Christians and Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement: Defying Tyranny

By Eric Metaxas/Breakpoint.org

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In early October, Joshua Wong, a 20-year-old student from Hong Kong, flew to Thailand to meet with fellow students in that country.

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No sooner had he gotten off the plane than he was detained by Thai officials, who were eager to curry Beijing’s favor, and then deported back to Hong Kong.

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It’s not the first time something like this has happened to Wong. As the South China Morning Post put it, Wong “has a habit of visiting countries that deny him entry.”

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What makes Wong such a persona non grata? Simply put, he’s a Christian who’s willing to stand up for freedom–and that makes the Chinese communist government in Beijing very nervous.

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To understand why, a short history lesson is in order. When Great Britain ceded Hong Kong back to China in 1997, the agreement stated that the principle dubbed “One Country, Two Systems” would govern relations between Hong Kong and mainland China for the next 50 years.

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Under this principle, Hong Kong’s domestic affairs would be governed by the systems it inherited from Britain. This included freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and, eventually, free elections.

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This kind of autonomy made Hong Kong a free, prosperous, and democratic example for the rest of China to compare its lot to, and the Communist Party knew it.

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Thus, less than 20 years into the agreed-upon 50 years, China began to try and undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy by attempting to “pre-screen” candidates in Hong Kong’s upcoming elections.

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In response, hundreds of thousands of students, in what came to be known as the “Umbrella Movement” because of the use of umbrellas against the tear gas canisters used by police, shut down large parts of the city for the better part of three months.

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And that brings me back to Joshua Wong. As the Wall Street Journal reported, while the protests were about democracy there was “an undercurrent of another, much older tension: Between Christianity and Communist China.”

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As the Journal pointed out, “Christianity has been a visible element of the demonstrations, with prayer groups, crosses, and protesters reading Bibles in the street.” Hong Kong’s churches played a “quiet but important role in the city’s protests, offering food and shelter to demonstrators.”

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And, “At least three of the founders of the main protest groups were Christians,” including the then-seventeen-year-old Joshua Wong.

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Heightening the tension is Hong Kong’s role in spreading Christianity to the rest of China. As the Journal told readers, “Hong Kong churches have long tried to spread Christianity in China.

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Protestant pastors based in Hong Kong have helped propagate the evangelical brands of Christianity that have alarmed the Chinese leadership in Beijing with their fast growth.”

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This alarm is why, as I recently explained on BreakPoint, China has been cracking down on Christians lately. The Chinese government sees subverting Hong Kong’s autonomy as yet another way of suppressing Christianity.

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Christianity is a rejection of, as former Cardinal Joseph Zen put it, “the whole culture which is now reigning in China, a culture of falsity, of dishonesty, a lack of spiritual values.”

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Wong, a student at a Christian University in Hong Kong, is the face of that rejection. He cites the command to be salt and light and says that Christians have “a more important role in the world other than being just a normal citizen in society who wants to earn money.”

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This kind of conviction in the face of tyranny is enough to make any tyrant nervous. And it’s the kind of conviction we Christians in the West may be called on to display in the years ahead.

Are We Living in a Computer?: Tech Tycoons and Transcendence

By Eric Metaxas/Breakpoint.org

 

Since Rene Descartes formulated his famous dictum, “I think, therefore I am,” philosophers have been wrestling with the question of how we can know that what we think we know is really real. In the last couple of decades, pop culture has wrestled with that question, as well.

Recall the 1999 movie, “The Matrix,” in which a man discovers his whole life has been lived in a virtual prison that simulates the real world. In the movie, he’s given a choice between two pills–a red one and a blue one.

The first will awaken him from the simulation, and the second will lull him back into blissful ignorance. Since then, “choosing the red pill” has become synonymous with throwing off comfortable illusions and confronting reality.

But in many ways, the concept of the Matrix has transcended Hollywood. If you can believe it, the idea that the world around us may not be what it appears has become increasingly popular among scientists, philosophers, and even technology tycoons.

And some of these folks are now actively searching for the “red pill” that will wake us from our collective illusion.

The Independent reports that two anonymous Silicon Valley billionaires are pouring money into a project to break us free from a real life Matrix–if we’re living in one, that is. Although the details of this project are unclear, we do know it involves a team of scientists and some of the richest, most influential innovators in America.

This shouldn’t surprise us that much. Those who invent cutting edge products and technologies have long embraced some pretty weird ideas. Take, for instance, PayPal co-founder and “transhumanist” Peter Thiel, who hopes to achieve immortality by “uploading” his consciousness into a computer!

Elon Musk, founder of Tesla and SpaceX, thinks we may already be living in a computer. We just don’t know it yet. In a recent interview, he placed the odds that our reality is not the ultimate, “base-level reality” at “billions to one.”

In other words, the guy behind today’s top-selling electric cars and best-known private space program is almost certain we’re trapped in the Matrix!

Bizarrely, even the Bank of America has gotten in on the hype, suggesting in a recent report to clients that the chances we’re living in a simulation concocted by highly advanced beings are roughly twenty to fifty percent.

What’s going on here? Well folks, if I can venture a wild guess, I think this is what religion looks like when you take away churches, scriptures, and belief in God. Silicon Valley is a notoriously secular place, even sporting one of the nation’s only atheist churches, weirdly called the “Sunday Assembly.”

But as Os Guinness points out, secularists–even brilliant and fabulously rich secularists–can’t live consistently within their worldview. A materialistic universe doesn’t satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart, so those who don’t believe in God frequently grasp at what sociologist Peter Berger calls “signals of transcendence.”

We are religious creatures, and as Paul teaches us in Romans 1, we know instinctively that there’s “something more.” So it’s no surprise that those who work on the cutting edge of technology are looking to computers as the answer to their transcendent longings.

But in Christianity, we don’t have to break out of some Matrix before we can know and experience transcendence.

In our faith, the One Who is transcendent broke into our reality and purchased for us everlasting life. Besides being true, that’s just a much better story than anything coming from Hollywood, Silicon Valley, or any other town in California.

 

The Temple and End Times – Amazing New Developments

By Enoch Lavender

For us who are watching prophetic developments in the earth, there is something very exciting about monitoring the historic preparations taking place for the rebuilding of Israel’s Temple.

In the last few weeks, two big stories have hit the headlines that are worth noting.

The first news item concerns the resurfacing of a report of a mysterious gemstone that could belong to the original breastplate of the High Priest.

The second news headline is that Israel’s reconvened Sanhedrin has taken the momentous step to nominate a High Priest – for the first time since the Temple’s destruction in AD 70!

In this article we will look more at these intriguing developments and will then look at the prophetic implications for us as believers as we draw closer to the time of the Lord’s coming.

Mysterious Gem Discovered

Detailed reports of a mysterious gem re-surfaced this week and have also made headlines in the secular media. There is strong speculation that the gem could be from the breast plate of the High Priest.

Others suggest that it may be one of the two stones worn on the High Priest’s shoulders or even be part of the legendary Urim & Thummim. While these speculations may seem far-fetched at first glance, a detailed and scientific analysis of the gem has highlighted its stunningly unique and mysterious features.

The precious stone – which has been carefully passed down the documented line of a Crusader’s family tree – is a semi-precious sardonyx with little intrinsic value in and of itself. It has been cut into a hemisphere, and researchers are baffled as to how the ancients could possibly have cut the stone in this way.

Even more astounding than the cut of the stone, is an inscription in ancient Hebrew inside the stone, visible through its clear surface. Professor Moshe Sharon – who is an expert on ancient Hebrew Script at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem – describes the Hebrew inscription as being in a style of Script from approximately 1000 BC.

