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)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
US, at UN, says Israel must choose between settlements or two-state solution-American representative tells Security Council that progress is needed ‘right now’By AFP and Times of Israel staff October 15, 2016, 12:30 am
The United States on Friday called for immediate action to salvage the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the Security Council weighed its next steps to revive peace prospects.US Deputy Ambassador David Pressman told an informal council meeting on Israeli settlements that the continued building of Jewish outposts on Palestinian land was “corrosive to the cause of peace.”“We need to start implementing the two-state solution on the ground right now,” Pressman told the meeting organized by Angola, Egypt, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela.During the session, the head of Israeli human rights group B’Tselem Hagai El-Ad told the council that Israel was creating facts on the ground in advance of any peace agreement with the Palestinians.Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon later slammed B’Tselem for taking part in the forum, citing Thursday’s passage of a resolution by UNESCO that rejects Jewish ties to Jerusalem’s holy sites.UN diplomats have kept one eye on the US presidential campaign as they consider whether to move on a Security Council resolution that could nudge the sides back to the negotiating table.The outcome of the US vote on November 8 could lead to a shift in relations between Washington and its close ally Israel.Pressman reiterated Washington’s long-standing view that a final peace agreement must be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.“But significant progress toward creating a two-state reality can be made now that will help restore hope and lay the groundwork for successful negotiations,” he added.“Israel must decide between expanding settlements and preserving the possibility of a peaceful two-state solution.”Arab governments are considering plans to present a draft resolution to the Security Council demanding a halt to Israel settlements, but a similar measure was vetoed by the United States in 2011.The United Nations has branded the settlements illegal, but the Security Council has not taken action to uphold that decision.Venezuela’s Ambassador Rafael Ramirez accused the United States, which has veto powers, of “maintaining a blockade” at the Security Council and preventing action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, settlement construction has surged.“Let’s call a spade a spade,” said French Ambassador Francois Delattre.“This policy is jeopardizing prospects for a future viable Palestinian state that would provide the best guarantee of Israel’s security and offer a just and durable solution to the conflict.”France is offering to host an international conference to be held before the end of this year on relaunching the peace process.Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said Arab ministers are to meet later this month to decide whether to push for a draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements and also to press for full Palestinian membership in the United Nations.Palestine was granted the status of UN non-member observer state in 2012.
PM to next UN chief: I hope for fairer stance on Israel-In conversation with Antonio Guterres, Netanyahu cites UNESCO resolution on Jerusalem as example of world body’s bias-By Times of Israel staff October 14, 2016, 9:32 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told incoming UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Friday that he hoped for fairer treatment of Israel at the international body on his watch.Guterres will officially assume the role on January 1, 2017, when Ban Ki-moon’s second term as UN chief comes to an end.In his conversation with Guterres, Netanyahu raised Thursday’s UNESCO vote on a resolution that failed to mention the connection of Jews and Christians to holy sites in Jerusalem, calling it a move that emphasizes the biased and one-sided conduct of the UN toward the only democracy in the tumultuous Middle East.The conversation came as members of the United Nations Security Council convened a special meeting titled “Illegal Israeli Settlements: Obstacles to Peace and the Two-State Solution.”The meeting, an initiative of Egypt, Malaysia, Senegal, Angola and Venezuela, was conducted in the Arria Formula (informal) format.The head of Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem, Hagai El-Ad, lambasted Israel’s settlement policy at the meeting, and urged the Security Council to act to rein Israel in.“With every breath the Palestinians take they are breathing an occupation. Israel cannot call itself a democracy while occupying another people,” he said.Lara Friedman of Americans for Peace Now added that “Israeli policy in the settlements is ending the chance for peace. I call on the Security Council to send a message to Israel and to end this policy.”Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon harshly criticized the two organizations for taking part in the session, citing the UNESCO resolution as proof of UN bias towards the Palestinians.“After anti-Israel forces approved a resolution intending to sever the historical bond between the Jewish people and Jerusalem, Israeli organizations chose to slander and besmirch Israel’s good name at an event organized by the Palestinian delegation,” Danon said in a statement. “We will continue to fight and tell the truth about Israel despite the attempts to spread lies about us. It is unfortunate that Israeli organizations have joined the Palestinian attempts to wage diplomatic terror against Israel at the UN.”According to Danon’s office, a note circulated by the organizers before the event stated that the prospects for a two-state solution were being jeopardized by “the presence and continuing growth of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land occupied by Israel since June 1967.” The memo also said that Israeli security forces “routinely oversee acts of settler violence against Palestinian civilians, denying protection to the occupied population.”
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a(MEASURING) reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out,(TO THE WORLD NATIONS) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.(JERUSALEM DIVIDED BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE ALLOWED TO BE REBUILT)
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
MICAH 4:1-5
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
DANIEL 11:31
31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.(3RD TEMPLE REBUILT)
DANIEL 12:11
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,(AT THE MIDPOINT OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD)(3RD TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED BY DICTATOR) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up,(TO WORSHIP THE DICTATOR OR DIE) there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.(1,290 DAYS)(AN EXTRA 30 DAYS AT THE END OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD FOR JESUS TO DESTROY THE ARMIES AGAINST JERUSALEM.AND TO JUDGE THE SHEEP AND GOAT NATIONS OF MATTHEW 25:31-46-HOW THEY TREATED ISRAEL DURING THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THEN I BELIEVE JESUS WILL REBUILD THE 4TH TEMPLE 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.AND THEN JESUS RULES FOR THE 1,000 YEARS-THEN FOREVER FROM THAT 4TH TEMPLE.)
