JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I (GOD) will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY) him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
ISAIAH 41:11
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee (ISRAEL) shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing;(DESTROYED) and they that strive with thee shall perish.(ISRAEL HATERS WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
EU refuses to back down over settlement labeling policy-Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini reiterates that marking Israeli products from West Bank is not intended as a boycott-By AP and Raphael Ahren December 14, 2015, 11:33 pm-the times of israel
BRUSSELS — The European Union is refusing to back down on its decision to put identifying labels on exports from the West Bank, even though Israel has frozen some of its contacts with the bloc on Middle East peace issues.EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini said — following talks with foreign ministers Monday — that the EU is “united on these technical guidelines on the indication of origin, which is in no way a boycott.“Let me add two short points that were not part of the discussion or of the agenda, but were still debated among us,” Mogherini added, following a Foreign Affairs Council meeting.“One is related to the Middle East peace process, especially after the adoption of the technical guidelines on indication of origin. We had an exchange of views in this respect with the ministers, and we commonly decided that it was important also for me to pass this message publicly that the Council and the European Union stay united on these technical guidelines on indication of origin, which is in no way a boycott and should in no way be interpreted as one,” she said.“The second thing on which the Council was completely united is our continued engagement in the Middle East peace process and in broader bilateral relations with Israel. There is full unity and solidarity among member states and among European institutions on that.”Israel has been up in arms since the EU announced that goods produced in Israeli settlements must have special labels and cannot be marked as having been made in Israel.The Israeli freeze has interfered with some technical-level talks but it is unlikely to hinder the work of the Quartet of Mideast peacemakers, which comprises the UN, EU, United States and Russia.
Israel releases 4 more Egyptians in prisoner exchange-Convicts were imprisoned on drug- trafficking offenses — one had completed his sentence, others set free early in Tarabin deal-By AP December 14, 2015, 10:40 pm-the times of israel
Israel freed four Egyptian prisoners, in addition to two others who had already walked free, in a deal that secured last week’s release from Egypt of Israeli citizen Ouda Tarabin who was convicted of spying.Israel Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said the four Egyptians were imprisoned for drug trafficking. One had served his full sentence while the others were released between two and six years early.Weizman said the four were flown back to Egypt on Monday.Tarabin, a Bedouin Arab, returned to his family last Thursday after serving a 15-year sentence in an Egyptian prison on charges of spying for Israel. The 34-year-old Tarabin had maintained he was innocent.After his release, he referred to his incarceration as “when I was in a cemetery in Egypt.”He met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem before traveling to his family in Rahat.
Three Israelis hurt in West Bank rock-throwing attack-Large stone smashes through windshield of car near Beit Aryeh; woman evacuated to hospital in Petah Tikva-By Times of Israel staff December 14, 2015, 9:19 pm
Three Israelis were lightly hurt on Sunday evening when rocks were hurled at their car near the Beit Aryeh settlement in the central West Bank.Magen David Adom paramedics treated the victims at the scene. A woman, 47, was evacuated to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva.A large rock smashed through the windshield of the car close to the Palestinian village of al-Lubban al-Gharbi, just over the Green Line from several Tel Aviv suburbs in an area that has seen little of the violence that has rocked the country over the last several months.The attack happened close to the scene of a car-ramming attack last Thursday, in which four Israel Defense Forces soldiers were injured and required hospital treatment.Earlier Monday, 14 people were wounded in a car-ramming terror attack at the entrance to Jerusalem. A baby boy and a woman in her 70s were among those hurt when a Palestinian plowed his car into a crowd of people at a bus stop at the start of rush hour.
