The War Against Israel: 1948 to Present

[BlandOatmeal]

Has anyone noticed?

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED

in the past 25 years. We no longer live in a bipolar world (Cold War) or a unipolar world (Glasost, Perestroika). With America gone bust and necessarily ducking out of world politics, we are in a hexapolar world and counting. This has made an opening in history for the fulfillment of the following prophecies:

1. Ezekiel 38-39: An attack on Israel by Turkey (Magog) and Iran (Persia), both of them second-rate powers. With God's help, Israel will win this one. If the US and Russia were the only powers of significance in the Middle East, the conflict would be a simple surrogate war, like those in 1956, 1967 and 1973, with the great powers stepping in like referees and arranging a ceasefire. This time, there will be no ceasefire; Israel will win.

2. Zechariah 14/ Revelation 19: After the Israeli victory, the US (head of the "Merchants of Tarshish" in Eze. 39) will scramble to re-assert itself as head of a UN-sponsored coalition, to put Israel in its place "once and for all". This will be a fight to the death, and there will be a nuclear exchange. Miraculous events will occur, and Messiah will return.

These events will definitely happen, because (1) the Bible says they will happen, and (2) human nature will not allow it to be otherwise. I could shout these things over every satellite channel and from every street corner, every day; and it would not prevent them from happening.

Shalom shalom
​

 

[BlandOatmeal]

Israeli minister mobbed by Palestinians on Temple Mount
DEBKAfile July 17, 2013, 9:35 AM (GMT+02:00)

-- Israeli minister mobbed by Palestinians on Temple Mount

The geatest outrage of continued Arab control of the Temple Mount, is that God's name is blasphemed this way on a regular basis. Even so, it is an improvement over the days of Turkish, British and Jordanian occupation -- when Jews were completely forbidden access to the site, and the Western Wall of the Temple was used as a latrine.

The Arabs talk a lot about freedom; but when it comes to freedom for anyone but themselves, they have never been forthcoming.

The Temple in Jerusalem, in Jesus' time.​

 

[BlandOatmeal]

Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Reform, Conservative leaders visit Pollard in prison

By GIL HOFFMAN- The Jerusalem Post - July 17, 2013
Reform, Conservative leaders visit Pollard in prison | JPost | Israel News

"The leaders of the Reform and Conservative movements in the United States vowed to intensify their efforts to bring about the release of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard after visiting him at Butner Federal Penitentiary in North Carolina last week."

In these days of flagrant spying by the US, France and all our allies on one another, it is beyond belief that after 28 years, President Obama continues to hold Jonathan Pollard, an agent of Israel, in prison for passing on classified information. His crime was not a "Wikileaks" disclosure of hundreds of thousands of documents, embarrassing the government and possibly endangering agents. What he was accused of (and never tried for, even though he was a US citizen) is, so far as we know, passing on to Israel information about Sadaam Hussein's intention to produce nuclear weapons. He was imprisoned on the basis of a plea bargain, and his attorneys to this day are denied access to the supposed evidence upon which his imprisonment was based. He is clearly being held as a political scapegoat.

It is good that, at long last, he has been allowed to receive these visitors. He is in extremely poor health, and in need of medical treatment. President Obama is the only one who can secure his release; and we pray that this comes about SOON.

Jonathan Pollard
​

 

[BlandOatmeal]

PALESTINIAN LIE COMES TO LIGHT

Sinai Salafis in all-out war on Egyptian forces, blocking roads to MFO base and Israeli border
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 18, 2013, 11:55 AM (IDT)

Egyptian troops in Sinai
​

"...Hundreds of Salafist Bedouin, Muslim Brotherhood adherents and Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters from the Gaza Strip have joined forces to block northern Sinai’s key road arteries. They have stopped traffic to the Egyptian-Israeli border terminal at Nitzana, to the US-led multinational national observer base at Al Gora near El Arish, and to the big cement factory built by the Egyptian military in El Arish which is the region’s main source of employment.

"By blocking those roads, the Islamist fighters have choked off the movement of goods between Egypt and Israel and placed 1,000 MFO troops, including some American officers, under siege..."