MATTHEW 24:15-16
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)(THE DICTATOR SITS IN THE REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE CALLING HIMSELF GOD AT THE MIDPOINT OR 3 1/2 YEAR PERIOD OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.OR 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY BETWEEN ISRAEL-ARABS AND MANY OF DANIEL 9:27)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
UNESCO’s Jerusalem resolution ignores Christian roots, too-With increased archeological findings of a Byzantine presence prior to the Muslim conquest, the historical holy site is clearly linked to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity — and not necessarily in that order-By Amanda Borschel-Dan October 16, 2016, 7:05 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Shortly before his death, in what is called the Olivet Discourse, Jesus predicts the fall of the Second Temple and the resulting desolation on the Temple Mount. Recounted in three gospels, this prophecy became foundational theology to the early Christians, who eschewed the most holy site of the Jewish faith when creating their new churches.But what if not all of them did leave the Temple Mount deserted? Over the past decade, there have been increasing archaeological findings that after the destruction of the Second Temple and prior to the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount served Byzantine Christians as a base.Shown through rare images of Byzantine mosaics photographed during the British Mandate in 1937 — and only published in 2008 — alongside some half a million Byzantine period mosaic tiles discovered since 1999 in the Temple Mount Sifting Project, there is increasing evidence that the Al Aqsa Mosque and courtyard is built upon Christian ruins.In an UNESCO resolution on “Occupied Palestine,” however, Jerusalem holy sites are referred to by Muslim names only, ignoring the historic ties of Jews and Christians. Approved at committee stage in Paris on October 13, 2016, it passed by 24 votes to 6, with 26 abstentions.Unsurprisingly, many of the nations which voted in favor were Muslim. But there were several traditionally Christian nations which also voted for the resolution, and even more that abstained — in essence giving tacit support to the notion that Haram esh-Sharif (called the Temple Mount in Judeo-Christian tradition) concerns Muslims alone.Before the resolution’s scheduled approval this week by UNESCO’s Executive Board, The Times of Israel explores the Christian roots of the Temple Mount.-The mainstream historical record-In 335 CE, Emperor Constantine, the first Roman emperor who converted to Christianity, inaugurated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as part of a rebuilt Christian Jerusalem. The center of this burgeoning Christianity remained outside of the Temple Mount.There are increasing indications that not all felt compelled to heed Jesus’s prophecy from Mark 13:2 — that the destroyed temple’s stones would forever lay in ruin.However, a Christian use of the Temple Mount is not documented in contemporary pilgrim travel diaries such as the Gaul from Bordeaux in 333 CE, or even the famous Madaba Map, part of a floor mosaic in the early Byzantine church of Saint George at Madaba, Jordan. Dated to the 6th century, the map depicts the oldest discovered cartographic survey of the Holy Land.Bar-Ilan University History Prof. Yvonne Friedman told The Times of Israel that the Byzantine Christians in Jerusalem “saw the Temple Mount as the Jewish center. It was destroyed and should stay that way to prove the veracity of Jesus’s prophecy,” she said.Friedman does not, however, rule out entirely the possibility of churches on the Temple Mount during the Byzantine period.“I think there must have been some churches [on the Temple Mount], but the major alternative center was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” said Friedman. This changed, she said, during the Crusader period, when the holy warriors — seeing themselves “the heirs of biblical Israel” — conquered the Temple Mount and turned the mosques there into a church and, temporarily, their political base.According to Joshua Schwartz, professor of Historical Geography of Ancient Israel at Bar-Ilan University, an organized Christian building on the Temple Mount is “unlikely.”‘The Church Fathers and the Madaba Map relate to the Temple Mount as a dump, as proof of the defeat of Judaism’“The Church Fathers and the Madaba Map relate to the Temple Mount as a dump, as proof of the defeat of Judaism. A number of Byzantine sources relate to Jews being allowed to go up to the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av to mourn. Some scholars claimed that this was staged by Christian clergy,” Schwartz told The Times of Israel.“I know of no Christian Church on the Temple Mount during Byzantine times.The fact that the Sifting Project found Christian material, that in my view is probably Crusader or Byzantine in secondary usage by Crusaders, but Byzantine from Byzantine churches in the Jerusalem (which had of course many). The Crusaders loved to shlep stuff,” said Schwartz.It would be difficult to move a Byzantine mosaic floor, however. Documented by British archaeologist R.K. Hamilton during a rare archaeological dig in the Dome of the Rock in the late 1930s, its existence only came to light in 2008 when Temple Mount Sifting Project archaeologist Zachi Dvira (Zweig) discovered and published Hamilton’s photos.-Uncovering a cover-up? Rich in history and political strife, the Temple Mount has rarely been excavated. One rare instance of a professional archaeological survey came in the 1930s, by way of earthquake.Between 1938-1942 there was a large scale renovation of Al-Aqsa, following two earthquakes in 1927 and 1937.A photograph of Byzantine-era flooring taken by R.K. Hamilton, director of the British Mandate Antiquities Department, during a rare excavation of Al-Aksa in the late 1930s. (Israel Antiquities Authorities archives)-A photograph of Byzantine-era flooring taken by R.K. Hamilton, director of the British Mandate Antiquities Department, during a rare excavation of Al-Aksa in the late 1930s. (Israel Antiquities Authorities archives)According to archaeologist Dvira, during the British Mandate period, the cooperation between government archaeological supervisors and the Islamic Waqf was at its height. As a result, there were two archaeological digs conducted by the British antiquities authorities, accompanied by much photography.Hamilton, director of the British Mandate Antiquities Department, published some of his results in 1949. But, after pouring over Hamilton’s archival photography, Dvira discovered that much was left out, especially anything with a Jewish or Christian connection, including early ritual baths and Byzantine mosaic flooring.The mosaic flooring was found in an area that was under and outside the northern facade of the Umayyad mosque. “From this one could assume that the mosaic floor predates the Umayyad mosque,” wrote Dvira in a 2008 essay (Hebrew).“The patterns presented on these mosaics which survived are common ones for the Byzantine period,” wrote Dvira, and are parallel to ones found in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which was commissioned by Constantine in 327 and completed in 339.In a 2010 article, Dvira insinuates that Hamilton’s close political connection to the Waqf didn’t allow the archaeologist to publish his findings which predated the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem.On the one hand, said Dvira, the very fact of an archaeological dig on the Temple Mount was praiseworthy. However, it came with a price, which was in this case a politically driven academic self-censorship of sorts.Dismaying Israeli politicians and archaeologists alike, the current resolution has echoes of Hamilton’s decision not to publish his Christian and Jewish findings.However, said Dvira, the Dome of the Rock was built on that spot because it was previously the location of the Solomonic Temple, said the exasperated archeologist.Dvira said the UNESCO resolution came about, absurdly, because Israel has been recently proactive in observing the Antiquities Law, which requires archaeological supervision during building projects, including restoration on the Temple Mount.“It is so ridiculous that they [the largely Muslim proponents of the resolution] are changing their narrative. I don’t understand how it is possible to so distance themselves from the truth and from history,” said Dvira.-From ashes to ashes, to dust to discovery-Dvira’s Temple Mount Sifting Project was set up in 1999 when the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, which conducted unsupervised (and therefore illegal) renovations on the Temple Mount, disposed of over 9,000 tons of dirt mixed with what the project calls “invaluable archaeological artifacts” in the Kidron Valley.The project began when veteran archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkay, alongside Dvira, salvaged the hundreds of truck loads of dirt, which has since been examined for artifacts in the Tzurim Valley National Park adjacent to the Mount of Olives. For a small fee, volunteers can spend two hours participating in the project, which is funded by the City of David Foundation.Dvira said he is convinced there was a Byzantine Christian presence on the Temple Mount, both through the Hamilton images, and through “finding more and more in the sifting from the Byzantine period,” he said. He said the project, which is fundraising to publish its findings, has found some half a million mosaic pieces over the years.“It is possible a church was built there,” he said. What is certain is that in addition to the broad use of the Temple Mount during the Crusader period — illustrated through the projects findings of horse shoe nails and rare Crusader coins, among other objects — there was also Christian building of some scale prior to the Muslim conquest.“The Temple Mount is also the heritage of the Christians, there’s no doubt,” Dvira told The Times of Israel.
