WHY ARE US SOCIALISTS SUCH ISRAEL HATERS.

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)

WHY ARE US SOCIALISTS SUCH ISRAEL HATERS.

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold,(7X OR 7-DEGREES HOTTER) as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people,(ISRAEL) and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened,(DAY LIGHT HOURS SHORTENED) there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake (ISRAELS SAKE) those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)(THE ASTEROID HITS EARTH HERE)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

EZEKIEL 32:6-9
6  I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
7  And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
8  All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
9  I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known.

REVELATION 16:3-7
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.(enviromentalists won't like this result)
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
6 For they(False World Church and Dictator and baby murderers by abortion) have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

GEN 12:2-3
2  And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3  And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY) him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Hong Kong axes flights, classes as Typhoon Wipha nears.

Hong Kong, July 19 (AFP) Jul 19, 2025-Hong Kong issued its third-highest tropical cyclone warning in the early hours of Sunday as Typhoon Wipha drew nearer, with authorities cancelling classes and grounding hundreds of flights.Wipha was located around 280 kilometres (175 miles) southeast of Hong Kong as of midnight (1600 GMT), according to Hong Kong's weather observatory.The observatory has hoisted the T8 warning signal, meaning that "winds with mean speeds of 63 kilometres per hour or more are expected".The storm was expected to keep intensifying, moving across the northern part of the South China Sea and edging closer to the coast of China's Guangdong province."There will be frequent heavy squally showers and thunderstorms over the region. Seas will be high with swells," the observatory added.China's Hainan and Guangdong provinces were also put on high alert, state news agency Xinhua reported Saturday.More than 250 flights servicing Hong Kong had been cancelled as of late Saturday, according to the website of the city's international airport.Hong Kong's Airport Authority asked travellers to prepare for "significant flight cancellations or delays" and said that no passenger flights are expected to depart the city before Sunday noon.Authorities suspended Sunday's classes at all day schools and daycare centres.Bus services are expected to be halted until midday Sunday.Wipha brought heavy rains and flooding to the Philippines and two people have been reported missing, according to the country's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

China starts construction of Tibet mega-dam.

Beijing, July 19 (AFP) Jul 19, 2025-China started building a mega-dam Saturday on a river running through Tibet and India, with Premier Li Qiang attending the commencement ceremony, state media said.Beijing approved the project in December on the river -- known as Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet and Brahmaputra in India -- linking it to the country's carbon neutrality targets and economic goals in the Tibet region."The electricity generated will be primarily transmitted to other regions for consumption, while also meeting local power needs in Tibet," state news agency Xinhua reported after the groundbreaking ceremony in southeastern Tibet's Nyingchi.Once built, the dam could dwarf the record-breaking Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in central China -- and have a potentially serious impact on millions of people downstream in India and Bangladesh.The project will entail constructing five hydropower stations, with the total investment estimated to be around 1.2 trillion yuan ($167.1 billion), Xinhua said.India said in January it had raised concerns with China about the project in Tibet, saying it will "monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests".China "has been urged to ensure that the interests of the downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas", India's foreign ministry said then.In December, Beijing's foreign ministry said that the project would not have any "negative impact" downstream, adding that China "will also maintain communication with countries at the lower reaches" of the river.Besides downstream concerns, environmentalists have also warned about the irreversible impact of such mega projects in the ecologically sensitive Tibetan plateau.Both India and China, neighbours and rival Asian powers, share thousands of kilometres of disputed borders, where tens of thousands of soldiers are posted on either side.

REVELATION 8:8-9
8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
9 And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

Sunken WWII Japanese warship found off Solomon Islands.

Tokyo, July 18 (AFP) Jul 18, 2025-An international research team has located a Japanese World War II destroyer on the deep seabed off Solomon Islands as the 80th anniversary of the war's end approaches.A team from the US non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki at a depth of more than 800 metres (2,625 feet) off the small island nation northeast of Australia.A video image of the wreck shows parts of the 134-metre (440-foot) Teruzuki, which was torpedoed by the US military in 1942, illuminated by lights from the research team's underwater drones.The footage shows red paint on the hull, corroded gun barrels and the warship's massive stern.Commissioned in 1942, the Teruzuki was designed for screening aircraft carriers from aerial attacks, the exploration group said.However, the Teruzuki, which means "Shining Moon" in Japanese, was hit by US torpedoes just months into its service.Nine sailors were killed but most of the crew members survived, the Ocean Exploration Trust said.Teruzuki's stern was found more than 200 metres (660 feet) from the hull and was located by high-resolution sonar scans, it said.The discovery was made while the team used drones to survey the area in the hope of finding unidentified shipwrecks or other items.

RUSSIA,GERMANY, ARAB MUSLIMS COME AGAINST ISRAEL.

EZEKIEL 38:1-23
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I (GOD) will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY) of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA-ARAB-MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages;(ISRAEL) I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil,(OIL IS IN SPOIL) and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13  Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDI-ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(SPAIN) with all the young lions thereof,(ENGLAND,AND ALL ITS ASSOCIATES-CANADA,AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND, USA, AND WESTERN ENGLISH SPEAKING NATIONS) shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?(OIL IS IN SPOIL-I BELIEVE THATS WHY RUSSIA,ARAB/MUSLIMS MARCH TO ISRAEL)
14  Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15  And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16  And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18  And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19  For in my jealousy and in the fire (atomic bomb) of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20  So that the fishes of the    sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21  And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
22  And I will plead against him with pestilence (biological,chemical,nuclear) and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.(NUKED,THEN MIGRATING BIRDS EAT RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS FLESH)
23  Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.