-- Sinai Salafis in all-out war on Egyptian forces, blocking roads to MFO base and Israeli border

It should be obvious to anyone who reads this, that the so-called "Palestinians" (namely, HAMAS) of the Gaza Strip are not engaged in a struggle of "liberation" against Israel, nor does their agenda concern borders with Israel. They are fighting the Egyptians, for control of part of Egypt (namely, the Sinai Peninsula).

The agenda of Hamas, Israel's "peace partner" in Gaza, is the creation of an Islamic caliphate.

 

[BlandOatmeal]

I don't want to harp on the situation with the so-called "Palestinian Liberation Organization", and the imaginary "Palestinian State" which the EU and others are trying to conjure into life. There is no such state; and on the ground, they are minor players in what is happening in the Middle East. Nevertheless, I have a tab open with information about them, and need to post from it so I can clear it.

As historical background, the "Palestinian Authority" was created as part of the Oslo process in the early 1990s. It was created to administer civil concerns in a part of Israel called "Area A" -- which initially consisted of Jericho, but has been expanded to include Nablus, Hevron and countless Arab-majority cities and hamlets -- and to administer civil concerns in a zone called "Area B". Israel takes care of security concerns in Area B; and both civil and security concerns in Area C. Area C contains about half of the land liberated by Israel from Jordanian occupation in the 1967 war. It has a Jewish majority, and is fully administered by the State of Israel.

Elections were held after the signing of the accords, among the Jordanian citizens (Arabs) in all three areas, as well as in parts of Jerusalem that were fully incorporated into Israel in 1967 (including the holiest site in Judaism, the "Old City" containing the Temple Mount); and in the Gaza Strip, an area taken by Egypt in 1948 and liberated in 1967. The Gazans were stateless throughout the Egyptian occupation, as they were not granted Egyptian citizenship. These Arab voters chose Yasser Arafat, a murderer and terrorist, as their leader; and his Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) relocated from Tunisia to Ramallah, in "Area A" of Israel. Upon his death, new elections were held in which Mahmoud Abbas was chosen as President. His term in office has since expired, but he stays on as an unelected "President" of the make-shift Palestinian Authority. His effective rule no longer extends to Gaza, which overthrew him in a coup d'etat in 2007. Israel quit Gaza in 2005, forcibly evicting the 10,000 Jews who lived there and withdrawing all military and civilian presence. The Gaza-Egyptian border is maintained by a joint Israel-Egyptian-EU presence; and the area is under a sea blockade by Israel because of repeated attempts by Iran and others to import weapons into the area.

Mahmoud Abbas master-minded the terrorist capture of a pleasure craft in the 1970s on which an innocent man in a wheelchair was publicly executed by one of his men. Like Arafat before him, he is a murderer who rightly belongs in an Israeli prison or, better still, hanged. Israel tolerates him, for the sake of the Oslo accords. Those accords were not a final boundary settlemen, nor even a declaration of Arab autonomy. They were a temporary arrangement with many stipulations, all of which have been violated by the Arabs. Such is the background of the following:

Palestinians Torpedo Kerry Plan to Restart Negotiations
Fatah demands that Kerry state publicly that the talks are based on pre-1967 lines, as US denies talks 'imminent'.
by Gil Ronen, Arutz Sheva
July 18, 2013

-- ZionTimes.com...Middle East - (Palestinians Torpedo Kerry Plan to Restart Negotiations)

In other "Palestinian" news, this is the month of Ramadan -- a month in the Islamic Calendar, which begins ten days earlier every year (The Islamic Calendar has only 354 or 355 days) and thus can occur in any part of the year. This year, the Arab holiday coincides with Tesha b'Av, the most solemn fast day in the Jewish year. Ramadan might well be called the "Month of Riots", because Muslim mullahs traditionally incite their followers to violence in their sermons during that time; thus, we have the following:

Anti-Jewish Riots in Jerusalem
by Gil Ronen and Ari Soffer, Arutz Sheva
July 17, 2013

Arab mob smashes windshields of cars as frantic Jews make getaway. This is Jerusalem, 2013.