UNESCO chief pans her member states on anti-Israel Jerusalem resolution-After Israel cuts ties to UN cultural agency, Irina Bokova warns that ‘to deny, conceal or erase’ any faith’s traditions in holy city undermines body’s activities-By Itamar Sharon and Raphael Ahren October 14, 2016, 3:03 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The director-general of the UN’s cultural agency UNESCO signaled her dismay and opposition to her organization’s own members on Friday, a day after they adopted a resolution that rejects the historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem.Though she did not explicitly mention the resolution, Irina Bokova made her disapproval of the motion clear, saying that efforts to deny history and Jerusalem’s complex multi-faith character harm UNESCO.“The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city,” Bokova said in a statement.Bokova noted that the “cultural and spiritual traditions” of all faiths in Jerusalem “build on texts and references, known by all, that are an intrinsic part of the identities and history of peoples.“To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list,” she said. “When these divisions carry over into UNESCO, an organization dedicated to dialogue and peace, they prevent us from carrying out our mission.”It was not immediately clear what steps, if any, Bokova intended to take in light of her statement. The resolution was approved Thursday at UNESCO’s committee stage. It must still be validated by the Executive Board of UNESCO when it meets early next week, but the wording is unlikely to change.Earlier Friday Israel informed Bokova that it was suspending its cooperation with UNESCO over the vote, with Education Minister Naftali Bennett saying the motion was a denial of history that “gives a boost to terrorism.”Bennett, who serves as president of Israel’s National Commission for UNESCO, said all meetings with UNESCO officials, participation in international forums and professional cooperation would be suspended until further notice.UNESCO’s draft resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, referred to the Temple Mount and Western Wall only by their Muslim names and condemned Israel as “the occupying power” for various actions taken in both places.Israelis and many Jews around the world view the move as the latest example of an ingrained anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.Israeli leadership reacted furiously to the UN resolution, with some accusing the UN’s cultural arm of anti-Semitism on Thursday.Lawmakers from both the right and left of the political spectrum said the decision was ill-befitting of UNESCO.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision “absurd,” while President Reuven Rivlin called it an “embarrassment” for UNESCO. The Executive Board of UNESCO is next week set to approve the resolution, which passed Thursday at the committee stage.Culture Minister Miri Regev slammed the resolution as “shameful and anti-Semitic,” and Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel called for Israel to increase the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount, a flashpoint site governed by a tense status quo, in response.Opposition chief Isaac Herzog accused UNESCO of betraying their mission. “Whoever wants to rewrite history, to distort fact, and to completely invent the fantasy that the Western Wall and Temple Mount have no connection to the Jewish people, is telling a terrible lie that only serves to increase hatred.”Twenty-four countries voted in favor of the resolution Thursday afternoon, six against and 26 abstained, though Ambassador Carmel Shama-HaCohen praised the diplomatic effort that had changed several no votes in a similar resolution in April into abstentions this time around.
Top UNESCO official tells Israeli TV he’s ‘sorry’ about Jerusalem resolution-Michael Worbs hopes final vote on text that negates Jewish ties to city will be delayed, says recognition of Old City as Heritage Site for the 3 monotheistic faiths trumps ‘recent debate’-By AFP and Times of Israel staff October 14, 2016, 10:42 pm
The chair of UNESCO’s Executive Board, Michael Worbs, said Friday he was sorry about the resolution ignoring Jewish ties to Jerusalem’s holy sites that was passed by UNESCO on Thursday and that is set to be approved by his executive board next week. “It’s very exceptional what happened yesterday, and I’m sorry for that,” Worbs told Israeli television.Worbs, who had said earlier Friday that he hoped Tuesday’s scheduled Executive Board vote would be delayed, to allow more time for dialogue, told Israel’s Channel 10 television he would never deny Jewish and Christian ties to Jerusalem, and invoked the cultural body’s decades-old designation of the capital as a World Heritage Site. This designation trumps any recent conversations about the city, Worbs said, in a reference to Thursday’s UNESCO resolution that appeared to negate non-Muslim connections to Jerusalem’s holy sites.Speaking from his office in Paris, Worbs told Channel 10 that when Jerusalem was declared a World Heritage Site, its importance to the three monotheistic religions was highlighted.“I am very well aware of that [importance] and personally would never deny that,” Worbs said, referring to Jewish historical connection to the Old City of Jerusalem.“I would also like to remind that Jerusalem, the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls were inscribed as a World Heritage Site of UNESCO by the World Heritage Committee in 1982, and at that time it was inscribed specifically as a site that has meaning for three religions,” Worbs said. This position, he said, supersedes any debate that the board has had recently.The UNESCO resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries and passed Thursday in the committee stage, referred to the Temple Mount and Western Wall only by their Muslim names and condemned Israel as “the occupying power” for various actions taken in both places.Israelis and many Jews around the world view the move as the latest example of an ingrained anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.Israeli leadership reacted furiously to the UN resolution, with some accusing the UN’s cultural arm of anti-Semitism on Thursday. Lawmakers from both the right and left of the political spectrum said the decision was ill-befitting of UNESCO.The resolution must still be validated by the Executive Board that Worbs heads, but the contentious wording was not expected to change. The 58 member states of the board normally follow the votes made at committee stage, but in this case Worbs said he hoped the votes would be postponed.“I fully understand your feelings and the feelings of many Israelis about this recent decision, but it’s an inter-governmental debate,” Worbs said in reference to the vote. “It’s not a UNESCO debate, UNESCO is the forum in which this debate takes place.”Worbs urged Israelis not to conflate the resolution with the UN agency’s official position.“I would like to appeal to the Israeli public opinion not to mix up UNESCO with decisions of some sort and especially not with decisions which are not unanimous. Normally in UNESCO we conclude decisions in a consensual manner, it’s very exceptional what happened yesterday and I’m sorry for that. I will use my good offices in order to reestablish the consensus which prevailed for over 40 years in UNESCO.”Worbs also expressed the hope Friday that the resolution by UNESCO would not go to a formal vote on Tuesday as expected, but would instead be deferred to give dialogue a chance.“We need more time and dialogue between the members of the Board to reach a consensus,” he said.“For 40 years, UNESCO has always managed to find consensual decisions on the Middle East,” he added. “But since autumn 2010 it has become more and more difficult.”Israel and the United States suspended their funding to UNESCO in 2011 after the Palestinians were admitted as members. Both countries have lost their voting rights as a result.The director-general of UNESCO earlier Friday signaled her dismay and opposition to Thursday’s vote. Though she did not explicitly mention the resolution, Irina Bokova made her disapproval of the motion clear, saying that efforts to deny history and Jerusalem’s complex multi-faith character harm UNESCO.“The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city,” Bokova said in a statement.“To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list,” she said.Israel informed Bokova earlier Friday that it was suspending its cooperation with UNESCO over the vote, with Education Minister Naftali Bennett saying the motion was a denial of history that “gives a boost to terrorism.”Bennett, who serves as president of Israel’s National Commission for UNESCO, said all meetings with UNESCO officials, participation in international forums and professional cooperation would be suspended until further notice.
