ISRAEL BREAKING NEWS

Trump Will Reverse US Policy and Recognize Jerusalem’s Sovereignty on Israel Visit: Report
By Abra Forman April 27, 2017 , 11:30 am
“Yerushalayim, that art builded as a city that is compact together.” Psalms 122:3 (The Israel Bible™)
The Israeli flag waves at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. (Shay Levy/ israel365)
President Donald Trump will recognize an undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel during his first visit, reportedly planned for May, but he will not overturn the long-standing veto on moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem when it comes up for renewal, reported Israeli newspaper Yedidoth Achronot on Thursday.

The biannual veto of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 is due for renewal in May. Since the bill was first passed, every US president has signed a waiver at six-month intervals delaying the legislation’s enactment. The May deadline will mark the first time the bill has come up for consideration under President Trump.

During his campaign and in the beginning days of his presidency, Trump repeatedly vowed that moving the embassy to Jerusalem would be a top priority for his administration. Since taking office, messages coming from the White House have been mixed.

Trump has sent fact-finding teams to Israel to research the move, and last month Representative Ron DeSantis said in Jerusalem that he expected Trump would not renew the waiver in May. However, administration rhetoric has cooled considerably on the issue as Trump attempts to pursue an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

In any case, an acknowledgment of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by a sitting American president would represent a huge shift in US policy, which until now had delicately avoided the issue by refusing to recognize the contested city as part of the country, let alone as its capital.

While Trump’s first Israel visit, reportedly set for late May or early June, has yet to be officially finalized, White House officials have confirmed that the administration is “exploring” the trip. According to Yedidoth Aronot, a delegation of 25 US government officials will arrive in Israel on Thursday to begin the planning stages.

Trump will be accompanied by his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, both religious Jews. Kushner’s family and businesses have significant ties to Israel, and the presidential advisor has named him the administration’s Middle East ‘peace broker.’

Clash of Israel and Amalek Replays as ISIS vs. Egypt on Identical Biblical Battlefield of Rephidim
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 27, 2017 , 12:30 pm
“Wherefore then didst thou not hearken to the voice of Hashem, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst that which was evil in the sight of Hashem?’” I Samuel 15:19 (The Israel Bible™)
Moses holding up his arms during the Battle of Rephidim, assisted by Hur and Aaron, in John Everett Millais’ Victory O Lord! (1871). (Wikimedia Commons)
The violent, ongoing conflict between Egypt and the Islamic State currently raging in the Sinai is a reenactment of the Biblical confrontation between Israel and Amalek, even taking place on the same battlefield, pointed out a military analyst who has turned to the Bible to make sense of current events.

Exodus tells of the legendary battle between Amalek, the ancestral enemy of the Jewish people, and the Israelites, which took place in a place called Rephidim, located in the Egyptian desert.
Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. Exodus 17:8
Two thousand years later, a new battle against Israel’s enemies is being staged in exactly the same place: an Egyptian airfield in Bir Gafgafa, which is located precisely on the Biblical site of Rephidim in the Sinai Peninsula.
The connection was made, surprisingly, by Debka Files, an Israeli military intelligence website. Giora Shamis, the editor of the website, immediately saw the Biblical context as the framework for understanding a situation that pits ISIS-affiliated fighters against Egypt, considered an ally of Israel in this conflict.

“I am not religious, but the correlation between ISIS and Amalek is clear and should be taken into account when considering modern events,” Shamis told Breaking Israel News. “What happened thousands of years ago is simply being played out again, a continuation of what already happened there historically.”

Shamis, who is secular, sees the Bible as a source that has a great deal to contribute in understanding the modern political forum.

“The stories in the Bible not only have a religious side, but they also have a political aspect we would do well to learn from,” Shamis said.

Shai Ben Tekoa, another journalist who views current events from a Biblical perspective, also sees Amalek as an archetype for ISIS, explaining in detail how ISIS can trace its military and ideological heritage from the Biblical nemesis.

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“ISIS in particular and Islamic terrorism in general are clearly incarnations of Amalek,” said Tekoa, former head broadcaster for Arutz Sheva, to Breaking Israel News. “Like Amalek, they seek out gratuitous cruelty.”

Ben Tekoa noted the tactical similarities in Israel’s Biblical confrontation with Amalek and how it translates to modern problems with Islamic terror.

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Map of the Sinai Peninsula and Israel. (Wikimedia Commons)
“Amalek’s main tactic was to avoid head-on confrontation,” Ben Tekoa explained. “They were sneaky, coming up from the rear to attack the weakest in society, just like ISIS and Islamic terrorists today.

“Our problem is not with Islamic armies. Islamists are congenital ambush artists, inheriting this from their Biblical forefathers.”

Ben Tekoa feels that the Biblical perspective is the most accurate lens for perceiving the regional politics and other journalists would do well to follow suit.

“The Bible is true, and its timeless brilliance is the best source for understanding the world today,” Ben Tekoa said. He related how, after learning about religion and Islam at Columbia University, he turned to the Bible for more insight. “I learned more about the Arabs and Islam from the few sentences in the Bible concerning Ishmael than from all the academic sources I studied.”

It appears that the political analysts are just now catching on to what religious experts have known all along. Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson, an expert in Bible codes, posted a video in 2015 in which he noted that the word ‘Amalek’ is composed of two words: ‘Am’ (nation) and ‘Malek’ (behead), hinting at ISIS’s signature brutality.

Rabbi Glazerson went on to show the gematria (numerology) of Amalek equals 240. Every nation has a ruling angel, and Amalek’s angel is the evil Samael. The gematria of Samael equals 136. Rabbi Glazerson then combined the two names and arrived at a total of 376, which equals the numerology of Daesh, the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/87249/clash-israel-amalek-replays-isis-vs-egypt-identical-biblical-battlefield-rephidim/#l3almvU1PXMqQmj5.99

Trump Administration to Increase Aid to Palestinians, Report Says
“Ye have sown much and brought in little ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but ye are not filled with drink ye clothe you but there is none warm.”
(Haggai 1:6)
By JNS April 26, 2017 , 7:30 am
“Ye have sown much and brought in little ye eat but ye have not enough ye drink but ye are not filled with drink ye clothe you but there is none warm.” Haggai 1:6 (The Israel Bible™)
image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/White-House-United-States.jpg
White House (Photo: Wikipedia)
As the Trump administration prepares to initiate significant foreign aid cuts around the world, State Department documents published Monday indicate the White House plans to increase aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The documents, published by Foreign Policy magazine, detail the State Department’s internal budget plan and show a planned increase of 4.6 percent in aid to Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza for the fiscal year of 2018. The increase in U.S. aid would amount to $215 million for the year.
According to the documents, Syria, Iraq and Libya will also see increases in aid for the 2018 fiscal year, but aid will to Egypt will be cut 47.4 percent and Jordan will see a drop of 21 percent.
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The proposed budget changes strike a different tone than the Trump administration expressed in January, when it informed the PA it had frozen President Barack Obama’s transfer of $221 million to the Palestinians in the last hours of his administration.
Reports of the potential aid increase to the PA come ahead of a May 3 meeting at the White House between President Donald Trump and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/87131/trump-administration-increase-aid-palestinians-report-says/#9vjkUsBfmzABHHOV.99

Since 1980, Saudi Arabia reportedly built at least 150 mosques, founded a university in Jakarta, built several Arabic-language institutes, paid for books and teachers for over 100 boarding schools and funded thousands of scholarships.
German Foreign Minister Flat Out Refuses to Talk to Netanyahu
Netanyahu cancelled his original meeting with the German Foreign Minister after the Minister refused to cancel a meeting with radical leftist organizations B'Tselem and Breaking the Silence.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel to explain his decision to cancel their meeting Tuesday. However, the minister refused to talk with Netanyahu.
Netanyahu cancelled the meeting after Gabriel refused to cancel a meeting with radical leftist organizations B'Tselem and Breaking the Silence.
The Prime Minister's Office released a statement explaining Netanyahu's reasons for cancelling the meeting.
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policy is not to meet with diplomats who visit Israel and meet with organizations that defame IDF soldiers and seek to prosecute them as war criminals," the prime minister's office said.
"The same diplomats will not consider meeting in the US or Britain with representatives of organizations calling for the prosecution of American or British soldiers. The Israel Defense Forces and its soldiers are the basis of our existence. Relations with Germany are very important to Israel and will continue."
Gabriel was informed that his meeting with the Prime Minister was cancelled during a meeting with President Reuven Rivlin.
"The Israeli ambassador has informed us that - to my regret - the meeting with Netanyahu has been cancelled," Gagriel told the German Bild newspaper.
He added that his views on the German-Israeli relationship had not changed.
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news.php?Itemid=25940

https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/
Trump in Talks for First Israel Visit Next Month
By Abra Forman April 26, 2017 , 12:30 pm
“‘There is a league between me and thee…’” I Kings 15:19 (The Israel Bible™)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with then-Presidential candidate, Donald Trump, in New York, on September 25, 2016. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are reportedly in the advanced stages of confirming Trump’s first state visit to Israel next month, Israeli media said on Wednesday. Trump has never been to Israel before.
According to the report by Channel 2, the president’s visit to the Jewish state could happen on May 21 or shortly thereafter, coinciding with Trump’s inaugural visit to Europe as president.
While several reports emerged that Trump planned on visiting Israel during the presidential campaign, the trip never happened.
The two world leaders first met in an official state meeting in February, when Netanyahu paid a visit to the White House. Trump and Netanyahu gave a joint press conference which seemed to indicate that the close relationship with Israel Trump had promised during the campaign was off to a strong beginning.
His early visit, less than six months into his presidency, represents a marked departure from his predecessor President Barack Obama, who waited until his second term in office to come to Israel.
Trump is scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington on May 3. His administration has said that it is seeking a “conflict-ending” deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

Marine Le Pen’s Muslim Slaughter Ban Targets Kosher Meat, Too
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 26, 2017 , 1:30 pm
“Only be steadfast in not eating the blood; for the blood is the life; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh.” Deuteronomy 12:23 (The Israel Bible™)
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Marine Le Pen (JÄNNICK Jérémy/Wikimedia Commons)
While campaigning at a meat market near Paris, Marine Le Pen, the right-wing candidate in the ongoing French presidential elections, announced that, if elected, she would ban ritual slaughtering of animals. This announcement caused even more concern about the presidential candidate, whose anti-Muslim platform will also harm Jews.
“Slaughter without stunning, I’m sorry, it should have special labels,” Le Pen said. “Furthermore, I think that slaughter without stunning should be prohibited.”
Le Pen is running on an anti-immigration platform, which is increasingly popular in a terror-stricken France. This new measure is intended to target Halal slaughtering for religious Muslims but like many of the anti-Muslim measures Le Pen advocates, this will also harm Jews. The laws of halal and kosher slaughtering are similar, both requiring the animal to be fully conscious before being slaughtered.

