After the clashes last week that erupted in Hebron over Israel’s decision to include Rachel's Tomb and Cave of the Patriarchs in a list of heritage sites, disturbances today came to Jerusalem.

Last night about 30 Arabs barricaded themselves in the Mosque – Sunday morning a group of about 20 remained, and wearing masks, they began started throwing stones at visiting Christians and Jews.

Police entered the Temple Mount this morning in response to stone throwing by Palestinians. Four policemen and two stone throwers were slightly injured - Seven other youths were arrested on suspicion of throwing stones.

The Islamic Movement and members of the Waqf have urged Muslims to “flock to the Temple Mount” claiming radical Jewish organizations are preparing to arrive at the Temple Mount today and again on Tuesday in an attempt to lay the cornerstone for the temple."

The Islamic organizations also called on Muslims to be on high alert around March 16, when they said extreme Jewish organizations were planning to mark the global day for the temple's reconstruction.

As tensions escalate the IDF have imposed a closure on the West Bank for the Purim holiday through Monday evening.

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Nasrallah Assad Ahmadinejad meet in Damascus to discuss "Zionist threat"

Nasrallah Assad Ahmadinejad meet in Damascus to discuss "Zionist threat"

Syrian President Assad holds banquet to honor Iranian President Ahmadinejad and Hizballah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah at his presidential palace in the Syrian capital Damascus.

Ahmadinejad and Assad together unleashed vicious rhetoric against Israel, with Ahmadinejad declaring that the “criminal” state of Israel is doomed, and Assad charging that Israel “is capable of aggression at any point.”

Ahmadinejad also vowed during his visit to Damascus that Arab nations will usher in a new Middle East “without Zionists and without colonialists” and "resistance is the most successful way to liberate land," continuing with his speech and to emphasize further Ahmadinejad said "If the Zionists want to repeat their mistake again, they must be uprooted from the source"

While the United States is trying to drive a wedge between these two sponsors of terrorism, Syria and Iran, the methods being used to accomplish this are evidently not having their desired effect, with President Assad saying while meeting with Ahmadinejad on Thursday, ''We wanted this festive day to be one of accomplishment, so we signed an agreement on annulling entry visas between Syria and Iran…This agreement would result in more communication and enhancing of the common interests of the Syrian and Iranian peoples.”

U.S State Department spokesman P J Crowley responded to this new situation saying "The US wants to see Syria play a more constructive role in the region, and one step would be to make clear what Iran needs to do differently. And, unfortunately, there was no evidence of that today."

President Peres to the Jewish Agency Board of Governors: Iran presents the greatest danger for the whole world

“Iran presents the greatest danger for the whole world. An international coalition must do three things: raise a moral call, impose economic sanctions, and install advanced anti-missile defense systems.”

“I think there exists a great call for a Jewish spiritual revival and re-moralization against the dangers we face”

President Peres opened the three-day meeting of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors today. In his address the President told the Jewish leaders: “Iran presents the greatest danger for the whole world. Today the Arabs are being challenged by the Iranian desire to establish a non-Arab hegemony over the Middle East as it was for four hundred years under the Persian Empire. The Iranians use Israel as an excuse but we shall disappoint them. We don’t want to govern anybody—neither Arabs, nor Muslims.”

The President declared “we have to think seriously how to handle [the Iranian threat], and how to face it,” and stated that “I don’t think [Iran presents] a problem or danger simply against Israel. It’s against the whole world. Having imperialistic ambitions and a nuclear bomb is a very dangerous combination because a single bomb today is like a whole army in other times. The world will become ungovernable if every country in the Middle East will have a nuclear bomb without responsible people to govern it. I am afraid the world is moving too slowly to face the problem.”

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Mother celebrates son’s Martyrdom death

Mother celebrates son's Martyrdom death:
"All mothers should sacrifice their child for Palestine"

Palestinian Authority TV news recently chose to feature a Palestinian mother promoting her son's death as a positive goal.

Upon learning of her son's death in an Israeli air strike, the mother explained that she had always hoped for her son's Shahada - death as a Martyr -- and recommended that other mothers likewise "sacrifice their child for Palestine."

