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)
IRAN CRYS ABOUT TRUMP SAYING EITHER "BOMBS" OR A DEAL WILL STOP IT FROM GETTING NUKES.
EZEK 39:11-16
11
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a
place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the
east of the sea: (IN THE JORDAN VALLEY) and it shall stop the noses of
the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and
they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
13
Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to
them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, saith the Lord God.
14
And they shall sever out men of continual employment, (NUCLEAR
SPECIALISTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those
that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of
seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass
through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a
sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
MEANING OF HAMONAH
Hamonah,
ham-o'-nah (Heb.)-- host; multitude; noise; tumult; commotion of mind.
The prophetic name of a city that is mentioned in conjunction with
Hamon-gog: "And Hamonah shall also be the name of a city.
Metaphysical meaning of Hamonah (mbd) - Truth Unity
Strong's Lexicon-Hamonah: Hamonah-Original Word: הֲמוֹנָה
Part of Speech: Proper Name Location-Transliteration: Hamownah
Pronunciation: hah-mo-NAH-Phonetic Spelling: (ham-o-naw')
Definition: Hamonah-Meaning: Hamonah
Word
Origin: Derived from the Hebrew root הָמוֹן (H1995), meaning
"multitude" or "abundance."Corresponding Greek / Hebrew Entries: There
is no direct Greek equivalent for "Hamonah" in the Strong's Greek
Dictionary, as it is a specific Hebrew proper noun. However, the concept
of a multitude or abundance can be related to Greek words like πλῆθος
(G4128), meaning "multitude."Usage: The term "Hamonah" is used as a
proper noun referring to a specific location mentioned in the prophetic
literature of the Old Testament. It is associated with the aftermath of a
significant battle, symbolizing the multitude of the slain.Cultural and
Historical Background: In the context of the Hebrew Bible, names often
carry significant meaning and are used to convey theological and
prophetic messages. "Hamonah" is mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, a
prophetic text that addresses the restoration of Israel and the judgment
of the nations. The name reflects the abundance of God's judgment upon
the enemies of Israel, serving as a reminder of divine justice and
sovereignty.
GODS PROMISED LAND FOR ISRAEL.
And here are
the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war
or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only
Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land
in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel,
Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half
of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18,
Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY
OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND
IN THE FUTURE.
The terror group said that mediators had promised
to resolve issues preventing the continued flow of humanitarian aid into
Gaza, though a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied a
Qatari report that mobile homes and heavy equipment were entering the
Strip.
The Prime Minister’s Office called the Al Jazeera report,
which claimed the mobile homes and earth-moving equipment would be
allowed into the Strip on Thursday, “fake news.”“There is no basis for
it,” the statement said, with Netanyahu spokesman Omer Dostri following
up a short while later with a clarification that “there is no entry of
mobile homes or heavy equipment into Gaza, and there is no coordination
for it.”Egyptian security sources told Reuters they expected heavy
construction equipment to enter on Thursday and if that happened then
Hamas would release hostages on Saturday as scheduled.The terror group’s
statement came a day after a Hamas delegation, led by top official
Khalil al-Hayya, arrived in Cairo for talks with mediators on the
flailing hostage-ceasefire agreement sealed last month.Hamas said it did
not want the deal to collapse, though it rejected what it called the
“language of threats and intimidation” from Netanyahu and US President
Donald Trump, who have said the ceasefire should end if the hostages are
not released.“Accordingly, Hamas reaffirms its commitment to
implementing the agreement as signed, including the exchange of
prisoners according to the specified timeline,” the terror group said in
a statement, adding that both Egyptian and Qatari mediators would press
on with efforts “to remove obstacles and close gaps.”The fragile
ceasefire has been strained since Hamas announced on Monday that it
wouldn’t release hostages on Saturday as planned, accusing Israel of
preventing aid from reaching the Strip, which Israel denies. Trump then
warned that “hell” would break loose if Hamas failed to release all the
hostages being held in Gaza by Saturday.Following those remarks,
Netanyahu said Israel would resume “intense fighting” in Gaza if Hamas
did not return hostages by Saturday noon. Israel then put out a series
of conflicting statements saying Hamas must release “our hostages,”
“nine hostages,” and “all of them” for the ceasefire to continue.Touring
Gaza on Thursday morning, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar said forces were
prepared for an escalation if the hostage deal with Hamas collapses.In
remarks provided by the Shin Bet, Bar said that alongside efforts to
complete the hostage release deal with Hamas, “the forces on the ground
are at a high level of readiness to deal with various scenarios,
including preparations for an escalation in the area.”Agriculture
Minister Avi Dichter, a member of Netanyahu’s security cabinet, told
public radio on Thursday that he did not believe Hamas would be able to
get out of the agreement.“There’s a deal, they won’t be able to give
anything less than what is in the deal,” he said. “I don’t believe that
Hamas can behave otherwise.”Hamas says 73,000 tents delivered but no
mobile homes-The terror group said on Thursday that the most recent
talks in Cairo have focused on issues such as Israel’s allowing the
entry of mobile homes, tents, medical and fuel supplies, and heavy
machinery needed for the removal of rubble.Salama Marouf, head of the
Hamas-run government media office in Gaza, told Reuters only 73,000 of
the required 200,000 tents had arrived in the enclave, while no mobile
homes had been permitted so far.COGAT, the Defense Ministry agency
overseeing aid deliveries into Gaza, said 400,000 tents had so far been
allowed in, while countries meant to supply mobile homes had not yet
sent them.International aid officials confirmed that aid was coming in
despite considerable logistical problems, though they cautioned that far
more was needed.“We have seen improvement in some ways, but certainly,
the response is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of so many people
who face so much destruction and loss,” said Shaina Low, an official
from the Norwegian Refugee Council based in the Jordanian capital
Amman.She said shelter materials were going in, despite Israeli
restrictions on so-called “dual use” materials which can also be used
for military purposes.Under the ceasefire, Hamas has so far released 16
Israeli hostages from an initial group of 33 children, women, and older
men agreed to be exchanged for almost 2,000 Palestinian security
prisoners and detainees in the first stage of a multi-phase deal. Hamas
also freed five Thai hostages in an unscheduled release in
January.Negotiations on a second phase of the agreement, which mediators
had hoped would see the release of the remaining hostages as well as
the full withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces troops from Gaza, were
supposed to be already underway in Doha but an Israeli team returned
home on Monday, two days after arriving.The threat to cancel the 42-day
initial ceasefire that formed the basis of the agreement has drawn
thousands of Israeli protesters onto the streets this week, calling on
the government to stick with the deal in order to bring the remaining
hostages home.Earlier on Thursday, Channel 12 news reported that Hamas
was expected to release three hostages on Saturday, as per the truce
schedule, if the hostage-ceasefire deal holds.Israel had reportedly sent
a message to Hamas through mediators Egypt and Qatar that the deal
would continue if the terror group released three hostages, as
scheduled, on Saturday.Meanwhile, Hamas politburo official Husam Badran
called for massive marches in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the
weekend in opposition to Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza
in order to rebuild the war-torn enclave.Badran additionally called on
Palestinians to mobilize amid escalating violence in the northern West
Bank as Israeli troops continue a weeks-long counter-terror operation,
urging them to “take part in the global movement” and unify “around the
option of resistance.”Trump’s plan to take over Gaza has alarmed the
Arab world, particularly Jordan and Egypt, which the US president has
singled out as primary candidates to host relocated Palestinians.The war
in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000
terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea,
killing some 1,200 people and seizing 251 hostages, mostly civilians,
amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.Seventy-three of the 251
hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the
bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.Hamas has so far
released 21 hostages — civilians, soldiers, and Thai nationals — during
the ceasefire that began in January. Another 17 hostages are slated for
release in the first phase of the accord, of whom the terror group has
said eight are dead.Hamas also freed 105 civilians during a weeklong
truce in late November 2023, 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 Israeli 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 body of an IDF soldier who was killed in 2014. The
body of another IDF soldier, also killed in 2014, was recovered from
Gaza in January.Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
Backing
return to fighting, Rubio says Israel can’t let Hamas use ceasefire to
rearm-US secretary of state reiterates Trump’s warnings that Israel will
go in and eliminate terror group unless all hostages are released, but
expresses hope issue ‘resolves itself’ By Jacob Magid,Lazar Berman-and
ToI Staff Today, 1:08 pm-FEB 12,25
WASHINGTON — US Secretary of
State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Israel could not allow Hamas to use a
ceasefire in Gaza to rearm, appearing to back a potential resumption of
fighting by Israeli forces as a three-week-old truce and hostage
release deal teetered on the precipice of collapse.Taking a victory lap
through US news networks following a deal securing the release of
American Marc Fogel from Russian prison, Rubio echoed tough talk from US
President Donald Trump who said that Hamas would face harsh
consequences if hostages were not released as planned Saturday, accusing
the terror group of breaching the deal while expressing hope that the
issue “resolves itself.”Hamas said Monday — and reiterated Tuesday —
that it planned to delay the release of three hostages due to be freed
Saturday because Israel allegedly failed to meet the terms of the
ceasefire, including by not allowing an agreed-upon number of tents and
other aid into Gaza.A spokesperson for the Defense Ministry unit
coordinating aid deliveries has dismissed the Hamas officials’ claim as
“totally fake news.”Asked about the Hamas claim by cable network
NewsNation, Rubio responded that “you can’t believe anything Hamas
says.” But he also appeared to justify potential Israeli restrictions on
what goods can enter the Strip.“Part of the challenge here is that
Hamas continues to use networks to smuggle in weaponry and aid for
themselves to reconstitute themselves,” Rubio said.“Israel can’t allow
that to happen. You can’t allow Hamas to use the ceasefire to rebuild
itself and recover strength,” he continued. “It’s a ceasefire, but it’s
not a stupid ceasefire.”The three-stage ceasefire agreement, reached
last month, halted some 15 months of fighting triggered by Hamas’s
October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, when thousands of terrorists
invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 251
hostages.The deal requires Hamas to release all its hostages and Israel
to release thousands of Palestinian security prisoners — including
hundreds serving life sentences — and halt the fighting in the Strip,
followed by negotiations for a “sustainable calm” and IDF withdrawal
from the enclave.There are currently 17 hostages, living and dead, still
set to return amid the deal’s ongoing 42-day first phase.On Monday,
Trump proposed that Israel end the ceasefire and resume fighting if all
hostages are not released by Saturday at noon.The ultimatum was
partially adopted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said Tuesday
that the ceasefire would end if hostages were not freed Saturday
without explicitly demanding that all 76 hostages still in Gaza,
including the remains of those killed, be released then.In a series of
shambolic statements, the government threatened a return to war if “our
hostages” were not released, later revised that to demand that all nine
living hostages slated to be freed in the first phase of the ceasefire
be released “in the coming days,” and finally reverted to demanding “all
of them” be freed, while leaving the door open to various
interpretations.According to Army Radio, the vague statements reflected
confusion in the security cabinet about the specifics of Trump’s
demands.“We are in a situation where we can’t refuse to adopt [the plan
from] Trump, and therefore the prime minister’s wording was convoluted,”
an unnamed minister was quoted telling the station.Rubio said Trump had
decided to demand that all hostages be freed after seeing the condition
of three emaciated hostages released on February 8.“The president is
tired of the drip, drip, drip… he wants people out. You saw the
condition of the hostages that were released just a week ago, and they
were on the verge of death,” he said.The secretary of state described
the ceasefire as “very tenuous” while reiterating the threats issued by
Trump.“He wants to see them released, and he’s made very clear that if
that’s not the case on Saturday, then all bets are off,” Rubio told
NewsNation. “And it’s not going to be good for Hamas. But let’s hope
that that resolves itself. I don’t think anyone wants to see a
resumption of hostilities.”In a separate interview with Fox News, Rubio
accused Hamas of “breaking the deal,” without elaborating.He predicted a
collapse of the ceasefire would return the region to “where we were a
few months ago where Hamas is going to be eliminated and the Israelis
are going to go in and take care of that problem.”Hamas said on Tuesday
that Trump’s threat to “let hell break out” on Gaza if all hostages are
not returned by Saturday “has no value and further complicates
matters.”“Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be
respected by both parties and this is the only way to return the
prisoners,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP, referring to the
hostages.The Israel Defense Forces has girded for a possible resumption
of fighting since Hamas’s Monday announcement, bolstering troop levels
on the Gaza border, canceling planned leave for soldiers and testing
sirens in the Tel Aviv area Wednesday morning.Negotiations on the
agreement’s second phase — to include the return of the remaining 59
hostages, the release of many more Palestinian security prisoners, a
complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and a permanent
ceasefire — were meant to begin last week, but have also been thrown
into doubt by the flurry of threats and warnings in recent
days.Netanyahu had already appeared to suggest a resumption of fighting
with Hamas would take place rather than continuing to the second phase
of the deal, while Trump had called for Israel to destroy Hamas and
relocate Palestinians outside of the Strip to pave the way for an
American takeover and redevelopment of the enclave.Sitting alongside
Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah announced
that Amman would take in 2,000 sick children from Gaza, seeking to curry
favor with Washington after the president threatened to withhold aid
unless Jordan and Egypt agreed to take in Palestinians as part of his
controversial plan.Rubio said Washington was open to hearing alternative
plans from Arab allies who oppose Trump’s proposal to take over
Gaza.“If people don’t like the Trump plan for Gaza — right now it’s the
only plan. It’s now incumbent upon the Arab countries… if they think
they’ve got a better plan, we need to hear it,” he said.Egypt said
Tuesday that it would “present a comprehensive vision for the
reconstruction” of the Gaza Strip that ensures Palestinians remain on
their land, while expressing hopes of cooperating with the Trump
administration “to reach comprehensive and just peace in the region.”
Senior
Arab officials warn Trump’s Gaza plan would inflame Middle East-Arab
League secretary general says scheme would have ‘damaging effect on
peace and stability’; Gulf Cooperation Council chief urges ‘give and
take’ with Arab world on issue By Agencies and ToI Staff Today, 1:51
pm-FEB 12,25
US President Donald Trump’s plan to take over Gaza
and resettle Palestinians, which has drawn global condemnation, will
threaten the fragile ceasefire in the enclave and fuel regional
instability, senior Arab officials said on Wednesday.Arab League
Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit warned the World Government Summit
in Dubai that if Trump pressed ahead with his plan, he would lead the
Middle East into a new cycle of crises with a “damaging effect on peace
and stability.”Trump enraged the Arab world by declaring unexpectedly
that the United States would take over Gaza, resettle its over 2 million
Palestinian population, and develop it into the “Riviera of the Middle
East.”“It’s unacceptable for the Arab world,” Aboul Gheit
said.Palestinians fear a repeat of the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, when
nearly 800,000 people fled or were driven out during the war that
started when Arab states invaded the fledgling State of Israel in 1948.
Many fled to the Gaza Strip.Trump has said that Gazans removed under his
plan would have no right to return.A three-stage ceasefire agreement,
reached last month, halted some 15 months of fighting triggered by
Hamas’s October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, when it led thousands of
invading terrorists who killed some 1,200 people and took 251
hostages.The deal requires Hamas to release all its hostages and Israel
to release thousands of Palestinian security prisoners — including
hundreds serving life sentences — and cease fighting in the Strip,
followed by negotiations for a “sustainable calm” and IDF withdrawal
from the enclave.Hamas has gradually been releasing hostages since the
first phase of the ceasefire began on January 19, but on Monday said it
would not free any more over accusations Israel was violating the
deal.The threat drew calls from the international community that Hamas
honor its commitments, while Trump said that if the hostages aren’t
released on time the ceasefire should be stopped.Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu declared on Tuesday the ceasefire in Gaza would end and the
military would resume fighting Hamas until it was defeated if the terror
group did not release hostages by midday on Saturday. Hamas later
issued a statement renewing its commitment to the ceasefire and accusing
Israel of jeopardizing it.“If the situation explodes militarily once
more, all this (ceasefire) effort will be wasted,” Aboul Gheit
said.Jasem al-Budaiwi, who heads the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council
political and economic alliance, called on Trump to remember the strong
ties between the region and Washington.“But there has to be give and
take, he says his opinion, and the Arab world should say theirs; what he
is saying won’t be accepted by the Arab world.”Trump has said the
Palestinians in Gaza, an impoverished tiny strip of land, could settle
in countries like Jordan, which already has a huge Palestinian
population, and Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous state. Both have
rejected the proposal.For Jordan, Trump’s talk of resettlement comes
close to its nightmare of a mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza and
the West Bank, with the idea of Jordan becoming an alternative
Palestinian home long promoted by ultra-nationalist Israelis.Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi partly views it as a security issue. He
believes Islamists like Hamas are an existential threat to Egypt and
beyond and would not welcome any members of the group crossing the
border and settling in Egypt.Egypt will host an emergency Arab summit on
February 27 to discuss “serious” developments for Palestinians.Aboul
Gheit said the idea of the Arab Peace Initiative floated in 2002, in
which Arab nations offered Israel normalized ties in return for a
statehood deal with the Palestinians and full Israeli withdrawal from
territory captured in 1967, would be reintroduced.Trump’s plan has
rattled decades of US policy that endorsed a two-state solution in which
Israel and a Palestinian state would coexist.Seventy-three of the 251
hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the
bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF.Hamas has so far
released 21 hostages — civilians, soldiers, and Thai nationals — during
the ceasefire that began in January. The terror group freed 105
civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, 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 Israeli 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 body of an IDF
soldier who was killed in 2014. The body of another IDF soldier, also
killed in 2014, was recovered from Gaza in January.