ISAIAH 41:11
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee (ISRAEL) shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing;(DESTROYED) and they that strive with thee shall perish.(ISRAEL HATERS WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)
ISAIAH 14:12-15
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(SATAN HAS PROUD I PROBLEMS)
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
LUKE 10:18
18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.(FOR WANTING TO BE GOD-SATAN HAD AND HAS EYE AM TROUBLES)
JOB 1:7
7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.(PROOF SATAN ON EARTH WALKING AND CAUSING CHAOS WITH THE 1/3RD FALLIN ANGELS WITH HIM FROM THE FALL-SATANS ARMY PUPPETS TO KILL ,STEAL,DESTROY)
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
Obama says US military hitting Islamic State harder than ever-President insists strategy of training forces, interrupting finances, is defeating jihadists, warns leaders: ‘you are next’-By Josh Lederman and Times of Israel staff December 14, 2015, 10:25 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said the United States military and allied forces are hitting the Islamic State group harder than ever and threatened the group’s leaders, after he opened a rare meeting of his National Security Council at the Pentagon on Monday.The meeting outside the White House is part of a public relations drive to ease Americans’ worries about domestic terrorism ahead of the holidays. Obama said the group has already lost 40% of the territory it once held. The president also said the US strategy of hunting down leaders, training forces and stopping the group’s financing and propaganda is progressing.“ISIL leaders cannot hide and our next message to them is simple: You are next,” Obama said.The president is making the case for his broad counterterrorism strategy, including an ongoing campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.As Obama, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the top national security team gathered, White House officials cautioned that the session didn’t signal a major change in approach.“If there’s an opportunity for us to intensify efforts behind one aspect of our strategy, then that is something that he wants his team to be prepared to do,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.The president is also slated for a briefing at the National Counterterrorism Center later in the week.The high- profile visits to agencies charged with keeping the US safe follow a televised address December 6 that aimed to reassure the public but that critics said failed to do the job. Obama is also hoping to draw a contrast with Donald Trump and his inflammatory remarks about Muslims, which Obama’s administration has said endangers US national security.“Terrorists like ISIL are trying to divide us along lines of religion and back ground,” Obama said in his weekly address, using an acronym for the extremist group. “That’s how they stoke fear. That’s how they recruit.”This week, he said, “we’ll move forward on all fronts.”After a series of setbacks, the US and its coalition partners have claimed progress recently in wresting back territory from IS and eliminating some of its key leaders in Syria and Iraq. The military has said hundreds of US airstrikes in recent days dealt a major blow to IS ranks in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, which IS seized in May.But progress in Ramadi, as elsewhere, has been slow, leading to calls in the US and abroad for a tougher US response. Obama has authorized sending small numbers of US special forces to Iraq and Syria, but has insisted he won’t budget from his determination not to send in major US ground forces.The American public remains jittery about the specter of extremism after deadly attacks in California and Paris. Seven in 10 Americans rate the risk of an attack in the US as at least somewhat high, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll — a sharp increase from the 5 in 10 who said that in January.US officials have insisted there are no specific, credible threats to the United States. But the apparent lack of warning before the San Bernardino massacre has raised concerns about whether the US has a handle on potential attacks, especially during high-profile times such as the end-of-year holidays.At the National Counterterrorism Center, which analyzes intelligence at its facility in suburban Virginia, Obama planned to address reporters Thursday after a briefing by intelligence and security agencies on threat assessments. Obama receives a similar briefing each year before the holidays.Concerns about extremism emanating from the Middle East have taken center stage in the presidential race. Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate, planned a speech in Minnesota on Tuesday to present a plan for protecting the US homeland.Obama has tried to use his bully pulpit as a counterpoint to Trump and his widely condemned proposal to bar Muslims from entering the US. The White House scheduled a conference call Monday with religious leaders about ways to fight discrimination and promote religious tolerance.Aiming to put a human face on the Syrian refugee issue, Obama is to speak Tuesday at the National Archives Museum, where 31 immigrants from Iraq, Ethiopia, Uganda and 23 other nations will be sworn in as US citizens. Obama planned to use that occasion to reframe the national conversation about immigrants around the country’s founding values of tolerance and freedom.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
