WEEK OF NOVEMBER 23 THROUGH NOVEMBER 29

Rewriting America’s Thanksgiving History to Remove God Is a Tragic Deception

Nov. 26….(Charisma News) As Americans mark Thanksgiving this week, one thing noticeably absent from public discourse is our nation's first Thanksgiving celebration, and the One to Whom those early American settlers gave thanks. Instead, talk of "Pilgrims" is taboo, and talk of giving thanks to God even more so. And beyond this, very few in America today recognize the strong theme throughout our nation's history of national leaders' setting aside a day of Thanksgiving not to family, friends or an unnamed source but to God.

    Religion and culture expert Dr. Alex McFarland says this is not only a tragic rewriting of American history but also a subtle strategy to strip America of the very core that makes her a nation worth celebrating: her acknowledgement of God. "Our nation's founding fathers believed that, as individuals and as a nation, we should give thanks to our Creator. Yet, today, we see this truth being downplayed and even downright ignored. The truth of the matter is that when the Mayflower's 102 passengers arrived in Massachusetts in 1620 and then signed the Mayflower Compact, they put their names to the fact that their purpose in undertaking such a journey was 'the Glory of God, and the advancement of the Christian faith,'" McFarland says. "And although more than half of the settlers died during that first, harsh winter, that following summer's farming efforts yielded a bountiful crop, due in significant part to the assistance of friendly Native Americans. That first Thanksgiving was set aside as a feast to thank God and celebrate with the Native Americans."

     McFarland added that just a few short years later, the governor of Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford, declared an official day of thanksgiving, to "proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for His blessings."

    More than 150 years later, as governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson set aside a day of "public and solemn Thanksgiving to Almighty God." And in 1785, New Hampshire Gov. John Langdon set aside November 24 to "testify our gratitude to the Author of all our Mercies, and to confess our manifold transgressions." "With the unanimous approval of Congress, our first president, George Washington, proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving in 1789," McFarland says. "In his official declaration, Washington wrote that America should thank God for His many blessings, ask for forgiveness for personal and national sins, and pray that God would 'promote the knowledge and practice of the true religion.' And nearly 75 years later, Abraham Lincoln passed a Thanksgiving resolution that cited Psalm 33:12 and stated, 'It is announced in the Holy Spirit and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.'"

    McFarland says the truth is that throughout our nation's history, we have acknowledged Almighty God as the source of our blessings. "Our belief in God and acknowledgement of our dependence on Him is what makes America America," McFarland says. "Religious liberty is why the Pilgrims sacrificed so deeply and came to our shores to begin with. This week, let's give our families a history lesson when we gather at the Thanksgiving table, and let's give thanks to the only One Who truly is worthy of it, God Almighty."

Iran Nuclear Talks Extended, Again

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has reportedly screamed so loud in negotiations that his own bodyguards standing watch outside the room have been alerted and rushed inside     Mr. Zarif has reportedly shouted at Secretary Kerry repeatedly and "spoke to him in a humiliating way that was quite likely 'unprecedented' in the history of US diplomacy. Yet, Kerry just took it, and conceded to his demands.

Nov. 25….(YNET) In what is hardly a surprising outcome, the parties involved in the Iran nuclear talks have decided it best for all to extend (and pretend) the discussion for another 7 months: Diplomatic teams will reconvene in December and the US State Department is proclaiming "good progress" in a brief statement. 7 more months of sanctions, a call with Putin today, and OPEC later in the week, one wonders if any of this will be relevant in 7 months. Additionally, it seems beggars can be choosers as P5+1 says Iran can get $700 million per month in frozen assets back. During the negotiations, the Americans agreed to everything.

    There is not a single intelligence agency in the West today which thinks the Iranians don’t have a nuclear military project, but the Americans dropped the demand to receive information and supervise the project. The Americans also agreed that the Iranians would continue to produce enriched uranium through centrifuges. The only disagreement was over the number: At first, the US agreed to only 1,500 centrifuges, and then went up to 4,500, but the Iranians insisted on keeping everything they had already built, all the 9,000 centrifuges they have. Then the Americans began inventing patents such as "leave the centrifuges, but just cut off the electricity supply so that we'll see they are not working." The Iranians wouldn't even agree to that.

    In order to square the circle, the Americans sent up trial balloons in the form of reports that the Russians or anyone else would produce the fuel rods for the Iranians, but the Iranians thwarted the initiative by turning down the idea. Washington's explanation of its generosity towards Tehran was that even an imperfect diplomatic achievement is preferable to a military conflict with harsh results.

    The US admits that Iran is just around the corner from producing a nuclear weapon, and that within a year and a half it will be able to arm a nuclear bomb as soon as it decides. But according to the Americans, if this situation can be frozen for at least 10 years through tight supervision, it will be enough. They will rack our brains later as to what to do next. The important thing today is to recruit Iran for the sake of regional stability.

    In light of the poor relations between Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has almost zero influence on the US on the Iranian issue. The Americans update the Israelis, and opinions are exchanged, but when there is no trust on the political echelon it means nothing. Israel, however, can see a certain accomplishment in the fact that a permanent agreement has not been achieved, as this has postponed the inevitable conflict between Jerusalem and Washington.

Cornered but Unbound by Nuclear Pact, Israel Reconsiders Military Action Against Iran

Nov. 24….(Jerusalem Post) Historic negotiations with Iran will reach an inflection point on Monday, as world powers seek to clinch a comprehensive deal that will, to their satisfaction, end concerns over the nature of its vast, decade-old nuclear program. But sharing details of the deal under discussion with The Jerusalem Post on the eve of deadline, Israel has issued a stark, public warning to its allies with a clear argument: Current proposals guarantee the perpetuation of crisis, backing Israel into a corner from which military force against Iran provides the only logical exit.

     World powers have presented Iran with an accord that would restrict its nuclear program for ten years and cap its ability to produce fissile material for a weapon during that time to a minimum nine-month period. Should Tehran agree, the deal may rely on Russia to convert Iran's current uranium stockpile into fuel rods for peaceful use. The proposal would also include an inspection regime that would attempt to follow the program's entire supply chain, from the mining of raw material to its syphoning of that material to various nuclear facilities across Iran.

    Israel's leaders believe the best of a worst case scenario, should that deal be reached, is for inspections to go perfectly and for Iran to choose to abide by the deal for the entire decade-long period. But "our intelligence agencies are not perfect," an Israeli official said. "We did not know for years about Natanz and Qom. And inspection regimes are certainly not perfect. They weren't in the case in North Korea, and it isn't the case now. Iran's been giving the IAEA the run around for years about its past activities." "What's going to happen with that?" the official continued. "Are they going to sweep that under the rug if there's a deal?"

    On Saturday afternoon, reports from Vienna suggested the P5+1, the US, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany are willing to stop short of demanding full disclosure of any secret weapon work by Tehran. Speaking to the Post, a senior US official rejected concern over limited surveillance capabilities, during or after a deal. "If we can conclude a comprehensive agreement, we will have significantly more ability to detect covert facilities, even after its duration is over, than we do today," the senior US official said. "After the duration of the agreement, the most intrusive inspections will continue: the Additional Protocol, which encompasses very intrusive transparency, and which Iran has already said it will implement will continue."