EZEKIEL 39:1-29
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog (RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS) a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers (EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN JORDAN VALLEY) on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog (RUSSIAN) and all his multitude:(ARAB/MUSLIM HORDE) and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.(BURIEL SITE OF THE 300 MILLION,RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS)
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.(OF ISRAEL)
13 Yea, all the people of the land (OF ISRAEL) shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I (GOD-JESUS) shall be glorified, saith the Lord GOD.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment,(NUCLEAR ATOMIC BOMB EXPERTS) passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it,(WON'T TOUCH IT) till the buriers have buried it (PROPERLY) in the valley of Hamongog.(RUSSIA/ARAB/MUSLIMS NEW BURIEL SITE)(EAST OF THE DEAD SEA IN THE JORDAN VALLEY)
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.(OF THE ISRAEL-GOD HATERS)
17 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl,(500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS THREW ISRAEL EVERY SPRING,FALL) and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.(OF THE RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ARMIES)
18 Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And ye (MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL) shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.(RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS)
20 Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21 And I (GOD-JESUS) will set my glory among the heathen,(WORLD NATIONS) and all the heathen (WORLD NATIONS) shall see my judgment that I have executed,(AGAINST ISRAELS ENEMIES) and my (GODS) hand that I have laid upon them.(ISRAELS HATER ENEMIES)
22  So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
23  And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
24  According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
25  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
26  After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27  When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28  Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29  Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

CHINA AND KINGS O  F THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL 2ND WAVE OF WW3 (200 MILLION MAN ARMY)

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.(THE TURKEY ATATURK DAM ON THE EUPHRATES CAN BE SHUT AND DRIED UP ALREADY BY TURKEY)
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.(ITS AT THIS TIME I BELIEVE WHEN AMERICA GETS NUKED BY RUSSIA ON THE WAY TO THE MIDEAST)

DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)

REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(WORLDWIDE WAR)(TURKEY-IRAQ-SYRIA)(EUPHRATES RIVER CONSISTS OF 760 MILES IN TURKEY,440 MILES IN SYRIA AND 660 MILES IN IRAQ)
15 And the four(DEMONIC WAR) angels were loosed,(WORLDWIDE WAR) which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE-2 billion)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

Right-wing protesters assault MK Ayman Odeh, attack his car, chant ‘Death to Arabs’(I AGREE TOTALLY-ARAB,MUSLIMS WORSHIP DEATH BY WORKS-GIVE THEM THEIR DEATH WISH-THE NEVER ENDING HELL FIRE AWAITS THESE CULTISTS)-Three arrested for damaging vehicle; demonstrators curse the Hadash party leader, who vows he ‘won’t let the fascists win’ days after motion to expel him from the Knesset fails By ToI Staff and Sam Sokol-19 July 2025, 8:25 pm

Right-wing demonstrators on Saturday assaulted Arab lawmaker Ayman Odeh and attacked his car as he traveled to an anti-war protest in Nes Ziona, days after the Knesset failed to approve a motion to expel him from the legislature over controversial comments he made on the conflict with Hamas in Gaza.Demonstrators could be heard repeatedly cursing Odeh and chanting “death to Arabs” in a video filmed from inside the vehicle.Police arrested three Ness Ziona residents on suspicion of damaging Odeh’s vehicle, including cracking the windshield, describing the attack as “rare and severe.”A police statement added that the force was examining further evidence to identify and arrest additional suspects.Speaking with the Haaretz daily, Odeh described how “a few dozen surrounded the car, banged on the car and broke the glass.”“I’m [now] a little bit further off and am waiting for instructions, but as far as I’m concerned, I intend to speak [at the rally] if the organizers want. I will not let the fascists win,” he said.According to the newspaper, police had promised organizers of the anti-war protest that reinforcements would be deployed after the organizers warned of potential violence.“The police were not properly prepared and the violence is running rampant,” one of the organizers was quoted as saying. “There are not enough forces to bring the rioters under control.”In another video from Ness Ziona, apparently taken after Odeh was assaulted while in his car, he was seen speaking atop a balcony as the right-wing protesters continued to heckle and assault him.The protesters threw objects at him, and, in one case, attempted to prod him with a flag pole.Police officers could be seen pushing back the unruly crowd.The right-wing protesters also surrounded and yelled at Hadash-Ta’al MK Ofir Cassif, who later accused the government of supporting political violence.“Just so it’s clear: There is legitimacy and even encouragement from the government to violence and murder of its opponents,” he wrote on X.In a statement of his own on Saturday night, Odeh accused the police of standing by and doing “nothing” when he was attacked by the right-wing mob.“This morning, we were informed that fascist extremists had threatened to attack us if we showed up, but we decided not to back down. We decided that no one will silence our voices,” he wrote on X.“I was attacked by dozens of thugs. They assaulted my staff and me with stones, sticks, and anything they could get their hands on. They surrounded our car, shattered the windows, and shouted ‘Death to Arabs’ the entire time. All the while, Ben Gvir’s police stood by and did nothing. Not a single arrest,” the Hadash-Ta’al chair continued.“But even in the face of such terrible violence, we will not be silent. On the contrary: it only strengthens our resolve, and our will to fight,” he said.“We do not surrender to fascism. We stand firm against it, Jews and Arabs together, and we will defeat it. The struggle is clear: Democracy or fascism. As we did tonight, I will stand tall in the face of fascists, with my head held high, and I will attend every protest across the country.”Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, The Democrats chairman Yair Golan and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz all denounced the violence toward Odeh, with the latter calling on coalition members also to condemn “this dangerous incident.”“I condemn the violence against MK Odeh and call on the police to find those responsible and bring them to justice. There is no place for political violence in a democratic state,” Lapid wrote on X.Golan asserted that the incident was the “direct result of prolonged political incitement,” citing the failed effort to boot Odeh from parliament.“Those who vote in the Knesset in favor of ousting an Arab public official because of his opinions cannot be shocked when rioters attack him in the street,” Golan said, calling the incident “an attack against the entire Arab minority in Israel.”Within the government itself, a lone statement of condemnation was issued by Interior Minister Moshe Arbel of Shas, who demanded that law enforcement bring the “violent rioters” to justice.“The entire leadership must condemn acts of violence in a clear and unequivocal manner and without any hesitation,” he said.Several diplomatic missions to Israel also expressed solidarity with Odeh in the wake of the assault.“Solidarity with Arab Israeli MK @AyOdeh after thugs attacked his car apparently chanting racist slogans,” wrote Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, on X. “Violence against democratic lawmakers is unacceptable.”“Such an assault on an elected representative is unacceptable,” echoed a statement from the deputy British ambassador to Israel, Ben Myers.The incident came after the Knesset on Monday failed to pass a motion to expel Odeh from the legislature, with only 73 out of the required 90 lawmakers voting in favor. Fifteen MKs voted against the motion, while multiple opposition parliamentarians boycotted the vote.The petition was put forth in January, after Odeh said he was “happy for the release of hostages and prisoners,” referring to a deal with Hamas that saw some of those abducted by terrorists on October 7, 2023, freed from Gaza in exchange for Palestinian inmates held in Israeli prisons, many of whom were convicted on terror charges.The petition clinched the number of signatures required to bring it to a vote after Odeh said during an anti-war protest in Haifa in May that “Gaza has won and Gaza will win.”