In US schools, on streets and TV, children feel Muslim backlash-Parents say their kids hear disparaging remarks, see hateful bumper stickers and T-shirts, and have lost friends over their faith-By Michael R. Sisak December 15, 2015, 12:16 am-the times of israel
AP — A backlash against American Muslims is leaving a mark on some of the nation’s youngest minds.After seeing presidential candidate Donald Trump call on television for barring Muslims from entering the country, 8-year-old Sofia Yassini checked the locks on her family’s home in Plano, Texas, imagining the army would take them away. She raced to her room and stuffed a pair of Barbie dolls, a tub of peanut butter and a toothbrush into a bag. She insisted on bringing boots for the long boat ride she imagined was coming.When her mother, Melissa, arrived home from her work as a human resources manager, Sofia ran into her arms and cried.“I want people to understand the impact that their words have on these children,” said Melissa Yassini, who described the experience in a Facebook post that had been shared more than 21,000 times as of Monday. “We often forget, we’re waging war on one another with words, and we’re adults. We can take it. The kids are suffering with this. They go to school every day and they’re afraid to tell people they’re Muslim. This has to stop.”Anti-Muslim sentiment was building in the days before 14 people were killed December 2 in the massacre at a disability center in Southern California by a Muslim couple investigators say were inspired at least in part by the Islamic State group. Some governors had already said they wouldn’t allow Syrians fleeing civil war into their states because of extremist fears. Experts say Trump’s call December 7 to keep all Muslims from entering the United States — a plan he said would apply only temporarily and to non-citizens — only fanned the flames.Parents say their children hear disparaging remarks in their own communities, see hateful bumper stickers and T-shirts, and have had friends abandon them because of their faith.Ahad Khan, 12, came home from school in rural Westminster, Maryland, in tears because his best friend called him a future terrorist who couldn’t be trusted, according to Ahad’s father, Raza Khan.Khan, the chairman of the science department at Carroll Community College, shared Ahad’s experience in an open letter to Trump on Facebook. As of Monday, it had been shared more than 4,300 times.“He is the engine right now for that fearmongering,” Khan said in an interview. “I don’t think he realizes that his words matter. He doesn’t realize the damaging effect his words can have on people, especially kids.”In the minds of children — many long on imagination and short on political understanding — phrases like “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” can be traumatic, experts say.“Children expect that society will be nurturing and protective,” said Mark DeAntonio, a child psychiatry professor at the University of California Los Angeles. “Statements implying detainment or exclusion for arbitrary reason like race ethnicity or religion create anxiety and trauma.”Some children have questioned their faith and place in American society.Kafumba Kromah, of Minneapolis, said his 8-year-old daughter asked him: “Why we are Muslims? Why can’t we be what everybody else is?” His daughter encouraged him to cancel a trip to his native Liberia for fear he would be barred from returning.Mehnaz Mahmood, of Dallas, said her 7-year-old son urged her to switch to a black-and-white hijab — so she would look more like a nun — after they were subjected to anti-Muslim remarks outside his school this week.Sam Madi, of New Orleans, watched coverage of Trump’s remarks with his 11-year-old son. He said he feared anti-Muslim sentiment would set back progress in integrating Muslims into American society. Zane Madi plays soccer and spends most weekends with his mother helping the city’s homeless.“We’re not prepared for this,” said Madi, whose father fled Iraq in the 1970s. “We’re not prepared to sit and educate our children why they’re not any different from anybody else. I don’t think any parent is prepared for that. I don’t care what religion you believe or don’t believe.”Parents needn’t shoulder the burden themselves, said Patricia Greenfield, a psychology professor at UCLA. Teachers should talk about not generalizing Muslims and ask children to reinforce their friendships with Muslim students, she said in an email.As Khan, the father in Maryland, tucked his son in last week, he left him with the words he recited when he became a US citizen two decades ago: “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”“I don’t know why, I don’t know how people forget that,” Khan said later, fighting back tears. “We have to; otherwise we’re dividing ourselves.”
ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST
1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I (GOD) will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee,(ISRAELIS) and curse (DESTROY) him that curseth thee:(DESTROY THEM) and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
ISAIAH 41:11
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee (ISRAEL) shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing;(DESTROYED) and they that strive with thee shall perish.(ISRAEL HATERS WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)
ISRAELS TROUBLE
JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.
DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)
EU refuses to back down over settlement labeling policy-Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini reiterates that marking Israeli products from West Bank is not intended as a boycott-By AP and Raphael Ahren December 14, 2015, 11:33 pm-the times of israel
BRUSSELS — The European Union is refusing to back down on its decision to put identifying labels on exports from the West Bank, even though Israel has frozen some of its contacts with the bloc on Middle East peace issues.EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini said — following talks with foreign ministers Monday — that the EU is “united on these technical guidelines on the indication of origin, which is in no way a boycott.“Let me add two short points that were not part of the discussion or of the agenda, but were still debated among us,” Mogherini added, following a Foreign Affairs Council meeting.“One is related to the Middle East peace process, especially after the adoption of the technical guidelines on indication of origin. We had an exchange of views in this respect with the ministers, and we commonly decided that it was important also for me to pass this message publicly that the Council and the European Union stay united on these technical guidelines on indication of origin, which is in no way a boycott and should in no way be interpreted as one,” she said.“The second thing on which the Council was completely united is our continued engagement in the Middle East peace process and in broader bilateral relations with Israel. There is full unity and solidarity among member states and among European institutions on that.”Israel has been up in arms since the EU announced that goods produced in Israeli settlements must have special labels and cannot be marked as having been made in Israel.The Israeli freeze has interfered with some technical-level talks but it is unlikely to hinder the work of the Quartet of Mideast peacemakers, which comprises the UN, EU, United States and Russia.
Israel releases 4 more Egyptians in prisoner exchange-Convicts were imprisoned on drug- trafficking offenses — one had completed his sentence, others set free early in Tarabin deal-By AP December 14, 2015, 10:40 pm-the times of israel
Israel freed four Egyptian prisoners, in addition to two others who had already walked free, in a deal that secured last week’s release from Egypt of Israeli citizen Ouda Tarabin who was convicted of spying.Israel Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said the four Egyptians were imprisoned for drug trafficking. One had served his full sentence while the others were released between two and six years early.Weizman said the four were flown back to Egypt on Monday.Tarabin, a Bedouin Arab, returned to his family last Thursday after serving a 15-year sentence in an Egyptian prison on charges of spying for Israel. The 34-year-old Tarabin had maintained he was innocent.After his release, he referred to his incarceration as “when I was in a cemetery in Egypt.”He met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem before traveling to his family in Rahat.
Three Israelis hurt in West Bank rock-throwing attack-Large stone smashes through windshield of car near Beit Aryeh; woman evacuated to hospital in Petah Tikva-By Times of Israel staff December 14, 2015, 9:19 pm
Three Israelis were lightly hurt on Sunday evening when rocks were hurled at their car near the Beit Aryeh settlement in the central West Bank.Magen David Adom paramedics treated the victims at the scene. A woman, 47, was evacuated to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva.A large rock smashed through the windshield of the car close to the Palestinian village of al-Lubban al-Gharbi, just over the Green Line from several Tel Aviv suburbs in an area that has seen little of the violence that has rocked the country over the last several months.The attack happened close to the scene of a car-ramming attack last Thursday, in which four Israel Defense Forces soldiers were injured and required hospital treatment.Earlier Monday, 14 people were wounded in a car-ramming terror attack at the entrance to Jerusalem. A baby boy and a woman in her 70s were among those hurt when a Palestinian plowed his car into a crowd of people at a bus stop at the start of rush hour.