    But compounding Israel's fears, the proposal Jerusalem has seen shows that mass dismantlement of Iran's nuclear infrastructure, including the destruction, and not the mere warehousing, of its parts is no longer on the table in Vienna. "Iran's not being asked to dismantle the nuclear infrastructure," the Israeli official said, having seen the proposal before the weekend. "Right now what they're talking about is something very different. They're talking about Ayatollah Khamenei allowing the P5+1 to save face."

    Officials in the Netanyahu government are satisfied that their ideas and concerns have been given a fair hearing by their American counterparts. They praise the US for granting Israel unprecedented visibility into the process. But while those discussions may have affected the talks at the margins, large gaps, on whether to grant Iran the right to enrich uranium, or allow it to keep much of its infrastructure, have remained largely unaddressed. "It's like the chemical weapons deal in Syria," the official said. 'They didn't just say: Here let's get rid of the stockpile and the weapons, but we will leave all the plants and assembly lines." Yet, more than any single enforcement standard or cap included in the deal, Israel believes the Achilles' heel of the proposed agreement is its definitive end date, the sunset clause. "You've not dismantled the infrastructure, you've basically tried to put limits that you think are going to be monitored by inspectors and intelligence," said the official, "and then after this period of time, Iran is basically free to do whatever it wants."

    The Obama administration also rejects this claim. By e-mail, the senior US administration official said that, "'following successful implementation of the final step of the comprehensive solution for its duration, the Iranian nuclear program will be treated in the same manner as that of any non-nuclear weapon state party to the NPT, with an emphasis on non-nuclear weapon." "That has in no way changed," the American official continued, quoting the interim Joint Plan of Action reached last year.

    But the treatment of Iran as any other signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, 189 countries are members, including Iran, would allow Tehran to ultimately acquire "an industrial-sized capability," the Israelis say. The breakout time to a nuclear weapon will be effectively zero. Israel and world powers seek to maximize the amount of time they would have to identify non-compliance from a nuclear deal, should Iran choose to defy its tenets and build a bomb. But in the deal under discussion in Vienna, Iran would be able to comply with international standards for a decade and, from Israel's perspective, then walk, not sneak, into the nuclear club. "You've not only created a deal that leaves Iran as a threshold nuclear power today, because they have the capability to break out quickly if they wanted to," the Israeli official contended. "But you've also legitimized Iran as a military nuclear power in the future."

    From the moment this deal is clinched, Israel fears it will guarantee Iran as a military nuclear power. There will be no off ramp, because Iran's reentry into the international community will be fixed, a fait accompli, by the very powers trying to contain it. "The statement that says we've prevented them from having a nuclear weapon is not a true statement," the Israeli official continued. "What you've said is, you're going to put restrictions on Iran for a given number of years, after which there will be no restrictions and no sanctions. That's the deal that's on the table."

     Without an exit ramp, Israel insists its hands will not be tied by an agreement reached this week, this month or next month, should it contain a clause that ultimately normalizes Iran's home-grown enrichment program. On the surface, its leadership dismisses fears that Israel will be punished or delegitimized if it disrupts an historic, international deal on the nuclear program with unilateral military action against its infrastructure. By framing the deal as fundamentally flawed, regardless of its enforcement, Israel is telling the world that it will not wait to see whether inspectors do their jobs as ordered. "Ten, fifteen years in the life of a politician is a long time," the Israeli said, in a vague swipe against the political directors now scrambling in Vienna. "In the life of a nation, it's nothing."

    Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu has threatened the use of force against Iran several times since 2009, even seeking authorization from his cabinet in 2011. Iran's program has since grown in size and scope. According to his aides, the prime minister's preference is not war, but the continuation of a tight sanctions regime on Iran's economy coupled with a credible threat of military force. Netanyahu believes more time under duress would have led to an acceptable deal. But that opportunity, in his mind, may now be lost.

     Whether Israel still has the ability to strike Iran, without American assistance, is an open question. Quoted last month in the Atlantic magazine, US officials suggested that window for Netanyahu closed over two years ago. But responding to claims by that same official, quoted by Jeffrey Goldberg, over Netanyahu's courage and will, the Israeli official responded sternly: "The prime minister is a very serious man who knows the serious responsibility that rests on his shoulders. He wouldn't say the statements that he made if he didn't mean them." "People have underestimated Israel many, many times in the past," he continued, "and they underestimate it now."

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 16 THROUGH NOVEMBER 22

Obama: Helping Terror Go Nuclear

Nov. 22….(Israel Today) Last Tuesday’s terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue killed five people: four rabbis (including three born in the USA) and a Druze police officer. Two Palestinians entered during morning prayers and attacked worshipers with knives, meat cleavers, and a handgun. Congress showed moral clarity when blaming the horrors on Hamas and Palestinian Authority incitement, but Obama’s statements were perfunctorily “balanced.” Obama warned of a “spiral” of violence, an obtuse refrain of those suggesting moral equivalency between terrorism and the fight against it. Obama also misleadingly claimed that “President Abbas...strongly condemned the attacks” omitting that Abbas did so only after pressure from the administration and with equivocation (Abbas suggested a link between recent terrorism and visits by Jews to the Temple Mount, as if to justify the attacks). It’s also worth noting that Palestinians celebrated the massacre.

     Obama’s weak reaction is consistent with his mostly impotent response to ISIS terrorists who behead Americans and Mideast Christians and grow their Islamist empire by the day. Frighteningly, his approach to Iranian nukes follows the same meek pattern, but the stakes are exponentially higher, because when Iran goes nuclear, so does terrorism.

    Iran is already the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, without nuclear weapons. Iran-supported Hamas has already tried to commit nuclear terror: last summer, Hamas launched rockets at Israel’s Dimona nuclear reactor. How much more dangerous will Iran become when it has nukes? Even if Iran doesn’t directly commit nuclear terrorism, an Iranian nuclear umbrella will embolden the regime and the terrorist organizations it sponsors.

     Obama has a long record of weakness towards Iran. In 2009, when Iran’s Basij paramilitary force brutalized demonstrators protesting Iran’s fraudulent presidential election, Obama kept his response irrelevantly mild for the sake of “engaging” Iran. That surely helped Iranian voters understand the risks of protesting the “free” election of 2012 (involving eight regime-picked candidates). It was indeed a very orderly rubberstamp.

     President Hassan Rouhani’s election vastly improved the public face of Iran’s nuclear program, and Obama was charmed too. Obama has been unilaterally weakening the sanctions against Iran by not enforcing them. He has threatened to thwart any Congressional attempt to limit his nuclear generosity by simply lifting sanctions without Congressional approval. Yet despite these concessions and Rouhani's smiles, human rights abuses in Iran have actually worsened. 

    Obama declared in 2012 (while running for reelection) that he doesn’t bluff when it comes to stopping Iranian nukes, and that containment was not an option, unlike military force. But the credibility of that statement collapsed after Obama shrunk away from his “red line” against Syrian chemical weapons use. In 2013, Basher Assad gassed his own people and Obama took no military action. So if Obama cowers against a disintegrating state, what are the chances that he’ll militarily prevent Iranian nukes? And Obama has dangerously undermined the only military threat to Iranian nukes that anyone still takes seriously: Israel. On the Iranian nuclear issue, Obama has isolated Israel on how close Iran is to a nuclear capability with estimates that are far laxer. And as long as Obama continues negotiating (even if Iran is clearly playing for time as the US offers ever more desperate proposals) or reaches a deal allowing Iran to become a threshold nuclear weapons state, an Israeli military option to defang Iranian nukes appears less legitimate.

