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)
WAR WITH IRAN - DAY 199 MON SEPTEMBER 14,26 - The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected to meet on Monday in the Welsh capital of Cardiff to sign a declaration aimed at achieving independence from England and dissolving the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
THE NEXT US-ISRAEL HIT ON IRAN SHOULD BE VERSE 37. ALL OFFENSIVE NUKE SITES MISSLES,DRONES,AND OF COURSE KHEMENI AND THE IRGC GUARDS.THEN AFTER IRANS REGIME CHANGE. MUSLIMS COME TO JESUS BY THE MILLIONS.
JEREMEIAH 49:32-39 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR OR ARAK NUKE SITES AND ALL OFENSIVE WEAPONS DESTROYED IN IRAN)
Jeremiah 49:32-39
32 Their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners [of their hair] cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, says Yahweh.
33 Hazor shall be a dwelling-place of jackals, a desolation forever: no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.(Location & Size: It was strategically located along the Via Maris (Way of the Sea), a major trade route connecting Egypt with Syria and Mesopotamia.)
34 The word of Yahweh that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam,(IRAN) in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
35 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRANS OFFENSIVE WEAPONS) the chief of their might.(MISSLES AND NUKE SITES)
36 On Elam (IRAN) will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of the sky, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(SINCE 1979 IRANIANS HAVE GOTTIN OUT OF IRAN BECAUSE OF KHEMENI AND HIS APOCOPOLIPTIC DEATH CULT BELIEF-BLACK HATER 12ERS)
37 I will cause Elam (IRAN) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life;(ISRAEL THE LITTLE SATAN AND THE U.S THE BIG SATAN) and I will bring evil on them, (MISSLES) even my fierce anger,(FIRE) says Yahweh; and I will send the sword after them,(IRANS OFFENSIVE WEAPONS) until I have consumed them; (DESTROYED THEM ALL NUKE SITES,MISSLES ETC)
38 and I will set my throne in Elam,(IRAN WILL BECOME A CHRISTIAN NATION) and will destroy from there king (KHEMENI CLAN) and princes, says Yahweh.(IRANIAN ARMY GUARDS)
39 But it shall happen in the latter days, that I will bring back the captivity of Elam,(IRAN) says Yahweh.(WERE IN THE LATTER DAYS NOW)
WHEN ARE THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS IN ISRAEL IN THE SPRING TIME.(GET READY ISLAM TO BE BIRD SEED FOR THESE BIRDS)
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m0bXU5Xqc5M
The 500 million migratory birds in Israel during the spring arrive from Africa and head toward Europe and Asia, with the peak migration occurring in March and April. While migration starts in late February, the most intense movements, particularly of birds of prey, storks, and pelicans, occur during the third week of March and continue into April.
Key Details on the Spring Migration
Peak Period: Mid-March through April.
Main Migration Route: The birds use the Great Rift Valley, which includes the Hula Valley and Eilat, acting as a "bottleneck" where millions of birds fly through the narrow land bridge.
Best Spots: The Hula Lake Park (Northern Israel) and the Eilat Birding Center (Southern Israel) are primary locations for observing the migration.
Key Species: Hundreds of thousands of white storks, along with black kites, raptors, and pelicans, pass through over these months.
uration: The spring migration runs from late February and continues into June, though the heaviest traffic is in March/April.
The 500 million migratory birds fly over Israel in the fall between late August and mid-December. The peak migration period for the autumn, when the highest volume of bird traffic occurs, is typically October and November.
Key Fall Migration Details
Location: The Hula Valley (Agamon Hula Park) in northern Israel is the premier spot to witness this phenomenon.
Timing: Migration starts as early as late June with some waders, but intensifies from mid-August through November.
Peak Festival: The "Annual Hula Valley Bird Festival" is usually held in November to align with the peak migration traffic.
Key Species: Many birds of prey (raptors), including honey buzzards and steppe eagles, cross during this time, along with massive flocks of storks and cranes.
While roughly 500 million birds pass through in the autumn on their way to Africa, the same number crosses again in the spring (mid-February to May) on their way back to Europe and Asia.
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)
Iran hardliners launched Hormuz attacks in defiance of leaders, undermining US deal — report-Iranian sources tell NYT Pezeshkian raged at IRGC chief, who denied authorizing July strikes; official probe traced them to powerful former Guards spymaster Hossein Taeb-By ToI Staff 13 September 2026, 7:03 pm
A rogue group of Iranian hardliners sank the June truce deal between Washington and Tehran in July by attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz behind the backs of the president, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Supreme National Security Council, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing multiple unnamed Iranian and IRGC officials.The attacks, which took place overnight July 6-7, damaged three commercial vessels, including a Qatari gas tanker, and triggered renewed US strikes and sanctions against Iran and tit-for-tat attacks, effectively ending the Memorandum of Understanding that the US and Iran had signed on June 17.The rogue assault in Hormuz reportedly infuriated Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who was in Iraq at the time as part of the weeklong funeral of Iran’s slain supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.Pezeshkian rushed back to Tehran and angrily called IRGC chief Ahmad Vahidi to demand answers, but Vahidi denied authorizing the attack or knowing about it ahead of time, sources told The Times.Iran, which never confirmed striking the vessels, relayed to the US that rogue operators were behind the attack, according to US and Iranian officials cited by The Times.The Iranian attacks led to one of the most turbulent episodes of political infighting within Iran’s leadership in recent memory, The Times said, citing senior officials.According to the Times, the hardliners’ success in derailing the interim deal with the US was partially due to the seclusion of Mojtaba Khamenei, who became supreme leader after his father Ali was killed in the opening strikes of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran on February 28.The younger Khamenei has not been seen in public since the opening strikes, which are thought to have left him badly wounded.State media has circulated several written statements attributed to him, including criticism of the deal with the US, but The Times said some Iranian officials, including Pezeshkian himself, have expressed doubt about the veracity of those messages.Pezeshkian demanded proof from generals who privately claimed Khamenei had approved the strikes that scuttled the deal with the US, The Times reported. It added that the president does not stand behind the official Iranian narrative, which blames the collapse of the June agreement on alleged US violations including the failure to rein in Israel in Lebanon.According to the newspaper, official Iranian investigations pinned the attack that led to the truce talks’ collapse on the cleric Hossein Taeb, an influential opponent of the deal who had helped get Mojtaba Khamenei elected supreme leader in March.Taeb led the IRGC’s intelligence arm for nearly 15 years until Ali Khamenei removed him over failures including Israeli infiltration.Mojtaba Khamenei recently appointed Taeb head of the Basij militia, responsible for quashing internal dissent. The appointment was seen as signaling authorities’ willingness to repeat January’s deadly crackdown on anti-regime protesters should demonstrations renew.
Trump: Iran likely behind attack on Saudi pipeline, Houthis told us they don’t want to fight-US leader says Yemeni terror group has only ‘one country that they’re not too happy with, and we’ll get that straightened out’ — a reference to the Saudis-By Agencies 12 September 2026, 5:50 pm
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Iran was probably responsible for an aerial attack on Saudi Arabia that shut down its East-West Pipeline, one of the kingdom’s main routes for exporting crude while bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.“I think they are, probably they are,” Trump told reporters in Dublin when asked if Iran was responsible for the attack on the vital oil conduit.The US president also said he had spoken with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom he described as a “good friend.”The Saudi foreign ministry blamed the attack on several drones from Iraq that it said “caused human injuries and damage.” In a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom said it would not respond to give the Iraqi government “an opportunity to take the necessary measures.” But it also stressed that Saudi Arabia “reserves the right to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, its security, its facilities,” and its inhabitants.The Iraqi government condemned the assault, with the prime minister’s office announcing the dismissal of a military commander after investigations confirmed the attack originated from Iraq. Two Iraqi sources later told Reuters that Iraq ordered the closure of the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran as a precautionary measure, adding that a wide-scale operation was underway to pursue the perpetrators of the attack.Trump added that Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi fighters, who have seized a vital shipping corridor linking Europe and Asia, have asked Washington not to intervene.Following a week-long offensive, the Houthis on Friday captured Yemen’s Red Sea coast after taking three strategic islands in a lightning offensive, cementing their hold on the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital artery for Saudi Arabian oil exports as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed amid the US-Iran war.Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, has relied on the area ever since Iran’s Hormuz blockade choked off its shipments via the Gulf.“The Houthis called us, and they don’t want to fight with us,” Trump told reporters. “They don’t want us to go after them.”He added that “everything’s gonna work out fine and dandy” in the region.According to US outlet Axios, bin Salman called Trump twice on Thursday to request US strikes on the Houthis, but the American president declined.The Houthis also targeted Saudi Arabian oil facilities this week with a massive drone and missile attack.“They would much prefer not having us involved, and they’re letting most ships go through. There’s just one country that they’re not too happy with, and we’ll get that straightened out,” Trump said.Yemen’s Riyadh-backed government forces said on Saturday they had struck Houthi fighters in the strategic Red Sea city of Mocha.“The armed forces destroyed vehicles and weapons and killed members of the Houthi terrorist militia backed by the Iranian regime,” near the port of the city of Mocha, the government news agency Saba reported.The spokesman for the Yemeni government forces, Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, said they had also struck the Houthis’ “vehicles and members” on the Mocha-Dhubab road, 11 kilometers (7 miles) from the city, according to Saba.Nazili said Friday they had begun shelling areas in Mocha, and called on citizens not to use the Taiz-Mocha and Mocha-Dhubab roads.The Houthis seized control of Mocha on Thursday, with their attack driving many to flee to Aden, where the internationally recognized government is based.On Friday, Houthi media said two Saudi strikes hit Mocha’s airport, while a local official said the city’s seaport was hit by six missiles of unknown origin.The Houthi offensive, which started last week, has killed more than 500 people, according to sources on both sides. It has also displaced about 46,000 people, the UN migration agency said on Friday.It is part of renewed hostilities in Yemen’s civil war that began with the group’s takeover of the capital Sanaa in 2014.In a statement Friday, the Houthi armed forces boasted of gains along the coast. They vowed “escalation for escalation” in the confrontation with Saudi Arabia, while declaring that “maritime navigation is safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels.”Still, markets are nervous, and experts have described the Houthis as highly unpredictable. Crude prices this week soared again above $100 a barrel, giving Tehran more leverage in any talks.The Houthis have been attacking Saudi shipping on the Red Sea since declaring a blockade in July, as well as hitting oil infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia. The rebels said they acted in response to the kingdom’s yearslong blockade of Houthi-held parts of Yemen.A senior military official with Yemen’s internationally recognized government told the AP they were stunned that the Saudi air force did not try to prevent the capture of Mokha, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the strait. He assessed that Saudi Arabia didn’t get a green light from the US to embark on a large-scale air campaign.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to speak to the media, also blamed “lack of coordination” between Yemen’s army and multiple allied militias, saying it gave the Houthis “a priceless opportunity.”Shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait had fallen by about 60% since the Houthis began attacking some ships there in late 2023 and expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Shipping increased this year as Saudi Arabia sought alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz, but renewed Houthi threats have “curtailed” that activity, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.That has forced Saudi Arabia to find yet another alternative, sending its oil north out of the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, either via the Suez Canal or a pipeline through Egypt, a far longer route for its clients in Asia. The Houthis have threatened that route as well, striking a Saudi vessel in the north of the Red Sea in late August.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Iran seeking to drive up global oil prices to pressure US-Saudi Arabia shutters major oil pipeline struck by drones from Iraq-Kingdom says it will hold off on response to give Baghdad ‘an opportunity to take the necessary measures’; Iraq closes border crossing with Iran amid hunt for perpetrators