Liberman warns Iran is ‘obsessed’ with revenge, calls for Israel to strike first-Yisrael Beytenu party head says Israel has ‘no other choice’ but to again hit Tehran’s nuclear and missile sites; adds that if he were PM, he’d tell Mossad to work for regime change By ToI Staff and Jacob Magid-19 July 2025, 11:28 pm

Former defense minister Avigdor Liberman said Saturday that Iran is “obsessed” with seeking revenge against Israel following the 12-day war between the two enemy nations, warning that Jerusalem will have to strike again at some point.Liberman, who heads the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, told the Channel 12 news program “Meet the Press” that revenge is “all the Iranian leadership thinks about.”“I could tell you the same thing that the intelligence assessments and officials say” about Iran’s nuclear capabilities in the wake of the Israeli and US strikes, he added, saying “they all speak of around one to two years” for Iran to reconstitute its nuclear program.While Tehran’s nuclear ambitions will remain a problem, Liberman said, “what is more worrying is that all Iran is currently obsessed with is waging a war of revenge” against Israel.“That’s the only thing that interests them right now. A war of revenge, that’s it,” he stated.When asked if he thinks that means Israel should attack Iran again, Liberman answered that “it would be worthwhile for us to strike first again.”“This time, Iran wants to deliver the first blow,” he said.He also said, “It’s not just theoretical” that Iran is working to revive its nuclear program.“And what worries me most are the ballistic missiles,” Liberman said. “You saw what happened here when just 26 missiles landed inside Israel and the level of damage that it caused.”“They are preparing for a major strike,” he continued, adding that Iran has thousands of missiles. “Imagine if it wasn’t just 26 missiles that impact Israel, what if it were 260 missiles? What kind of damage would that cause?”Therefore, “we have no other choice” but to strike Iran first, according to Liberman, who said that is what he would do if he were in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position. “I hope that is what they are planning.”“And I would tell the Mossad to work toward one goal: regime change,” he said, arguing that total regime change is the only way to ensure that Iran is not a threat to Israel.Iran and Israel last exchanged blows after the Israeli military launched a surprise assault on nuclear and military targets inside Iran on June 13, 2025, kicking off a 12-day war between the two sides.Israel said its assault was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.Though Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. The Islamic Republic had taken recent steps toward weaponization, Israel said during the war.Iran retaliated against Israel’s strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel. The attacks killed 29 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals. Iran also attacked a US base in Qatar in retaliation for Washington’s strikes.Trump insists Iranian nuke sites ‘destroyed’ despite report-Liberman’s warnings came as President Donald Trump on Saturday insisted that US bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities “completely destroyed” the sites after a report said that some had largely survived.On his Truth Social platform, Trump reiterated his frequent claim that “all three nuclear sites in Iran were completely destroyed and/or OBLITERATED.”He said it would “take years to bring them back into service and, if Iran wanted to do so, they would be much better off starting anew, in three different locations.”US bomb and missile attacks struck Iran’s controversial nuclear program on June 22, hitting the uranium enrichment facility at Fordo, south of Tehran, as well as nuclear sites in Isfahan and Natanz.The bombings, carried out at the same time as the Israeli military campaign, were billed by Washington as a knockout blow to a years-long covert effort to build nuclear weapons.Iran insists it has not tried to weaponize its civilian nuclear power program.Despite Trump’s claims of total success, several US media outlets have reported leaked intelligence suggesting a hazier picture.The latest to cast doubt was an NBC News report Friday, quoting a military damage assessment that only one of the three sites was mostly destroyed.Two other sites were deemed to be repairable and potentially able to resume uranium enrichment activities within “the next several months,” NBC reported, citing five current and former US officials aware of the assessment.NBC also reported that the Pentagon had prepared an option to inflict far greater damage on Iran’s facilities through a bombing campaign that would have lasted several weeks — not the one-night operation chosen by Trump.According to the report, citing one current and one former official, Trump rejected the more comprehensive attack plan due to fears of casualties and entanglement in the conflict.Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth congratulated Defense Minister Israel Katz during a meeting Friday at the Pentagon on Jerusalem’s “remarkable performance” in the recent war against Iran that paved the way for the major US strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear sites, according to a US readout.“Hegseth applauded Israel’s willingness to take bold action to lead in its own defense,” the report said.Hegseth told Katz that the US will “continue to enable Israel’s ability to defend itself,” the report added.Katz said in a post on X after the meeting that the two “discussed a wide range of regional and strategic issues, and agreed on concrete steps to ensure that Israel thrives and the Middle East becomes a better, safer place for both Israeli and American interests.”“I expressed Israel’s deep gratitude for the historic Operation Midnight Hammer, which struck a devastating blow to Iran’s nuclear program,” he wrote, adding that he thanks President Trump “for his bold decision and unwavering leadership in authorizing the operation.”Katz had been trying to visit the US for months, but the trip had been put off due to visits by Netanyahu. Friday’s meeting at the Pentagon passed with little fanfare.

Interview'Soviets began to equate Palestinians with liberation movements' Why are US socialists so anti-Israel? Scholar lays out Soviet roots of anti-Zionist rhetoric-Izabella Tabarovsky, a researcher of antisemitism in the USSR, argues far-left rhetoric in the US is an outgrowth of a propaganda effort dating back to the 1960s By Luke Tress-18 July 2025, 9:56 pm