-- ZionTimes.com...Israel - (Anti-Jewish Riots in Jerusalem)

The above should not be confused with the Ultra-Orthodox Jews -- who are also rioting, against their own government, to protest having to serve in the military:

​

Never a dull moment in Jerusalem (note the lack of appropriate emoticons on CF)
​

 

[BlandOatmeal]

BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER

In my previous post, I have a picture of an Ultra-Orthodox young man, wearing his distinguishing black-and-white getup, wagging his finger at a bearded, Modern Orthodox IDF soldier. The Ultra-Orthodox remind me a lot of some of the Jewish leaders in Jesus' time. They seem to live in their own world, and often fly into fanatical fits against other religious Jews that they deem to be imperfect in their religion.

Among the Arabs, the divide is far deeper than the Ultra-Orthodox - Modern Orthodox split among the Jews: The Arabs are killing one another; and for the most part, it is Sunnis killing Sunnis. One split that has intrigued me lately, is that between Al Qaeda and related groups, at one extreme, and secular, tolerant Sunnis on the other. The Muslim Brotherhood seems to occupy a middle position, and is at war with both. For example,

1. The Muslim Brotherhood, and its brother group HAMAS in the Gaza strip, have joined together with Al Qaeda and Salafist Bedouins in Sinai to wage war against the new Egyptian government.

2. The Salafist Al-Nour Party in Egypt is PART of the new government.

On a more global scale,

1. The US strongly supports the Muslim Brotherhood, and is working through back channels against the new government in Egypt

2. The US is presumably against Al Qaeda, whom they list as terrorists; yet it has fought hand-in-glove alongside Al Qaeda-connected groups in Libya and Syria.

If seen from a purely religious viewpoint, this split between the ultra-pious MB and the similarly ultra-pious Salafists (some of them, at least) doesn't make sense. As far as I can see, that is because these groups are not knit together by religion: They are knit together by something that runs far deeper in the Islamic world: personal and clan loyalty.

The following article, a commentary on the Salafist Al-Nour Party in Egypt, should be instructive. It is from a website by and for Iranian dissidents in the diaspora:

Salafists Gain from Chaos in Egypt after Muslim Brotherhood Shooting | SPIEGEL
Posted on July 16, 2013

-- Salafists Gain from Chaos in Egypt after Muslim Brotherhood Shooting | SPIEGEL â–ª Iranian.com

An Egyptian Salafi shouts anti-Mohammed Morsi slogans and holds a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, in support of bearded police officers, who were prevented from carrying out their work in the interior ministry, during a protest in front of the presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, June 1, 2013. Source: AP Photo/Amr Nabil

While there has been political partisanship between Islamist groups in Egypt, and the Sinai Islamists have been drawing Egyptian blood, it is too soon to tell just where all the Sunni factions stand. So far, the new ruling coalition in Egypt (which includes Salafists) has avoided conflict in Sinai:

"...An armored force of 13 tanks reached northern Sinai Wednesday July 17, to bolster the Egyptian Second Army force, headed by Gen. Ahmed Wafasi. However, not only has the Egyptian army abstained so far from directly engaging its Islamist adversaries, it has been pulling back from one isolated observation post and position after another, retreating into clusters of fortified buildings and leaving the militants in full control.

"Egyptian officials, asked when their counter-terror offensive in Sinai would start, answer that it will go ahead only after intelligence-gathering and preparations are complete. Meanwhile, all the Egyptian army appears to be doing is sending Apache gun ships out on surveillance missions from El Arish airport which has been converted into an air base..."

-- http://www.debka.com/article/23126/...or-Gaza-sealed-US-and-Israeli-forces-on-alert

​

 

[BlandOatmeal]

WHERE DOES THE US STAND CONCERNING THE NEW REALITIES OF THE MIDDLE EAST?

While the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and Egyptian Salafists are both charting a cautious course, it remains to US President Obama, to decide where the line is to be drawn.

Up until Morsi's overthrow by the people of Egypt a couple of weeks ago, the American President was solidly behind the Brotherhood -- In Egypt, and also in Syria. In Egypt, he had provided the Morsi government with Abrams tanks and F-16s; and through his Qatari allies, he had helped shore up the failing economy. In Syria, the US, the UK and France had announced their intention to arm the MB-affiliated Free Syrian Army (FSA), and were stymied only by the fact that if they did so, the blacklisted Al-Nusra Front (sworn to obey Al Qaeda) would end up with the weapons.

