a
lawyer whose brother died in the explosion, said she was optimistic
after “the promises made by the president and the prime minister, then
the probe resuming.”“There is hope that the rights of the victims, for
whom we never stopped fighting, won’t be forgotten,” said the attorney,
one of several representing the relatives of those killed.‘Must be held
to account’Visiting Lebanon on Thursday, UN rights chief Volker Turk
called for the “resumption of an independent investigation into the
explosion.”“I repeat that those responsible for that tragedy must be
held to account and offer the support of my office in this regard,” he
said.The probe has been repeatedly stalled since 2020.In December of
that year, lead investigator Fadi Sawan charged former prime minister
Hassan Diab — who had resigned in the explosion’s aftermath — and three
ex-ministers with negligence.But Sawan was later removed from the case
after mounting political pressure, and the probe was suspended.His
successor, Bitar, also summoned Diab for questioning and asked
parliament, without success, to lift the immunity of lawmakers who had
served as ministers.The interior ministry also refused to execute arrest
warrants issued by Bitar, further undermining his efforts.The public
prosecutor at the time, Ghassan Oueidat, thwarted his attempt to resume
investigations in early 2023 after Bitar charged him in the case.Times
of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Group presenting terror victims to petition against release of Palestinian prisoners-By Agencies-JAN 18,25
An
organization that represents victims of Palestinian terror attacks vows
to petition the Supreme Court to stop the release of Palestinian
prisoners as part of a ceasefire agreement starting Sunday, calling it a
“victory for the murderers.”“They are releasing terrorists who have
blood on their hands for the second time, and this means [Prime Minister
Benjamin] Netanyahu, under pressure from [President-elect Donald]
Trump, is endangering people who will be murdered in the future,” says
Meir Indor, the head of the Almagor Terror Victim Association.Indor adds
that Israel has not learned its lesson from the past three prisoner
exchanges, which all led to released prisoners carrying out new
attacks.Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7, 2023, attack that
sparked the Israel-Hamas war, was released together with more than
1,000 Palestinian prisoner in a 2011 deal in exchange for Gilad Shalit,
an Israeli soldier who was taken from his tank in Gaza and held captive
for five years.Indor says that it’s an additional insult that the
negotiations did not leave the typical 48-hour window for victims of
attacks to appeal the release of specific prisoners who attacked them.
Shin
Bet: He did not consult with us about the implications-Katz releases
all settlers in administrative detention, ties it to Palestinians’
release-‘It is better for the families of Jewish settlers to be happy
than the families of freed terrorists,’ defense minister says ahead of
Gaza deal-By Emanuel Fabian-and ToI Staff 17 January 2025, 1:03 pm
Defense
Minister Israel Katz announced his decision Friday to free West Bank
settlers held under administrative detention orders, tying it to the
expected release of hundreds of Palestinian terror convicts as part of a
hostage-ceasefire deal signed with Hamas in Doha Thursday night.“In
light of the expected release of terrorists from Judea and Samaria as
part of the hostage release deal, I have decided to release the settlers
held in administrative detention,” he said in a statement, using the
biblical term for the West Bank. This, he said, was meant “to convey a
clear message of strengthening and encouraging the settlements, which
are at the forefront of the struggle against Palestinian terrorism and
face growing security challenges.”He added: “It is better for the
families of Jewish settlers to be happy than the families of released
terrorists.”In a terse statement, the Shin Bet said Katz’s decision was
made without the security agency’s prior knowledge, and noted that the
defense minister did not consult with the agency for an assessment of
the implications of the decision.Katz in November announced an end to
new administrative detention orders for West Bank settlers, meaning
Israel would only use the controversial policy of holding suspects
without charge against Palestinian terror suspects. However, he did not
at the time order the release of those already held.A total of 16
administrative detention orders were issued for Jewish Israelis under
former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and seven of them were still being
held as of November.Katz’s latest decision follows reports that the
government will take additional measures to combat terrorism in the West
Bank as part of efforts to convince Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich
not to leave the coalition in protest of the Gaza deal.While the
practice is primarily deployed against Palestinians, administrative
detention has also been used against some extremist Jewish Israelis,
which has drawn increasing criticism of the ruling Likud party by its
far-right coalition members.The measure sees individuals held without
charge for up to six months at a time, under limited court review. The
detentions can be renewed indefinitely while allowing military
prosecutors to keep suspects from being able to see the evidence against
them.The tool is typically used when authorities have intelligence
tying a suspect to a crime but do not have enough evidence for charges
to stand up in a court of law.“In a reality where the Jewish settlement
in Judea and Samaria is subject to serious Palestinian terror threats
and unjustified international sanctions are taken against the settlers,
it is not appropriate for the State of Israel to take such a severe
measure against the people of the settlements,” Katz said in
November.The Shin Bet has reportedly warned against the move, with Bar
saying last June that banning the measure against Israelis “will result
in an immediate, severe and serious harm to the security of the state”
in cases where there is clear information that a suspect may carry out a
terror attack against Palestinians.According to a leaked copy of the
ceasefire-hostage release agreement signed Thursday, over 1,700
Palestinian prisoners are to be freed in return for 33 Israeli hostages
in the first phase of the deal: 700 terrorists, 250-300 of whom are
serving life terms; 1,000 Gazans captured since October 8 in fighting in
the Strip; and 47 rearrested prisoners from the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal.
