Monday, August 6, 2012

Daily Headlines:

MIDDLE EAST:


Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu joined Defense Minister Ehud Barak on a tour of the Kerem Shalom area Monday where a terrorist infiltration was thwarted Sunday night.

Netanyahu, near the burned out stolen Egyptian armed jeep, praised the soldiers and officers at the scene for their preparedness for the attack.

Netanyahu said the failed attack proved once again that when it comes to the security of Israeli citizens, Israel "can and must rely only on itself. There is no one except the IDF and security forces of Israel that can do this, and we will continue to do so."




After a week in which security officials past and present explained why they strongly oppose an Israeli attack on Iran, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has clarified why he is seriously considering taking action against the Iranian nuclear facilities.

Netanyahu made the remarks in a closed meeting and was quoted on Sunday in a report on Channel 2 News.

“Khamenei is not a rational leader, just like the leaders of North Korea who are totally unpredictable,” Netanyahu was quoted in the report as having said. He added that when Iranians speak of the destruction of Israel they may really mean it.

He also addressed the possibility of American involvement in the attack and said, “I am not messianistic. I too wish that the United States will do the job.” He stressed, however, that under the conditions that the United States is placing and given the pace at which Iran enriches uranium, American involvement is not certain.



Iran is sending thousands of fighters to help the Bashar Assad regime in it’s ongoing conflict with rebel forces, according to a Syrian opposition leader.

Col. Abdul-Jabbar Mohammed Aqidi, the commander of rebel forces in Aleppo province, was quoted in Al Arabiya on Saturday saying that 3,000 Iranians had already passed through Damascus International Airport in the last week.

Israel Radio reported that more than 140 people were killed in Syria on Friday, mostly in Aleppo. The commercial hub along with the capital, Damascus, have become the recent focal points for the Bashar Assad regime in its 17-month bloody crackdown on dissenters.


Iran warned on Sunday against foreign intervention in Syria and said the conflict there could engulf Israel.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani accused the US and regional countries he did not name of providing military support to rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“The fire that has been ignited in Syria will take the fearful [Israelis] with it,” Larijani said on Sunday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)

One Israeli government official said that since the beginning of the unrest in Syria last year, both Syria and the Iranians “have been trying to bring Israel into it because they think it serves their interests.”





The initial Egyptian and Israeli accounts of the attacks in which 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed and the Israeli border crashed Sunday night, Aug. 5, don’t match up: Egypt points the finger at the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip; Israel at Sinai Salafits. DEBKAfile postulates a third option: Tehran put Gaza Strip Islamists and/or Palestinian proxies together with a Sinai al Qaeda cell for a coordinated attack on Egyptian and Israeli military targets to avenge the presence of al Qaeda in the anti-Assad revolt in Syria under the Western-Arab aegis. That would signal the spillover of the Syrian crisis into two more Middle East countries.

If that is what happened, it would be the first time Tehran has harnessed al Qaeda to lash out out against Egyptian and Israeli military targets as a riposte for the presence of al Qaeda fighters in the revolt against Bashar Assad.
Just a few hours earlier, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani declared: "The fire that has been ignited in Syria will take the fearful (Israelis) with it.”

That was also the first time Tehran had explicitly threatened that the Syrian conflict would spill over into Israel.



Israel is closely tracking Russian naval movements in the Mediterranean Sea amid reports that several ships are heading to Syria to secure the Tartus Port and possibly military assets Moscow maintains in the country.

On Friday, Russian news agencies quoted a top military source as saying that Russia was sending three naval vessels and up to 360 marines to Syria. The reports claimed that the vessels, which are already in the Mediterranean, will arrive in Tartus this week or early next week with supplies for Russia’s only permanent port outside the former Soviet Union.

For Israel, Moscow is something of a weather vane for gauging what is happening in Syria. A similar situation happened on the eve of the Yom Kippur War in 1973 when Russia pulled its diplomats and military advisers out of Egypt shortly before the war.