Israel in 2012 mulled leaking ‘plans’ of Iran strike from Saudi base-Latest Wikileaks email dump reveals Israeli efforts to counter Tehran nuclear program included spreading rumors of impending IDF attack-By Tamar Pileggi October 16, 2016, 10:15 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Israel in 2012 considered “leaking” that it would use a military base in Saudi Arabia as a springboard to launch an airstrike against Iran as part of its efforts to counter the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, according to the latest batch of leaked emails released by WikiLeaks on Saturday.A July 2012 correspondence between senior advisers and then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton cited Israeli sources saying that while Israel was unprepared for a full-scale war with Iran, rumors of an IDF strike could “persuade the world they mean business.”“At present, considering that Israel is not prepared for an all-out war with Iran, they may well continue to threaten action, giving the impression they are serious about pursuing aggressive Iranian anti-nuclear efforts,” foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan wrote in a July 24 email.“One way to do that is to update weapon systems; secure an air base in Saudi Arabia that would suggest a staging ground for an eventual attack, then ‘leak’ the word to the media that their [sic] are eminent [sic] plans to carry out a bombing raid and do everything possible to persuade the world they mean business,” the unnamed Israeli source was quoted as saying.The email also cited a number of other European and Turkish security and intelligence sources who expressed concern that any Israeli military action against Iran would instantly ignite an all out war in the Middle East, including extensive retaliation against the Jewish state from its Arab neighbors.Senior Turkish military commanders advised that a regional war would begin “before the first Israel air-strike sortie has returned to base,” and estimated that Hezbollah fighters in Syria and Lebanon had access to upwards of 200,000 surface-to-surface rockets and missiles.“Their [Turkish] military analysts also believe that an assault from such a force would overwhelm Israel’s defenses,” the military sources were quoted as saying in the email.The transcript showed that Western European intelligence services were also concerned over a potential Israeli strike, and had warned their respective heads of state that in such an event, Israel would be scapegoated for the fallout and would be the target of thousands of missiles and rockets launched from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and the Gaza Strip.“Such an attack may lead to further deterioration in the world economy, which would in turn be blamed on Israel,” European leaders were told in intelligence reports by their respective agencies, according to the email.European intelligence sources also said the international economic sanctions levied against Iran over its nuclear program were “truly hurting the Iranian economy” and had begun to foster hostility towards the ruling party, led at the time by hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Iranian sources advised US officials that an IDF strike on Iran would undermine the growing discontent towards the Iranian leadership and would serve to unite the public against Israel, the US and Western Europe.In this regard, Sullivan’s email said that European security official “regularly” cited the words of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was quoted as saying that “Iran in particular is susceptible to economic pressure. The oil-exporting Islamic republic is virtually a single-crop economy, and imposition of a tight blockade against Iranian oil sales will undoubtedly induce in Tehran a prompt revaluation of the utility of even indirect terrorist tactics.”European officials were “staying in close contact with their Israeli counterparts as they attempt to manipulate events while avoiding a general conflict at this time,” Sullivan said of efforts to stave off an Israeli attack.The latest cache of Clinton’s emails also revealed transcripts of several paid speeches she gave to Goldman Sachs in 2013, in which the Democratic presidential nominee said the US should bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities it inched too closely to developing a nuclear weapon, while asserting that Israel did not posses the military capability to stop Tehran alone.Speaking five months before the interim agreement was reached that set the framework for the nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers two years later, Clinton said that if Tehran raced toward the bomb, the US must “up the pain,” but without “boots on the ground.”“We have to bomb the facilities. They act as though there would be no consequences either predicted or unpredicted,” the then-secretary of state said. “Of course there would be, and you already are dealing with a regime that is the principal funder and supplier of terrorism in the world today.”Later at the same event, Clinton indicated Israel did not have the strength to strike the Iranian nuclear facilities and successfully set back its activities.“The Israelis, as you know, have looked at this very closely for a number of years. The Israelis’ estimate is even if we set their program back for just a couple of years it’s worth doing and whatever their reaction might be is absorbable,” she said. “That has been up until this recent government, the prior government, their position. But they couldn’t do much damage themselves.”The latest trove of Clinton’s leaked emails released by Wikileaks also revealed Israel’s approach to the unfolding Syrian civil war, and its concerns of a shift in leadership in Damascus.In the 2012 message from Sullivan, senior Israeli military and intelligence officials said Netanyahu was concerned that violence in neighboring Syria would lead to President Bashar Assad’s ouster and replacement with a radical Islamist leader.“Israeli leaders are now drawing up contingency plans to deal with a regional structure where the new revolutionary regimes that take over the various countries will be controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood and possibly more problematic groups such as al-Qaeda, which doesn’t bode well for the Israelis,” the source was quoted as saying.The leaked transcripts of Clinton’s speeches and emails between staffers was released Saturday by WikiLeaks as part of a trove of hacked emails from her campaign manager John Podesta’s account.The release is now the latest bid by the group to inject itself into this year’s presidential campaign.US officials have accused WikiLeaks of working with Russian operatives to undermine Clinton’s candidacy and boost her opponent Donald Trump. So far the group has unveiled 11,000 hacked emails and purports to release 50,000 more before the November 8 election.The Clinton campaign has neither denied nor confirmed the authenticity of the transcripts of her high-priced Wall Street speeches. They have also not challenged any of the emails that the group has already made public.Eric Cortellessa contributed to this report.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