Ugandan
judge who backed Israel in genocide case said set to become ICJ
chief-Julia Sebutinde, court’s current vice president, is expected to
succeed Nawaf Salam after he is appointed Lebanon’s PM; Sebutinde was
sole dissenting vote on every ICJ measure By ToI Staff 17 January 2025,
4:14 pm
Justice Julia Sebutinde of Uganda is set to be appointed
president of the International Court of Justice, according to media
reports, after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun earlier this week summoned
Nawaf Salam to designate him prime minister.An ICJ statement released
on Tuesday announcing Salam’s resignation did not mention Sebutinde, but
as the court’s current vice president, she is expected to be promoted
to the top spot.Justice Salam began his role as ICJ president in
February 2024 and has served as a judge on the court since 2018.In his
first speech as premier earlier in the week, Salam, referring to Israel,
whose cases he until recently oversaw, said he would work to “impose
the complete withdrawal of the enemy from the last occupied inch of our
land.”Sebutinde, on the other hand, was the only judge on the 17-member
ICJ panel to vote against all six measures adopted by the court last
year in a ruling ordering Israel to take action to prevent potential
acts of genocide as it fought Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.She was
also one of only two judges to oppose the court’s assertion that
Palestinians’ claims of war crimes in Gaza may fall under the scope of
the Genocide Convention. The other was Israeli Justice Aharon Barak.
(Contrary to some reports at the time, the court did not rule it was
plausible that genocide was taking place.)-PRESS RELEASE: HE Judge Nawaf
Salam, President of the International Court of Justice, has resigned as
Member of the Court with effect from today, 14 January
2025.https://t.co/WHVvzgbscM pic.twitter.com/UcOG6U0aP4— CIJ_ICJ
(@CIJ_ICJ) January 14, 2025-Judge Sebutinde, in her dissent, argued that
“South Africa has not demonstrated, even on a prima facie basis, that
the acts allegedly committed by Israel and of which the Applicant
complains, were committed with the necessary genocidal intent, and that
as a result, they are capable of falling within the scope of the
Genocide Convention.”She added that “the Applicant has not demonstrated
that the rights it asserts and for which it seeks protection through the
indication of provisional measures are plausible under the Genocide
Convention.”Sebutinde said the failure of states to reach a political
solution to conflicts “may sometimes lead them to resort to a pretextual
invocation of treaties like the Genocide Convention, in a desperate bid
to force a case into the context of such a treaty, in order to foster
its judicial settlement… In my view, the present case falls in this
category.”She said a careful review of Israel’s war policy “demonstrates
the absence of a genocidal intent,” though she stressed that Israel is
bound by international law in its conduct of the war.“Unfortunately, the
scale of suffering and death experienced in Gaza is exacerbated not by
genocidal intent, but rather by several factors, including the tactics
of the Hamas organization itself which often entails its forces
embedding amongst the civilian population and installations, rendering
them vulnerable to legitimate military attack,” she said.As for
statements of some Israeli officials throughout the war who used
inflammatory language, or made comments seen as minimizing the need to
protect civilians, Sebutinde argued that taken in context, “the vast
majority of the statements referred to the destruction of Hamas and not
the Palestinian people as such”; that “certain renegade statements by
officials who are not charged with prosecuting Israel’s military
operations were subsequently highly criticized by the Israeli government
itself”; and that “more importantly, the official war policy of the
Israeli government, as presented to the court, contains no indicators of
a genocidal intent.”After Sebutinde’s dissenting votes made headlines,
the Ugandan government issued as statement distancing itself from her,
saying: “The position taken by Judge Sebutinde is her own individual and
independent opinion and does not in any way reflect the position of the
government of the Republic of Uganda.”Last January, the ICJ’s 17-member
panel voted 15-2 that there was “plausibility” to South Africa’s claims
that Palestinians require protection under the Genocide Convention. In
May 2024, the court ordered Israel to halt any military operations in
the southern Gazan city of Rafah that would risk the destruction of the
civilian population sheltering there.Israel has vehemently denied
allegations that it is carrying out a genocide in Gaza, in the war that
began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led a devastating cross-border
assault, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.As Israel
insists none of its actions target civilians and that it takes numerous
steps to protect them, the court’s Rafah order did not lead to a change
of policy by Jerusalem.The hearings last year were only the opening
salvo in the case, which is expected to go on for years.South Africa,
who filed the ICJ case, submitted a 750-page document to the court in
October of “evidence” of the alleged genocide. As per court procedures,
South Africa’s submission will not be made public.Israel has until July
2025 to file its response.
Trump’s swearing-in to be held indoors
due to ‘Arctic blast sweeping the country’US Capitol’s Rotunda to host
ceremony for first time since 1985 amid freezing conditions; ‘I don’t
want to see people hurt,’ says president-elect-By Zeke Miller 17 January
2025, 9:43 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — United States President-elect
Donald Trump will take the oath of office from inside the Capitol
Rotunda on Monday due to forecasts of intense cold weather.Writing on
his Truth Social platform, Trump said “the weather forecast for
Washington, DC, with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into
severe record lows.”“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I
don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way,” he said.The
Rotunda is prepared as an alternative for each inauguration in the event
of inclement weather. The swearing-in was last moved indoors in 1985
when US President Ronald Reagan began his second term. Monday’s forecast
calls for the lowest inauguration-day temperatures since that
day.Outgoing US President Joe Biden, members of the US Congress, and
other dignitaries and notable guests will be able to view the ceremony
from inside the Capitol.Alternate plans are required for the more than
roughly 250,000 guests ticketed to view the inauguration from around the
Capitol grounds and the tens of thousands more expected to be in
general admission areas or to line the inaugural parade route from the
Capitol to the White House.Trump said some supporters would be able to
watch the ceremony from Washington’s Capital One Arena on Monday, a day
after he plans to hold a rally there. He said he would visit the arena,
which has a capacity of about 20,000, after his swearing-in, and host a
modified inaugural parade there.Trump said other inaugural events,
including the Sunday rally and his participation in three official
inaugural balls on Monday night, would take place as scheduled.The
National Weather Service is predicting the temperature to be about
minus-6 degrees Celsius (22 degrees Fahrenheit) at noon, during Trump’s
inauguration — the coldest since Reagan’s second inauguration saw
temperatures plunge to minus-14 Celsius (7 Fahrenheit). Barack Obama’s
2009 swearing-in was minus-2 Celsius (28 degrees).“The Joint
Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies will honor the request
of the President-elect and his Presidential Inaugural Committee to move
the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies inside the US Capitol to the Rotunda,” a
spokesperson said Friday.