Ritual slaughter is prohibited in several European countries, ostensibly for reasons of animal cruelty. This type of ban has historically been used as an anti-Semitic subterfuge, most notably in pre-war Germany and Poland.
This call for a moratorium on ritual slaughtering is consistent with Le Pen’s strong anti-Muslim platform. She has called for a shutdown of immigration from Muslim countries, a ban on public prayer, and a ban on the wearing of Muslim religious symbols.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/87177/marine-le-pens-muslim-slaughter-ban-targets-kosher-meat/#6VgCeuwzwySTCfyR.99

“If Marine Le Pen Is Elected President of France, the Jews Must Leave”
.By JNI Media April 23, 2017 , 12:30 pm
“He delivered me from mine enemy most strong, and from them that hated me, for they were too mighty for me.” Psalms 18:18 (The Israel Bible™)
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French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen. (Frederic Legrand – COMEO / Shutterstock.com)
Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar warned French Jews that if far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen wins, they must leave the country, EJP reported Saturday. Lazar also praised President Vladimir Putin’s attitude towards Jews in the same speech.
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Rabbi Berel Lazar with Vladimir Putin (Kremlin.ru)
Addressing an audience of more than 2,000 at the Limmud FSU conference in Moscow, Rabbi Lazar said “the situation in Europe is very worrying,” and suggested that “If Marine Le Pen is elected president of France, the Jews must leave.”
Rabbi Lazar voiced his concern about the rise of nationalism across Europe. “The situation there is very worrisome,” he said. “Not only because of immigrants, but also because the general population is heading toward radicalization. The best example of this is the rise of extreme-right parties.”
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France goes to the polls on Sunday to vote in the first round of presidential elections. None of the 11 candidates running are expected to get an outright majority of votes; the leading contenders will face off again for the final vote May 7. Marine Le Pen, who heads the far-right National Front party, will likely join centrist Emmanuel Macron in the top slots. Le Pen has been accused of anti-Semitic and Holocaust-denying comments.
Russia’s chief rabbi also praised President Putin, whom, he argued, “was the first president to publicly speak out against anti-Semitism and did the most for the Jews in Russia.” Lazar suggested “there is no institutional anti-Semitism in Russia, where the attitude toward the Jews is excellent.”
He stated that “in contrast with Gorbachev and Yeltsin, who were not interested in hearing about the situation of the Jews in Russia, Putin was the first to say that anti-Semitism has no place in Russia.” He pointed to the Limmud FSU event as proof that Russian Jewry is thriving under Putin’s rule.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86951/marine-le-pen-elected-president-france-jews-must-leave/#QFIAeQ58c6TwPEkm.99


Pope Francis Likens Migrant Crisis to Holocaust, Calling Refugee Centers “Concentration Camps”
By Abra Forman April 23, 2017 , 11:30 am
“The God who is my rock, in Him I take refuge; my shield, and my horn of salvation, my high tower, and my refuge; my saviour, Thou savest me from violence.” II Samuel 22:3 (The Israel Bible™)
Pope Francis drew the ire of Jewish groups on Saturday when he likened modern European refugee centers to the concentration camps used by Nazis during the Holocaust one day before Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“These refugee camps – so many are concentration camps, crowded with people…because international accords seem more important than human rights,” he criticized at a Rome ceremony paying tribute to modern-day Christian martyrs.
The comment met with immediate backlash from Jewish groups.
“The conditions in which migrants are currently living in some European countries may well be difficult, and deserve still greater international attention, but concentration camps they certainly are not,” American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris said in a statement.
He emphasized that there was no ground for comparison between the conditions of the migrant camps, many of which receive aid from the United Nations, and the conditions of the camps where Jews were imprisoned, tortured and murdered during the Holocaust.
“The Nazis and their allies erected and used concentration camps for slave labor and the extermination of millions of people during World War II. There is no comparison to the magnitude of that tragedy,” Harris said.
The pope, an outspoken advocate for thousands of migrants fleeing war-torn Arab countries, has made strong statements in the past about the need to accept and integrate Muslim refugees into stable countries despite the danger of infiltration by radical Islamists.
He has used the language of the Holocaust before to describe the plight of the refugees, arguing last May that the worst form of welcome is to “ghettoize” the migrants and even going so far as to imply in one instance that naturalized citizens who committed terror attacks had done so because they “grew up in a ghetto” inside their adopted country.
The pope’s Saturday comments came just a day before Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, which begins on the evening of Sunday, April 23.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86944/pope-francis-likens-migrant-crisis-holocaust-calling-refugee-centers-concentration-camps/#1w6P1kIDvwzT7APf.99

General Mattis and the Fatah Tautology
By Caroline Glick
Mattis arrives in Israel with a public record replete with anti-Israel statements that indicate he swallowed the Fatah tautology hook, line and sinker.
On Friday, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis will visit Israel as part of a tour of the region that will bring him to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Djibouti. The declared purpose of Mattis’s trip is to “reaffirm key US military alliances, engage with strategic partners in the Middle East and Africa, and discuss cooperative efforts to counter destabilizing activities and defeat extremist terror organizations.”
Ahead of his visit, Mattis should spend some time considering the hunger strike being carried out by the Palestinian terrorists imprisoned by Israel. A serious consideration of the strike will tell him more about the nature of the Palestinian conflict with Israel than a hundred “expert” briefings.
There are several important things for Mattis to consider in relation to the strike.
The first thing he needs to note is that all of the terrorists on strike are members of the Fatah terrorist group.
Read more at https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Our-world-Gen-Mattis-and-the-Fatah-tautology-488262#rO8OqDl3yYOfMJ5K.99

Palestinians’ Real Enemies: Arabs
By Khaled Abu Toameh April 20, 2017 , 9:00 am
The Arab heads of state and monarchs do not like to be reminded of how badly they treat Palestinians and subject them to discriminatory and apartheid laws.
It is not comfortable or safe to be a Palestinian in an Arab country. Scenes of lawlessness and anarchy inside Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank have also driven many residents to move to nearby cities and villages. Most refugees in the West Bank no longer live inside UNRWA-run camps.
Let us end where we began: with the Palestinian (non)leadership. What has it done to help its people in the Arab countries? Nothing. No Palestinian leader will urge an emergency session of the UN Security Council to expose the ethnic cleansing and killing of Palestinians in Arab countries. No Palestinian leader will demand that the international media and human rights organizations investigate the atrocities perpetrated by Arabs on their Palestinian brethren. We are sure to see more such criminal silence when Abbas meets with the president of the United States.
Palestinians living in refugee camps in the Arab world are facing ethnic cleansing, displacement, and death — but their leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are too busy tearing each other to pieces to notice or even, apparently, care much.
Read more at https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10210/palestinians-enemies#V0pEVmbOG7czMuqZ.99

Deadly Paris Attack Days Before National Election
by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 21, 2017 , 10:52 am
“Hashem, Thou hast heard the desire of the humble: Thou wilt direct their heart, Thou wilt cause Thine ear to attend; To right the fatherless and the oppressed, that man who is of the earth may be terrible no more.” Psalms 10:17-18 (The Israel Bible™)

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Paris (Photo: Benh Lieu Song/ Wiki Commons)
A gunman jumped from a car and opened fire with an automatic weapon on a police vehicle on the famed Champs-Elysees in Paris on Thursday night, killing one policeman and wounding two others. The gunman, whom the Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed as one of its soldiers, was killed at the scene by security forces, but the attack, coming just a few days before the national elections, is expected to affect the political future of France.

The French president, François Hollande, said the attack was “terrorist in nature” and promised “utmost vigilance” by security services to ensure security around the presidential election. He has called a defense council meeting for Friday.

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ISIS claimed credit for the killing in their affiliated news service, Amaq, naming the attacker, Abu Yousif Abu-Yusuf al-Baljiki (the Belgian), one of their “soldiers”.

Abu Yusuf was formally known as Karim Cheurfi. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2003 for stealing a gun from a policeman and shooting him three times. That term was reduced to 15 years in 2005. Cheurfi was already known for committing violent robberies and was in police custody at the time of the incident, the newspaper reports.

The attack came three days before the French national elections, coincidentally during a televised debate. It is expected that this attack will affect the outcome, giving a boost to Marine Le Pen, the National Front chairwoman, a staunch nationalist who opposes large-scale Muslim immigration to France. Three candidates, includeing Le Pen, announced they were suspending their campaigns in a show of solidarity with the police.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86854/paris-policeman-killed-likely-terror-attack/#FL4gpCGk2duh5RRM.99

Nikki Haley Makes Waves At UN By Focusing on Human Rights Violations Instead of Israel [VIDEO]
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 21, 2017 , 11:57 am
“To do justly is joy to the righteous, but ruin to the workers of iniquity.” Proverbs 21:15 (The Israel Bible™)
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is president of the world body’s Security Council for April. (UN Photo/Rick Bajornas)
The UN Security Council’s monthly meeting on the situation in the Middle East is usually an Israel-hate-fest, but on Thursday, Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador, urged the council to focus on human rights violators instead, most notably, Iran.
“In case after case, human rights violations and abuses are not merely the incidental byproduct of conflict,” Ms. Haley said at the session. “They are the trigger for conflict.”

Haley drew the council’s attention to egregious violators: North Korea, Cuba and Syria.
“Every month the Security Council convenes a meeting on the Middle East. We have lots of meetings on specific countries and conflicts in this region but this debate is our opportunity to talk about the Middle East as a whole. Regrettably, these monthly meetings routinely turn into Israel-bashing sessions. That’s the way the Security Council has operated for years. It’s a formula that is absurdly biased against one country. It’s a formula that is painfully narrow in its description of the conflicts in the region,” said Haley. The US ambassador is currently serving as president of the Security Council for one month.

“Iran is using Hezbollah to expand its regional aspirations. That is a threat that should be dominating our discussions at the Security Council,” she said, blaming Iran for troubles in Syria and Yemen. She noted the close ties between Iran and the terror group Hezbollah.
“Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, uses towns to shield… tens of thousands of illegal rockets,” Haley said.

Haley’s comments were praised by the Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon when he addressed the council.
“Where there is terror, where there is death, there is Iran. Teheran is an accomplice in the atrocities taking place every single day in Syria,” Danon said. “The Iranian proxy Hezbollah places its weapons in homes, mosques and hospitals in Lebanon, and in Gaza, Hamas has spent millions of Iranian dollars on rockets, guns and digging terror tunnels,” he said, noting that Israel is especially the focus of Iranian agression.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86857/nikki-haley-urges-un-focus-iran-instead-israel-video/#8PiwtTCLLJ0ZcpCB.99

Fearing U.S. Attacks, Syria Reportedly Moves Warplanes to Russian Base for Protection
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 20, 2017 , 3:36 pm
“Blessed be Hashem my Rock, who traineth my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.” Psalms 144:1 (The Israel Bible™)
image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Sukhoi_Su-34_flight_display_at_2015_MAKS.jpg
Sukhoi Su-34, By Dmitry Terekhov via Wikimedia Commons
In the wake of a US missile strike that seriously crippled its air-force,Syria is moving its remaining planes to an airfield adjacent to a Russian airbase. Despite rising tensions with Russia, the US remains committed to preventing further chemical attacks by the Syrian government.

Two defense officials told CNN the Syrian military began moving its aircraft to the air base at Bassel Al-Assad International Airport shortly after the US missile strike on the Sharat air base on April 6. The airport adjacent to the Khmeimim Air Base, formerly a Syrian airbase but currently most of Russia’s air assets are located there. The Russian base is protected by advanced anti-aircraft systems which would presumably offer protection to the nearby Syrian airbase, making the US reluctant to initiate another strike.

The US used 59 Tomahawk missiles to destroy 24 warplanes in the attack, which is estimated to be 20 percent of Syria’s fixed wing aircraft.
image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/mattis.jpg
General James N. Mattis, USMC Commander U.S. Joint Forces Command and Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense. (US Department of Defense)
“The Syrian Air Force is not in good shape. It’s been worn down by years of combat plus some … significant maintenance problems,” Secretary of Defense General James Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

The US missile-strike came in response to a sarin nerve gas attack Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched from Sharat air base, killing approximately 70 civilians. Though Russian personnel were on the Syrian base, the US warned Russia before the attack. 14 Syrians were killed in the US missile attack but no Russian casualties were reported.

The attack created tensions between the US and Russia, which supports the regime of Assad. Assad has been fighting a civil war for six years which has killed over 300,000 Syrians. Assad denied using chemical weapons, and Russia condemned the US missile strike. Despite Assad’s claims, the director general for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, said Wednesday that analysis of samples from victims of the Khan Sheikhoun attack showed “incontrovertible” results that “sarin or a sarin-like substance” was used in the attack.