This Hebrew inscription leads to speculation that the gem could belong to the legendary Urim and Thummim which were used in Bible times to determine God’s will (Ex. 28:30, 1 Sam 28:16).

It is interesting to note that the Jewish Talmud describes the Urim and Thummim as being stones that would light up to spell an answer in Hebrew in response to petitions to God. Could this stone be one of the mysterious Urim and Thummim?

Another mystery is how this ancient Hebrew script was inscribed inside the gem – without any visible signs of engraving or cutting of the stone.

Noted professor of archaeology and religious studies Dr. James Strange comments that, ‘there is no modern or ancient technology known to me by which an artisan could produce the inscription (inside the stone), as it is not cut into the surface of the stone”.

Upon examination, Dr. Strange also noted that the stone has no external markings, ruling out that it had been part of a ring or necklace. His conclusion was that the stone must have been set in a large plate or breastplate.

Ian Campbell, a leading South African gemologist, priced this unique gem at $200 million as a starting point, but acknowledged the difficulty of pricing a one-off unique gem with such tremendous religious significance.

While the owners have expressed interest in the gem being restored to Jewish hands, the cost is prohibitive and its authenticity must be proven.

Dr. Strange is today issuing a call for a fresh scientific examination of the stone to determine whether it is an elaborate hoax or a genuine artifact belonging to the Jewish people. At this stage it is too early to tell, but perhaps this stone will be restored to Israel and play a role in the rebuilt temple?

The Sanhedrin Nominates a High Priest 

Just prior to the reports about this mysterious gem, another prophetic headline ricocheted across the world as the Israeli Sanhedrin announced that it had taken the ground breaking step to nominate a High Priest.

The Sanhedrin at the time of Jesus served as a kind of Supreme Court for the Jewish nation. It was disbanded in 425 AD, and was only reconvened in 2004. At the time, leading prophecy teachers hailed it’s reconvening as an important step in preparing for the rebuilding of the Temple.

The modern reconvened Sanhedrin consists of 71 distinguished rabbis (after the pattern of Moses + 70 elders), and it meets monthly to rule on key spiritual issues.

Rabbinical teaching holds that the High Priest for the Third Temple would either be appointed by the Sanhedrin or by the King (the Messiah Himself). In the absence of the Messiah, and in the lead up to the all important Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) sacrifice for the nation, the Sanhedrin has agreed on the need to nominate a High Priest who can perform this vitally important sacrifice if permission is granted.

Permission to sacrifice on the Temple Mount could come sooner than many expect. With the unexpected and dramatic rise of Temple Mount activist Rabbi Yehudah Glick into Netanyahu’s coalition government, and the increasing support for a rebuilt Temple among both Government ministers and a small but growing segment of the population, the Sanhedrin can sense a change in the air.

This sense of change also carries with it great responsibility as it would be a disaster if permission was granted and no High Priest was ready to perform the crucial Day of Atonement sacrifice for the nation.

It is against this backdrop that the momentous decision was taken by the Sanhedrin to appoint a High Priest – for the first time since the temple was destroyed in AD 70! The nominated candidate for High Priest was Rabbi Baruch Kahane, an expert on the complicated laws pertaining to the Temple Service.

In a surprising twist, Rabbi Baruch declined the role at this time, but accepted a similar role with the title of ‘Rosh Kohanim’ (Head of the Priests). This role is often but not always synonymous with being High Priest. In other words, Rabbi Baruch will be available to be called on to be High Priest if and when the situation should arise.

It is important to note that sacrificing on the Temple Mount does not require the prior existence of a rebuilt Temple and can be restarted before the construction has even begun.

If granted permission by the Israeli authorities – which would still be a major miracle in itself – the Sanhedrin’s goal is to be ready to conduct sacrifices with only a week’s notice.

The appointing of a High Priest is therefore a crucial step in preparation for the resumption of sacrifices on the Temple Mount.

The Temple and End Times

Believers in Jesus rightly point to Him as the ultimate sacrifice for mankind and that we as believers no longer require animal sacrifices for sins. However, restoring the sacrificial system could be an important step in preparing the Jewish people for their Messiah and certainly plays a key role in the End Times.

Modern rabbinical Judaism has moved away from sacrifices to good works as a means of salvation, and it is therefore hard for many Jewish people to understand the significance of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

But as sacrifices are restored to the Jewish nation, it will shift modern Judaism back closer to Biblical Judaism. This would open the eyes of many to the importance of the sacrifice in dealing with sins, and perhaps even help prepare the way for the nation to understand fully the sacrifice of Jesus and what was accomplished at the cross.

In regards to End Time Prophecy, many believe that the Scriptures warn of Temple Sacrifices being stopped for a period of time by the Anti-Christ (Dan 9:27).

If this is correct, then a rebuilt Temple is an essential piece of the prophetic puzzle. The rebuilding of the Temple and the re-institution of a High Priest (with or without the mysterious gem!) are therefore all significant steps bringing us that much closer to the day when the Lord Himself will return!

Learn more about efforts to rebuild the Temple with our featured DVD “Still Ready To Rebuild”

 

UNESCO Unmasked – and Letters to the World

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Photo Credit: @Israel_Shield

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If you are an Israel friend or foe, your social media feeds were probably taken up with the recent UNESCO decision that the Temple Mount, Jerusalem and the Western Wall have no connectino to Jewish history.

The anti Israel crowd were probably applauding the decision while the pro Israel crew were either laughing it off or seriously ticked off by it. Personally, I certainly belong to the second category, but when I heard the decision, I stood up and started applauding it. Why you ask? So happy you did!

No, I don’t agree with this ludicrous, historically fabricated, Islamic terror apologetic UNESCO decision, but for those of you who were surprised or even in the slightest bit disappointed by UNESCO, it’s time to wake up!

I am not applauding UNESCOs decision because I agree with its content, I am applauding it because this UN organization has finally unmasked its real intent.

Can you see it?

This conflict was never about settlements or occupation of a country that never existed and it was never about an Arab national dream to build a country called Palestine, this conflict has always been about an Arab national dream to destroy one called Israel.

The recent UNESCO decision proved beyond a doubt that this is not about an effort by the world to bring about peace, but rather an attempt by the world to take apart Israel piece by piece.

It’s one thing to create a national Arab identity based on a fabrication of history, it’s another to try to delete real Jewish history in the land of Israel, in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount. Let’s forget about the fact that the Torah, New Testament and the Quran clearly calls the Land of Israel a Jewish homeland and let’s ignore the fact that the Islamic Al Aqsa mosque was originally called BAYIT AL MUQDAS (Translated literally as; Built on the Temple!)

Let’s make believe there is no actual depiction of the Roman empire ransacking Jerusalem and stealing the vessels from JEWISH Temple that existed in Jerusalem long before a religion called Islam was born!

Let’s ignore the fact that Muslims face Mecca in prayer and stick their backsides towards Jerusalem, while the Jews always and only face Jerusalem.

Let’s ignore the fact that Jerusalem is mentioned in the Jewish Bible 669 times and the word Zion is mentioned 154 times and the fact that Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran even once!

Let’s ignore all those pesky facts and still make believe the UNESCO decision has something to do with countries fighting for human and civil rights.

Here is a list of the countries that voted for the UNESCO decision to delete any Jewish connection to Jerusalem, the Temple Mount or the Western Wall.

I gave you the countries that are officially Muslim or have a majority population of Muslims, can you point out which one of these countries have a full democratic government?

The only thing that happened in the recent UNESCO vote is the masks came off. The only people who were surprised about this vote are those who built themselves a fantasy world where the enemies of Israel are actually interested in peace.