Jeremiah 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
Isaiah 57:21
21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
1 Thessalonians 5:3
3
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not
escape.
Ephesians 2:2
2 Wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience:
Netanyahu: Israel ‘won’t move forward’ with ceasefire until Hamas names first hostages to be freed-By Amy Spiro-JAN 18,25
Hours
before a ceasefire deal is slated to go into effect, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has still not received a list of the
names of the hostages Hamas is slated to release, which could hold up
the agreement.“We will not move forward with the outline until we
receive a list of the hostages to be freed, as agreed,” Netanyahu says
in a statement released by his office. “Israel will not tolerate
violations of the agreement. The sole responsibility lies with
Hamas.”The agreement states that Hamas is required to provide the names
of the hostages at least 24 hours ahead of their release — which was
supposed to be 4 p.m. local time.
PM reportedly says Trump backs
resuming war if Hamas breaches deal-Israeli government approves
hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas-24 cabinet members back deal;
PM’s office says it will start Sunday; 2 Likud ministers join far-right
in voting against it; security chiefs back it but say Hamas will try to
rebuild-By ToI Staff and Jacob Magid-Today, 4:31 am-jan 18,25
The
full Israeli government voted early Saturday in favor of approving the
hostage-ceasefire agreement with Hamas, after the security cabinet gave
its blessing to the deal on Friday.The Prime Minister’s Office issued a
brief statement after 1 a.m. confirming the government approved the deal
after meeting for more than seven hours. Twenty-four ministers voted in
favor of the deal and eight opposed.The statement added that the deal
would enter into force on Sunday, when the first three Israeli hostages
are to be freed. Thirty-three hostages are to be freed in the first,
42-day phase of the deal.Now that the government has approved the
agreement, opponents of the deal can petition the High Court of Justice
against the release of Palestinian security prisoners who are set to be
freed, though the court is unlikely to intervene.Among the ministers who
voted against the deal were David Amsalem and Amichai Chikli, both
members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Communications Minister Shlomi Karhi, another Likud member, was not
present.National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was joined by the
cabinet members in his ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party, Yitzhak
Wasserlauf and Amichai Eliyahu, in voting against the deal. Finance
Minister Bezalel Smotrich and his far-right Religious Zionism party’s
Orit Strock and Ofer Sofer also voted against the agreement.Otzma
Yehudit has threatened to quit the coalition over the deal, while
Religious Zionism will apparently remain in the government despite
opposing it, after Netanyahu reportedly reached understandings with
Smotrich to keep his faction in the fold.The cabinet votes were held
after the Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams signed the deal in Doha
early Friday morning, with the Prime Minister’s Office initially
announcing the full government would not convene until Saturday evening
to approve it. The meeting ended up being moved up after numerous
ministers, including Haredi members of the cabinet, said Shabbat
considerations should not put off a life-saving matter.However, as the
meeting ended up starting late and ran hours into Shabbat, several
ultra-Orthodox ministers did not participate but left instructions for
the cabinet secretary to count them among the agreement’s supporters.
Shas Minister Michael Malcheli wrote on his note, “There is no more
important commandment than saving the lives of hostages.”Following the
vote by the full cabinet, the Justice Ministry published a list in
Hebrew of 735 Palestinian detainees and security prisoners to be
released during the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.The list
includes numerous terrorists serving life sentences for murder, among
them members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Palestinian
Authority’s ruling Fatah movement, along with women and children being
held in Israeli jails.One of the headline names on the list is notorious
Fatah terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi, who was part of a prison break from a
high-security detention facility in northern Israel in 2021 before he
and the five Islamic Jihad members he escaped with were again
apprehended. The six later received five-year sentences for the
jailbreak.The list published online states that Zubeidi will not be sent
abroad, allowing him to return home to the northern West Bank city of
Jenin, where he was the commander of Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
and masterminded terror attacks during the Second Intifada.The IDF last
year killed his son Mohammed alongside several other gunmen in a drone
strike, describing the younger Zubeidi as a “prominent terrorist from
the Jenin area.” Zakaria’s brother Daoud was fatally wounded in an
exchange of fire there with Israeli forces in 2022. Jenin has again been
a hotbed of terror activity over the past year.A statement from the
Justice Ministry stressed the first group of 95 Palestinian prisoners
slated to be freed won’t be released until 4 p.m. on Sunday, when
unconfirmed Hebrew media reports said the first Israeli captives will be
let go.Hamas on Saturday is expected to provide the names of the first
three Israelis to be released, as the hostage deal stipulates the terror