With the regime change in Egypt, the US gifts to Morsi have wound up in the hands of the new regime, and Qatar has changed its allegience from the MB toward the Saudis and Egyptians. In Syria, the Free Syrian Army dumped its pro-MB faction and aligned itself with the Saudis. In both places, Al-Qaeda (AQ)-affiliated forces began to attack Egyptian and Saudi interests.

The Muslim Brotherhood has therefore descended from positions of power in Egypt and Syria, into Limbo. They are supported by the Libyans, Tunisians and especially the Turks. Mr. Obama and his NATO lackeys have so far lined up with the Turks and the MB, cancelling plans to arm the FSA. Off the Sinai coast of the Red Sea, 1800 US Marines stand ready, probably to extricate the 1000 US personnel from the Sinai if things heat up there. They are most likely NOT there to support the Egyptians or the Israelis.

The head of Israeli Military Intelligence, meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Avivi Kochavi, is in Washington -- presumably trying to coordinate strategy concerning Russian S-300 systems in Syria; but probably more likely to try to fathom Obama's latest inclinations toward the Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been aligning itself more and more, this past two weeks, with Al Qaeda -- with whom it was previously walking in lock step secretly while distancing itself in public in order to extract support from the US. If Mr. Obama continues to back them, AS IS HIGHLY LIKELY, then the US and NATO will, de facto, be supporting Al Qaeda. This puts us and allies such as the French in an awkward position in places like Mali and Afghanistan, where we are technically at war with Al Qaeda. It also brings suspicion on our blacklisting AQ and makes a mockery of our Homeland Security bureaucracy.

The situation is fluid. We'll see how it pans out.

 

[BlandOatmeal]

A MODEST CONSPIRACY THEORY

I will continue to analyze data as it appears in the news; but a pattern already seems to be shaping up:

1. US President Obama (more precisely, the group of political theorists who currently run the country, using wooden-head Obama as their mouthpiece) has set the tone for World foreign policy; and in the Middle East, that policy currently depends on support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

2. I don't believe our Ruling Thinkers originally planned to be working through Muslim Brotherhood; I think they originally planned to work through MUSLIMS, but not specifically the Brotherhood.

3. I believe this plan was hatched BEFORE Barack Obama was even in college, because I believe Obama was chosen and groomed for the job by his Council of Benefactors. The latter wanted (1) a person of enough color, to appeal to the changing demographics in America, and (2) a person the Muslims could identify with as "one of them".

​

4. I smell Zbigniew Brzezinski in all of this. It was his idea, to use religion as a tool of world military and diplomatic strategy. Some examples of this were (a) taking advantage of the Polish pope (John Paul II, 1978-2005) to stir up the Polish street against the Soviet Union; and (b) the creation of Al Qaeda, to oppose the Russians in Afghanistan. Those ventures proved highly successful in destroying the USSR.

5. The use of religion was meant to rouse "the people" against Soviet-leaning dictators. "Democracy" was intended to then kick in, and by its very nature Westernize the targeted peoples.

This plan was obviously hatched in the late 1970s, about a generation ago. By 1993, the plan had turned the world upside down: The Soviet Union had disintegrated, Russia was on her knees and no longer able to manipulate politics in the Middle East. Two results of this were that (1) Al Qaeda, the monster we created, was now our enemy, trying to blow up the World Trade Center, and (2) the Russian withdrawal from the Middle East left a power vacuum that was filled by local players, most notably Sadaam Hussein's Iraq. The planners should have realized then, that the old plan was no longer good, because the whole playing field had changed.

They did not realize this, because along with the collapse of the Soviet Union, came the rise of the United States as THE ONLY world superpower; and what's more, our economy was in a boom cycle that looked like it would never end: The wind was blowing so hard in our favor, that we were throwing turkeys into the air and they were flying like eagles! Around this time, Barack Obama was being sponsored through Law School by his godfathers; and within a decade or so, he would address the Democratic National Convention.