     The media’s anti-Israel bias is well known. So if Obama accepts Iran’s nuclear program and Israel then attacks it, the media will be even harsher on Israel (even though the world will be silently relieved, if Israeli courage succeeds at neutralizing what scared everyone else).

     Downgrading US-Israel relations seems to be part of Obama’s détente with Iran. Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei recently tweeted his plan for destroying Israel, but Obama grows even more determined to reach an accord that legitimizes Iran’s nuclear program. And the Obama administration’s diplomatic abuse of America’s closest Mideast ally is unprecedented, from his humiliation of Prime Minister Netanyahu in 2010, to Secretary of State John Kerry’s betrayal of Israel during Operation Protective Edge, to calling Netanyahu a “chickenshit” a few weeks ago, without even apologizing later (note the irony of calling Netanyahu a coward anonymously). Obama seems far more concerned by Israeli construction of apartments in Jerusalem than a nuclear Iran. And he has been pressuring Israel to retreat from more disputed territory, effectively rewarding Palestinians for launching the third missile war against Israel from Gaza in five years last summer and now the third Intifidah inside Israel in 17 years. That puts Obama just behind the European appeasers who think Palestinian bellicosity merits statehood. They all naively think, at Israel's peril, that peace is possible with raw hatred. Obama indeed appears desperate to get a nuclear accord with Iran at any price. He has written letters asking for Iran’s help against ISIS after they hinted at an ISIS-for-nukes exchange, and has pursued an agreement at all costs. Obama’s top aide, Ben Rhodes, was caught saying how a nuclear accord is as important to Obama as “healthcare”; at least there’s a fitting slogan to sell the deal to Americans: “If you like your nukes, you can keep them.”

     Russia, the serial spoiler, suggested extending nuclear talks past the November 24th deadline. Iran will undoubtedly agree to more enrichment time (while it keeps stonewalling the IAEA’s investigations into it nukes), as it did last July. For Obama, a bad agreement or an extension looks far better than concluding that talks have failed and issuing more empty threats to stop Iran militarily. And so US foreign policy will continue its freefall, as the world’s bad actors will want to see what they can extort from a leader even weaker than President Carter. While Carter permitted Iran to hold 52 American diplomats and citizens hostage for 444 days, Obama may allow Iran to hold the world hostage with nuclear terrorism. It's now dreadfully obvious: without massive public pressure, Obama will help Iran get nukes.

Muslims Chant to Remove Jesus at Washington’s National Cathedral

Nov. 21….(Israel Today) It looked like a chilling scene from a Last Days, anti-Christ-takes-over-the-world disaster movie. Hundreds of Muslims take over America’s most notable church, prostrate on their prayer rugs as their unified chant echoes out in full volume: “There is only one god, he begets not and I bear witness that Muhammad is His only servant and Apostle." Only this was not a movie. This was the scene, last Friday, for the first time in history, at the iconic National Cathedral in Washington, where orthodox Muslim clerics were invited to lead an Islamic prayer service. A congregation of hundreds were lead by an Imam in declaring that “god has no son, that Jesus Christ cannot be his son, and that there is no god like Allah.”

    Only a single middle-age woman jumped up in the middle of the service and shouted, “America was founded on Christian principles. Leave our church alone!” She was escorted quickly out of the church by security guards.

    The National Cathedral in Washington, DC has been an extremely important symbol of the Christian roots of the United States. The cathedral was designated by Congress as America's "National House of Prayer." The church has hosted a number of inaugural presidential prayer services, including Franklin Roosevelt and both presidents Bush.

    The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, took to Facebook in reaciton to the Muslim prayer service: “The National Cathedral in Washington, DC, one of the most prominent Episcopal churches in America–will host a Muslim prayer service to Allah. It’s sad to see a church open its doors to the worship of anything other than the One True God of the Bible, who sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to earth to save us from our sins. Jesus was clear when He said, 'I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me' (John 14:6)." As of this writing, 80,000 people had “liked” Graham’s post.

    The Islamic service at the cathedral was ostensibly intended to promote interfaith dialogue. Its organizers said that they hoped the service would “help correct some Americans’ misperceptions of Muslims as extremists and reinforce tolerance among faiths.”

However, it is hard to understand how a Christian church opening its sanctuary for Islamic prayers that renounce Jesus Christ contributes to interfaith tolerance. Muslims would never allow a Christian to preach the Gospel in a mosque. Palestinian Muslims continue to ban all Jews and Christians from praying at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It would appear that “interfaith dialogue and tolerance” are just more code words calling for Muslims to rise up and conquer.

    The Washington Post reported that the Islamic prayer service was closed to the public because of security concerns. Armed guards checked every person and every bag of those in attendance. Islam is growing rapidly around the world, and is now the third-largest religion in the United States, behind Christianity and Judaism, with an estimated 12.6 million American Muslim citizens.

Kerry: Iran Likely Will be Given Another Extension on Nukes

Nov. 21….(Times of Israel) US Secretary of State John Kerry held an unexpected second meeting in two days with a key Arab mediator in the Iran nuclear talks, part of a last-minute push to meet a Monday deadline for a deal that would ease the threat of the Islamic Republic reaching the capability to produce atomic weapons. Despite the diplomatic efforts, signs increasingly pointed to a further extension in negotiations.

     Kerry met Wednesday at his hotel with Yusuf bin Alawi, the foreign minister of Oman, a key go-between in discussions between Washington and Tehran, a senior US official said. Bin Alawi was in Tehran last weekend and met with Kerry Tuesday. Their follow-up meeting was unannounced, confirmed only after an Associated Press reporter saw the foreign minister in the hotel.

    Oman, unique among the Gulf Arab states for the close ties it maintains with Iran, hosted high-level nuclear talks earlier this month and was the site of secret US-Iranian gatherings dating back to 2012. Those discussions laid the groundwork for an interim nuclear agreement reached a year ago, which world powers and Iran are now trying to cement in Vienna with a comprehensive pact by Monday.

    In Washington, Obama administration officials, congressional aides and independent experts who’ve closely monitored the discussions said an extension of the talks was most likely. In a twist, many opponents of the diplomacy now see a prolonging of the negotiations as more preferable than an accord. Even though many lawmakers opposed an extension when the last one was announced in June, aides in both parties said an agreement now would be viewed as a sign of the administration’s desperation to secure a diplomatic breakthrough at any cost.

    Republicans in particular want more time so that they can attempt to pass new sanctions legislation that would pressure Iran into greater concessions. The Senate’s plan is to bring up a package of conditional penalties after January, when Republicans take the majority, according to aides who weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. Some Democrats are on board with that effort, though Obama has threatened to veto any new sanctions threatening the diplomacy.

    The midterm elections have others, too, weighing their approaches. The powerful pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, issued a statement after the last extension urging the US government to “make clear that Iran can expect no further extension of the talks.” But it currently is taking no stance on whether another extension or a deal is preferable, given the parameters of the potential agreement are unknown.

    With Obama expected this week to issue an executive order on immigration, several aides pointed to the political unlikelihood of a nuclear deal coinciding with that effort. Both would demand the administration make a vigorous defense of policies with questionable public backing, fierce Republican opposition and mixed support even among Democrats.

    Iran insists the program is solely for peaceful energy production and medical research purposes. The US, its Arab and European partners, and Israel fear it may be a covert effort to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal.