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Syria was required to turn over all of its chemical weapons in 2014 following an agreement brokered by former President Barack Obama. Despite assertions by Obama and his Secretary of State, John Kerry, that Syria had relinquished “100 percent” of its chemical weapons, experts now claim that tons of dangerous weapons remain in secretly stockpiles.
President Trump was reluctant to become involved in the Syrian conflict, but now threatens continued action if Assad continues to use chemical weapons. General Mattis affirmed this at the press conference.
“The Syrian regime should think long and hard before it again acts so recklessly in violation of international law against the use of chemical weapons,” Mattis said, later adding that “if they use chemical weapons, they are going to pay a very, very stiff price.”
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86838/fear-future-us-action-syria-moves-planes-next-russians/#d9qgjVMjHBs4W7cI.99

By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 20, 2017 , 3:36 pm
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“Blessed be Hashem my Rock, who traineth my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.” Psalms 144:1 (The Israel Bible™)

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Sukhoi_Su-34_flight_display_at_2015_MAKS.jpg


Sukhoi Su-34, By Dmitry Terekhov via Wikimedia Commons
In the wake of a US missile strike that seriously crippled its air-force,Syria is moving its remaining planes to an airfield adjacent to a Russian airbase. Despite rising tensions with Russia, the US remains committed to preventing further chemical attacks by the Syrian government.

Two defense officials told CNN the Syrian military began moving its aircraft to the air base at Bassel Al-Assad International Airport shortly after the US missile strike on the Sharat air base on April 6. The airport adjacent to the Khmeimim Air Base, formerly a Syrian airbase but currently most of Russia’s air assets are located there. The Russian base is protected by advanced anti-aircraft systems which would presumably offer protection to the nearby Syrian airbase, making the US reluctant to initiate another strike.

The US used 59 Tomahawk missiles to destroy 24 warplanes in the attack, which is estimated to be 20 percent of Syria’s fixed wing aircraft.

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/mattis.jpg


General James N. Mattis, USMC Commander U.S. Joint Forces Command and Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense. (US Department of Defense)
“The Syrian Air Force is not in good shape. It’s been worn down by years of combat plus some … significant maintenance problems,” Secretary of Defense General James Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

The US missile-strike came in response to a sarin nerve gas attack Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched from Sharat air base, killing approximately 70 civilians. Though Russian personnel were on the Syrian base, the US warned Russia before the attack. 14 Syrians were killed in the US missile attack but no Russian casualties were reported.

The attack created tensions between the US and Russia, which supports the regime of Assad. Assad has been fighting a civil war for six years which has killed over 300,000 Syrians. Assad denied using chemical weapons, and Russia condemned the US missile strike. Despite Assad’s claims, the director general for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, said Wednesday that analysis of samples from victims of the Khan Sheikhoun attack showed “incontrovertible” results that “sarin or a sarin-like substance” was used in the attack.

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Syria was required to turn over all of its chemical weapons in 2014 following an agreement brokered by former President Barack Obama. Despite assertions by Obama and his Secretary of State, John Kerry, that Syria had relinquished “100 percent” of its chemical weapons, experts now claim that tons of dangerous weapons remain in secretly stockpiles.

President Trump was reluctant to become involved in the Syrian conflict, but now threatens continued action if Assad continues to use chemical weapons. General Mattis affirmed this at the press conference.

“The Syrian regime should think long and hard before it again acts so recklessly in violation of international law against the use of chemical weapons,” Mattis said, later adding that “if they use chemical weapons, they are going to pay a very, very stiff price.”
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86838/fear-future-us-action-syria-moves-planes-next-russians/#d9qgjVMjHBs4W7cI.99

sraeli Youth Hold Massive BBQ Outside Cells of Hunger-Striking Palestinian Terrorists
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 20, 2017 , 11:30 am
“And the Kohen shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is Hashem’s.” Leviticus 3:16 (The Israel Bible™)

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/shutterstock_400697542.jpg


Barbecue (Image by Shutterstock)
The youth contingent of the National Unity Party is cooking a massive barbecue on Thursday, upwind from the prison in which over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners are holding a hunger strike. The succulent aroma of cooking meat will waft through Ofer Prison where the prisoners, most wanted for security offenses against Israelis, are protesting for better conditions.

“The time has come to stop listening to the hunger strikers and show them that we are not giving in to their whims,” ​​said Ophir Sofer, secretary-general of the National Union party. “We call upon the government and its leader to further worsen conditions for terrorists and to act with conviction for the release of the soldiers Goldin and Shaul who fought for us all.”

The hunger strike was called after a year and a half of negotiations with prison officials.

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Chairman of the National Union Youth, Avichai Greenwald, asks “Surrender to a hunger strike? It is not even clear why there is no death penalty for terrorists. We wish the terrorists success in the strike. Let them go through with it all the way.”

The hunger strike became the focus of controversy on Monday when its organizer, Marwan Barghouti, announced it in an op-ed in the New York Times. The NY Times presented Barghouti as ““a Palestinian leader and parliamentarian”, without mentioning that he is in an Israeli prison after being convicted of five counts of murder. The NY Times earned the ire of many, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said, “Barghouti is a politician like Assad is a pediatrician”

Many believe the hunger strike is a ploy by Barghouti to shore up his waning political presence. Barghouti has been caught on video eating in his cell during hunger strikes he has called.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86799/israeli-youth-bb-q-outside-cells-hunger-striking-palestinians/#ZhkuFqICbStPRRUH.99

Trump to Host Abbas May 3 at White House, Seeks ‘Conflict-Ending’ Deal
By JNS April 20, 2017 , 1:29 pm
“If a ruler hearkeneth to falsehood, all his servants are wicked.” Proverbs 29:12 (The Israel Bible™)

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Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas (R) meets with Jason Greenblatt, Donald Trump special representative for international negotiations in the West Bank city of Ramallah, March 14, 2017. (Flash90)
President Donald Trump is set to host Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas May 3 at the White House as he seeks to forge an elusive peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians.

“They will use the visit to reaffirm the commitment of both the United States and Palestinian leadership to pursuing and ultimately concluding a conflict-ending settlement between the Palestinians and Israel,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday.

Trump and Abbas spoke by phone in mid-March, when the U.S. leader invited Abbas to visit Washington. Later, Abbas met in Ramallah with Trump’s special envoy for international negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, telling him he believes a “historic” peace deal is possible under the guidance of Trump.

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Direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians have been stalled since 2014. During his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in February, Trump expressed openness to Israeli-Palestinian conflict resolutions other than a two-state solution, breaking with American presidential administrations’ longstanding exclusive support for two states.

“I’m looking at two state and one state, and I like the one that both parties like…I can live with either one,” Trump said at the time.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86814/trump-host-abbas-may-3-white-house-seeks-conflict-ending-deal/#vTxqZImmEBRJo3K8.99

https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86729/trump-administration-announces-iran-complying-nuke-deal-not-ready-lift-sanctions/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=adf33dfa18-BIN_morning_4_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6d3627f72-adf33dfa18-83546481&mc_cid=adf33dfa18&mc_eid=8dcaf513ae#AkJ1irfKX0MMRP4F.97
Trump Administration Tells Congress Iran Complying With Nuclear Agreement
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 19, 2017 , 11:30 am
“I have not sat with men of falsehood; neither will I go in with dissemblers.” Psalms 26:4 (The Israel Bible™)

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/iran-nuclear-flag.jpg
(Photo: United Against Nuclear Iran / Facebook)
The Trump administration told Congress on Tuesday that Iran is complying with the terms of the nuclear deal, but they are launching a review to determine whether it is in America’s security interests to lift the remaining sanctions.

Under the terms of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal that was brokered by former President Barack Obama with Iran in 2015, the State Department is required to notify Congress every 90 days regarding Iranian compliance. This was the first such notification under the new administration.

“The U.S. Department of State certified to U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan today that Iran is compliant through April 18 with its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement.

“President Donald J. Trump has directed a National Security Council-led interagency review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that will evaluate whether suspension of sanctions related to Iran pursuant to the JCPOA is vital to the national security interests of the United States,” Tillerson added.

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However, in a letter sent late Tuesday to House Speaker Paul Ryan, Tillerson expressed serious concerns about Iran.
“Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror, through many platforms and methods,” Tillerson stated.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verified in January of 2016 that Iran was in compliance with the terms of the JCPOA to scale back its nuclear program. As a result, some international sanctions were lifted. The deal was intended to allow Iran to retain a nuclear program while limiting its ability to produce nuclear weapons.

Iran has been in violation of international agreements regarding its missile program several times, leading to the reinstatement of some sanctions. Iran remains on the US list of states that sponsor terrorism.
During his campaign, President Trump referred to the JCPOA as “the worst deal ever”, leading many to believe he would work towards repealing it.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86729/trump-administration-announces-iran-complying-nuke-deal-not-ready-lift-sanctions/#ruOxLRKHjgFSHqVq.99



ISIS Attacks Sinai Monastery in Ongoing War Against Christianity
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 19, 2017 , 7:30 am
“And I will spur Mitzrayim against Mitzrayim; and they shall fight every one against his brother, and everyone against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.” Isaiah 19:2 (The Israel Bible™)

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/shutterstock_339666269.jpg
Clash of Islam and Christianity (Image via Shutterstock)
ISIS attacked a monastery in the heart of the Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, continuing its wake of terror targeting Christians in Egypt.
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St Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai (Photo by Berthold Werner via Wikimedia Commons)
ISIS forces opened fire from a hilltop overlooking the police checkpoint situated about 800 yards from Saint Catherine’s Monastery, a popular tourist site in the heart of the Sinai Peninsula. One Egyptian police officer was killed and four others were injured. It is believed that some of the ISIS attackers were wounded before fleeing the scene. The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack via the ISIS-affiliated Amaq news agency.

Saint Catherine’s Monastery, part of the Eastern Orthodox Church, was built in the sixth century and is the oldest operating monastery in existence. This is the first time ISIS has attacked a monastery, but it comes ten days after an ISIS affiliated terror group attacked two Coptic Churches in Egypt, setting off bombs that killed 45 people. After the attack, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency. Tensions are high as this recent act of anti-Christian violence comes ten days before Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Egypt. ISIS sources stated the terror group will continue to target Christians in Egypt. Egypt, with ten percent of its 90 million people as Christians, has the largest population of Christians in the Middle East.

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The US Government issued a travel warning on Wednesday, advising American citizens in Egypt to stay away from Christian places of worship for the next two weeks and to avoid crowds as long as they remain in the country. The Israeli Government issued a travel warning last week, instructing Israelis to leave the Sinai while banning more Israeli citizens from entering.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86713/monastery-sinai-attacked-isis-ongoing-anti-christian-campaign/#TvTA3e8LmEGCVAFk.99

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4949880,00.html
The Jewish pyramid of Adullam
Archaeologists are beginning to study and excavate an ancient Jewish pyramid believed to be related to a burial structure near Hirbet Madras; pyramid is believed to be a vestige of Hellenistic influence in the area.
Assaf Kamar|Published: 17.04.17 , 11:42
On a hilltop near Hirbet Madras in the Adullam Grove Nature Reserve lies an ancient Jewish pyramid.

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The rare pyramid is built of huge ashlar stones that were hewn in the vicinity. In ancient times it was easy to see the unique structure proudly overlooking the area from the top of the hill and today, the remains of the pyramid are hidden in vegetation.

Remains of the pyramid (Photo: Assaf Kemer) (Photo: Assaf Kemer)
Archeologist Dr. Orit Peleg-Barkat of Hebrew University is studying the pyramid and describes the structure's size as rare and monumental.

"The length of the base sides of the pyramid are 10 meters and the height is about 3 meters," said Dr. Peleg-Barkat. "The pyramid was built near a Jewish settlement from the time of the Second Temple and there is a high probability that it is a Jewish cemetery."