The words of another woman, chosen by PA TV news for the pre-recorded news report, described how Palestinian society sees Martyrs as grooms. This is based on the Islamic tradition, promoted actively by the PA and Hamas, that Martyrs will marry 72 virgins in Paradise.

PA TV news report:


Mother upon news of son's death in an Israeli air strike: "We had always hoped for his [my son's] Martyrdom (Shahada), knowing he wanted to die as a Martyr (Shahid). Every time he went out, we would say to him, 'May Allah be with you.' We knew that he wanted to die as a Martyr. Praise to Allah, he sought Martyrdom, and he achieved it. My message to every mother is to sacrifice her child for Palestine."
Second woman: "By Allah, we welcome every Martyr as if he were a groom among us."

[PA TV (Fatah), Feb. 11, 2010]


Palestinian Media Watch has documented that these two ideas -- that death is a higher value than life and that Martyrdom death leads to a wedding between the Martyr and the virgins of Paradise -- have been promoted actively by both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas for years.

Palestinian schoolbooks teach children that aspiring to death is better than life:


"O heroes, Allah has promised you victory ... Do not talk yourselves into flight...
Your enemies seek life while you seek death."
They seek spoils to fill their empty stomachs while you seek a Garden [Paradise] as wide as are the heavens and the earth...
Death is not bitter in the mouth of the believers. These drops of blood that gush from your bodies will be transformed tomorrow into blazing red meteors that will fall down upon the heads of your enemies."

[Reading and Texts Part II, Grade 8, p. 16. Schoolbook currently in use in PA schools.]

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IAEA: Iran may be developing a nuclear warhead

IAEA: Iran may be developing a nuclear warhead

Israel's Foreign Ministry responds to the latest IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program saying “The new IAEA report deals more sharply and clearly than its predecessors with the military aspects of Iran’s nuclear program,”

The IAEA report said Iran’s resistance to agency efforts to probe for signs of a nuclear cover-up “give rise to concerns about possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.” The leaked report also went on to say, "The information available to the agency raises concerns about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile."

These reports contradict to a U.S assement of Iran's nuclear program that shall now need to be revised in light of the evidence mounting against the Islamic regime, who with Ahmadinejad at the helm has countless times threated to wipe Israel "Off the Map."

The scientific and the diplomatic

Enriching uranium from 0 to twenty percent and twenty percent to 90 percent is somewhat like an earthquake. The difference between a 2.0 earthquake and a 2.5 earthquake is not point five percent stronger. A 2.0 earthquake has an Approximate TNT for Seismic Energy Yield of 1 metric ton. A 2.5 earthquake has an Approximate TNT for Seismic Energy Yield of 5.6 metric tons.

So to with enriching uranium; seventy percent of the work toward reaching weapons-grade uranium took place when Iran enriched uranium gas to 3.5 percent. Meanwhile, enriching uranium under the guise of medical needs will get Tehran much closer to possessing weapons-grade material. It much easier to go from twenty percent to ninety, percent than from five percent to twenty percent.

Enriching uranium further to the 19.75 percent needed for the reactor is an additional “fifteen to twenty percent of the way there.” So once Iran got to twenty percent they were about eighty five percent of the way to weapons grade uranium.

Once the uranium is enriched above twenty percent, it is considered highly enriched uranium. The uranium would need to be enriched further, to sixty percent and then to ninety percent, before it could be used for a weapon. The last two steps are not that big a deal, and could be accomplished within months.

I once thought twenty percent enrichment, they have another seventy percent to go, that will take awhile… not so! Why do they lump twenty percent and ninety percent U235 together as highly enriched uranium? Iran will find it much easier to go from twenty to ninety, than from five to twenty.

An important thing to understand about the enrichment process is the removing of undesirable isotopes. For an example; If you have 1000 atoms of uranium. Seven of them will be the fissile isotope Uranium 235. The other 993 are useless Uranium 238. To make reactor fuel, Iran or any other country would removes 860 of the non-U235 isotopes, leaving a U235 to U238 ratio of 7:140 or five percent.

To make fuel for the TRR, Iran removes another 105 non-U235 atoms from the 140, leaving a ratio of 7:35 or twenty percent. To make a bomb, Iran needs only to remove 27 of the remaining 35 atoms, leading a ratio of 7:8 and you’re at 90 percent.