Egypt to
present ‘comprehensive’ plan for Gaza reconstruction without
displacement-Cairo says it wants to cooperate with US, but stresses its
solution will enable Palestinians to stay in enclave ‘with the
legitimate and legal rights of this people’By AFP and ToI Staff Today,
8:31 am-FEB 12,25
Egypt plans to “present a comprehensive vision
for the reconstruction” of the Gaza Strip that ensures Palestinians
remain on their land, the Egyptian foreign ministry said late
Tuesday.The statement came a day after US President Donald Trump said he
could “conceivably” halt aid to Egypt and Jordan if they refuse to
cooperate with his plan to take over the Gaza Strip and displace its
population to their countries.The foreign ministry said Egypt “hopes to
cooperate” with Trump’s administration on the matter, with the goal of
“reaching a fair settlement of the Palestinian cause.”It said its plan
would provide for the reconstruction of Gaza “in a clear and decisive
manner that ensures the Palestinian people stay on their land and in
line with the legitimate and legal rights of this people.”During a
meeting with Trump in Washington on Tuesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah II
said Egypt would present a plan that Arab leaders would discuss at
coming talks.Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi — who exchanged
invitations for state visits with Trump last month, which have not yet
been scheduled — on Tuesday urged the reconstruction of Gaza “without
displacing Palestinians.”During a phone call with Danish Prime Minister
Mette Frederiksen, Sissi “stressed the necessity of starting the
reconstruction of the Gaza Strip… without displacing Palestinians and in
a way that ensures the preservation of their rights… to live on their
land.”Sissi also said the establishment of a Palestinian state was “the
only guarantee for achieving lasting peace” in the region, according to a
statement from his office.Gaza was largely laid waste during the war
between Israel and Hamas that began on October 7, 2023, when the
Palestinian terror group that rules the Strip led thousands of
terrorists to invade southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly
civilians, and abducting 251 to Gaza.The US, Egypt, and Qatar mediated a
complex, three-phase ceasefire that began last month and includes the
gradual release of the hostages and an Israeli withdrawal from
Gaza.Trump has proposed the US taking over Gaza and clearing
Palestinians out, envisioning rebuilding the devastated territory into
the “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians
elsewhere, namely Egypt and Jordan.His remarks have sparked a global
backlash and Arab countries have condemned the proposal, insisting on a
two-state solution of an independent Palestinian state alongside
Israel.On Monday, Egypt’s foreign ministry rejected “any compromise”
that would infringe on Palestinians’ rights, including their right to
“remaining on the land,” in a statement issued shortly after Foreign
Minister Badr Abdelatty met with his US counterpart, Marco Rubio, in
Washington.The fragile ceasefire, barely halfway through its first
stage, is already wobbling as Hamas has said it will not deliver the
next batch of captives scheduled for release on Saturday, alleging
Israeli violations of the pact.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said
Tuesday the ceasefire would be over and Israel would resume “intense
fighting” in Gaza if Hamas doesn’t release the hostages by midday
Saturday.
Abdullah says Jordan will take in 2,000 sick Gazan kids
as Trump pushes relocation plan-US president calls king’s pledge ‘music
to his ears’; wants ‘parcel of land’ in Jordan and Egypt for Gazans;
doesn’t believe Hamas will release all hostages by his Saturday deadline
By Jacob Magid-Today, 5:20 am-FEB 12,25
WASHINGTON — Sitting
alongside Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Jordan’s King
Abdullah announced that Amman would take in 2,000 sick children from
Gaza, seeking to curry favor with a US president who had threatened to
withhold aid if Jordan did not agree to take in Palestinians as part of
his plan for Washington to take over the enclave and relocate its
population.The figure proposed by Abdullah amounts to roughly 0.1% of
the Gaza Strip’s population, but Trump was delighted nonetheless.“That’s
so beautiful. It’s music to my ears,” said the US president.Trump’s
plan to take over Gaza has alarmed the Arab world, particularly Jordan
and Egypt, which the president has singled out as primary candidates to
host relocated Palestinians. Cairo and Amman have rejected Trump’s
proposal outright, viewing the arrival of so many Gazans as a security
threat and arguing it would expand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into
their borders.Both countries have sought to push back on the plan
without entirely burning their bridges with Trump, who appears to be at
the apex of his power after Republicans won the White House and full
control of Congress in the November 2024 US elections.As they took
questions from reporters between their one-on-one meeting and a
subsequent sit-down with their advisers, Trump claimed there would
likely be a “parcel of land” in Jordan and Egypt where the Palestinians
would be housed.Asked whether he approved of this idea, a visibly
uncomfortable Abdullah responded, “I have to look at the best interests
of my country.” The king repeatedly dodged questions from reporters
about the US proposal.Trump has stood by his Gaza plan, though his aides
said last week that Washington was prepared to hear other ideas for
rebuilding the Strip and expected Arab allies to come forward with their
own proposals, rather than just rejecting the one from the US.In his
opening remarks to reporters, Abdullah said the Arab world was working
on putting together such a plan and that Egypt was leading the
effort.Later Tuesday, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry announced that it plans
to “present a comprehensive vision for the reconstruction” of the Gaza
Strip that ensures Palestinians remain on their land.Egypt “hopes to
cooperate” with the Trump administration “to reach comprehensive and
just peace in the region,” the statement said.Abdullah noted that Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also invited Arab counterparts to
discuss the matter in Riyadh.Trump then claimed to largely know what the
Arab plan will be. “It’s going to be… magnificent for the Palestinians.
They’re going to be in love with it. I did very well with real estate. I
can tell you about real estate.”In the meantime, the Jordanian monarch
said his country was prepared to “take 2,000 children [who] either
[have] cancer or are in a very ill state to Jordan as quickly as
possible.”The king said that the Jordanian initiative will require
cooperation from COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for
facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.“The best way to
get [them out of Gaza] is by helicopters to get them straight to our
institutions,” he said. “Quite a few countries will also probably like
to take some of those kids and have them treated in their
hospitals.”Abdullah also made a point in his opening remarks to lavish
praise on Trump.“With all the challenges that we have in the Middle
East, I finally see somebody [who] can take us across the finish line to
bring stability, peace and prosperity to all of us in the region,” he
said.2 million people ‘a very small number of people’Trump repeatedly
dismissed claims that his Gaza plan amounts to ethnic cleansing,
insisting that Palestinians want to leave.“We’re moving them to a
beautiful location where they’ll have new homes, where they can live
safely, where they have doctors and medical and all of those things.
It’s going to be great,” Trump told reporters.Pressed on how he can
simply relocate 2 million people, Trump responded, “It’s a very small
number of people relative to other things that have taken place over the
decades and centuries.”Asked if he’ll force Palestinians out if they
don’t want to leave Gaza, Trump replied, “They’re going to be very
happy.”“No place in the world is as dangerous as the Gaza Strip. They
don’t want to be there. They have no alternative,” the US president
said.Despite claiming that the US will own the Strip, Trump asserted
that Washington won’t have to pay for it. “We’re not going to buy
anything. We’re going to have it. We’re going to keep it, and we’re
going to make sure that there’s going to be peace… and nobody’s going to
question it.”Asked where he wants Palestinians to live, Trump
responded, “It’s not about where I want them to live. It’s going to be
where we ultimately choose as a group.”Trump then walked back his Monday
threat to withhold aid from Egypt and Jordan if they don’t agree to
take in Palestinians.“I don’t want to [threaten] that because we’ve had
such a good relationship and we’re doing so well just in the short time
that we’ve been talking,” he said.“The king just made a statement — I
didn’t ask him to do that — about literally saving 2,000 young children
from the Gaza Strip,” Trump noted. “We do contribute a lot of money to
Jordan and to Egypt… But I don’t have to threaten that. We’re above
that.”Asked if he’d consider other countries for housing Gazans, Trump
said he would, claiming that lots of nations “want to get
involved.”Trump slams Hamas ‘bullies,’ says annexation for another
dayTrump was also asked about the 12 p.m. Saturday deadline he set a day
earlier for Hamas to release all remaining Israeli hostages, and he
said he didn’t expect Hamas to meet it.“They want to play tough guy, but
we’ll see how tough they are,” Trump said. “Hamas is bullies. The
weakest people are bullies.”Asked whether he’ll back Israeli annexation
of the West Bank, Trump responded, “That’s going to work out very well…
work out automatically.”“That’s not really what we’re talking about
today,” he said.Last week, Trump said he’d be making an announcement
regarding Israeli annexation of the West Bank in about four weeks.“It’s
in good shape,” Trump said Tuesday.“We discussed it, other people have
discussed it with us and with me,” he continued. “The West Bank is going
to work out very well.”‘A man of peace’After the meeting, Abdullah
tweeted that his talks with Trump were “constructive,” but said he used
the meeting to reiterate “Jordan’s steadfast position against the
displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.”“This is the
unified Arab position,” he added. “Rebuilding Gaza without displacing
the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should
be the priority for all.”Still, Abdullah called Trump “a man of peace,”
praising him for ushering in the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal
last month. “We look to the US and all stakeholders in ensuring it
holds.”Abdullah said he also emphasized to Trump the importance of
working toward a de-escalation of tensions in the West Bank.
Troops
neutralize explosive-laden car, Palestinian shot near army base, in
West Bank-Military says troops have killed over 60 Palestinian terror
operatives, detained over 210, amid ongoing counter-terrorism operation
expected to last several more weeks By Emanuel Fabian-Today, 5:05 pm-feb
13,25
Israeli troops shot a Palestinian suspect at the entrance
to a military base near Nablus on Thursday, while commando troops
destroyed an explosive-laden car in Jenin, amid the ongoing
counter-terrorism operation in the West Bank.The Palestinian suspect was
shot by soldiers at the entrance to the Samaria Regional Brigade’s base
near Nablus, the Israel Defense Forces saidHe arrived at the entrance
to the base in a vehicle, reportedly crashed into a fence, and tried to
flee before being shot by the soldiers.“The suspect was neutralized
after moving suspiciously toward the forces,” theIDF said.The condition
of the man was not immediately clear, and the military’s comments
provided no details about it. No soldiers were wounded in the
incident.Also Thursday, troops of the Egoz commando unit destroyed an
explosive-laden car in the West Bank city of Jenin, the military
said.Footage published by the IDF showed a drone dropping a bomb on the
parked car.In addition, the IDF said that on Wednesday, troops of the
Maglan commando unit killed three gunmen during an exchange of fire in
the Nur Shams camp near Tulkarem. One soldier was moderately wounded in
the incident.The clashes came amid an offensive, dubbed Operation Iron
Wall, that was launched on January 21 and that the military expects to
last several more weeks.Israeli forces have been operating in the Jenin,
Tulkarem, and Tubas areas.Troops have killed more than 60 Palestinian
terror operatives and detained more than 210 amid the major ongoing
counter-terrorism operation, the military said on Thursday.The IDF has
acknowledged mistakenly killing several civilians during the operation,
including a toddler and a pregnant woman.
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.
Iran
slams Trump for saying either ‘bombs’ or a deal will stop it from
getting nuke-Tehran’s UN mission decries ‘deeply alarming and
irresponsible’ remarks, after US president said he’d prefer to make an
agreement ‘that’s not gonna hurt them’By AFP Today, 12:36 am-FEB 12,,25
Iran’s
mission to the United Nations condemned on Tuesday remarks made by US
President Donald Trump suggesting stopping Iran from developing nuclear
weapons could be achieved either “with bombs” or a deal.In an interview
broadcast on Monday by Fox News, Trump said he believed there were two
ways of stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, “with bombs or
with a written piece of paper.”“I’d much rather do a deal that’s not
gonna hurt them,” he said, adding that “I’d love to make a deal with
them without bombing them.”On Tuesday, Iran submitted a letter to the UN
Security Council to register its protest against what it called Trump’s
“deeply alarming and irresponsible remarks.”“These reckless and
inflammatory statements flagrantly violate international law and the UN
Charter, particularly Article 2(4), which prohibits threats or use of
force against sovereign states,” said Iran’s head of mission Saeed
Iravani in the letter published by the official IRNA news agency.He
further warned that “any act of aggression will have severe
consequences, for which the United States will bear full
responsibility.”Trump’s remarks came amid renewed tensions after he
reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran over concerns the
country was seeking to develop nuclear weapons.Tehran insists its
nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes and denies any intention
to develop atomic weapons.In the letter, Iravani also condemned the
policy saying it “reinforces unlawful, unilateral coercive measures and
escalates hostility against Iran”During Trump’s first term, which ended
in 2021, Washington withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal that had
imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear program in return for sanctions
relief.Tehran continued to adhere to the deal — known as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action — until a year after Washington pulled out,
but then began rolling back its commitments.Efforts to revive the 2015
deal have since faltered.On Friday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei said there should not be negotiations with the United States,
after Trump suggested striking a “verified nuclear peace agreement” with
Iran.“No problem will be solved by negotiating with America,” he said,
citing previous “experience.”
IDF strikes 2 Palestinians in Gaza
allegedly picking up a drone flown from Israel-UAV, apparently used by
smugglers, was tracked as it flew into Palestinian enclave’s south; IAF
drone hits men as they try to retrieve it By Emanuel Fabian-Today, 11:55
am-FEB 12,25
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed it carried out
an airstrike in southern Gaza’s Rafah Wednesday morning, saying it
targeted two suspects who had gone to pick up a drone.The drone had been
flown from Israel into the southern Gaza Strip, and was being tracked
throughout its flight, the military said. In recent months, the IDF
noted, it has identified several attempts to smuggle weapons and drugs
into Gaza using drones. The drone was apparently being controlled by
smugglers on the Israeli side.After the drone landed in Gaza, an Israeli
drone struck it along with the two suspects who had taken possession of
it. One was killed and the second was wounded, according to Palestinian
media.The Israeli Air Force carried out the strike using a Hermes 450
unmanned aerial vehicle.The incident came as tensions in a fragile
ceasefire between Israel and Hamas reached a snapping point after the
Palestinian terror group said it would not make good on the next stage
of the truce, alleging Israeli violations.The three-stage ceasefire
agreement, reached last month, halted some 15 months of fighting
triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, when
it led thousands of terrorists to kill some 1,200 people and take 251
hostages.The deal in its entirety requires Hamas to release all its
hostages and Israel to release thousands of Palestinian security
prisoners — including hundreds serving life sentences — and halt the
fighting in the Strip, followed by negotiations for a “sustainable calm”
and IDF withdrawal from the enclave.However, Hamas said on Monday that
it would not release the next batch of prisoners, scheduled for
Saturday.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that if Hamas
doesn’t release the hostages by noon Saturday, the ceasefire will be
over and Israel will resume fighting in Gaza.“The IDF will return to
intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated,” he declared.Hamas has
cited continued Israeli airstrikes as a violation of the ceasefire.
Israel has repeatedly said it will determinedly enforce the terms of the
ceasefire and has used drone strikes in the past to achieve that goal.
Expat
moms in Saudi Arabia push unfinished desert megacity to millions on
TikTok-Posts of women gushing about food, shopping and comforts of
massive NEOM project seemingly part of viral campaign to raise profile
of kingdom and ambitious $500 billion development By Emilie Beraud
Today, 11:09 am-FEB 12,25
PARIS, France (AFP) — Expat
“momfluencers” are taking to TikTok to sing the praises of life in Saudi
Arabia and to extol the virtues of its nascent NEOM megacity, filming
their idyllic lives spent picnicking by turquoise waters and shopping in
gleaming malls.“If you have children, Saudi Arabia is the best place,”
Aida McPherson, an Azerbaijani born in London, told her almost 60,000
followers as she filmed her daughter in traditional Saudi dress on a
shopping trip.Around a dozen expat mothers have posted similar glowing
accounts of the far-from-finished NEOM project in the desert championed
by the kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,
despite concerns about continued rights violations in the country and
alleged abuse of migrant building workers.NEOM is a planned $500 billion
futuristic megacity in northwestern Saudi Arabia meant to feature a ski
resort, twin skyscrapers and a building known as “The Line” that will
be a staggering 170 kilometers (105 miles) long.There has been
increasing skepticism over the viability of the project and reports say
population projections are being scaled down.But “mom influencers” —
often English-speaking and dressed in Western clothes — rave about how
“magnificent” everything is in NEOM, right down to the delicious
food.One Thai mom, who goes by the username Sarasarasid, shared a video
of her “typical afternoon in NEOM”: a scooter ride, going for a coffee
and taking her toddler to a playground.The video has been viewed around
800,000 times. The city it shows is almost deserted.Sarasarasid also
posted videos of herself at the NEOM hospital, where she gave birth,
praising the quality of care.Nearly two million people watched her be
driven across a long stretch of sand in a 4×4 by her partner, a senior
sales manager at NEOM since 2022 according to his LinkedIn account.Like
many influencers, Sarasarasid lives in a complex reserved for project
employees and their families not far from Sindalah, a luxury resort
island in the Red Sea that is the first part of the NEOM project to be
completed.None agreed to be interviewed when contacted by AFP.When he
unveiled The Line in 2022, the crown prince said NEOM would be home to
more than a million people by 2030, and nine million by 2045.But the
developers have radically reduced their ambitions to 300,000 residents
by the end of the decade, according to Bloomberg.“These privileged
influencers are part of the regime’s propaganda machine to woo the West,
tourists and investors,” said Lina al-Hathloul from the NGO ALQST,
which monitors rights in Saudi Arabia.“The daily lives of Saudi women
and the people are totally different,.” she told AFP. Saudi Arabia “is
still a police state where everything is a red line for freedom of
expression.”Women are “considered to be under the guardianship of a man
since birth, first that of their father and then their husband,” and
their “disobedience” can earn them prison time, Hathloul added.While
Mohammed is credited with Saudi Arabia’s modernization, notably allowing
women to drive, the kingdom’s notorious guardianship system — which
requires women to get permission from male relatives for many decisions —
remains and those campaigning for its abolition have faced
arrest.Nevertheless, Western beauty influencer “skincarebestie_” in the
capital Riyadh insisted in a TikTok video with over a million views that
“people think that women are oppressed here, but they can work, drive,
do whatever they want.”Asked if they had collaborated with these
influencers, neither NEOM, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
Saudi Ministry of Media nor the Saudi embassy in Paris responded to
AFP’s requests for comment.‘Smart PR’Nicholas McGeehan, co-director of
the human rights NGO FairSquare, said the posts are “consistent with
what sounds like a fairly smart PR strategy to use social media to help
transform the country’s image.”“This is the type of demographic that
needs to see Saudi Arabia as acceptable,” he told AFP.David
Rigoulet-Roze, a researcher at the French Institute for Strategic
Analysis, said Riyadh regularly mobilizes “hundreds of influencers” to
“smash the image of an archaic country, closed in on itself, that is
built on religious extremism.”Despite high-profile advertising campaigns
led in particular by the likes of footballer Lionel Messi, and
controversially landing the 2034 football World Cup, the kingdom and
Prince Mohammed remain tarnished by the murder of journalist Jamal
Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.The killing of
Khashoggi was described by a UN probe as an “extrajudicial killing for
which Saudi Arabia is responsible.” US intelligence agencies determined
that Mohammed had “approved” the operation. Riyadh denies this, blaming
rogue operatives.While the young leader presents Saudi Arabia as a more
liberal country now, with tourism to be a pillar of its post-oil era,
its human rights record remains problematic. Dissidents face repression
and capital punishment is used en masse, monitors say, with 338
executions recorded last year, the highest figure in three decades.In
early December, Human Rights Watch also documented the “widespread
abuse” of foreign workers from Asia or Africa, some of which can be
considered “forced labor,” “including in major projects” like NEOM.