While ancient peoples all over the world have built pyramids, what is the connection to Jews?

Burial cave under the pyramid (Photo: Assaf Kemer) (Photo: Assaf Kemer)

According to archaeologist and Prof. Boaz Zissu of Bar-Ilan University, after the establishment of the empire of Alexander the Great, which conquered and unified the region geographically and culturally, Second Temple era Jews were influenced by the dominant Hellenistic culture.

"Ancient Egyptian culture had an influence on the Hellenistic culture that ruled the Land of Israel, and Hellenistic culture in turn influenced the Jews living in its territory. The pyramid was built on the border between Jewish communities and Edomite communities and it is assumed that the Jews took the geometry of the pyramid rather than the religious ideas," said Prof. Zissu.

In ancient Jewish sources, the monument above the burial cave is called "Nefesh," and it symbolizes the location of the cave. In Israel, there are other pyramids such as those in the Jerusalem area like the Tomb of Zechariah in the Kidron Valley.

Despite the hypothesis that the structure is indeed a burial complex, Dr. Peleg-Barkat notes that the chances of the underground caves being excavated are low. This is due to an incident in the 1970s in which Ultra-Orthodox protestors destroyed findings they deemed "desecration of graves" of a previous Jewish burial ground.

(Contributed, translated and edited by Fred Goldberg)


ISIS has not just borrowed Hamas' tactics of using civilians as human shields. It has done so because the world's response to Israel fighting Hamas terrorism - demonstrations, blaming and condemning Israel, calling for restraint - has convinced ISIS that the tactic works:
"By blaming Israel for civilian casualties that were actually deliberately caused by Hamas’s actions, the world ensured that other terrorist organizations would adopt a similar strategy. Or to put it more bluntly, it ensured that many more civilians would die, because terrorist groups would see a profit in their deaths.
ISIS obviously bears primary blame for all civilian deaths in Mosul. But a portion of that blame is shared by every journalist, “human rights” activist, politician and demonstrator who blamed Israel rather than Hamas for civilian deaths in Gaza–because they are the ones who persuaded ISIS that deliberately sacrificing civilians is an effective way to fight a war."
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/…/isis-borrows-tactic-h…/https://www.commentarymagazine.com/terrorism/isis-borrows-tactic-hamas/
ISIS Borrows a Tactic from Hamas
ISIS adopts a Hamas terror tactic because it has gotten results.

EVELYN GORDON / APR. 5, 2017
The U.S. Army recently announced that it has horrifying video footage of Islamic State fighters herding Iraqi civilians into buildings in Mosul. The plan was not to use them as human shields–that is, to announce their presence in the hope of deterring American airstrikes. Rather, ISIS was deliberately trying to ensure that American troops killed them, by “smuggling civilians into buildings, so we won’t see them and trying to bait the coalition to attack,” an army spokesman said at a briefing for Pentagon reporters. The motive, he explained, was hope that massive civilian casualties would produce such an outcry that the U.S. would halt airstrikes altogether.

There’s an important point to this story which the spokesman neglected to mention: This tactic is borrowed directly from Hamas. And it was borrowed because the world’s response to successive Hamas-Israel wars convinced ISIS that creating massive civilian casualties among residents of its own territory is an effective strategy.

Admittedly, Hamas hasn’t yet been caught on video actually herding civilians into buildings before launching attacks from them. But there’s plenty of evidence that Hamas prevented civilians from leaving areas whence it was launching rockets or other attacks at Israel, thereby deliberately exposing them to retaliatory strikes.

During the 2014 Gaza war, for instance, the Israel Defense Forces warned civilians to evacuate the town of Beit Lahiya before launching air strikes at Hamas positions. But according to Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid, who based himself on interviews with Palestinians in Gaza, Hamas gunmen showed up and warned that anyone who left the town would be treated as a collaborator. Since Hamas executes collaborators, that was equivalent to saying that anyone who tried to leave would be killed on the spot. Thus, faced with the alternative of certain death at Hamas’s hands, most Beit Lahiya residents understandably opted to stay and take their chances with the IDF.

There’s also plenty of evidence that Hamas deliberately launched attacks from buildings where it knew civilians were present. Just last month, for instance, I wrote about a case during the 2009 Gaza war in which Hamas directed sniper fire at Israeli troops from the third floor of a well-known doctor’s home, thereby forcing the soldiers to choose between becoming sitting ducks or shooting back and risking civilian casualties. Unbeknownst to the soldiers, Hamas was also storing explosives in the house (using civilian buildings as arms caches or wiring them with explosives is standard practice for Hamas). Consequently, when the soldiers fired at the Hamas position, an unexpectedly large explosion ensued, killing three of the doctor’s daughters and one of his nieces.

In short, Hamas repeatedly used tactics aimed at maximizing the number of civilian casualties on its own side. Yet instead of blaming Hamas for this, the world largely blamed Israel. Mass demonstrations were held throughout the West condemning Israel; there were no mass demonstrations condemning Hamas. Journalists and “human rights” organizations issued endless reports blaming Israel for the civilian casualties while ignoring or downplaying Hamas’s role in them. Western leaders repeatedly demanded that Israel show “restraint” and accused it of using disproportionate force. Israel, not Hamas, became the subject of a complaint to the International Criminal Court.

Hamas thereby succeeded in putting Israel in a lose-lose situation. Either it could let Hamas launch thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians with impunity, or it could strike back at the price of global opprobrium.

Alan Dershowitz, who aptly calls this the “dead baby strategy,” has been warning for years that unless it “is exposed and rejected in the marketplace of morality, it’s coming to a theater (or school or hospital) near you.” After all, why wouldn’t other terrorist organizations adopt a strategy that has so obviously proven successful?

Now, ISIS has proven his point: It has chosen to deliberately sacrifice civilians rather than employing the more obvious tactic of using them as human shields. Granted, the organization enjoys killing, but based on its track record, it’s also far from stupid. So if it has concluded that dead civilians are more useful than living human shields, it’s because, like Hamas, it considers this a win-win strategy. At worst, America’s reputation will be tarnished, since many people worldwide will blame it for the civilian casualties rather than putting the blame on ISIS, where it belongs. And at best, negative public opinion will force America to abandon the airstrikes altogether.

Nor is the latter hope as far-fetched as it may seem at first glance. It’s true the “dead baby strategy” never persuaded Israel to stop airstrikes against Hamas, but there’s a fundamental difference between the two cases: Israel’s citizens were under direct attack by Hamas rockets and tunnels, and in a choice between sacrificing its citizens’ lives and suffering global opprobrium, any self-respecting country would choose the latter. But ISIS isn’t launching rockets at America from Mosul; the threat it poses is far less immediate. Consequently, the incentive for America to simply back away from the fight if the civilian death toll climbs too high is much greater.

In short, by blaming Israel for civilian casualties that were actually deliberately caused by Hamas’s actions, the world ensured that other terrorist organizations would adopt a similar strategy. Or to put it more bluntly, it ensured that many more civilians would die, because terrorist groups would see a profit in their deaths.

ISIS obviously bears primary blame for all civilian deaths in Mosul. But a portion of that blame is shared by every journalist, “human rights” activist, politician and demonstrator who blamed Israel rather than Hamas for civilian deaths in Gaza–because they are the ones who persuaded ISIS that deliberately sacrificing civilians is an effective way to fight a war.

A delegation of Egyptian Jews and a representative of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) are heading for Cairo at the end of April to talk to the country’s Ministry of Culture about the one-time Jewish community’s cherished life cycle registers.
Scores of bound volumes, containing every detail of the births, marriages and deaths of Jews from Alexandria and Cairo, which date back to the middle of the 19th century, were once kept in the two main synagogues in each city. But, last year, without prior warning, government officials arrived at the synagogues and took away the registers, which are now stored in the Egyptian National Archives.
Rabbi Andrew Baker of the AJC said: “For many Egyptian Jews these are the only formal records which might otherwise be inscribed in civil records. And there are cases where they are very important in proving a person’s Jewish identity, for burial or for marriage”.
One of the leaders of the Nebe Daniel organisation, Yves Fedida, who is part of the forthcoming Cairo delegation, said that the scattered community of Egyptian Jews — some of whom depend on the information in the registers to prove their Jewish status — had been trying to persuade the government for more than 12 years to allow copies to be made of the contents of the registers.
At first, the government resisted, saying that there was a chance that Jews outside Egypt would use the information for compensation claims. But this was dismissed by the Egyptian Jews as stonewalling, because the registers did not contain details of property ownership.
“Then came the Arab Spring and there was no hope of persuading anyone in the government when the Muslim Brotherhood were in charge”, Mr Fedida said.
Once President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power, however, there was new optimism, but so far there has been no response either to direct pleas or to a change.org petition to the president.
Rabbi Baker said that although “one problem has been solved by taking the registers into the National Archives, where they will be kept in better physical conditions”, in fact it meant another problem.
“The registers are not just written in Arabic, but in French, Ladino, Hebrew, and even a form of Rashi’s script. So the records cannot be easily read by a National Archives official even if someone applies for his or her family’s details.”
Under the Egyptian Antiquities law, the registers belong to the country — an attitude originally supported by the leader of the tiny remaining Jewish community, a handful of Jews led by Magda Haroun. She made it clear in various TV appearances that her intention was to leave the assets of the Jewish community to the government.
Ms Haroun initially agreed with the government’s position, but appears to have had a change of heart in the last year. She has helped to revive a former Egyptian Jewish charity, A Drop of Milk, and turned it into a heritage NGO whose aim is to curate the remaining Jewish communal assets with the approval of the Ministry of Culture. Plans are in place to transform the former Heliopolis Synagogue in Cairo into a national Jewish museum, with the hope that the precious registers will be available for consultation there.
Mr Fedida said: “We have lost our biggest treasure with the registers. They include, beside the precious records of births, marriages, and deaths, halachic rulings by Egyptian rabbis , who were said to be among the most pragmatic and least dogmatic of all those in the Mediterranean area.”
Most Egyptian Jews left the country in two waves, after 1948 and again after 1967. The biggest ex-pat Egyptian community is in Israel, but there are groups in France, Canada, the US, Brazil and the UK. Mr Fedida, who today lives in France, said: “It is a real injustice if we are not allowed access to the registers. We owe it to our parents and our grandparents to do whatever we can to persuade the Egyptian government to do the right thing”.
https://www.thejc.com/news/world/vital-papers-proving-jewish-identity-held-back-by-egypt-1.436284

Jews Celebrate Mimouna Feast as Passover Ends [PHOTOS]
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 18, 2017 , 11:30 am

“Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses; for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one that is born in the land.” Exodus 12:19 (The Israel Bible™)
image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Minouna-Feast.jpg
Traditional food from Moroccan Mimouna Feast (Photo Flash 90)
Jews bade a delicious farewell to the gastronomic austerity of Passover by celebrating a North African traditional Mimouna feast. Politicians from all parties took the opportunity to indulge while posing for photographers.