Iran’s recent announcement that they are at the twenty percent enrichment point begins a new and potentially dangerous turn in the situation. If Iran enriches a significant amount of U235 to 20 percent and that is their most resent statement, Iran would be able to “top off” the enrichment process in a small, clandestine facility like the one near Qom. The answer to the real intentions of Iran is pretty obvious. They passed medical and industrial grade, so what is next… The old Kingston trio song lyrics still hold true today “ mans been endowed with the mushroom shaped cloud and we know for certain that some lovely day some one will set the spark off and we will all be blown away”.

Checkmate - Ahmadinejad is Playing Iran's Deadly Game

Checkmate - Ahmadinejad is Playing Iran's Deadly Game

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is playing a very dangerous game. His years of defiance in the face of international pressure to come clean about Iran's nuclear ambitions is coming to a head.

The latest IAEA report proves Iran is capable of making a nuclear weapon. With their enrichment program going from 20 to 90 percent; the process would take just six months.

Israel, in the event of what looks like a ‘when’ and not ‘if’ major conflict in the middle east, is going to have its hands full with a barrage of Kassam, Grad, Mortars, Katyusha and Scuds fired at her by hostile neighbors in retaliation to an attack on Iran by Israel, the US or a coalition of countries. No matter who leads the attack on Iran, it will be played out as Israel’s fault and Israel will pay the ultimate price.

Since the 2006 Lebanon war there has been one report after another that Hezballah has restocked and refortified its military with weapons smuggled in through Syria from Iran. Syria has built up its reserves with weapons from Iran as well. Hamas in Gaza has not lost any time during this past year’s cease fire, smuggling bigger and more sophisticated weapons, and now has rockets that can travel 60 kilometers, which puts Tel Aviv in striking distance from the south.

What does this mean for Israel? Even with the mid 2010 launch date of the first “Iron Dome” system along the Gaza border, a barrage of rockets from three different sides all at once may prove more than the Iron Dome can handle.

IDF Head of Operations, Brig. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, said that some Hezballah rockets now have a range of more than 150 miles -- making Tel Aviv reachable from as far away as Beirut. Israeli officials say Hezbollah's most potent weapons include about 500 Iranian Zilzal guided missiles, with a range up to 186 miles.

In addition, they say Hezballah has 4,000 to 6,000 Iranian Fajr 3 rockets; an artillery rocket that has an estimated range of 45 kilometers or 25-30 miles, and Fajr 5 rockets, which have a range of about 75–80 kilometers. In totality The IDF estimates Hezballah has about 40,000 rockets of different sizes and types and the stock pile is growing daily.

On top of the Iranian threat and an ever growing stockpile of conventional weapons being prepared for what seems like an inevitable conflict in the near future, Israel in the last few weeks is witnessing an escalation in the rhetoric against her from both Syria and Lebanon. Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah threatened this week "If you bomb the airport of martyr Rafik Hariri in Beirut, we will bomb Ben Gurion's airport in Tel Aviv." Today Syria's prime minister warned Israel that any new Mideast war would be “catastrophic for the region and beyond.”

Is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric and defiance to the UN and the rest of the international community an effort to egg Israel into a preemptive strike so Iran’s puppet nations can launce a conventional attack on Israel, while all the time yelling “self defense”?

Make no mistake a Nuclear Iran is a threat to Israel, the Middle East and the rest of the world. I was reminded that the game of chess found its roots in the Middle East. Did you know the word “Mate,” as in “Checkmate” is Arabic and means "died", "is dead”?

U.S Military Head in Israel as PM Netanyahu heads to Russia

U.S Military Head in Israel as PM Netanyahu heads to Russia

Amid growing speculation of an Israeli strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen is in Israel for discussions with military personel while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is en-route to Moscow for meetings with top Russian officials.

Michael Mullen had a brief stop first in Egypt and will have another stop in Jordan on the way out. So far there is just speculation to the nature of the talks however, amid renewed speculation that the Israelis may be preparing for a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, the subject is expected to be focused on the growing threat from Iran’s nuclear program.

During his visit Admiral Mullen will hold a private meeting with Lt. Gen. Ashkenazi, as well as a briefing with senior commanders of the General Staff, including Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Maj. Gen. Benny Ganz, Head of Israel Defense Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, Head of Strategic Planning Directorate, Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, and the military attaché to Washington, Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni.