Musk
walks back administration’s claim about $50 million condom allotment
for Gaza-‘Some of the things I say will be incorrect,’ says DOGE chief
after reporting reveals that Gaza Strip was mistaken for province in
Mozambique By Jacob Magid-Today, 3:39 am-FEB 12,25
WASHINGTON —
US Department of Government Efficiency chief Elon Musk on Tuesday
appeared to walk back the Trump administration’s claim that the previous
administration allocated $50 million in condoms for Gaza.The figure was
first cited by the White House to justify a sweeping freeze on foreign
aid that the Trump administration imposed, though the claim was swiftly
dismissed as a “feverish dream” by a former senior Biden administration
official.While the tech mogul carried his son on his shoulders and stood
next to US President Donald Trump, who was signing executive orders in
the Oval Office, a reporter noted reporting revealing that DOGE’s condom
claim mistook the Gaza Strip for a province in Mozambique that received
contraceptives from the US Agency for International Development in
order to combat AIDS.“Some of the things I say will be incorrect and
should be corrected,” Musk replied. “Nobody is going to bat 1,000. We
will make mistakes, but we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes.”“I’m
not sure we should be sending $50 million dollars worth of condoms
anywhere… I’m not sure that’s something Americans would be really
excited about. That really is an enormous number of condoms,” he
continued.“If it were to Mozambique instead of Gaza, that’s not as bad,
but still… why are we doing that?” Musk asked.Trump, who said last week
that Musk discovered that “$100 million dollars” was earmarked by the
Biden’s administration for “condoms to Hamas,” did not similarly retract
his claim.Trump had also charged that the condoms were being used by
Hamas “as a method of making bombs,” apparently referring to the
inflated latex condoms that Palestinians in Gaza used to launch
incendiary devices and explosives at southern Israel during his first
term in office.Agencies contributed to this report.
Fearing
return to war, Hamas tells senior officials to stop using phones –
report-Terror group claims it is still committed to ceasefire a day
after it said it was halting prisoner releases, blames Israel for
‘complications’ threatening deal By ToI Staff and Agencies 11 February
2025, 11:55 pm
Hamas has reportedly instructed senior figures in
the terror group to stop using cell phones amid concerns that the
fragile ceasefire with Israel could fall apart, bringing with it a
return of Israel’s military offensive.Sources in Hamas told the
London-based Asharq Al-Awsat outlet on Tuesday that the group’s military
wing and senior leadership have instructed all senior political and
military figures to stop using their phones, as many had returned to
using the devices after the ceasefire began last month.According to the
sources, several senior officials have already stopped using their
phones over fears of attempts by the IDF to track them via the devices
and assassinate them.The three-stage ceasefire agreement, reached last
month, halted some 15 months of fighting triggered by the group’s
October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, when Hamas-led terrorists killed
some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.The deal requires Hamas to
release hostages, Israel to release thousands of Palestinian security
prisoners — including hundreds serving life sentences — and halt the
fighting in the Strip, followed by negotiations for a “sustainable calm”
and an IDF withdrawal from the enclave.Hamas declared that it is still
dedicated to the ceasefire, though a day earlier it had vowed not to
release the next group of hostages until further notice, alleging
Israeli violations of the ceasefire, in an announcement that shook the
truce, sparked war preparations by Israel and prompted US President
Donald Trump to declare that if the captives aren’t released by noon
Saturday the ceasefire should be ended.“Hamas is committed to the
ceasefire agreement that the (Israeli) occupation also committed to,” it
said in a statement on Tuesday evening, adding that “we affirm that the
occupation is the party that did not abide by its commitments and is
responsible for any complications or delays.”The Israel Defense Forces,
meanwhile, announced that it was “extensively” bolstering its forces in
the Southern Command, calling up reservists and approving battle plans
for the Gaza Strip in the event that the ceasefire-hostage deal with
Hamas collapses.In a video statement he released after a four-hour
security cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened
that the ceasefire would be over and Israel will resume “intense
fighting” in Gaza if Hamas doesn’t release “our hostages” by midday
Saturday.“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the
ceasefire will end, and the IDF will return to intense fighting until
Hamas is finally defeated,” he declared.An Israeli official said
Netanyahu also ordered officials “to prepare for every scenario if Hamas
doesn’t release our hostages this Saturday.”The sources that spoke to
Asharq Al-Awsat also said that Hamas had recently uncovered spying
equipment it claimed was found embedded in stones or ruins of buildings
in Gaza. The equipment included cameras and listening devices that Hamas
assessed as intended to identify senior officials or hostages.Hamas has
broadened its sweeps to find such devices, which are being dismantled
and examined to glean information, the sources said.Hamas is attempting
its own monitoring operations to keep an eye on IDF movements in order
to be ready to counter any incursions by special forces or other
operations, the sources said.The terror group justified its decision to
freeze the hostage releases by alleging Israeli violations of the deal,
claiming falsely that the military has obstructed displaced
Palestinians’ return to the northern Strip, and asserting that Israel
has prevented the flow of some humanitarian aid items, such as trailers
for temporary shelter, into the enclave.
The general armed with
only a knife who set out to regain control of his kibbutz on Oct. 7-IDF
investigators reportedly moved to tears by testimony of Brig. Gen.
Yisrael Shomer, a resident of Kfar Aza-By ToI Staff 11 February 2025,
11:37 pm
As Israel Defense Forces investigators in past months
delved into its failures surrounding the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks,
Brig. Gen. Yisrael Shomer, a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza who set out to
defend his home armed with just a knife, testified about his
experiences that day.According to a report Monday by the Walla news
site, published as the IDF finalizes parts of its investigations, Shomer
choked up at times while explaining what had occurred, and the details
he recounted caused some of the generals present to well up with
tears.Shomer has spoken publicly in the past about his experiences on
October 7, when he found his kibbutz under attack by more than 100 armed
Hamas terrorists, who slaughtered 62 people and took another 19 as
hostages.He told the Israel Hayom daily that he had woken up a few
minutes before the attack began to go on a morning run, and was drinking
water in his kitchen at 6:29 a.m. when the sirens started blaring and
the rockets began flying overhead.After the first few minutes of sirens,
he peeked outside to see what was going on, and saw two paragliders
flying toward the kibbutz. He understood immediately what was
happening.“I didn’t understand the magnitude, but I understood that this
was an invasion of Kfar Aza,” he told Channel 13 news in December 2023,
when returning to his home for the first time since the attack.Without a
firearm at home, he left his wife and three children in their
reinforced saferoom, told them to lock the door, and set out armed with
only a knife, clad in sportswear.He headed outside, took photos of the
two paragliders that had been used to invade the kibbutz, and called a
number of IDF generals, including chief of staff Herzi Halevi, Shomer
told Israel Hayom.For about three hours, he fought back against Hamas
gunmen with just the knife until he picked up a weapon from a wounded
member of the local security squad, he said. For hours, he fired at
terrorists he encountered inside the kibbutz, carefully preserving his
ammo, estimating that he killed around 20 invaders.“I was constantly on
the move,” he said, “searching, jumping out, firing two bullets and
moving on.”A few hours after the attack began, he said he began to
understand that this was not only an attack on Kfar Aza. As soldiers
began to arrive in the kibbutz as reinforcements and told him about the
attacks on almost every community along the Gaza border, the magnitude
of the catastrophe was becoming clear.When still more troops, including
units from the Golani, Paratroopers and Givati Brigades, arrived, “I
felt for the first time that day that we were turning the tables,”
Shomer said.At around 6 p.m., his wife contacted him and said that there
were terrorists in the house and that she could hear gunshots, but by
the time Shomer got there, the terrorists had left.“I only realized it
then, when we got there, how close it was,” he added. “What a
miracle.”Once he knew his family was safe and that the IDF had started
to regain control of most of the kibbutz, Shomer decided it was time to
meet up with his own IDF unit, which had been charged with deterring
Hezbollah at the northern border.“It wasn’t an easy decision because
there were still terrorists on the kibbutz and my family was still
there, but I knew there were already a lot of soldiers and commanders,
so I thought that I should go and join my division,” he said.He then got
in his car, which was riddled with bullet holes, loaded his rifle, and
headed north to join his unit.His wife’s younger brother Yuval Salomon
was murdered that day in Kfar Aza. Shomer told Israel Hayom that Salomon
fought back against the terrorists and succeeded in stabbing one of
them. He then called Shomer, who recalled: “I spoke to him on the phone,
and then they [the terrorists] came back and he didn’t survive. He was
29.”At the time of the October 7 attack, Shomer was serving as the
commander of the 146th Division, the IDF’s largest reserve division. In
June 2024 he took up the position as head of the IDF’s Operations
Division.In December 2024, Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF
to wrap up its investigations into October 7 by the end of January,
though it has yet to complete them.When IDF chief Herzi Halevi announced
last month that he was stepping down from his role on March 6, he
promised to complete the IDF’s investigations into the October 7
onslaught by his resignation date.“Upon completing the IDF’s
investigations, we will better understand what happened to us, why it
happened and how to fix it,” he said at the time, calling to also
appoint an external committee to investigate the army’s failures.The
IDF’s investigations at the General Staff level include four main
subjects: the development of the IDF’s perception of Gaza, with an
emphasis on the border, starting in 2018; the IDF’s intelligence
assessments of Hamas from 2018 until the outbreak of the war; the
intelligence and decision-making process on the eve of October 7, as
well as the days leading up to it; and the command and control,
formations, and orders given during battles between October 7 and 10,
when troops restored control over all communities and army bases in
southern Israel that had been invaded by Hamas.The investigations have
been carried out by units seen as having had a role in the failure to
notice Hamas preparations or adequately prepare for the terror group’s
October 7 onslaught. In addition, the IDF is investigating 41 separate
battles and major incidents that took place during the October 7
attack.Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.
Anxiety ahead
of Saturday, and the Saturdays to come-As the weekend approaches,
tensions are rising, and real life is now imitating reality TV-Amir
Ben-David-By Amir Ben-David Today, 2:49 pm-feb 13,25
As the
weekend approaches, tensions are rising. Will Hamas provide the names of
the hostages set to be released on Saturday? Will the terror
organization release three hostages, or perhaps nine? And if they are
released, what condition will they be in? Will the gates of hell open,
or remain closed for another week? If these questions sound like a promo
for a reality TV show, it’s because the structure of the hostage deal
has been designed and managed — frighteningly — like an episode of
“Survivor” or “Big Brother,” with a countdown to the “big reveal,”
background stories and interviews with family members, and predictions
and commentary ahead of the airing. Stay tuned.Real life is now
imitating television. Only this is about human lives. Human
suffering.Military officials estimate this morning that Hamas is
interested in continuing the deal rather than blowing it up. The crisis
is real and is being fueled by aggressive statements from all sides, but
the mediating countries are seeking a solution, and the assumption is
that, at least this Saturday, the release of hostages will continue as
planned.This morning, Palestinian sources reported that agreements had
been reached for the release of three Israeli hostages. It was also
reported that Israel will increase humanitarian aid entering the
Strip.Furthermore, Hamas’s announcement yesterday that a delegation from
the organization had arrived in Cairo and begun preparatory meetings
with Egyptian intelligence officials is seen as evidence that the
terrorist group does not currently intend to break the agreement and
cause the collapse of the ceasefire.“In the internal [Palestinian]
arena, pressure from the civilian population [in Gaza] is mounting,”
writes Jackie Khoury in Haaretz this morning. “The rainy days sweeping
through the Gaza Strip highlight the severe shortage of tents and mobile
homes and worsen the distress of the displaced. Essential systems,
foremost among them the healthcare system, are struggling to function
without a stable supply of equipment.”Anxiety over the hostages’
fate-This morning, dozens of protesters advocating for the immediate
release of all remaining hostages blocked the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv
near the Shalom Interchange. They held signs reading “All eyes on you!”
and “If the deal collapses – the country will burn.”The testimonies
that have surfaced in the past day or two regarding the condition of the
hostages in Gaza have significantly increased fears for their fate.Noa
Argamani, who was rescued from captivity by the IDF in June, wrote
yesterday in an Instagram story: “I saw two of the friends who were with
me in captivity for so long die before my eyes after barely surviving
three months in captivity. It’s inconceivable.”Questioning conducted by
Shin Bet investigators of freed hostages indicates that most were held
by relatively senior Hamas figures and spent long periods in their
presence.Michael Hauser Tov writes in Haaretz that “the interrogations
also revealed that for some senior Hamas operatives, the assassination
of senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh was more significant than the
killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — since the freed hostages who were
in the company of high-ranking officials reported hearing far more
cries of anguish following Haniyeh’s assassination.”Ran Gilboa, the
father of IDF surveillance soldier Daniella Gilboa, who was released
last month, told Yedioth Ahronoth this morning that Daniela was forced
to drink contaminated groundwater from the floor, became severely ill,
and was on the brink of death.His daughter recounted that if she and the
other four recently released surveillance soldiers had been returned
two or three weeks earlier, they would have looked like the men who
returned from captivity last week — Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or
Levy. But as the release of the female soldiers approached, they were
fed to improve their appearance.As is known, Hamas released a video in
November that created the impression that Daniella had been murdered in
captivity. “At that moment, I saw a black screen in front of my eyes,”
Ran Gilboa told Yedioth Ahronoth reporter Nadav Zenziper. “Time stopped.
After a year of her suffering in captivity, I told myself that they had
also killed her. I didn’t know what to do with myself.“In retrospect,
it turned out that everything was staged and edited. They asked her to
lie down, wrapped her in sheets, applied makeup, and emphasized her
tattoo. They created a deliberate video, and we were left destroyed at
home. We were helpless.”
28 injured as car drives into Munich
crowd; Bavaria governor says attack suspected-Suspect, a 24-year-old
Afghan asylum seeker, in police custody; car plowed into a demonstration
by union workers; children among those hurt-By Agencies Today, 2:45
pm-FEB 13,25
BERLIN — A man drove a car into a union
demonstration in central Munich on Thursday, injuring at least 28 people
including children, authorities said.Bavarian governor Markus Söder
said the incident was “suspected to be an attack.”It had been initially
unclear if the driver, who was arrested, had deliberately plowed into
the crowd.Police said a car drove into the back of a demonstration by
the service workers’ union Verdi that was taking place in a square near
downtown Munich around 10:30 a.m. A damaged Mini could be seen at the
scene, along with debris including shoes.The union said it did not have
any information on the incident.Police said at least 28 people were
injured and the suspect is believed to be a 24-year-old Afghan asylum
seeker.The Bild newspaper said police would have to establish whether
the driver of the Mini Cooper had deliberately driven into the crowd or
mixed up the accelerator and brake.Police said on X they had detained
the driver and did not consider him to pose any further threat, but
declined to comment on whether it was an accident.Officers set up a
gathering point for witnesses in the Loewenbraeukeller, one of Munich’s
oldest beer halls.The Bavarian capital will see heavy security in the
coming days because the three-day Munich Security Conference, an annual
gathering of international foreign and security policy officials, opens
on Friday. US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky are both scheduled to attend.The car incident occurred around
1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from the security conference venue.Security has
been in sharp focus in Germany ahead of a federal election next week and
following a string of violent attacks.
IDF says Iran smuggling
cash to Hezbollah on civilian planes through Beirut airport-Military has
passed information to US-led committee supervising Lebanon ceasefire,
assesses some transfers succeeded, vows to ‘use all tools at its
disposal’ to enforce agreement By Emanuel Fabian-Today, 11:48 am-FEB
13,25
Iran has been smuggling cash to Hezbollah via Beirut’s
international airport in recent weeks, according to the Israel Defense
Forces, which has passed the information on to a US-led committee
supervising the ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanon-based terror
group.In a post on X on Thursday, the IDF’s Arabic-language
spokesperson, Col. Avichay Adraee, said the cash has been smuggled by
the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force to Hezbollah using civilian
flights. The money is being used by the Iran-backed terror group to
rebuild itself, according to the IDF.Adraee said that the IDF has been
in contact with a US-led committee supervising the November 27 ceasefire
and was regularly updating it with “relevant information in order to
foil these transfers.”
US intel assesses Israel mulling strikes
on Iran nuclear sites this year — reports-Two dossiers prepared for
Biden and Trump administrations both found Israel sees opportunity to
hit a weakened Iran-By ToI Staff Today, 11:43 am-FEB 13,25
The US
intelligence community recently presented assessments that Israel is
considering strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, and that the attacks
could come this year, according to Wednesday reports.The Washington Post
report that a preemptive attack on Iran’s nuclear program could come by
midyear. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. The White
House declined to comment. The Post says the Israeli government, CIA,
Defense Intelligence Agency and Office of the Director of National
Intelligence declined to comment.The most comprehensive of the
intelligence reports came in early January and was produced by the
intelligence directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Defense
Intelligence Agency, the Post said. It assessed that Israel was likely
to attempt an attack on Iran’s Fordo and Natanz nuclear
facilities.Officials in Israel and the US refused to comment.Meanwhile,
The Wall Street Journal also reported on the files, citing two sources
familiar with the developments. One assessment, including the 2025
timeframe, was presented during the last days of the Biden
administration, it said.A second intelligence report provided in the
first days of the Trump administration also said that Israel was mulling
strikes on Iran, one of the sources said.The first analysis said Israel
would likely press the Trump administration to support the strikes,
seeing the incoming Republican as more amenable to military action, two
sources with knowledge of the assessment said.According to the report,
during the transition from Biden to Trump, some members of the latter’s
staff considered having US forces join an Israeli attack.The Prime
Minister’s Office and the Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on
the report, as did the Directorate of National Intelligence and the
National Security Council in the US.On Thursday, Iranian President
Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran’s enemies may be able to strike the
country’s nuclear centers but cannot deprive it of its ability to build
new ones.Iran, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, insists its
nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. However, the UN nuclear
watchdog IAEA has said that Iran is currently enriching uranium to
levels that have no civilian use, and the country has obstructed
international inspectors seeking to visit its facilities.In addition,
The New York Times reported earlier this month that American
intelligence indicates a covert team of Iranian scientists was exploring
ways to quickly develop a nuclear weapon if the country’s leadership
decided to pursue one.Some Israeli officials have indicated a desire to
hit Iran, seeing a ripe opportunity given the damage Israel has
inflicted on Iran and its proxies since the start of the Gaza war in
2023.War erupted on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group
Hamas led a devastating invasion of southern Israel that killed 1,200
people, mostly civilians. The next day, Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon
began attacking across Israel’s northern border. As Israel battled
Hamas in Gaza and responded to Hezbollah’s rocket fire, Iran-backed
Houthis rebels also began firing drones and ballistic missiles at
Israel.In September Israel launched a major campaign against Hezbollah,
decimating the terror group’s leadership and depleted its fighting
abilities. A ceasefire was reached at the end of November. Hezbollah was
long seen as a deterrent to an Israeli strike on Iran, due to the
threat of its massive missile arsenal, but the war left it with greatly
diminished capabilities.Meanwhile, Israel bombed the Houthi rebels in
Yemen — demonstrating its ability to strike even further than Iran — and
in Syria, the Iran-aligned Assad regime was ousted by rebels who have
since courted the West.In spillover from the fighting, Iran twice fired
massive missile and drone barrages at Israel which were largely thwarted
by air defenses, in cooperation with the US and its regional
allies.Israel responded with two rounds of strikes on Iran, the second
of which, in October, destroyed much of the Islamic Republic’s air
defense systems as well as some key military facilities while
demonstrating Israel’s ability to operate uninhibited over Iranian
airspace.At the time, then-US president Joe Biden reportedly urged
Israel against hitting nuclear sites.By contrast, Strategic Affairs
Minister Ron Dermer reportedly left a November meeting with
then-president-elect Donald Trump believing he would either support an
Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities or direct a
US strike on those sites himself.In November last year, Defense Minister
Israel Katz said, “Iran today is more exposed than ever to damage to
its nuclear facilities.“There is a chance of achieving the most
important goal, to thwart and remove the threat of annihilation from
hanging over the State of Israel,” he said.Trump has since said he wants
to negotiate a solution but has also reimposed his maximum pressure
strategy of strict sanctions on Iran, which in return has said it wants
to reach a diplomatic solution.On Monday, Trump expressed his confidence
that a deal can be reached with Iran to curb its nuclear program and
prevent it from producing a bomb.“I think we’re gonna make a deal in
Iran,” he told Fox News. “I think they’re scared. I think Iran would
love to make a deal and I would love to make a deal with them without
bombing them.“Everyone thinks Israel, with our help or our approval,
will go in and bomb the hell out of ’em. I would prefer that not
happen,” he told the cable network.