For an entire week, Jews around the world refrained from eating chametz (leavened bread), so when Passover ended, the best way to celebrate is with bountiful yummies. Mimouna, a post-Passover feast originating in Morocco, is held on the day that tradition holds the wealth of the drowned Egyptians washed up on the shore of the Red Sea for the Israelis to carry away.
In Morocco, on the afternoon of the last day of Passover, Muslim neighbors would bring to the homes of their Jewish neighbors, gifts of flour, honey, milk, butter and green beans to be used to prepare post-Passover chametz dishes.
In Israel, the Mimouna has become a popular annual happening featuring outdoor parties, picnics, BBQs, and politics: A central celebration in Jerusalem’s Sacher Park draws about 100,000 people.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined a Mimouna celebration in the city of Hadera. He said that despite starting as a Moroccan tradition, Mimouna “has turned into a holiday for all the ethnic groups.” Politicians form all across the political spectrum used the colorful celebration as a backdrop for photo opportunities, but Miri Regev, the outspoken Culture and Sports Minister who is of Moroccan descent, took it one step further, dressing up in traditional Moroccan garb.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86666/jews-celebrate-mimouna-feast-passover-ends-photos/#bHdfhibfkdbgpdWP.99

Syria Claims US Airstrike Killed Dozens of Civilians
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 18, 2017 , 5:19 pm
“Blessed be Hashem my Rock, who traineth my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.” Psalms 144:1 (The Israel Bible™)
image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/isis-bomb.jpg
Coalition forces hitting to ISIS target in the Kobani district in Syria. (Shutterstock)
Claims that at least 30 Syrian civilians were killed on Tuesday when US warplanes hit an ISIS target in Syria have raised concerns that a renewed and aggressive approach to the war on terror may come at an unacceptable human cost.

The US military acknowledged that it had carried out 19 airstrikes in the Raqqa region on Tuesday, but denied knowledge of civilian casualties. This is the second time in one week that the US has been accused by Syria of killing non-combatants.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that coalition warplanes struck the town of al-Bukamal in the south of the province near the Iraqi border, killing three militants and 13 civilians, and seven civilians in the town of al-Husainiyah.
Last week, the Syrian government claimed that 49 people were killed in American airstrike on Al Jinah, a village in western Aleppo Province. United States officials claimed al-Qaeda were in the building hit by the airstrike, but residents said the warplanes struck a mosque.
President Donald Trump is giving the military more leeway in aggressively fighting terror groups in the region, while also opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Three weeks ago, Assad used sarin gas in an attack that killed almost 90 Syrians. The US responded with a missile strike targeting the airbase from which the chemical strike originated.Last Thursday, the US dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb on an Islamic State (ISIS) target in Afghanistan.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86694/syria-claims-us-airstrike-killed-dozens-civilians/#1cFZ1ySEo6MD2OwT.99

New Evidence Proves Allies Knew of Nazi Death Camps Much Earlier Than Previously Thought
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 18, 2017 , 4:42 pm
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“They have said: ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Yisrael may be no more in remembrance.’” Psalms 83:5 (The Israel Bible™)
Nazi roundup of Jews in Budapest, Hungary, October 1944. (Photo: Faupel/ German Federal Archives)
Newly released documents from the United Nations show that the Allies had full knowledge the Nazis were killing Jews en masse at least one full year before America even joined the Allied forces in World War II, much earlier than previously thought.
The Independent published an article on Tuesday about the newly published Human Rights After Hitler. The author, Dan Plesch told The Independent, “The major powers commented [on the mass murder of Jews] two-and-a-half years before it is generally assumed. “It was assumed they learned this when they discovered the concentration camps, but they made this public comment in December 1942.”
The documents were being held in an archive by the United Nations War Crimes Commission. They could only be accessed by obtaining permission from the person’s own national government, and also that of the UN Secretary General. Even then, for several years researchers were not permitted to make notes. Former American ambassador to the UN Samantha Powers took the action that made the archive available.
Plesch said that according to the documents, first-hand testimonies of concentration camp inmates were smuggled out in order to inform the Allied powers. Plesch said that despite this foreknowledge, the Allied Powers did little to try and help the Jews of Europe escape genocide.
Plesch stated that the efforts of the US envoy to the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC), Herbert Pell, were hampered by anti-Semites in the US State Department. Pell eventually went public with his accusations after the war, forcing the State Department to the prosecute the Nazi leadership at Nuremberg. This also became unavoidable after the highly publicized liberation of the concentration camps in the summer of 1945. Plesch maintains that many in the State Department were concerned that America’s economic relationship with Germany after the war would be damaged if these prosecutions went ahead.
“Among the reason given by the US and British policy makers for curtailing prosecutions of Nazis was the understanding that at least some of them would be needed to rebuild Germany and confront Communism, which at the time was seen as a greater danger,” Plesch wrote in his book.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86687/new-evidence-proves-allies-knew-nazi-death-camps-much-earlier-previously-thought/#BAI1rfAF0PLfxIFv.99

Devout Christian Killed in Jerusalem by Terrorist After Good Deed
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 15, 2017 , 11:49 pm
“Hashem trieth the righteous; but the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth.” Psalms 11:5 (The Israel Bible™)

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMG-20170414-WA0008.jpg
Ambulance at scene of attack (Photo courtesy of ZAKA)
Despite 3,500 security personnel in Jerusalem for the Christian and Jewish holidays, a Palestinian terrorist stabbed a 20 year old British female to death on Jerusalem’s light rail train.

Jamil al-Tamimi, a 57-year old Arab resident of Jerusalem from the Ras al-Amud neighborhood, began the attack around 12:45 Friday afternoon inside the train near the Jaffa Gate, stabbing Hannah Bladon in the chest several times. An off-duty policeman pulled the emergency brake and subdued Tamimi. A pregnant woman in her early 30’s and a man in his 50’s were also injured in the attack.

Moments before the attack, Bladon had given up her seat on the train to a woman with young children, putting herself next to the attacker.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86578/palestinian-terrorist-kills-british-christian-woman-jerusalem-video/#8TRVldIwOS4kbFps.99
PA Politician: There Are Settlers in the White House
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 16, 2017 , 7:30 am
“If a ruler hearkeneth to falsehood, all his servants are wicked.” Proverbs 29:12 (The Israel Bible™)
image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/trump-flag-face.png
(Breaking Israel News)
Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said on Saturday night that the White House is now dominated by right-wing pro-Israelis. It should be noted that she intended this to be a negative comment on the new administration
Ynet, a Hebrew language Israeli news service, reported that Ashrawi bemoaned the right-wing, pro-Israel stance of President Trump’s administration.

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Secretary_Clinton_Poses_for_a_Photo_With_PLO_Executive_Committee_Member_Hanan_Ashrawi_4775227177.jpg
Hanan Ashrawi (left) posing with then-Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton (right) (Photo via Wikimedia Commons)
“We used to say there were settlers in the Israeli coalition borne of the far right that detests Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. But today we say there are settlers inside the White House,” she said. “The administration has adopted the extreme Israeli position to the right of [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu which supports the settlements.”

Ashrawi is a non-practicing Anglican Christian. Her statements come just prior to the yet-to-be-scheduled first meeting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and President Trump.
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Though decidedly more pro-Israel than his predecessor, President Trump has not given the green-light to Jewish building in Judea and Samaria. In February, President Trump requested from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he “hold off on settlements for a bit”. Prime Minister Netanyahu complied, telling his security cabinet, “This is a very friendly administration and we need to be considerate of the president’s requests.”
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86589/pa-politician-settlers-white-house/#HW5T5hm62RG8b9ic.99

https://unitedwithisrael.org/trump-israel-a-monument-to-faith-and-endurance/
Trump: Israel a ‘Monument to Faith and Endurance’
passover Religious Freedom
Trump
In a holiday message celebrating freedom and hope, Trump said that the “State of Israel stands as a monument” to the Jewish People’s “faith and endurance.”

“This is a season of great hope,” US President Donald Trump stated in a message to the American people for the holiday season.

Passover, celebrated by Jews around the world, recalls the exodus from ancient Egypt and what Trump described as “the story of an incredible people who were liberated from oppression and raised up the face of humankind.”

Throughout the centuries, he continued, the Jewish People has suffered persecution, but they “persevered and thrived and uplifted the world beyond measure. The State of Israel stands as a monument to their faith and endurance.”

Easter Sunday, observed by Christians, is “another day of faith and celebration,” he said.

Trump warned, however, that “one of greatest threats to religious freedom is Islamic terror.

Just days after the US dropped the Mother of All Bombs” on an ISIS stronghold in Afghanistan, killing 90 terrorists and causing no civilian casualties, the American leader proclaimed that “freedom overcomes oppression and faith extinguishes fear.”

“America is a nation of believers,” where “good people of all faiths” – Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus – can worship according to their conscience.

Trump also specifically addressed those facing economic hardship, saying, “This White House is fighting for you.”

By: United with Israel Staff

North Korea Prepares for Nuclear Test as US Navy Approaches
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 13, 2017 , 12:00 pm
“When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, thou shalt not be afraid of them; for Hashem thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 20:1 (The Israel Bible™)
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(Photo: Graphic Stock)
President Trump’s international abilities are being tested as experts claim that North Korea is ready for another nuclear test. Tensions are rising as a US Navy strike group steams towards North Korea.
North Korean monitoring service 38 North told CNN on Wednesday that the country’s Punggye-ri nuclear site is “primed and ready” for a sixth nuclear test. North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests in total, three of them under current leader Kim Jong Un, indicating an intensifying nuclear program.
A US Naval strike group has been deployed to the region. North Korea also views the US missile strike against Syria as an indication of President Trump’s aggressive approach to foreign relations.
“The aggressive acts of war on the part of the United States are getting increasingly reckless,” a North Korean official told CNN in Pyongyang this week. “In response, we will continue to strengthen our self-defense capability.”
This announcement is especially disturbing in light of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announcing on Thursday that North Korea may have the capability to deliver missiles equipped with nerve gas. In an address to Japanese parliament’s diplomacy and defense committee, the prime minister said, “The security situation around our country is getting increasingly severe. We have just talked about Syria. There is a possibility that North Korea already has a capability to put sarin on warheads to strike the ground.”
North Korea is one of six countries that has not signed the international Chemical Weapons Convention. According to South Korea’s 2016 Defense White Paper, North Korea has 2,500 to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, including anthrax, smallpox and plague.
Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Donald Trump on Wednesday that he preferred using diplomatic means to smooth out relations between the US and North Korea, but President Trump made it clear that he was determined to resolve the issue in any manner necessary.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86510/north-korea-ready-explode/#0LBihwoQXRO7Zs7I.99



Left-Wing Israeli Newspaper Says Religious Jews Worse Than Terrorists
“For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit have they opened against me; they have spoken unto me with a lying tongue.” (Psalms 109:2)
Haaretz newspaper became the focus of widespread criticism for publishing an ope-ed article on Wednesday that called religious Zionists, “more [dangerous] than drivers in car-ramming attacks”.
Yossi Klein, a regular contributor to Haaretz, wrote:
“The national religious are dangerous. More dangerous than Hezbollah, more than drivers in car-ramming attacks or kids with scissors. The Arabs can be killed, but they cannot. What do they want? To rule the country and cleanse it of Arabs.”
“I have more in common with the Eskimo of Alaska than with all the [national-religious leaders] and everything they represent”, Klein wrote.
Haaretz publisher Amos Shocken dismissed the criticism in a twitter post.
“I don’t understand the excitement (Pavlovian, I must say) from the Yossi Klein’s article, when it is similar to something I said six years ago”
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86500/left-wing-israeli-newspaper-says-religious-jews-worse-terrorists/#iSS07ua1mcdCMh8V.99

Police Raid Homes, Seize Lambs, Preventing Passover Sacrifice
At Least 24 Arrested in Attempts to Bring Passover Sacrifice
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 12, 2017 , 12:00 pm
“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying: In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household;” Exodus 12:3 (The Israel Bible™)

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/kohanim-temple-jerusalem-passover-sacrifice.jpg
Kohanim blowing silver trumpets in a reenactment of a Temple service. (Photo: The Temple Institute)
Israeli Police raided the homes of seven Jews who had declared their intent to bring the Passover lamb sacrifice in Jerusalem, and arrested another 17 on their way to sacrifice lambs.