The only people upset about this vote are leftists who convinced themselves of some kind of Alice in Wonderland reality where the radical Islamic queen will not cut off their heads if they just give them some land.

The only question that remains is; do the liberal leftists in the world have enough sanity left to actually deal with reality or will they cling on to the fantasy world they built for themselves?

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Dear America, England, Germany, Estonia, Lithuania and The Netherlands,

Thank you for having the courage to stand up and vote NO to this total fabrication of history and poor excuse for Islamic terrorism. Can you do me a favor?

Can you please stop making believe settlements are the issue and can you please stop accepting the false narrative the Arabs created with which they justify attacking Israel and murdering Jews.

THANK YOU!

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A message the British Prime minister and her government…

I am pleased by the decision to stop providing funding for the PA’s financial rewards to terrorists and their families. But it isn’t something you should be patting yourselves on the back for. You should never have been giving money to those murderers in the first place!

Now that the British people have chosen to leave the anti-Semitic EU, which recently gave a standing ovation to Mahmoud Abbas, after he spewed his lies about Israel poisoning the Palestinian water supply. It’s time to go a step further and use the British veto the next time the UN Security Council tries to pass an anti-Israel/anti-Semitic resolution.

If you want Britain to prosper, this is the way forward.

Gen 12:3. “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

 

 

THE REWRITING OF MODERN ZIONIST HISTORY

THE REWRITING OF MODERN ZIONIST HISTORY (Arutz Sheva News) . Tzvi Fishman was awarded the Israel Ministry of Education Prize for Jewish Culture and Creativity. Before making Aliyah to Israel in 1984, he was a successful Hollywood screenwriter. He has co-authored 4 books with Rabbi David Samson, based on the teachings of Rabbis A. Y. Kook and T. Y. Kook.  His other books include: “The Kuzari For Young Readers” and “Tuvia in the Promised Land”.  His books are available on Amazon.  Recently, he directed the movie, “Stories of Rebbe Nachman.” . Shimon Peres indeed contributed many things to the rebuilding of the Jewish People in the Land of Israel.  This essay is not about him. It is about the way the well-oiled, leftist media machinery in Israel, and the anti-Israel mega-media around the world, are turning Shimon Peres into a modern day saint in order to advance their agenda of Palestinian Arab sovereignty in the Land of the Jews. . With the power of modern technological wizardry, the backing of billions of dollars, a tsunami of double talk, misrepresentations, and flagrant omissions, along with the sheepish consent of the frightened leadership in Israel, and the good manners of devout Jews who know the truth, but who will keep silent in respect for a fellow Jew facing His Maker, the world will be duped into believing that Shimon Peres was the Jewish Mahatma Gandhi, and that the Oslo Agreement was the best thing that hit the globe since apple pie. . Don’t let the media hoopla fool you into believing that the disaster of Oslo, and the creation of Hamastan within the borders of the Land of Israel, was a blessing for mankind. . The media extravaganza is on center stage in Israel Get ready for a giant fabrication of modern Zionist history. Prepare yourselves for the carefully-crafted digital whitewash.  Beware, because you are about to be inundated with a media binge of sugar-coated, selective journalism until you believe it too. . Be warned.  The people who disagreed with Shimon Peres, his political opponents, journalists on the right, the Israeli majority that raised their voices in protests which were ignored and crushed, idealistic settlers of the Biblical heartland of Israel, all of these people will be labeled fanatics, extremists, radicals, crazies, and enemies of peace. . In the end, the architect of Oslo will be glorified, the recipient of the Nobel Prize for peace with Yasser Arafat will be knighted and transformed into an icon of peace, and the myriads of terror victims, the victims of Oslo, the murdered and the maimed, the murdered “Korbanot Hashalom” (peace offerings) will be forgotten in the around-the-clock bombardment of praise that is already being disseminated for worldwide publication.  Countless victims of reckless and egotistical pipedreams will be forgotten and discarded from the annals of Jewish history, like pages ripped from a book. . A massive onslaught of media manipulation is on to weaken the righteous cause of Israel which declares that the Land of Israel is the Homeland of the Jewish People alone.  So beware! . NETANYAHU STOPPED PERES FROM FORMING A PALESTINIAN STATE! By Gary Willig (Arutz Sheva News) . Shimon Peres and Abbas reportedly set up program to allow Jews to remain in Palestine, only to have Netanyahu pull the plug. . Channel 2 Diplomatic Correspondent, Udi Segal, reported in his weekly column in the Maariv newspaper that former President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas engaged in negotiations to come up with a plan that would be accepted by Netanyahu and the Israeli political right. . Segal said that Peres received permission from Netanyahu to search for a way through the diplomatic standstill “possibly because he wanted to use Peres to legitimize the peace talks and help maintain good foreign relations. But Peres was not going to be used as a mere fig leaf and creatively moved beyond the limits he had been given.”  This is similar to what happened in the Oslo negotiations. . According to Segal, Peres and Abbas reached an agreement in principle in which the IDF would have units stationed to protect Israeli citizens within a Palestinian State. . “The details were not finalized, but the idea was moving forward until Netanyahu blocked it at the last minute while Peres was on a visit to Jordan.” as revealed by reporter Ben Caspit, known for his intense dislike of Netanyahu. The shelved plan later received a modicum of approval when Netanyahu hinted in an interview with Channel 2 in 2013 that many settlements might remain in a Palestinian state.” wrote Segal. . “If this opportunity really existed, then it was lost. Peres stayed home.  Abbas felt betrayed and walked away from the idea.  And Netanyahu worked on the plans of Tony Blair, which ended up being a dead end.  Peres tried until the last minute.  He never stopped dreaming.  He knew from experience that the State of Israel was born from a dream, a vision.  From the dream of Herzl.” Segal added. . Peres’ earlier dream of peace after the Oslo Accords went up in terror attacks that caused the deaths of close to 2000 Israelis. Peres’ idea of having the IDF protect Israelis travelling on the roads of Judea and Samaria while living under a Palestinian Arab regime is seen by most Israelis as an experiment with human lives and has been rejected by the right. . A GOLDEN YEAR AHEAD! By Charles Gardner (Arutz Sheva News) . As Israel mourns the passing of Shimon Peres, the last of their founding fathers, I pray for the dawning of an even brighter era that will bring light to their path and sweetness to their souls. . And as Jews everywhere rejoice in their New Year festival of Rosh Hashanah, I feel there is something of an apocalyptic, end-time significance about this particular anniversary. . It ushers in the year 5777, which has a resonance of its own with three sevens – the latter being the ‘perfect’ number in biblical terms.  And in the Gregorian calendar which most of us follow, we will soon be welcoming 2017, a date of huge relevance to Israel on three counts. . First, it will mark the jubilee, or golden anniversary (50 years), since the Six-Day War of 1967 when the Old City of Jerusalem – the holiest property in all Judaism – was restored to Jewish hands for the first time in more than 2,000 years. Some scholars have suggested that this awesome event represented the fulfilment of “the times of the Gentiles” referred to by Yeshua when he said: “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21.24) . The new year will also mark 70 years since the historic United Nations vote to recognize Israel when, although Arab states opposed the resolution, the required two-thirds majority was achieved which set the scene for the re-birth of Israel the following year. . Remember what Yeshua said about the lesson learned from the fig tree, which is symbolic of Israel. He said that when it buds and blossoms at a time when the world is in great upheaval with wars, famines and earthquakes, we would know that his coming is near. Then he said: “This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” (Matthew 24.34) . In other words, the generation (possibly lasting 70 years, man’s allotted lifespan according to Psalm 90.10) witnessing these extraordinary events would live to see “all these things” happening.  Could that include his actual return? We cannot be certain, but it’s a distinct possibility. And as one born the year after the state of . Israel, I find that both hugely exciting as well as rather scary. . But neither of these hugely historic anniversaries would have been possible without Britain’s Balfour Declaration of 1917, which effectively cleared the path for Israel’s restoration. The centenary of this crucial milestone in the Jews’ long journey home is in danger of being lost in the mists of political correctness, but it needs to be celebrated with gusto.  It may not be as topical as our current Brexit endeavors, but it is also something for which Britain can be justly proud. . It amounted to a British government promise, from Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour, to do all in its power to facilitate the creation of a homeland in Palestine (as the region was then known) for the Jewish people. And it came about largely through the efforts of 19th century evangelical Christians.  . allied to the rise of Zionism under Theodor Herzl. When all is said and done, it was the preachers and politicians who knew their Bible – and the God of the Bible – who undoubtedly most influenced the government of the day. They clearly saw that it was our duty as a Christian nation to love and support the Jews, and to facilitate their return to their ancient homeland. . They also knew – and this was crucial to their support – that it wasn’t just about land, but about the Lord; that though the Bible clearly speaks of a restoration of Israel from every corner of the globe, such restoration would precede their national return to the God of Israel, the Father of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach, which would in turn usher in our Lord’s Second Coming.  Ezekiel prophesied: “I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land…And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36.24-27) . It was this truth, above all, that drove our British forefathers to pray, proclaim and work towards fulfilment of the Zionist dream. . God is seeking a bride with whom he wishes to rendezvous back in their ancient land where he first ‘courted’ her as they learnt to walk in his ways and when the prophets tried, often in vain, to encourage faithfulness to the one true God. . When the Balfour promise was made back in November 1917, the Holy Land still belonged to the Turkish Ottoman Empire, which had ruled the region for 400 years, but within weeks it was in British hands, which handed on a plate the opportunity for us to make good our pledge. . But because we reneged on many of our promises and dealt treacherously with the Jews as we made repeated concessions in a bid to appease Arab demands, it took another three decades – and the death of millions at the hands of the Nazis – before the founding fathers were finally in a position to re-create the state of Israel.  . Please forgive us, and meantime rejoice that even without our help in more recent times – though certainly with God’s help – you have come this far. . May God’s love surround you at this special time and cause you to know the fear of the Lord and his decrees, which are “sweeter than honey” (Psalm 19.10). . In this beautiful psalm of King David, we see how much he loves the law, the statutes, the precepts and the commands of the Lord. “They are more precious than gold…and sweeter than honey.” And all of this is perfectly fulfilled in Yeshua, who told the crowds on the Mount of Beatitudes at Capernaum: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5.17)

