Category: Middle East

9th of Av update

by atharris, posted in Israel, Middle East

A hoard of coins from the fourth year of the Jewish Revolt against Rome — minted months before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE — was found outside the capital and announced by the Israel Antiquities Authority on Tuesday to coincide with the Ninth of Av, the date commemorating the destruction of the Second Temple.

The coins are all of identical size and age, and possibly from the same mint. Their value has yet to be determined, but they are likely quarter or one-eighth shekel bits, Betzer said. They are all marked with the words “For the redemption of Zion” and “Year four,” indicating they were made during the fourth year of the revolt against the Roman Empire, or between spring 69 and spring 70 CE.

http://www.kosherpress.com/trove-of-jewish-revolt-coins-discovered-near-jerusalem/

ISIL Rampage

by atharris, posted in ISIS, Middle East

ISIL continues to tear across Syria and Iraq leaving a deadly trail of brutality reminiscent of the Holocaust and which the media largely chooses to ignore. These terrorist are of a different breed and intend on ruling the Islamic world; that is if they could.

ISIL has turned to internet media to spread their reign of terror and intimidation. What they are showing is brutality at its worse killing anyone, regardless of religion, that does not support their views.

The Sunni Muslim extremist group formerly known as ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) is using social media websites like Twitter and Facebook and video upload sites like YouTube and LiveLeak.com to strike fear across the Middle East as it wages its brutal campaign to create a caliphate that extends from northern Africa to Iraq.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/08/01/social-media-jihad-islamic-state-ramps-up-gruesome-internet-campaign/

It is quite possible that ISIL will be responsible for some major Biblical prophecy fulfillment. They currently control a large swath of land from Syria to Iraq extending over 300 miles.

Jordan has sent troops along its eastern border with Iraq in concern of a possible ISIL invasion after what they have done in Iraq. The Jordanian army probably would not be able to defend itself from a full assault by ISIL and would depend on US and Israeli forces to help.

The Burden of Damascus.

17 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts. Isaiah 17:1-3

Not only Damascus, but the cities of Aroer are destroyed. Biblical, Aroer is roughly the territory of modern day Jordan. The events of today are moving at light speed. Will we see this prophecy unfold in the very near future?

Damascus

Below is a very interesting article from the Daily News out of Turkey on how Islam views Islam concerning ISIL. It is worth the time to read. Part is posted below.

The terror organization ISIL, or with its new name the Islamic State (IS), is it an “issue” reflecting social diseases? Or is it a “project” staged by imperialists to denigrate Islam?

Issue or project?

If we regard ISIL as an “issue,” then we will need to research with scientific methods to understand why these bigoted, savage movements emerge in Muslim societies from the Middle East to Afghanistan, to Pakistan.

If we regard ISIL as a “project” the thing to do is fight “imperialism.” In several Islamic websites and in some newspaper columns, while ISIL’s brutality is condemned, it is written that ISIL is a “project.”

“ISIL is a project developed and grown so ‘Islam and the IS are hated.’ Global powers are staging and supporting this so that Islam is seen as terror. It is serving their dirty ideals … The imperialists are using Muslims as tools to break up the Islamic geography.” (Faruk Köse, Yeni Akit, July 6, 2014)

 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/what-is-isil-.aspx?PageID=238&NID=69800&NewsCatID=458

As bad as ISIL is, we already know they are defeated and we thank God for His prophetic, inerrant Word!

Isaiah 42:9

9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

 

 

 

Turning Point?

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

Gaza’s sole power plant said down after Israeli attack

The only power plant supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip was knocked out of commission by Israeli shelling, the deputy director of the energy authority in the Palestinian territory said Tuesday.

 
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ISIS and the Return to Mecca

by atharris, posted in ISIS, Israel, Middle East

Why does ISIS continue to destroy temples, tombs and even Muslim mosques wherever they go? What point are they trying to make? It’s strange that they would even destroy their own places of worship.

Ancient shrines become latest casualties of ISIS rampage: Islamic extremists demolish mosques and temples as they spread their carnage through Iraq

  • Images show at least 10 ancient shrines and Shia mosques being destroyed
  • Pictures show buildings demolished and bulldozers plowing through walls
  • Sunni extremists consider Shia Muslims heretics and the veneration of saints apostasy

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2683087/ISIS-wages-war-Shia-Muslims-Extremists-demolish-ancient-mosques-temples-spread-carnage-Iraq.html#ixzz38bptVoi5

But yet, there is a real reason behind it. They see themselves as a more ‘pure’ type of Islam and are out to destroy that which is not.