By Agencies 12 September 2026, 3:06 am
Saudi Arabia said Friday it shut down a major pipeline a day after it was attacked by drones, and Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels captured a strategic island at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, two officials said, opening a new front in the Iran war.The Houthis made their biggest territorial gains in years along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s key shipping lanes. The advance could boost Iran’s strategy of driving up world oil and gas prices to pressure the United States.Saudi Arabia said it had shut down the East-West pipeline after it was attacked the day before, with the energy ministry calling the move “a precautionary measure.”The Saudi foreign ministry blamed the attack on several drones from Iraq that it said “caused human injuries and damage.” In a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom said it would not respond to give the Iraqi government “an opportunity to take the necessary measures.” But it also stressed that Saudi Arabia “reserves the right to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty, its security, its facilities,” and its inhabitants.The Iraqi government condemned the assault, with the prime minister’s office announcing the dismissal of a military commander after investigations confirmed the attack originated from Iraq. Two Iraqi sources later told Reuters that Iraq ordered the closure of the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iran as a precautionary measure, adding that a wide-scale operation was underway to pursue the perpetrators of the attack.Saudi Arabia and the United States bombed Iranian-backed militias in Iraq in July, after blaming them for drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities that had been claimed by the Houthis. Regional officials told the Associated Press that the Houthis helped the Iraqi militias plan and execute the attacks.Pipeline was built in the 1980s-Built in the 1980s, the East-West pipeline has played an important role in Saudi Arabia’s ability to export oil following the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war. By early June, Saudi Arabia had more than doubled oil exports from the Red Sea port at the pipeline’s end to more than 5 million barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency.The Houthi’s capture of Mayun, a tiny, barren volcanic island inside the strait also known as Perim, was confirmed by a senior military official with Yemen’s internationally recognized government and by a Houthi official. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, has increasingly relied on the Red Sea to get its crude to market as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been striking ships. Houthi efforts to close the 28-kilometer-wide (17-mile) Bab el-Mandeb channel have made that route more complicated.In a statement Friday, the Houthi armed forces boasted of gains along the coast without mentioning the island, Mokha or the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. They vowed “escalation for escalation” in the confrontation with Saudi Arabia, while declaring that “maritime navigation is safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels.”Still, markets are nervous, and experts have described the Houthis as highly unpredictable. Crude prices this week soared again above $100 a barrel, giving Tehran more leverage in any talks.Yemen’s government was shocked by slow Saudi response-The Houthis have been attacking Saudi shipping on the Red Sea since declaring a blockade in July, as well as hitting oil infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia. The rebels said they acted in response to the kingdom’s yearslong blockade of Houthi-held parts of Yemen.Saudi Arabia struck the airport in the port city of Mokha after the Houthis seized it Thursday, a Houthi broadcaster said. There were no reports of damage or deaths.A senior military official with Yemen’s internationally recognized government told the AP they were stunned that the Saudi air force did not try to prevent the capture of Mokha, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the strait. He assessed that Saudi Arabia didn’t get a green light from the US to embark on a large-scale air campaign.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to speak to the media, also blamed “lack of coordination” between Yemen’s army and multiple allied militias, saying it gave the Houthis “a priceless opportunity.”Shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait had fallen by about 60% since the Houthis began attacking some ships there in late 2023 and expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Shipping increased this year as Saudi Arabia sought alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz, but renewed Houthi threats have “curtailed” that activity, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.That has forced Saudi Arabia to find yet another alternative, sending its oil north out of the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, either via the Suez Canal or a pipeline through Egypt, a far longer route for its clients in Asia. The Houthis have threatened that route as well, striking a Saudi vessel in the north of the Red Sea in late August.Iran calls for a return to Saudi-Houthi talks-Earlier Friday, Iran’s government called for an end to Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Houthi-held areas in a show of support for its ally. The Iranian Foreign Ministry also called for a return to negotiations between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis.In a sign of the Houthis’ importance to Tehran, the spokesperson for Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard on Wednesday called for any negotiated settlement with the US to include Yemen, the first explicit reference to that front.Saudi Arabia, which said it had always offered “opportunities for negotiation,” also said it has the right to defend itself. The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia spoke Thursday about diplomatic efforts to “restore stability,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media.The fighting risks a return to Yemen’s civil war As the Houthis swept along the Red Sea coast toward the Bab el-Mandeb channel, Yemen’s Saudi-backed government called for international support.In a statement Friday from a meeting the previous day, its National Defense Council said it was on the front line of defending freedom of navigation and condemned the Houthis’ renewed attacks on Saudi Arabia.The escalating fighting threatens to end a fragile truce that had largely halted Yemen’s civil war since 2022. At stake are 40 million people in the Arab world’s poorest country. The conflict killed 150,000 and brought many others to the brink of famine.The surge in fighting in the past week has sent over 46,000 people fleeing, the UN migration agency said Friday.People seeking safety left with “whatever they can grab,” Abdusattor Esoev, mission chief in Yemen for the International Organization for Migration, said Friday. He said the number of people displaced more than doubled this week and could still rise sharply.“You see the fears in their eyes, and people are scared,” Esoev said.Those fleeing included doctors and other medical workers. Lou Cormack, Yemen coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said Friday that the aid group has prioritized keeping Mokha’s hospital open after most of its staff left.The Houthis have been at war with Yemen’s government since 2014, when the rebels seized much of northern and central Yemen and the capital of Sanaa. Saudi Arabia entered the war the following year on behalf of the government.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
US pressures Austria to withdraw visa for Iran nuclear chief attending IAEA meeting-Iran protests after Mohammad Eslami unable to travel to Austria for annual UN atomic watchdog meeting because Washington opposed granting him an exemption to travel sanctions-By Francois Murphy Today, 4:34 pm-sep 14,26
VIENNA (Reuters) – The United States blocked Iran’s nuclear chief from attending this week’s UN atomic watchdog meeting in Vienna by opposing an exemption from so-called “snapback” UN sanctions, prompting protests from Tehran on Monday.Iranian nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami had been due to attend and address this week’s International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference, an annual meeting of IAEA member states that began on Monday. At the opening, however, Iran said Austria had revoked Eslami’s visa after originally granting him one.“The cancellation and so-called legal justification advanced for it are a stark indication of a political act and advanced formal politicization of this organization,” Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA told the conference.Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the United States had pressured Austria into the move, while Iran and Russia said it formed part of a broader effort to prevent Iranian officials from obtaining visas for international travel.The United States said it had objected to an exemption that would have allowed Eslami to travel despite sanctions reimposed under the so-called “snapback” mechanism at the UN Security Council.Eslami was among those targeted by sanctions lifted under a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers and the United States. The deal unravelled after US President Donald Trump pulled the US out of it in 2018, and Western powers triggered the “snapback” mechanism last year to re-impose those sanctions.Iran and allies, including Russia, do not recognize the reimposed sanctions. Austria said it had requested an exemption for Eslami.“Austria, although being only the host state, submitted a request for an exemption to the travel ban to the Security Council sanctions committee, which was rejected,” Ambassador Christian Ebner told the conference.“As a consequence, Austria was obliged to deny one member of the Iranian delegation the entry into its territory,” he said.US Ambassador Preston Wells Griffith III said his country had objected in New York to an exemption being granted, and that was why the application was denied.“The United States objected to the exemption request, which per the rules of the UN sanctions committee resulted in the UN Security Council denying the request,” he said.“His (Eslami’s) participation would have only resulted in Iran exploiting IAEA proceedings as a stage for propaganda while sidestepping substantive cooperation, undermining the credibility of the very body charged with verifying its nuclear commitments,” he said, referring to a standoff over inspections.
PROOF HALF ON EARTH DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION PERIOD (8 BILLION ON EARTH) (DO NOT EVER LISTEN TO ANYBODY THAT SAYS THE WORLD IS ENDING.ITS NEVER GONNA HAPPEN-4 BILLION WILL BE LEFT ON EARTH TO GO INTO JESUS" 1000 YEAR RULE)(THAT DOES NOT SOUND LIKE THE END OF THE WORLD TO ANY ONE, DOES IT-NOT ME.THE EARTH IS JUST RENOVATED.NEVER ENDED.
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.
WORLD TERRORISM
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.(CAN YOU SAY TORNADOES,HURRICANES,VOLCANOES,EARTH QUAKES,LANDSLIDES,FLASH FLOODING,EXPLOSIONS,SNOW STORMS,THEN FINALLY NUKESAND ANY OTHER JUDGEMENTS THE EARTH CAN VOMIT THE SINNERS OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH WITH.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places,(DIFFERNT PLACES AT THE SAME TIME) and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
2 Peter 3:6-7 Amplified Bible (AMP) (HOT SUN, NUKES ETC)
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON THE MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS-PROPHECY SIGNS) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
ISAIAH 14:12-14
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I (SATAN HAS EYE TROUBLES) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(AND 1/3RD OF THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN FELL WITH SATAN AND BECAME DEMONS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
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.
