274 support motion urging ‘the government to recognize the State of Palestine,’ while only 12 oppose, in vote laden with symbolism
British lawmakers voted resoundingly Monday in favor of a Palestinian state, in a debate unlikely to change government policy but laden with political symbolism.The ayes carried the vote with 274 votes, against only 12 nays. Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, who is Jewish, voted in support of the motion.
The House of Commons debate was watched around the world after Sweden drew anger from Israel this month for saying it would recognize Palestine.Read more: British MPs vote an overwhelming ‘Yes’ to Palestine | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/british-mps-vote-overwhelmingly-to-recognize-palestine/#ixzz3G4lPsWIe
Category: Israel
The Blood Moon of Sukkot
As of this writing, the 2nd Blood Moon of the 2014 – 2015 tetrad will commence in two days on the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. This is the last tetrad for the century. The previous Blood Moon was on Passover of April 15th 2014. Eighty two days later the Israel/Hamas conflict started and lasted for 50 days.
A lunar eclipse is a sign of trouble for Israel. The previous two tedrads saw significant events in the history of Israel. Will there be another critical event just around the corner for Israel? Nothing is certain, but time will tell……
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. Joel 2:31
Israel at the Crossroads
Sweden’s new government is set to recognize the State of Palestine, in a move that will make it the first member of the European Union to do so.
“The two-state solution requires mutual recognition and a will to co-exist peacefully. Sweden will therefore recognize the state of Palestine,” he added.
He didn’t say when or how that would happen.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is set to ask the UN Security Council to vote on a resolution that would seek an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines in a timeframe of two years.
Some Israeli politicians see in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stirring speech before the UN General Assembly the final nail in the coffin of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In his speech, Netanyahu made clear that the current “template” for peace has failed, and that Israel is not prepared to repeat the mistakes of the Lebanon and Gaza withdrawals in Judea and Samaria (the so-called “West Bank”).
Did Netanyahu Bury the Two-State Solution?
Israel may consider the use of force against Iran if world powers accept a nuclear agreement that Jerusalem finds unacceptable, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu suggested on Wednesday.
“All I’ll say is, Israel always reserves the right to defend itself,” Netanyahu said, asked what his government would do if a bad deal was signed and sealed.
Pressed on whether that might lead to the use of preemptive force, Netanyahu said: “I’m the only Israeli who doesn’t talk about military operations.”
Netanyahu suggests force on the table if US agrees to ‘bad deal’ with Iran
One step closer to the 3rd Temple
The coming construction of the 3rd temple in Israel has taken another step closer to fruition.
A 60-day international crowdfunding campaign to finance the construction of a modern Third Temple on the Temple Mount garnered $105,000 worth of donations from over 900 donors around the globe by Rosh Hashana, the Temple Institute said Sunday.
“The funds raised from the campaign will be used to continue the research of the Institute and to commission additional architectural plans,” the statement said. “The architects will fuse Jewish law with modern technology to prepare for a fully modern Third Temple, Kosher to the letter of the law…”
International crowdfunding campaign to build Third Temple raises over $100,000
A 3 minute animation of the new temple can be seen here.
A computer-generated rendition of the Third Temple
Hamas ultimatum
Failing a Gaza seaport, the war goes on and thousands of Israelis will die
Hours before the 72-hour ceasefire was due to expire Friday morning, Aug. 8, the Palestinian Hamas’ military wing slapped down an ultimatum before Israel: Either allow the Gaza Strip to have an open seaport – which would be tantamount to lifting the Gaza blockade – or prepare for a long and brutal war of attrition with thousands of fatalities.
Hamas’ decision about extending the ceasefire was tensely awaited Thursday night after Israel’s acceptance. Instead, the Palestinian Islamists declared that the war would go on unless Israel bowed to their dictates.