​

6. In the year Obama was elected as President, 2008, the economy had collapsed; but our banking industry, led by the Federal Reserve and its big member companies, bamboozled Congress into putting together trillion-dollar bandaids that made the economy LOOK, ON PAPER, as though everything was honky-dorey. The public bought it; but eventually the piper had to be paid; and the piper's name was Cliff -- Fiscal Cliff, to be exact. Once Cliff started collecting his fees, we found we could no longer man, refuel and depoly aircraft carriers and other "Big Uncle" military hardware. We withdrew from the Middle East, and...

7. ...the Russians filled the power vacuum, along with local players Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

8. Brzezinski's brilliant religion strategy left us openly backing the Muslim Brotherhood; and because we (and also our lackey Israel) were behind them, the MB lost its street credibility. They were overthrown in Egypt and put into retreat everywhere else; and now they are trying to re-gain their "cred" with anti-US and anti-Israel rhetoric.

In all this, Mr. Obama has not come up with a new strategy. He cannot do so, because even the old strategy was not his own; it was Brzezinskii's; and Brzezinski is still living in the 1970s. Our foreign policy is in full retreat; and I don't expect any change until 2017 -- when a new President with truly new ideas comes online. God help us when he does; I think he will make Obama's watch look like the "good old days".

​

That's my "conspiracy" theory; but I didn't have to go much beyond the President's obvious circle of close advisors to formulate it. It didn't require invoking Druid cults conspiring with Jewish elders in the basement of the Vatican.

Shalom shalom

 

[BlandOatmeal]

WHO'S ON FIRST? WHAT'S THE NAME OF THE GUY ON SECOND?

It's been something of a chore, especially these past two weeks, trying to ascertain who's on what side in the Middle East. The following is a very pertinent article:

July 19, 2013
What's Behind Recent Rebel-Qaeda Tensions in Syria?
By Michael Weiss

-- RealClearWorld - What's Behind Recent Rebel-Qaeda Tensions in Syria?

The article reveals that there is not actually significant warfare going on between the factions. Most importantly, it appears that the Muslim Brotherhood fighters are flocking in droves to the Al Qaeda camp, because Al Qaeda has weapons and ammunition.

A similar Muslim Brotherhood-Al Qaeda alliance has been shaping up in Sinai, so we can pretty well look upon those two factions as part of a single camp. Along with them, for the moment, are the governments of Turkey (and the allied mainstream Kurds of Iraq), Tunisia and Libya.

Since the government of Iraq in Baghdad is engaged in a bloody war with Al Qaeda and had a shaky relationship with the Kurds, it is likely that the secularists and non-violent Muslims among the Iraqi leadership, who have already expressed satisfaction at Morsi's fall in Egypt, are looking to the Saudis for leadership.

Russia, Iran, Assad's Syria and Hizbullah seem to be continuing as a bloc, with China in the cheering section, just as they were before the changeover in Egypt.

The EU seems to be following America's lead, taking a neutral position concerning Egypt. This would seem to put them in the same camp of Israel; but I think the EU's recent imposition of a boycott against Israel is sufficient proof of the enmity between them.

Where does the US stand? Ostensibly, we are allied with Israel and, effectively, with the EU, as well as with the Saudi-Egyptian bloc. Since the last three mentioned are essentially at war with one another to some degree, I doubt that any of those blocs puts much stock in their mutual "unity". Israel is in one block, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are in another, and Turkey and friends are effectively the third. The only thing that is keeping them together, at the moment, is Barack Obama; and he is doing it with flour-and-water paste on steel. (The PLO appears to be in the Saudi group, along with Jordan)

The Muslim Brotherhood (and related Hamas), meanwhile, seems to be fusing with Al Qaeda.