Joel 3:2-King James Version (YOU DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF - YOUR POKING GOD IN THE EYE - GOD SAYS AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH- YOU WANNA DIVIDE JERUSALEM IN HALF - HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION 4 BILLION DIE ON EARTH.
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
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.
LUKE 19:40
40 And He answered and said unto them, “I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”
Israeli consul general in NY likens Mamdani’s policies to Nazi Germany-‘Who boycotted Jews? The Third Reich!’ Ofir Akunis says in Rosh Hashanah interview; progressive Jewish movements find his approach unhelpful at fretful time for community-By Joseph Strauss Today, 10:27 am-SEP 14,26
(New York Jewish Week via JTA) — Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York, was not being subtle. In a recent interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at his office in Midtown East ahead of Rosh Hashanah, Akunis likened Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s support for the Israel boycott movement to tactics used by Nazi Germany, called the mayor an “antisemite,” and said Mamdani bears direct responsibility for attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions in New York.Akunis was discussing Mamdani’s Day One decision to revoke an executive order issued by his predecessor, Eric Adams, against the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel when he invoked the Nazis. His comments, versions of which he has deployed on various occasions in recent weeks, mark an unusually stark escalation in the Israeli government’s criticism of New York’s mayor.The consul general’s increasingly charged comments have entered unprecedented territory in a city where mayors have historically had a warm relationship with Israel and its representatives in New York. Mamdani, an avowed anti-Zionist, has himself broken that mold with harsh rhetoric about Israel.As leaders of New York’s Jewish community navigate a tense relationship with Mamdani over Israel, critics from its progressive Zionist wing say the tenor of Akunis’s comments isn’t helping.“I think in a moment where people are already feeling anxiety about the rise of antisemitism, to compare the anxiety people are feeling and equate it with the historical reality of the Holocaust and its immediate aftermath, doesn’t help people right-size their fear,” said Margo Hughes-Robinson, executive director of the liberal advocacy group New York Jewish Agenda.Hughes-Robinson called Akunis’s Nazi Germany comparisons “unproductive” and “frankly offensive to the memory of the Holocaust and to the victims and survivors.”When asked about criticism of the comparison, Akunis clarified that he is “not saying that we should compare the horrors of the Holocaust to today’s climate.” But people “must look at history to understand how antisemitism has risen,” he said.“For example, Mamdani has called AIPAC ‘monsters,’ using the same kind of dehumanizing language that Hitler and the Nazis used to describe the Jewish people,” Akunis said. “Highlighting these rhetorical similarities is crucial to ensuring that today’s generation understands the danger of Mamdani’s language and why it must be stopped.”A Mamdani spokesperson strongly rejected Akunis’s characterization. “To compare Mayor Mamdani to the Nazis, who murdered 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, is offensive, completely unhinged and detached from reality,” Sam Raskin told JTA. “The consul general should be ashamed of himself.”Hughes-Robinson was one of the few rabbinical and Jewish organizational leaders who would respond on the record to the JTA’s request for thoughts on the strategy Akunis has adopted in countering Mamdani’s anti-Israel positions. More than a dozen declined to comment.While Mark Treyger, the current CEO of New York’s Jewish Community Relations Council, did not respond to a request for comment on the topic, his predecessor expressed sympathy for the challenge facing Akunis.“I don’t envy the position that he’s in,” said Michael Miller, who was CEO of the JCRC for 35 years, until 2021. Miller said that Akunis is in a tough spot “having to wrestle with the reality of a mayor who doesn’t believe the country that Ofir [Akunis] represents has legitimacy.”Akunis is representing Israel at a time when the country is led by its most right-wing government ever, when its international standing is tanking and when pro-Palestinian progressives like Mamdani are ascendant. Akunis had a close relationship with Mamdani’s predecessor, Adams, who was a staunch supporter of Israel. But an anti-Zionist mayor would pose a challenge to any Israeli diplomat, not just a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, and not just in 2026.A former Israeli cabinet minister and Knesset member, Akunis was appointed to the consulate in 2024 by Netanyahu. Akunis has ratcheted up the intensity of his Mamdani comments at the same time that the Likud — which Akunis belongs to — has made the New York City mayor a villain in its campaign ahead of Israel’s October 27 elections.“The mayor is busy inciting against and promoting a boycott of the Jewish state,” Akunis said during an event for young Jewish community leaders last month. “His method is the well-known antisemitic one: ‘No matter what, blame the Jews.’ This is exactly the same method that was used a century ago by the Third Reich.”Akunis has not met with Mamdani, and says he would not do so until the mayor recognizes Israel as a Jewish state; Mamdani has said Israel has a right to exist as a state “with equal rights for all,” and that he cannot endorse states that privilege one “religion” over another. (Many pro-Israel critics have noted that he has no such compunctions when it comes to Pakistan, whose independence day parade he attended even as he skipped Israel’s.)-Like Akunis, Republican City Council member Inna Vernikov has been a staunch critic of the mayor. When asked about Akunis’s stark rhetoric, the Jewish lawmaker instead spoke about the mayor, saying that Mamdani promotes antisemitism “under the thin veil of anti-Zionism.”“How the public defines or interprets these actions is up to them, but Mamdani’s record is clear,” said Vernikov.Mamdani’s office, however, stressed that it is concerned about the well-being of the Jewish community.“Mayor Mamdani has repeatedly affirmed his commitment to the safety and belonging of Jewish New Yorkers — and backed that commitment with action and significant investment,” Raskin said. “Our administration will continue to deliver for all Jewish New Yorkers, regardless of their political views. Jewish New Yorkers deserve nothing less.”The role of consul general in New York is seen as one of Israel’s highest-profile diplomatic posts, given the metropolitan area’s concentration of Jews and Jewish organizations. One member of Knesset recently called it “the true embassy of Israel to the Jews of America.”The role has also been described variously by Akunis’s predecessors as building bridges between Israel and local officials as well as with the Jewish community; maintaining support for Israel beyond just pro-Israel die-hards; and defending Israel against misinformation.Akunis says his role is to stir people to “wake up.”“I’m a big admirer [of the United States], but I’m worried because I can see in front of our eyes the huge change in this city, but not only here — all over,” Akunis said, noting a shift also in “the political parties” of the country, and especially in New York. He said that the American people and defenders of Western Civilization “must wake up before it will be too late,” and that “these people will force the Sharia laws on you instead of the American Constitution.”Republican politicians are leading efforts to make Sharia — Muslim religious law — a political issue. They charge that Muslims are seeking to impose their laws and customs in American courts, a claim that many liberals have rejected and called out for a lack of supporting evidence.Akunis stepped into the role in February 2024 at a sensitive moment, as American Jews grappled with surging antisemitism and anti-Israel activism following the October 7 attack and months into the war in Gaza, and as the Biden administration clashed with the Netanyahu government over the conflict.Now, with hate crimes against Jews in New York City up 8.5 percent from last year, Akunis has blamed that trend on Mamdani’s leadership. Most recently, he doubled down on his accusation that Mamdani was “directly responsible” for the Central Synagogue attack last month, in which a man punched a congregant and headbutted a security guard, despite the assailant’s numerous anti-Mamdani social media posts.“It is an atmosphere. The atmosphere is negative,” Akunis told JTA, noting that Mamdani is frequently “spreading lies about the State of Israel and our soldiers.”To dispel that atmosphere, Akunis said, Mamdani needs to “turn down the temperature” and focus less on international issues. “He needs to do his job, be the mayor of New York. He’s not the president of the United States,” Akunis said.Hughes-Robinson of New York Jewish Agenda agreed that the temperature needs to be lowered, but said that duty falls on Akunis and other officials as well as Mamdani.“I would hope our public leadership takes seriously the need to not be inflammatory,” she said. She included Akunis’s statements and a widely circulated video by Mamdani that slammed Netanyahu as examples of “political points-scoring” that only ratchet up the tension.But Akunis also has his supporters within the Jewish community. The right-wing Zionist Organization of America, which is based in New York and supports the current Israeli government, wrote in a statement that it agrees with Akunis’s “strong condemnation of Mamdani’s relentless Jew-hatred” and agreed that the mayor is responsible for the rise in hate crimes. “Mamdani’s egregious public anti-Jewish bigotry has surely inspired and promoted the increased attacks on Jews,” said the ZOA’s national president, Morton Klein.Still, Akunis wouldn’t go so far as to say that Israelis aren’t safe in New York City. “In the past it was much better,” he said, but the city is not in a “situation that Israelis cannot visit this place.”He added, “I can’t say that Israelis cannot come to visit this city, because I think the most popular line between Israel and other places outside Israel is to New York.”J.J. Goldberg, former editor-in-chief of the Forward and a longtime resident of the Upper West Side, believes Akunis may be angling for a new political role at home once his time is up as consul general.“He’s still got a future in his mind, and so he’s got to stand out as a defender of Israel in Likud terms, which means an attack at every opportunity,” Goldberg said. He added that there is an “open opportunity for him to get some headlines in Israel by attacking Mamdani.”Akunis said that he had not seen the recent Likud campaign billboard that includes Mamdani among Israel’s enemies and could not comment on it. (“They want Netanyahu to lose. Don’t let them win,” reads the billboard, featuring images of Mamdani alongside Turkish
“But about the main idea,” he said, “if someone is saying that he hates Israel — like Erdogan, like Khamenei, and unfortunately like Mayor Mamdani — I need to stand against them.”He also said he could not comment specifically on ultra-nationalist Israeli ministers such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich whose visits to New York City have sparked controversy. At the same time, Akunis said that people “need to respect the will of the people in Israel, and the will of the people back then, at the end of 2022, was to vote for Bezalel Smotrich to the Knesset.”Goldberg contrasted Akunis’s more hardline approach in the city to that of Dani Dayan, a previous consul general whose right-wing views and experience as a settler leader set him apart from the bulk of New York’s liberal-leaning Jewish population. But while many anticipated that Dayan’s relationship with liberal Jews would be strained, his term was marked instead by relative amity.“He understood where the gap is between him and everybody else, and walked around it, and was tolerant of people who disagreed with him,” Goldberg said of Dayan.Dayan’s successor, Asaf Zamir, was appointed in 2021 while Netanyahu was briefly out of power, and later resigned in 2023 in protest over Netanyahu’s judicial reform push. Zamir said in 2022 that he wanted to “broaden the tent” by engaging with people who “sometimes have criticism of Israel, as long as we agree on the basic lines of Zionism.”According to Nancy Kaufman, New York Jewish Agenda’s board chair and former CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, Akunis has not met with NYJA leadership, whereas Dayan met with NCJW and Zamir met with NYJA (the group was founded after Dayan’s term had ended).“He’s not interested in what we have to say in the progressive community, and I think that’s unfortunate,” Kaufman said.Akunis, meanwhile, says he won’t meet with “any group that promotes blood libels against Israel or the Jewish people,” but that otherwise his door is open.“I will meet with whoever wants to meet me and hear my opinion, and the official policy of the Israeli government,” he said.