Biochip Technologies: From Fringe To Mainstream

By PNW Staff

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Biochip technology is becoming big business, but not everyone is embracing the changes. There are concerns about the potential dangers these technologies can offer.

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Right now, implants are already being designed that will provide your medical information, act as a key to your home, and store business card information.

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These are not wearable devices that you can put on and take off, but actual implantable devices that are placed under the skin. The implants work through RFID technology, which can be read by smartphones and readers that allow people access to buildings through ID cards or badges.

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Current estimates indicate that some 50,000 people around the world may already have these implants and be using them for access to their homes and businesses, contact details, and more.

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While it is becoming a popular trend in some circles, there are real worries about where the use of these kinds of devices may take society.

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The tags only work when the scanner activates them, so there is no worry about dead batteries, and they take only seconds to implant under the skin. That makes it sound almost too easy to get and start using these implants for all sorts of daily things.

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Will This Become Mandatory?

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One concern for many people is that the “chipping” of human beings may eventually become mandatory. Similar to how pet owners in some areas have seen the optional chipping of pets now become mandatory.  In that case, these chips would be needed as identity markers, much the same way people now carry a driver’s license or ID card.

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The implants could also be used to open doors, pay for things, and store medical and other types of data. But the argument against this is strong, coming from both religious individuals who feel the implants are similar to the “mark of the beast” that is mentioned in the Bible, and scientific individuals who worry about the long-term health effects of the chips on the human body.

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Will New Advancements Mean Additional Implants?

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As technology moves forward, more options will be available to be implanted in human beings. These implants are the size of a grain of rice, but how many of them is too many, and how much data can they hold? Will they ever fail and need to be removed or replaced?

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With so many questions still circulating when it comes to how these implants will be handled, it is entirely possible that advancements in technology will mean that new and better implants will come along.

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Since there are a number of good choices for placement of these implants, people could theoretically have an increasingly large number of them for different information and functions.

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But What About Informed Consent?

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Among the biggest hurdles to the use of these tags is consent. While a healthy, competent adult could certainly choose to have a tag implanted, there may be others who would not be able to say yes or no to the procedure.

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That can include very young children, and the elderly who may have Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia. 

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Additionally, those who have mental impairment or mental illness may struggle with understanding what the tag is for, and may not be able to consent to its usefulness and implantation.

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Viruses and Hacking of People Instead of Machines

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Computers and RFID scanners can get hacked. So can humans, if they have these implants. While storing data on a chip located inside the body may seem like the ultimate way of being safe when it comes to protecting information, that information can still be stolen under the right conditions.

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In theory, medical data, access to a home or a secure facility, and anything else that was stored on the implant could be the target of a hacker and could be something that a person would not want accessed by others.

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Controlling this kind of attack is very difficult, and data breaches happen every day in the technology sphere. Avoiding that with humans when it’s so common with machines may not be realistic now, and may never be realistic, putting many people’s data at near-constant risk.

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One can only imagine what would happen to a society that relies on such chip implants to function if it were struck with a widescale virus.  In 2010, Dr. Mark Gasson from the University of Reading had a chip inserted in his hand which was then infected with a virus.

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In trials, Dr Gasson showed that the chip was able to pass on the computer virus to external control systems and if other implanted chips had then connected to the system they too would have been corrupted, he said.

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“With the benefits of this type of technology come risks. We may improve ourselves in some way but much like the improvements with other technologies, mobile phones for example, they become vulnerable to risks, such as security problems and computer viruses.”

France: The Ticking Time Bomb of Islamization

By Yves Mamou/Gatestone Institute

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Recently, two important studies about French Muslims were released in France. The first one, optimistically entitled, “A French Islam is Possible,” was published under the auspices of Institut Montaigne, an independent French think tank.

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The second study, entitled, “Work, the Company and the Religious Question,” is the fourth annual joint study between the Randstad Institute (a recruiting company) and the Observatory of Religious Experience at Work (Observatoire du fait religieux en entreprise, OFRE), a research company.

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Both studies, filling a huge knowledge-deficit on religious and ethnic demography, were widely reported in the media. France is a country well-equipped with demographers, scholars, professors and research institutes, but any official data or statistics based on race, origin or religion are prohibited by law.

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France has 66.6 million inhabitants, according to a report dated January 1, 2016 from the National Institute of Statistics (Insee). But census questionnaires prohibit any question about race, origin or religion. So in France, it is impossible to know how many Muslims, black people, white people, Catholics, Arabs, Jews, etc. live in the country.

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This prohibition is based on an old and once-healthy principle to avoid any discrimination in a country where “assimilation” is the rule. Assimilation, French-style, means that any foreigner who wants to live in the country has to copy the behavioral code of local population and marry a native quickly.

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This assimilation model worked perfectly for people of Spanish, Portuguese or Polish descent. But with Arabs and Muslims, it stopped.

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Now, however, despite all good intentions, the rule prohibiting collection of data that might lead to discrimination, has become a national security handicap.