 

[BlandOatmeal]

"PRO-MORSI" ~ "ANTI-CHRISTIAN"

For all the difficulty in trying to sort out the current situation in the Middle East, one trend stands out: Pro-Morsi (the former Muslim Brotherhood President of Egypt) groups are almost all anti-Christian; as the following article exemplifies:

Pro-Morsi backlash turns deadly for some Christian communities
Published: July 18, 2013
Angry crowds lash out, sometimes at churches, homes

-- Pro-Morsi backlash turns deadly for some Christian communities

Violence in the town of al-Dabayia on July 5 claimed the lives of Rasim Taodharos Ocaldius, 56; Mharib Noshi Habib,38; Romany Noshi Habib, 33; and Emile Naseem Sarofim, 41. -- above link

Unfortunately, these Muslim-Brotherhood-inspired attacks are only the latest examples of a regional trend. Also see,

All change again in the Middle East
Published: July 07, 2013 by Steve Dew-Jones
But what will the future hold for the Christian minority?

"Middle Eastern Christians are experiencing one of the most significant periods in their history, according to religious and political leaders meeting in London last week.

"Regime changes in Egypt and Iran, and sectarian violence in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, have presented an opportunity for the Christian minority to speak out, or for international bodies to advocate on their behalf.
Rev. Andrew White, the pastor of an Anglican church in Baghdad, spoke of the “terrible suffering” of Iraq’s Christian community. He said that in the last 10 years since Saddam Hussein was toppled, 1026 members of his congregation had been killed – 58 within one day.

"White said that in the last decade, Iraq’s Christian population had shrunk from 1.5 million to around 200,000..."

-- All change again in the Middle East

It's not clear to me yet, who the main culprits have been in Iraq. Most of the violence, post-Saddam, has been perpetrated by Al Qaeda-associated rebels; and recently, the Muslim Brotherhood has been aligning itself increasingly with Al Qaeda.

​

IT IS DISTRESSING TO ME, THAT THE ONE FACTION IN THE MIDDLE EAST THAT OBAMA BACKS MOST WHOLE-HEARTEDLY, TURNS OUT TO BE ONE OF THE MOST ANTI-CHRISTIAN.
​

 

[BlandOatmeal]

HORRENDOUS SPATE OF BOMBINGS IN BAGHDAD AREA: 70 DEAD

This has to be posted. A massacre on this scale hasn't been perpetrated against the Jews since the Holocaust. This is deliberate, premeditated murder of Muslims by Muslims. The article doesn't say, but the perpetrators are more likely than not Al Qaeda or an affiliated Sunni group -- at least for the main attacks.

BAGHDAD BOMBINGS

In other news,


EGYPT ANNOUNCES NEW PRIORITIES: ETHIOPIA TOPS LIST (cf. Isaiah 19)

Egypt's new Foreign Minister announced that Egypt planned to take an "assertive" role in international politics; but he mentioned only two countries: Syria and Ethiopia. What he planned for Syria was vague; but there was no doubt what he wanted with Ethiopia: He wanted to urgently discuss the situation of Ethiopia diverting Nile water. Isaiah 19 spoke of that very diversion, as well as the coming dearth of water.
​

 

[BlandOatmeal]

THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IS ON THE ROPES
Meanwhile, Syria is sinking into insanity.

I had been wondering how the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is faring in Syria. They aren't. They have a token presence in Jabal al-Zawiya, between Idib and Turkey. They can therefore be grouped with Al Qaeda in the Middle East power game; because nowhere are they in conflict with Al Qaeda; and in Sinai, they are actually allied with them. MB-inclined Turkey, meanwhile, has worked hand-in-glove with Al Qaeda in northeast Syria, providing safe havens for their tanks as they fight Turkey's real enemy in Syria, the Kurdish opposition group PKK.

Sami Moubayed
Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center - Beirut
A Wake Up Call for the Syrian Brotherhood
Posted: 07/18/2013 3:48 pm

-- A Wake Up Call for the Syrian Brotherhood | Sami Moubayed

The only rebel force of significance in Syria appears to be Al Qaeda. The Saudi-backed "Free Syrian Army" seems to be holding some positions as well; and the Kurds, while running a de facto autonomous region on the northern edge of the country, have never had a quarrel with Bashar Al Assad.