In my worst nightmares' didn't see extremists winning again-German Jewish leader, a Holocaust survivor, gets death threat linked to victory of far-right AfD-‘The AfD has won, now we will hang Knobloch’ found scrawled on bench with Star of David; 93-year-old has said she’s ‘frightened’ by party’s success, called for potential ban-By ToI Staff and Agencies 13 September 2026, 11:03 am
German authorities said Friday that Charlotte Knobloch, a prominent leader of the Jewish community in Munich who has called for the potential banning of Alternative for Germany (AfD), has received a death threat linked to the far-right party’s recent state election victory.German media reported that the message “the AfD has won, now we will hang Knobloch” was scrawled on a bench and trash can in a park in the city.Andreas Franck, the antisemitism commissioner at the prosecutor’s office, told DPA that the vandalism had included a Star of David.The prosecutor’s office told DPA that an investigation has been opened into suspected incitement to hatred, threats and criminal damage.Knobloch, a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor, is the head of the Jewish community in Munich and Upper Bavaria.She canceled her planned appearance at an event on Thursday evening in the wake of the threat, DPA reported.AfD won an election in the eastern region of Saxony-Anhalt last week, and is now seeking to form the first extreme-right state government in Germany since World War II.“On days like this, I find it hard to recognize my home country,” she said Sunday in the wake of the victory. “And I say quite openly: it frightens me.”“I never could have imagined in my worst nightmares that right-wing extremists in Germany would again win elections in this manner,” she said, adding that the result was “a sign that the structural integrity of democracy in our country is no longer functioning.”Voters who chose AfD had “also rejected the principles that made it possible for us in the Jewish community to once again view Germany as our home.”In August, Knobloch called for a review of whether the AfD could potentially be banned.“I constantly hear why it shouldn’t be possible to ban this party. But it would be at least as important to understand why it might be necessary,” she said.“Given much of what AfD politicians say, I ask myself: Where is the justice system? Why is it permissible today to incite hatred against people with impunity? We must resort to radical measures ourselves to combat these radicals. Otherwise, we will not succeed,” she said.Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party also “started small and tested the limits of what was possible,” said Knobloch.“That is exactly what is happening with the AfD: their politicians are testing the boundaries of what is considered acceptable. And we see that they are growing as they become increasingly radical,” she said.Residents in Saxony-Anhalt are waiting to see the ramifications of the AfD’s election victory. Without an outright majority, the party needs partners to join a coalition.Its nationalist agenda in the region includes teaching children less about Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, banning Pride flags in public buildings and requiring artists and cultural organizations to sign a declaration that they will not “disparage Germany and its culture” if they seek state funding.The rise of the AfD has unnerved many who feel Germany has a responsibility to atone for its Nazi past, and calls have grown for mainstream parties to seek to ban the group.But hurdles for a formal ban are high in Germany, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz, of the center-right CDU party, remains skeptical about taking such an approach.On Saturday, some 150,000 demonstrators took to the streets in around 20 cities nationwide, including Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, in protests that were called by Pruef, which advocates for a ban on the AfD, organizers said.The AfD held a counter-demonstration in the capital, attended by Kristin Brinker, its lead candidate in next weekend’s regional elections in Berlin.The first test as to whether AfD can translate its victory into a wider success comes Sunday in municipal elections in the western state of Lower Saxony. A week later, the AfD has its sights on state elections in the capital, Berlin, and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Reporter's Notebook 'We’ve had an identity crisis since forever' Golan Druze increasingly embrace Israel, reject Syria in seismic shift triggered by tragedy-After decades of identifying as Syrian, community that saw kids killed by Hezbollah rocket and brethren massacred by forces controlling Damascus pivots toward ‘protector’ Israel By Diana Bletter Today, 10:06 am-sep 14,26
MAJDAL SHAMS — Sitting on a street-level porch facing Majdal Shams’ bustling main drag, Qasem Sabbagh offered his visitors Turkish coffee and then reflected on the change in the psychic landscape for the Druze on the Golan Heights.For decades, the Golan’s Druze had maintained loyalty to Syria and resisted integration into Israel, which captured the strategic plateau in 1967 and effectively annexed it in 1981. But over the last two years, a fundamental transformation had taken place for the 29,000 residents of Majdal Shams and three neighboring Druze towns, Mas’ada, Ein Qiniyye, and Buq’ata, driven by a pair of traumatic events with distinct geopolitical roots but a common tragic result for the community.The first was the rocket attack by Iran’s proxy terror group, Hezbollah – a close ally of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — on a local soccer field in July 2024 that killed 12 Druze children, followed by the July 2025 massacre of over 2,000 Druze in Sweida, Syria, by forces loyal to Syria’s current president, Ahmed al-Sharaa.“When we were growing up, we were taught to speak of ourselves as Syrians,” said Sabbagh, 50, whose work involves protecting flocks of birds near local wind turbines. “There has been a big change in Druze society.”The two tragedies caused a “very profound shift for Druze in the Golan,” said Lorena Kizel Khateeb, 29, the Druze CEO of Together Vouch for Each Other (in Hebrew, B’Yachad Arevim Zeh L’Zeh), who succeeded Yosef Haddad in the position.One outgrowth of that shift has been a dramatic spike in citizenship applications by Golan Druze since 2025, after decades in which the vast majority of Druze opted instead for permanent residency, which provides full health care, education, and legal status.Israel’s capture of the plateau had sundered families in two, with close relatives separated by a hostile border and a UN-patrolled buffer zone.Those who wound up on the Israeli side stayed loyal to Syria, partly out of fears that switching allegiances would trigger retaliation against their families across the border. But they also tried to maintain close ties with Syria out of the expectation that the Golan would eventually return to Syria.Despite Israel and Syria remaining in a state of belligerence, Druze students continued to attend university in Damascus until the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Marriages were arranged across the border, with Druze women from the Israeli Golan relocating to villages in Syria.The Golan Heights’ famed apples and other agricultural products also made the journey, crossing the border under special arrangements to be sold in Syrian markets.Those family and community ties persist, but in contrast to past years, Druze on both sides of the border no longer envision reunification as a return to Syrian rule, casting a wary eye on Shaara’s Islamist government and increasingly viewing Israel as the community’s protector.Israel has offered full citizenship to its Druze residents since 1981. Until recently, the vast majority rejected it, opting for permanent residency,In 2025, Druze applications for citizenship spiked dramatically and according to data from earlier this year, four in 10 Golan Druze are now naturalized citizensAnd while most Druze still carry hope of reunification with families on the other side of the border and UN-patrolled buffer zone, they no longer envision it as part of a return to Syria.“Under Assad senior, there was a clear sense that Syria was the homeland, and loyalty to Syria was an integral part of one’s identity,” Khateeb told The Times of Israel, referring to Hafez Assad, who ruled Syria from 1971 to his death in 2000. “But the tragedy on the soccer field was the first emotional and cognitive turning point. It reinforced the understanding that the security of Golan residents is first and foremost here in Israel, where they live, rather than in concepts of loyalty to a state across the border.”A year later, the killings in Sweida would turbocharge those changes.After the Sweida massacre, “hope died inside us,” Sabbagh said. “We’re all very disappointed. I cannot ever belong to a country that does not respect its own people. Here in Israel, my family is respected, and this is where I want to be.”Last month, Syrian Druze leader Hikmat al-Hijri once again called for the minority to separate from Syria and become a “confederation” with Israel, saying that Israel is the “only country” that can protect them from another bloodbath.‘Wolf in a suit’The Druze, a mystical sect that broke away from Shiite Islam in the 11th century, are thought to number approximately 1 million worldwide, with most living in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Israel. The Galilee is home to some 150,000 Druze who, in contrast to the Golan Druze, have long pledged fealty to Israel, including participating in military service.Followers keep many tenets of their religion a secret, but they view Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed as prophets. The religion does not accept converts and eschews national self-determination, with communities remaining loyal to the country where they live.Despite supporting Assad throughout most of the Syrian civil war, Druze were initially hopeful following his ouster by Sharaa.The head of a rebel group formerly linked to al-Qaeda, Sharaa swept through Syria in a matter of days in late 2024, prompting Assad to flee to Moscow and ushering in a new era for the war-torn state.The stunning ouster came shortly after Israel agreed to halt weeks of fighting in neighboring Lebanon that had significantly weakened Hezbollah, depriving Assad of the support of a heavily armed Iran-backed proxy group that had helped keep him in power over 13 years of civil war.Israeli officials initially regarded Sharaa warily, given his extremist ties.Druze in the Golan, however, said they felt a sense of renewed pride in their Syrian identity in the wake of Assad’s fall, especially after Sharaa pledged to respect Syria’s minorities. Celebrations broke out in Majdal Shams, with people saying they were optimistic about the change.The jubilation did not last. Relations between Syrian Druze, who make up about 3 percent of the country’s population, and the Islamists now in power became tense, though occasional armed clashes were quickly resolved before they could escalate.