What these groups are doing is based on an endemic Salafist principle common to most Salafist movements, whether they are jihadists or not. This principle underlines the need to purify the earth of polytheism and disbelief. These groups consider religious shrines or any other sites related to a certain person to be a kind of sanctification, which is, according to them, a true sign of polytheism.

The destruction of these sites is part of the process of returning to the authentic Islam and eliminating all alien elements, according to the Salafist understanding. This contradicts the traditional understanding of Islam by all Muslim confessions, which means that Islam does not contradict other sanctities, but rather understands them and considers them sacred, especially when the people of these sacred places are prophets of the Quran, such as the prophets Jonah and Daniel and many others from both the New and Old Testaments.

The destruction of sacred places also happened during the establishment of Saudi Arabia, which was described as the first political entity for Salafists in the Islamic world.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/iraq-is-destruction-shrines-abrahamic-religions.html#ixzz38brOKstp

While it cannot be confirmed, ISIS has threatened to destroy the Kaaba or black stone in Mecca. It is the holiest site of all Islam. Men walk in a circle around the Kaaba.

Kaaba
ISIS is leaving a path of destroyed churches, shrines and mosques in its wake as it storms across Syria and Iraq, and has even set its sights on Mecca — Islam’s holiest site.
“They see themselves as the last defenders of Islamic civilization and want to eradicate anything that they see as the enemy of Islam, and any Muslim they perceive as compromising with the West,” Yvonne Haddad….

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/10/isis-destroys-shrines-and-mosques-sets-sights-on-mecca/

Will they attempt to do so and will they succeed? The following video was filmed in 2012 and although does not mention ISIS, it presents a very plausible scenario that ISIS could indeed at least attempt to do so with respect to what is happening in the Middle East today. The video is also packed with other Biblical facts and tidbits that make a very interesting view. Pay attention when Avi mentions the Arab Spring midway and particularly towards the end of the film.

The land promised to Israel is much greater than what they poses today, and the day is coming soon when they will expand their borders.

Deuteronomy 11:24

24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

  • The Southern boundary – The Wilderness
  • The  Northern boundary –  Lebanon
  • The Western boundary – River Euphrates
  • The Eastern – Uttermost (Mediterranean Sea)

It may look something like this.

Israel

Watch the video for more information guaranteed to turn on ‘light bulbs’!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWQkaDUCJ_Y

Cease-fire complexity update

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

I had posted the news below in the previous post.

Mashaal made one more interesting point that relates to the US. He claimed that Secretary of State John Kerry called his friends in Qatar and Turkey at the start of the conflict and asked them to broker a ceasefire. If this is true, it’s nothing less than a scandal because it would mean Kerry had cut out the ground from beneath the Egyptian ceasefire proposal.

It turns out this was a true statement by Mashaal concerning the latest, absurd cease-fire proposal from Secretary of State John Kerry.

The Palestinian Authority is fuming at US Secretary of State John Kerry, accusing him of trying to undermine the Egyptian ceasefire initiative endorsed by Israel and the PA last week and rejected by Hamas, an Arab daily reported on Sunday.

Palestinian sources told the London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat that Kerry had initially agreed to an Egyptian proposal for an immediate ceasefire followed by five days of negotiations between Israel and the PA, with American assurances to address some of Hamas’s demands. But on Friday evening Kerry produced a new plan based on consultations with Qatar and Turkey and conducted between “the State of Israel” and “the Palestinian factions,” excluding the PA. The Israeli cabinet unanimously rejected Kerry’s plan.

Read more: Abbas fumes at Kerry over alternative ceasefire bid | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/abbas-fumes-at-kerry-over-alternative-ceasefire-bid/#ixzz38i1vKPdw

“confidential draft” of the American ceasefire proposal leaked to the press appears to confirm what The Times of Israel reported Friday — that Washington was willing to generously accede to many of Hamas’s demands, while all but ignoring Israel’s security requirements.
The published text of the proposal, obtained by Haaretz, also shows that Qatar and Turkey – Hamas’s main sponsors in the region — were given prominent roles in the mediation, while the Palestinian Authority and Egypt were entirely marginalized.