The rebels, by the way, are doing very poorly. At least 75 died in one battle yesterday. In other Syria news,

"There is the Italian guy who was unemployed and joined al-Qaeda, and whose mom is hunting for him around Aleppo to give him a good beating; there is the Japanese tourist who is on the frontlines, because he says he needs two weeks of "thrills"; the Swedish law-school graduate who came to collect evidence of war crimes; the American musicians with bin Laden-style beards who insist this helps them blend in, even though they are blonde and six-feet, five-inches tall. (They brought malaria drugs, even if there's no malaria here, and want to deliver them while playing violin.) There are the various officers of the various UN agencies who, when you tell them you know of a child with leishmaniasis (a disease spread by the bite of a sand fly) and could they help his parents get him to Turkey for treatment, say they can't because it is but a single child, and they only deal with "childhood" as a whole."

-- Syria: The crucible - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

 

[BlandOatmeal]

THE FUTURE OF US-SAUDI RELATIONS

Pardon me for seeming to stray from actual fighting between Israel and its neighbors. There is very little at the moment; and in fact, open, all-out war has been a rarity in Israel's 65-year history. Saudi Arabia is, however, still on paper as a belligerent against Israel, having never come to peace with its neighbor.

I think it would be naive to think that US-Saudi relations are based on anything other than Saudi oil being consumed by American motorists. Because of this, it is useful to note that the US has surpassed, or will soon surpass the Saudis in oil production. There are three mutually contradictory articles on this subject:

U.S. Oil Output to Overtake Saudi Arabia's by 2020 - Bloomberg

-- U.S. Oil Output to Overtake Saudi Arabia’s by 2020 - Bloomberg

U.S. will not surpass Saudi Arabia's oil production by 2020 ...

--http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/take/us-will-not-surpass-saudi-arabias-oil-production-by-2020/268

US was world's largest petroleum producer in November ... - AEIdeas

-- US was world’s largest petroleum producer in November, surpassing Saudi Arabia for first time in ten years | AEIdeas

With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that the Saudis are steering an independent course in the region.

1. On the one hand, they are distrustful of their ambitious and soon-to-be-nuclear Iranian neighbors, who have been stirring up trouble among SA's Shi'ite minority in the oil-producing part of that country.
2. On the other hand, identifying with the US and NATO does not win SA any credibility in the Arab street; and SA will soon be in competition with the former as an oil producer.
3. Thirdly, SA cannot be seen as being friendly with Israel; and last of all,
4. SA must distance itself from the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda and all other religious extremists, who are bent of upsetting the current balance of power in the region.

Saudi Arabia and its Arabian Peninsula allies are mentioned in Ezekiel 38, by the way:

Ezek 38
[13] Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

Sheba was in Yemen, and Dedan in what is now Saudi Arabia. The "Sea of Tarshish" was the Mediterranean; so you can figure out what countries its merchants came from.

 

[BlandOatmeal]

EUROPE AT WAR WITH ISRAEL

Here's a topper:

Israel-based Fox clothing chain to open Ramallah branch
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, NIV ELIS
LAST UPDATED: 07/22/2013 18:53
Palestinian activists involved in various campaigns to promote boycotts of Israel express outrage at Fox store plans.

Fox clothing billboard
​

"Palestinians in Ramallah expressed outrage on Monday at the news that the Israel-based Fox clothing chain is planning to open a branch in their city. Fox confirmed on Monday that it will be opening its first Ramallah branch within several months, and that it would be operated as a locally owned franchise..."

-- Israel-based Fox clothing chain to open Ramallah branch | JPost | Israel News

APPROVE?

DISAPPROVE?

The European Union has been engaged in an Act of War, namely, an economic boycott, against Israel. Presumably, this has been for the benefit of local Arabs. I wonder what their response to this new franchise will be.

 

[BlandOatmeal]

BLATANT NATO HOSTILITY TOWARD ISRAEL

"Peace" season has descended upon us once again, with the re-opening of talks between Israel and its terrorist enemy, Mahmoud Abbas. As a pre-condition in talks like these, Israel is expected, as usual, to release hundreds of terrorists from its prisons, terrorists who have caused the killing and maiming of innocent civilians.