Israel’s envoys had previously rejected their demand for a deep sea Gaza port in the talks taking place in Cairo under Egyptian auspices.Abu Obeida, spokesman of Hamas’ military wing, Ezz e-Din Al-Qassam, also announced that his movement had acquired new rockets with larger warheads than the more than 3,000 fired against the Israeli population in the month-long conflict, and they would be aimed at Israel’s Ben Gurion international airport. Israel would be severed from its air transport ties with the outside world, he said.
“We demand our fundamental rights,” said the Hamas spokesman, in a statement that was broadcast live Thursday night. “We call on our envoys to the Cairo talks not to continue negotiations until Israel surrenders to our demand for a seaport. The war is not over until the siege of Gaza ends.”
9th of Av update
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/
The World Polarizes
Tiny little Israel, roughly the size of the state of New Jersey and with a population of one half of 1 percent of the world’s 7 billion people, and yet it has caused a great divide and commotion among the peoples of the world in the midst of their conflict with Hamas.
Interestingly 2000 years ago, Israel was polarized against one man; Jesus. The Pharisees and Scribes of the day were against Jesus, even accusing Him of working for Satan and calling ‘good’ evil. In the end, most of Israel rejected Jesus and went on to see their destruction beginning in 70 AD.
As it was in the beginning with Adam and Eve, and as it was in the days Jesus walked the Earth, so it is today, a fight between good and evil, a fight for the Kingdom. Just as Israel ended in destruction during that time, the world today is facing the most destructive time in its history.
Perhaps you are reading this and looking for a way out of all the uncertainty, war, and the coming destruction? Perhaps you desperately need peace in your life? Jesus is the only way. Do you know Him?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:3-6
Watching the events around the world today, a few verses come to mind.
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Matthew 23:13
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20
3 And I will bless them that bless thee (Israel), and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:3
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. Revelation 17:16-18
7 In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. 9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. 11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. Psalm 72:7-11
17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. 18 Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. 19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. Psalm 72:17
Declaring Israel a ‘terrorist state,’ Bolivia’s president ends free entry for Israeli visitors
Rising tide of anti-semitism in Britain as Jewish people face backlash over bloodshed in Gaza
Facebook says page calling for death to Jews doesn’t violate ‘community standards’
http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2551348
Anti-Jewish slogans return to the streets in Germany as Mideast protests sweep Europe
On Monday morning, an Orthodox synagogue in North Miami Beach, Fla., Congregation Torah V’Emunah, found a swastika and the word Hamas scrawled on the outside of the building. A day earlier, cars owned by a Jewish family in Miami Beach were egged, smeared with cream cheese, and defaced with graffiti reading “Jew” and “Hamas.”
In Malibu, Calif., graffiti reading “Jews=Killers” and “Jews are Killing Innocent Children” appeared near the entrance to a Jewish summer camp. Pro-Palestinian graffiti was sprayed on a Chabad center in Las Vegas and on an Orthodox synagogue in Lowell, Mass.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.608088
A very good article:
As Operation Protective Edge continues into its fourth week, US Jewish leaders describe in excited terms an almost unprecedented atmosphere of unity among American Jews.
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However, there is another narrative being voiced as well.
A recent Pew poll highlights an age group that is less than “supportive.” Instead of standing with Israel, the poll finds that a third of all young Americans aged 18-29 (Jews and non) in fact blame Israel for the Gaza conflict.
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In a comment on a Times of Israel news article about the poll he writes: “In the US, according to recent surveys, it is largely the younger generation (18-29), the self-proclaimed liberals that chastise Israel the most, yet this is the same generation that cannot point to Israel, Iraq, or Afghanistan on a map (there are many surveys to back that up, too). Empty, misguided conviction in other words.
Read more: As Jews unite, is US youth moving to anti-Semitism ‘at light speed’? | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/as-jews-unite-is-us-youth-moving-to-anti-semitism-at-light-speed/#ixzz393xdhdYs
Looking for that Blessed Hope! 