“A lot of people were initially relieved when the regime fell in Syria, but then everything changed,” said Butsama, a 20-year-old Golan Druze who asked that her last name not be used.Ties broke down for good in July 2025, after armed fighting broke out in southern Syria’s Sweida province between Druze locals and Bedouin clans amid tit-for-tat kidnappings. Sharaa sent forces into the area, ostensibly to quell the clashes, but they effectively sided with the clans, carrying out mass slayings in what locals now refer to as “the Druze October 7.”More than 2,000 people were killed over several days, including 789 Druze civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor. A committee formed by the Syrian government said it had documented the killing of 1,760 people.Government forces and their allies were accused at the time of executing civilians and committing other abuses. In one video that emerged from Sweida, gunmen in military uniform can be seen asking an unarmed man about his identity. When he replies that he is Syrian, the gunmen demand, “What do you mean Syrian? Are you Sunni or Druze?” When the man says he is Druze, the men open fire, killing him.The massacres sparked fierce outrage from Druze in Israel, whose leaders urged the government to involve itself in the fighting to protect their Syrian brethren.Israel responded by launching airstrikes on southern Syria and Damascus with the stated aim of forcing the withdrawal of forces that attacked Druze civilians.In a Galilee village, local Druze set up a war room to organize shipments of medicine, food and supplies into Syria. Locals continue to monitor threats to Druze living in Syria.Many Druze saw the government’s attacks in Sweida as an extension of a wave of sectarian violence that broke earlier on Syria’s coast. Clashes between the new government’s forces and Assad loyalists spiraled into revenge killings targeting members of the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs.After the violence in Sweida, Sharaa vowed to hold perpetrators to account and restated his commitment to protecting rights for Syria’s minority groups.Western countries with whom Sharaa’s government has successfully courted closer ties with the West appear to have been appeased by his promises.Last month, the United States removed Syria from the state sponsors of terror list, taking another step to lift severe economic restrictions on Damascus, in a move seen as a vote of confidence in Sharaa.But Druze have put little stock in Sharaa’s promises.Adham Safadi, a Majdal Shams resident who lost his daughter in the Hezbollah rocket attack, called Sharaa “a wolf in a suit.”“We can only hope they get rid of him before he gets rid of the suit,” he said.Khateeb called the Sweida bloodshed “the most significant catalyst” for the Druze shift in perspective.“Suddenly, the question was no longer just ‘who are we loyal to?’ but also, ‘who truly protects us when we are in danger,'” she said. “A historical connection to Syria does not necessarily mean the future will be what they expected.”The changed attitude has been seen most concretely in citizenship numbers. Israel has offered Golan Druze full citizenship since 1981, but for three decades, naturalizations were few and far between.Druze requests for Israeli citizenship first began to tick up in 2021, reaching 500–600 annually from 2022 to 2024.In 2025, the trend exploded, with 3,750 people applying. As of March 2026, roughly 40 percent of the Druze living in the four Golan towns are naturalized Israeli citizens, according to Interior Ministry data.“Applying for Israeli citizenship used to be viewed almost as an act of treason,” Khateeb said. “Today, more and more people understand that they can hold a strong Druze identity and connection to their roots while choosing Israeli citizenship out of considerations for security, the future, rights, and a sense of belonging to the place where they live, as well as contributing their share to the security of the country.”While Sabbagh and his wife have not yet applied for citizenship — meaning they cannot vote in national Knesset elections — he embraces local civic life. “I’m not so interested in what happens in the Knesset,” he said. “But I’ll vote in the local elections, because I can see and feel what happens on the local level.”‘We’re good here’For the younger generation of Druze on the Golan, the situation is still “extremely complicated,” said Butsama, who will study mechanical engineering at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa in the fall.“We’ve had an identity crisis since forever,” she said. “We have family here, and we have family in Syria. I think almost every household here has relatives on both sides of the border.”Yet the tragedy on the soccer field and the massacre in Sweida shifted “people’s feelings and ideology,” she said.Another resident who works in a local pizzeria and requested anonymity noted that despite Israel’s high cost of living, “we’re good here. Even if they opened the border, I’d stay right here. People honor you here, and they leave you alone.”Safadi noted that young people weren’t just staying in Israel, but also contributing to its armed forces.“For those born before 1967, family ties to Syria meant people were afraid to apply for Israeli citizenship,” explained Safadi, 50. “But today, more young people are volunteering for the IDF and for the police” — positions that require citizenship.In March, Sgt. First Class Maher Khatar, 38, of the Combat Engineering Corps, was killed alongside Staff Sgt. Or Demry near the Tzivoni outpost – one of five outposts the IDF set up in South Lebanon after the ceasefire agreement was signed with Hezbollah in November 2024. The two were struck by a mortar shell or a missile fired by Hezbollah as they went out in D9 bulldozers to rescue a stuck tank. Khatar’s was the first military funeral in the town.Safadi himself is a paramedic for Magen David Adom. Visiting the soccer field where a Hezbollah rocket struck on the early evening of July 27, 2024, he recalled rushing to the location after receiving the emergency call.Only a couple of minutes had passed since the Iranian-made Falaq-1 rocket struck the soccer field when Safadi pulled into the parking lot. All he could see around him was heavy smoke.He recounted praying that his 11-year-old daughter, Venes, had changed her mind after telling him she was going to the soccer field.He walked through the gate onto the soccer pitch, looked to his right, and saw her lying between Alma Fakher Eldin and another friend, Iseel Nasha’at Ayoub, both 12.Safadi knew there was nothing he could do to save the three girls. He asked for a blanket to cover them and then went on to treat the wounded. Eight minutes later, when IDF soldiers arrived to assist at the scene, he returned to sit beside his daughter.“Our family was so happy before this tragedy,” Safadi said. “Now, I can’t even bring myself to celebrate at weddings. I say congratulations, and I leave. My wife is a broken mother, and there are 12 grieving families here. All of Majdal Shams lives with this grief now. It is a town in mourning; people are broken.”Safadi said that on many evenings, the grieving families gather at the renovated soccer field. Now, there are newly planted trees, flowers, and memorials for the 12 children.The bomb shelter that once stood by the soccer field has been relocated to an adjacent playground. On the day of the attack, the children had only six seconds to reach it safely, Safadi said, and they didn’t make it.“Whoever was standing on one side of the field survived,” Safadi recalled. “And whoever was on the other side was killed.”To honor the victims’ memory, the grieving families have established a charitable organization dedicated to education and sports in the community. They have already awarded 100 academic scholarships to help young residents pursue higher education.Safadi said that despite the tragedy, he describes himself as an optimist, expressing hopes that the closed borders that currently divide his community will soon be flung open.“I want Israelis to see the Lebanese and Syrian people and know that Arabs are not terrorists,” he said. “My dream is to have open borders—for Syrians and Lebanese to be able to come here and see what life is really like. We want open borders, but without terrorism and without war.”In June, al-Sharaa said in an interview that his country was working toward a security agreement with Israel, which he said could eventually pave the way for comprehensive peace between the two neighbors.Separately, Israel and Lebanon signed a US-brokered framework agreement on June 26 aimed at paving the way toward an eventual peace deal.“If there is peace, I believe people will feel even freer to define their identity without fear or pressure,” Khateeb said. “One can be a Druze who respects their roots, family, and historical connection to Syria, while simultaneously feeling a sense of belonging to the country in which they live.”Safadi walked to the memorial where people come to light candles.“What can I say? There is nothing to say.” He paused. “Nothing except the word peace.”
Johnson slams Putin's 'warped logic' for 'senseless' attack-Russian drone attack on station likely aimed for Boris Johnson’s train, Ukraine says
Train carrying ex-British PM and other top diplomats intentionally left west Ukraine station ahead of schedule; former CIA chief Petraeus was on train at station when drone hit-By Agencies Today, 7:45 am-sep 14,26
A Russian drone struck a train near the Ukraine- Poland border on Sunday shortly after senior visiting officials — including the former prime ministers of the UK and Sweden — passed through, Ukraine’s state rail operator said.According to Ukrzaliznytsia, a diplomatic train carrying Boris Johnson, Carl Bildt and security advisers from several European Union states had purposely left the station at Yahodyn ahead of schedule. The visitors were on their way back from a security conference in Kyiv.“It is highly probable that the Russian drone’s intended target was in fact the diplomatic train, which had departed the station earlier than scheduled,” the company said in a Telegram post.Bildt, the former Swedish PM, shared a video on X of the attack at Yahodyn station, near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing with Poland.“This wasn’t our train, but the one just minutes after us by the Polish border crossing,” Bildt said. “It was evacuated as the Russian drone approached and no one was hurt. Very good safety system. Our train just had an evacuation warning.”Bildt, Johnson and fellow passengers had been in Kyiv for the Yalta European Strategy conference, an annual gathering of leaders and experts across politics, business, security and media.This wasn’t our train, but the one just minutes after us by the ???????? border crossing. It was evacuated as the ???????? drone approached and no one was hurt. Very good safety system. Our train just had an evacuation warning but could proceed to Dorohusk. The ???????? attacks against ???????? are… — Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) September 13, 2026-Another train, with former CIA Director David Petraeus on board, was still at the station when the drone struck, according to Ukrzaliznytsia.There were no immediate reports of casualties on any of the trains.Ukrzaliznytsia said it “constantly adjusts train schedules” to guard against strikes.“I don’t know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning,” Johnson wrote in a post on X.“What we can say for sure is that this is the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day — even on civilian railways,” he added.I don’t know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning. What we can say for sure is that this is the kind of random and senseless attack Ukrainians are enduring every day – even on civilian railways. So far Putin… Advertisement — Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 13, 2026-Earlier on Sunday, a Russian drone hit a truck less than a mile from Polish territory, according to border guards, forcing the temporary closure of the Yahodyn-Dorohusk crossing.Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had targeted infrastructure facilitating military cargoes from Europe in Western Ukraine.With the front line largely static, both Russia and Ukraine have intensified long-distance strikes in recent weeks to try to shift momentum in the war.Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski described Russia’s increasing attacks on NATO’s doorstep as “an escalation.”Russia has begun targeting Ukraine’s border crossings with its Western allies in recent weeks, part of a growing campaign by both sides to erode the other’s economic infrastructure more than four years into Russia’s invasion.
