In The News:

This first article won't get a lot of publicity, and it first glance it doesn't seem very remarkable, but a deeper analysis could prove ominous. At least for Israel. Many of us have speculated that the Responsibility To Protect (RTP) doctrine could be enacted and pave the way for the covenant of Daniel 9:27. The RTP doctrine, championed by George Soros and President Obama could easily be the basis of sending in troops to Israel in order to 'confirm the covenant'.

It is in that context that we see this first article:

Obama Approves Anti-Israel 'Briefing' At UN

The Obama administration approved a move by the United Nations to invite Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to brief the Security Council on Israel.

“Though the U.S. is a veto-holding power, the extraordinary move has full American approval” and “was a trade-off for having the high commissioner brief the Council on the subject of Syria,” according to National Review.

Pillay, known for her anti-Israel sentiments, has compared “violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers” with “summary executions, rape and torture” in Cote d’Ivoire, “brutal violence” affecting “tens of thousands” in Syria, and “systematic torture” in Afghanistan.

She questioned the legality of the killing of Osama bin Laden within hours of his death; she is the lead champion of the Durban “anti-racism” declaration and conferences; She remained seated while democracies walked out en masse when speaker Iranian president Ahmadinejad questioned the veracity of the Holocaust.

Iran: We Can Hit U.S., Israeli Targets 'Within Minutes'

Iran has threatened to destroy US military bases across the Middle East and target Israel within minutes of being attacked, Iranian media reported on Wednesday, as Revolutionary Guards extended test-firing of ballistic missiles into a third day.

Israel has hinted it may attack Iran if diplomacy fails to secure a halt to its disputed nuclear energy program. The United States also has mooted military action as a last-resort option but has frequently nudged the Israelis to give time for intensified economic sanctions to work against Iran.

"These bases are all in range of our missiles, and the occupied lands (Israel) are also good targets for us," Amir Ali Haji Zadeh, commander of the Revolutionary Guards aerospace division, was quoted by Fars news agency as saying.

Haji Zadeh said 35 US bases were within reach of Iran's ballistic missiles, the most advanced of which commanders have said could hit targets 2,000 km away.

Israel: "Will Turn Into Ashes Within Seconds"

Most people have no idea why Iran is so fixated on Israel. It goes one step beyond the usual learned hatred of the Nation of Israel - it's actually all about waiting for and precipitating the coming of the Mahdi:

A senior Iranian cleric is warning Israel that if it attacks the Islamic state’s nuclear facilities, it will be burned to the ground.

In an event dubbed “Followers of Hidden Imam,” Ayatollah Seyed Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts and the substitute Friday Prayer leader of Tehran, said, “Should Israel commit madness, it will turn into ashes within seconds,” according to Fars News Agency, the Revolutionary Guards’ media outlet.

Shiites believe their 12th Imam, Mahdi, will reappear at the end of times and kill all infidels, raising the flag of Islam in all four corners of the world.

The attendants at Tuesday’s event, which was organized by the cultural center for the “Hidden Imam” in the city of Shiraz, discussed actions needed for the reappearance of the last Islamic messiah.

“The followers of the Imam have one thing in common, and that is a love for martyrdom and complete submission to their leader,” Khatami said. “The heartbeat of the nuclear issue is in the hands of the supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei), and the decision of what to do with America is only upon him.”

As revealed in the Iranian documentary “The Coming Is Upon Us,” centuries-old hadiths have predicted the current climate in the Middle East – the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and the events in Afghanistan and other parts of the region – which has Iran’s radical leaders excited the time for Mahdi’s reappearance is ever closer.

More importantly, the hadiths cited in the documentary said the two most important events that would trigger the coming would be the death of Saudi King Abdullah (who is currently very ill) and then the destruction of Israel.

“For the Zionists and the Christians, who know the miserable destiny of the Jews, they themselves are followers of evil and are damned in the kingdom of Allah,” the editorial said, calling Khamenei the deputy of the last Islamic messiah on earth and Hassan Nasrollah, the leader of the Lebanon terrorist group Hezbollah, his commander. “There is clarity in the words of Allah in regards to the Jews – ‘they broke their oath, therefore we damned them and made their hearts out of stone’ – so that they cannot be forgiven.

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