Interior minister orders 3
Palestinians to be deported for alleged terror support-Moshe Arbel says
the three East Jerusalem residents have all expressed backing for
terrorism and have family members who carried out attacks-By ToI Staff
Today, 3:09 am-FEB 13,25
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel announced
Wednesday that he intends to deport three East Jerusalem Palestinians
who are family members of terrorists and have allegedly expressed
support for terrorism.“I have decided to exercise my authority under the
law and act to deport three terror supporters, who are family members
of terrorists and chose to side with the enemy in time of war and
support the harm to Israeli citizens,” Arbel told the Israel Hayom
daily.“Anyone who incites, praises, and supports terror has no place
among us. I will continue to act decisively against anyone who threatens
Israeli citizens,” he added.In November 2024, the Knesset passed a law
permitting the deportation of family members of terrorists and the
incarceration of terror convicts under the age of 14.The controversial
law gives the interior minister the power to expel a first-degree
relative of someone who carried out an attack if they had advance
knowledge, and either failed to report the matter to the police or
“expressed support or identification with an act of terrorism or
published words of praise, sympathy or encouragement for an act of
terrorism or a terrorist organization.”The three Palestinians who Arbel
intends to deport are East Jerusalem residents Muhammad Abu Halwa,
Tansim Odeh, and Zina Barber, none of whom are Israeli
citizens.According to Arbel’s announcement, Abu Halwa is affiliated with
Hamas and was indicted last August for incitement and identifying with
the terror organization. His brother carried out a stabbing attack in
October 2023 against a Border Police officer in East Jerusalem.Arbel
said Odeh had expressed support for terrorism several different times
the past three years, and that her father was behind a bombing in
October 2022 that injured multiple soldiers.The minister said Zina
Barber was to be deported for having”directly called for terrorism,
provided services to a terrorist organization, expressed identification
with a terrorist organization, and incited terrorism.”“Her father is a
convicted terrorist as a member of a terrorist cell who drove a car bomb
in the early 2000s in the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem, and
was sentenced to 20 years in prison for this,” he added.
PM
reportedly says 'no point' in discussing deal's 2nd phase-Israel said to
tell Hamas ceasefire can continue if three hostages freed on
Saturday-‘We’re working hard with mediators to get the deal back on
track,’ senior Israeli official quoted saying; report claims talks
between Egypt and Hamas ‘headed toward a breakthrough’ By Lazar
Berman-Today, 1:50 am-FEB 13,25
Israel has reportedly sent a
message to Hamas through mediators Egypt and Qatar that the hostage
release-ceasefire deal will continue if the terror group releases three
more hostages on Saturday.The message, which was first reported
Wednesday by the Walla news site, came a day after Israel put out a
series of conflicting statements, including by Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, which said Hamas must release “our hostages,” “9 hostages,”
and “all of them” for the ceasefire to continue.On Tuesday, the premier
declared that “if Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon,
the ceasefire will end,” and that the security cabinet “welcomed [US
President Donald] Trump’s demand for the release of our hostages.”A day
earlier, Trump called for all hostages to be released by the terror
group by Saturday, but Netanyahu’s statement, along with the statements
from various Israeli officials, did not explicitly call for all hostages
to be released.“We are working hard with the mediators to get the deal
back on track,” a senior Israeli official told Walla, while adding that
as of Wednesday the agreement appeared less at risk of collapse than the
day before.A report by Qatari-owned outlet Al-Araby Al Jadeed quoted
Egyptian sources saying that “things headed toward a breakthrough,”
after a meeting between Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad and a
Hamas delegation in Cairo.The Hamas delegation is headed by deputy
politburo chief Khalil al-Hayya.Efforts by Qatar and Egypt, as well as
US special envoy Steve Witkoff, have resolved some of the outstanding
issues, said the Al Araby Al Jadeed.The sources added that a list of
international organizations have been approved to bring fuel and medical
equipment into the Gaza Strip, but Israel has yet to give the green
light to bringing in caravans and more tents.If Israel gives its
approval for the caravans on Thursday, the sources said, there is time
for Hamas to announce on Friday the names of the three hostages to be
released the next day.Earlier this week, Hamas said it was freezing
hostage releases until further notice over alleged Israeli violations of
the deal, including restricting the entry of some aid items such as
tents to enter Gaza.‘No point in discussing second phase’Israeli
television meanwhile reported that Netanyahu told Tuesday’s cabinet
meeting that there was no point in discussing the second phase of the
hostage deal at the moment, while the fate of the first stage was still
up in the air.“There is no point in discussing the second phase because
it is just a hypothetical issue at the moment,” Netanyahu was quoted by
Channel 13 news as saying in leaked remarks from the closed-door
meeting.The report said the meeting did not otherwise address the second
phase, which is expected to see Hamas release all the remaining living
hostages in return for an end of hostilities.The three-stage ceasefire
agreement, reached last month, halted some 15 months of fighting
triggered by the group’s October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, when
Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.The
deal requires Hamas to release all the hostages, Israel to release
several thousand Palestinian security prisoners — including hundreds of
terror convicts serving life sentences — and a halt to fighting in the
Strip, followed by negotiations for a “sustainable calm” and IDF
withdrawal from the enclave.The three-week-old truce, only halfway
through its first stage, has come under immense strain in recent days
following Hamas’s announcement that it was pausing the hostage releases.
Negotiations for the second and third stages have formally begun.Also
Wednesday, Channel 12 reported that during the cabinet meeting,
ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Strock from the far-right Religious
Zionism party demanded that if Hamas fails to release the three hostages
scheduled to go free on Saturday, Israel should round up and rearrest
hundreds of the Palestinian prisoners it has so far freed under the
deal.The report said security officials balked at the demand, saying
such a move was hasty and could endanger the lives of the hostages.The
proposal was rejected by the cabinet, the report added.
Upending
US policy on Ukraine, Trump says he and Putin agreed to start talks to
end war-US president says he and Russian leader agreed in a phone call
to work closely to wrap up conflict, potentially meet in person; Hegseth
says Ukraine NATO membership ‘unrealistic’ By Matthew Lee, Eric Tucker
and Zeke Miller 12 February 2025, 11:35 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — US
President Donald Trump upended three years of US policy toward Ukraine
on Wednesday, saying that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had
agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war following a dramatic
prisoner swap.Trump said in a social media post that he and Putin held a
lengthy phone call during which they committed to “work together, very
closely” to bring the conflict to an end and would meet in person,
including perhaps in each other’s countries.It was unclear how closely
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be involved. Trump held a
phone call with him Wednesday, Ukrainian presidential adviser Dmytro
Lytvyn said, characterizing it as a “good conversation.”However, in a
blow to Ukraine’s aspirations, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at
NATO headquarters in Brussels that NATO membership was unrealistic for
Ukraine and that any security guarantees for Ukraine would have to be
borne by European countries.The Biden administration had joined other
NATO members since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in vowing
that membership in the alliance was “inevitable.”White House press
secretary Karoline Leavitt said during her briefing on Wednesday that
Trump and Zelensky “spoke at great length,” adding, “It’s time to stop
this ridiculous war.”Leavitt added of the call between Trump and Putin
and Trump’s call with Zelensky: “They were very good calls. They were
very positive.”She was asked specifically about Ukraine’s NATO
membership and the Trump administration’s views on that but said she’d
not talked to Trump about it.Leavitt said Trump views Putin and Russia
as “a great competitor in the region. At times an adversary,” but added
that Trump enjoys “finding common ground” while always seeking to
demonstrate strength.Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco
Rubio, and Trump’s special Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Gen. Keith
Kellogg, will all be in Germany later this week for the annual Munich
Security Conference, which Zelensky will also attend. Leavitt said
discussions will continue then.In the meantime, Trump’s announcement
appeared to dismantle the Biden-era mantra that Kyiv would be a full
participant in any decisions made. “Nothing about Ukraine without
Ukraine,” Biden and his top national security aides said
repeatedly.Wednesday’s Trump-Putin call and resulting policy sea change
followed a prisoner swap in which Russia released American schoolteacher
Marc Fogel of Pennsylvania after more than three years of detention in
return for convicted Russian criminal Alexander Vinnik.“We each talked
about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit
that we will someday have in working together,” Trump said in a social
media post disclosing details about the call. “But first, as we both
agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War
with Russia/Ukraine.”Trump said they also “agreed to have our respective
teams start negotiations immediately” and would be alerting Zelensky to
their conversation. He appointed Rubio, CIA director John Ratcliffe,
national security advisor Michael Waltz, and his special Mideast envoy
Steven Witkoff to lead those talks.White House officials later declined
to clarify whether Ukraine would be a party to the US
negotiations.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the conversation
between Trump and Putin covered a good deal of ground, including the
Middle East and Iran in addition to Ukraine, which was the main
focus.Peskov said that Trump called for a quick cessation of hostilities
and a peaceful settlement and that “President Putin, in his turn,
emphasized the need to remove the root causes of the conflict and agreed
with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peace
talks.”“The Russian president supported one of the main theses of the US
president that the time has come for our two countries to work
together,” Peskov told reporters. “The Russian president invited the US
president to visit Moscow and expressed readiness to host US officials
in Russia for issues of mutual interest, naturally including Ukraine,
the Ukrainian settlement.”Meanwhile, Zelensky sought to put a brave face
on what many in Ukraine will see as a major disappointment. In a social
media post, he said he had had “a meaningful conversation with” Trump
that included discussion of “opportunities to achieve peace” and Kyiv’s
“readiness to work together at the team level, and Ukraine’s
technological capabilities—including drones and other advanced
industries.”“I am grateful to President Trump,” he said.The White House
described the prisoner swap as evidence of a diplomatic thaw that could
advance negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine. Leavitt didn’t
comment on whether Ukraine came up on the prisoner swap.Fogel, an
American history teacher who was deemed wrongfully detained by Russia,
was arrested in August 2021 for possession of marijuana and was serving a
14-year prison sentence. He had been left out of previous prisoner
swaps with Russia that were negotiated by the Biden
administration.Vinnik — the other person involved, according to two US
officials — was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the US on
cryptocurrency fraud charges and was later extradited to the United
States, where he pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money
laundering.He is currently in custody in California awaiting transport
to return to Russia, the officials said. The Kremlin confirmed that a
Russian citizen was freed in the United States in exchange for Fogel but
refused to identify him until he arrived in Russia.Trump had welcomed
Fogel at the White House on Tuesday evening after his return to US soil
on Witkoff’s personal plane. On Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he
spoke with Putin about Fogel and didn’t say what the United States had
provided in exchange for Fogel’s release.Speaking to reporters at the
White House on Tuesday, Trump suggested that Fogel’s release could help
anchor a peace deal on Ukraine, saying: “We were treated very nicely by
Russia, actually. I hope that’s the beginning of a relationship where we
can end that war.”
Israel Antiquities Authority rejects bid to
put it in charge of West Bank antiquities-Professionals warn that bill
extending Israeli law over West Bank may strengthen claims of de facto
annexation, would not solve neglect and looting threatening
archaeological sites-By Rossella Tercatin 12 February 2025, 11:16 pm
The
Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has rejected the idea of receiving
responsibility for antiquities in the West Bank as proposed in a bill
introduced by Likud MK Amit Halevi. As a result, Halevi has presented an
amendment to the bill to establish a new body under the authority of
the Heritage Ministry to fulfill this purpose.“The aim of this law is
giving the State of Israel direct responsibility over the antiquities in
the West Bank and creating the entity that will take care of it
practically, in light of the concerns expressed by the Antiquities
Authority,” Halevi said during a meeting of the Knesset Education,
Culture and Sports Committee on Tuesday.“I would have been happy to task
the Antiquities Authority with this responsibility, but in light of
their opposition, this is the solution we found,” he added.The authority
for managing archaeological sites and preserving relics in the West
Bank currently resides with the archaeology unit in the Civil
Administration, Israel’s governing body in the territory, which is
headed by a military office.The bill presented by Halevi aimed to alter
this arrangement and bring in the civilian IAA.However, the IAA said in a
statement to the committee that the proposed law “could cause
significant damage to the academic ties of the Israel Antiquities
Authority and the State of Israel with international bodies and damage
its professional reputation.”The responsibility over the archaeological
sites in the West Bank has been a hotly contested issue for
decades.According to the Civil Administration’s Archaeology Unit
website, the area contains over 2,600 archaeological sites spanning
various historical periods and cultural influences, including Jewish,
Christian, Muslim, and pre-biblical civilizations.Some of the sites also
happen to be among the most significant in Jewish history, such as the
Qumran Caves, where the Death Sea Scrolls were found, the capital of the
Kingdom of Israel Sebastia, and Shiloh, the most important religious
center before the Temple of Jerusalem was built, as well as several
Hasmonean fortresses.Many sites have been subject to constant looting,
damage and neglect, as often denounced by right-wing organizations, as
well as many archaeologists.At the same time, Palestinians and Israeli
human rights groups have repeatedly accused Israel of using archaeology
as a political tool, often employed to seize land from the local
Palestinian population or to disconnect them from universal cultural
heritage.During the committee meeting, IAA Chief Scientist Dr. Gideon
Avni acknowledged the poor status of the antiquities in the West Bank
due to neglect and damage. Still, he argued that transferring the
responsibility for the sites to the IAA would not help because the Staff
Officer for Archaeology is more effective than what the authority could
be.“The IAA has been working in cooperation with the Civil
Administration’s Archaeology Unit for years, and if the Staff Officer
for Archaeology were under the IAA, his power would be diminished,” Avni
said.Staff Officer for Archeology, Benny Har Even, also attended the
meeting and warned that the bill could backfire.“The most important
thing is to protect our antiquities,” he said. “We should discuss the
powers that this directorate needs to be given so that it can perform
the most important work in the most challenging region.”Har Even
described the situation of the archaeological sites in the West Bank as
“a terrorist attack against antiquities and Jewish history.”“The
decision [regarding what to do] has to be made in full coordination with
the IDF, which gives us the ability in the field to reach these
antiquities without dangers,” he noted. “I’m afraid we’ll shoot
ourselves in the foot.”The representatives of the Justice Ministry also
expressed reservations about the bill, warning against possible claims
of a de facto annexation that would raise alarm with the international
community.“The legislation is inconsistent with the long-standing policy
of the State of Israel and presents sensitivities at the international
level,” said Natalie Assaf from the Justice Ministry. “To this day,
Israel has chosen to manage the Judea and Samaria in this manner
[through the Civil Administration], and therefore, the bill can
strengthen claims regarding annexation [of the West Bank].”Halevi,
however, was not deterred.“The Israeli law on antiquities will be
applied in Judea and Samaria, period,” he said, using the biblical name
for the West Bank. “This is the position of the government, this is the
position of the majority in the Knesset, and this is what will happen, I
hope, during the current [Knesset] term.”Charlie Summers contributed to
this report.