Mahmoud Khalil sues Columbia for alleged failure to protect pro-Palestinian students-Civil rights lawsuit accuses university of ‘deliberate indifference’ that led to his own arrest by ICE agents and ‘enabling peer-on-peer harassment’ of other activists By SUDHIN THANAWALA Today, 10:34 pm
AP — Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil sued Columbia University on Monday, alleging it failed to address harassment against him and other members of a pro-Palestinian campus group and retaliated against them when they reported it.The university’s “deliberate indifference” led to the doxing of multiple group members and Khalil’s detention by immigration agents, according to the civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court in New York City.The university declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said in an email that “creating a campus environment where every member of our community feels welcome, supported, and safe is fundamental to who we are as a university.”“Columbia is committed to protecting our community from discrimination and harassment, and responding promptly and appropriately when concerns arise,” it said.Khalil also sued Columbia last year to block the release of student records to a congressional committee.A former graduate student at Columbia University, Khalil gained prominence as a spokesperson for student activists protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza.US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him at his campus apartment in March 2025, and he quickly became the face of the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrators.Khalil spent 104 days in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child, before a federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release. His deportation case remains active.Khalil’s lawsuit said Columbia “refused to correct disinformation” about him while he was detained, “allowing a false narrative about his conduct and role to persist and further enabling peer-on-peer harassment of other Palestinian students and students with perceived shared Arab and/or Muslim ancestry.”Instead of investigating reports of harassment, the university retaliated by characterizing events by a pro-Palestinian campus group as security risks and revising disciplinary policy to target criticism of the Israeli government, according to the lawsuit.It accused Columbia of civil rights violations, requests a court order restoring Khalil’s access to the campus and ending the Palestinian group’s suspension, and seeks damages “to be determined at trial.”It also names the pro-Palestinian group and its president, Mohammad Zubairi, as plaintiffs.
Belgian universities slam Brussels for waffling on evacuating Gaza students-Rectors of country’s top 10 universities accuse government of using 13 students as ‘bargaining chips’ amid division on issue within ruling coalition-By AFP and ToI Staff Today, 9:40 pm-sep 14,26
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Belgium’s top universities condemned on Monday the government’s refusal to help 13 students from war-torn Gaza, who received scholarships at Belgian universities, reach the country.Brussels set aside plans to evacuate the Palestinian students last week in a case that has split the coalition government.The rectors of the European country’s top 10 universities expressed their “dismay” at the move in a letter, accusing the administration of using the students as “bargaining chips” in “disgraceful political horse-trading.”Centrist Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot has advocated in favor of evacuating the students, but has faced opposition from the Flemish conservatives party of Prime Minister Bart De Wever, according to a government source.Prevot said one member of the five-party coalition demanded concessions on migration, including the creation of deportation centers, in return for greenlighting the evacuations.“They must not be treated as bargaining chips or as variables to be adjusted in political debates on migration,” the rectors wrote of the Gaza students. “Their cases must be assessed for what they are: those of students and researchers who have been awarded scholarships on the basis of their academic merit and who have all expressed their intention to return to their home countries to contribute to their reconstruction.”The students are among about 1,500 Palestinians in Gaza currently waiting to reach Belgium, having been granted the right to do so, mainly under family reunification rules, according to several NGOs.Yet, evacuations from the Palestinian territory are proceeding at a trickle, with activists, and now the universities, accusing the government of deliberately slowing down the process.“Discussions in recent weeks also show that the obstacles cited do not stem from insurmountable constraints, but rather from a lack of political will,” the university chiefs wrote.The case is not isolated, with Palestinian students hoping to study in Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands, and Germany also reporting delays in recent months.Some 10,500 people have exited the Gaza Strip since the October 2025 ceasefire there, according to Israeli border crossing figures obtained by The Times of Israel last week.Those leaving the Gaza Strip fall into two categories: patients and wounded people evacuated by the World Health Organization, and those with ties to a third country — including students who have secured scholarships, Gazans seeking family reunification with relatives living abroad, and others. The number of Gazans who left the Strip for non-medical reasons is estimated to be around 2,300.
West Bank activist calls for Israeli wastewater control to protect key water source-In new report, Green Now’s Barak Verker says Palestinian Authority ‘too weak, inefficient, corrupt’ to stop sewage contaminating mountain aquifer, critical for drinking water-By Sue Surkes Today, 8:11 pm-sep 14,26
A West Bank-based environmental organization published a report Monday calling for a radical overhaul of water management in the territory to safeguard the mountain aquifer, one of Israel’s most strategic water reservoirs.The report comes after the dramatic shutdown of five of six desalination stations earlier this month because of marine algae, forcing water authorities to scramble for alternative potable sources.As of Monday, only one station, in central Hadera, was fully operational.The 112-page report, “Murky Waters,” was published by Green Now, run by West Bank settler and environmental activist Barak Verker.Verker cited figures from the IDF’s West Bank arm, the Civil Administration, and the Israel Water Authority, showing that the West Bank generates around 124 million cubic meters of wastewater annually.Palestinians generate roughly 100 million cubic meters of this total.While around 35 percent of Palestinian homes connect to sewage networks, most lack links to treatment plants, leaving roughly 80% of their wastewater as raw sewage that percolates into groundwater or contaminates streams.Additional pollution stems from stone-cutting sawmills, olive oil presses, and untreated sewage from IDF military camps.Israeli settlers produce the remaining 24 million cubic meters. While mostly treated, some settler treatment plants suffer from poor maintenance or bureaucratic hurdles, Verker reported.Estimating environmental and public health damage at NIS 127 million ($41.5 million) yearly, Verker argues that the aquifer should supply an average of 600 million cubic meters of fresh water annually — about a third of Israel’s current consumption.He blamed weak and inefficient governance by the Palestinian Authority for failing to build wastewater infrastructure. “After all, since its establishment, it has enjoyed very generous international support,” he wrote, noting OECD data ranking the PA as a global leader in per-capita foreign aid.Concurrently, Verker criticized Israeli governance for “internal bureaucratic anarchy,” saying agencies such as the Water Authority, Environmental Protection Ministry, and Defense Ministry entrench themselves without assuming overall responsibility.He called for the Israel Water Authority to take charge on both sides of the Green Line, prioritizing basin-level planning over political boundaries.While noting a positive shift toward unilateral engineering solutions by the Water Authority and Civil Administration, he warned that current master plans still leave internal Palestinian sewage unaddressed and lack budgets and timelines.Gidon Bromberg, Israel director of EcoPeace, a left-wing organization favoring cross-border cooperation, warned that unilateral Israeli moves would breach existing agreements that require each side to treat its own sewage.He said, “From a practical standpoint, it would mean that Israel takes full control of all Palestinian cities and towns,” questioning whether Israeli taxpayers would foot the bill for Palestinian sanitation infrastructure, or, conversely, whether the PA should take over failing treatment systems in Israeli settlements such as Ariel and Gush Etzion.
Fuel price surge sparks Syria’s biggest protests since Assad’s fall-Demonstrators block roads and oil convoys after diesel jumps 40%; Damascus blames costly imports as Ukrainian attacks strain fuel stocks from Russia, the country’s main supplier-By Feras Dalatey, Mahmoud Hasano and Firas Makdesi Today, 8:11 pm-sep 14,26
ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) — A sharp rise in fuel prices over the weekend has sparked protests across Syria, in the country’s most widespread demonstrations since the toppling of Bashar al-Assad almost two years ago.Demonstrators burned tires and blocked key roads, including the highway linking the capital Damascus to the industrial hub of Aleppo, after Syria’s government on Saturday raised diesel prices by 40 percent to 175 Syrian pounds ($1.32) a liter.The price increases piled further pressure on Syrians facing years of economic crisis. The United Nations Development Program estimates that 90% of Syrians live below the poverty line, compared with about a third before the Syrian civil war began in 2011.In the steepest of several price hikes announced since the Iran war began, the government also raised household and industrial gas prices by about 9%, 95-octane gasoline by 28% to 195 pounds and 90-octane gasoline by 26% to 185 pounds.Protesters also blocked convoys of crude tankers traveling toward refineries in central Syria, with some demanding the dismissal of the energy and economy ministers and the head of the Syrian Petroleum Company.“We don’t want higher wages. All we want is lower diesel and other fuel prices,” Yasser Salim told Reuters in Aleppo.Fuel prices in Syria jumped 25%-40% over the weekend, sparking protests across the northwest and northeast. Demonstrators blocked roads, burned tires and demanded the Energy Minister's removal. pic.twitter.com/344JM7hm0m — Open Source Intel (@Osint613) September 14, 2026-Bassam al-Ali, also protesting in Aleppo, appealed directly to President Ahmed al-Sharaa, saying the situation was untenable.“Border crossings bring in millions of dollars. We don’t want new roundabouts or malls. We just want to live,” he said.Russian supply under pressure-Energy Ministry spokesperson Abdulhamid Salat said on Sunday that the price increases were a temporary measure driven by higher global procurement costs and Syria’s heavy dependence on imports, and could be revised up or down as conditions changed.Syria has relied heavily on Russian crude, importing around 60,000 barrels per day this year, although Damascus has told Washington it is willing to sharply reduce those purchases.That supply has come under growing pressure as Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries have reduced production, prompting Moscow to restrict exports of gasoline and diesel.Prices reflected not only crude costs but shortages of refined products and higher refining, transport and supply costs, Salat said in a statement.The supply crunch has been compounded by the three-month closure of Syria’s Baniyas refinery, the country’s largest, for its first comprehensive maintenance operation.The increase means 95-octane gasoline has risen about 86% since February, while diesel has more than doubled. Benchmark Brent crude rose about 44%, from $72.48 to $104.61 a barrel.Imad Abu Ras, a 44-year-old taxi driver, said passengers had already begun objecting to higher fares, adding: “Now vegetables and everything else will go up with fuel prices. What is the solution? Steal? We can’t steal.”