On October 8, 2023, hundreds gathered in New York City’s Times Square to celebrate the Hamas invasion of Israel. The crowd gathered beneath the plaza’s giant, illuminated American flag, chanting “Zionism has got to go” and mocking Jewish, pro-Israel counterprotesters.Signs at the rally said, “Zionism is genocide,” “Colonialism is violence,” and “Anti-Zionism ≠ antisemitism.” Other placards accused Israel of “white supremacy” and apartheid, and decried US funding for Israel.While the slogans surfaced in New York City in 2023, those sentiments have roots in the Soviet Union, according to Izabella Tabarovsky, a scholar of Soviet antisemitism.“The Soviets were the ones who began to equate the Palestinians with partisans in World War II and the resistance and national liberation movements such as the ANC and the Viet Cong — heroes of the left — and painting them in that way, and making it possible for the left to connect with them,” Tabarovsky said.The issue of far-left, socialist opposition to Israel gained new prominence last month with New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s stunning win in the New York City Democratic party mayoral primary. Mamdani is a harsh critic of Israel and a member of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America, one of the groups that backed the October 8, 2023, Times Square rally. In his statement the same day, Mamdani blamed Israel and “apartheid” for the violence.Part of Tabarovsky’s research delves into why the US far left is so committed to anti-Israel activism, even as there are more bloody conflicts and oppressive regimes around the world.‘Language we heard back in the USSR’Tabarovsky, who is Jewish, grew up in the Soviet Union and emigrated to the US in 1989 at age 19. She received a Master’s degree in Russian history from Harvard University, and after her studies, continued working on Russia-related research. Currently, she is a senior fellow with the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities, a US think tank, and lives in Jerusalem.Before her connection with Z3, she managed content on Russia at the Wilson Center, a prominent, nonpartisan foreign policy think tank in Washington, DC, until it was shuttered by the Trump administration earlier this year. She also coordinated the center’s US-Israel working group on Russia in the Middle East. Tabarovsky has worked with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, and Brandeis University. She has written extensively about topics including Russia, antisemitism and the war in Ukraine.Around 2018, she saw a news story about an anti-Israel campus demonstration where protesters held signs that read “Zionism is racism” and “Israel is an apartheid state.” The slogans triggered memories of antisemitism in the USSR, where similar language was common.“I immediately understood that this was language that we had heard back in the USSR. What I couldn’t understand was, why is it here in America now?” she said. “The language is so similar. It’s just really improbable that people here in the US have invented it from scratch.”She began to dig and pieced together the story of Soviet anti-Zionism and how it filtered through the global left.The story is complex and not limited to Soviet messaging. Anti-Israel scholars in the West and the Arab world had their own concepts of anti-Zionism that interacted with Soviet positions. The Soviets picked up some ideas from their Arab allies. Tabarovsky said the USSR, though, acted as “this big synthesizer that took in all of these ideas,” and “pumped this stuff out into the world.”Moscow had been anti-Israel since the late 1940s, when Israel aligned with the USSR’s western enemies. The rhetoric took off after the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel smashed the larger forces of the Soviet-backed Arab states, creating a crisis of confidence in Moscow. The USSR had invested vast sums in Egypt’s military.“If you look at the Soviet press leading into the Six Day War, they were sure that the Arab states would win,” Tabarovsky said. “They’re so much bigger, and they have Soviet expertise and Soviet machinery, and then they lose. They didn’t understand the reasons behind it.”Connecting the dots-The Soviet political culture and security services were prone to conspiracism, and, to explain Israel’s victory, looked to their Cold War enemy, the US. Washington was not backing Israel at the time, but the Soviets saw influential pro-Israel Jews and Jewish organizations involved in politics and the media. The view that foreign Jews were the enemy layered well onto longstanding antisemitic conspiracies.The war also invigorated a Jewish national movement in the USSR that the state viewed as subversive. The Soviet Jews were supported by Jews in the US and other countries.“To them, when they connect these dots, what are they seeing? They’re seeing that there are American Jews who are trying to undermine Soviet domestic politics by inflaming Jewish national sentiments, Jewish Zionist sentiments,” Tabarovsky said.Americans tend to view developments through an economic prism, but for the Soviets, ideology was dominant. They came to view Zionism as an enemy ideology, focused on undermining it, and after 1967, “it really goes global,” Tabarovsky said.Anti-Zionist Soviet propagandists released hundreds of books and thousands of articles, and peddled their messaging on the radio and via political cartoons. They funded conferences that convened third-world revolutionaries, including the PLO and Fatah, with Western intellectuals who brought the ideology home.The propaganda linked Zionism to Nazism, fascism, racism, genocide, settler-colonialism, imperialism and apartheid. The Third World and socialist bloc, covering much of the world, turned against Israel and Zionism.Months after the Six-Day War, for example, a Soviet front organization called the World Peace Council held a gathering in India that drew attendees from 55 countries in the West, the Third World and the Soviet bloc. A speaker told the crowd that the Arab-Israeli conflict should be understood as “imperialism and colonialism versus national liberation and social progress” — language that could come from a US socialist group today. Other motifs have reappeared, such as signs that intertwine a Star of David with a swastika, an image used in both Soviet propaganda and at anti-Israel protests in New York.The United Nations was another key forum. Opposition to Israel was an easy route for non-aligned states to win support from the USSR or Arab countries. In 1975, the UN passed a resolution equating Zionism with racism, overseen by UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim, a former Nazi who was involved in deporting Jews from Greece during the Holocaust and had attended a non-aligned anti-Zionist summit in Algiers in 1973.After the Soviet Union collapsed, many of the Western activists went on to academic and political careers, passing on the ideology to future generations.“It got this worldwide reach at that time, and it has existed on the far left since then. That’s how it had ended up in places like New York City today,” Tabarovsky said. “I think that for the far left today, they don’t even understand the causes, but for the far left today, I think the anti-Israel stance is just the default stance.” David Bernstein, the author of the 2022 book “Woke Antisemitism” about anti-Jewish discrimination on the left, said Soviet propaganda had played a role in “empowering anti-Zionism.”“It’s created and it’s linked anti-Zionism to the progressive ideology in a way that continues to affect us today,” said Bernstein, the head of the North American Values Institute, an organization that opposes radical and illiberal activism in K-12 classrooms. He said Soviet propaganda had interacted with other trends, such as post-colonial thought and resentment toward Israel in the Middle East.“I think the way to look at this is to see a convergence of factors,” he said. “All these threads, or these streams, came together and formed into a river, and I think that’s what we have now.”Bernstein, a longtime Jewish community organizer, traced decades of progressive ideology in his book. In the book’s foreword, Natan Sharansky, a prominent Jewish Soviet refusenik, said today’s far-left dogma was “not unlike the totalizing ideology I grew up with in the Soviet Union, which has taken the American left by storm.”“For Soviet Jews, the connection between antisemitism and anti-Zionism could not have been clearer,” Sharansky wrote. “Unfortunately, now we see it has come back in new forms.”Part of a continuum-The Soviet anti-Zionist campaign often placed Jews front and center, because “they realized when Jews do that, when Jews attack Zionism, it always sounds more credible, and it also diminishes accusations of antisemitism,” Tabarovsky said. The Soviets started the effort with the Yevsektsiya, a Jewish section of the Communist Party set up in 1918. The Yevsektsiya persecuted other Jews, aiming to eliminate religious practice, Zionist activity and use of the Hebrew language. The section was later purged, and most of its leadership died in prison or labor camps by the late 1930s.Similarly, anti-Israel activists in New York give a prominent platform to Naturei Karta, an independent, tiny, fringe, anti-Zionist group that appears at nearly every protest.The Soviet propagandists also pioneered the idea that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are separate. Modern echoes of this philosophy were heard when, for example, Mamdani told a crowd of anti-Zionist Jews in 2021, “In the anti-Zionist movement that I believe in and belong to, there is no room for antisemitism.”This runs counter to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, in use by New York City’s government, which says it is antisemitic to deny Jews the right to self-determination.Some of the New York activist groups also have international ties. The far-left People’s Forum and ANSWER Coalition, which organize anti-Israel protests, reportedly have financial backing from a Chinese-linked propaganda network pushing a socialist, anti-Western narrative. (Not all far-left groups in New York are anti-Israel; the Socialist Workers Party is staunchly pro-Israel.)Mamdani has Jewish supporters, has acknowledged the problem of antisemitism, and has released his own plans for combating anti-Jewish discrimination. His partner in the primary election, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, is Jewish and protested for Soviet Jews in his youth.Mamdani has protested against Israel alongside socialist and Arab-led pro-Palestinian groups, accused Israel of genocide, apartheid, and settler-colonialism, said the New York state government is a “bastion of Zionist thought,” and called for an anti-Israel “global movement” to challenge apartheid and white supremacy.Tabarvosky views Mamdani’s success as less of a turning point than part of a continuum that took off with the election of the so-called Squad in the 2010s, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was elected to Congress as a member of the DSA in 2019. She later lost the backing of the DSA’s national chapter after she hosted a panel on antisemitism, but is still endorsed by New York City’s branch of the party. Mamdani has opened the door for more, similar candidates, Tabarovsky said.“I think we really need to be paying attention and taking seriously what he’s saying,” Tabarovsky said.