FOJ Note: If President Obama is intent in letting Iran have more time to gain a nuclear bomb, the least he could do is to include the release of pastor Saeed Abedini, the US citizen who's serving an eight-year sentence in Iran for his Christian faith. Secretary of State John Kerry has said that he trusts Iran's fatwa, a religious declaration, "enormously as a matter of religious edict, and that he trusts Iran to not seek nuclear weapons.” Iran has also promised to respect the rights of Christians and religious minorities in Iran, but they routinely persecute Christians, and yet nobody in the Obama Administration seems to care about that. So, if Iran cannot be trusted in the rights of Christians in Iran, how can America’s leaders trust Iran with its nuclear ambitions, and give them more time to acquire them in order to destroy Israel.

Jewish Worshippers Massacred During Morning Prayers

Nov. 20….(Israel Today) The seething situation in Jerusalem took a turn for the worse early Tuesday morning when Palestinian Arab terrorists entered a local synagogue and attacked Jewish worshippers conducting traditional morning prayers. Two Muslim assailants entered the Kehilat Yaakov synagogue complex in the religious Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof shortly after dawn armed with a pistol, knives and axes.

    Four Israelis were killed and another nine were wounded, many of them seriously, during the bloody rampage. Eyewitnesses who survived the attack said the terrorists did not wear head covering, but were shouting “Allah Akbar,” “Allah is Greater” as they shot and hacked at their Jewish victims. Police forces responding to the scene engaged the terrorists in a brief gun battle before shooting both attackers dead.

    The attack comes a day after escalating Arab Muslim riots over the death of an Arab bus driver, who was found hanged in the rear of his vehicle. An autopsy revealed no signs of foul play, and police ruled the case a suicide. That evidence notwithstanding, the driver’s family and Arabs across Jerusalem insisted Jewish “settlers” had murdered the man, and vowed revenge.

Palestinians Celebrate Jerusalem Synagogue Slaughter

Nov. 20…..(Israel Today) Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and elsewhere openly celebrated the massacre of Jewish worshippers at a synagogue in Jerusalem Tuesday morning. Hamas hailed the attack as “revenge” for the death of an Arab bus driver in Jerusalem a day earlier, a death that was ultimately determined to be a suicide. Hamas official Mushir al-Masri even managed to commission or otherwise obtain a grotesque political cartoon (left) praising the “heroic” synagogue attack, which he promptly posted on Twitter. Hamas’ sister organization, Islamic Jihad, said that it, too, “salutes the operation in Jerusalem which is a natural response to the crimes of the occupier.”

    For his part, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas issued a statement firmly condemning the murder of Jewish worshippers in their place of prayer. But Israeli officials suggested that Abbas was shedding crocodile tears, and insisted that it was ongoing anti-Jewish incitement in Abbas’ own state-controlled media that sets the stage for such atrocities. “This is the direct result of the incitement led by Hamas and Abu Mazen [Abbas], incitement that the international community irresponsibly ignores,” read a statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman added, “It is incumbent upon the international community to condemn Abbas’ anti-Semitic remarks, which lead to massacres such as what has taken place this morning.” Indeed, just last week, Palestinian Authority TV, which is directly controlled by the Abbas regime, aired a documentary on the history of the Palestinian leader’s Fatah movement in which the Jews were presented as a foreign contaminate that were put in this land by European powers that had grown tired of their problematic Jewish populations.

    In a related development, it was reported that the perpetrators of Tuesday’s synagogue attack were relatives of one of the 1,027 terrorists Israel released in 2011 in exchange for abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. That revelation further bolstered arguments that the “goodwill gesture” of freeing jailed terrorists does absolutely nothing to soften Palestinian views of Israel or advance the cause of peace.

Prominent Professor, Dershowitz Rips Obama on Synagogue Slaughter

('Imagine if an Israeli soldier walked into a mosque and murdered 4 imams at prayer')

Nov. 20….(WND) Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz is unloading on President Obama’s “moral equivalence” in the wake of Tuesday’s shocking terrorist attacks at a Jerusalem synagogue that left five people dead, three of whom were Americans. The acclaimed defense attorney also accuses Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas of inciting the bloodshed. On Tuesday, terrorists stormed the synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood in West Jerusalem. Using axes, knives and guns, the terrorists savagely interrupted morning prayers, killing three rabbis, another worshiper and a police officer. Police eventually killed the two terrorists.

    In his statement, President Obama condemned the attacks and said the deaths of three Americans meant shared grief between the US and Israel. However, he was quick to urge all sides to renounce violence. “Tragically, this is not the first loss of life that we have seen in recent months. Too many Israelis have died. Too many Palestinians have died,” said Obama, who urged both sides to work together to “lower tensions.” Dershowitz said that was exactly the wrong thing to say. “It was moral equivalence. It was the wrong statement. It had all the wrong tone. It had all the wrong content. At this point in time, you unilaterally condemn only the Palestinian Authority and Hamas for incentivizing and inciting this kind of thing. You don’t bring it together with how many Palestinians may have died because they were being used as human shields,” he said, noting that the terrorist groups are fine with the US and others in the world equating their actions with those of Israel. “Hamas is happy with moral equivalence,” Dershowitz said. “It gives them a kind of legitimacy that they don’t deserve, the kind of legitimacy that Bishop (Desmond) Tutu and Jimmy Carter had given them, but I would expect more of our president.”

    President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were quick to point to point out that Abbas condemned the attack. Dershowitz said that condemnation came after great pressure from the US and that Abbas deserves the lion’s share of the blame for the attacks themselves. “Abbas is largely responsible for this,” he said. “He talked about Jews ‘infecting’ the Temple Mount. He called for Muslims to protect the Temple Mount. He basically incited this. Did he intend it? Probably not, but his words carry very great power.”

    While the denunciation of the attacks by Abbas may have been grudging, Dershowitz pointed out that Hamas and Palestinians in the street made it clear they enthusiastically support such barbarism.“After this horrible, horrible massacre, immediately there was dancing in the streets in Gaza, in Ramallah, in Bethlehem and Nablus and celebration of these murders,” he said. “Although the great tragedy occurred in the synagogue, the most important events occurred before, the incitement, and after, the glee. How did the world respond? Spain unilaterally voted in parliament to recognize the Palestinian State without asking them even to stop terrorism,” Dershowitz said. However, he said the most common reaction worldwide was indifference. “United Nations? Silence. Most of the Arab states? Silence,” he said. “We’re not seeing condemnation. We’re not seeing outrage from many of the European leaders.”

     Dershowitz praised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for forcefully denouncing the attacks but also for imploring Israeli citizens not to seek vengeance on their own. The international response to the murders was so tepid that Netanyahu implored world leaders to speak out. Dershowitz said if the roles were reversed, it would be a much different story. “Can you imagine if an Israeli soldier had walked into a mosque and had murdered four imams at prayer? The entire world would be aflame about this,” he said. “We see very little condemnation (about Tuesday’s terrorist attacks). You see the usual ritual, formalistic condemnation, but you don’t see the kind of outrage that one would expect. And you don’t see the kind of outrage that one gets when Israel builds an extra bathroom or living room somewhere on the West Bank.”