Israeli Embassy decries 'obsessive anti-Israel activism'Norway weighing bill imposing up to 3 years in prison for trade with settlements
Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide says situation in West Bank ‘has become even worse,’ and the world is no longer swayed by accusations from Jerusalem that ‘they were antisemites’By Nava Freiberg Today, 4:50 pm-sep 14,26
Norway is weighing introducing legislation that would both ban trade with all Israeli settlements and provide for penalties of up to three years in prison for violations, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Monday-“The arguments [in support of the bill] have only become stronger because the situation in the West Bank has become even worse. In addition, so many other countries are now doing the same thing the government has already proposed through this bill,” Eide told state broadcaster NRK in a Norwegian-language interview, prompting a backlash from Israel’s embassy in Oslo.The trade ban law, which would apply to individuals and companies trading with settlements, according to NRK, follows the United Kingdom’s newly announced wide-ranging sanctions package against Israeli West Bank settlements rolled out last week.Norway joined Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden in issuing a joint statement shortly after the British announcement expressing their intentions to take or support similar measures.“Israel has become far too accustomed to being able to intimidate Western countries by saying they were antisemites if they criticized Israel for abuses and violations of international law. Now the [protective cover] that Israel has in many ways enjoyed is gone,” Eide said.East Jerusalem would also be covered by the legislation, according to NRK.While dozens of countries have recognized East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory and the capital of a future Palestinian state, Israel formally annexed the area in 1980, 13 years after capturing the territory during the 1967 Six Day War.Many of the dozens of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem are, in practice, fully integrated neighborhoods of Jerusalem. The UK is undecided as to whether Jewish areas in East Jerusalem would be covered by its sanctions, a British official told reporters last week.Trade between Norway and the Israeli settlements is not extensive, Eide noted to NRK, saying that “the goods in question include, for example, wine and some agricultural products.”Israel’s Embassy in Norway decried the potential measure, calling the “proposal to criminalize trade” the “latest example of the Norwegian foreign minister’s obsessive anti-Israel activism on the global stage.”Norway had already announced in June that it was preparing legislation that would ban all trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank as well as Jewish neighborhoods in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, but did not make any mention of prison terms for violators.At the time, Eide said that the government had already drafted a bill to this effect, which was to be subject to consultations for three months, until September 19 — this Saturday.Norway, which is not a member of the European Union, recognized the state of Palestine in 2024, at the same time as EU members Ireland and Spain did, a move that angered Israel.Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Saudi resident: 'Honestly, we couldn't sleep at all'Houthis seize more key islands in Red Sea, launch attacks into Saudi Arabia-Houthis claim to fire dozens of projectiles at Saudi military sites in southern areas in response to alleged attacks, while rebel push across Red Sea meets little resistance
By Agencies Today, 2:53 pm-sep 14,26
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels captured more strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, government and Houthi officials said Monday, strengthening their control of a major maritime shipping route.The capture of the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish was the latest in the rebels’ swift advance around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key passage for Saudi oil shipments that has only become more crucial during the Iran war since it serves as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.Like Hormuz, which is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula — is a chokepoint that connects the Red Sea to the open ocean and Saudi Arabia’s key Asian markets.For more than a month, the Houthis have been striking Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping in the Red Sea, stepping up pressure on global oil prices and boosting Iran’s leverage in its war with the United States.Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have been attempting to rally and fight back. But the Houthi gains have seemingly come with little resistance.The rebels deployed on the Hanish islands, 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Bab el-Mandeb, after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the archipelago, according to two government officials and a Houthi official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.The capture of the islands came after the rebels last week seized the port city of Mokha on the mainland nearby and the island of Mayun, inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Houthis’ advances also put them just 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the US military base in Djibouti, on the other side of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.Thousands of Yemenis are fleeing the fighting-The fighting is pushing the impoverished nation back into full-fledged civil war, after a truce that largely maintained quiet since 2022. Even as they advance along the Red Sea, the Houthis have waged an offensive further inland, particularly in the longtime battleground province of Taiz.Some 150 civilians have been killed in fighting since September 3, including a pregnant woman killed Saturday in a village in Taiz, the government’s Human Rights Ministry said. More than 200 civilians have been wounded, it said.Thousands of families have fled their homes in Taiz and nearby provinces in the past day alone, said Khanzad Shah, acting head of Islamic Relief, a charity that operates in the area.“Many of them don’t have enough food or water as they had to flee with whatever they could carry. In some areas, whole villages have reportedly emptied,” he said.Aisha Muhammad, an elderly woman burning twigs to heat a kettle in government-held territory near Taiz, told Reuters she had left behind two daughters and three sons who had been unable to escape.“They can’t even go out to the market to get food and drinking water. They are being blocked and shot at, so they are trapped inside their homes,” she said. “They cannot reach us, and we cannot return to them. This is a trial from God.”The United Nations has estimated that more than 80,000 people have been displaced in the past two weeks, including over 2,000 people who fled by boat to Djibouti.The fighting threatens to reignite a war that, for more than a decade, brought disaster to Yemen, killing more than 150,000 people and driving the country to the brink of famine. Since 2014, the Houthis have controlled the north, including the capital, Sanaa, and much of the western heartland of the country where most of the population is located.The internationally recognized government, backed by an array of disparate militias, controls the south and east, including the key southern port of Aden.The Hanish islands, newly captured by the Houthis, had been controlled by the United Arab Emirates and its southern allies in Yemen. However, the UAE dismantled its military infrastructure there after it fell out with Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government earlier this year.For years, Saudi Arabia waged a destructive air campaign against the Houthis, while backing the government and allied militias. But it has appeared reluctant to throw itself fully back into the war, despite the Houthi attacks on oil infrastructure and shipping.Houthi cross-border attacks are continuing-Saudi authorities sounded sirens on Sunday afternoon in the southern city of Abha and Khamis Mushait province, warning residents to take shelter from potential incoming fire. Both areas, near the border with Yemen, were repeatedly attacked by the Houthis in recent weeks.A Houthi spokesman said the group fired dozens of missiles and drones at the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, targeting hangars, radar installations and ammunition depots. The statement on Monday by Brig. Gen Yahya Saree did not specify when the attack took place, but the Houthis often take hours or days to claim responsibility for attacks.A Khamis Mushait resident told AFP he heard “intense blasts,” which left fires burning for a “long time.”“Honestly, we couldn’t sleep at all.”Saree accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out “more than 300 airstrikes in the past five days” across Yemen, “launched from Khamis Mushait and Taif airbases.”There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia on the Houthi claim. The Saudi civil defense overnight said a projectile fell in a different area near the border with Yemen along the Red Sea, injuring two people and damaging a mosque and several other buildings. The statement blamed the Houthis.Yemeni government forces are trying to regroup-On Sunday, the Yemeni government’s military said it launched airstrikes on Houthi positions in the port city of Mokha, the coastal town of Dhubab and elsewhere in Taiz province. The rebels reported strikes by the Saudi-backed forces in Taiz province and artillery shelling in Saada province, a Houthi stronghold on Yemen’s northern border with Saudi Arabia.Sultan al-Arada, a member of the government’s presidential leadership council, described the collapse of government forces in Mokha, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and elsewhere on Yemen’s west coast as “painful and regrettable.”He said in a televised interview aired late Saturday that forces “are currently regrouping and will return to the battle.”On Sunday, Rashad al-Alimi, who leads the presidential council, sought to downplay the defeats as “incidental,” according to comments published by the country’s state-run SABA news agency. The government, he said, “will remain clear and fixed on the goal of retrieving (state) institutions and of reclaiming sovereignty over all national territories.”People fleeing the Houthi advance told The Associated Press they saw forces withdrawing and urging people to run.
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.
REVELATION 16:1-2
1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, (SLAVE) to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
I KNOW THIS MARK WILL BE A MICROCHIP IMPLANT UNDER THE SKIN. LETS LOOK UP WHAT THE WORD MARK SAYS IN REVELATION 13:16-18, 14:9,11, 15:2, 16:2, 19:20, 20:4-ALL THESE VERSES FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION SPEAK OF THIS DICTATORS MARK. NOW LETS SEE WHAT IT MEANS FROM STRONGS EXAUSTIVE CONCORDANCE OF THE BIBLE. UNDER MARK PAGE 684.MARK UNDER MARK. THE OLD TESTAMENT IS UNDER HEBREW AND THE NEW TESTAMENT IS UNDER GREEK. SO WHEN WE LOOK UNDER REVELATION 13:16-17 WE SEE IT IS UNDER GREEK, SO WE GO TO GREEK IN THE BACK SECTION AND GO TO 5480 TO SEE WHAT IT SAYS THIS MARK WOULD BE. SO LETS GET TO IT.MARK IN STRONGS GREEK 5480 XAPAYUA CHARAGMA, KHAR-AG-MAH: FROM THE SAME AS 5482: A SCRATCH OR ETCHING, I.E STAMP (AS A BADGE OF SERVITUDE), OR SCULPTURED FIGURE-(STATUE):-GRAVEN, MARK FROM 5482 XAPAE CHARAX, KHAR-AX; FROM XAPAOOW CHARASSO (TO SHARPEN TO A POINT; AKIN TO 1125 THROUGH THE IDEA OF SCRATCHING); A STAKE, I.E (BYIMPL.) A PALISADE OR RAMPART (MILITARY MOUND FOR CIRCUMVALLATION IN A SIEGE): - TRENCH FROM 1125 YPAPOE GRAPHO, GRAF-0; A PRIM. VERB; TO "GRAVE", ESPEC. TO WRITE; FIG. TO DESCRIBE:-DESCRIBE, WRITE (-ING, -TEN).G5516-GO TO G4742-666 - STRONGS NT 4742: στίγμα - στίγμα, στιγματος, τό (from στίζω to prick; (cf. Latinstimulus, etc.; German stechen, English stick, sting, etc.; Curtius, § 226)), a mark pricked in or branded upon the body. According to ancient oriental usage, slaves and soldiers bore the name or stamp of their master or commander branded or pricked (cut) into their bodies to indicate what master or general they belonged to, and there were even some devotees who stamped themselves in this way with the token of their gods (cf. Deyling, Observations, iii., p. 423ff); hence, τά στίγματα τοῦ (κυρίου so Rec.) Ἰησοῦ, the marks of (the Lord) Jesus, which Paul in Galatians 6:17 says he bears branded on his body, are the traces left there by the perils, hardships, imprisonments, scourgings, endured by him for the cause of Christ, and which mark him as Christ's faithful and approved votary, servant, soldier (see Lightfoots Commentary on Galatians, the passage cited). (Herodotus 7, 233; Aristotle, Aelian, Plutarch, Lcian, others.)