US, at UN, says Israel must choose between settlements or two-state solution-American representative tells Security Council that progress is needed ‘right now’By AFP and Times of Israel staff October 15, 2016, 12:30 am
The United States on Friday called for immediate action to salvage the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the Security Council weighed its next steps to revive peace prospects.US Deputy Ambassador David Pressman told an informal council meeting on Israeli settlements that the continued building of Jewish outposts on Palestinian land was “corrosive to the cause of peace.”“We need to start implementing the two-state solution on the ground right now,” Pressman told the meeting organized by Angola, Egypt, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela.During the session, the head of Israeli human rights group B’Tselem Hagai El-Ad told the council that Israel was creating facts on the ground in advance of any peace agreement with the Palestinians.Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon later slammed B’Tselem for taking part in the forum, citing Thursday’s passage of a resolution by UNESCO that rejects Jewish ties to Jerusalem’s holy sites.UN diplomats have kept one eye on the US presidential campaign as they consider whether to move on a Security Council resolution that could nudge the sides back to the negotiating table.The outcome of the US vote on November 8 could lead to a shift in relations between Washington and its close ally Israel.Pressman reiterated Washington’s long-standing view that a final peace agreement must be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.“But significant progress toward creating a two-state reality can be made now that will help restore hope and lay the groundwork for successful negotiations,” he added.“Israel must decide between expanding settlements and preserving the possibility of a peaceful two-state solution.”Arab governments are considering plans to present a draft resolution to the Security Council demanding a halt to Israel settlements, but a similar measure was vetoed by the United States in 2011.The United Nations has branded the settlements illegal, but the Security Council has not taken action to uphold that decision.Venezuela’s Ambassador Rafael Ramirez accused the United States, which has veto powers, of “maintaining a blockade” at the Security Council and preventing action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, settlement construction has surged.“Let’s call a spade a spade,” said French Ambassador Francois Delattre.“This policy is jeopardizing prospects for a future viable Palestinian state that would provide the best guarantee of Israel’s security and offer a just and durable solution to the conflict.”France is offering to host an international conference to be held before the end of this year on relaunching the peace process.Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour said Arab ministers are to meet later this month to decide whether to push for a draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements and also to press for full Palestinian membership in the United Nations.Palestine was granted the status of UN non-member observer state in 2012.
PM to next UN chief: I hope for fairer stance on Israel-In conversation with Antonio Guterres, Netanyahu cites UNESCO resolution on Jerusalem as example of world body’s bias-By Times of Israel staff October 14, 2016, 9:32 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told incoming UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Friday that he hoped for fairer treatment of Israel at the international body on his watch.Guterres will officially assume the role on January 1, 2017, when Ban Ki-moon’s second term as UN chief comes to an end.In his conversation with Guterres, Netanyahu raised Thursday’s UNESCO vote on a resolution that failed to mention the connection of Jews and Christians to holy sites in Jerusalem, calling it a move that emphasizes the biased and one-sided conduct of the UN toward the only democracy in the tumultuous Middle East.The conversation came as members of the United Nations Security Council convened a special meeting titled “Illegal Israeli Settlements: Obstacles to Peace and the Two-State Solution.”The meeting, an initiative of Egypt, Malaysia, Senegal, Angola and Venezuela, was conducted in the Arria Formula (informal) format.The head of Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem, Hagai El-Ad, lambasted Israel’s settlement policy at the meeting, and urged the Security Council to act to rein Israel in.“With every breath the Palestinians take they are breathing an occupation. Israel cannot call itself a democracy while occupying another people,” he said.Lara Friedman of Americans for Peace Now added that “Israeli policy in the settlements is ending the chance for peace. I call on the Security Council to send a message to Israel and to end this policy.”Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon harshly criticized the two organizations for taking part in the session, citing the UNESCO resolution as proof of UN bias towards the Palestinians.“After anti-Israel forces approved a resolution intending to sever the historical bond between the Jewish people and Jerusalem, Israeli organizations chose to slander and besmirch Israel’s good name at an event organized by the Palestinian delegation,” Danon said in a statement. “We will continue to fight and tell the truth about Israel despite the attempts to spread lies about us. It is unfortunate that Israeli organizations have joined the Palestinian attempts to wage diplomatic terror against Israel at the UN.”According to Danon’s office, a note circulated by the organizers before the event stated that the prospects for a two-state solution were being jeopardized by “the presence and continuing growth of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land occupied by Israel since June 1967.” The memo also said that Israeli security forces “routinely oversee acts of settler violence against Palestinian civilians, denying protection to the occupied population.”
REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a(MEASURING) reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out,(TO THE WORLD NATIONS) and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.(JERUSALEM DIVIDED BUT THE 3RD TEMPLE ALLOWED TO BE REBUILT)
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
MICAH 4:1-5
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
DANIEL 11:31
31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.(3RD TEMPLE REBUILT)
DANIEL 12:11
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,(AT THE MIDPOINT OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD)(3RD TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED BY DICTATOR) and the abomination that maketh desolate set up,(TO WORSHIP THE DICTATOR OR DIE) there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.(1,290 DAYS)(AN EXTRA 30 DAYS AT THE END OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD FOR JESUS TO DESTROY THE ARMIES AGAINST JERUSALEM.AND TO JUDGE THE SHEEP AND GOAT NATIONS OF MATTHEW 25:31-46-HOW THEY TREATED ISRAEL DURING THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.AND THEN I BELIEVE JESUS WILL REBUILD THE 4TH TEMPLE 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.AND THEN JESUS RULES FOR THE 1,000 YEARS-THEN FOREVER FROM THAT 4TH TEMPLE.)