group must give Israel the names of the captives it will release 24
hours in advance.The three hostages set to be freed on Sunday are widely
expected to be among the list of female civilians. The 33 Israeli
hostages to be released during the first stage of the ceasefire deal are
so-called humanitarian cases, a category made up of women, children,
elderly individuals, and the infirm.The government’s hostages and
missing persons coordination unit on Friday notified the families of the
33 hostages expected to be released. Israel has not been told how many
of them are alive, though it expects the majority are. Israel will
receive a full status report on all those on the list seven days into
the ceasefire. The order of release is not yet known.The war in Gaza
began when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing over
1,200 people and kidnapping 251 hostages during their October 7, 2023,
onslaught. During a weeklong truce in November 2023, 105 hostages were
released, while four were freed earlier and eight have been rescued
alive by troops from Gaza.‘Moral debt’According to leaks from the
cabinet meeting carried by Hebrew media outlets, Netanyahu told
ministers that US President-elect Donald Trump will “give his Israel
full support to resume the war if the agreement is violated.” While
Trump himself has not publicly made such a pledge, his incoming national
security adviser stated this week that the US will back Israel if it
needs to reenter Gaza.Netanyahu was also quoted saying that Trump
decided when he takes office on Monday that “we will again receive all
the weaponry that was held up, which is important because if we don’t
reach the second stage [of the deal] we will have additional tools to
resume the fighting.”Additionally, the premier reportedly said Hamas
opposition had prevented the deal from being finalized for months, “but
the situation changed because of the heroism of our soldiers and because
of operations in the region, including the strong blow we dealt to the
Iranian axis.”Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, who
both returned from Qatar following the signing of the deal, also
addressed ministers, with the former saying they had a moral imperative
to support the agreement.“We must pay this moral debt. This deal is
ethically and morally the right thing to do. It is a humane deal. It
includes mechanisms that will ensure our security,” Barnea said,
according to Channel 12.Hebrew media reports cited Bar as saying during
the earlier security cabinet meeting that 82 percent of the 1,027
Palestinian security prisoners released in the 2011 Israel-Hamas deal to
free captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit returned to terror
activity.Twelve percent of those former prisoners actively participated
in terror attacks after their release, and even over 50% of the
prisoners released abroad returned to terror activity.Bar said Hamas
will use the ceasefire to rebuild its governing and military
capabilities and that the deal will likely further weaken the PA.Despite
all of that, the security chiefs stressed that they adamantly back the
agreement, insisting that Israel is prepared to deal with the security
consequences.They also argued that Hamas has an interest in abiding by
the terms of the first phase to reach the second, when it will be able
to secure the release of far more prisoners in exchange for the
remaining living Israeli hostages.“The IDF knows how to return fighting
with massive strength if necessary,” Channel 12 quoted IDF Chief of
Staff Herzi Halevi as having said.During the first phase, Israel and
Hamas are supposed to hold negotiations regarding the terms of the
second phase during which the remaining living hostages will be
released. The mediators will serve as guarantors to ensure that the
parties remain at the table until an agreement on the second phase is
reached, allowing the ceasefire to extend. The second phase would
conclude with a permanent ceasefire.Israelis mixed on whether the deal
will last, but want it to-A survey aired by the Kan public broadcaster
Friday evening showed a majority of the Israeli public supports
continuing the hostage deal into the second phase.Fifty-five percent of
the public wants the deal to continue, even though that means ending the
war, according to the poll. Twenty-seven percent of the public believes
the war should resume after the first phase while 18% say they don’t
know.Netanyahu had previously pledged to continue the war until Hamas’s
military and governing capabilities have been dismantled. He has
reportedly indicated to his far-right coalition partners that he still
plans to do so after the first phase.The Kan poll also showed that 62%
of the public supports the deal thus far, compared to 18% who are
opposed and 20% who said they are undecided.Even among coalition voters,
45% of respondents support the deal, compared to 30% who oppose
it.However, 46% of coalition voters believe that Israel should resume
fighting in the second phase, in apparent violation of the deal’s terms
and at the expense of the hostages slated to be released then.
Thirty-five percent of coalition voters back continuing the deal into
the second phase and 19% of them said they don’t know.Forty percent of
the public thinks there’s a medium chance that the deal will extend into
the second phase while 23% think there’s a low chance that it will and
21% think there’s a high chance. Sixteen percent said they were
unsure.Asked which party was responsible for the fact that it took
nearly 470 days to reach the agreement, 36% said it was Hamas, 25% said
it was Israel, 22% said both sides equally while 17% said they didn’t
know.