According to the text, “the Palestinian factions” and the State of Israel would make three commitments:

a)……

b)……..

c) Convene in Cairo, at the invitation of Egypt, within 48 hours to negotiate resolution of all issues necessary to achieve a sustainable cease-fire and enduring solution to the crisis in Gaza, including arrangements to secure the opening of crossings, allow the entry of goods and people and ensure the social and economic livelihood of the Palestinian people living in Gaza, transfer funds to Gaza for the payment of salaries for public employees, and address all security issues.

…..as it basically accepts all of Hamas’s demands but addresses Israeli worries only tangentially.

Read more: Leaked document confirms US ceasefire bid generous to Hamas | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/leaked-document-confirms-us-ceasefire-bid-generous-to-hamas/#ixzz38i5aSH6x

Betrayal?

As Ha’aretz correspondent Barak Ravid, one of Israel’s premier left-wingreporters, put it:

“The document recognized Hamas’ position in the Gaza Strip… [and it] placed Israel and Hamas on the same level, as if the first is not a primary US ally and as if the second isn’t a terror group which overtook part of the Palestinian Authority in a military coup and fired thousands of rockets at Israel.”

 

http://www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/24786/Default.aspx?utm_source=news&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=No-sidebar-news-1&utm_content=1308

Interesting words, a hint of something to come?

In the legitimacy stakes, Netanyahu has three solid allies for crushing Hamas: Saudi King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi and the UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Sunday, Mahmoud Abbas attached a Palestinian voice to this group.

This regional coalition has enormous clout, derived, on the one hand, from the Israeli military and its fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Egyptian army’s containment of Hamas efforts to break out into Sinai for strategic depth; and, on the other, from the financial might of Saudi Arabia and the oil emirates and the world prestige they enjoy.

So why is the Obama administration shoving this powerful coalition out of his way and building a rival alliance to counter it?

 

http://www.debka.com/article/24135/Netanyahu%E2%80%99s-dilemma-Back-Obama%E2%80%99s-save-Hamas-policy-or-fight-for-its-downfall-with-Egypt-and-Saudis-

Meanwhile Egypt continues to guard Israel’s back.

An official in Cairo reports that 14 Al Qaeda militants were killed and 47 other terrorists were arrested in Egyptian army raids in northern Sinai. Friday, 12 jihadists were killed and 11 others detained, said a spokesperson of the Egyptian Armed Forces, Mohamed Samir Abdel Aziz Saturday night.

 

The majority of Evangelical Christians are still in favor of Israel, but as I stated before, this White House Administration is not. So now the complexity increases with a new twist. With all of the consulting and counseling going on, is it starting to look more like Psalms 83?? Just a thought for now…..

Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:Psalms 83

 

 

 

 

 

Syrian Al-Qaeda fighters

by atharris, posted in ISIS, Middle East

The ever changing landscape of the Syrian Civil War continues as it has since March 2011. Now Syrian AL-Qaeda militants have moved next to the Israeli/Jordanian border after fleeing from IS (Islamic State or ISIL).

  Thousands of Syrian jihadists affiliated with al-Qaeda’s Al-Nusra Front have recently taken refuge near the Israeli and Jordanian borders fleeing northern Syria, which has fallen into the hands of the more extreme Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Created in January 2012 and led by Mohammed al-Jawlani, the Al-Nusra Front is classified as a terror organization by the United Nations, the United States, and other Western countries. Al-Qaeda, represented in Syria by Al-Nusra, has dissociated itself from the Islamic State, which has occupied vast territories in northern and western Iraq, as well as northern Syria.

IS continues its rampage to destroy.

Islamic State destroys Jonah’s Tomb in Mosul

Radical army continues to impose reign of terror on Mosul as Iraq faces major crises

Al Quds Day

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

Violent riots were staged in different parts of Jerusalem Thursday night in protest against the IDF counter-terror operation in the Gaza Strip. A man was killed in a rally of some 10,000 at the Kalandia crossing into the West Bank. Some 90 people were injured. Three Jerusalem police officers were injured in another outbreak on Temple Mount. Hamas has called on West Bank and Jerusalem Palestinians to launch an intifada against Israel.

f140703sk102-cropped-635x357

 

 

 

 

 

Al Quds Day begins tomorrow, Friday the 25th.

Muslims across the world will be taking to the streets on Friday to protest against the atrocities and crimes committed by the Zionist regime of Israel against the innocent people of Gaza. 

International Quds Day is an annual event held on the last Friday of Ramadan that was initiated by the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and to oppose Zionism and Israel’s control of Jerusalem. 

http://www.tehrantimes.com/component/content/article/94-headline/117240-muslim-world-to-stand-up-to-israel-on-quds-day