ISAIAH 41:11
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee (ISRAEL) shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing;(DESTROYED) and they that strive with thee shall perish.(ISRAEL HATERS WILL BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)
ISAIAH 14:12-15
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(SATAN HAS PROUD I PROBLEMS)
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
LUKE 10:18
18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.(FOR WANTING TO BE GOD-SATAN HAD AND HAS EYE AM TROUBLES)
JOB 1:7
7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.(PROOF SATAN ON EARTH WALKING AND CAUSING CHAOS WITH THE 1/3RD FALLIN ANGELS WITH HIM FROM THE FALL-SATANS ARMY PUPPETS TO KILL ,STEAL,DESTROY)
GENESIS 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.(WORLD TERRORISM,MURDERS)(HAMAS IN HEBREW IS VIOLENCE)
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence (TERRORISM)(HAMAS) through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
GENESIS 16:11-12
11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her,(HAGAR) Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael;(FATHER OF THE ARAB/MUSLIMS) because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
12 And he (ISHMAEL-FATHER OF THE ARAB-MUSLIMS) will be a wild (DONKEY-JACKASS) man;(ISLAM IS A FAKE AND DANGEROUS SEX FOR MURDER CULT) his hand will be against every man,(ISLAM HATES EVERYONE) and every man's hand against him;(PROTECTING THEMSELVES FROM BEING BEHEADED) and he (ISHMAEL ARAB/MUSLIM) shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.(LITERAL-THE ARABS LIVE WITH THEIR BRETHERN JEWS)
JOHN 16:2
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.(ISLAM MURDERS IN THE NAME OF MOON GOD ALLAH OF ISLAM)
Obama says US military hitting Islamic State harder than ever-President insists strategy of training forces, interrupting finances, is defeating jihadists, warns leaders: ‘you are next’-By Josh Lederman and Times of Israel staff December 14, 2015, 10:25 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said the United States military and allied forces are hitting the Islamic State group harder than ever and threatened the group’s leaders, after he opened a rare meeting of his National Security Council at the Pentagon on Monday.The meeting outside the White House is part of a public relations drive to ease Americans’ worries about domestic terrorism ahead of the holidays. Obama said the group has already lost 40% of the territory it once held. The president also said the US strategy of hunting down leaders, training forces and stopping the group’s financing and propaganda is progressing.“ISIL leaders cannot hide and our next message to them is simple: You are next,” Obama said.The president is making the case for his broad counterterrorism strategy, including an ongoing campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.As Obama, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and the top national security team gathered, White House officials cautioned that the session didn’t signal a major change in approach.“If there’s an opportunity for us to intensify efforts behind one aspect of our strategy, then that is something that he wants his team to be prepared to do,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.The president is also slated for a briefing at the National Counterterrorism Center later in the week.The high- profile visits to agencies charged with keeping the US safe follow a televised address December 6 that aimed to reassure the public but that critics said failed to do the job. Obama is also hoping to draw a contrast with Donald Trump and his inflammatory remarks about Muslims, which Obama’s administration has said endangers US national security.“Terrorists like ISIL are trying to divide us along lines of religion and back ground,” Obama said in his weekly address, using an acronym for the extremist group. “That’s how they stoke fear. That’s how they recruit.”This week, he said, “we’ll move forward on all fronts.”After a series of setbacks, the US and its coalition partners have claimed progress recently in wresting back territory from IS and eliminating some of its key leaders in Syria and Iraq. The military has said hundreds of US airstrikes in recent days dealt a major blow to IS ranks in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, which IS seized in May.But progress in Ramadi, as elsewhere, has been slow, leading to calls in the US and abroad for a tougher US response. Obama has authorized sending small numbers of US special forces to Iraq and Syria, but has insisted he won’t budget from his determination not to send in major US ground forces.The American public remains jittery about the specter of extremism after deadly attacks in California and Paris. Seven in 10 Americans rate the risk of an attack in the US as at least somewhat high, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll — a sharp increase from the 5 in 10 who said that in January.US officials have insisted there are no specific, credible threats to the United States. But the apparent lack of warning before the San Bernardino massacre has raised concerns about whether the US has a handle on potential attacks, especially during high-profile times such as the end-of-year holidays.At the National Counterterrorism Center, which analyzes intelligence at its facility in suburban Virginia, Obama planned to address reporters Thursday after a briefing by intelligence and security agencies on threat assessments. Obama receives a similar briefing each year before the holidays.Concerns about extremism emanating from the Middle East have taken center stage in the presidential race. Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate, planned a speech in Minnesota on Tuesday to present a plan for protecting the US homeland.Obama has tried to use his bully pulpit as a counterpoint to Trump and his widely condemned proposal to bar Muslims from entering the US. The White House scheduled a conference call Monday with religious leaders about ways to fight discrimination and promote religious tolerance.Aiming to put a human face on the Syrian refugee issue, Obama is to speak Tuesday at the National Archives Museum, where 31 immigrants from Iraq, Ethiopia, Uganda and 23 other nations will be sworn in as US citizens. Obama planned to use that occasion to reframe the national conversation about immigrants around the country’s founding values of tolerance and freedom.Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