Despite some differences of opinion concerning Iran’s nuclear program, last year Mullen said both himself and Ashkenazi are "by and large" in agreement on Iran's progress toward obtaining nuclear weapons. He also knows "there is a leadership in Israel that is not going to tolerate" a nuclear Iran, saying that Tehran's atomic designs are a matter of "life or death" for the Jewish state. Regarding the question of whether or not Iran’s nuclear program has peaceful purposes he said, "I fundamentally believe that the Iranians are on a path to developing a nuclear weapon.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke about his coming trip to Russia during today’s cabinet meeting, saying "We will discuss Iran first and foremost." Netanyahu is expected to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin where he will push for urgent "crippling sanctions" against Iran over its nuclear program.

Meanwhile in the background and possibly flying under the radar was the American military teams visit to Israel to disgust the possibility of storing some of the equipment and ammunition that is going to be pulled out of Iraq. “There is talk that some of the equipment will be stored in Israel,” the official said. “If that is the case, in the event of an emergency we may be able to use it.” Last month the pentagon decided to double the value of emergency military stockpiles it stores in Israel.

The US already maintains several stockpiles in Israel that include missiles, armored vehicles, aerial munitions and artillery ordnance. The US began stockpiling equipment in Israel in the early 1990s.

"Officially, all of this equipment belongs to the US military,” one official said. “If however, there is a conflict, the IDF can ask for permission to use some of the equipment.” US stockpiles were used during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

The IDF and the Pentagon are also working on an agreement regarding the establishment of a Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) maintenance center in Israel. The US will set up a maintenance center on an Israel Air Force base. The center will be manned by Americans who would maintain planes that would make up a squadron of F35 fighters Israel is seeking from the U.S.

Ahmadinejad to Assad 'Destroy Israel if it attacks'

Ahmadinejad to Assad 'Destroy Israel if it attacks'

Iran’s State broadcaster reported yesterday that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Assad his country has 'reliable information Zionist regime looking to compensate for its ridiculous defeats in Gaza, Lebanon'

According to a Reuters report Ahmadinejad also said on Wednesday that "If the Zionist regime should repeat its mistakes and initiate a military operation, then it must be resisted with full force to put an end to it once and for all"

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has on many occasions called for Israel to be "wiped off the map"

Israel sees Iran's nuclear program as an existential threat and has not ruled out military action should diplomacy fail to deliver an agreement that would halt the Islamic regimes nuclear ambitions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of European diplomats yesterday that "Iran is racing forward to produce nuclear weapons" emphasizing the situation shall not be resolved by weak sanctions, saying "This means not moderate sanctions, or watered-down sanctions," while reminding them that the time left to apply these measures is running out "This means crippling sanctions and these sanctions must be applied right now."

The Islamic Republic does not recognize Israel and will not mention Israel by name but says “Zionist regime” or as Iran’s FM Mottaki said this week "a mad nation led by insane people" referring to Israel.

Last May, General Ataollah Salehi, general commander of the Iranian army said: "The truth is that Israel does not have the courage to attack us. If we are subjected to any attack by Israel, I do not think we will need more than 11 days to wipe Israel out of existence."

Anti-government protesters were dispersed today on Tehran’s main square as hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets to celebrate Iran’s 31st anniversary of the revolution.

According to reports from the Wall Street Journal the Iranian telecommunications have suspended all email deliveries to and from Gmail – Google has not yet commented

Anti Semitism… in the Church?

When you think of anti Semitism the first thing that comes to your mind might be the holocaust and the senseless death of six million people just because they were Jewish. The first person you think of probably is Hitler. The last place you would think you would find anti Semitism would be in the church or in a pastor; but sad to say anti Semitism is in the church and it is being taught from the pulpit.

Let’s go back in church history; most people hail Martin Luther as one of the great church reformers and the founder of the Lutheran church. Few of us know that Luther's attitude toward the Jews changed over the course of his life. In the early phase of his career—until around 1536—he expressed concern for their plight in Europe and was enthusiastic at the prospect of converting them to Christianity through his evangelical reforms. As time went on and the Jews refused to convert to Christianity, Luther became angered with the Jewish people, denounced them and urged for their harsh persecution. In a paragraph from his On the Jews and Their Lies he deplores Christendom's failure to exterminate them.