Over the last several days, Israeli Police raided the homes of seven Jews who declared their intent on social media to bring a sacrificial Paschal lamb to the Temple Mount on Monday, the eve of the Passover holiday. In addition, police set up roadblocks and searched people in the Old City of Jerusalem, arresting 17 people, including six minors. Six goats were confiscated and turned over to the Agriculture Ministry’s investigative department.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, an attorney from the Honenu organization representing some of the defendants, called the arrests a serious infringement of freedom of religion and democratic principles. “These are arrests to silence people and the police need to allow the Temple Mount activists freedom of worship,” Ben Gvir said. “Israel is losing its democratic nature, people cannot be arrested in the middle of the night just because they want to observe the commandments of Judaism.”
Last week, the Israeli police prevented the nascent Sanhedrin from holding their annual reenactment of the Passover sacrifice in an area adjacent to the Temple Mount. The event was moved at the last moment to an area inside the Jewish Quarter, and was attended by hundreds, including Likud Member of Knesset, Rabbi Yehudah Glick. The reenactment was performed by Kohanim (men of the priestly caste) wearing authentic garments as mandated by Torah law, and using vessels and musical instruments specifically prepared for use in the Thurd Temple by the Temple Institute.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86474/least-24-arrested-attempts-bring-passover-sacrifice/#iI8eC4EPeQRMOvXo.99

Trump Explains Military Attack on Assad Regime: “No Child of God Should Ever Suffer Such Horror” [VIDEO]
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 7, 2017 , 10:55 am
“Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a prince and commander to the peoples.” Isaiah 55:4 (The Israel Bible™)
image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/donald-trump.jpg
(Photo: @realDonaldTrump/ Twitter)
At a press conference from his his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Thursday, President Trump explained his decision to retaliate militarily to Syria’s nerve gas attack , invoking God’s name multiple times in a speech with strong religious overtones.
“No child of god should ever suffer such horror,” the president declared. “Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically. As a result the refugee crisis continues to deepen and the region continues to destabilize, threatening the United States and its allies. Tonight I call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types.”
“We ask for god’s wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world. We pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed. And we hope that as long as America stands for justice that peace and harmony will in the end prevail.”
“Goodnight and god bless America and the entire world.”
VIDEO MORE
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86282/trump-explains-military-attack-assad-regime-no-child-god-ever-suffer-horror-video/#x8peqjheG31Vg2tt.99




Russia Recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital–With A Catch
“At that time they shall call Yerushalayim the throne of Hashem; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of Hashem, to Yerushalayim; neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.” (Jeremiah 3:17)

Just in time for the 50th anniversary of the unification of Jerusalem, The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday, announcing they view Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. But there is a big catch that makes the offer entirely unappealing, and perhaps impossible to accept.
The announcement appeared on the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. It began as a generic statement concerning their position on the stalled negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, but concluded with the startling statement that they view West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Moscow is deeply concerned about the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Palestine and Israel have not held political negotiations for nearly three years, and the situation on the ground has been deteriorating.
Moscow reaffirms its support for the two-state solution as an optimal option that meets the national interests of the Palestinian and Israeli people, both of whom have friendly relations with Russia, and the interests of all other countries in the region and the international community as a whole.
We reaffirm our commitment to the UN-approved principles for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement, which include the status of East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state. At the same time, we must state that in this context we view West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86286/russia-recognizes-jerusalem-israels-capital-catch/#4iytjDKHFk8D1yOZ.99

'Sanhedrin Trail' Recreates Ancient High Court As it Was in Temple Times
Sanhedrin's Ancient Hall of Hewn Stones 'Brought Back to Life'
By JNI Media April 6, 2017 , 10:30 am
“And I charged your judges at that time, saying: ‘Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.'” Deuteronomy 1:16 (The Israel Bible™)
image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/sanhedrin-trail.jpg
An ad showing a hint of what the new app will offer hikers on the interactive trail. (Tovanot, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority)
The high court of the Sanhedrin used to meet in the Hall of Hewn Stones (Lishkat ha’Gazit) during the Second Temple period, and then, as Maimonides describes it, when law and order could no longer be maintained in Jerusalem, it left the city, and was “exiled” to ten different locations until it was finally disbanded. Now a new app will enable the reconstruction of the old court in the Galilee, bringing back to life—albeit virtually—the Sanhedrin scholars and other sages of the period.

This hi-tech miracle will take place along a new, “smart” Sanhedrin trail, which at about 45 miles will be among the longest hiking trails in Israel, will communicate with hikers using the innovative, reality-based app that integrates figures who guide hikers of all ages along the trail, creating an extraordinary, first of its kind experience. The trail will be divided into five segments that can be covered in the course of five days of walking. It will be suitable for families and will also include circular routes.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86221/sanhedrin-trail-recreates-ancient-high-court/#oPTvkFcIQ3cRdSki.99



Trump Meets Jordan’s King Abdullah Amid Talk of Regional Peace Initiative
By JNS April 6, 2017 , 8:30 am
“Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill-country, and Lebanon.” Deuteronomy 3:25 (The Israel Bible™)
image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/trump-abdullah.png
Donald Trump and Jordanian King Abdullah II hold a press conference at the White House on April 5, 2017. (Screenshot)
Jordan’s King Abdullah II met with President Donald Trump at the White House Wednesday, following an Arab summit hosted in the Hashemite kingdom last week and amid talk of a new regional peace initiative headed by the Trump administration.
In a press conference with Abdullah at the White House Rose Garden, Trump said that he will work with the Jordanian leader to obtain a peace deal.
“The king has been a really tireless advocate for a solution,” Trump said. “He’s going to help me with that — and help me at the highest level. We will be consulting with him very closely in the days ahead.”
Abdullah, who is visiting Washington for several days and met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi yesterday, characterized the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as “essentially the core conflict” of the region.
Abdullah also mentioned the Saudi-backed Arab Peace Initiative, which he said “offers a historic reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as all member states in the Arab League. It is the most comprehensive framework for a lasting peace.”
“It ensures statehood for the Palestinians, but also security, acceptance and normal ties for Israel with all Arab countries and, hopefully, all Islamic countries,” Abdullah added.
“You will find a strong ally in Jordan supporting you on all your policies,” Abdullah also told Trump.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86214/trump-meets-jordans-king-abdullah-amid-talk-regional-peace-initiative/#Y4Xtdvocd0UDFqrR.99

Palestinian Terrorist Murders IDF Soldier in Samaria Car-Ramming Terror Attack
Apr 6, 2017
A Palestinian terrorist murdered an IDF soldier and wounded another in a vehicular terror attack in Samaria.

A Palestinian terrorist rammed his car into IDF soldiers at a bus station near the Israeli community of Ofra, in the Binyamin region of Samaria, murdering one and wounding another.

The terrorist reportedly drove along route 60, a main route in the area, searching for victims. He drove past the bus stop, and after spotting the soldiers, made a U-turn and rammed his car into them.

The terrorist was arrested by other soldiers present on site and taken into custody.

The killed soldier, Elhi Taharlev, 20 of the Golani Brigade, was pronounced dead on site after a medical team was unable to save his life. The wounded soldier, who sustained light wounds to his legs, was evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital for treatment.

Palestinian media identified the terrorist as Malek Ahmad Mousa Hamed, 21, from the nearby town of Silwad.

Nachum Bienenfeld, a volunteer EMT with United Hatzalah, who rushed to the scene of the attack said he found “a very tragic and difficult situation.”

“The Palestinian vehicle had come up on the sidewalk, and rammed into a group of soldiers who were standing near the bus stop. The vehicle had continued and landed in a ditch by the side of the road. IDF medical teams treated those injured in the attack. Security poles that had been set up near the bus stop due to a previous ramming attack that had taken place at that bus stop prevented injury to other civilians who were standing at the bus stop,” he recounted.

Israel’s security establishment has warned Palestinian terror organizations will attempt to carry out attacks ahead of the Passover holiday, which will be celebrated this coming Monday.

The Hamas terror group praised the deadly attack.

Taharlev was the son of Rabbi Ohad Taharlev, a well known rabbi, and Avital, from Talmon in Samaria. He is survived by six siblings.

This incident is the latest in a long series of Palestinian terror attacks, which have plagued Israelis over the course of more than a year, claiming the lives of 46 victims and wounding over 650.

By: United with Israel Staff

https://unitedwithisrael.org/palestinian-terrorist-murders-idf-soldier-in-samaria-car-ramming-terror-attack/?utm_source=pushengage&utm_medium=push_notification&utm_campaign=pushengage

https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86177/rabbis-agree-today-jewish-people-required-bring-passover-sacrifice/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=654ba6214a-BIN_morning_4_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6d3627f72-654ba6214a-83546481&mc_cid=654ba6214a&mc_eid=8dcaf513ae#KoH9I7sMYS0iLfE8.97
Passover Temple Sacrifice Could Be Ready ‘Within One Hour’ if Necessary
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 5, 2017 , 12:30 pm
“Then Moshe called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them: ‘Draw out, and take you lambs according to your families, and kill the passover lamb.’” Exodus 12:21 (The Israel Bible™)

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/korban.jpg

A high priest making an animal offering. (Wikimedia Commons)
Jews are required by the Torah to bring the Passover sacrifice today and failure to do so is one of the worst sins possible, asserted Temple expert Rabbi Chaim Richman in his most controversial video yet. As provocative as this sounds, there is no rabbinic authority that disputes this, and everything stands ready to make this 2,000-year dream of the Jewish people materialize.

The strongest argument, notes Rabbi Richman, co-founder and International Director of the Temple Institute, is that the Torah specifically designates this mitzvah (Torah commandment) as being eternal.

And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. Exodus 12:24

There are only two mitzvot for which non-compliance receives the most severe punishment mandated by the Torah, karet (being cut off from the community, or excommunicated): brit milah (circumcision) and the korban Pesach (Passover sacrifice).

Despite various issues of Jewish law, such as ritual impurity, lack of a high priest, and lack of an altar, Jews are still required – and able – to bring the sacrifice, the rabbi declares.

“Today, under the present circumstances, all this could actually be done,” Rabbi Richman concluded. “Let’s get serious about fulfilling our eternal obligation.”

Bringing the Passover Sacrifice

Though Rabbi Richman’s call for the reinstatement of the official sacrifice may sound extreme, Rabbi Hillel Weiss, spokesman for the nascent Sanhedrin, assured Breaking Israel News that there is no Torah authority that rules otherwise.

“I am surprised this subject still comes up,” Rabbi Weiss said. “This was settled by Jewish law over one hundred years ago, when it was decided that the requirement still existed.”

Though non-fulfillment of this important mitzvah bears a harsh punishment, Rabbi Weiss explained that since the Jewish people were being prevented from performing the mitzvah, according to Jewish law, the Jews are exempt.

“All of Israel should receive the punishment,” Rabbi Weiss said. “But since they are being prevented, against their will, the judgement is not against them.”

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In this case, the sacrifice is stopped by Israel’s government. The Jerusalem police recently rejected a petition from the Sanhedrin from holding a reenactment of the Passover sacrifice in Davidson Center, an archeological park adjacent to the Western Wall. The area has no significance to Islam, but police are concerned that this open display of the Temple ceremony will lead to Islamic violence.

The man responsible for preparing the Temple Mount for the sacrifice is Yaakov Hayman, head of the Friends of the Temple organization. He stated that everything stands ready to perform the Passover sacrifice.

“If the government gave us permission 24 hours in advance, it would be difficult but I am sure we would find a way to make it happen,” Hayman told Breaking Israel News. “The main difficulty is that the altar has to be built from the correct stones in the correct place.”

Hayman noted that the stones for the altar may not be quarried, or shaped by iron instruments.

And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast profaned it. Exodus 20:21

“I am working on a project of gathering together stones and numbering them so they can be assembled immediately, within one hour,” Hay
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86177/rabbis-agree-today-jewish-people-required-bring-passover-sacrifice/#T8TjvDrVFa8BQs5j.99


https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/85840/parshat-vayikra-trouble-sacrifices-opinion/#Q6ySKc3jIvDL0VPK.97
Parshat Vayikra: The Trouble with Sacrifices
By Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo March 30, 2017 , 8:00 am
Does Judaism really need animal sacrifices? Would it not be better off without them? After all, the sacrificial cult seems to compromise Judaism. What does a highly ethical religion have to do with the collecting of blood in vessels and the burning of animal limbs on an altar?