Israel says drone strikes killed 2 Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon-IDF accuses the operatives, including member of elite Radwan force, of working to restore the Lebanese terror group’s capabilities in area By Emanuel Fabian-19 July 2025, 11:26 pm

Israel killed two Hezbollah members on Saturday in separate drone strikes in southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces announced, saying that the terror group’s operatives were violating agreements between Jerusalem and Beirut.The first operative killed was a member of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force.The IDF said he was killed in a drone strike in Khiam while attempting to restore Hezbollah’s capabilities in the area, adding that his activities “constituted a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”Later Saturday, a drone strike in Yohmor killed Ahmad Mohammad Salah, who the military said was responsible for Hezbollah’s forces in the town.The IDF said Salah was also involved in the efforts to reestablish Hezbollah’s capabilities.Since a ceasefire agreement came into effect in November, Israel has maintained a presence at five strategic points in Lebanon and occasionally struck Hezbollah targets it said were violating the conditions of the ceasefire.Lebanese state media reported on Tuesday that Israeli airstrikes killed 12 people, seven of whom were Syrian, in Lebanon’s northeastern Beqaa Valley.The strikes were aimed at military facilities belonging to the Radwan force, where operatives and weapon depots had been detected, the IDF said.According to Israel, the Radwan force had in recent years planned to carry out a large-scale invasion of northern Israel, but was forced to shelve the scheme after Hamas attacked southern Israel from Gaza on October 7, 2023, plunging the region into war.A day after the attack, Hezbollah began firing rockets, drones, and anti-tank missiles at northern Israeli communities, carrying out attacks on a near-daily basis in solidarity with Hamas.The rocket fire displaced some 60,000 residents of northern Israel. In a bid to ensure their safe return, Israel stepped up operations in Lebanon in September, leading to two months of open warfare with Hezbollah in which the terror group’s leadership and arsenal were decimated.The ceasefire agreement allows Israel to strike imminent threats, though Jerusalem is required to bring less urgent concerns to an international committee.Hezbollah is currently under pressure from Lebanon’s Western-backed government to disarm as part of an arrangement that could reportedly see Israel halt attacks and pull its troops south of the border.

Contaminated Fukushima soil delivered to Japan PM office.

Tokyo, July 19 (AFP) Jul 19, 2025-Dozens of bags of mildly radioactive soil collected from near the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant were delivered Saturday to the Japanese prime minister's office, in an effort to show it is safe for reuse.Soon after the March 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, authorities scraped a layer of contaminated soil from swathes of land in Fukushima to reduce radiation levels.A vast quantity of soil -- 14 million cubic metres -- has since been stored at facilities near the Fukushima Daiichi plant, with the government setting a 2045 deadline for its transfer elsewhere in the country.Most of the stored soil contains low levels of radiation equivalent to or less than one X-ray per year for people who directly stand on or work with it, the environment ministry said.But with few willing to take the contaminated earth, the government took it upon itself to reuse some of the soil to show it is not dangerous.On Saturday, workers unloaded bags of the dirt from a truck in the front yard of the prime minister's office in central Tokyo, with earlier reports saying it will be used in flower beds.A layer of ordinary soil around 20 centimetres (eight inches) deep will sit on top of the Fukushima soil, according to the environment ministry.Opinion polls suggest that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's coalition could lose its majority in upper house elections on Sunday, a result that might push him to resign after less than a year in office.tmo/sco

China, India should work towards 'win-win' cooperation: Chinese FM-by AFP Staff Writers.