     The Middle East has long been viewed in the West as a problem that cannot be solved. Dershowitz said the Palestinians are undertaking a strategy to make sure it never does. “The Palestinians are trying to turn this into a religious dispute, not a political dispute,” he said. “Political disputes can be resolved by compromise, but if you think your god has told you not to allow Jews to have a nation-state of their own, it’s very hard to compromise with that situation.” Dershowitz said what’s worse than grisly acts of terrorism is the fact that it’s working to turn world opinion to the side of the Palestinians and others. “Why are the Palestinians so popular today on academic campuses, at the UN and in European capitals?” he asked. “Because they have used terrorism over and over and over again. Nobody’s heard of the Kurds because they haven’t used terrorism to a great extent. The Kurds, there are much more of them and they are much more worthy of a state than the Palestinians and the Tibetans. But they’re getting nowhere because terrorism works, and it brings groups to the attention of the world. If we don’t stop terrorism in the Middle East, it’s coming to a theater near you because it’s an effective tactic today, unfortunately.”

     World opinion has long tilted heavily against Israel, even when American presidents have vigorously defended it. Dershowitz admitted the US can only do so much to reverse that, but he said there’s one thing the Obama administration can do in the coming days to prevent terrorists from scoring a major victory. “They have to make a good deal with Iran or no deal,” he said. “You can’t make a bad deal with Iran. Iran is the greatest exporter of terrorism in the world. They’re dancing in the streets, too. If you think it’s bad to have a few terrorists with axes and guns and knives walk into a synagogue, just wait until terrorists begin to have nuclear weapons. That will happen if Iran has a decent deal that will allow it to become a threshold nuclear state.”

Netanyahu Vows Tough Response

Nov. 20….(BBC) Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to win a "battle for Jerusalem" after a deadly attack on a synagogue. Two Palestinians killed four rabbis in West Jerusalem before being shot dead. A policeman later died of his wounds. Mr. Netanyahu vowed to "settle the score with every terrorist" saying that those "who want to uproot us from our state and capital... will not succeed". Jerusalem has seen weeks of unrest, partly fuelled by tension over a disputed holy site. Tuesday's attack was the deadliest in Jerusalem for six years. There were about 25 worshippers in the synagogue at the time and at least seven people were also seriously wounded.

    Netanyahu ordered the homes of the attackers to be destroyed, saying: "We are in a battle over Jerusalem, our eternal capital." Israeli television footage of armed police running to the scene of the attack He said that this was a "terrible attack at a time of prayer" and condemned what he termed the "shouts of joy" from the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip after the attacks. He said he was strengthening security on the streets of Jerusalem, without giving details.

     Mr. Netanyahu called on the people of Israel to "stand together as one" but said that "no-one must take the law into their own hands, even if spirits are riled and blood is boiling". The two sides are further apart than ever. Their conflict used to be, at root, about the possession of land. But since Israel captured the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 1967 it has become more defined by religion. Perhaps that was why the Palestinians chose a synagogue for the attack that killed the four Jewish worshippers and a policeman.

    Many Palestinians believe Israel is preparing to allow Jews to pray in the compound of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site for Muslims after Mecca and Medina. The Israeli government has denied that emphatically. But Palestinians listen to calls from hard right-wing Jewish nationalists and believe it might happen. He added: "I call on all leaders of countries in the Western world: I want to see outrage over this massacre."

    US President Barack Obama has condemned the attack, saying: "There is and can be no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians." Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also issued a condemnation of "the attack on Jewish worshippers in their place of prayer and of the killing of civilians no matter who is doing it". Mr. Netanyahu said this was not enough. He accused Mr Abbas and militant group Hamas of spreading "blood libel".

    The attack happened at the Bnei Torah Kehilat Yaakov synagogue and religious seminary site on Harav Shimon Agassi Street, home to a largely Orthodox Jewish community in the Har Nof neighborhood. The attackers were armed with a pistol and meat cleavers.

    The rabbis who died were Moshe Twersky, 59, head of the seminary; Arieh Kupinsky, 43; and Kalman Levine, 55, all of whom also held US passports. The fourth victim, Avraham Goldberg, 68, was also a UK citizen. The funerals of the four were held in Jerusalem on Tuesday, with thousands in attendance. It was later confirmed that Zidan Seif, a 30-year-old traffic officer who arrived at the scene and came under attack, had died of his wounds in Hadassah hospital.

    The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said it had carried out the attack.

    Tensions in the city have risen in recent weeks, with two deadly attacks by Palestinian militants on pedestrians in the city and announcements by Israel of plans to build more settler homes in East Jerusalem. The Jerusalem compound that has been the focus of much of the unrest - known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif - is the holiest site in Judaism, while the al-Aqsa Mosque within the compound is the third holiest site in Islam.

    Orthodox Jewish campaigners in Israel are challenging the longstanding ban on Jews praying at the compound. Palestinians want East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel since 1967, as the capital of a future state.

Allah ‘The Most Gracious, Most Merciful’ Praised on US House Floor

Nov. 20….(Defund.com) An abomination of sacrilegious proportions was witnessed Friday when the National Cathedral allowed Muslims to hold an Islamic prayer service within its dwelling. Islam has overstepped its boundaries in a Christian nation of 73 percenters, and it’s getting progressively worse. Openly infiltrating our houses of government with blasphemous declarations to a false god, the particular people bowing their heads in reverence will disturb and anger you. With the re-election of Speaker of the House John Boehner and fellow Republicans gaining majority in Senate comes an outrageous display of submission to Islam.

    The Imam for the Islamic Center of Central Jersey (mosque) Hamad Chebli delivered an Islamic prayer praising Allah from the House floor November 13, while Boehner and other House Republicans bow their heads in agreement and respect. Perhaps the most disturbing line from Chebli’s prayer is his declaration that America recognizes Allah as their god, saying “Thee do WE worship.”

    Allowing an Imam to claim America for Islam in the very building in which federal laws are written is an abomination. Housing the most dangerous enemy of Christianity and Western civilization in the archetype of our nation’s faith is unforgivable. Not only are we harboring the enemy, we are exalting and admiring them on a pedestal.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 9 THROUGH NOVEMBER 15

US 'Peace Partner' Funding Violent Jerusalem Riots

(American taxpayers give about $400 million annually)

Nov. 13….(WND) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah organization has dedicated a fund that is being used to aid and further fuel anti-Jewish riots in eastern sections of Jerusalem, Israeli security sources told WND. The PA is the recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars annually in US financial support. The security sources said part of the Fatah fund finances a committee to collect information on “Arab collaborators,” meaning Arabs who sell property to Jews in East Jerusalem. The PA numerous times has warned that the sale of land to Jews amounts to “high treason,” a charge that carries the death penalty. It has reportedly carried out extra-judicial killings of Arabs it suspects of such property sales.

    In addition, the Israeli security sources said Fatah has been using a dedicated budget to provide legal and financial support to Arab youth arrested protesting Israel in East Jerusalem, including those engaged in violent clashes. Fatah has further set aside funds to assist Arab rioters who are in hiding from Israeli authorities for committing crimes, as well as assistance to the rioters’ families.

    Since 2008, the US has provided about $400 million per year on average in economic assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The amount has been divided between direct budgetary assistance to the PA and financing for projects coordinated through the US Agency for International Development. Arabs have been engaged in violent riots for weeks in East Jerusalem, routinely lobbing stones and Molotov cocktails at Jewish civilians and Israeli security forces. Numerous terrorist attacks have targeted Jews in Jerusalem and beyond, including a terrorist who used a vehicle to plow through a crowd of Israelis at an East Jerusalem light rail station, killing a 3-month-old baby, an adult tourist and injuring seven other people.