US said to accept IDF request to remain in 5 south
Lebanon posts after Feb. 18 deadline-Israel had reportedly asked to stay
for an additional 10 days; Lebanese president insists Israel stick to
existing date; IDF again warns Lebanese not to return to homes in
south-By ToI Staff and Reuters 12 February 2025, 11:00 pm
The
United States has reportedly authorized a “long-term” Israeli troop
presence in southern Lebanon, as Israel is said to be seeking an
extension to a February 18 deadline to withdraw its forces.Under a truce
deal brokered by Washington in November, Israeli troops were granted 60
days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, where they had waged a ground
offensive against fighters from Lebanon’s armed group Hezbollah since
early October.Hezbollah operatives were to leave the zone and Lebanese
troops were to deploy in the area within the same period.The initial
deadline was already extended from January 26 until February 18. A
Lebanese official and a foreign diplomat in Lebanon told Reuters on
Wednesday that Israel has asked to remain in five posts in the south for
a further 10 days, until February 28.The Kan public broadcaster later
cited senior officials in Israel’s security cabinet as saying that the
US had granted Israeli troops permission to stay “in several locations”
in Lebanon beyond February 18. It did not specify a new deadline.Kan
said that the IDF has begun establishing the five outposts where it
would like to remain after receiving approval from Washington.The
request to remain in those five outposts came after the US rejected
previous requests for the IDF to extend the deadline, Kan said.While
establishing the new outposts, IDF forces are withdrawing from nearby
Shiite villages, including in southeast Lebanon and the Mount Dov area,
according to Kan.The withdrawals come as the Israeli security
establishment has identified efforts by Hezbollah to reestablish its
intelligence-gathering capabilities in southern Lebanon, the network
said.The US, Israel’s closest military ally, chairs a committee that
oversees the implementation of the Lebanon ceasefire.Later on Wednesday,
Israel’s military jets broke the sound barrier over the Lebanese
capital, Beirut, for the first time since the ceasefire was agreed.There
was no immediate response to a request for comment sent to Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, but the head of the Israeli
military’s Northern Command said he believed the terms of the deal would
be executed.“I think we will indeed reposition ourselves next week, and
the agreement will be implemented,” Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin said during a
conference in memorial of those killed in the 1997 Israeli helicopter
disaster on Wednesday, according to Army Radio.The IDF’s Arabic-language
spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, said in a post on X on Wednesday that
Israeli troops remained in Lebanon after the first extension and ordered
Lebanese citizens not to return to their homes in the country’s south
“until further notice.” Adraee has published the same message every few
days since the extension to the ceasefire began.In a written statement,
Lebanon’s presidency denied reports that Beirut had agreed to a second
extension and said President Joseph Aoun had “repeatedly stressed
Lebanon’s insistence on the complete withdrawal” of Israeli troops by
February 18.Israeli forces have remained in parts of southern Lebanon,
and its air force has continued to carry out strikes across the country
on what it says are Hezbollah weapons stores or attempts by the group to
smuggle arms.Hezbollah has said it does not accept Israel’s
justifications for staying in Lebanon and has urged Lebanon’s government
to ensure the troops leave. The group has not explicitly threatened to
resume fighting.Separately, Wednesday, the Education Ministry said it
would reopen schools and educational facilities for residents of
northern Israel who were evacuated amid the conflict with Hezbollah.The
ministry said in a statement that schools will be open from March 2, by a
government decision to let residents return from the start of the
month.“Every student who will return to the north will be integrated
into an educational framework that is suitable to them,” the ministry
said.Israel asked the Trump administration on Monday for another
extension to the February 18 deadline, a US official told The Times of
Israel. The response from Washington was that it was planning to stick
to the deadline, said the US official, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity Tuesday to discuss the matter.Channel 12 reported similar
details, adding that Israel had reiterated to the US its claim that the
Lebanese army was not effectively deployed in south Lebanon, as the
terms of the ceasefire said it would, and was not preventing Hezbollah
from reorganizing. Israel has warned that Hezbollah aims to return to
the border area as soon as IDF troops depart.US deputy Mideast envoy
Morgan Ortagus traveled to Lebanon and then Israel over the weekend to
survey the progress of the US-mediated ceasefire between Israel and
Hezbollah that ended the war that spiraled from border attacks by the
Iran-backed Lebanese terror group. Ortagus told reporters that the Trump
administration views February 18 as a “firm date” for the completion of
Israel’s withdrawal.Israel’s military says its forces have continued to
uncover and seize Hezbollah weapons in prohibited areas and that the
Lebanese army is not keeping its part of the deal.Under the ceasefire
agreement, Israel is entitled to act against immediate threats posed by
Hezbollah but must forward complaints about longer-term threats to an
oversight committee composed of representatives from the US, France,
Lebanon, and the international observer force UNIFIL.The November 27
deal ended two months of full-scale war that followed months of
lower-intensity exchanges. Hezbollah began near-daily attacks on
northern Israel one day after the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by
its Palestinian ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza. Tens of
thousands of Israeli residents of the north were displaced by the
attacks, with rocket fire eventually spreading to the center of the
country.Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in September,
launching a series of devastating blows against the group’s leadership
and killing its longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah before launching a
ground invasion in southern Lebanon aimed at securing the border and
enabling the return of displaced Israelis.Israel insists that Hezbollah
be kept away from the boundary between the two countries to make the
region safe for its northern border residents.Like their patron, Iran,
Hamas and Hezbollah avowedly seek the destruction of Israel.Jacob Magid
contributed to this report.
Big win for Trump’: US welcomes PA
prisoner payment reform, which Israel dismissed-State Department
spokesperson tells ToI decree signed by Abbas ‘appears to be positive
step,’ Washington will monitor its implementation; EU envoy voices
similar cautious optimism By Jacob Magid-12 February 2025, 10:38 pm
US
President Donald Trump’s administration welcomes the decree signed by
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to end Ramallah’s prisoner
payment program, a State Department spokesperson told The Times of
Israel on Wednesday.The statement represented the first response from
Washington to the PA announcement after two days of silence.It also
appeared to amount to a notable break with Israel, which had quickly
dismissed the reform.“This appears to be a positive step and a big win
for the administration,” the State Department spokesperson said. “We
welcome any and all steps to end this abhorrent practice.”“We will
monitor how the law is implemented over the coming weeks and months and
will verify that the practice has ended,” the statement to The Times of
Israel continued. “We look forward to consulting with the Palestinian
Authority and the Israeli government on this development.”The decree
signed by Abbas canceled legislation that conditioned welfare payments
to Palestinian security prisoners on the length of their sentences in
Israeli jails, in addition to providing stipends to the families of
terrorists killed while carrying out attacks.The decree states that
families of prisoners and slain attackers who require welfare assistance
will be eligible for stipends based solely on their financial needs, as
is the case with other Palestinians.Successive US administrations
sought to coax the PA into reforming the policy but were met with
pushback from Ramallah, which lionizes the thousands of Palestinians
currently in Israeli jails, arguing that many of them are there
unjustly.The Biden administration managed to make significant progress
on the effort, and the reform was largely finalized late last year.
However, Ramallah chose to hold off on announcing the initiative until
after Trump’s election as a gesture of goodwill to the new
administration.The European Union’s Mideast envoy Sven Koopmans voiced
similarly cautious optimism to that heard from the Trump
administration.“The EU has long and vocally argued for fundamental
reform by the Palestinian Authority of the ‘prisoner payment’ system.
The publication of such reform, while we must study the details, is very
welcome news at a very difficult time,” Koopmans tweeted.The response
in Jerusalem was far less excited, with the Foreign Ministry on Monday
calling the decree “a new fraudulent exercise by the PA, which intends
to continue making payments to terrorists and their families through
other channels.”Israeli law requires the government to conduct a review
of the PA’s prisoner payment system at the beginning of every calendar
year, so Jerusalem could theoretically wait until early 2026 before
deciding whether Ramallah complies with Knesset legislation targeting
the PA over its controversial stipends.The Trump administration may also
have different criteria for adjudicating the PA reform, even though it
was authorized by career legal bureaucrats under the previous
administration.Biden officials also briefed congressional lawmakers
about the reform last year and received support from both sides of the
aisle, including Republican Lindsey Graham, the second source
said.Ramallah presented the reform to the US near the beginning of the
previous administration, seeking to bring the PA into compliance with
the Taylor Force Act — 2018 congressional legislation that suspended US
aid to the PA as long as it continued granting the stipends.According to
the text of the decree, the program to allocate welfare funds will be
transferred from the Social Development Ministry to a fund called the
Palestinian National Foundation for Economic Empowerment.A strict
criteria system has been put in place to determine eligibility that will
be reviewed twice a year, a source familiar told The Times of Israel on
Monday.Many families of prisoners and slain attackers who were
receiving government stipends will continue to receive financial aid,
given the high poverty rate in the West Bank. This has only gone up
further since October 7, with Israel ending its permit system to over
100,000 Palestinians working in Israel and the settlements — a key
component of the West Bank’s economy.The practice of paying allowances
to those convicted of carrying out terror attacks and to the families of
those killed while carrying out attacks has been pilloried by critics
as incentivizing terror and held up by Israel as a symbol of PA
corruption and its inability to serve as a partner for peace.Palestinian
leaders have long defended the payments, describing them as a form of
social welfare and necessary compensation for victims of what they said
is Israel’s callous military justice system in the West Bank.Abbas
signed the decree as the US Supreme Court prepares to adjudicate a case
in the coming months on whether American victims can sue the PA and its
international arm, the Palestine Liberation Organization, for damages
due to Ramallah’s payments program.While the Biden administration
believed that the reform would bring the PA into compliance with the
Taylor Force Act, the US would still be barred from directly funding the
PA due to separate US legislation preventing such aid once Ramallah
began advancing investigations against Israel at the International
Criminal Court.However, the reform would still theoretically be
sufficient enough to enable the US to fund projects that directly
benefit the PA.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Hamas
claims ‘positive signs’ as Qatar, Egypt scramble to resolve Gaza truce
crisis-As Trump deadline looms, Witkoff warns of ‘big problem’ unless
‘something different occurring’ on hostages by Saturday; Sissi holds off
on scheduling White House visit, works on alternative Gaza plan By
Agencies, Jacob Magid-and Emanuel Fabian-12 February 2025, 8:21 pm
As
Israeli and American officials continued to threaten Hamas on
Wednesday, several reports said Egypt and Qatar were intensifying
efforts to save the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, with Cairo
and the Palestinian terror group reportedly optimistic that the impasse
could be solved.The ceasefire has looked increasingly fragile since
Hamas said this week it was postponing the release of any more Israeli
hostages held in Gaza until further notice, accusing Israel of violating
the terms of the ceasefire agreement. US President Donald Trump then
warned that “hell will break loose” if the hostages are not released by
noon on Saturday, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently
added that Israel will resume “intense fighting” if Hamas does not meet
the deadline.While Netanyahu did not specify whether Hamas had to
release all remaining hostages, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East
Steve Witkoff warned Wednesday that there would be “a big problem” if
they weren’t released by Trump’s deadline.“Hamas is a terrorist
organization. They should not be allowed to be part of the government in
Gaza. This is an unhealthy situation; they need to go,” Witkoff told
reporters.“The president said all that we all need to know, which is
Saturday, 12 o’clock he expects there to be something different
occurring, and if it’s not there’s going to be a big problem,” he
said.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Israel could
not allow Hamas to use a ceasefire in Gaza to rearm, appearing to back a
potential resumption of fighting.Jerusalem also reiterated the threat
of a renewal of the war, with Defense Minister Israel Katz warning that
if Hamas does not release Israeli hostages by Saturday, “the gates of
hell will open, just as the US president promised.”“If Hamas stops the
release of the hostages, then there is no agreement, and there is a
war,” he said during a visit to the IDF Operations Directorate’s command
center.Katz vowed that renewed fighting in Gaza “will be different in
its intensity compared to before the ceasefire, and will not end without
the defeat of Hamas and release all the hostages, and will also allow
the realization of US President Trump’s vision for Gaza.”Egyptian
sources told Reuters that Qatar and Egypt were in discussions with Hamas
and Israel to prevent the cancellation of the ceasefire deal and to
ensure its completion.Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera news TV said
the pressure by the mediators was intensifying, citing an Egyptian
source.A Palestinian source told AFP that Qatar and Egypt were “working
extensively” to resolve the crisis, adding that the Arab mediators were
in touch with the Trump administration as part of their effort.A Hamas
delegation arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to continue ceasefire talks,
the terror group said in a statement.An Egyptian official with knowledge
of the talks told AP that the two sides were close to an agreement. The
official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private
negotiations, said Israel had committed to delivering more tents,
shelters and heavy equipment to Gaza.An official with Hamas, Mahmoud
Merdawi, cited “positive signals” that the hostages would be released on
Saturday, the news agency said. But he cautioned that the group had yet
to receive the guarantees it seeks from Israel regarding the delivery
of humanitarian aid.Egypt and Qatar, alongside the United States,
brokered the deal that took effect on January 19 after more than a year
of extensive diplomatic efforts.Sixteen Israeli hostages have been
released since, out of 33 on a list to be freed in the 42-day first
phase of the deal. In all, Hamas is holding 73 of the 251 hostages it
abducted on October 7, 2023; some 30 of them are believed to be
alive.“They are working intensively to resolve the crisis and compel
Israel to implement the humanitarian protocol in the ceasefire agreement
and begin negotiations for the second phase,” added the unnamed
Palestinian source. Israel has denied violations of the ceasefire,
including claims that it has limited aid in Gaza.On Tuesday, United
Nations humanitarian aid officials reported there has been a spike in
deliveries since the ceasefire started, but did not provide specific
details that could settle the spat between Israel and Hamas.The
three-stage ceasefire agreement, reached last month, halted some 15
months of fighting triggered by the group’s October 7, 2023, invasion of
Israel, when Hamas-led terrorists slaughtered some 1,200 people, most
of them civilians, and took 251 hostages.The deal requires Hamas to
release all its hostages, Israel to release several thousand Palestinian
security prisoners — including hundreds of terror convicts serving life
sentences — and a halt to fighting in the Strip, followed by
negotiations for a “sustainable calm” and IDF withdrawal from the
enclave.The three-week-old truce, only halfway through its first stage,
has come under immense strain in recent days following Hamas’s
announcement.Hamas praises Jordan and Egypt for opposing Gazans’
relocation-Meanwhile, Hamas praised Jordan and Egypt on Wednesday for
their repeated rejections of Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and displace
its population to the two neighboring countries.The terror group said
in a separate statement that the Jordanian and Egyptian positions
“confirm that there is an Arab plan to reconstruct Gaza without
displacing its people.”The US plan was at the top of the agenda during
Trump’s Tuesday Oval Office meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah, who
sought to cautiously repel the idea without upsetting Trump.He announced
that Amman would take in 2,000 sick Gazan children — a figure that
amounts to 0.1% of the Strip’s population.“That’s music to my ears,”
said a gratified Trump, who still proceeded to raise the idea of using
“parcels of land” in Egypt and Jordan to house Palestinians.Abdullah
responded that he’d have to do what was best for his country, adding
that Arab countries, led by Egypt, were putting together their plan for
the rehabilitation of Gaza.Hours later, the Egyptian foreign ministry
announced that it would soon be presenting its plan for a “comprehensive
vision for the reconstruction” of the Gaza Strip that ensures
Palestinians remain on the territory.Egypt announced earlier this week
it would hold an “emergency Arab summit” on February 27 addressing
Trump’s plan.Notably, the White House readout on the meeting between
Trump and Abdullah made no direct mention of Trump’s desire for Jordan
to take in Palestinians.“The two leaders also discussed the President’s
goal of ensuring that Gaza is rebuilt beautifully after the conflict
ends and providing options for the people of Gaza that allow them to
live in security and dignity, and free of Hamas’s tyranny,” it
said.Trump asked Jordan’s King Abdullah to help ensure that Hamas
understands “the severity of the situation” if the terror group does not
release the hostages by Saturday, the readout added. Abdullah is not
known to have noteworthy contacts with Hamas.“The president reiterated
that Hamas must release all hostages, including all Americans, by
Saturday, and asked for the King’s assistance in ensuring that Hamas, as
well as the leaders of the region, understand the severity of the
situation,” the US readout added.Trump extended a White House invitation
to Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, with onlookers believing
the visit would come shortly after that of AbdullaBut such a sit-down
has yet to be scheduled, apparently as Cairo seeks to finalize its Gaza
plan first.An unconfirmed report from Reuters citing anonymous Egyptian
security sources claimed Wednesday that Sissi would not travel to
Washington if Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza remains on
the agenda — a likely unrealistic expectation, given that Trump has
repeatedly stood by the plan.Sissi and Abdullah held a phone call on
Wednesday, during which they reiterated their stance that Gaza should be
rebuilt without displacing Palestinians, according to Egypt’s
presidency.“The two leaders affirmed the unity of the Egyptian and
Jordanian positions, including the necessity of the full implementation
of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, the continued release of
hostages and prisoners and facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid,”
the Egyptian readout said, stressing the need for the “immediate start
of the reconstruction process in the Gaza Strip, without displacing the
Palestinian people from their land.”The aversion to Trump’s plan is
widespread in the Arab world. The United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to
the United States, Yousef Al Otaiba, said on Wednesday that the US
approach to Gaza is “difficult.”“But at the end of the day, we’re all in
a solution-seeking business. We just don’t know where it’s going to
land yet,” he said during the World Governments Summit in Dubai.At the
summit, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit warned that if
Trump pressed ahead with his plan, he would lead the Middle East into a
new cycle of crises with a “damaging effect on peace and stability.”