Lebanon’s president: IDF must withdraw by Jan. 26, end
‘continued violations’ of truce-UN chief meets newly-elected Joseph Aoun
in Beirut, hails ‘new chapter of peace’; Hezbollah chief urges
government to confront Israel over ‘more than hundreds’ of violations By
ToI Staff and Agencies Today, 4:30 pm-JAN 18,25
Lebanon’s new
president Joseph Aoun said Saturday that Israel must “withdraw from
occupied territories” in his country’s south by the January 26 deadline
set in the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement.In a speech before
visiting United Nations Chief Antonio Guterres, Aoun also decried
“Israel’s continued violations” of the agreement.“Blowing up homes and
destroying border villages, completely contradicts what was stated in
the ceasefire agreement,” he said, according to the Lebanese president’s
office.His remarks followed a speech by Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem
who urged Beirut to confront Israel over “more than hundreds” of
violations.Despite the ceasefire, which was signed November 27 after 14
months of war, Israel has continued striking south Lebanon, saying the
attacks targeted Hezbollah fighters and weaponry violating the accord,
including by continuing to operate south of the Litani River, some 30
kilometers (18 miles) from the border with Israel.The agreement gives
Israel the right to operate against imminent threats. Israel has also
accused the Lebanese military and UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL of
failing to enforce the agreement in the face of Hezbollah violations.The
ceasefire gave Israel 60 days, until January 26, to withdraw from south
Lebanon. After that, the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL will be the
only armed forces permitted to maintain a presence between Israel and
the Litani.However, there have been some reports in Israel that this
deadline could be delayed, ostensibly due to the Lebanese military’s
failure to deploy throughout the region quickly enough.Aoun, elected
January 9, has pledged to give the Lebanese state a monopoly on the
right to bear arms — a veiled threat against Iran-backed Hezbollah, the
only Lebanese militia that did not surrender its arms to the state after
the 1975-1990 civil war.A former head of the army, Aoun clinched the
presidency with the backing of Saudi Arabia, the United States and
France, which figures heavily in the politics of its former protectorate
Lebanon.Hezbollah chief seeks confrontation-On Saturday, Qassem called
“on the Lebanese state to be firm in confronting violations, now
numbering more than hundreds. This cannot continue.”“We have been
patient with the violations to give a chance to the Lebanese state,
responsible for this agreement, along with the international sponsors,
but I call on you not to test our patience,” he said in a televised
speech.Qassem’s speech came as Guterres met top Lebanese officials,
including Aoun and his designated prime minister, outgoing International
Court of Justice chief Nawaf Salam.Analysts say Hezbollah’s weakening
in the war with Israel allowed Lebanon’s deeply divided political class
to elect Aoun and to back him in naming Salam as premier.But Qassem
insisted that the backing of Hezbollah, and its ally Amal, “is what led
to the election of the president by consensus,” after around two years
of deadlock.“No one can exploit the results of the aggression in
domestic politics,” he warned. “No one can exclude us from effective and
influential political participation in the country.”Qassem also praised
the ceasefire deal in Gaza, saying the Palestinians’ sacrifices had
stopped Israel’s attempts to erase “the Palestinian cause.”Meeting with
Aoun later Saturday, Guterres said that the election of a president and
premier made it possible to consolidate the Lebanese institutions and to
deploy the Lebanese army across the country, including areas from which
Israel is to withdraw.Guterres expressed hope that Lebanon could open
“a new chapter of peace,” and pledged the international community’s
support “for what we believe will be a speedy recovery of this country,
making it again the center of the Middle East.”“As soon as the conflict
ends, reconstruction begins,” he said.On Friday, Guterres had called for
Israel to end its military operations and presence in Lebanon’s south.
He also said UNIFIL had found more than 100 weapons caches belonging “to
Hezbollah or other armed groups” since the ceasefire deal was
concluded.French President Emmanuel Macron, who met with Guterres in
Lebanon on Friday, also said there must be an “accelerated”
implementation of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.The US- and
France-brokered ceasefire in late November came two months after Israel
massively escalated operations in Lebanon in a bid to stem Hezbollah’s
persistent rocket fire, which forced the displacement of some 60,000
residents of northern Israel.Israel’s offensive in Lebanon all but
decimated Hezbollah’s top brass, drastically weakening the terror
group.Unprovoked, Hezbollah began its near-daily attacks on October 8,
2023 — a day after fellow Iran-backed group Hamas stormed southern
Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war
in Gaza.
First 3 women hostages expected to be freed
Sunday-Israel to free up to 1,904 Palestinians in 1st stage of hostage
deal, including killers-Figures comprises 737 jailed Palestinians, 1,167
Gazans detained in ground op; notorious terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi,
others responsible for the murder of dozens, to be freed By Emanuel
Fabian-and ToI Staff Today, 1:40 pm-JAN 18,25
Israel is set to
release up to 1,904 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including
several serving multiple life sentences for deadly terror attacks and
murder, in return for 33 Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip during
the first, 42-day phase of its deal with Hamas, according to a
government decision made early Saturday morning.The government approved
the hostage and ceasefire deal after an eight-hour full cabinet
meeting.Among the Palestinians to go free are 737 jailed detainees and
security prisoners, some of whom are serving life sentences for
murder.They include members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the
Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah movement, along with women and
children being held in Israeli jails. Some prisoners were released in
2011 in return for captive soldier Gilad Shalit later and
re-arrested.The Justice Ministry had, as of Saturday morning, published
the names of 735 Palestinian prisoners to allow petitions against their
release to be submitted to the High Court.Israel will also be releasing
1,167 Palestinians detained in the Gaza Strip during the IDF’s ground
offensive, who did not participate in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023,
invasion and massacre in southern Israel.The numbers could fluctuate
depending on how many of the 33 hostages are alive. Hamas has not yet
provided the information, although Israel believes that most of them
are.On Sunday, the first three female hostages from the 33 humanitarian
cases — a category made up of women, children, elderly individuals, and
the infirm — are set to be released.The other 30 hostages on the list
are to be released each Saturday until the end of the deal’s 42-day
first phase — four on January 25, and then three each week until a final
group of 14.The hostages will be released in exchange for a number of
Palestinian prisoners detailed in the terms of the deal.For each of the
living women, children and elderly, 30 Palestinian prisoners will be
released; for all nine sick hostages, 110 prisoners will be released;
for each of the female IDF soldiers, 50 prisoners will be released; for