MATTHEW 24:15-16
15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)(THE DICTATOR SITS IN THE REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE CALLING HIMSELF GOD AT THE MIDPOINT OR 3 1/2 YEAR PERIOD OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.OR 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY BETWEEN ISRAEL-ARABS AND MANY OF DANIEL 9:27)
16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
UNESCO’s Jerusalem resolution ignores Christian roots, too-With increased archeological findings of a Byzantine presence prior to the Muslim conquest, the historical holy site is clearly linked to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity — and not necessarily in that order-By Amanda Borschel-Dan October 16, 2016, 7:05 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Shortly before his death, in what is called the Olivet Discourse, Jesus predicts the fall of the Second Temple and the resulting desolation on the Temple Mount. Recounted in three gospels, this prophecy became foundational theology to the early Christians, who eschewed the most holy site of the Jewish faith when creating their new churches.But what if not all of them did leave the Temple Mount deserted? Over the past decade, there have been increasing archaeological findings that after the destruction of the Second Temple and prior to the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount served Byzantine Christians as a base.Shown through rare images of Byzantine mosaics photographed during the British Mandate in 1937 — and only published in 2008 — alongside some half a million Byzantine period mosaic tiles discovered since 1999 in the Temple Mount Sifting Project, there is increasing evidence that the Al Aqsa Mosque and courtyard is built upon Christian ruins.In an UNESCO resolution on “Occupied Palestine,” however, Jerusalem holy sites are referred to by Muslim names only, ignoring the historic ties of Jews and Christians. Approved at committee stage in Paris on October 13, 2016, it passed by 24 votes to 6, with 26 abstentions.Unsurprisingly, many of the nations which voted in favor were Muslim. But there were several traditionally Christian nations which also voted for the resolution, and even more that abstained — in essence giving tacit support to the notion that Haram esh-Sharif (called the Temple Mount in Judeo-Christian tradition) concerns Muslims alone.Before the resolution’s scheduled approval this week by UNESCO’s Executive Board, The Times of Israel explores the Christian roots of the Temple Mount.-The mainstream historical record-In 335 CE, Emperor Constantine, the first Roman emperor who converted to Christianity, inaugurated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as part of a rebuilt Christian Jerusalem. The center of this burgeoning Christianity remained outside of the Temple Mount.There are increasing indications that not all felt compelled to heed Jesus’s prophecy from Mark 13:2 — that the destroyed temple’s stones would forever lay in ruin.However, a Christian use of the Temple Mount is not documented in contemporary pilgrim travel diaries such as the Gaul from Bordeaux in 333 CE, or even the famous Madaba Map, part of a floor mosaic in the early Byzantine church of Saint George at Madaba, Jordan. Dated to the 6th century, the map depicts the oldest discovered cartographic survey of the Holy Land.Bar-Ilan University History Prof. Yvonne Friedman told The Times of Israel that the Byzantine Christians in Jerusalem “saw the Temple Mount as the Jewish center. It was destroyed and should stay that way to prove the veracity of Jesus’s prophecy,” she said.Friedman does not, however, rule out entirely the possibility of churches on the Temple Mount during the Byzantine period.“I think there must have been some churches [on the Temple Mount], but the major alternative center was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” said Friedman. This changed, she said, during the Crusader period, when the holy warriors — seeing themselves “the heirs of biblical Israel” — conquered the Temple Mount and turned the mosques there into a church and, temporarily, their political base.According to Joshua Schwartz, professor of Historical Geography of Ancient Israel at Bar-Ilan University, an organized Christian building on the Temple Mount is “unlikely.”‘The Church Fathers and the Madaba Map relate to the Temple Mount as a dump, as proof of the defeat of Judaism’“The Church Fathers and the Madaba Map relate to the Temple Mount as a dump, as proof of the defeat of Judaism. A number of Byzantine sources relate to Jews being allowed to go up to the Temple Mount on Tisha B’Av to mourn. Some scholars claimed that this was staged by Christian clergy,” Schwartz told The Times of Israel.“I know of no Christian Church on the Temple Mount during Byzantine times.The fact that the Sifting Project found Christian material, that in my view is probably Crusader or Byzantine in secondary usage by Crusaders, but Byzantine from Byzantine churches in the Jerusalem (which had of course many). The Crusaders loved to shlep stuff,” said Schwartz.It would be difficult to move a Byzantine mosaic floor, however. Documented by British archaeologist R.K. Hamilton during a rare archaeological dig in the Dome of the Rock in the late 1930s, its existence only came to light in 2008 when Temple Mount Sifting Project archaeologist Zachi Dvira (Zweig) discovered and published Hamilton’s photos.-Uncovering a cover-up? Rich in history and political strife, the Temple Mount has rarely been excavated. One rare instance of a professional archaeological survey came in the 1930s, by way of earthquake.Between 1938-1942 there was a large scale renovation of Al-Aqsa, following two earthquakes in 1927 and 1937.A photograph of Byzantine-era flooring taken by R.K. Hamilton, director of the British Mandate Antiquities Department, during a rare excavation of Al-Aksa in the late 1930s. (Israel Antiquities Authorities archives)-A photograph of Byzantine-era flooring taken by R.K. Hamilton, director of the British Mandate Antiquities Department, during a rare excavation of Al-Aksa in the late 1930s. (Israel Antiquities Authorities archives)According to archaeologist Dvira, during the British Mandate period, the cooperation between government archaeological supervisors and the Islamic Waqf was at its height. As a result, there were two archaeological digs conducted by the British antiquities authorities, accompanied by much photography.Hamilton, director of the British Mandate Antiquities Department, published some of his results in 1949. But, after pouring over Hamilton’s archival photography, Dvira discovered that much was left out, especially anything with a Jewish or Christian connection, including early ritual baths and Byzantine mosaic flooring.The mosaic flooring was found in an area that was under and outside the northern facade of the Umayyad mosque. “From this one could assume that the mosaic floor predates the Umayyad mosque,” wrote Dvira in a 2008 essay (Hebrew).“The patterns presented on these mosaics which survived are common ones for the Byzantine period,” wrote Dvira, and are parallel to ones found in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which was commissioned by Constantine in 327 and completed in 339.In a 2010 article, Dvira insinuates that Hamilton’s close political connection to the Waqf didn’t allow the archaeologist to publish his findings which predated the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem.On the one hand, said Dvira, the very fact of an archaeological dig on the Temple Mount was praiseworthy. However, it came with a price, which was in this case a politically driven academic self-censorship of sorts.Dismaying Israeli politicians and archaeologists alike, the current resolution has echoes of Hamilton’s decision not to publish his Christian and Jewish findings.However, said Dvira, the Dome of the Rock was built on that spot because it was previously the location of the Solomonic Temple, said the exasperated archeologist.Dvira said the UNESCO resolution came about, absurdly, because Israel has been recently proactive in observing the Antiquities Law, which requires archaeological supervision during building projects, including restoration on the Temple Mount.“It is so ridiculous that they [the largely Muslim proponents of the resolution] are changing their narrative. I don’t understand how it is possible to so distance themselves from the truth and from history,” said Dvira.-From ashes to ashes, to dust to discovery-Dvira’s Temple Mount Sifting Project was set up in 1999 when the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, which conducted unsupervised (and therefore illegal) renovations on the Temple Mount, disposed of over 9,000 tons of dirt mixed with what the project calls “invaluable archaeological artifacts” in the Kidron Valley.The project began when veteran archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkay, alongside Dvira, salvaged the hundreds of truck loads of dirt, which has since been examined for artifacts in the Tzurim Valley National Park adjacent to the Mount of Olives. For a small fee, volunteers can spend two hours participating in the project, which is funded by the City of David Foundation.Dvira said he is convinced there was a Byzantine Christian presence on the Temple Mount, both through the Hamilton images, and through “finding more and more in the sifting from the Byzantine period,” he said. He said the project, which is fundraising to publish its findings, has found some half a million mosaic pieces over the years.“It is possible a church was built there,” he said. What is certain is that in addition to the broad use of the Temple Mount during the Crusader period — illustrated through the projects findings of horse shoe nails and rare Crusader coins, among other objects — there was also Christian building of some scale prior to the Muslim conquest.“The Temple Mount is also the heritage of the Christians, there’s no doubt,” Dvira told The Times of Israel.