Op-ed:
Day 495 of the war-Netanyahu and Abdullah are living in Trump’s world
now. Is Hamas? As Jordan’s king was praying for the Oval Office floor to
swallow him up, Israel’s PM was trying to work out how high the
president wanted him to jump. What about the bullies of Hamas? By David
Horovitz-12 February 2025, 4:55 pm
This Editor’s Note was sent
out earlier Wednesday in ToI’s weekly update email to members of the
Times of Israel Community. To receive these Editor’s Notes as they’re
released, join the ToI Community here.At last Tuesday’s Oval Office
briefing for the media, anticipating a fairly short session given that a
full press conference was scheduled for later in the day, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially appeared irritated that reporters
were being given time to shout barrages of questions at him and his
host, US President Donald Trump.“I would think that’s about enough,” he
said, early in what turned into a 14-minute Q and A. He next accused the
Israeli reporters in the room of taking over the event, and then
snapped, “I think that I should talk to President Trump,
okay?”Gradually, however, he realized that Trump was relishing the
moment and, moreover, was talking about “permanently” removing the
entire population of Gaza. If you look at the transcript, you’ll see
that Trump dominated the rest of the proceedings, with Netanyahu
contentedly taking a back seat.Flash forward a week, and the foreign
leader getting the Oval Office treatment this Tuesday was Jordan’s
Abdullah II. Unlike for Netanyahu, for the king the encounter was
nightmarish from start to finish.The lowest low point was probably when
Trump insisted that “we’ll have a parcel of land in Jordan… a parcel of
land in Egypt,” where the president’s exiled Gazans “are going to live
very happily and very safely.”“And is there a parcel of land in Jordan
that you’re willing to have Palestinians…?” Abdullah was naturally
asked.“Well, I think what we said, er, I have to look at the best
interests of my country,” managed the monarch, mustering language that
was about as defiant as he could dare when seated knee-to-knee with the
unpredictable leader of the free world, on whose support his monarchy
depends, and who is insisting he import large numbers of a potentially
destabilizing populace into his perpetually wobbling kingdom.Throughout
the ordeal, Abdullah looked like a particularly elegant fish flailing
hopelessly on the hook, features locked in a rictus grin, a nervous tic
highlighting his discomfort — his every sinew screaming, “Get me out of
here.”But Netanyahu is on Trump’s hook, too — as evidenced by the drama
that was playing out almost simultaneously in Jerusalem. As Abdullah was
heading to the White House, Israel’s security cabinet was meeting,
ostensibly in the wake of Hamas’s declaration on Monday that it was
halting until further notice the hostage releases to which it is
committed under the Gaza ceasefire. In fact, however, Netanyahu and his
senior ministers were trying to work out exactly what Trump meant by his
ultimatum to Hamas, issued Monday and repeated on Tuesday, to free “all
of the hostages” by noon Saturday or risk “hell” breaking out.It is, as
so often, somewhat unclear what Trump has in mind when it comes to the
unleashing of hell. It is hard to imagine what further hellishness could
be directed at Hamas in Gaza that would not also deeply harm those who
Trump has called the “wonderful” non-Hamas populace there and the very
hostages — 33 of whom are believed to be alive — for whose well-being
the president is profoundly concerned.But it is clear that Trump’s
admirable frustration with a deal under which hostages are “dribbling
in” from Gaza three at a time, looking like “Holocaust survivors,” is a
public rejection of the protracted phased framework that Netanyahu
approved and conveyed to the Biden administration in May, and that
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff finally got rolling last
month.Netanyahu and his coalition have refused since October 7 to
seriously contemplate a one-time deal involving the release of all
hostages in exchange for vast numbers of Palestinian security prisoners
and an end to the war. And the prime minister spent months — from May
2024 to January 2025 — condemning Hamas for rejecting his favored phased
framework, while furiously denying that he was preventing its
implementation. On Tuesday, however, Netanyahu and his ministers
sprinted to dissociate themselves from their own deal, in favor of
Trump’s “all of them, now” approach.As a succession of short, carefully
composed and ultimately contradictory statements were issued to the
media by one or more official sources who must not be named, and
Netanyahu issued a video statement of his own, all in the space of about
two hours, I wondered whether someone at the White House was calling
the Prime Minister’s Office after each utterance and saying,
increasingly testily, “Wrong, do it again.”We went from an anodyne
statement by the anonymous official source that ministers had
unanimously backed Trump’s hostage-release call and deadline; to a
specific demand, again conveyed by Mr. No Name, for the release of the
nine living hostages yet to be freed in phase one; to Netanyahu in
person warning that the ceasefire will end and intensive fighting resume
if “our hostages” are not freed by noon on Saturday; and then back to
Official X, finally uttering the “all” word: “Prime Minister Netanyahu
and the cabinet are sticking to US President Trump’s message about the
release of hostages: That is, that all of them will go out on
Shabbat.”Jump, Mr. President? Well, of course. But how high? More than
one security cabinet member is apparently of the opinion that the Trump
ultimatum, eventually endorsed on the fourth attempt, will work — at
least to some extent. According to an Army Radio report on Wednesday
morning, the expectation in the security cabinet is that Hamas will on
Saturday release more than the three hostages it is required to free
under the deal and whose release it had said it was freezing.It is worth
remembering that Trump’s similarly ominous and nonspecific threat of
hell breaking loose if the current deal was not signed and sealed by his
inauguration indeed produced the desired effect — albeit for a deal he
now denounces.A key question this time is what kind of leverage Trump
can exercise — or Hamas fears he could exercise — in support of his
commendable demand that all the hostages go free now.Plainly, he has
leverage over Qatar — which holds vulnerable assets in the US, is a
designated major non-NATO ally of the US, and hosts the largest US
military installation in the Middle East. It has for years enabled Hamas
to thrive financially. And it funds the Al Jazeera network that has
been intermittently outlawed by numerous US allies in the region and
beyond, and is currently banned by the Palestinian Authority (for
incitement) and Israel (as a threat to national security).But is he
prepared to use that leverage? He said at his Oval Office session with
Netanyahu that “Qatar is absolutely trying to help” on Gaza. And would
Hamas care if, in turn, Qatar tried to squeeze it?As is his way, Trump
was airily confident on Tuesday as regards Gaza’s terrorist monsters and
his ultimatum. “They want to play tough guy, but we’ll see how tough
they are,” he declared. “They’re bullies. Hamas is bullies. The weakest
people are bullies.”Just like King Abdullah, praying for the Oval Office
floor to open up and swallow him whole, so too Netanyahu, his
government and by extension the rest of us here are all living in
Trump’s world now. We’re about to find out whether Hamas is too.
BlackSky and Rocket Lab Set Launch Date for First Gen-3 Satellite-by Clarence Oxford.
Los
Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 12, 2025-BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) and
Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) have scheduled the launch of
BlackSky's first Gen-3 satellite, targeting a February 18 liftoff. The
mission, dubbed "Fasten Your Space Belts," will introduce advanced
35-centimeter resolution imaging, enhancing BlackSky's high-frequency,
low-latency geospatial intelligence and AI-powered analytics."This
launch represents a major inflection point for our global defense and
intelligence customer base as BlackSky introduces very high-resolution
Gen-3 capabilities to our high-frequency, low-latency monitoring
constellation," said Brian O'Toole, BlackSky CEO. "As more Gen-3
satellites complete production, we expect a regular cadence of
additional launches over the coming year."Rocket Lab's Electron launch
vehicle will deploy the Gen-3 satellite, continuing the long-standing
collaboration between the two companies. "Electron is a trusted and
reliable constellation builder for companies like BlackSky, allowing
them to be in control of how, when, and where to deploy their
constellation," said Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter Beck.
"BlackSky is one of our earliest and longest-standing commercial
satellite customers, and it's great to be heading back to the pad with
them once again to continue to advance and expand their
constellation."The ongoing deployment of Gen-3 satellites will enhance
BlackSky's constellation, ensuring greater imaging capacity and
operational flexibility. With these upgrades, BlackSky customers will be
able to leverage automated tools for detecting, identifying, and
classifying various objects of interest, including vehicles, aircraft,
and vessels. These capabilities are designed to support a broad range of
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations for
tactical and strategic applications.
Iran says will rebuild nuclear facilities if attacked-Tehran, Feb 13 (AFP) Feb 13, 2025
Iranian
President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday said his country would rebuild
its nuclear facilities if attacked, following US media reports that
Israel was likely to launch a strike on key Iranian nuclear sites."They
are threatening us that they will attack our Natanz nuclear facility.
Come and attack it. It is the brains of our children that built it,"
Pezeshkian said during a visit to the southern province of Bushehr."If
you destroy a hundred (nuclear facilities), our children will build a
thousand," he said, without directly referring to the US reports.The
Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing US intelligence, that
Israel was "likely to attempt a strike on Iran's Fordow and Natanz
nuclear facilities in the first six months of 2025".The report referred
to "two potential strike options, each involving the United States
providing support in the form of aerial refuelling as well as
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance".The Wall Street Journal
had earlier carried a similar report.The reports came as tensions soared
after US President Donald Trump reinstated his "maximum pressure"
policy over allegations that Iran is seeking to develop a nuclear
weapon. Tehran has consistently denied the allegations.At the same time,
Trump called for striking a deal with Iran."I would like a deal done
with Iran on non-nuclear. I would prefer that to bombing the hell out of
it," Trump told the New York Post on Friday, adding: "If we made the
deal, Israel wouldn't bomb them."Iran and Israel traded direct attacks
last year for the first time against the backdrop of soaring regional
tensions triggered by the Gaza war.On October 26, Israel bombed military
sites in Iran, killing four servicemen, in response to an October 1
barrage of about 200 missiles from Iran.Some analysts say Israel
inflicted severe damage on Iranian air defences and missile capacities
and could yet launch more wide-scale action against the Islamic
republic, while Iran denied any major damage to its facilities.On April
13, Iran sent drones and missiles in Israel, in retaliation for a deadly
April 1 attack on its Damascus consulate, blamed on Israel.
High
wind halts dismantling of Fukushima nuclear plant's water
tanks-Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Japan, Feb 13 (AFP) Feb 13,
2025
Gusty winds prevented the operator of Japan's crippled
Fukushima nuclear plant from starting to dismantle treated water tanks
on Thursday, a crucial step towards decommissioning the entire
facility.The "water tank dismantling has been postponed because of
strong winds", Tatsuya Matoba, a Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)
spokesperson, told AFP."The process could start from tomorrow depending
on weather conditions", he added.The step was seen as a milestone in
TEPCO's decades-long project to decommission the stricken plant in
northern Japan, which went into meltdown after it was hit by a
catastrophic tsunami in 2011.Officials were to have started the process
on Thursday to get rid of some of the tanks to clear space needed to
store nuclear debris to be extracted from the plant's reactors.TEPCO has
stored around 1.3 million tons of water -- a combination of
groundwater, seawater and rainwater -- at the site, along with water
used for cooling the reactors, since the 2011 accident.The water is
filtered to remove various radioactive materials but has remained inside
more than 1,000 tanks that occupy much of the plant.Scrapping the water
tanks became possible after TEPCO began releasing the stored water from
the plant into the Pacific Ocean in August 2023.After removing the
tanks, the utility plans to build facilities to store highly dangerous
molten fuel debris to be extracted from inside the reactors.
Europe warns Trump against Ukraine deal 'behind our backs'.
Brussels,
Belgium, Feb 13 (AFP) Feb 13, 2025-Blindsided Europeans warned Thursday
that a "dirty deal" between US President Donald Trump and Moscow on
ending the Ukraine war was doomed to fail -- insisting they and Kyiv
must have a seat at the negotiating table.Meeting NATO partners the day
after Trump revealed he had agreed to start peace talks with Russia's
Vladimir Putin, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth denied it meant a betrayal
of Kyiv's three-year war effort.But Trump's move stunned European allies
-- several of whom openly called his strategy into question.German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected any "dictated peace" and his defence
minister called it "regrettable" that Washington was already making
"concessions" to the Kremlin.In a blunt address to reporters at NATO
talks in Brussels, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas insisted that no deal
"behind our backs" could work, as she accused Washington of
"appeasement" towards Russia."We shouldn't take anything off the table
before the negotiations have even started because it plays to Russia's
court and it is what they want," she said."Any quick fix is a dirty
deal," she said. "It will just simply not work."- 'No betrayal' -After a
90-minute phone call with Putin, his first since returning to power,
Trump said he expected to meet the Russian leader in Saudi Arabia for
Ukraine peace talks -- sparking fears Kyiv would be frozen out.That came
after his administration poured cold water on Ukraine's goals of
reclaiming all its territory and pushing to join NATO's protective
umbrella."There is no betrayal there. There is a recognition that the
whole world and the United States is invested and interested in peace,"
Hegseth said at NATO."That will require both sides recognising things
they don't want to," added the US Defense Secretary.Trump, who has been
pushing for a quick end to the war, denied that Ukraine was being
excluded from direct negotiations between the two nuclear-armed
superpowers.The Kremlin said both leaders had agreed the "time has come
to work together," insisting it wanted to organise a face-to-face
meeting promptly and that broader European security should be on the
agenda.After speaking to Putin, the US president called Ukraine's
Volodymyr Zelensky and shared details of his talks with the Kremlin
leader.Ukraine's defence minister Rustem Umerov told Kyiv's NATO backers
"we're continuing, we're strong, we're capable, we're able, we will
deliver".Zelensky is set to meet US Vice President JD Vance at a
security conference in Munich on Friday to kick off negotiations.It will
be the latest in a flurry of high-level meetings after US Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent held talks in Kyiv on Wednesday on granting
Washington access to Ukraine's rare earth deposits in return for
security support.- 'Overwhelming share' -Trump's outreach to Putin had
been broadly expected, but the quick pace of his peace push has left
heads spinning after three years of staunch Western support for
Kyiv.Kyiv's European backers are terrified that Trump could force
Ukraine into a bad peace deal that will leave them facing an emboldened
Putin -- while fronting the lion's share of costs for post-war
security.Hegseth Wednesday laid out a string of US expectations to halt
the conflict, saying it was not realistic for Ukraine to regain all its
land or become a NATO member.He also said Europe must now start
providing the "overwhelming share" of aid to Ukraine and that the United
States would not deploy troops as a security guarantee under any
deal.In a statement on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of key European
powers including Germany, France, Poland and Britain said "Ukraine and
Europe must be part of any negotiations."Throughout Russia's war on
Ukraine since 2022 it has been a mantra for Western powers that there
should be no decisions taken on Ukraine's future without Kyiv.NATO chief
Mark Rutte on Thursday said it was crucial that Kyiv was "closely
involved" in any talks about what happens in Ukraine.Britain's defence
minister John Healey echoed that message."There can be no negotiation
about Ukraine without Ukraine, and Ukraine's voice must be at the heart
of any talks," he said.Rutte insisted that any potential peace deal had
to be "enduring", pointing to similar comments made earlier by
Hegseth.Russia's ally China meanwhile said it was "happy" to see the
United States and Russia "strengthen communication".
India, Pakistan exchange fire across Kashmir border: reports.
Srinagar,
India, Feb 13 (AFP) Feb 13, 2025-Indian and Pakistani troops have
exchanged fire across the heavily militarised Kashmir frontier that
divides the two archrivals, with at least four casualties reported by
the Pakistani side Thursday.Kashmir has been divided between the
neighbours since they were carved out of the Asian subcontinent at the
end of British colonial rule in 1947.Both nations claim it in full and
have fought two wars and numerous smaller battles over control of the
Himalayan territory.Pakistan state broadcaster PTV, citing unnamed
security sources, said Wednesday's incident injured two soldiers and two
civilians, all from that country.Unnamed Indian security officials told
broadcaster NDTV that Pakistani troops had fired unprovoked, prompting
India's forces to return fire.Pakistan's military declined to comment
when asked by AFP. India army officials did not respond to a request for
comment.The incident comes two days after two Indian army soldiers were
killed by an improvised explosive device in the region.A border
ceasefire agreement signed by the neighbours in 2003 has largely held in
the decades since, but both frequently accuse the other of breaching
it.Last month, India's army said its soldiers killed two rebel fighters
along the Kashmir border as they attempted to cross into the
Indian-administered territory.Several rebel groups have fought Indian
forces deployed in the territory, demanding independence for the
Muslim-majority region or its merger with Pakistan.Tens of thousands of
people have died in the conflict, most of them civilians.Fighting has
decreased since 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's
government imposed direct control of the territory from New Delhi after
cancelling its partial autonomy.But last year, thousands of additional
troops were deployed across the southern mountainous areas following a
series of deadly rebel attacks that left more than 50 soldiers dead in
three years.India regularly blames Pakistan for pushing rebels across
their shared frontier to launch attacks on Indian forces.Pakistan denies
the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir's struggle for
self-determination.
NATO faces 'moment of truth' on alliance's future: France.
Brussels,
Belgium, Feb 13 (AFP) Feb 13, 2025-NATO faces a moment of reckoning on
its future, as the United States and Russia set in motion negotiations
on ending the war in Ukraine, France's defence minister warned on
Thursday.Sebastien Lecornu said NATO allies needed to think long-term
and beef up their defence industries as Washington demands that Europe
take security into its own hands."It's a crucial moment of truth,"
Lecornu told reporters ahead of a NATO meeting in Brussels."People call
it the most important, the strongest military alliance in history.
That's historically true -- but the question is, will it still be true
10 or 15 years from now."US President Donald Trump on Wednesday
blindsided Ukraine and Washington's European allies by agreeing to
launch peace talks in his first publicly announced phone call with Putin
since returning to power.On Thursday, ahead of the Brussels NATO talks,
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth described the Ukraine conflict as
"a factory reset for NATO, a realization that this alliance needs to be
robust and strong and real".He echoed Trump's demands for allies to more
than double their defence spending target to five percent of GDP,
although he seemed to allow for some leeway suggesting growth could be
incremental."Two percent of GDP is not enough. Three and four and
ultimately, as President Trump has said, five percent of defense
spending is critical," Hegseth said."There is a Russian war machine that
has sought to take more and more land in Ukraine, and standing up
against that is an important European responsibility."The United States
has underpinned European security through NATO over the past seven
decades.US allies have already stepped up their spending in the face of
Russia's invasion of Ukraine and are pledging to do more to back
Kyiv.Lecornu said France and others were committed to do more -- but
warned money had to be spent wisely, arguing that simply filling
"hangars" with US gear, "without seeking real military efficiency" would
be a historic "failure" for Europe.Lecornu is a staunch loyalist of
French President Emmanuel Macron, a fierce proponent of a more
militarily independent Europe who once described NATO as brain dead
during Trump's first term and is pushing for EU countries to buy
European when it comes to defence.Conveying European fears that Trump
could force Ukraine into a bad peace deal, he warned that this could
embolden Putin and other western rivals, including Iran, North Korea and
China."Either we are within the parameters of a discussion that will
genuinely bring peace through strength, or, on the contrary, it will be
peace through weakness", he said adding the latter could lead to
"dramatic security situations" and a "widening of the conflict".
Iran's Khamenei warns against negotiating with US.
Tehran,
Feb 7 (AFP) Feb 07, 2025-Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
said Friday that there should not be negotiations with the United
States, days after US President Donald Trump called for a new nuclear
deal."You should not negotiate with such a government, it is unwise, it
is not intelligent, it is not honourable to negotiate," Khamenei said
during a meeting with army commanders.The United States had previously
"ruined, violated, and tore up" a 2015 nuclear deal, he said, adding
that "the same person who is in power now tore up the treaty".On
Wednesday, Trump suggested striking a "verified nuclear peace agreement"
with Iran, adding in his social media post that Tehran "cannot have a
Nuclear Weapon".Trump, who returned to the White House on January 20,
reinstated on Tuesday his "maximum pressure" policy towards Iran over
allegations the country is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.Iran
insists its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes and denies
any intention to develop atomic weapons.Following the policy's
reinstatement, Washington on Thursday announced financial sanctions on
entities and individuals accused of shipping hundreds of millions of
dollars' worth of Iranian crude oil to China.Tehran on Friday condemned
the sanctions as "illegal", saying they were "categorically unjustified
and contrary to international rules"."We must understand this correctly:
they should not pretend that if we sit down at the negotiating table
with that government (the US administration), problems will be solved,"
Khamenei said."No problem will be solved by negotiating with America,"
he said, citing previous "experience".- Reciprocity -Khamenei also
warned of reciprocal measures if the United States threatened or acted
against Iran."If they threaten us, we will threaten them. If they carry
out this threat, we will carry out our threat. If they attack the
security of our nation, we will attack their security without
hesitation," he said.During Trump's first term, which ended in 2021,
Washington withdrew from the landmark nuclear deal that had imposed
curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.Tehran
adhered to the 2015 deal -- known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action -- until a year after Washington pulled out, but then began
rolling back its commitments. Efforts to revive the deal have since
faltered.Khamenei said Iran was "very generous" during the negotiations
that culminated in the deal, but it "did not achieve the intended
results".Iranian political expert Afifeh Abedi said the Khamenei's
remarks highlight "a serious concern" that negotiations "will result in
the US breaching its commitments"."Iran understands that Trump's
willingness to negotiate is a disingenuous, reactionary move driven by
other objectives, rather than a genuine commitment to reaching an
agreement," she said.Iran has repeatedly expressed a willingness to
revive the nuclear deal, and President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for
an end to the country's isolation.Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said
recently the new US administration should work to regain Tehran's trust
if it wants a new round of nuclear talks.- 'Only on paper' -Western
sanctions, especially since the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal,
have taken a toll on millions of Iranians struggling to make ends meet
amid high inflation and a plunging currency.Khamenei acknowledged this
on Friday, saying "almost most segments of the population have some
problems" but adding they could be solved internally.The current
"respected government can reduce the livelihood problems of the people",
he said.Tehran has said it hopes Trump will adopt a "realistic"
approach towards countries in the Middle East including Iran.However, on
Thursday, it joined Arab countries and world leaders in condemning a
Trump plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza "permanently".In the wake of
the uproar, the Trump administration appeared to backtrack, with
Washington's top diplomat saying any transfer of Gazans would be
temporary.Without directly mentioning Gaza, Khamenei said Friday the US
administration was trying "to change the map of the world"."Of course it
is only on paper, it has no basis in reality," he said.