THE INVENTOR OF THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT-CARL SANDERS MICROCHIP ENGINEER LEADER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgH9D6n4ZWo
THE MICROCHIP IMPLANT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD.
LEVETICUS 19.28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
HERES WHAT THE WORLD WOULD LOOK LIKE (SINCE THERE WILL BE WORLD GOVERNMENT IN THE FUTURE)-UPDATED VERSION (10 WORLD TRADE BLOCS)
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
FINALLY THE EUROPEAN UNION IS TALKING ABOUT HAVING THEIR OWN ARMY.AND IT MUST HAPPEN.
REVELATION 19:16-21
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.(JESUS RETURNG TO EARTH LITERALLY ON A WHITE HORSE WITH THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS 7 YEARS EARLIER)
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.(2ND TIME GOD-JESUS TELLS THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS TO GET READY TO EAT HUMAN FLESH.THE FIRST TIME WAS WHEN GOD TOLD THE 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS-TO EAT RUSSIA,GERMAN,ARAB, MUSLIM BODIES FOR 7 MONTHS IN EZEK 38 @ 39.
19 And I saw the beast,(E.U WORLD LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies,(HERE IT SAYS THE E.U WILL HAVE ITS OWN ARMY) gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, (JESUS) and against his army.(RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
20 And the beast (E.U WORLD LEADER) was taken, and with him the false prophet (POPE FRANCIS) that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
COUNCIL FOR EUROPE ON DEFENCE
https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/document/download/6d6f889c-e58d-4caa-8f3b-8b93154fe206_en?filename=SAFE%20Regulation.pdf
4 COUNTRIES WANT TO JOIN THE EU.AS ASSOCIATE ECONOMY MEMBERS.SCOTS,NORTHERN IRISH,WELSH AND CANADA.I BELIEVE NOW ALL INDEPENDENT NATIONS WILL WANT TO JOIN THE EU AS ASSOCIATE MEMBERS.AND THE EU WILL PUT THEM IN WORLD TRADE BOCS AS THEY JOIN.I BELIEVE THIS IS HOW THE EU WILL CONTROL ALL THE WORLD ECONOMIES.AND TAKE WORLD CONTROL.LEAD BY 13 CORE EU MEMBERS.AT SOME POINT 3 CORE MEMBERS WILL PROBABLY GET BOOTED TO ASSOCIATE MEMBERS AS A RESULT OF SOME CRIME OR REBELLION.WHICH WILL GIVE THE EU 10 CORE EU NATIONS.AND 10 ASSOCIATE MEMBER WORLD TRADE BLOCKS.AND THE EU WILL CONTROL THE WORLD ECONOMIES.THE THE WORLD DICTATOR WILL THEN COME OUT OF THE EU 10 CORE NATIONS.AND THE DICTATOR WIL CONTROL THE WORLD ECONOMIES.
Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh leaders said planning effort to dissolve the UK-Declaration on right to hold independence referendums expected to be signed in Cardiff Monday, days after Trump endorsed Irish reunification in visit to Dublin-By ToI Staff and Agencies 13 September 2026, 11:47 pm
The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected to meet on Monday in the Welsh capital of Cardiff to sign a declaration aimed at achieving independence from England and dissolving the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the UK’s Telegraph newspaper reported Sunday, a day after US President Donald Trump announced his support for Irish reunification.According to The Telegraph, the declaration will assert the right of the three countries — which, along with England, make up the UK — to hold independence referendums and, should their populations vote in favor, split off from England.The declaration signed by Scotland’s John Swinney, Wales’s Rhun ap Iorwerth and Northern Ireland’s Michelle O’Neill will cover four key areas, according to the report: economy, energy, Europe, and international cooperation and self-determination.It will state that Scotland and Wales wish to enter the European Union as new members, and that Northern Ireland will enter the EU by way of unifying with the Republic of Ireland, which is already a member.Wales, according to the report, will use the agreement as a way to pressure Prime Minister Andy Burnham to hand over additional powers to the devolved Welsh government, particularly relating to tax and spending.The reported move comes after Wales elected pro-independence party Plaid Cymru in its 2026 parliamentary election, pushing out the Welsh Labour Party for the first time since the establishment of the devolved Welsh government in 1999.This means that, for the first time, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are simultaneously governed, fully or in part, by pro-independence parties — Scotland by the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Northern Ireland by a power-sharing government comprised of loyalist DUP and Irish republican party Sinn Féin.The expected meeting in Cardiff on Monday will come two days after Trump surprised officials in Dublin and annoyed pro-British politicians in Northern Ireland and London by enthusiastically backing Irish unity during a visit to Dublin on Saturday, saying he would “love” to see it happen sooner rather than later.“You have Northern Ireland and you have Ireland and it would seem to me that one of the ‘naturals’ of all time is to put them together,” Trump told reporters during a visit to a golf tournament at one of his resorts, doubling down on his initial comments.“You asked about Scotland. That one I won’t talk about yet. I’ll save that for another day,” he added.Scotland, where the Trump family also owns a golf resort, voted against independence from the rest of Britain in 2014. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ruled out another vote, as well as a referendum on Northern Ireland leaving the UK.Trump made his comments about Irish unity after a meeting with Micheál Martin, the country’s Taoiseach, or prime minister. In his first comments since Trump’s remarks, the Irish premier said the response from some unionist politicians was “an overreaction.”“It shouldn’t be a surprise. He takes a different sort of perspective on things,” Martin told reporters on Sunday after meeting Trump again for lunch at the golf course.Martin said the pair discussed Northern Ireland and its relationship with the Republic of Ireland and that he also went through with the president how the British-run region achieved peace after decades of violence, a period known as The Troubles.Ireland, long dominated by its bigger neighbor Britain, became a self-governing Catholic-majority country a century ago. Northern Ireland was split between two main communities: nationalists, most of them Catholic, who desired union with the rest of Ireland, and largely Protestant unionists, who wanted to stay British. Tensions eventually exploded in the Troubles involving paramilitary groups on both sides and British troops.A 1998 peace accord that the United States was instrumental in negotiating largely ended the violence, but left Northern Ireland’s ultimate status unresolved. That agreement allows for a vote on unification if it appears likely a majority of people would vote for it. Burnham said Wednesday that the UK would only consider allowing a referendum “when public opinion has changed to the point where the call has to be considered.”Burnham’s office referred back to that comment when asked about Trump’s statement.Martin, in a separate interview with the BBC, likewise acknowledged that the moment for a referendum had likely not yet arrived.“I support unity. I don’t see it happening now. I’ve been very clear about that,” Martin told BBC News in a separate interview.“The chances are if [a vote] was held next week, it would find great difficulty in getting through.”
Trump praises Witkoff, Kushner; says Gaza fighting scant and Hamas willing to disarm-US president hails envoys’ work amid reports CIA chief to take over effort to end Russia-Ukraine war; downplays report China gave Iran intel before deadly strike on US base in Jordan By Jacob Magid and AFP Today, 10:25 am-SEP 14,26
US President Donald Trump on Sunday extolled the work of his special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner amid reports he was looking to elevate CIA chief John Ratcliffe in their stead with regard to Washington’s efforts to bring an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia.Asked about the matter by reporters on Air Force One, Trump highlighted Witkoff’s and Kushner’s work to secure a ceasefire-hostage release deal in Gaza last year.“Look at Gaza, for example. Look at the fact that we got all of the hostages back,” Trump said.“There’s not a lot of fighting in Gaza. Hamas is now willing to give up their weapons,” he added.But Witkoff and Kushner’s work to bring an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has yet to bear fruit, and US officials have told their European counterparts the American spy chief is getting ready to play a greater role in the diplomatic efforts, the Financial Times reported last week.A US-backed ceasefire took effect in Gaza in October 2025, bringing an end to large-scale fighting but not to Israeli strikes in Gaza. Hamas has accused Israel of violating the agreement, while Israel has accused the terror group of repeatedly breaching it and continuing efforts to rebuild its military capabilities, saying this justified the strikes.Israel’s near-daily strikes in Gaza target what it says are Hamas operatives posing threats to troops, though those strikes have also regularly taken the lives of civilians, including women and children.The Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 people hostage.Gaza remains bisected into Israeli- and Hamas-controlled areas, and talks to bring about Hamas’s disarmament and the territory’s reconstruction have made only limited progress.Trump downplays report China gave Iran intel before deadly strike-Trump also played down reports that Chinese entities supplied Tehran with satellite images of a military base in Jordan before and after an Iranian strike killed three US soldiers.“You know, when they say that China spies on us, I say you’re right, and we spy on them too,” Trump told the reporters on Air Force One, a day after The Wall Street Journal reported Beijing’s intelligence sharing.“That’s what we do. They basically do what we do,” Trump said.The incident could deepen tensions between Washington and Beijing ahead of a planned state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on September 24.On July 17, Iran launched missile strikes on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, which houses US forces. Three American soldiers were killed.Their deaths were the first US military fatalities of the Iran war since an April ceasefire and marked a major escalation in the conflict. The strike came as Washington and Tehran had both suspended a June interim agreement.Unnamed American officials cited in the Journal’s reporting did not name the Chinese entities involved, and did not suggest that Beijing was directly to blame.Chinese officials asked for proof of the transfer of satellite imagery when prodded by the US officials, and refused to acknowledge that Chinese companies were involved in providing Tehran with satellite images, the Journal reported late Friday.
Trump has warned Beijing not to sell weapons to Iran, and in May, Washington sanctioned three China-based satellite companies for enabling Iran’s military operations.China is a top economic partner of Iran, buying much of its oil output, and also an important diplomatic backer.Trump said of Xi that “he’s behaved reasonably well, and we behave reasonably well.”Asked if he would ever allow Chinese cars to be sold in the United States, Trump said: “I haven’t. I’m the one that kept them out. The tariffs kept them out.”Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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