No doubt Judaism should be sacrifice-free. Yet it is not.

So, is the offering of sacrifices Jewish, or not? The answer is an unequivocal yes. It is Jewish, but it doesn’t really belong to Judaism.

If Judaism had had the chance, it would have dropped the entire institution of sacrifices in the blink of an eye. Better yet, it would have had no part of it to begin with. How much more beautiful the Torah would be without sacrifices! How wonderful it would be if a good part of Sefer Vayikra were removed from the biblical text; or had never been there in the first place.

So what are these sacrifices doing there?

The Torah doesn’t really represent Judaism. Not in its ideal form. Not in all its glory.

There are actually two kinds of Judaism. There is the Judaism of today and the Judaism of tomorrow. There is realistic Judaism and idyllic Judaism. What fills the gap between them is the world of Halacha. Halacha is the balancing act between the doable and the ideal; between approximate means and absolute ends; between what is and what ought to be. It is a great mediator, and a call for hope.

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The Judaism of today is a concession to human weakness, but at the same time a belief in the greatness and strength of man. It calls upon people to do whatever is in their power to climb as high as possible, but warns them not to overstep and fall into the abyss. Judaism asks of humans to be magnificent beings, but never angels – because to be too much is to be less than.

But Judaism also believes that people may one day reach the point where what was impossible might be possible. What ought to be may someday become reality. It is that gap that Halacha tries to fill. Indeed, a mediator.

Many people believe that concessions to human weaknesses are incompatible with the divine will, which should not be compromised by human shortcomings.

But Judaism thinks otherwise.

Judaism is amused by Baruch Spinoza’s ideal world in which passions and human desires have no place, since they upset the philosopher’s “good life” of amor intellectualis Dei (the intellectual love of God). Spinoza’s philosophy is so great that, with perhaps a few exceptions, it is not viable. He proved the shortcomings of his own philosophy when he became enraged at the political murders of the Dutch influential De Witt brothers in 1672. He told the great philosopher Gottfried Leibniz that he had planned to hang a large poster in the town square, reading ultimi barbarorum (extreme barbarians), but was prevented from doing so by his hostess who locked the door on him, as she feared that Spinoza himself would be murdered! (K.O.Meinsma, Spinoza En Zijn Kring:Historisch kritische Studiën Over Hollandsche Vrijgeesten – in Dutch [Den Haag, 1896] p. 358, fn. 1)

Perhaps Spinoza’s Ethics is the ideal, but how immature to believe that it is attainable. How different his Ethics would have been had Spinoza married, fathered children, and understood the limitations of daily life.

Halacha is pragmatic. It has no patience for Spinoza’s Ethics and no illusions about human beings. Indeed, it expects people to extend themselves to the limit, but it acknowledges the long and difficult road between the is and the ought-to-be. And it understands all too well that the ought-to-be may never be reached in a person’s lifetime.

Judaism teaches that the Divine limits itself out of respect for the human being. It was God Who created this imperfect person. So He could not have given the Ethics of Spinoza at Sinai; only Divine, “imperfect” laws that deal with the here-and-now and offer just a taste of the ought-to-be. Judaism teaches that if the perfect is unattainable, one should at least try to reach the possible; the manageable; that which can be achieved. If we can’t do it all, let us attempt to make some improvement. If you must wage war, do it as ethically as possible. If universal vegetarianism is inconceivable, try to treat animals more humanely and slaughter them painlessly. That is doable Judaism.

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True, this is not the ideal—indeed, the Torah is sometimes an embarrassment—but it’s all that God could command at Sinai. It’s not the ought-to-be Judaism, but it’s a better-than-nothing Judaism.

The great art is to make the doable Judaism, with all of its problems, as ethical as possible; and instead of despairing about its shortcomings, to live it as joyfully as we can. As Spinoza has taught us, “Joy is man’s passage from a lesser to a greater perfection”(Ethics, 3, definitions 2 & 3). Oh, Baruch, did you forget your own insights?

Sacrifices are not part of the ought-to-be Judaism. They are far removed from the Judaism that Spinoza dreamed of. But they are a realistic representation of the doable with an eye toward the ought-to-be.

In one of his most daring statements, Maimonides maintains that sacrifices are a compromise to human weakness. The ancient world of idol worship was deeply committed to animal sacrifices. It was so ingrained in the way of life of the Jews’ ancestors that it was “impossible to go suddenly from one extreme to the other,” and “the nature of man will not allow him to suddenly discontinue everything to which he is accustomed” (Guide for the Perplexed, 3:32). Therefore, God permitted the Jews to continue the sacrificial cult, but only for “His service,” and with many restrictions, the ultimate goal being that with time the Jews would be weaned from this trend of worship; from the is to the ought-to-be.

By making this and similar statements, Maimonides no doubt laid the foundations for Spinoza’s dream of an ultimate system of ethics, just as he planted the seeds of Spinoza’s pantheism. But Maimonides realized that the time had not yet come; that it was still a long road from the reality to the dream.

In contradiction to his statements in the Guide for the Perplexed, Maimonides, in his famous Mishneh Torah, speaks about the need for sacrifices even in the future Temple (Hilchot Melachim, 11:1). I believe he thus expresses his doubt that the ought-to-be Judaism will ever become a reality in this world.

Maimonides did not live in the Dutch town of Rijnsburg, in an iron tower far removed from the real world, as did Spinoza. Maimonides lived in a down-to-earth world full of human strife, problems and pain. He was a renowned halachist, and he knew that the halachic system is one that instructs man to keep both feet on the ground while simultaneously striving for what is realistically possible.

Still, perhaps the institution of sacrifice is grounded in deep symbolism, the meaning and urgency of which escapes our modern mentality. The fact that idol worshipers made use of it in their abominable rituals doesn’t mean that it can’t be of great spiritual value when practiced on a much higher plane, something deeply ingrained in a part of the human psyche to which modern man no longer has access. And yet, it doesn’t contradict the fact that it ought to be different, so that even the higher dimensions of sacrifices become irrelevant. When Judaism and Spinoza’s Ethics will one day prevail, there will indeed be no need for sacrifices.

But what happened in the meantime? The Temple was destroyed and sacrificial service came to an end. Is this a step forward, or backward? When religious Jews to this day pray for the reinstatement of sacrifices, are they asking to return to the road between the is and the ought-to-be; between the dream and its realization? Or, are they praying to reinstate sacrifices as a middle stage, only to eventually get rid of them forever?

We need to ask ourselves a pertinent question: Is our aversion to sacrifices the result of our supreme spiritual sophistication, which caused us to leave the world of sacrifices behind us? Or, have we sunk so low that we aren’t even able to reach the level of idol worshipers who, however primitive we believe them to have been, possessed a higher spiritual level than some of us who call ourselves monotheists?

This question is of great urgency in a modern world that slaughtered six million Jews and continues to slaughter millions of other people. Have we surpassed the state of is and are we on our way to the ought-to-be Judaism? Or, are we on the brink of a Judaism that is not even at the stage of is but rather in a state of regression, while we convince ourselves that it is in a state of progression? (*)

Indeed, a haunting question; one that we cannot escape.

Reprinted with author’s permission from The Times of Israel
Read more at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/parshat-vayikra-the-trouble-with-sacrifices/#LSb5b2Wl4bcc0fca.99


http://www.davidhocking.org/blog/?p=156
THE GOD OF ISRAEL
When God refers to Himself in the Bible in relationship to the nations of the world, there is only one nation that He speaks of in that context – the Nation of Israel. He calls Himself “THE GOD OF ISRAEL” over 200 times, but never says He is the “God of America” or the “God of Japan” or the “God of Russia” etc. The Bible calls Him “THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL” 108 times!

Jewish people do not pronounce His Name that He gave to Moses in Exodus 3:14: “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” When we read in the English Bible (Old King James consistently does it!) the word “LORD” and the word is composed of all capital letters, it is translating into English what the Jewish people call the “tetragrammaton” – the sacred four letters in Hebrew that form the Name of God. Rather than trying to pronounce His sacred Name, Jewish people will often simply substitute the words “HASHEM” meaning “The Name.” Some translate the word into English as “YAHVEH” or “YAHWEH.” The problem here is there were no vowel markings on the letters of old Hebrew. They did not come until around the 9th century AD. Jewish people will also substitute the word “ADONAI” for the sacred Name. A common greeting might be: “BARUCH HASHEM ADONAI ELOHIM” meaning “Blessed be the Name of the Lord God.”

The Hebrew word for “GOD” is usually “ELOHIM” (plural form) and is used for “GOD” 2605 times in the Bible. The singular form “EL” is used for God another 1007 times. We also have the word “ELOAH” which appears 56 times; the word “ELYON” is found 78 times. In addition, we have a Hebrew word used for the Lord God that refers to an “earthly lord” – ADOWN or ADONAI and it is used 331 times in reference to God – after all, He is LORD of all the earth!

When God spoke directly to Abraham in Genesis 17:1, He said: “I AM THE ALMIGHTY GOD” – The Hebrew words are “EL SHADDAI.”

The “tetragrammaton” (four letters – YHWH and in English: YAHVEH) is found 6823 times in the Bible! The simple form “YAH” is found 52 more times. This word is a form of the verb “TO BE” and it appears in the follow three tenses:
Past – “HAYAH” – meaning “was”
Present – “HOVEH” – meaning “is”
Future – “YIHYEH” – meaning “will be”
He is the God Who was, and is, and is to come – the eternal God without beginning or end!

When people ask “WHY IS ISRAEL SO IMPORTANT?” A simple answer is: GOD!

Rivlin: Israel Will ‘Do All it Can’ to Aid Survivors of Syrian Gas Attack
President Reuven Rivlin pledged that Israel “will do all it can” to aid the survivors of Assad’s chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians.

Israel’s leaders issued sharp condemnation of the chemical attack perpetrated by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday against citizens in the Idlib province that killed dozens, demanding that the world take action against these atrocities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “shocked and outraged” by images of the victims and called on the international community to “fully and finally remove these horrible weapons from Syria.”

President Reuven Rivlin stated that the incident was “a stain on all humanity,” demanding that the international community, “in its entirety,” come together to bring an end to “this murderous madness and ensure that such scenes will never be repeated anywhere.”

“I call on the leaders of the international community – and among them the leading powers – to act now, without delay, to stop these criminal, murderous acts taking place in Syria by the hand of the Assad regime, and to work urgently to remove all stockpiles of chemical weapons from Syrian territory,” he stated.

He pledged that Israel, “a people which survived the greatest of atrocities and rose from the ashes to be a strong and secure nation,” will do all it can to continue to aid “the survivors of the horrors in Syria.”

“We know all too well how dangerous silence can be, and we cannot remain mute,” he concluded.

Bennett Urges Emergency Security Cabinet Meeting
Education Minister Naftali Bennett urged Netanyahu to convene an emergency security cabinet on the situation. The use of chemical weapons in neighboring Syria against civilians should force Israel to “rethink its stance,” he said, adding the importance of examining the “security implications on the region” as well as the “systematic genocide” in Syria.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked called on prominent world Jewish leaders to use their influence to promote action.

“We as Jews are faced with the obligation to at least shout out to the nations of the world, in particular to President Trump, to take action and stop the horrible massacre that has continued for six years, using conventional and non-conventional weapons,” she stated.

‘Another Chemical Attack and the World Stays Silent’
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Danny Danon said that “the world cannot be silent in the face of the horrific massacre in Syria and allow this devastation to repeat itself.” He called on the UN to act “immediately” to put an end to the use of any chemical weapons and ensure their removal from Syria.