    Over the past few weeks, Arabs have engaged in a systemic campaign of rock-throwing at Jerusalem’s light-rail system, attacking train cars as they pass through East Jerusalem neighborhoods. The attacks are so frequent that Jerusalem officials announced last month nearly half the cars used in the Jerusalem light-rail system are out of service and in need of repair. The violence has spilled into nationwide attacks. Monday, an off-duty Israeli soldier was critically wounded by a Palestinian in a stabbing at a major Tel Aviv bus and train station. Some four hours later, a young Israeli woman was killed and two more were wounded by a Palestinian stabber who, according to reports, initially intended to commit a vehicular terror attack.

    On Sunday, a Jewish man escaped what appeared to be an attempting lynching when his car was stopped by masked Arab men in a central Arab village in Israel. The Jewish man was reportedly saved by other Arab residents of the village, who chased away the masked attackers.

    Fatah is not the only actor fueling the violence, which some fear could escalate into a third “intifada,” or uprising. Hamas and the Iranian-backed group Islamic Jihad have reportedly been behind some of the attacks. Also, the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, led by Israeli Arab extremist cleric Raed Salah, has reportedly paid hundreds of Muslims to agitate protests on the Temple Mount. An investigative report by Nadav Shragai of the Israel Hayom newspaper stated the Islamic Movement is financed by Qatar and by hundreds of Islamic foundations worldwide.

Hundreds' of Gaza Jihadists Loyal to ISIS

Nov. 13….(WND) Hundreds” of Islamic militants in Gaza consider themselves to be acting under the banner of ISIS, a top Islamic militant in the Gaza Strip claimed to WND. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on the possible ISIS presence in Gaza. There were conflicting reports last week that Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt’s most active Islamic militant organization, swore allegiance to ISIS. The group, highly active in the Sinai and along the Sinai-Gaza-border, is partnered with Ansar al-Sharia Bayt al-Maqdis, a Salafi jihadist group in the Gaza Strip.

    Reuters reported the Egypt-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis released a statement announcing, “After entrusting Allah, we decided to swear allegiance to the emir of the faithful Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, caliph of the Muslims in Syria and Iraq and in other countries.” Reuters reported the Egyptian Ansar had previously told the news agency that it sought inspiration and advice from ISIS.

    However, a report by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War claimed the Reuters article was based on statements falsely attributed to Ansar. “This is not the first time that false statements have been attributed to Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, and this probably false report may be related to the group’s recent prominence in conjunction with the suicide attack targeting Egyptian security forces in the Sinai,” stated the Institute for the Study of War. “Egypt is facing real and very serious threats emerging from its territory, but Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis joining forces with ISIS is not yet one of them.”

    A separate Al Jazeera article reported Abu Khatab, the leader of the Gazan-based Ansar, released a video declaring his group “supports ISIS morally and financially and in terms of preaching.” The Gazan Ansar is ideologically aligned with al-Qaida. It often releases statements opposed to Hamas, complaining Gaza’s rulers “abandoned” their Islamic jihadist ideology.

Listen to Faithful Muslims, They Mean What They Say

Nov. 12….(Israel Today) Europe, and now America, turns its wrath against Israel, believing the Jewish state to be the main instigator of Middle East unrest and, as Secretary John Kerry suggested, the reasons behind the rise of radical Islam and the Islamic State. If Israel would only accept the two-state solution, and if the Jews would only stop entering the Temple Mount, these world leaders reason that the Palestinians would give up their dream of returning to Haifa and Ashkelon, multiculturalism would flourish in Europe, human rights would be upheld and religions would coexist peacefully. This hope, however, is baseless; nothing more than a pipe dream stemming from an arrogance that believes in the superiority of secular Western values, which include not only democracy and minority rights, but also ideas like contempt of religion, in particular the Christian faith.

    One would think that the rise of the Islamic State (formerly ISIS) would have convinced the Europeans and Obama that Israel is merely the first target in a campaign that will eventually lead to "Rome." The last issue of Dabiq, the Islamic State magazine, made accessible to all through its English edition, makes this goal abundantly clear. Anyone who takes this message seriously, instead of blindly hoping that the Islamists will come to their senses, must understand that unless something is done, Europe, which has already abandoned its own religion, could face the same fate as the Yazidis of Iraq.

    In an article entitled "The Revival of Slavery," the Islamic State actually takes pride in being able to fulfill "The Sword Verse," which commands Muslims to "kill the idolaters wherever you find them, and capture them, and besiege them." From a Muslim point of view, the enslavement of many Yazidi families is a sensible and commendable way of serving Allah. Indeed, they are taking pride in not to separating enslaved women from their children. How noble.

    The same issue of Dabiq also cited the September speech of Islamic State spokesman Mohammad al-Adnani, who brashly warned the "crusaders" (America and Europe) thus: "We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women, so mobilize your forces, O crusaders, roar with thunder, threaten whom you want, plot, arm your troops, prepare yourselves, strike, kill, and destroy us. This will not avail you. You will be defeated, for our Lord has promised our victory and your defeat."

    In the Islamic State’s view of the world, Israel is merely a Roman military outpost that must be taken before marching on Europe. For this reason, Israel is far from being the focus of this magazine, which is all about waging an apocalyptic war against America and Europe. In fact, one might be disappointed to discover that the latest issue of Dabiq doesn’t mention at all the Palestinians or the summer’s Gaza war, which dominated headlines in the rest of the world. Dabiq, at least, is honest enough to acknowledge, if not indirectly, that Israel is not the cause of the conflict in the Middle East. Likewise, nowhere does Dabiq suggest that the end of the Jewish state is the ultimate goal of Islam. Europe and Obama may try to deflect Islamic vengefulness away from them by blaming Israel for everything, but, unfortunately for them, the Muslim faithful won’t be deterred by this PR spin.

Netanyahu: America, Iran is Your Enemy, Not Your Partner

Nov. 12….(Jerusalem Post) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the US against embracing Iran in its fight against ISIS, stating that Iran was America’s enemy and not its partner.

He spoke via video on Tuesday night to the The Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly, which has met for the last three days in Washington DC. There have been suggestions that Iran can help solve the problem of extremism in the Middle East, but nothing could be further from the truth, said Netanyahu. Iran is the problem and not the solution, he said.

    Netanyahu also warned the six powers, including the US, against rushing into a deal with Iran with regard to its nuclear program. The goal is not just to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons today, but also to prevent them from acquiring them tomorrow as well, he said. The worst outcome of the ongoing negotiations between the six world power and Iran would be a deal that allows Iran to be a threshold nuclear power. The choice is not a bad deal or war with Iran, said Netanyahu as he explained that stiff sanctions were better than reaching the wrong agreement with Iran.

Two Israelis Killed, 3 Wounded in Terror Stabbings

Nov. 11….(Israel Today) Two terrorist stabbing attacks on Monday claimed the lives of two young Israelis and left three others wounded during a day of unrest across the Holy Land. The first stabbing took place at a train station in central Tel Aviv, where an 18-year-old Palestinian youth attacked a young Israeli soldier. The soldier was stabbed repeatedly in the leg while the assailant tried to seize his automatic rifle. A passerby who tried to intervene was lightly wounded. The injured soldier was found without a pulse by first responders, and underwent emergency surgery. He later succumbed to his wounds.

    The second attack occurred a very short time later at a bus stop near the Judean cluster of Jewish communities known as the Etzion Bloc. There, a Palestinian man attempted to carry out yet another vehicular terror attack by ramming three people waiting at the bus stop. When that failed, he leapt from the car and began stabbing his intended victims.