UNESCO chief pans her member states on anti-Israel Jerusalem resolution-After Israel cuts ties to UN cultural agency, Irina Bokova warns that ‘to deny, conceal or erase’ any faith’s traditions in holy city undermines body’s activities-By Itamar Sharon and Raphael Ahren October 14, 2016, 3:03 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
The director-general of the UN’s cultural agency UNESCO signaled her dismay and opposition to her organization’s own members on Friday, a day after they adopted a resolution that rejects the historic Jewish connection to holy sites in Jerusalem.Though she did not explicitly mention the resolution, Irina Bokova made her disapproval of the motion clear, saying that efforts to deny history and Jerusalem’s complex multi-faith character harm UNESCO.“The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city,” Bokova said in a statement.Bokova noted that the “cultural and spiritual traditions” of all faiths in Jerusalem “build on texts and references, known by all, that are an intrinsic part of the identities and history of peoples.“To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list,” she said. “When these divisions carry over into UNESCO, an organization dedicated to dialogue and peace, they prevent us from carrying out our mission.”It was not immediately clear what steps, if any, Bokova intended to take in light of her statement. The resolution was approved Thursday at UNESCO’s committee stage. It must still be validated by the Executive Board of UNESCO when it meets early next week, but the wording is unlikely to change.Earlier Friday Israel informed Bokova that it was suspending its cooperation with UNESCO over the vote, with Education Minister Naftali Bennett saying the motion was a denial of history that “gives a boost to terrorism.”Bennett, who serves as president of Israel’s National Commission for UNESCO, said all meetings with UNESCO officials, participation in international forums and professional cooperation would be suspended until further notice.UNESCO’s draft resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries, referred to the Temple Mount and Western Wall only by their Muslim names and condemned Israel as “the occupying power” for various actions taken in both places.Israelis and many Jews around the world view the move as the latest example of an ingrained anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.Israeli leadership reacted furiously to the UN resolution, with some accusing the UN’s cultural arm of anti-Semitism on Thursday.Lawmakers from both the right and left of the political spectrum said the decision was ill-befitting of UNESCO.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision “absurd,” while President Reuven Rivlin called it an “embarrassment” for UNESCO. The Executive Board of UNESCO is next week set to approve the resolution, which passed Thursday at the committee stage.Culture Minister Miri Regev slammed the resolution as “shameful and anti-Semitic,” and Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel called for Israel to increase the Jewish presence on the Temple Mount, a flashpoint site governed by a tense status quo, in response.Opposition chief Isaac Herzog accused UNESCO of betraying their mission. “Whoever wants to rewrite history, to distort fact, and to completely invent the fantasy that the Western Wall and Temple Mount have no connection to the Jewish people, is telling a terrible lie that only serves to increase hatred.”Twenty-four countries voted in favor of the resolution Thursday afternoon, six against and 26 abstained, though Ambassador Carmel Shama-HaCohen praised the diplomatic effort that had changed several no votes in a similar resolution in April into abstentions this time around.
Top UNESCO official tells Israeli TV he’s ‘sorry’ about Jerusalem resolution-Michael Worbs hopes final vote on text that negates Jewish ties to city will be delayed, says recognition of Old City as Heritage Site for the 3 monotheistic faiths trumps ‘recent debate’-By AFP and Times of Israel staff October 14, 2016, 10:42 pm
The chair of UNESCO’s Executive Board, Michael Worbs, said Friday he was sorry about the resolution ignoring Jewish ties to Jerusalem’s holy sites that was passed by UNESCO on Thursday and that is set to be approved by his executive board next week. “It’s very exceptional what happened yesterday, and I’m sorry for that,” Worbs told Israeli television.Worbs, who had said earlier Friday that he hoped Tuesday’s scheduled Executive Board vote would be delayed, to allow more time for dialogue, told Israel’s Channel 10 television he would never deny Jewish and Christian ties to Jerusalem, and invoked the cultural body’s decades-old designation of the capital as a World Heritage Site. This designation trumps any recent conversations about the city, Worbs said, in a reference to Thursday’s UNESCO resolution that appeared to negate non-Muslim connections to Jerusalem’s holy sites.Speaking from his office in Paris, Worbs told Channel 10 that when Jerusalem was declared a World Heritage Site, its importance to the three monotheistic religions was highlighted.“I am very well aware of that [importance] and personally would never deny that,” Worbs said, referring to Jewish historical connection to the Old City of Jerusalem.“I would also like to remind that Jerusalem, the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls were inscribed as a World Heritage Site of UNESCO by the World Heritage Committee in 1982, and at that time it was inscribed specifically as a site that has meaning for three religions,” Worbs said. This position, he said, supersedes any debate that the board has had recently.The UNESCO resolution, sponsored by several Arab countries and passed Thursday in the committee stage, referred to the Temple Mount and Western Wall only by their Muslim names and condemned Israel as “the occupying power” for various actions taken in both places.Israelis and many Jews around the world view the move as the latest example of an ingrained anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.Israeli leadership reacted furiously to the UN resolution, with some accusing the UN’s cultural arm of anti-Semitism on Thursday. Lawmakers from both the right and left of the political spectrum said the decision was ill-befitting of UNESCO.The resolution must still be validated by the Executive Board that Worbs heads, but the contentious wording was not expected to change. The 58 member states of the board normally follow the votes made at committee stage, but in this case Worbs said he hoped the votes would be postponed.“I fully understand your feelings and the feelings of many Israelis about this recent decision, but it’s an inter-governmental debate,” Worbs said in reference to the vote. “It’s not a UNESCO debate, UNESCO is the forum in which this debate takes place.”Worbs urged Israelis not to conflate the resolution with the UN agency’s official position.“I would like to appeal to the Israeli public opinion not to mix up UNESCO with decisions of some sort and especially not with decisions which are not unanimous. Normally in UNESCO we conclude decisions in a consensual manner, it’s very exceptional what happened yesterday and I’m sorry for that. I will use my good offices in order to reestablish the consensus which prevailed for over 40 years in UNESCO.”Worbs also expressed the hope Friday that the resolution by UNESCO would not go to a formal vote on Tuesday as expected, but would instead be deferred to give dialogue a chance.“We need more time and dialogue between the members of the Board to reach a consensus,” he said.“For 40 years, UNESCO has always managed to find consensual decisions on the Middle East,” he added. “But since autumn 2010 it has become more and more difficult.”Israel and the United States suspended their funding to UNESCO in 2011 after the Palestinians were admitted as members. Both countries have lost their voting rights as a result.The director-general of UNESCO earlier Friday signaled her dismay and opposition to Thursday’s vote. Though she did not explicitly mention the resolution, Irina Bokova made her disapproval of the motion clear, saying that efforts to deny history and Jerusalem’s complex multi-faith character harm UNESCO.“The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city,” Bokova said in a statement.“To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian or Muslim traditions undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list,” she said.Israel informed Bokova earlier Friday that it was suspending its cooperation with UNESCO over the vote, with Education Minister Naftali Bennett saying the motion was a denial of history that “gives a boost to terrorism.”Bennett, who serves as president of Israel’s National Commission for UNESCO, said all meetings with UNESCO officials, participation in international forums and professional cooperation would be suspended until further notice.