“Russia has a better feel for what is happening in Syria, and by following what it does it is possible to better gauge when President Bashar Assad might fall,” a defense official explained.

IN THE WORLD:


The 2012 U.N. General Assembly will convene in New York next month and for Barack Obama it could prove to be a minefield.

Just over a month before the U.S. elections, the U.N. gathering will draw friends and foes of the White House.


First on the list, is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In what has become a ritual annual pilgrimage, the Iranian leader will arrive in the Big Apple on September 24 and remain till Friday Sept 28.

The visit will come at a time when the U.N. is being pressured by the White House to increase the political/economic sanctions on Iran and its nuclear “research” program which Washington insists is a cover for a nuclear bomb project.

The failure to contain Iran has been a glaring problem for Obama, and Ahmadinejad’s New York visit is intended to grpahicaaly high-light it just weeks before election day.


Another problem for Obama is Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who intends to pursue his quest for statehood when he speaks on September 29.

Washington and Jerusalem are strongly against the Palestinian strategy insisting that only direct bi-lateral negotiations between
Israel and P.A. is the way to eventual statehood.

While not U.N. a member, Abbas is nonetheless being treated as an “unofficial” head of a defacto state and has been given a speaking position along side established, recognized nations.

Sensing political controversy, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu will avoid the U.N. this September, sending Defense Minister Ehud Barak to fill in.



Power grids, communications and satellites could be knocked out by a massive solar storm in the next two years, scientists warn.

Experts say the sun is reaching a peak in its 10-year activity cycle, putting the Earth at greater risk from solar storms.

Mike Hapgood, a space weather specialist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Didcot, Oxfordshire, said: "Governments are taking it very seriously. These things may be very rare but when they happen, the consequences can be catastrophic."



PERSECUTION:




A human rights organization is issuing an alarm over the number of Christians who have been locked up in Eritrea, where government officials have given them the ultimatum, “Renounce your faith or stay in prison.”

Citing data from the U.S. State Department,International Christian Concern says Christians have been arrested and held without charge, and conditions are deteriorating.

Sources report more than 3,000 have been put behind bars, the report said.



Saudi Arabia deported 35 Ethiopian Christians last week after incarcerating them for over seven months for praying in advance of the Christmas season in December 2011, according to Christian media outlets and NGOs.

International Christian Concern wrote on its website that “Saudi Arabia deported the last of the 35 Ethiopian Christians who were detained for holding an all-night prayer vigil.

Saudi security officials assaulted, harassed and pressured the Christians to convert to Islam during their incarceration.”

“The Saudi officials don’t tolerate any other religions other than Islam. They consider non-Muslims as unbelievers. They are full of hatred towards non-Muslims.”

EUROPE:



Tensions within the eurozone over how to resolve the debt crisis are turning countries against each other and threatening to rip Europe apart, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has warned.



The current prognosis is bleak.

Greece remains tens of billions of euros short of staying financially afloat, Spain is back in the danger zone, and Hollande’s promises of higher income and business taxes combined with earlier retirement risk digging France further into a fiscal hole. Dutch elections next month are fuelling anti-bail-out rhetoric, while 200 German economists have warned Chancellor Merkel against “socialisation” of bad European debts.




14 comments:

GG said...

I have a sincere question. Does it seem odd with the meeting next month to bring Mr. A over here to NY?

Aren't they the ones who supposedly are threatening to "knock us to our knees" or is that someone else?

I can't shake this feeling that what would happen if something broke out while he was here? Would they think we were to blame and start a battle of mass proportions that way?

I appreciate the thoughts.

God Bless!!
GG

Anonymous said...

HI everyone
i frequent the site almost daily... I do not comment often but really enjoy all that Scott does here and for the most parts the comments. I am having medical issues called cellulitis..If you could lift me up in prayer that would be great...its a skin infection in my leg and i cant do much because of it
thank you fellow brothers and sisters in christ
B
PS Thankyou God for the rain we had the other night

Israeli said...