Luther writes that the Jews are a "base, whoring people, that is, no people of God, and their boast of lineage, circumcision, and law must be accounted as filth." Luther wrote that they are "full of the devil's feces ... which they wallow in like swine," and the synagogue is an "incorrigible whore and an evil slut". He argues that their synagogues and schools be set on fire, their prayer books destroyed, rabbis forbidden to preach, homes razed, and property and money confiscated. They should be shown no mercy or kindness, afforded no legal protection, and these "poisonous envenomed worms" should be drafted into forced labor or expelled for all time. He also seems to advocate their murder, writing "we are at fault in not slaying them."

It doesn’t take long before you see how the hatred of Adolph Hitler and Heinrich Himmler against the Jewish people was reinforced. In his rhetoric Hitler also fed on the old accusation of Jewish Deicide (a belief that places the responsibility for the death of Jesus on the Jewish people as a whole.) Because of this it has been speculated that Christian anti-Semitism influenced Hitler's ideas, especially such works as Martin Luther's essay On the Jews and Their Lies and the writings of Paul de Lagarde. Hitler biographer John Toland opines that Hitler "carried within him its teaching and that the Jew was the killer of God and their extermination, therefore, could be done without a twinge of conscience since he was merely acting as the avenging hand of God.

Look at the church today. The United Methodist Church and Presbyterian Church (USA) both divested from companies that support or supply material or equipment to Israel. The United Methodist Church published a church-sponsored report referring to the creation of the State of Israel as the “original sin.” The Presbyterian Church called on American Jews to “get a life” instead of focusing on defending Israeli policies.

How can you say you love God and not the Jewish people. If you don’t love the Jewish people then you don’t love the God of the Bible; God loves the Jewish people. God made an everlasting convent with the Jewish people; how long is everlasting, until Jesus came? If you say God has replaced the Jewish people with the church because of their disobedience, what makes you think He will not replace me or you because of our disobedience? If you say God has given up on the Jew then you have made God a liar.

Sad to say anti Semitism is ‘alive and well’ in the church, maybe not as blatant as burning crosses on they front lawn but in more subtle way.

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Berlusconi 'Dreams' Israel would become a full member of the EU

Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a strong supporter of Israel ‘dreams’ of the day when Israel would become a full member of the EU. Berlusconi’s sentiments however are not shared by all EU members.

The benefits to the E.U, should Israel ever be fully accepted are considerable. Israel’s advanced technological knowhow and highly trained military would obviously be a welcome addition to the European family, but at what cost to Israel – more pressure to uproot settlements in Judea Samaria, divide Jerusalem?

Israel is already a participant in European Neighborhood Policy, Euro-Mediterranean Partnership and enjoys favorable EU trade terms via an association agreement that came into force in 2000.

Concerning Iran, Silvio Berlusconi, is expected to sign an agreement with Israel, promised full support for the Iranian opposition, and noted that Iran has a leader “who reminds us of evil people from the past.” Berlusconi has previously compared Ahmadinejad with Hitler.

Prime Minister Berlusconi went on to say, "The entire international community must decide to state clearly, unequivocally and unanimously that it is unacceptable that nuclear weapons should be in the hands of a state whose leaders have openly proclaimed the will to destroy Israel and have denied both the Holocaust and the legitimacy of the Jewish state"

On operation “Cast Lead” Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi spoke out against “a damning UN report on the Gaza war.” saying “We were against the Goldstone Report, which tried to incriminate Israel for its justified response to Hamas rockets.” Berlusconi also said Israel "is not only the biggest example of democracy and liberty in the Middle East, but the only example." "Today the security of Israel... is for us Italians an ethical and moral imperative" and "Italy is proud of its many gestures of solidarity towards your country... such as our vote against the Goldstone report, which sought to criminalize Israel for responding to the rockets Hamas fired from Gaza." he said before a special session of the Knesset.

During Prime Minister Berlusconi’s visit, nine various agreements to cooperate in science, technology, industrial research and development, environmental protection, water, healthcare and more were signed. Also discussed were Israel’s desire to advance the peace process and Israel’s willingness to enter peace talks immediately without preconditions. The next meeting of the two prime Ministers will take place later on this year in Italy.

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