In US schools, on streets and TV, children feel Muslim backlash-Parents say their kids hear disparaging remarks, see hateful bumper stickers and T-shirts, and have lost friends over their faith-By Michael R. Sisak December 15, 2015, 12:16 am-the times of israel
AP — A backlash against American Muslims is leaving a mark on some of the nation’s youngest minds.After seeing presidential candidate Donald Trump call on television for barring Muslims from entering the country, 8-year-old Sofia Yassini checked the locks on her family’s home in Plano, Texas, imagining the army would take them away. She raced to her room and stuffed a pair of Barbie dolls, a tub of peanut butter and a toothbrush into a bag. She insisted on bringing boots for the long boat ride she imagined was coming.When her mother, Melissa, arrived home from her work as a human resources manager, Sofia ran into her arms and cried.“I want people to understand the impact that their words have on these children,” said Melissa Yassini, who described the experience in a Facebook post that had been shared more than 21,000 times as of Monday. “We often forget, we’re waging war on one another with words, and we’re adults. We can take it. The kids are suffering with this. They go to school every day and they’re afraid to tell people they’re Muslim. This has to stop.”Anti-Muslim sentiment was building in the days before 14 people were killed December 2 in the massacre at a disability center in Southern California by a Muslim couple investigators say were inspired at least in part by the Islamic State group. Some governors had already said they wouldn’t allow Syrians fleeing civil war into their states because of extremist fears. Experts say Trump’s call December 7 to keep all Muslims from entering the United States — a plan he said would apply only temporarily and to non-citizens — only fanned the flames.Parents say their children hear disparaging remarks in their own communities, see hateful bumper stickers and T-shirts, and have had friends abandon them because of their faith.Ahad Khan, 12, came home from school in rural Westminster, Maryland, in tears because his best friend called him a future terrorist who couldn’t be trusted, according to Ahad’s father, Raza Khan.Khan, the chairman of the science department at Carroll Community College, shared Ahad’s experience in an open letter to Trump on Facebook. As of Monday, it had been shared more than 4,300 times.“He is the engine right now for that fearmongering,” Khan said in an interview. “I don’t think he realizes that his words matter. He doesn’t realize the damaging effect his words can have on people, especially kids.”In the minds of children — many long on imagination and short on political understanding — phrases like “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” can be traumatic, experts say.“Children expect that society will be nurturing and protective,” said Mark DeAntonio, a child psychiatry professor at the University of California Los Angeles. “Statements implying detainment or exclusion for arbitrary reason like race ethnicity or religion create anxiety and trauma.”Some children have questioned their faith and place in American society.Kafumba Kromah, of Minneapolis, said his 8-year-old daughter asked him: “Why we are Muslims? Why can’t we be what everybody else is?” His daughter encouraged him to cancel a trip to his native Liberia for fear he would be barred from returning.Mehnaz Mahmood, of Dallas, said her 7-year-old son urged her to switch to a black-and-white hijab — so she would look more like a nun — after they were subjected to anti-Muslim remarks outside his school this week.Sam Madi, of New Orleans, watched coverage of Trump’s remarks with his 11-year-old son. He said he feared anti-Muslim sentiment would set back progress in integrating Muslims into American society. Zane Madi plays soccer and spends most weekends with his mother helping the city’s homeless.“We’re not prepared for this,” said Madi, whose father fled Iraq in the 1970s. “We’re not prepared to sit and educate our children why they’re not any different from anybody else. I don’t think any parent is prepared for that. I don’t care what religion you believe or don’t believe.”Parents needn’t shoulder the burden themselves, said Patricia Greenfield, a psychology professor at UCLA. Teachers should talk about not generalizing Muslims and ask children to reinforce their friendships with Muslim students, she said in an email.As Khan, the father in Maryland, tucked his son in last week, he left him with the words he recited when he became a US citizen two decades ago: “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”“I don’t know why, I don’t know how people forget that,” Khan said later, fighting back tears. “We have to; otherwise we’re dividing ourselves.”
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