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When any group of people, outspokenly acting on the basis of their religion or ethnicity, begin violently fighting the fundamentals of the society where you live, it becomes necessary — in fact urgent — to know what religions and ethnicities these are, and how many people they represent.

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The two studies in question, therefore, are not based on census data but on polls. The Institut Montaigne study, for example, writes that Muslims represent 5.6% of the metropolitan population of France, or exactly three million.

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However, Michèle Tribalat, a demographer specializing in immigration problems, wrote that the five million mark had been crossed in around 2014. The Pew Research Center estimated the Muslim population in France in mid-2010 to be 4.7 million.

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Other scholars, such as Azouz Begag, former Minister of Equality (he left the government in 2007) estimates the number of Muslims in France to be closer to 15 million.

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Institut Montaigne Study: The Secession of French Muslims

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The study by Institut Montaigne, released on September 18, is based on a poll conducted by Ifop (French Institute of Public Opinion), which surveyed 1,029 Muslims. The author of the study is Hakim el Karoui, a consultant who was an adviser to then Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin (2002-2005).

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Three main Muslim profiles were highlighted:

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First were the so-called “secular” (46%). These people said they were “totally secular, even when religion occupies an important place in their lives.”

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Although they claim to be secular, many of them also belong to the group that favors all Muslim women wearing a hijab (58% of men and 70% of women). They also overlap with the group (60%) that supports wearing a hijab at school, although the hijab has been prohibited in schools since 2004.

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Many of these “seculars” also belong to the 70% of Muslims who “always” buy halal meat (only 6% never buy it). According to the study, wearing a hijab and eating only halal meat are considered by Muslims themselves as significant “markers” of Muslim identity.

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A second group of Muslims, the “Islamic Pride Group” represent a quarter (25%) of the roughly thousand people polled. They defined themselves primarily as Muslims and claim their right to observe their faith (mainly reduced to hijab and halal) in public.

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They reject, however, the niqab and polygamy. They say they respect secularism and the laws of the Republic, but most of them say they do not accept prohibiting the hijab at school.

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The last group, defined as the “Ultras”, represent 28% of those polled, and the most authoritarian profile. They say they prefer to live apart from Republican values. For them, Islamic values and Islamic law, or sharia, come first, before the common law of the Republic. They approve of polygamy and of wearing the niqab or the burqa.

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“These 28% adhere to Islam in its most retrograde version, which has become for them a kind of identity. Islam is the mainstay of their revolt; and this revolt is embodied in an Islam of rupture, conspiracy theories and anti-Semitism,” according to Hamid el Karoui in an interview with Journal du Dimanche.

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More importantly, these 28% exist predominantly among the young (50% are under 25). In other words, one out of every two young French Muslims is a Salafist of the most radical type, even if he does not belong to a mosque.

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The question is: how many will they be in five years, ten years, twenty years? It is important to ask, because polls always present a point in time, a freeze-frame of a situation. When we know that the veil and halal food restrictions are imposed on the whole family by “big brothers,” we have to understand that a process is taking place, a secession process due to the re-Islamization of the whole Muslim community by the young.

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Journalist and author Elisabeth Schemla wrote in Le Figaro:

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To understand what re-Islamization means a definition of Islamism must be given. The most accurate is the definition given by one of his very fervent supporters, State Advisor Thierry Tuot, one of three judges chosen this summer to decide not to ban the burkini at the beach (…). Islamism, he writes, is the “public claim of a social behavior presented as a divine requirement and bursting into the public and political arena.” In light of this definition, the Al Karoui report shows that Islamism is unalterably spreading.

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Islam at Work; Islamism on the Move

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This ticking time bomb is silently working… at work.

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A poll, conducted between April and June 2016 by the Randstad Institute and Observatory of the Religious Experience at Work (OFRE), surveying 1,405 managers in different companies, revealed that two managers out of every three (65%) were reporting that “religious behavior” is a regular manifestation in the workplace — up from 50% in 2015.

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Professor Lyonel Honoré, Director of OFRE and author of the study, recognizes quietly that “in 95% of cases,” the “religious behavior at work is related to Muslims.”

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To understand the importance of this “visible Islam” in French factories and offices today, we have to know that traditionally, the workplace was considered neutral space.

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The law did not prohibit any type of religious or political expression in the workplace, but by tradition, employees and employers considered that restraint must be shown by all in exercising their freedom of belief.

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The 2016 Ranstad study shows that this old tradition is over. Religious symbols are proliferating in the workplace, and 95% of these visible symbols are Islamic. Overt expressions and symbols of Christianity or Judaism at work do exist, of course, but are minimal compared to Islam.

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The survey considered two types of the expression of religious beliefs:

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Personal practices, such as the right to be missing for religious holidays, flexible working hours, the right to pray during work breaks, and the right to wear symbols of religious belief.

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Disturbances at work or breaches of rules, such as the refusal of men to work with a woman or take orders from a female manager, refusal to work with people who are not co-religionists, refusal to perform specific tasks, and proselytizing during work time.

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“In 2016,” states the survey, “the wearing of religious symbols [hijab] became the top expression of religious belief (21% of cases, up from 17% in 2015 and 10% in 2014). The request to be absent because of religious holidays remains stable (18%) but now ranks in second place.”

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Under “disturbances at work”, this politically correct study notes that conflicts between employee and employer on religious grounds are few: a “minority event” and “only” 9% of religious disturbances in 2016.

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But figures for conflicts have nevertheless risen by 50%, up from 6% in 2015. Conflicts have also tripled since 2014 (3%) and nearly quintupled since 2013 (2%).

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Eric Manca, a lawyer in the law firm August & Debouzy who specializes in labor law and was assisting at the press conference, said that when a conflict on religious ground turns to litigation, “it is always a problem with Islam. Christians and Jews never turn to the court against their employer because of religion.”

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When Islamists sue their employer, jurisprudence shows that the accusation is always based on “racism”, and “discrimination” — charges that can only make employers regret having hired them in the first place.

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Sources of conflict listed include proselytizing (6%), and refusing to perform tasks (6%) — for instance, a delivery man declining to deliver alcohol to customers; refusing to work with a woman or under the direction of a woman (5%), and requesting to work only with Muslims (1%). These cases are concentrated in business sectors “such as automotive suppliers, construction, waste processing, supermarkets… and are located in peri-urban regions.”

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Conclusions

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The French model of assimilation is over. As noted, it worked for everyone except French Muslims; and public schools seem unable today to transmit republican values, especially among young Muslims. According to Hakim el Karoui:

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“Muslims of France are living in the heart of multiple crises. Syria, of course, which shakes the spirit. But also the transformation of Arab societies where women take a new place: female students outnumber male students, girls are better educated than their fathers. Religion, in its authoritarian version, is a weapon of reaction against these evolutions. …. And finally, there is the social crisis: Muslims, two-thirds of child laborers and employees, are the first victims of deindustrialization.”

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Islamization is growing everywhere. In city centers, most Arab women wear a veil, and in the suburbs, burqas and niqabs are increasingly common. At work, where non-religious behavior was usually the rule, managers try to learn how to deal with Islamist demands.

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In big corporations, such as Orange (telecom), a “director of diversity” was appointed to manage demands and conflicts. In small companies, managers are in disarray. Conflicts and litigation are escalating.

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Silence of the politicians. Despite the wide media coverage around these two studies, an astounding silence was the only thing heard from politicians.

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This is disturbing because Institut Montaigne’s study also included some proposals to build an “Islam of France,” such as putting an end to foreign funding of mosques, and local training religious and civil leaders.

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Other ideas, such as teaching Arabic in secular schools “to prevent parents from sending their children in Koranic schools” are quite strange because they would perpetuate the failed strategy of integrating Islamism through institutions.