hostages Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held in Gaza
for a decade, 30 prisoners will be released for each, in addition to 47
Palestinians released in the 2011 Shalit deal and re-arrested; and for
the bodies of hostages in the first stage, Israel will release the
1,000+ Gazan detainees.Beyond the 33 on the list, 65 more people are
held by Hamas, many of them no longer alive. These are to be returned as
part of a second phase of a deal, if it comes to pass, that would also
see a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.The Justice Ministry said the
prisoners will not be released before 4 p.m. on Sunday — roughly when
the first hostages are expected back in Israel, some seven-and-a-half
hours after the ceasefire comes into effect.The Israel Prison Service
said it was taking measures to prevent any “public displays of joy” when
Palestinian prisoners are released as part of the ceasefire
deal.Terrorists and murderers-Among the prisoners set to be released is
notorious Fatah terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi, the former Jenin commander of
the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Zubeidi was detained in 2019 for his
part in shootings near Beit El in the West Bank. He is thought to have
been involved in numerous terror attacks, including a bombing that
killed six people at the Beit Shean branch of the Likud party in 2002,
at the height of the 2000-2005 Second Intifada.In September 2021, he and
five Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists broke out of the Gilboa
Prison in northern Israel. They were re-apprehended days later.Iyad
Jradat, one of five PIJ terrorists charged with aiding the breakout from
Gilboa Prison, is also set to be released under the ceasefire
agreement. He is serving a life sentence for sending the perpetrators of
the 2003 terror attack in Gadish, where they killed security
coordinator Eli Biton.Ahmed Dahiri, a senior PIJ official convicted of
the murder, is also up for release. So, too, is Mahmoud Atallah, who is
serving a life sentence for killing a Palestinian woman he suspected of
cooperating with Israel. Atallah was indicted in September for raping a
female prison guard at Gilboa Prison, where ex-officers are accused of
having “pimped” female colleagues to security prisoners.The list of
prisoners to be released also includes Mahmud Abu Varda, who is serving
48 life sentences for masterminding multiple terror attacks, including a
1996 bombing on a bus in Jerusalem that killed 45 people.Three
prisoners from the so-called Silwan Squadron are also on the list. The
Hamas terror cell, named for its members’ East Jerusalem neighborhood,
carried out five bombings across Israel between March and June 2002,
killing 35 people and wounding hundreds.Of the squadron members, Israel
is set to release Wael Qissam, Wissam Abbasi and Muhammad Odeh. The
fourth member, Alaa Abbasi, is not up for release. At 60 life sentences,
he is serving the longest prison term in the terror cell.Nor will
Israel release Marwan Barghouti, a former commander of the Al-Aqsa
Martyrs’ Brigades whom Israel detained during the 2002 Operation
Defensive Shield in the West Bank.Barghouti, who was convicted in 2004
of involvement in the murders of five people during the Second Intifada,
has expressed support for the two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Opinion polls show him to be one of the
most popular figures in Palestinian politics.Israel is set to release
his aide, Ahmed Barghouti. The latter Barghouti, who was also detained
during Operation Defensive Shield, served at the time as a senior
military official in Fatah. He was sentenced to 13 life sentences in
Israel for involvement in terror attacks in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that
killed six people, including a police officer.Israel will also release
Hamas-linked journalist Bushra Tawil, 32. Tawil, a Ramallah native who
is the daughter of West Bank-based Hamas official Jamal Tawil, has been
in administrative detention in Israel since March 2023.The controversial
measure allows Israel to hold suspects for months on end without charge
and is typically used when authorities have intelligence tying a
suspect to a crime but not enough evidence for charges to stand up in a
court of law.Also to be freed is Khalida Jarrar, a Palestinian Authority
lawmaker from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a
Marxist faction designated as a terror group by Israel, the United
States and the European Union for its numerous terror attacks and plane
hijackings.Jarrar was accused of masterminding the 2019 bombing that
killed 17-year-old Rina Shnerb at a spring in the West Bank. As part of a
plea deal, Jarrar was charged with “illegal association” and sentenced
to two years in prison in 2021.She has been re-arrested and held in
administrative detention as part of an incarceration campaign that
followed the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, when thousands of terrorists
stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251
hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.It is believed that 94 of the
hostages abducted during the Hamas onslaught remain in Gaza, including
the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.Hamas released 105
civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages
were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops
alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including
three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their
captors.Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the
Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who
were killed in 2014.Agencies contributed to this report.
Israel
readying complex medical and mental health treatments for returning
hostages-While having little knowledge on the hostages’ condition,
Health Ministry and the Hostages Forum expect many will have
life-threatening complications after over a year in captivity By
Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 5:14 am-JAN 18,25
Israel is
preparing for the return of the hostages from Gaza with the expectation
that many are likely to have severe, life-threatening complications
after more than a year in captivity in the Gaza Strip.While it’s
impossible to know the exact conditions in which hostages have been
held, the Health Ministry and the Hostages and Missing Family Forum,
which represents families of the hostages, are preparing for several
different scenarios based on information gathered from hostages
previously released or rescued.Hamas terrorists abducted 251 people
during a cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, that also left 1,200
people dead. Ninety-eight hostages are still being held, 94 of whom were
abducted on October 7, though Israel believes a third of them are no
longer alive.The war that followed the attack has killed more than
46,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose
unverified figures do not distinguish between civilians and fighters but
claim women and children make up more than half of those killed.Hagai
Levine, who heads the health team at the Hostages Forum, said he expects
the hostages to return with cardiovascular and respiratory issues due
to lack of ventilation in the tunnels. Among multiple other afflictions
Levine expects are vitamin deficiencies, starvation, dramatic weight
loss, vision problems due to a lack of sunlight, broken bones, cognitive
impairment and mental health trauma.As a result, doctors are expecting
the hostages will require longer and more complex medical and mental
health interventions than did those who returned after the last
ceasefire in November 2023, said Dr. Einat Yehene, a psychologist at the