    A 25-year-old Israeli woman was killed after being stabbed in the neck, and two other people were wounded, one seriously, before a nearby security guard shot and subdued the attacker. Both terrorists were arrested. The first was identified as a follower of Hamas, while the second is a known member of Islamic Jihad.

    In other violence, Palestinian Arabs stoned public buses and Jerusalem’s light rail, causing damage, but no injuries. A day earlier, an Israeli man narrowly escaped being lynched when his car was surrounded at the entrance to the Arab town of Tayibe. A local man saved the frightened Jewish victim by pulling him away from the scene just before his car was torched.

    The latest escalation of violence is being pinned on last Friday’s killing by police of a crazed knife-wielding Arab man near Nazareth. Kheir Hamdan was among thousands who were violently demonstrating against Israel when police showed up in the village of Kfar Kanna. Hamdan rushed the police van and began hitting the windows with his knife before being shot.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected such justification for this new wave of violence, and vowed that those behind it would fail in their effort to “kick us (the Jews) out of here.” At a meeting of his Likud faction on Monday, Netanyahu said that “all those who are shouting against Israel and demonstrating against it, you are welcome to move to the Palestinian Authority or to Gaza, Israel won’t stand in the way.” In fact, Netanyahu hinted that his government was considering proposals to strip the most violent and virulent anti-Israel rioters of their Israeli citizenship.

Kerry: “We Have To Maintain the Status Quo on the Temple Mount”

Nov. 11….(In The Days) Following the attempted assassination of Yehuda Glick and the growing tensions around the Temple Mount, the US Secretary of State called on both sides to exercise restraint. “The US is concerned about the situation in Jerusalem,” Kerry stated. “The United States is deeply concerned about the growing tension in Jerusalem, especially on the Temple Mount,” US Secretary of State John Kerry stated in response to the assassination attempt against Yehuda Glick last Wednesday.

    Following the recent events, Kerry published a special statement relating to the violent incidents recently in the Israeli capital city, where he called on both sides to exercise restraint. “It is critical that the parties will act with restraint and avoid provocative statements,” Kerry stated, adding that the status quo should be maintained on the Temple Mount. “The continued commitment of the Palestinians, Jordanians and Israel to maintaining the status quo in this holy site is critical,” the US Secretary of State added. “Any decision to change the situation will be both provocative and dangerous.”

Khamenei: The Only Cure for Israel is its Annihilation

(In a Twitter tirade, Iran's Supreme Leader calls for Israel's destruction, says that Palestinian Arabs should be armed)

Nov. 10….(Arutz) Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Saturday once again called for Israel’s destruction. Khamenei’s latest provocation came in a series of tweets in which he launched a tirade against the Jewish State and called to arm Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria. “This barbaric, wolflike & infanticidal regime of #Israel which spares no crime has no cure but to be annihilated,” read one tweet. “The only means to confront a barbaric regime like Israel is arming West Bank,” read another tweet by the Supreme Leader. “We've seen 100s of times that Israel doesn't abide by peace. They didn't even tolerate Arafat who cooperated with them and they poisoned him to death,” charged Khamenei in another post, referring to the death of former Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. The WestBank should be armed just like Gaza. Friends of Palestine should do their best to arm People in West Bank,” another tweet read.

    This is certainly not the first time that Khamenei has called for Israel’s destruction. Last month, the Iranian leader accused Israel of having "no limit or boundaries regarding viciousness, cruelty, and trampling underfoot all human standards and ethnics. Crimes, genocide, mass destruction, the killing of children, women and the homeless...they take pride in." He previously said on Twitter that the Israel government was “the most wicked terrorist” in the world.

    Khamenei has also called Israel an "illegitimate and bastard regime," and further called the United States a "smiling enemy" that is not to be trusted. The latest Twitter rant, ironically enough, comes just days after reports indicated that US President Barack Obama had written a letter to Khamenei in which he indicated that cooperation on ISIS depends on an agreement being reached by the November 24 deadline regarding Iran's nuclear program.

Europe: Divide Jerusalem; Netanyahu: Not a Chance

Nov. 10….(Israel Today) The European Union’s new foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, visited the region over the weekend and insisted on the urgent need for a Palestinian state with the eastern half of Jerusalem as its capital. “We need a Palestinian state, that is the ultimate goal and this is the position of all the European Union,” said Mogherini while in the Gaza Strip, adding later during her stop in Ramallah that “Jerusalem can be and should be the capital of two states.” Mogherini said that establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is a “global” objective, and that Israel is obstructing this important and worthy goal by continuing to allow Jews to live in areas claimed by the Palestinian Arabs, in particular on the eastern side of Jerusalem.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by once again stating that “Jerusalem is our capital and as such is not a settlement.” Speaking to reporters ahead of his own meeting with Mogherini, Netanyahu stressed that “the neighborhoods in which we are living…and we’ve been building, have been there for close to 50 years. Everybody knows that in any peace arrangement they will remain part of Israel.”

    Indeed, the issue of Jerusalem remains perhaps the largest stumbling block to international efforts to conclude a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. A firm majority of Israeli Jews insist that after millennia of longing for a return to Jerusalem, the city must never again be divided, while Palestinian leaders say they won’t accept any peace deal that doesn’t give them control of half the city, including the Old City and Temple Mount.

Iran's Khamenei Proposes 9-Point Plan for Israel's Elimination

Nov. 10….(Ha Aretz) Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has put forth a plan to eliminate Israel, which he believes will be accepted by the international arena. In a neat table posted on Khamenei's official Twitter account on Sunday, the ayatollah answers nine key questions on why and how this plan is to be implemented. In the post, Khamenei accuses Israel of seeking to realize its goals "by means of infanticide, homicide, violence & iron fist," and says that the only way to stop the "Israeli crimes" is to eliminate the "fake Zionist regime."

    According to the post, Iran has presented "international communities" with "a practical and logical mechanism" aimed at achieving this goal, and it doesn't include a massacre of the region's Jews. Instead, the "proper way" of eliminating Israel "would come through a referendum that would encompass "all the original people of Palestine including Muslims, Christians and Jews wherever they are."

    The post stipulates that the referendum would instate a government in Palestine, but does not specify how. This government will then decide whether the "Jewish immigrants who have been persuaded into emigration to Palestine" can remain in the country or should return to "their home countries." While the "usurper Zionists" are not expected to accept the proposal easily, Khamenei believes that the "fair and logical plan" can be "properly understood by global public opinion and can enjoy the supports of the independent nations and governments."

    Until the plan can be put into motion, however, Khamenei prescribes "powerful confrontation and resolute and armed resistance." Those "who are interested in Palestine's destiny" should arm Palestinians in the West Bank, as has been done in Gaza. Khamenei draws the line, however, at a "classical war by the army of Muslim countries" and throwing "migrated Jews at the sea."

    Iranian leaders have called for Israel's destruction on several occasions in the past. In 2012, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said ahead of his address of the United Nations General Assembly that Israel is to be eliminated. In 2006, Ahmadinejad echoed the words of the former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, by saying that Israel should be wiped off the map. The post comes on the backdrop of reports about a secret letter US President Barack Obama sent to Khamenei suggesting cooperation against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL), on condition that the Islamic Republic reach a nuclear agreement with the Western powers by November 24.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 2 THROUGH NOVEMBER 8

Mohammed's Successor Advances on Jerusalem

Nov. 8….(Israel Today) The Islamic State (ISIS) has announced that the Sinai Peninsula is now a caliphate, an Islamic state led by a supreme religious and political leader known as a caliph – i.e. "successor," to Mohammed. Reports around the Arab world are claiming that the establishment of a caliphate in the Sinai is the first step towards its “advance on Jerusalem.”