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Young French Muslims, even those born in France, have difficulty speaking and writing proper French. That is why they need to speak and write French correctly before anything else.

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These two studies, although a start, are staggeringly insufficient. Politicians, journalists, and every citizen needs to learn more about Islam, its tenets and its goals in the country.

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It is unbelievable that the only tools at our disposal are inadequate opinion polls. Without knowledge, no political action — or any other action — is possible. It is a situation that immeasurably benefits aggressive political Islamists.

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Without more knowledge, the denial of Islamization, and an immobility in addressing it, will continue. Willful blindness is the mother of the civil war to come — unless the people and their politicians choose to submit to Islam without a fight.

Palestinian Murderers And Their Western Enablers

By Guy Millière/Gatestone Institute

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The sport of murdering Jews does not stop. On June 30, at dawn, in Kiryat Arba, a young Arab broke through a window, and stabbed a 13-year-old American-Israeli girl, Hallel Yaffa Ariel, to death.

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The young Arab who stabbed Hallel Yaffa Ariel was shot dead just after the assault. His mother said she was proud of her son. The Palestinian Authority (PA) said he was a hero and a “martyr.”

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This year alone, 24 Israeli Jews were murdered, many gruesomely. Every time one of the murderers was shot, his family declared how proud they were, and the Palestinian Authority celebrated him. New murderers are preparing new attacks.

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What sort of society is it where parents say they how proud they are that their children are murderers? And what sort of leadership is it that celebrates killers?

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Further, what sort of Western journalists and “human rights” groups are those that fail to voice their outrage at the murder of a sleeping 13-year-old girl?

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These journalists and human rights groups voice their outrage at people killed in European soccer stadiums, musical theaters and editorial rooms, but never, it seems, for Israeli Jews killed over so many years.

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Why also is it that they never speak of the moral depravity of the Palestinian Authority?

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Most remain silent; many do worse. They blame the victims, accuse them of being the guilty party. Some even justify the murders and find excuses for the terrorists. Sometimes, when the murders take place in disputed areas such as Judea and Samaria, these self-appointed judges call the victims “settlers,” and claim that they deserved their death for being where they should not have been.

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They comfortably overlook that to many Palestinians, all the Jews are “settlers,” even the ones they kill in Tel Aviv. Just look at any map of “Palestine” — on every one, the whole of Israel is a “settlement.”. If there were no “settlements” until after 1967, but the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was created in 1964, what was it planning to “liberate”?

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Most Western journalists instead explain that “violence” is the fatal result of the “hopelessness” created by the Israeli government. Did they ever say that about the murders in Paris’s theaters, London’s Underground, New York’s office buildings, Madrid’s train system or Dakha’s restaurant — that they were the result of “hopelessness”?

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None of these journalists ever reports the reactions of those murderers’ families.

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And almost none of them ever reports what the Palestinian Authority does after each Palestinian bombing, stabbing, car-rammming or other murderous attacks — how it rewards the terrorists and urges more attacks.

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Most Western politicians, Europeans in particular, are no different. They half-heartedly condemn the murderers and then blame Israel’s government. On June 30th, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a press release saying that “France condemns the horrific murder of a young Israeli girl in the settlement of Kiryat Arba in the West Bank,” and asking “all the parties to do everything possible to calm the situation.”

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The same day, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, the head of the European Union’s delegation in Israel, wrote, “Strongly condemn terror murder of Hallel Yaffa Ariel in Kiryat Arba this morning.” Four days later, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs published another press release:

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“France condemns the Israeli authorities’ approval of plans to build several hundred homes in settlements… each new announcement of settlement activity, which is illegal under international law, fuels tensions.”

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On July 5th, a spokesperson for the EU said:

“Despite repeated calls by the international community Israel is continuing its settlement policy, which is illegal under international law. The decision calls into question Israel’s commitment to a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians.”

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None of them ever mentions the reactions of the murderers’ families either, or the behavior of the Palestinian Authority. That way, they can express sympathy for the “Palestinian cause” without having to grapple publicly with tough questions or embarrassing facts.

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For instance, the Palestinian Authority not only celebrates murderers: it produces new ones every day — and does so knowlingly and voluntarily. For this it uses textbooks, television and radio programs, and articles in newspapers, all paid for with money from Western governments.

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The Palestinian Authority also financially rewards the murderers’ families and the murderers themselves, if they survive and end up in jail. These financial rewards are also paid for with money from Western governments.

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How can Western politicians explain that they condemn the murders and still fund the incitement to kill? How come they keep giving money that rewards murdering Jews “by all available means”?

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How can they say, as they so often do, that they fight anti-Semitism, and at the same time support an organization that incites people to kill Jews?

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How can they define as “moderate” an organization such as the Palestinian Authority that admits sending terrorists to kill Israelis and that teaches children, on its Facebook page, how to stab Jews to death?

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And how can they consider it urgent to give such an organization its own State?

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Facts get set aside. Questions do not get asked. Financial rewards continue to be paid by the West.

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As Leon Uris states through the protagonist in his novel, Exodus: “To most Gentiles, Jewish meat is cheaper than beef, cheaper than herring.” And that was in 1958. It seems that to most Gentiles, Jewish meat still is cheap.

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When the State of Israel was established in 1948, no Western government helped Israeli Jews to resist the five Arab armies that tried to wipe it out at its birth.

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Today, most Western governments pretend to be friends of Israel. Most are at best fair-weather friends; at worst, not friends in the slightest. Israeli Jews know they can only rely on themselves. They know that others, such as France, are holding knives that are sharpened.

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On June 23, Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, delivered an anti-Semitic speech from the rostrum of the European Parliament. dishonestly accusing rabbis of urging Israel to poison the water used by Palestinian Arabs. He received an enthusiastic standing ovation from virtually all present. On June 24, he admitted his claim had been false.

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A few days after that, on July 1, the “Quartet for the Middle East” (EU, USA, Russia, UN) presented a report condemning “Palestinian violence,” and describing the Israeli “colonization” of “Palestinian territories” as a major cause of all problems.

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The report omits that “Palestinian violence” kills innocents — 13-year-old girls sleeping in bed; families having dinner at a mall in Tel Aviv; fathers driving their families whose only “fault” is that they are Jews — and most of all, that this Palestinian violence is engineered and financed by the West.

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The report omits that it is the report’s authors themselves who are instigating this genocide, transforming millions of Arabs into their genocidal hired guns.

Europe’s “Good Terrorists”: Because They Might Destroy Israel?

By Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute

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Once again, the Europeans seem to be in Alice’s Wonderland when they consider Palestinian affairs in particular and the Middle East in general. The renewed attempt by the European Union to remove the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas from its terrorism list is a case in point.

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Recently, an advisor to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) recommended that Hamas be removed from the EU’s terrorism blacklist. In 2014, the EU’s second-highest court ruled that Hamas should be taken off the list on “technical” grounds.

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It argued that Hamas’s listing was not based on evidence, but on “factual imputations derived from the press and the internet.”

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However, the European Council then appealed this judgement, arguing that Hamas should remain on the terrorism blacklist, citing a 2001 decision by the UK and the US that designated both Hamas and the Tamil Tigers as terrorist groups.

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But the recent opinion by the ECJ advisor dismisses this argument. “The council cannot rely on facts and evidence found in press articles and information from the internet,” Advocate General Eleanor Sharpton said. She explained that the council could not rely on terrorist listings by countries (the UK and US) outside the EU.

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This latest highly dangerous European attempt to strike Hamas from the terrorism blacklist will, as the EU knows perfectly well, only serve further to embolden the Islamist movement to replace Israel with an Islamic empire.