Did everybody see this from Arutz Sheva?????



Esteemed U.S.-based rabbi calls on Jews to wake up to danger, says a world war is to be expected.


AAFont Size
By Gil Ronen
First Publish: 8/6/2012, 7:36 PM




Hassidim

Flash 90


Rav Moshe Wolfson of Brooklyn has held an emergency gathering in his community and called upon the members to be strong in Torah and prayer so that the Jewish people will survive the time of tension with Iran. The rabbi noted that the Torah sages predicted that Persia, now called Iran, would one day destroy the world, in the times immediately preceding the Redemption.

Rav Wolfson is known as a hassidic "mashpi'a" – literally, an influencer – a title that refers to rabbis who do not head a hassidic dynasty (chatzer) but have influence outside their own communities.

"Our Sages of Blessed Memory say that Persia will destroy the entire world and the Jews will be in a difficult situation," he told his followers. "Why are we quiet? Where is the awakening? Why is everyone apathetic? Why is everyone busy with silly and unimportant things? Do we not hear the alarm? Do we not know that we must break open the gates of Heaven and ask for mercy from G-d?"

"In the coming weeks we face a total war in Iran, Israel, Europe and the U.S. And the nation of Israel in its entirety must prepare spiritually. The Rambam says that it is a mitzvah to pray in difficult times, and if one does not pray, one is being cruel, and it causes the situation to get worse, G-d forbid."

The rabbi compared Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the evil Haman from the Scroll of Esther, who wanted to kill all of the Jews. If Israel attacks Iran before it achieves nuclear weapons, there will be a world war, he said.

"There is no need to panic," he added. "We believe that G-d will perform miracles for us, it is possible that the time of Redemption (geula) has come and we must prepare for Redemption. Since the Holocaust, G-d has made great miracles for the Jews, especially in the Land of Israel, that hosts most of the world's Jews. And the Torah world receives unnatural help from Heavens. We can see that G-d wants to perform miracles for us and we must prepare for redemptions."

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/158649

Waterer said...

Hey Anonymous B/
Will pray for the cellulitus. My husband had this and it is hard.
Blessings in Him,'

Ally said...

Israeli-chiching! I think that Rabbi has an inside line and his eyes are not blind!
Anon-Already prayed for you :) Peop"e here prayed for me with MRSA and God moved mightily! Thank you Yeshua!

Seek But Don't Hide said...

Yes. Prayer requests are amazing. The tropical storm I was praying about is now NOT going to hit my area. Thank you for praying here.

Sadly, I think that the PM is right. Israel has God however, and he is really all they need even when the rest of the world hates them.

WVBORN56 said...

I'll add my Amen to the prayers of the righteous. They are indeed powerful and effective. Thank you Jesus and yes "B" I will be also praying for your celluitus.

Interesting story Israeli. Thanks for the extra article.

Scott the stories on Iran and Syria continue unabated. Which one do you think will be the ultimate tipping point for prophetic wars? It will obviously be a multi-fronted war but I continue to wonder what will set it off?

Seek But Don't Hide said...

I want to know that too WVBORN56. I'm also curious about how Gog and Magog is going to play out and when.

Scott said...

Based on the idea that Isaiah 17 should occur before Gog-MaGog, it is tempting to see Syria as the first tipping point...

However, I could see a scenario in which Iran goes after Iran's nuke sites, and then, Iran unleashes their 'proxies' - (Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, Egypt, etc) first, leading to Isa 17 (first) followed by Gog-MaGog

So its just so so hard to know....I guess the bottom line is ---- will the tipping point be a "direct" scenario (ie, Syria launches their chemical weapons and that leads to Isa 17 war) OR - will it be an 'indirect effect' - by Iran using their proxies first....

Thats the big question and I don't have a clue how that will play out !

WVBORN56 said...