Beijing (AFP) July 15, 2025-Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday that Beijing and New Delhi should work towards mutual trust and "win-win" cooperation, after talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, state news agency Xinhua reported.China and India should "adhere to the direction of good-neighborliness and friendship" and "find a way for mutual respect and trust, peaceful coexistence, common development and win-win cooperation", Wang said, according to Xinhua.The two foreign ministers met in Beijing on Monday as the two rivals seek to repair ties following a 2020 clash on their border.The world's two most populous nations are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia, and their 3,500-kilometre (2,200-mile) frontier has been a perennial source of tension.The 2020 clash between their troops led to a four-year military standoff, but they agreed in October on patrols in disputed areas.India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's President Xi Jinping met for the first time in five years later that month, agreeing to work on improving relations.New Delhi is concerned over Beijing's increasing presence in the Indian Ocean, seeing the region as firmly within its sphere of influence.Another source of tension is the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader India has hosted since he and thousands of other Tibetans fled Chinese troops who crushed an uprising in their capital Lhasa in 1959.The 90-year-old Dalai Lama says only his India-based organisation has the right to identify his eventual successor.China insists that it would have final say on who succeeds the Tibetan spiritual leader.

China hails 'strategically valuable' Russia ties in Lavrov visit-by AFP Staff Writers.

Beijing (AFP) July 14, 2025-Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hailed Beijing's "strategically valuable" relations with Moscow as he met his Russian counterpart against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and turbulent ties with the United States.Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov was visiting Beijing after a trip to North Korea, where he received assurances of support for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.Wang told Lavrov on Sunday that "China-Russia are the most stable, most mature and most strategically valuable relationship between major powers in the world today", according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout of their meeting."The current focus is to... deepen comprehensive strategic cooperation, promote each side's development and revitalisation, and jointly respond to the challenges brought by a turbulent and changing world," Wang said.The two ministers "exchanged views on the Korean peninsula, the Ukraine crisis, the Iranian nuclear issue and other matters", the Chinese statement said.It did not mention ties with Washington, which Moscow said was also on the agenda.The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Wang also discussed other "burning issues", including the war in Gaza.China, a diplomatic and economic ally of Moscow, claims to be neutral in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.However, it has never denounced Russia's 2022 invasion nor called for it to withdraw its troops, and many of Ukraine's allies believe that China has provided support for Russia.Beijing regularly calls for an end to the fighting, while also accusing Western countries of prolonging the conflict by arming Ukraine.

Russia's Lavrov visits Beijing to discuss Ukraine.

Moscow (AFP) July 13, 2025 - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Sunday in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart to discuss Ukraine and relations with the United States.Russia's top diplomat arrived in China following a visit to North Korea, where he received assurances of support in its conflict with Ukraine.Lavrov and Wang Yi "discussed relations with the United States and the outlook for settling the Ukrainian crisis," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.China, a diplomatic and economic ally of Moscow, claims to be neutral in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.But it has never denounced Russia's 2022 invasion nor called for it to withdraw its troops, and many of Ukraine's allies believe that China has provided support for Russia.Beijing regularly calls for an end to the fighting, while also accusing Western countries of prolonging the conflict by arming Ukraine.The statement from the Russian foreign ministry said Levrov and Yi also discussed other "burning issues" such as the war in Gaza and the "situation on the Korean peninsula". 

Iraq says drones that struck military radars are foreign-made.

Baghdad, July 18 (AFP) Jul 18, 2025-Iraq said Friday that drones which hit several military radar systems last month were launched from within the country but manufactured abroad, without identifying the perpetrators.On June 24, the Iraqi government said that several small suicide drones targeted multiple Iraqi military sites and bases, including the radar systems at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, and Imam Ali Base in Dhi Qar Province in southern Iraq.Sabah al-Numan, the military spokesman for the prime minister, said that Iraq identified "the origin of the drones used in the attacks," adding that they were "equipped with warheads of varying weights and were manufactured outside Iraq."The drones were also launched from several locations inside Iraq.They were all of the same type, which indicates "a single executing party".Numan said the government also identified "the entities involved in planning and carrying out" these attacks.Numan did not specify where the drones were made or identify those responsible, but he said that "all those involved... will be referred to the Iraqi judiciary."Long plagued by conflict, Iraq frequently experiences such attacks, often linked to regional proxy struggles between Iran and the United States and its ally Israel.A source close to the Iran-backed Iraqi factions, who had in previous years hit bases hosting US troops, told AFP the groups have nothing to do with the drone attacks.The June attacks came hours before a ceasefire took hold between Israel and Iran, and after Iran launched missiles at a US military facility in Qatar in retaliation for US bombing of its nuclear facilities.In the past few weeks, Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdistan region has seen a spate of unclaimed drone attacks, mostly against oil fields.Baghdad has promised an investigation to identify the culprits.The attacks in Kurdistan come at a time of simmering tension between Baghdad and the regional administration in Arbil over oil exports from Kurdistan, which have been blocked since 2023.The last attack occurred on Thursday morning on an oil field, hours before Baghdad announced a deal with Arbil to resume oil exports. 

Iran says Europeans have no grounds to trigger sanctions snapback.

Tehran, July 18 (AFP) Jul 18, 2025-Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his European counterparts Friday they have no grounds for reactivating UN sanctions after they threatened to do so in coming months unless there is progress in nuclear talks."If EU/E3 want to have a role, they should act responsibly and put aside the worn-out policies of threat and pressure, including the 'snap-back' for which they (have) absolutely no moral (or) legal grounds," Araghchi said on X.He added that "any new round of talks is only possible when the other side is ready for a fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial nuclear deal."The remarks came after Araghchi held a conference call with his British, French and German counterparts and European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.The European diplomats told Araghchi of "their determination to use the 'snapback' mechanism -- which allows for the reimposition of all international sanctions against Iran -- in the absence of concrete progress" towards a new deal on Iran's nuclear programme "by the end of the summer", the French foreign ministry said.French officials have previously indicated that means by the end of August.Last month, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that the Europeans would be "justified" in seeking a snapback of UN sanctions lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers, later abandoned by US President Donald Trump."Without a firm, tangible, and verifiable commitment from Iran, we will do so no later than the end of August," he told reporters.Last week, Araghchi urged the Europeans to play "a constructive role" on the nuclear issue."The threat of sanctions does not help diplomacy," Araghchi told French newspaper Le Monde.There has been much speculation about the status of Iran's nuclear programme since Israel and and the United States bombed key facilities last month.A clause in the 2015 agreement allows for UN sanctions on Iran to be reimposed through a snapback mechanism in the event of non-compliance.But the deal expires in October giving the parties to it a fast looming deadline to invoke the clause.Iran and the United States held several rounds of nuclear negotiations through Omani mediators before Israel launched its 12-day war on June 13. Trump's decision to join Israel in striking Iranian nuclear facilities effectively ended the talks.Since the end of the hostilities, both Tehran and Washington have signalled willingness to return to the table, though Tehran has said it will not give up its right to the peaceful use of nuclear power.An adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in matter of state, said on Monday there would be no new nuclear talks with the United States if they were conditioned on Iran renouncing uranium enrichment.