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Removing Hamas from the terrorism list would obviously be seen as a severe blow to Hamas’s rivals in the Western-backed and funded Palestinian Authority (PA), and to the efforts to revive any peace process between the Palestinians and Israel.

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As this is not the EU’s first attempt to do this, it is hard not to conclude what many Palestinians have suspected all along: that the EU and its affiliates do not care if the Palestinians and others in the area are overrun by Hamas terrorists and are forced to live under the rule of despotic Islamist militants.

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The recent opinion by the European court advisor lightheartedly ignores Hamas’s own statements concerning its true intentions and continued preparations for war against Israel.

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It is hard not to conclude that this is what the EU secretly wants — perhaps for Muslim voters, who brought to power France’s President François Hollande, perhaps in the hope of buying off terrorists so that they avoid further attacks in Europe, perhaps to continue good business deals with Arab and Muslim countries, and, of course, perhaps all of the above.

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It came as no surprise, therefore, that Hamas was quick to “welcome” the opinion of the European Court advisor to whitewash and legitimize the Islamist terror movement. “Hamas considers the recommendation a first step towards removing the sin committed by the European Union towards the Palestinian people when it demonstrated bias in favor of Israel by placing Hamas on the terrorism list,” said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, who welcomed the opinion and called on the Europeans to abide by it.

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Hamas, he added, has always been keen on openness towards the West and on building strong humanitarian and political relations with it. Israel is the only enemy of Hamas, Abu Zuhri stressed.

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In other words, Abu Zuhri would like the Europeans to understand that they need not worry about terrorism by the Islamist movement because the attacks will be directed only against Israel. Hamas wants “openness” and “strong” ties with the Europeans because it believes that this will advance its goal of implementing its charter, which calls for the elimination of Israel.

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This is how Hamas understands the renewed bid to have it removed from the EU’s terrorism blacklist. And it is improbable that the EU, which for decades has sought “good relations” between the two sides of the Mediterranean, does not understand it that way, too.

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Even more improbable is that some Europeans believe that Hamas should not be on the terrorism only on the basis of press articles and information on the internet — as if what is being said about Hamas and its goals are rumors or unsubstantiated charges that need to be verified, and for which there is no basis.

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What of Hamas’s own charter, which calls for Jihad (holy war) against Israel. “There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad,” the charter states. It goes on to say that the

“liberation of that land (Palestine) is an individual duty binding on all Muslims everywhere. In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad…We must spread the spirit of Jihad among the (Islamic) Umma, clash with the enemies and join the ranks of the Jihad fighters.

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The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine has been an Islamic Wakf throughout the generations and until the Day of Resurrection, no one can renounce it or part of it, or abandon it or part of it.”

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Okay, one might argue, so the Europeans will not take seriously the Hamas covenant. Yet what does the ECJ make of the incessant rhetoric of Hamas?

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Here is what Fathi Hammad, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, had to say after the recommendation: “Resistance is the only way to liberate Palestine from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river.” Praising the recent wave of Palestinian knife and car-ramming attacks on Israelis, Hammad called on Palestinians to rise against any peace process with Israel. “The path of negotiations has dissipated the Palestinian cause,” he added.

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In a statement marking the first anniversary of the anti-Israel attacks, which is being referred to by many Palestinians as the “Jerusalem Intifada,” Hamas said this week that the wave of terrorism will not stop “until the occupation is driven out of Jerusalem, the West Bank and all Palestine.”

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Reiterating its refusal to recognize the “Zionist Entity’s” right to exist, Hamas said that the Palestinians maintain the right to “resistance in all its forms.”

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Let us translate that for a moment: When Hamas talks about “resistance in all its forms,” it is referring to killing Jews with suicide bombings, rockets, knives and vehicles.

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As far as Hamas is concerned, Palestinians are entitled to use all these methods to kill as many Jews as possible and drive them out, to “liberate all of Palestine.” Notably, this statement was issued after, not before, the recent recommendation by the European court advisor to remove Hamas from the terrorism list.

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This is far from simply another “press article” or “rumor” published on the internet; this is an official statement released by the Hamas leadership.

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To its credit, and despite the clearly genocidal ECJ recommendation, Hamas has been utterly transparent concerning its intentions. In fact, Hamas has never hidden its desire to destroy Israel and prevent any peace process between Palestinians and Israelis.

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This position and strategy has not changed since the establishment of the Islamist movement nearly thirty years ago. And if the officials of the EU and the ECJ do not know that, they should be replaced.

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Further evidence of Hamas’s intentions and policies was provided by another leader of the movement, Mahmoud Zahar, who assured supporters in the Gaza Strip last week that Hamas will never recognize Israel’s right to exist. “We will not give up one inch of the land of Palestine to the Israeli entity,” Zahar declared. He then praised Palestinians for using “stones and knives” to attack Jews.

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These are only some of the recent statements by Hamas leaders and spokesmen that leave no room for doubt as to the movement’s intentions to continue using terrorism as a means to destroy Israel.

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Perhaps EU officials might go to the numerous Hamas websites and read what is being said there by the movement’s leaders. The words speak for themselves.

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Hamas’s threats do not stop at rhetoric. Hamas’s current actions also attest to its goals. Hamas and other terror groups openly continue to dig tunnels that will be used to attack Israel.

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Only days after the ECJ recommendation was published, another Palestinian was killed while working in a tunnel. He was identified as 30-year-old Ahmed As’ad. Other men were wounded in the incident, in a tunnel that was supposed to serve Hamas and other terrorist groups to attack Israel.

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Meanwhile, last week, in the context of these preparations, the terror group Al-Naser Salah Eddin Brigades unveiled a new rocket called Koka 70 (named after one of its leaders, Abu Yusef Koka).

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The European recommendation to remove Hamas from the terrorism blacklist comes at a time when Hamas and other groups are not only talking about attacks, but also actively preparing to launch new rockets and infiltrate Israel via attack tunnels.

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These are not unverified press reports, but facts — facts that fly in the face of the European whitewashing and legitimizing of this terrorist group.

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The ECJ is sending the message to Hamas that the Europeans see no problem with Hamas’s desire to destroy Israel and continue to launch terrorist attacks against Jews.

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This message also undermines those Palestinians who still believe in a peace with Israel. Moreover, the recommendation comes at a time when countries such as Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and even Saudi Arabia, as well as the Palestinian Authority, are doing their utmost to weaken Hamas.

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Those who embolden Hamas also strengthen ISIS, Islamic Jihad and the Muslim Brotherhood, not only in the Middle East, but also in Europe. Appeasing terrorists is a dangerous game: it has already backfired on its foolhardy players and will continue to do so, not less, but more.

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This is exactly how Muslims conquered Iran, Turkey, North Africa, the Crimea and much of Europe including Hungary, Greece, Poland, Romania, and the Balkans — countries that still recall a real “occupation,” an Islamist one, all too well, and abundantly want none of it.

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The EU and the ECJ need to be stopped before they do any more harm to Palestinians, Christians and Jews — or to Europe.

………………………

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It’s no coincidence that the Islamist terrorist attacks of 7.7.2005 on London happened during the mayoral administration of Ken Livingstone, a man who makes little attempt to hide his anti-Semitic hatred for Israel.

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Nor is it coincidental that the chief support for the Jew hating terrorists – Hamas comes from countries within the EU that are suffering increasing terrorist attacks within their own borders.

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The Lord has warned them all that their hatred toward Israel will come back on their own heads. 

NETANYAHU SPEAKS TO THE WORLD AT THE UNITED NATIONS!

Israel Today
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Ladies and Gentlemen,

What I’m about to say is going to shock you: Israel has a bright future at the UN.