Hostages Families Forum who oversees the captives’
rehabilitation.Complex medical challenges-Doctors are keenly aware of
the challenges they face in treating the surviving hostages. One of them
is “refeeding syndrome,” when exposure to certain foods or too much
food can lead to profound health complications and even death in those
with prolonged vitamin and nutritional deficiencies, said Dr. Hagar
Mizrahi, head of the Ministry of Health’s medical directorate.The Red
Cross team that will transfer the hostages from Gaza to Egypt and the
small Israeli military medical team that will meet the hostages at the
border as they cross into Israel have strict guidelines for what the
hostages can eat in their first few hours, Mizrahi said.Six hospitals
are preparing to receive hostages, including two in the south, closer to
Gaza, that will treat those with acute medical issues, health ministry
officials said.Yehene said the public should not expect joyful reunions
like those seen following the last ceasefire, when released hostages ran
through hospital halls into the ecstatic embraces of their loved
ones.“Given the physical and emotional conditions, we expect emotional
withdrawal symptoms, such as maybe exhaustion, fatigue — and some will
probably need assistance with their mobility,” she said.Medical
officials are also prepared for the possibility that returning hostages
will need speech therapy, especially if they have been kept in
isolation, Yehene noted. She said some might be so traumatized or in
shock from the transfer to Israel that they will be unable to speak at
all.To minimize the hostages’ trauma and allow them to acclimate to
their new reality, officials will try to limit the number of people who
interact with them and have made accommodations to lessen their sensory
stimulation, such as stripping down the hospital rooms and changing the
lighting.The Ministry of Social Welfare has also planned temporary
housing solutions if hostages feel unable to return directly from the
hospital to their home.‘The hostages don’t owe you anything’Experts are
pleading with the news media and the public to give the hostages and
their families privacy, despite intense interest in their plight.“The
first days back are really holy, when a person finally gets to meet with
their family, and everyone else needs to take a step back,” said Ofrit
Shapira, a psychoanalyst who heads a group of health professionals
treating freed hostages, their families, and survivors of the October 7
attack.Hospital wings housing the hostages are expected to be
“sterilized,” closed to all but direct family and doctors, to keep the
public and news outlets away, medical officials have said.“It doesn’t
matter how much we care about them; they’re their own people, they’re
not ‘ours,’” Shapira added. She noted that asking the hostages direct
questions about their experiences can force them to relive their trauma.
She said it’s best to allow them to release information at their own
pace.“Our curiosity is really not important compared with what the
hostages need,” she said. “It doesn’t matter how much you volunteered or
were active in this fight; they don’t owe you anything.”Support for the
families-Some of the previously freed hostages and their families have
volunteered to help counsel those now going through the same process,
Levine said. He noted the strength of the bonds created between the
relatives of the hostages, and between the released hostages, who have
become like “psychological families” helping each other adapt and heal,
he said.Many released hostages are neglecting their own rehabilitation
because they are so wrapped up in the fight to bring the others home,
Levine said.A big priority is also to provide support for the families
of hostages who did not survive.Israel has confirmed the deaths of at
least a third of remaining captives. But Hamas has not confirmed the
status of the 33 who are expected to be freed in the first stage of the
ceasefire. Some might no longer be alive.“This moment of the releases is
an emotional and psychological trigger for something they were supposed
to experience, and they never will experience, because this deal took
too long,” Yehene said.
IDF says troops ready for ‘immediate’ return to fighting as it preps for start of ceasefire-By Emanuel Fabian-JAN 18,25
The
Israel military says it is on heightened alert for various scenarios
that could occur as the ceasefire with Hamas takes effect tomorrow
morning.Overnight, the IDF Southern Command will work to redeploy troops
inside the Gaza Strip, withdrawing from urban areas and positioning
them on lines that were agreed upon between Israel and Hamas. A large
amount of forces will be moving around during the night and the morning
hours.Also in the hours before the ceasefire takes effect at 8:30 a.m.,
the IDF says it will continue to carry out strikes and destroy
infrastructure used by Hamas in Gaza.The Southern Command is also
bolstering troops and air defenses along the border with Gaza, and
preparing to respond to incidents if required. The military assesses
that there could be rocket fire from Gaza ahead of the ceasefire or even
during it.Still, there are no changes to the Home Front Command
guidelines for civilians.Lastly, the Southern Command is readying for
the release of the hostages, who will be handed over to troops inside
the Strip by the Red Cross and then brought to one of three army
facilities near the border for an initial checkup. From there, the IDF
will escort them to hospitals to meet their families.If the ceasefire
deal falls apart, or if the second stage is not implemented at the end
of the 42 days, the IDF says it is ready to “immediately” return to
fighting, according to what is decided by Israel.
A FALSE PROPHET COMES FROM THE VATICAN ALSO AT THIS TIME.
ISAIAH 23:15-17
15
And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten
seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of
seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot.
16 Take an harp, go
about the city, thou harlot that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody,
sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
17 And it shall
come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit
Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with
all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.(COULD THIS BE
70 YEARS AFTER ISRAEL BECAME A NATION IN 1948)(IF SO THIS SATANIC ONE
WORLD WHORE CHURCH WILL MINGLE TOGETHER BY 2018)(AND NOW ISLAM AND
CHRISTIANITY AND ALL RELIGIONS ARE MINGLING AS ONE PEACE-LOVE-JOY-GET
ALONG RELIGION LEAD BY THE VATICAN RIGHT NOW 4 YEARS FROM THE 70 YEAR
TIME WHEN ISRAEL BECAME A NATION).AND IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM.
REVELATION 13:11-18
11
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;(FALSE VATICAN
POPE) and he had two horns like a lamb,(JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD) and he
spake as a dragon.(HES SATANICALLY INSPIRED,HES A CHRISTIAN DEFECTOR
FROM THE FAITH)
12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast
before him,(WORLD DICTATOR) and causeth the earth and them which dwell
therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.(THE
WORLD DICTATOR CREATES A FALSE RESURRECTION AND IS CROWNED LEADER OF THE
NEW WORLD ORDER).
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14
And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those
miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to
them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the
beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15 And he had
power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the
beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the
image of the beast should be killed.