“This is the UN’s true purpose and it must fulfill this fundamental responsibility,” he stated.

Israel has repeatedly warned against the dangers posed by Assad’s regime, maintaining that the project to terminate his chemical weapons capabilities was not reliable. A former chief of military intelligence, Amos Yadlin, said that the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons against civilians is a red line and even suggested that Israel should destroy Syrian planes engaged in such attacks.

Assad should “pay for his war crimes,” he said, adding, “another chemical attack and the world stays silent.”

By: United with Israel Staff
https://unitedwithisrael.org/rivlin-israel-will-do-all-it-can-to-aid-survivors-of-syrian-gas-attack/?utm_source=pushengage&utm_medium=push_notification&utm_campaign=pushengage

Benjamin Netanyahu: World Must Remove Chemical Weapons from Syria
By Andrew Friedman April 5, 2017 , 10:30 am
“Thou hast slain them in the day of Thine anger; Thou hast slaughtered unsparingly.” Lamentations 2:21 (The Israel Bible™)

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/bibi-fist.jpg


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Kobi Richter/TPS)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the international community to fulfill Security Council resolutions and stop the Assad regime and rebel groups in Syria from using chemical weapons.

“When I saw pictures of babies suffocating from a chemical attack in Syria, I was shocked and outraged. There’s no, none, no excuse whatsoever for the deliberate attacks on civilians and on children, especially with cruel and outlawed chemical weapons. I call on the international community to fulfill its obligation from 2013 to fully and finally remove these horrible weapons from Syria,” said Netanyahu during a memorial ceremony for the late President Chaim Herzog at in Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem.

Dozens of people, including 11 children, died Tuesday in a suspected chemical attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun in the Syrian province of Idlib. The region, located in the northwestern part of the country, is controlled by Syrian rebels and is believed to have been perpetrated by the Syrian army. The attack was followed by an airstrike on a medical installation where victims of the attack were being treated. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, medical sources onsite described it as a gas attack when many people started to choke or faint, and had foam coming out of their mouths, seemingly from chlorine or sarin gas.

In 2013, the UN Security Council adopted unanimously resolution 2118 determining that the use of chemical weapons anywhere constituted a threat to international peace and security, and called for the full implementation an Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) resolution spelling out special procedures for the rapid and verifiable destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons.

image: https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/useful_banner_manager_banners/512-TFI-EmergencyJerusalem-Mar2017-600WIDE.jpg

Closer to home, Education Minister Naftali Bennett called on Netanyahu to convene an emergency Security Cabinet session regarding the use of chemical warfare in Syria. In a statement, Bennett said the discussion should deal with the humanitarian aspect of the crisis, the security implications on the region, the meaning of chemical weapons being reintroduced and the systematic genocide being carried out in Syria.

According to the Minister, the use of chemical weapons against civilians requires Israel’s inner Security Cabinet to rethink its stance.
Meretz Chairman MK Zehava Gal-On urged the Israeli government to call on the international community to act to stop the attacks on Syrian soil and the growing use of chemical weapons. “Assad learned from the silence of the world that he has carte blanche, and he does not hesitate to use it on innocent civilians in Syria.”

Dr. Ronen Hoffman, an international relations expert and former negotiators with Syria, argued the massacre in Syria is “further proof” that former US President Obama’s policies in the Middle East have proven to be a failure. “The terrible news from the massacre in Syria marks the end of Obama’s policy in the Middle East. One of the major points credited to Obama was his activities in disarming Assad from his chemical weapons, which seems like a joke today in light of Assad using them freely,” said Hoffman.

“The news from Syria along with US President Trump’s warm embrace with Egyptian President al-Sisi, which cancels out the cold shoulder Obama was giving Egypt, completely erase the legacy of Obama and his foreign policy in the region,” Hoffman concluded.

Ilana Messika participated in this report.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86142/benjamin-netanyahu-world-must-remove-chemical-weapons-syria/#SyxEyWgL57fMjorm.99

Muslim Baroness Calls on UK to Prosecute Brits Serving in IDF
Apr 2, 2017
A British Muslim and former politician has called on the UK to prosecute citizens serving in the IDF, equating the Israeli military with ISIS.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a former Conservative party cabinet member who resigned from her post in 2014 because the UK government did not condemn Israel’s counter-terrorism Operation Protective Edge, has called on the British government to prosecute citizens who volunteer to fight in the IDF.
Warsi, a British Muslim, said she was seeking to eliminate a loophole allowing Brits to serve in state armies like those of Israel or Pakistan as well as in non-state militaries such as the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group.
“If you go out there and fight for any group, you will be subject to prosecution when you get back. If you go out and fight for Assad, I presume, under our law, that is okay. That can’t be right,” Warsi said in an interview with Middle East Eye.
According to Warsi, anyone who serves in the IDF should be treated as a foreign fighter, much like those who have gone to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
MORE https://unitedwithisrael.org/muslim-baroness-calls-on-uk-government-to-prosecute-brits-serving-in-idf/

Trump-Netanyahu Settlement Talks Suspended - For Now
By JNI Media April 2, 2017 , 10:30 am
“For ever, O Hashem, Thy word standeth fast in heaven.” (Psalms 119:89)
The talks between Israel and the Trump Administration regarding “restraining” settlement construction as a means to encourage Palestinian Authority participation in future peace negotiations have been suspended, Israel Radio reported Sunday morning.
According to the report, no understandings or summaries were reached in the most recent, four-day round of talks between Prime Minister Benjmain Netanyahu’s and President Donald Trump’s representatives in Washington DC. As a result, the prime minister has decided to adopt a new policy which unilaterally accepts the President’s position but is not part of an official, bilateral agreement with the White House.
Netanyahu presented this decision to his cabinet on Thursday. The same cabinet meeting also passed a unanimous decision to build Amona 2, near the Shiloh community in Samaria. The same meeting also decided to disallow new unsanctioned outposts outside the settlements block in Judea and Samaria and to enforce real curbs on new construction inside the blocks.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/85966/talks-trump-curbing-settlement-construction-suspended/#SF8jtx1hE1CEP51S.99


Temple Mount "Martyr" Stabs Two Torah Scholars, Policeman on Shabbat in Old City
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 2, 2017 , 12:30 pm
“Hashem trieth the righteous; but the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth.” Psalms 11:5 (The Israel Bible™)
Crowds of Arabs prepare to riot at Damascus Gate (Photo by Flash90)
A Palestinian terrorist took selfies on the Temple Mount before stabbing two young yeshiva students in the Old City of Jerusalem over the Sabbath on Saturday, leading to a foot chase during which he succeeded in stabbing a policeman and two young Torah students before being shot and killed.
Prior to the attack, 17-year-old Ahmad Jazal, a Palestinian from the West Bank, visited the Temple Mount, a known rallying point for Arab terrorists, on Saturday afternoon (Muslims are allowed to ascend and pray freely at the site; Jews and Christians are not). He took photos of himself in front of the Dome of the Rock which he then posted to his Twitter account. He then descended into the city and began his attack on Hagai Street around 3:30 in the afternoon.
He first attacked two young ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, or Torah scholars, who were walking through the cobblestone alleyways of the Old City in the quiet Shabbat afternoon. The terrorist stabbed both young men, aged 18 and 20, and then fled the scene.
Jazal was immediately pursued by IDF Border Policemen, who chased him into a nearby building, where he stabbed one of the policemen before they shot and killed him. The three Israelis were lightly to moderately injured.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/85941/terrorist-takes-selfies-temple-mount-stabbing-spree-video/#QlSYuRZGOfmyLok6.99


'Mountain of Blessings' Yields Prophecy as Christian Lovers of Israel Farm the Land
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz April 3, 2017 , 12:30 pm
“Again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the mountains of Shomron; the planters shall plant, and shall have the use thereof.” Jeremiah 31:4 (The Israel Bible™)
Illustrative: vineyard. (Shutterstock.com)
Motivated by a powerful desire to take part in the manifestation of prophecy, a Christian organization called HaYovel has just completed its twelfth season of bringing Christian volunteers to Israel to help farm the holy land. Despite a millennium of difficult relations, Jewish farmers are opening their fields and their hearts, bringing about a reciprocal prophecy, and at least one rabbi has ruled that accepting this hand of friendship is a prophetic imperative.
The organization is a family effort led by Tommy and Sherri Waller, devout Christian Zionists committed to helping bring Biblical prophecy to life in Israel after seeing its physical manifestation in the replanting of ancient farmlands. But when Tommy Waller came up with a plan to bring Christian volunteers to work on Jewish farms, he found that Jews were reluctant to accept. After a millennium of difficult relations in which Jewish-Christian relations were dominated by Jewish persecution and Christian proselytizing, many Jews suspected Waller’s motives.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86038/hayovel-harvesting-grapes-mountain-blessings-prophesied-jeremiah/#EMkFIURTgh6cRVsK.99


Trump’s Jewish Son-in-Law and Top Advisor Quietly Travels to Iraq
“A wicked messenger falleth into evil; but a faithful ambassador is health.” (Proverbs 13:17)
Jared Kushner, the Jewish son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, reportedly traveled to Iraq over the weekend with a number of defense officials. Kushner, who has been tasked by Trump with the onerous burden of fostering a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, serves as one of the president’s closest and most trusted advisors, but his role on the short Middle East trip is unclear.
The White House has not made any formal announcement or statement regarding the trip, nor Kushner’s participation, declining to even confirm his presence in the Middle East. The New York Times reported that Kushner had been invited to join by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph F. Dunford Jr.
A senior Trump official said on Sunday that Kushner had wanted to see the situation in Iraq, where the US military is active, first-hand, as well as show support for the US-backed Iraqi government.
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86024/jared-kushner-makes-unannounced-trip-iraq/#9vGIebZkM4tqezWB.99



Israel Switches On Last Line of Missile Defense as War Reaches Borders
“Hashem is my strength and my shield, in Him hath my heart trusted, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth, and with my song will I praise Him.” (Psalms 28:7)
By: Adam Abrams
Israel’s David’s Sling anti-missile system became operational Sunday, marking the completion of the Jewish state’s three-tiered air defense arsenal.
David’s Sling, also known as the “Magic Wand,” joins the Iron Dome and Arrow systems, with all three missile interceptors jointly developed and funded by the U.S. and Israel. As the middle tier of Israel’s missile defense apparatus, David’s Sling is designed to intercept mid-to-long-range ballistic missiles with ranges between 25-190 miles. Iron Dome intercepts short-range targets, and Arrow has the longest-range capabilities—its latest iteration can intercept long-range ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
A test of Israel’s David’s Sling missile defense system in November 2012. (Israeli Ministry of Defense/Flash90)
Iron Dome has been widely praised for protecting Israeli civilians from indiscriminate rocket attacks emanating from Gaza, particularly during the 2012 and 2014 conflicts between Hamas and Israel. Arrow intercepted a Syrian missile last month in the system’s first operational use in its 17 years of existence.
Sunday’s David’s Sling inauguration ceremony at Israel’s Hatzor military base was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Air Force (IAF) Commander Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel and Brig.-Gen. Zvika Haimovich, commander of the air force’s Aerial Defense Division.
“David’s Sling is a system that covers the ranges in between,” Netanyahu said Sunday. “It has immense significance [for] Israel’s security, and I would like to praise the people of the Defense Ministry, the IDF, research and development, and all the other elements that acted to enable this system to be operational. We are defending the home front.”
Lieberman said there is “no alternative to this system…Thanks to this system, we will be able to deal with our enemies, which we unfortunately have.”
Read more at https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/86018/israels-davids-sling-goes-online-amid-heightened-tension-multiple-fronts/#sS6xY5VLWm2udy4s.99