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Now I know that hearing that from me must surely come as a surprise, because year after year I’ve stood at this very podium and slammed the UN for its obsessive bias against Israel.  And the UN deserved every scathing word for the disgrace of the General Assembly that last year passed 20 resolutions against the democratic State of Israel and a grand total of three resolutions against all the other countries on the planet.

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And what about the joke called the UN Human Rights Council, which each year condemns Israel more than all the countries of the world combined.   As women are being systematically raped, murdered, sold into slavery across the world, which is the only country that the UN’s Commission on Women chose to condemn this year?
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Yep, you guessed it Israel. Israel where women fly fighter jets, lead major corporations, head universities, preside twice over the Supreme Court, and have served as Speaker of the Knesset and Prime Minister.

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And this circus continues at UNESCO, the UN body charged with preserving world heritage. Now, this is hard to believe but UNESCO just denied the 4,000 year connection between the Jewish people and its holiest site, the Temple Mount. That’s just as absurd as denying the connection between the Great Wall of China and China.

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The UN, begun as a moral force, but has become a moral farce. So when it comes to Israel at the UN, you’d probably think nothing will ever change, right?

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Well think again. You see, everything will change and a lot sooner than you think.  The change will happen in this hall, because back home, your governments are rapidly changing their attitudes towards Israel. And sooner or later, that’s going to change the way you vote on Israel at the UN.

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More and more nations in Asia, in Africa, in Latin America, more and more nations see Israel as a potent partner in fighting the terrorism of today, a partner in developing the technology of tomorrow.

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Today Israel has diplomatic relations with over 160 countries. That’s nearly double the number that we had when I served here as Israel’s Ambassador some 30 years ago. And those ties are getting broader and deeper every day. World leaders increasingly appreciate that Israel is a powerful country with one of the best intelligence services on earth.  Because of our unmatched experience and proven capabilities in fighting terrorism, many of your governments seek our help in keeping your countries safe.

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Many also seek to benefit from Israel’s ingenuity in agriculture, in health, in water, in cyber and in the fusion of big data, connectivity and artificial intelligence – that fusion that is changing our world in every way.

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You might consider this: Israel leads the world in recycling wastewater.  We recycle about 90% of our wastewater.  Now, how remarkable is that? Well, given that the next country on the list only recycles about 20% of its wastewater, Israel is a global water power. So if you have a thirsty world, and we do, there’s no better ally than Israel.

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How about cybersecurity? That’s an issue that affects everyone. Israel accounts for one-tenth of one percent of the world’s population, yet last year we attracted some 20% of the global private investment in cybersecurity.  I want you to digest that number. In cyber, Israel is punching a whopping 200 times above its weight.  So Israel is also a global cyber power.
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If hackers are targeting your banks, your planes, your power grids and just about everything else, Israel can offer indispensable help.

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Governments are changing their attitudes towards Israel because they know that Israel can help them protect their peoples, can help them feed them, can help them better their lives.

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In Africa, things are changing.  In China, India, Russia, Japan, attitudes towards Israel have changed as well.  These powerful nations know that, despite Israel’s small size, it can make a big difference in many, many areas that are important to them.

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But now I’m going to surprise you even more. You see, the biggest change in attitudes towards Israel is taking place elsewhere.  It’s taking place in the Arab world.  Our peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan continue to be anchors of stability in the volatile Middle East.  But I have to tell you this: For the first time in my lifetime, many other states in the region recognize that Israel is not their enemy. They recognize that Israel is their ally.
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Our common enemies are Iran and ISIS. Our common goals are security, prosperity and peace.  I believe that in the years ahead we will work together to achieve these goals, work together openly.

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So Israel’s diplomatic relations are undergoing nothing less than a revolution. But in this revolution, we never forget that our most cherished alliance, our deepest friendship is with the United States of America, the most powerful and the most generous nation on earth. Our unbreakable bond with the United States of America transcends parties and politics. It reflects, above all else, the overwhelming support for Israel among the American people, support which is at record highs and for which we are deeply grateful.

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The United Nations denounces Israel; the United States supports Israel. And a central pillar of that defense has been America’s consistent support for Israel at the UN.  I appreciate President Obama’s commitment to that longstanding US policy. In fact, the only time that the United States cast a UN Security Council veto during the Obama presidency was against an Anti-Israel resolution in 2011. 

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As President Obama rightly declared at this podium, peace will not come from statements and resolutions at the United Nations.

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I believe the day is not far off when Israel will be able to rely on many, many countries to stand with us at the UN.  Slowly but surely, the days when UN ambassadors reflexively condemn Israel, those days are coming to an end.

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Today’s automatic majority against Israel at the UN reminds me of the story, the incredible story of Hiroo Onada.  Hiroo was a Japanese soldier who was sent to the Philippines in 1944. He lived in the jungle. He scavenged for food.  He evaded capture. Eventually he surrendered, but that didn’t happen until 1974, some 30 years after World War II ended. For decades, Hiroo refused to believe the war was over.  As Hiroo was hiding in the jungle, Japanese tourists were swimming in pools in American luxury hotels in nearby Manila. Finally, mercifully, Hiroo’s former commanding officer was sent to persuade him to come out of hiding.  Only then did Hiroo lay down his arms.

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Distinguished delegates from so many lands, I have one message for you today:  Lay down your arms.  The war against Israel at the UN is over.  

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Perhaps some of you don’t know it yet, but I am confident that one day in the not too distant future you will also get the message from your President or from your Prime Minister informing you that the war against Israel at the United Nations has ended. Yes, I know, there might be a storm before the calm.  I know there is talk about ganging up on Israel at the UN later this year. Given its history of hostility towards Israel, does anyone really believe that Israel will let the UN determine our security and our vital national interests?

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We will not accept any attempt by the UN to dictate terms to Israel. The road to peace runs through Jerusalem and Ramallah, not through New York.

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But regardless of what happens in the months ahead, I have total confidence that in the years ahead the revolution in Israel’s standing among the nations will finally penetrate this hall of nations.  I have so much confidence, in fact, that I predict that a decade from now an Israeli Prime Minister will stand right here where I am standing and actually applaud the UN. But I want to ask you: Why do we have to wait a decade?  Why keep vilifying Israel?
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Perhaps because some of you don’t appreciate that the obsessive bias against Israel is not just a problem for my country, it’s a problem for your countries too.  Because if the UN spends so much time condemning the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, it has far less time to address war, disease, poverty, climate change and all the other serious problems that plague the planet.

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Are the half million slaughtered Syrians helped by your condemnation of Israel? The same Israel that has treated thousands of injured Syrians in our hospitals, including a field hospital that I built right along the Golan Heights border with Syria. Are the gays hanging from cranes in Iran helped by your denigration of Israel?
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That same Israel where gays march proudly in our streets and serve in our parliament, including I’m proud to say in my own Likud party.  Are the starving children in North Korea’s brutal tyranny, are they helped by your demonization of Israel? Israel, whose agricultural knowhow is feeding the hungry throughout the developing world?

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The sooner the UN’s obsession with Israel ends, the better.  The better for Israel, the better for your countries, the better for the UN itself.

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Netanyahu’s optimistic predictions are contrary to Bible prophecy. The bright future he predicts for Israel will not come about as a result of improving relations with the countries he mentions, I wish it would be so! But he is saying peace, peace, when calamity is just over the horizon. 

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Israel will go through the final seven years (Tribulation) prophesied by Daniel 9:24-27. So will those countries who are against her. But in the end, Israel will be saved by her Messiah Jesus Christ. Those who tried to destroy her will be destroyed.

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Pray for Israel, that all come to faith in their Messiah and know His peace.