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth
all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a
mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the
beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred
threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
REVELATION 17:1-18
1
And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and
talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With
whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(VATICAN IN
POLITICS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the
wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into
the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast,
full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And
the woman (FALSE CHURCH) was arrayed in purple and scarlet
colour,(VATICAN COLOURS)(ANOTHER REASON WE KNOW THE FALSE POPE COMES
FROM THE VATICAN) and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls,
having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of
her fornication:(THE VATICAN GOES AGAINST A PRIEST MARRING A WOMAN-LIKE
THE BIBLE SAYS-AND WHATS AN ABOMINATION AGAINST GOD-HOMOSEXUALITY AND
PEDOPHILIA JUST LIKE THIS SCRIPTURE SAYS-FORNICATION IS THE SINGLE
HOMOSEXUAL PRIESTS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAVING UNMARRIED FORNICATION
OR SEX WITH SINGLES-IN THIS CASE ITS SEX WITH CHILDREN OR PEDOPHILIA)
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great
admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou
marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that
carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast
that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless
pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall
wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the
foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is
not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven
heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS
BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
10 And there are seven kings: five are
fallen,(1-ASSYRIA,2-EGYPT,3-BABYLON,4-MEDO-PERSIA,5-GREECE) and one
is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS AND JESUS DAY-6-ROME) and the other is not yet
come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.(7TH-REVIVED
ROMAN EMPIRE OR THE EUROPEAN UNION TODAY AND THE SHORT SPACE IS-THE
EUROPEAN UNION WILL HAVE WORLD CONTROL FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS.BUT WILL
HAVE ITS MIGHTY WORLD POWER FOR THE FULL 7 YEARS OF THE 7 YEAR
TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THE WORLD DICTATOR WILL BE THE BEAST FROM THE
EU.AND THE VATICAN POPE WILL BE THE WHORE THAT RIDES THE EUROPEAN UNION
TO POWER.AND THE 2 EUROPEAN UNION POWER FREAKS WILL CONTROL AND DECIEVE
THE WHOLE EARTH INTO THEIR DESTRUCTION.IF YOU ARE NOT SAVED BY THE BLOOD
OF JESUS.YOU WILL BE DECIEVED BY THESE TWO.THE WORLD POLITICIAN-THE
EUROPEAN UNION DICTATOR.AND THE FALSE PROPHET THAT DEFECTS
CHRISTIANITY-THE FALSE VATICAN POPE.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received
no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:
for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him
are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The
waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and
multitudes, and nations, and tongues.(VATICAN-CATHOLICS ALL AROUND THE
WORLD OVER 1 BILLION)
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the
beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) these shall hate the whore, and shall make her
desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.(GOD
HIMSELF GIVES THE OK TO NUKE THE VATICAN)
17 For God hath put in
their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom
unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.(VATICAN)
‘Selective
indignation’: Rome’s chief rabbi criticizes Pope Francis over Israel
remarks-Speaking at Catholic-Jewish dialogue event, Rabbi Riccardo Di
Segni accuses the pope of unfairly focusing on Israel, while ignoring
other world conflicts By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 8:09 am-JAN 18,25
ROME
— Rome’s chief rabbi sharply criticized Pope Francis over the pontiff’s
recent ramping up of criticism against Israel’s military campaign in
Gaza, in an unusually forceful speech during an annual Catholic-Jewish
dialogue event.Francis has unfairly focused his attention on Israel
compared to other ongoing world conflicts, including those in Sudan,
Yemen, Syria and Ethiopia, Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, spiritual leader of
Rome’s Jewish community since 2001, said Thursday.“Selective indignation
… weakens the pope’s strength,” said Di Segni.“A pope cannot divide the
world into children and stepchildren and must denounce the sufferings
of all,” he said. “This is exactly what the Pope does not do.”Francis,
leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, has recently
been more outspoken about Israel’s military campaign against Palestinian
terror group Hamas. Last week, he called the humanitarian situation in
Gaza “very serious and shameful.”A complex ceasefire accord between
Israel and Hamas emerged on Wednesday, and is scheduled to start on
Sunday.The war in Gaza was sparked by the October 7, 2023, Hamas
invasion and massacre in southern Israel, in which some 1,200 people
were killed and 251 were seized as hostages as thousands of Hamas-led
terrorists rampaged across Israel’s Gaza border communities.Relations
between the Catholic Church and Judaism have improved in recent decades,
after centuries of persecution. The event on Thursday, held at a
Catholic university, was organized to mark the 36th annual World Day of
Catholic-Jewish Dialogue.One of the organizers, Rev. Marco Gnavi, a
Catholic priest, expressed surprise at Di Segni’s comments.He said he
felt “discomfort” because of the rabbi’s words. “You can’t ask us not to
suffer both with you and with others,” said the priest.Francis has
consistently called for peace since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas
war, and has met frequently with the family members of those taken
hostage and repeatedly called for their release.However, a letter he
wrote to Middle Eastern Catholics on the first anniversary of the attack
never mentioned Hamas by name or made explicit reference to its
atrocities, including the hostages. The letter also quoted passages from
the Gospel of John that have historically been used to fuel religious
antisemitism.At the end of November, he went one step further and
denounced “the invader’s arrogance” in both “Ukraine” and “Palestine,”
breaking with the Holy See’s modern tradition of neutrality.In a book
excerpt published in November, the pontiff said that some international
experts had posited that “what is happening in Gaza has the
characteristics of a genocide.”Israel has angrily rejected his remarks,
saying that they were disconnected from the context of Israel’s fight
against terrorism and amounted to double standards and the singling out
of the Jewish state and its people.
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