    Egypt’s most active and notorious terror group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, has sworn allegiance to ISIS in Sinai. “After trusting in Allah, we have decided to swear allegiance to the Emir (leader) of the faithful, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (leader of ISIS), Caliph of the Muslims in Syria and Iraq and in other countries,” the group said in a statement cited by Reuters. ISIS has in turn called on the Egyptian jihadists to “destroy police checkpoints, fire RPG rockets at their rallying points and to show the world that Allah’s rule must be enforced.”

    This under-reported jihadist insurgency has been brewing in the north-eastern corner of the Sinai bordering the Gaza Strip for several years. ISIS is now taking full advantage of the turmoil, which began brewing when Israel left Sinai in 1980, but escalated dramatically in July 2013 following the overthrow of Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood-controlled government in Cairo.

    Despite denials by Egyptian officials, some sources say that as many as 5,000 Islamic militants have already infiltrated into the Sinai Peninsula. At the same time, Egyptian security sources estimate that up to 8,000 Egyptians are fighting abroad with militant groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda.

    Last month, when Sinai terrorists blew up 30 Egyptian soldiers along the Gaza border, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated a military operation targeting the jihadists. The crackdown has left at least 1,400 people dead and more than 15,000 jailed, according to Al Arabiya News.

    The Egyptian government has also imposed a curfew and created a five-kilometer buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border, in the process evicting more than 600 families and demolishing hundreds of homes, which one official claimed lied on top of a series of tunnels that ran along the border with the Palestinian enclave. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis claimed in August that it had beheaded four Egyptians for providing Israel with intelligence leading to an air strike that killed three of its fighters. It posted footage of the killings on Twitter. Last month, Sinai residents said they had found a beheaded corpse bearing a note signed by the group, accusing the victim of being an Israeli spy.

    When former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was removed from office and the Muslim Brotherhood took over, security concerns prompted the Israelis to begin building a security fence along the Sinai border. Separate from the fence that runs along the West Bank and which has successfully stopped infiltrations by suicide bombers, the new 233-kilometer security fence along the Sinai border, which was only recently completed, is sixteen feet high and includes barbed wire, surveillance cameras and radar.

The Temple Mount is to Jews as Mecca is to Muslims

Nov. 5….(Arutz) Last week Haaretz published a document that listed the EUs red lines for Israel among which is a warning not to "harm the status-quo at Temple Mount". The fact that the EU chose to include the Temple Mount in the list of red-lines shows that they will likely support Palestinian demands for sovereignty over the site. The Europeans claim that Temple Mount has to be in 'Palestine' because the Jewish Temple is no longer there while the Al-Aqsa Mosque is there now. This argument is wrong for three reasons:

 1. There are more Muslims in Israel than in the 'West Bank', Israeli Arabs have the same claim to Al-Aqsa as 'West Bank' Arabs.

 2. Israel preserves Muslim Holy sites while Arabs destroy Jewish Holy sites if given a chance. Israel has not destroyed Al-Aqsa or the Dome of the Rock from 1967 till now, 2014, under Israeli sovereignty. The Palestinians destroyed Joseph's Tomb and illegally excavated and destroyed Jewish Archaeological remains from Solomon's Temple and would destroy much more if given sovereignty.

 3. The area of the Temple Mount is the holiest site for Judaism even without the Temple there.

The Al Aqsa mosque was built on top of the ruins of the Jewish Temple after the Arab conquest of Jerusalem in 709 CE. The Temple Mount was the site where the two Jewish Temples were located. King David blessed the Temple Mount before King Solomon built the First Temple in 957 BCE. The First Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE by the Babylonians. The Second Temple was built in 538 BCE and destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans. The Al Aqsa mosque was built on top of the ruins of the Jewish Temple after the Arab conquest of Jerusalem in 709 CE.

    The Jewish Temple was not only destroyed by the Romans 2000 years ago, it continues being destroyed by the Arabs today. If the Palestinians assume responsibility over the site they will have freedom to destroy much more. Jews regard the Temple Mount as their holiest site, where the First and Second Temple were located. Muslims call it the Noble Sanctuary and regard it as their third holiest site after Mecca and Medina. According to the existing arrangement, the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, or trust, administers the Temple Mount complex.

    While Israel preserves Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, Arabs have proven that they cannot be trusted to respect Jewish Holy sites. While Israel preserves Al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock, Arabs have proven that they cannot be trusted to respect Jewish Holy sites. It makes a mockery of any thought of giving Arabs any control of Jewish holy places. The Temple Mount Area Has Always Been Holy to Jews

The Temple Mount was holy to the Jews even before the Temples existed because there is a special connection with God at the site:

● According to the Torah (Bereshit [Genesis] 22:1-14), God told Abraham to bring his son, Isaac, and offer him as a sacrifice there.

● It was also at Temple Mount that Ya'akov (Jacob) had his famous dream where he saw angels

● While the Jewish Temples existed it was believed that the Schechina (God's Presence) rested in the Holy of Holies, the part of the Temple where the Holy Ark (with Moses' tablets) was. Now that the Temple is no longer in place, even with the Mosque there, Temple Mount continues being the Holiest Site for Judaism, a place where God's presence is closer.

    The Europeans believe that because the Jewish Temple was destroyed and there is a Mosque on the Temple Mount, the Palestinians have a stronger claim to the site: This shows a great ignorance about Judaism. Jews around the world face the Temple Mount when they pray. Muslims face Mecca even when they pray on or near the Temple Mount. Even without the Temple, the Temple Mount is the Holiest Site for Judaism. The Holiest site for Islam is the Ka'ba in Mecca. Taking away Temple Mount from the Jews would be like taking the Ka'ba in Mecca from the Arabs.

   One of Maimonides 13 principles of the Jewish faith, for which Jews pray three times a day, is the belief in the resurrection of the death and the coming of Messiah, the descendant of King David. When Messiah comes, the Temple will be rebuilt, on the Temple Mount.

In the wake of the attempted assassination of Rabbi Yehuda Glick, a prominent advocate of allowing Jews to worship atop the Temple Mount, the Obama Administration confirmed that it supports the suppression of full religious freedom at the Jerusalem holy site.

Obama Backs Suppression of Religious Freedom on Temple Mount

Nov. 5….(Israel Today) During a press conference last Friday, State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki was asked to articulate the White House’s reaction to the shooting of Glick, a US citizen, by a Palestinian Muslim terrorist. In her bumbling and somewhat evasive response, Psaki said that while the Obama Administration condemn’s the shooting, it continues to oppose Glick’s efforts to open the Temple Mount to Jewish and Christian worshippers. “We support the long-standing practices regarding non-Muslim visitors to the site, to Haram al-Sharif / Temple Mount,” said Psaki. “And consistent with our respect for the status quo, we would like to see it returned to that.” Those “long-standing practices” have been to deny Jewish and Christians visitors the right to worship, pray or carry Bibles atop the Muslim-controlled Temple Mount, despite the fact that it is for all Jews and many Christians the most holy site on earth.