Israel in 2012 mulled leaking ‘plans’ of Iran strike from Saudi base-Latest Wikileaks email dump reveals Israeli efforts to counter Tehran nuclear program included spreading rumors of impending IDF attack-By Tamar Pileggi October 16, 2016, 10:15 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Israel in 2012 considered “leaking” that it would use a military base in Saudi Arabia as a springboard to launch an airstrike against Iran as part of its efforts to counter the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, according to the latest batch of leaked emails released by WikiLeaks on Saturday.A July 2012 correspondence between senior advisers and then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton cited Israeli sources saying that while Israel was unprepared for a full-scale war with Iran, rumors of an IDF strike could “persuade the world they mean business.”“At present, considering that Israel is not prepared for an all-out war with Iran, they may well continue to threaten action, giving the impression they are serious about pursuing aggressive Iranian anti-nuclear efforts,” foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan wrote in a July 24 email.“One way to do that is to update weapon systems; secure an air base in Saudi Arabia that would suggest a staging ground for an eventual attack, then ‘leak’ the word to the media that their [sic] are eminent [sic] plans to carry out a bombing raid and do everything possible to persuade the world they mean business,” the unnamed Israeli source was quoted as saying.The email also cited a number of other European and Turkish security and intelligence sources who expressed concern that any Israeli military action against Iran would instantly ignite an all out war in the Middle East, including extensive retaliation against the Jewish state from its Arab neighbors.Senior Turkish military commanders advised that a regional war would begin “before the first Israel air-strike sortie has returned to base,” and estimated that Hezbollah fighters in Syria and Lebanon had access to upwards of 200,000 surface-to-surface rockets and missiles.“Their [Turkish] military analysts also believe that an assault from such a force would overwhelm Israel’s defenses,” the military sources were quoted as saying in the email.The transcript showed that Western European intelligence services were also concerned over a potential Israeli strike, and had warned their respective heads of state that in such an event, Israel would be scapegoated for the fallout and would be the target of thousands of missiles and rockets launched from Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and the Gaza Strip.“Such an attack may lead to further deterioration in the world economy, which would in turn be blamed on Israel,” European leaders were told in intelligence reports by their respective agencies, according to the email.European intelligence sources also said the international economic sanctions levied against Iran over its nuclear program were “truly hurting the Iranian economy” and had begun to foster hostility towards the ruling party, led at the time by hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Iranian sources advised US officials that an IDF strike on Iran would undermine the growing discontent towards the Iranian leadership and would serve to unite the public against Israel, the US and Western Europe.In this regard, Sullivan’s email said that European security official “regularly” cited the words of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was quoted as saying that “Iran in particular is susceptible to economic pressure. The oil-exporting Islamic republic is virtually a single-crop economy, and imposition of a tight blockade against Iranian oil sales will undoubtedly induce in Tehran a prompt revaluation of the utility of even indirect terrorist tactics.”European officials were “staying in close contact with their Israeli counterparts as they attempt to manipulate events while avoiding a general conflict at this time,” Sullivan said of efforts to stave off an Israeli attack.The latest cache of Clinton’s emails also revealed transcripts of several paid speeches she gave to Goldman Sachs in 2013, in which the Democratic presidential nominee said the US should bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities it inched too closely to developing a nuclear weapon, while asserting that Israel did not posses the military capability to stop Tehran alone.Speaking five months before the interim agreement was reached that set the framework for the nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers two years later, Clinton said that if Tehran raced toward the bomb, the US must “up the pain,” but without “boots on the ground.”“We have to bomb the facilities. They act as though there would be no consequences either predicted or unpredicted,” the then-secretary of state said. “Of course there would be, and you already are dealing with a regime that is the principal funder and supplier of terrorism in the world today.”Later at the same event, Clinton indicated Israel did not have the strength to strike the Iranian nuclear facilities and successfully set back its activities.“The Israelis, as you know, have looked at this very closely for a number of years. The Israelis’ estimate is even if we set their program back for just a couple of years it’s worth doing and whatever their reaction might be is absorbable,” she said. “That has been up until this recent government, the prior government, their position. But they couldn’t do much damage themselves.”The latest trove of Clinton’s leaked emails released by Wikileaks also revealed Israel’s approach to the unfolding Syrian civil war, and its concerns of a shift in leadership in Damascus.In the 2012 message from Sullivan, senior Israeli military and intelligence officials said Netanyahu was concerned that violence in neighboring Syria would lead to President Bashar Assad’s ouster and replacement with a radical Islamist leader.“Israeli leaders are now drawing up contingency plans to deal with a regional structure where the new revolutionary regimes that take over the various countries will be controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood and possibly more problematic groups such as al-Qaeda, which doesn’t bode well for the Israelis,” the source was quoted as saying.The leaked transcripts of Clinton’s speeches and emails between staffers was released Saturday by WikiLeaks as part of a trove of hacked emails from her campaign manager John Podesta’s account.The release is now the latest bid by the group to inject itself into this year’s presidential campaign.US officials have accused WikiLeaks of working with Russian operatives to undermine Clinton’s candidacy and boost her opponent Donald Trump. So far the group has unveiled 11,000 hacked emails and purports to release 50,000 more before the November 8 election.The Clinton campaign has neither denied nor confirmed the authenticity of the transcripts of her high-priced Wall Street speeches. They have also not challenged any of the emails that the group has already made public.Eric Cortellessa contributed to this report.
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