Tribal fighters have left Sweida, violent clashes have ceased, says Syrian interior ministry-By AFP

Tribal fighters have been evacuated from Syria’s southern city of Sweida and violent clashes have ceased, the country’s interior ministry says.“After intensive efforts by the Ministry of Interior to implement the ceasefire agreement, following the deployment of its forces in the northern and western regions of Sweida Governorate, the city of Sweida was evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighborhoods were halted,” interior ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba says in a post on Telegram.

3hr ago-Rubio urges Syrian security forces to prevent ‘jihadists’ from committing ‘massacres’ in country’s south By AFP

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls on the Syrian government’s security forces to prevent jihadists from entering and “carrying out massacres” in the conflict-stricken south of the country.“If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria… they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent ISIS and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres,” Rubio says in a statement posted to X.The statement comes after days of violence in the Druze-majority city of Sweida and the wider province, as Druze fighters clashed with Sunni Bedouin tribes, who were later joined by government forces.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

5hr ago-Report: 2,000 Israeli Druze warn they’ll join fighting in Syria if attacks persist.

Kan news reports that some 2,000 Druze in Israel have signed onto a document declaring their intention to join the fighting in Syria if attacks against Druze by Bedouin tribesmen and government-allied forces do not stop.“We are preparing to volunteer to fight alongside our brothers in Sweida. It is our time to be ready to defend our brothers, our land, and our religion,” the document says, according to Kan.Signatories include active reservists in the IDF, the network says, and the letter has sparked intense concern in the Israeli security establishment, which is striving to convince Druze leaders to leave it to the IDF to address any further violence.Ceasefires have repeatedly been declared in the Sweida region in recent days but have been broken time and again.In recent hours reports have indicated that clashes in the city of Sweida have been halted and the area was cleared of Bedouin tribal fighters following the deployment of Syrian security forces to enforce a ceasefire.

Man suspected in Los Angeles car ramming charged with assault with a deadly weapon By AFP

A 29-year-old man suspected of driving his car into a crowd outside a Hollywood nightclub in Los Angeles was arrested Saturday and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, police say.The suspect, identified as Fernando Ramirez, was booked into custody and charged with assault, Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Rosario Cervantes tells AFP.

'People need to pay a price, not just be reprimanded' US envoy demands ‘harsh consequences’ as he visits Christian town attacked by settlers-Touring Taybeh, Mike Huckabee says ‘desecrating a church, mosque or synagogue is a crime against humanity and God’ following arson attack on ruins of Christian house of worship By ToI Staff 19 July 2025, 4:54 pm

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee visited the Christian Palestinian town of Taybeh in the West Bank on Saturday, which has been the scene of several attacks by settlers in recent weeks.Taybeh residents and local church leaders said the town had experienced an upsurge in settler harassment recently. They pointed to an arson attack, which they said was committed by extremist settlers, next to the ruins of the Church of St. George in the town last week, as one of the most serious incidents so far.On Monday, the most senior church leaders in the Holy Land toured the Palestinian town and alleged that Israeli authorities have facilitated the ongoing harassment.“Desecrating a church, mosque or synagogue is a crime against humanity and God,” Huckabee wrote Saturday on X after touring Taybeh.“I work for ALL American citizens who live in Israel-Jewish, Muslim or Christian. When they are terrorized or victims of crime I will demand those responsible be held accountable with real consequences,” he added.In a separate statement issued by the State Department, Huckabee denounced the arson attack as “an act of terror” and demanded “harsh consequences” for the perpetrators.He also appeared to take a shot at Israeli authorities over the lack of enforcement against settler violence.“We will certainly insist that those who carry out acts of terror and violence in Taybeh – or anywhere – be found and be prosecuted. Not just reprimanded, that’s not enough,” Huckabee said. “People need to pay a price for doing something that destroys that which belongs, not just to other people, but that which belongs to God. That is a sacrilege. It’s against the Holy.”Israeli officials have yet to condemn the attacks on Taybeh and have also been mum on last week’s killing of two Palestinians, including a US citizen allegedly beaten to death by settlers near the West Bank village of Sinjil.Huckabkee’s visit to Taybeh came amid growing concern from the US over Israeli actions toward Christians.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement Thursday expressing regret after IDF tank fire killed three civilians in Gaza’s only Catholic church, heeding a demand from US President Donald Trump, who angrily phoned the Israeli premier over the incident.Earlier this week, Huckabee threatened to declare publicly that Israel no longer welcomes Christian groups to Israel over what he said was Jerusalem’s failure to approve tourist visas for evangelical missions.On Tuesday, he described the killing of Palestinian-American Saif Musallet near Ramallah, who was allegedly beaten to death by settlers, as a “criminal and terrorist act.”It appeared to be one of the first times Huckabee has commented on rampant settler violence in the West Bank, though he avoided using the term or characterizing the killing as part of a broader phenomenon.A devout evangelical Christian, Huckabee has long expressed support for Israel annexing the West Bank and has pushed back against calls for scaling back Israel’s presence there, making his public condemnations of some Israeli policies and settler violence particularly notable.Criticism of Israel from the American right has been growing in recent months, particularly following American involvement in Israel’s war against Iran last month, which seemingly contradicted US President Donald Trump’s campaign promise not to involve the United States in new overseas conflicts.In a sign of the shift, the far-right One America News Network aired a segment on Wednesday critical of Musallet’s killing and settler violence generally.