Thanks Scott that is kind of what I was thinking,Isaiah 17 coming first but I also remember reading here that Iran has been greatly weakened when they enter the Ezekeil 39 event. The govenment officials are giving us so much information and misinformation it is hard to get a clear picture. Of course that is what they want to keep their enemies guessing and us too.

Scott said...

I meant to say "Israel goes after Iran's nuke sites", not "iran"...

I have heard the same about Iran being weakened, but I'm not sure where those scriptures are coming from (not doubting it, just unfamiliar with those scriptures/interpretation).

Yes indeed - 'misinformation' is the order of the day for sure...It adds to the difficulty in prophecy watching - probably as much as any single factor.

Caver said...

Joining with the room here in praying for healing. Cellulitis is not fun.

Seems, for whatever reason, so many read Is 17, and seem to stop after verse 3. It doesn't stop there, and the following verses are so telling...and accurate to today's news...with respect to the specific countries that are involved in the upcoming conflict and how bad and widespread its going to be.

Reading these verses, and then today's headlines, is like reading the same story from two different sources.

Joining in prayer for all our brothers and sisters caught in this vise and for the salvation of the multitudes still stumbling around in darkness there.

Mrs.C said...

Morning Brother Scott, :)
When we read Gods Word, He tells us that Iran will not be a participant in the Isaiah 17 war. Yes, they support proxies, but if they were directly involved as a nation, God would name them and He doesn’t. Isaiah 17 begins with Damascus being destroyed, then Vs2 is Jordan, Vs 3 the West Bank and capture of the “remnant” of Syria”. Then something catastrophic happens to Israel, and they suffer immensely. Gods Word tells us “desolation”. He also then tells us why He allows this to happen to them.
As you know, then the close surrounding nations attempt to “rush in” like “rushing water” to finish off Israel. It is then, that God Himself steps in to “rebuke” them and they “flee far off”. This is the point when God is beginning to return to His People.
The nations that “rush in”, we know are the immediate nations surrounding Israel, or as you so accurately say, the “inner circle” of nations. We also know this by Gods description. These nations God describes as “rushing of mighty waters”. We know from that description, these nations will rush in very, very quickly, like the speed of fast moving waters this is because they are in such close proximity to Israel. The Ezekiel 38-39 invasion/war quickly follows as a retaliatory action.
In the Ezekiel 38 war, God again uses a reference to nature, by describing it as a “gathering cloud” storms on the approach. This tells us that like a storm, first you can see the clouds gathering, and you can pretty much determine the intensity of whats coming. Unlike the nations close by, that “rush in” quickly like “mighty” waters, Ezekiel is the gathering of a coalition, just as His Word says. Waters are fast, clouds gathering take a little bit more time. Ezekiel 38 is now when we see God name Iran, but when He does, He lists them as no greater than any of the other tagalongs of Gog. Iran has been reduced, diminished to a mere follower, not any kind of leader.
We know that Israel will not be destroyed by a nuke. We also know that if Iran obtained a nuke, they wouldn’t hesitate to use it, and wouldn’t need Russia or anyone else to attack as they would want all of the credit for such a thing.
We know that Isaiah 17 is next, and God does not name Iran as being involved. Isaiah 17 as mentioned before, begins with the utter destruction of Damascus which obviously is a retaliatory action by Israel. Iran is like a shark smelling blood in the water, circling, constantly probing, and prodding Israel. Yet we know, when the catastrophic event happens in Isaiah 17, God does not name Iran as one of the clear “inner circle” nations that rush in to finish her off, which they would clearly take advantage of doing. God takes the time to detail and name, the nations joining with Gog, and He knows the name of Iran. Iran is unable to participate. The next we hear from God regarding Iran, is them limping along in line with all the other coalition that gathers with Gog. I hope that I explained this for understanding, kinda trying to recover from a day of headaches…weather changes…shheeesh!

God Bless You Brother!

Scott said...

Makes sense to me - many thanks for that excellent summary!