CURIOUSLY, THE UNITED STATES REFUSES TO RELEASE ITS ISRAELI POLITICAL PRISONER, JONATHAN POLLARD, TO "SWEETEN" THE TALKS:

US rejected Netanyahu’s request to free Pollard ahead of negotiations with Palestinians
By GIL HOFFMAN
07/23/2013 03:26

-- US rejected Netanyahu’s request to free Pollard ahead of negotiations with Palestinians | JPost | Israel News

Sauce for the geese is sauce for the goose. The Israelis are told that holding the other party's murderers prisoner is an act of bad faith; yet the US is holding Mr. Pollard prisoner, after 28 years of gruelling confinement, and has never publicly presented evidence that he has committed ANY crime, much less murder. Apparently, the US considers its enmity with Israel to be greater than that between Israel and the Arabs.

(I wonder if I emphasized that enough).

At the same time that the US is publicly declaring its enmity with Israel, the EU has been carrying on an economic boycott of the same.

At the moment, Israel is surrounded on every side by enemies; so I will not berate their Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu, for playing footsie with the US, Europe and others who clearly hate her. The Israelis are, after all, Jews; and it is the historical lot of the Jewish people to be hated by everyone. That being the case, the US and NATO are, at the moment, the LEAST HOSTILE OF THEIR ENEMIES. I put that in boldface, to give credit where credit is due. By the same token, I won't gush with appreciation for Mr. Obama and his policies.

I am sure there are many here on CF, who feel we have not been enemies enough with Israel. To them, I say this:

• Israel has not started several wars against the US.
• Israel does not lob missiles and mortar shells on the US on a regular basis, targeting civilians.
• Israel does not refuse to recognize America's right to exist.
• Israel has not repeatedly put out a call to drive all Americans into the sea.
• Israel does not rejoice at every American calamity.
• Israel does not publicly burn the American flag.

All of the above are acts that the Arabs have perpetrated against Israel; yet the US insists that Israel make ever greater concessions, to please its sworn enemies. Israel is not our enemy. When will we stop treating her like one?

 

[DennisTate]

I can see by the lack of responses, that the typical Christian doesn't seem to give a hoot about the Middle East. Does anyone here realize that Jesus is a Jew, and that he promised to return to earth in Jerusalem?

I am of the opinion that it is accurate to term Israel's 1966 borders as the AUSCHWITZ borders!!!!!!!???

 

[BlandOatmeal]

I am of the opinion that it is accurate to term Israel's 1966 borders as the AUSCHWITZ borders!!!!!!!???

They were indeed Auschwitz borders; and many Jews, even in Israel, seem content to live in such a "national concentration camp". Whenever they try to, though, God seems to set the Arabs upon them so they HAVE TO expand toward the borders He has set for them.

Lately, we've gone into yet another silly round of "peace" talks with an enemy who has no intention of ever living in peace. Rita Mae Brown is credited as having said,

“The Definition of Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”

So much for Auschwitz borders. As for so many Christians having a disconnect with God's Chosen People, it saddens me. Israel is God's miner's canary: There is nothing that has happened to the goiim, that has not happened first to the Jews. Christians going through life indifferent to the worldwide campaign against the Jews of Israel, are like miners who fail to notice that the canary is dying and don't hurry to get out of the mine.

​

Thanks for posting, Dennis.

Shalom shalom

 

[LilLamb219]

MOD HAT ON

This thread has undergone a Clean Up. Please remember to address the POST and not the person posting! Don't make it personal and don't flame. If you notice a posting of yours missing, it is because it contained a rule violation or responded to one that did. I made ONE Edit of a post because I thought the bottom portion was valuable information pertinent to the conversation of the thread.

MOD HAT OFF

 

[BlandOatmeal]

MOD HAT ON

This thread has undergone a Clean Up. Please remember to address the POST and not the person posting! Don't make it personal and don't flame. If you notice a posting of yours missing, it is because it contained a rule violation or responded to one that did. I made ONE Edit of a post because I thought the bottom portion was valuable information pertinent to the conversation of the thread.

MOD HAT OFF

Thank you, Lamb, for the housekeeping; and my compliments on your Mod Hat

​

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Originally Posted by LilLamb219

MOD HAT ON
​

This thread has undergone a Clean Up.
​

Thank you, Lamb, for the housekeeping; and my compliments on your Mod Hat

Yer welcome....oh wait, wrong Little Lamb...my bad




.