THESE REPROBATE DEMOLIBNUTS ARE GONNA GET PAID BACK BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FOR COMING AGAINST TRUMP FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS. SIN CAN NOT GO ON FOREVER BEFORE JUDGEMENT COMES ON THESE LIBBY-DEMOCRAP DUNG WHEEL BARROW FILLERS. WITH THEIR MOUTHS. AND THE COWARDS THAT RAN THE BRAIN-DEAD BIDEN ADMINISTRATION WITH THAT AUTO-PEN. HAVE ALL TAKIN THE 5TH. I HOPE THEY END UP IN THE 5TH CELL BLOCK IN ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ. AND TRUMP WANTS TO REOPEN ALCATRAZ IN SAN FRANCISO. I AGREE. AND FOR A MILE AROUND ALCATRAZ I WOULD PUT 10S OF THOUSANDS OF LIVE ALLIGATORS. PEN THEM IN AFTER A MILE FROM ALCATRAZ WITH CEMENT 12 FOOT HIGH. ALL AROUND ALCATRZ FROM THE ISLAND A MILE OUT. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE ALCATRAZ WATER MAKE A 30 FOOT HIGH CEMENT WALL ALL AROUND ALCATRAZ. SO IF ANYBODY LIBERAL-DEMOCRAPS WHO ESCAPE. WOULD FIRST HAVE TO CLIMB THE 30 FOOT WALL. THEN FOR THE NEXT MILE THEY WOULD HAVE TO MAKE IT THREW THE THOUSANDS UPON THOUSANDS OF LIVE HUNGRY ALLIGATORS. SEE IF ANY LIBERAL-DEMOCRAP NUTCASE WOULD TRY TO ESCAPE THIS PLACE THEN. 

Alcatraz Island (/ˈælkəˌtræz/) is a small island about 1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco in San Francisco Bay, California, near the Golden Gate Strait.[1] The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison. In 1934, the island was converted into a federal prison, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. The strong tidal currents around the island and ice-cold water temperatures made escape nearly impossible, giving the prison one of the most notorious reputations of its kind in American history.[4] The prison closed on March 21, 1963, leaving the island a major tourist attraction today.Beginning in November 1969, the island was occupied for more than 19 months by a group of Native Americans, initially primarily from San Francisco, who were later joined by the American Indian Movement and other urban Native Americans from other parts of the country, who were part of a wave of Native American activists organizing public protests across the US through the 1970s. In 1972, Alcatraz was transferred to the Department of Interior to become part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.Today, the island's facilities are managed by the National Park Service as part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Pier 33, located between the San Francisco Ferry Building and Fisherman's Wharf. Hornblower Cruises, operating under the name Alcatraz Cruises, is the official ferry provider to and from the island.Alcatraz Island is the site of the abandoned federal prison, the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast of the United States, early military fortifications, and natural features such as rock pools and a seabird colony (mostly western gulls, cormorants, and egrets). According to a 1971 documentary on the history of Alcatraz, the island measures 1,675 feet (511 m) by 590 feet (180 m) and is 135 feet (41 m) at highest point during mean tide.[5]The total area of the island is reported to be 22 acres (8.9 ha).[1]-Landmarks on the island include the Main Cellhouse, Dining Hall, Lighthouse, the ruins of the Warden's House and Social Hall, Parade Grounds, Building 64, Water Tower, New Industries Building, Model Industries Building, and the Recreation Yard.

Trump sues Rupert Murdoch, Wall Street Journal for $10B over Epstein sex bombshell-Publisher of newspaper vows to ‘vigorously defend against any lawsuit’ as US president rages over report on ‘bawdy’ birthday letter to Epstein-By Sebastian Smith 19 July 2025, 6:44 am

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Donald Trump sued media magnate Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal for at least $10 billion Friday over publication of a bombshell article on his friendship with the infamous alleged sex trafficker of underage girls, Jeffrey Epstein.The defamation lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, saw the 79-year-old Republican hitting back at a scandal threatening to cause serious political damage.“We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal,” Trump posted on Truth Social late Friday.The Journal reported Thursday that in 2003, the then-real estate magnate wrote a suggestive birthday letter to Epstein, illustrated with a naked woman and alluding to a shared “secret.”The lawsuit, which also names two reporters, the Dow Jones corporation, and Murdoch’s parent company News Corp. as defendants, claims that no such letter exists and that the paper intended to malign Trump with a story that has now been viewed by hundreds of millions of people.“And given the timing of the Defendants’ article, which shows their malicious intent behind it, the overwhelming financial and reputational harm suffered by President Trump will continue to multiply,” it said.Dow Jones, the Journal’s longtime publisher, responded to Trump’s libel suit Friday saying it is standing by the story.“We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit,” a Dow Jones spokesperson said in a statement.Alleged cover-upIn another bid to dampen outrage among his own supporters about an alleged government cover-up of Epstein’s activities and 2019 death, Trump ordered US Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the unsealing of grand jury testimony from the prosecution against the disgraced financier.In a filing in New York, Bondi cited “extensive public interest” for the unusual request to release what is typically secret testimony.Epstein, a longtime friend of Trump and multiple high-profile men, was found hanging dead in a New York prison cell while awaiting trial on charges that he sexually exploited dozens of underage girls at his homes in New York and Florida.The case sparked conspiracy theories, especially among Trump’s far-right voters, about an alleged international cabal of wealthy pedophiles. Epstein’s death — declared a suicide — before he could face trial supercharged the narrative.When Trump returned to power for a second term this January, his supporters clamored for revelations about Epstein’s supposed list of clients. But Bondi issued an official memo this month declaring there was no such list.The discontent in Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base poses a rare challenge to the Republican’s control of the political narrative in the United States.It remained unclear whether a court would authorize the unsealing of the grand jury testimony.But even if such material were made public, there is no assurance it would shed much, if any, light on the main questions raised in the conspiracy theories — particularly the existence and possible contents of an Epstein client list.Asked Friday by reporters if he would pursue the broader release of information related to the case, Trump did not answer.Naked woman and signature-Trump was close with Epstein for years, and the two were photographed and videoed together at parties, although there has never been evidence of wrongdoing.The Wall Street Journal article published late Thursday was damaging because it indicated a shared interest in sex.The Journal reported that Trump had wished Epstein a happy 50th birthday in 2003 with a “bawdy” letter, part of an album of messages from rich and well-known figures.According to the Journal, the Trump letter contained the outline of a naked woman, apparently drawn with a marker, and had the future president’s signature “Donald” mimicking pubic hair. It ends, according to the newspaper, with “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”Trump reacted in a series of furious social media posts, saying “it’s not my language. It’s not my words.”“I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said.US media has published multiple drawings done by Trump in the past, with several dating to the early 2000s when he used his celebrity status to donate sketches for charity.