DANIEL 2:37-45
37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
38
And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and
the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made
thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
39 And after
thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third
kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
40 And
the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh
in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these,
shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas thou sawest the
feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom
shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron,
forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43
And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle
themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to
another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of
these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never
be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it
shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand
for ever.
45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of
the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the
brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known
to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is
certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
DANIEL 7:17-26
17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
19
Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from
all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his
nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue
with his feet;
20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of
the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn
that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was
more stout than his fellows.
21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
22
Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of
the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
23
Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,
which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole
earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the
ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and
another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first,
and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words
against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High,
and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his
hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
THE WORLD IN 10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS LEAD BY THE EUROPEAN UNION THE WORLD LEADER, NOT AMERICA.I PREDICT.
THE EUROPEAN UNION AND REVIVED ROMAN WORLD GOVERNMENT
DANIEL 2:31-33,36-43, DAN 7:3-8,17
First From Daniel Chapter 2
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (HEAD OF GOLD) DAN 2:31-32,36-38, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (CHEST & ARMS OF SILVER) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (WAIST & HIPS OF BRONZE) DAN 2:32,39, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (2 LEGS OF IRON) DAN 2:33,40, ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) (FEET IRON & CLAY) DAN 2:33,41-43,10 TOES
Now From Daniel Chapter 7
1 EGYPT
2 ASSYRIA
3 BABYLON (LION WITH EAGLES WINGS) DAN 7:4, DAN 1:1
4 MEDO-PERSIANS (BEAR ON HIND LEGS) DAN 7:5, DAN 9:1
5 GREECE (LEOPARD 4 WINGS, 4 HEADS) DAN 7:6, DAN 11:2
6 ROME (HUGE IRON TEETH) DAN 7:7 (10 HORNS), ROM 1:6
7 REVIVED ROME (EU) DAN 7:8,19-20,23-25 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS
REV
17:9,12, 10 HORNS, 10 KINGS, 7 HILLS ROME. REV 13:1 BEAST WITH 7 HEADS.
THE E.U LEADER OF WORLD GOVERNMENT DAN 2:40-45, 7:7-8,23-25,27, 8:23,
REV 13:3,7,8,12,14,16
REVELATION 17:10-12
10 And there are
seven kings (7TH WORLD EMPIRE IN HISTORY) five are fallen, (EGYPT,
ASSYRIA, BABYLON,:MEDO-PERSIAN,GREECE and one is,(IN POWER IN JOHNS
DAY-ROME) and the other is not yet come; and when he
cometh,(FUTURE-REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE-EUROPEAN UNION TODAY) he must
continue a short space.(7 YEARS OF WORLD DOMINATION-BUT 3 1/2 YEARS OF
NEW WORLD ORDER OR ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT)
12 And the ten horns (10
WORLD TRADE BLOCS OR REGIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which
have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour
with the beast.
REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (10
WORLD TRADE BLOCS-NATIONS) 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,(WORLD SOCIALISM) and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
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.
DICK
MORRIS-This truly creates a global economic system. From now on, don’t
look to Washington for the rule making, look to Brussels.
THE CLUB OF ROME FOUNDER AURELIO PECCEI WANTS THE WORLD IN 10 REGIONAL TRADING BLOCKS
HERES WHAT THE WORLD WOULD LOOK LIKE (SINCE THERE WILL BE WORLD GOVERNMENT IN THE FUTURE)-UPDATED VERSION
01 CANADA, U.S.A, MEXICO
02 EUROPEAN UNION,WESTERN EUROPE
03 JAPAN
04 AUSTRALIA,NEW ZEALAND, S AFRICA, ISRAEL AND PACIFIC ISLANDS
05 EASTERN EUROPE
06 SOUTHERN, CENTRAL AND LATIN AMERICAS
07 NORTH AFRICA, AND MIDEAST (MOSLEMS)
08 CENTRAL AFRICA
09 SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
10 CENTRAL ASIA
THE
CLUB OF ROME WANTS A WORLD CHARISMATIC DICTATOR (EITHER RELIGIOUS,
POLITICAL OR SCIENTIFICAL) TO HEAD THIS WORLD GOVERNMENT. REV 13:3,7-8,
DAN 7:23-24
WORLD POWERS IN THE END TIME
NORTH - RUSSIA EZEK 38:1-2, 39:1-2
SOUTH - EGYPT DAN 11:42
EAST - CHINA DAN 11:44,REV 16:12
WEST - EUROPEAN UNION DAN 7:23-24 (NOT THE U.S.A)
http://israel7777777.blogspot.ca/2012/03/10-world-trade-blocs-one-world.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2006/09/how-eu-takes-world-control.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2012/05/one-world-religion-crislam.html
Essex Police reveal impressive accuracy of LFR from Corsight, Digital Barriers-Feb 13, 2025, 11:56 am EST | Chris Burt
England’s
Essex Police have performed 383,356 match attempts with live facial
recognition software from Corsight AI and Digital Barriers, with a
single incorrect alert from a false match.The force reveals details of
its use of LFR in a transparency report listing the results of 38
completed deployments. The first was in October of 2023, the last two
are from January and February of this year, and the remaining 35 are
between August and the end of 2024. The notice also informs the public
of a deployment at Harlow on February 11, and another upcoming on
February 16 at Southend.Essex Police used different watchlists for
different deployments, with a combined total 1,322 identities to compare
the faces of people in public against. Sixty-one alerts were generated
over all of the deployments, and all but one were correct matches,
according to the report, resulting in 57 “interventions” and 11 arrests,
including for assault and sexual assault.The deployment in which the
false match was observed included nearly 40,000 scans.The overall
accuracy of the biometric matches so far is 99.9997 percent, which
Corsight says reinforces the dependability of the technology in dynamic
policing scenarios.“Accuracy is not just about the strength of the
algorithm but also a matter of settings,” notes Corsight AI President
and CEO Rob Watts. “Mall of America, for example, has 40 million
visitors a year. They want to receive alerts only if an individual is
identified with a very high level of certainty, otherwise, security
would have to handle a lot of noise. On the other hand, police pursuing
an armed murderer would want to examine any relevant footage, even if
the algorithm is only 90 percent sure the target is identified.”The Met
Police Director claimed last July that its live facial recognition
deployments were beating that force’s accuracy expectations.A release
from Corsight notes that Essex Police use facial recognition with
cameras on dedicated police vans, rather than fixed CCTV cameras owned
by municipal authorities.Corsight AI Chief Privacy Officer and former UK
Surveillance Camera Commissioner Tony Porter tells Biometric Update in
an email that the success is attributable to the software’s tolerance of
challenging conditions for biometric matching, such as low lighting and
step angles. He also notes that the Persons of Interest database used
is comprised of suspects from the area, which enhances accuracy.The
transparency report also provides details on data retention and
deletion.“It is a privilege for Corsight AI to contribute to the safety
and security of the law-abiding people of Essex,” says Porter. “Drawing
on our vast experience with law enforcement agencies worldwide, Essex
Police adhere to the highest standards of fair use and transparency.”
UK needs unified regulation for facial recognition: Biometrics Institute-Feb 12, 2025, 2:52 pm EST | Masha Borak
The
UK needs a clearer and consistent framework for governing facial
recognition in public spaces as missteps in deploying the technology
could erode public trust, the Biometrics Institute says in a new
paper.The UK’s lack of a single law governing the technology is
hightening the risk of rejecting facial recognition outright due to
perceived risk, the organization says in a document titled Members’
Viewpoints: The Use of Facial Recognition in Policing.“Its potential to
enhance security, improve efficiency, and address societal issues is
undeniable,” says Isabelle Moeller,” CEO of the Biometrics Institute.
“However, it is crucial that the deployment of FRT and live facial
recognition (LFR) is guided by a strong ethical framework, robust
regulatory oversight, and a commitment to transparency and
accountability.”The performance of facial recognition algorithms has
improved dramatically over the last decade: Testing by the UK National
Physical Laboratory (NPL) has shown the facial recognition system used
by the UK’s largest police force, the London Metropolitan Police, is
“very accurate.”Algorithm accuracy, however, is not sufficient. There
are many variables that must be considered, including how the police
approach the technology, the organization notes.“Real-time surveillance
uses of face recognition should be subject to a court order, similar to
that required for a wiretap,” the paper argues.The paper was published
in January following the UK Policing Minister Diana Diana Johnston’s
call for discussions on the police use of LFR.Over the past year, the
country has seen an increase in live and retrospective facial
recognition deployments both by law enforcement and the private sector.
The increase in the use of technology, however, has caused alarm among
lawmakers, civil rights groups and citizens.The London Met Police is
currently facing a legal challenge from digital privacy group Big
Brother Watch over a case of misidentification by the system.
Communities have also shared mixed opinions while city councillors are
skeptical towards the technology, according to a community impact
assessment.Another cause for concern has been law enforcement’s approach
to data. The UK’s biometrics commissioner has been warning that the
police are still storing images of innocent people in its national
database which may be used for facial recognition checks.The Biometrics
Institute has released a Good Practice Framework which serves as a risk
management tool. The group is advocating for open and honest
communication on facial recognition deployments, ethical principles,
addressing the potential for bias and discrimination as well as robust
data protection, oversight and accountability.The private sector’s use
of facial recognition should match the same standards and policies as
police and law enforcement, it adds.The Biometrics Institute gathers
government, academia and private sector stakeholders alongside
biometrics and privacy experts. The group is headquartered in the UK and
Australia.Suffolk police trial live facial recognitionAlthough
criticism is piling on UK police use of facial recognition, deployments
are continuing.Police in Suffolk have announced a live facial
recognition trial in the Ipswich town center on February 22nd. The
police force will be using two vans and equipment from the Essex police,
according to announcements.Assistant Chief Constable Eamonn Bridger
assured the public that the technology would only be used to seek
individuals who have committed serious offenses. The live camera feeds
will match faces against a predetermined database of people of interest
while faces of people who are not on the watchlist will be instantly
deleted.“This technology has been proven elsewhere to be an effective
tactic for locating and arresting suspects that are wanted for serious
offenses,” says Bridger.The Suffolk police have cited results from live
facial recognition deployments in the London town of Croydon, which led
to the arrest of approximately 200 people, including for grievous body
harm, fraud, domestic burglary and rape. Croydon and Westminster have
been the most targeted areas for facial recognition deployments between
January to the end of August 2024.Some London districts, however, are
seeing resistance to the introduction of FTR technology.
Georgia seeks candidates to build digital ID wallet-Feb 13, 2025, 11:53 am EST | Masha Borak
Georgia
has published a tender seeking to run a proof of concept for a national
digital identity wallet.The Central Asian state is planning to build a
digital ID wallet that will issue verifiable credentials based on
personal identification Data (PID) from the Georgian ID card. The system
will allow Georgian citizens and businesses to manage their digital
identities securely.The country’s Public Service Development Agency
(PSDA), which handles public services, the citizen registry and issuing
identity documents, is in charge of the tender.The digital identity
wallet solution will include issuer, holder and verifier capabilities,
and comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The
tender specifies applicants should have a thorough understanding of the
eIDAS ecosystem and the industry specifications of the EUDI Wallet
Architecture and Reference Framework (ARF), including OpenID Connect,
OpenID4VCI, oAUTH, W3C DID and ISO/IEC 18013.The tender document implies
the wallet could be integrated with eID services for identity
verification and used for KYC checks for financial services, as well as
credentials for travel, healthcare and education.The World Bank supplies
financing for the digital ID wallet through the Georgia Relief and
Recovery for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises project. The US$102.9
million project is designed to upgrade the local digital payments and
financial infrastructure among other goals.The tender includes the
supply, installation and integration of the IT and technologies, along
with services such as software development, customization, commissioning
and training. The estimated period of services is 18 months, according
to the tender.Applicants to be considered as a candidate should have
experience with multiple countries and several organizations, and have
fulfilled contracts worth at least $2 million involving Service Level
Agreements and 100,000 registered users.The documents for the initial
selection must be submitted before March 18th, 2025. The request for
proposal is expected in April 2025.
EU investigating Atos over buying EES software through Russian office-Feb 6, 2025, 6:01 pm EST | Masha Borak
European
prosecutors are investigating French IT company Atos for using its
Russian office to purchase software for the upcoming EU’s Entry-Exit
System (EES), a traveler registration scheme that will gather biometric
and other data from non-EU visitors entering the bloc.The discovery of
the involvement of Russia-based staff is raising alarms over the
security of the EES system which is expected to collect massive amounts
of sensitive data. Atos’s Moscow office operated under a license issued
by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) which also grants the
security agency access to the company’s work in the country.The
investigation into Atos Russia was launched by the European Public
Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), an agency combating financial crimes against
the EU. No charges have been brought so far, according to sources cited
by The Financial Times.Atos Belgium won a contract to help build the
core of the biometric border system together with its consortium
partners IBM Belgium and Leonardo in 2019. The system is designed to
record third-country nationals entering the Schengen area by requiring
them to submit biographic information, fingerprints and facial
images.The software purchases were conducted in 2021 before Russia
invaded Ukraine and Atos divested from its Russian office.According to
leaked documents, the Moscow office procured software allowing airlines
to verify traveler information such as visa status, including
cryptographic certificates from U.S. company AppViewX and middleware
from Swiss company Magnolia. Although the deal was managed through the
Russian office, the two software suppliers signed contracts with Atos
France and Atos Belgium.One of the questions left lingering is whether
Moscow-based employees had the proper security clearance to make
purchases for the EES.The European agency in charge of building the
border system EU-Lisa says that the Moscow-based Atos employee who
purchased AppViewX software, Yulia Plavunova, did not have access to EES
“IT systems, sensitive information or premises.”EU-Lisa also says it
has not identified any security breaches nor does it have contractual
relations with Atos Russia. Software from AppViewX was never used while
Magnolia’s product was used until 2022, it added. Meanwhile, the
European Commission has promised that EU-Lisa would perform a security
audit before EES goes live.The EPPO investigation is not the first time
that Atos Russia has been probed. Last year, the EU’s anti-corruption
agency OLAF made its own inquiries, concluding that EU-Lisa’s internal
security measures were not sufficient. The agency, however, did not find
enough evidence to open an anti-fraud investigation, per FT.Currently,
there is no set date for the launch of the EES as the system is expected
to be gradually introduced throughout 2025. The border scheme has
already experienced several delays. Media reports have placed a major
part of the blame for the delays on Atos and its consortium partners
which have reportedly been missing deadlines since 2020.
Sri Lanka’s biometric hardware market to grow with SL-UDI-Feb 13, 2025, 8:01 am EST | Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera
Sri
Lanka’s biometric hardware market is poised for growth with the
implementation of Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI) by the
government, top government officials tells Biometric Update.
Implementation of digital public infrastructure (DPI) and rolling out
national digital ID will provide many key government services online,
with the support of tech companies in foreign countries.“The biometric
market is slated to grow with the arrival of the digital ID. While the
Department of Registration of Persons will be capturing the data,
institutions such as banks and financial companies will need to have
biometric hardware for validation,” according to Sumudu Ratnayake,
Advisor, Ministry of Digital Economy.Eranga Weeraratne, Deputy Minister
of Digital Economy added that most often financial institutions take
individuals’ fingerprints on paper for account opening, etc. but with
the digital IDs implementation, institutions will need to procure
biometric hardware. He also highlighted the importance of the
after-sales service of this equipment.Already, the Ministry of Digital
Economy has received inquiries on the implementation of digital hardware
by several Sri Lankan firms, acting as agents for Chinese and Indian
biometric hardware companies.A marketing general manager for a
multinational company dealing in biometric hardware in Sri Lanka noted
that the country’s biometrics industry is growing at a high rate. “The
digital users are growing. The speed of increase in the biometric
industry has doubled in the last few years,” he told Biometric
Update.Sri Lanka currently has about 25 to 30 big players in biometric
hardware. “They do repeat purchases from countries such as China and
India. However, there are also single container orders done by at least
300 importers,” an analyst at a major commercial bank in Sri Lanka
said.By implementing this comprehensive biometric-based digital ID
system, we’ll revolutionize how identity verification works nationwide,
Weeraratna said. “This centralized solution will eliminate redundancy,
enhance security, and streamline access to essential services like
driver’s licensing.”The national ID system’s integration across all
identity-dependent applications ensures efficiency and reliability for
every citizen, he added.
North Carolina, Arkansas work toward mDL launches-Feb 12, 2025, 5:05 pm EST | Chris Burt
The
strategic plan for North Carolina’s implementation of mobile driver’s
licenses (mDLs) is contained in a study published in revised form in
January, along with a strategic analysis of the initiative. The report
reflects insights from the steady advance of mDLs across America, which
also includes a new bill in Arkansas and acceptance at two more
international airports.The Mobile Driver License Study from the N.C
Division of Motor Vehicles recommends contracting an experienced vendor
and aligning with the American Association of Motor Vehicle
Administrators (AAMVA) guidelines and international standards.The study
considers process challenges, staffing needs, cost estimates, a
third-party vendor evaluation, revenue changes, security and
confidentiality implications, law enforcement concerns, the
implementation timeline and other issues.The N.C. DMV found that using
the same vendor to supply mDLs as already supplies the state’s physical
driver’s licenses could help “reduce discrepancies, ensure system
compatibility, and streamline the integration process.” Vendors with mDL
experience could also help make the implementation a success. Security
and privacy must be prioritized and protected with encryption and
multi-factor authentication (MFA). The state should work with Google and
Apple on integration with their digital wallets. A comprehensive
training program for law enforcement and DMV staff should be
established. A robust public awareness campaign is necessary.Staffing
adjustments may be necessary, but will likely only be temporary,
according to the study. North Carolina should treat mDLs as a way to
improve service delivery, rather than a source of revenue.The most
interesting finding may be the need to prioritize long-term
interoperability, which will mean working with third-party vendors and
the AAMVA “to ensure that mDLs are compliant with national standards for
cross-jurisdictional verification.”The report also sets out policy
decisions lawmakers will have to make. North Carolina’s Notary Act will
likely have to be amended to allow mDLs to be counted as “satisfactory
evidence” equivalent to physical IDs, the study found.One-time costs are
projected to fall somewhere between $750,000 and $1.4 million, with
annual costs likely under $500,000.The vendor evaluation section does
not single out any mDL technology providers, but concludes that North
Carolina should contract a third party to manage its mDL system. The
recommendation is in recognition that “States that opted to contract
with vendors report significant benefits, such as faster rollout times,
more advanced security features, and ongoing support for mDL maintenance
and updates.”The state should utilize AAMVA’s Digital Trust Service and
follow its recommendations for compliance with ISO/IEC 18013-5 and
related standards, including the related new online presentation
standard.The timeline for getting mDLs into the phones of Tar Heel State
residents could be as long as four years, plus a two-year rollout, but
could be expedited to as few as 12 months “by leveraging (the state’s)
existing credential issuance contract.” The legal basis for North
Carolina’s mDLs takes effect in July of this year.Arkansas law
establishes legal equivalence-Arkansas HB1135 has been signed into law
by Governor Sarah Sanders, setting the stage for a launch of mDLs and
digital IDs to an unspecified app, 5newsonline.com reports. Public and
private-sector organizations will be able to accept the digital
credentials. A previous bill established a legal basis for mDLs, but did
not give them the same status as physical IDs.While driver’s may have
to hand their phone over to a police officer in the event of a traffic
stop, police are prohibited from searching the phone without consent,
and must return the mobile device as soon as the identity and license
are confirmed.The legislative amendment gives the state Office of Driver
Services the option to charge up to $10 for the mDL.TSA adds 2 more
airports-The Transportation Security Administration has upgraded to
Credential Authentication Technology (CAT-2) scanners, supplied by
Idemia, at Sacramento International Airport (SMF) and Cleveland Hopkins
International Airport (CLE).That means the TSA can now accept California
mDLs, or Ohio mDLs available in Apple Wallet, for identity verification
at the respective airports.
Nametag secure onboarding and ID
verification bars entry to IT plants-VerifiedHire tool takes on
‘deepfake-wielding nation-state threat actors’ from DPRK-Feb 12, 2025,
5:01 pm EST | Joel R. McConvey
The United States’ latest tool
in clamping down on North Korean espionage? Look no further than
Nametag’s integrated identity verification and deepfake defense
software.A release from the Seattle firm says investigations have
uncovered “numerous programs to place Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea (DPRK)-affiliated operatives into remote IT jobs within U.S. and
global enterprises” – and outlines how its VerifiedHire product can help
prevent infiltration by threat actors attempting remote IT worker
fraud.The firm claims that hundreds of western enterprises have been
compromised, noting “one program involving two front companies employing
more than 130 DPRK IT workers,” which has generated over $88 million
for the North Korean government. In addition to financial gain, IT
plants enable the country to dodge sanctions, funnel money to weapons
developers and steal secrets.VerifiedHire was created to address the
issue, leveraging Nametag’s deepfake defense identity verification
engine for secure employee onboarding and initial credentialing. The
platform consists of a self-service onboarding microsite with intuitive
workflows for independent, automated authentication and identity
verification.“Nametag’s launch of VerifiedHire underscores our continued
commitment to creating end-to-end workforce account protection,” says
Aaron Painter, CEO at Nametag. “Since every organization employs a
unique approach to employee onboarding, we developed an
out-of-the-box-solution that is easily customized to each enterprise’s
workflows, software environments, and business requirements.”Because
enterprises can quickly verify their extended workforce at scale, it’s
simpler to root out imposters and stop contractor fraud. And, per the
release, “by deflecting new employee verification and initial
credentialing to self-service, VerifiedHire creates substantial time and
cost savings for IT and Human Resources departments.”VerifiedHire
offers plug-and-play integrations with Identity and Access Management
(IAM) providers such as Okta, Microsoft Entra, Cisco Duo, and OneLogin,
and allows for extensive configuration and customization.
Appeals
court orders NYPD facial recognition contracts made public-$3B worth of
surveillance deals from last 13 years to be disclosed-Feb 12, 2025,
4:49 pm EST | Joel R. McConvey
An appeals court in New York
has ruled that the New York Police Department (NYPD) must disclose all
documents relating to surveillance, cell phone tracking and maintenance
of its facial recognition database, which have until now been kept
confidential.A report from the New York Daily News says the documents
relate to contracts the department entered into between March 2007 and
October 2020, totaling an estimated $3 billion. They’ve been protected
from public view under terms of the Special Expenses (SPEX) program for
items vital to public safety and defense against terrorism.SPEX was shut
down following the passage of the Public Oversight of Surveillance
Technology (POST) Act in the summer of 2020. Since then, the NYPD has
faced allegations of ignoring the POST Act guidelines, which address
police use of a variety of surveillance technologies. They say the
department is compliant.In October 2020, the Legal Aid Society filed a
Freedom of Information Law request to obtain the SPEX information, but
the NYPD refused. Legal Aid took the matter to court and, in 2023, won
the case. The NYPD’s appeal sent it to the appeals court – which, in its
ruling, castigated the police force for being obstinate and
vacuous.Following the court’s decision, much will come to light, with
the force now required to provide a “rolling production every quarter
and provide status updates on its compliance.”Jerome Greco, head of
Legal Aid’s digital forensics unit, says he expects to learn “how much
is being spent on these different technologies and services and the
terms of those contracts – how they’re supposed to be used and what
security or privacy measures were included in these contracts.“We expect
that there may be a lot that has been hidden and not previously
revealed.”NYPD officer says facial recognition is dangerous-In what is
becoming a reliable pattern of hypocrisy around FRT in law enforcement,
the Police Benevolent Association is protesting an online tool that
searches a database of thousands of NYPD officers’ records for a
biometric facial match.50-a.org is a tool designed to let people look up
NYPD officer misconduct, which supports search by officer name or badge
number.According to the New York Post, the present pushback began when a
retired NYPD officer posted on X about a new facial recognition
photo-search option on the site, which lets the public upload photos of
police to find matches, identifying their name, assignment and
disciplinary records.Ex-Lt. John Macari said the tool was likely to be
“weaponized” by anti-cop activists and agitators and – ironically –
noted the chance that officers might be misidentified by facial
recognition tech.The Police Benevolent Association, a union organization
representing more than 20,000 cops, has sent a cease-and-desist order
to 50-a.org. President Patrick Hendry says“these activists are against
any kind of technology that helps catch criminals, but they’ll use those
same tools to target police officers.”The NYPD has used facial
recognition for law enforcement since 2011.
Biometric e-gates speeding up border processing around the world-Feb 12, 2025, 2:38 pm EST | Lu-Hai Liang
Face
biometrics is a fast-growing trend for border control and travel. The
past year saw increasing implementation of biometrics for travel
checkpoints while the technology and its adoption is constantly
evolving. In a blog post by HID, key biometric trends in border control
for 2025 were identified.These include “frictionless authentication in
public spaces” with airports and border crossings enabling self-service
biometrics for more rapid and convenient identification. It increases
efficiency while biometric credentials provide robust digital
security.This leads on to ethical considerations, and stricter
regulations, as biometric providers commit to data diversity and there
discussions are ongoing in society around data privacy and fairness.
Meanwhile, regulations such as GDPR, BIPA and CCPA continue to shape how
biometric data is collected, stored and used, according to HID Global.
Lastly, algorithms are becoming more adaptive to combat the growing
problems presented by deepfakes and spoofing, thereby necessitating
advancements in face biometric technology.HID focuses on a case in
Southeast Asia, an international seaport at Batam Center, which
processes over eight million travelers annually. Previously, manual
checks caused lengthy wait times that led to frustration and missed
connections. Then the Indonesia Immigration and Seaport Authorities
integrated a face biometric camera and document reader into the port’s
automated border control (ABC) gate. The system made a dramatic impact,
instantly transforming the border crossing experience.Valour Consultancy
has identified 13,409 e-gates deployed in airports in the latest
edition of its “Smart Airports Tracker.” Launched 12 months ago, the
service is based on analyzing 1,800 contracts to give insight into the
current status of automation and self-service for passenger processing
in airports.The company estimates the total of 13,409 represents 82
percent of the actual number of e-gates deployed. The three main
applications for e-gates, the consultancy found, are pre-security,
self-boarding and border control.Interestingly, Valour Consultancy found
that over half of self-boarding e-gates are biometrically enabled while
the majority of those installed last year were non-biometric. John
Devlin, the company’s Airports and Borders director, said that this is
due to the “growing adoption” in “lower tier” airports which are seeking
improvements in operational efficiency rather than “implementing
seamless biometric experiences.”For much more detail, head on over to
the article here.Johor and Singapore CIQ get 26 new e-gatesA border
crossing between Malaysia and Singapore is getting 26 new electronic
gates installed at the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine (CIQ)
Complex.Those travelling to Johor in Malaysia or to Singapore can expect
quicker and smoother immigration processing when the e-gates become
operational by February 19.Of the 26 new e-gates, 17 will be installed
in the arrival area of the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) CIQ complex
and nine in the departure area, reports New Straits Times.The new gates
are part of continuing efforts to reduce long lines and improve
efficiency especially as large numbers of travelers commute daily
between Johor and Singapore.Zimbabwe speeds up Beitbridge Border with
e-gates-Zimbabwe’s Department of Immigration has launched e-gates at
Beitbridge Border Post. In addition, the country’s Online Border
Management System (OBMS) has been upgraded to complement usage of the
e-gates.Designed to capture travelers’ biometric data, and identify
flagged individuals, the OBMS can automatically allocate stay durations
for different types of travel (transit versus touristic, for
example).“We have started with a test run effective 14 January, and we
are impressed so far with the effectiveness of these e-gates,” said
Regional Immigration Officer for the Southern Region Joshua Chibundu, as
reported by Bulawayo 24 News.It follows a 17-year public-private
partnership between the Zimbabwean government and the Zimborders
Consortium, which added the e-gates to the Beitbridge Border Post.Bhutan
and India border crossing gets automated-Travelers at Bhutan’s busiest
border crossing with India will soon experience a more efficient
immigration process courtesy of new e-gates.The Himalayan Kingdom’s
Department of Immigration is implementing automated border control
systems at Phuentsholing pedestrian terminal which links to Jaigaon,
India. The e-gates are expected to reduce wait times and improve
security.Bhutan has for years been collecting biometric data among its
citizens. Bhutanese citizens and foreign nationals with registered
biometrics can be processed without needing manual clearance once the
e-gates are operational. Currently, immigration can be slow due to
immigration officers manually inputting data for each traveler with
insufficient staff for the number of travelers.Bhutan aims to expand use
of automated gates to other border crossings in the future. “With this
new system, people can travel easily with facial recognition and
biometrics,” said Jigme Tenzin, Regional Director of Phuentshogling
Regional Immigration.
Ethiopia, UNICEF look to scale up birth registration, Fayda ID adoption-Feb 12, 2025, 2:32 pm EST | Ayang Macdonald
Officials
of Ethiopia’s National ID Program (NIDP), the Immigration and
Citizenship Services (ICS), and the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) have shared thoughts on ways of improving birth and digital ID
registration in the country.NIDP said in a recent brief that its
Executive Director, Yodahe Zemichael; UNICEF’s Chief Information Officer
(CIO) and Director of the Information and Communications Technology
Division, Kaan Cetinturk, the agency’s Deputy Regional Director, Jeremy
Hopkins, and representatives of the ICS, had a discussion on “innovative
ways to scale up birth registration and national identification
systems.”During the discussion, the partners agreed on the need to give a
stronger push to ongoing birth registration efforts in the country so
as to ensure that “all children in Ethiopia, along with their families,
can access essential services like healthcare, education, and social
protection.”Recognizing birth registration as the foundation of legal
identity and a path that leads to opportunity, protection and inclusion,
the UN agency officials said they remain available to supporting
Ethiopia in making progress in that activity, ensuring that every child
has the right to identity and the tools they need to succeed in
life.This meeting months after the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) expressed
concerns over what it described as the slow pace of birth registration
in the country, saying in an operational update in October that the
situation was not advancing Fayda digital ID registration efforts.UNICEF
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NIDP in October 2023 to
accompany ID enrollment efforts in the country, with a focus on birth
registration.Efforts in line with Ethiopia digital ID for inclusion and
services project-Measures being taken by NIDP as well as its partners
from government and the international development community to improve
birth registration and National ID coverage align with the government’s
digital transformation agenda, headlined by the Ethiopia digital ID for
inclusion and services projects.The project, which has funding from the
World Bank, intends to register at least 90 million Ethiopians for
digital ID by 2030, laying the foundation for a strong digital
government ecosystem outlined in a five-year strategy.Already, the
12-digit Fayda digital ID has been issued to more than 12.2 million
individuals, as the ID is increasingly being required for access to a
wide array of services from government and the private sector.More
public acceptance needed for Fayda digital ID-As part of the push by
NIDP for stronger adoption and public acceptance of the digital ID which
is essential for access to several important services, a public forum
aimed at further popularising it was held at the close of last month.The
forum dubbed “Fayda for Ethiopia” was organised by the Ethiopian News
Agency, and served as an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss the
role of the biometric ID in accelerating Ethiopia’s digital
transformation and economic growth.Speaking at the event, NIDP deputy
coordinator, Rahel Yitbarek, said the ID is meant to enable citizens
enjoy their full rights and contribute to the growth of the economy.The
event, which was attended by representatives from 25 government and
private sector entities, emphasized how the Fayda ID can promote
transparency and efficiency in the delivery of public services across
various sectors.
Growth of digital wallet use shaking up payment regulations and benefits delivery-Feb 11, 2025, 5:07 pm EST | Chris Burt
Digital
wallets are transforming online, offline and cross-border payments
around the world, prompting calls for regulatory change in Australis and
modernizing Thailand’s pubic benefits delivery. They can also be used
to enable Open Banking and Open Finance, and an article from the Tony
Blair Foundation highlights an opportunity for the UK to do just
that.Payments regulation should cover wallet providers: Aussie
banksAustralian banks are calling on the government to pass legislation
that accommodates payments with digital wallets within the country’s
regulatory framework.A release from the Australian Banking Association
(ABA) argues that with the country’s residents making $20 billion worth
of payments across 500 million transactions each month with mobile
wallets, all players within the payment ecosystem should be under the
remit of the Reserve Bank of Australia. Apple and Google are“The
payments system has rapidly evolved, yet regulations have not been
updated for over 25 years,” says ABA CEO Anna Bligh.The reforms ABA is
seeking were identified “over 1200 days ago,” she says, and are already
on the table as part of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Miscellaneous
Measures) Bill 2024. Bligh suggests they could be passed “this sitting
fortnight.”“With mobile wallets becoming a dominant force in Australia’s
payments architecture – it’s only fair that global tech companies are
subject to the same oversight and consumer protection laws as the rest
of the payments system,” Bligh says.Australia’s banks are exploring the
use of the government’s Trust Exchange (TEx) to perform identity
verification and accept digital IDs.Usage grows in Israel and for
cross-border transactions-The same trend is being witnessed all over the
world, with American Express Israel reporting a 58 percent increase in
transaction volume with digital wallets in the country from 2023 to
2024. As a share of overall transaction volume, digital wallets rose
from 38 percent to 26 percent in a year, The Jerusalem Post reports. The
increase for online transactions was even greater.Digital wallets are
by far the most popular method of making cross-border payments,
according to a new report from Payments Cards & Mobile. The How
Digital Wallets Are Transforming Cross-Border Transactions report shows
digital wallets are chosen for international transactions by 42.1
percent. That makes them more people than the next two most popular
methods, money transfer services (16.8 percent) and bank accounts (14.8
percent) combined.Transactions with digital wallets are much faster than
wire transfers, are available to people who don’t possess bank
accounts, and have lower fees than bank transfers, the report says.
Interoperability remains a challenge, and regulations and infrastructure
limitations could pose barriers to adoption, but the report authors
only expect the dominance of digital wallets to increase in the years
ahead.Thai benefits program approaches stage 3Thailand is preparing for
the third phase of its digital wallet program, the first which actually
makes use of the digital wallet, according to The Bangkok
Post.Registration for the program was initially launched last July. The
first phase involved welfare and disability benefits, and the second
delivering social assistance to the elderly. Those two phases reached
about 17.5 million people, combined, the Post says. In those phases, the
funds were distributed through the Pao Tang app.More than 99 percent of
the earmarked aid reached its intended recipients.The government plans
to distribute funds for the remaining individuals registered to the
“Tang Rat” (or alternatively “Thang Rath”) app during the second quarter
of 2025, through an open-loop digital wallet payment system.This
payment system connects to financial institutions across the country,
and is currently being tested. The digital wallet is still in
development, and does not support cash withdrawals at this time.Blair
Institute suggests UK digital wallet to open finance, property
transactions-The successes of Open Banking in the UK show the potential
for Open Finance, Open Energy and Open Property reforms to boost the
domestic economy by up to 27 billion pounds, according to a post by The
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.The Data (Use and Access) Bill
gives the UK government the ability to extend open data schemes to other
areas of the economy, post author Alexander Iosad says.“Open Finance
would expand data-sharing to savings, investments, mortgages and
pensions,” Iosad explains. “This would enhance financial inclusion and
transparency, and spur another wave of fintech innovation.”Smart data
would also help reduce the number of duplicate checks during the
home-buying process, while also reducing how many transactions are
started but not completed, increasing transparency and cutting fraud.The
recently-unveiled Gov.uk digital wallet and app could be leveraged as a
tool for open data exchanges, Iosad writes.But to realize the full
benefit of the opportunity, he urges fast and strategic action.
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