Thursday, March 10, 2016

RUSSIA DEFENCE LOOKING TO BUY 5 DOLPHINS

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)

OTHER TODAYS STORIES-EU IN LIMBO-N KOREA FIRES 2 MISSLES IN SEA YESTERDAY
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-european-union-in-limbo.html

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)

Rebuffing Biden, Abbas offers condolences but doesn’t condemn attack-After US VP criticizes Ramallah for not speaking out against Palestinian terror, PA head says Israeli policies cause the violence, points to high Palestinian death toll-By Raphael Ahren and Times of Israel staff March 9, 2016, 11:39 pm

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday evening offered condolences to US Vice President Joe Biden over the killing of a US citizen by a West Bank Palestinian in a terror attack on Tuesday night in Jaffa, while stating that Israeli control over the West Bank was the source of rampant violence.Hours after Biden appeared to criticize Abbas for failing to condemn terror attacks, the Palestinian Authority head said he was sorry for the death of tourist Taylor Force, but said that Israel has killed over 200 Palestinians in the wave of violence since October, according to a statement from the PA to reporters.Twenty nine Israelis and 4 foreign nationals have been killed in an ongoing wave of Palestinian stabbing, car-ramming and shooting attacks since October. The latest victim was American student Taylor Force, stabbed to death on Tuesday as Biden was meeting with Israel’s former president Shimon Peres nearby. An estimated 180 Palestinians have died in the same period, more than two thirds of them in the course of attacking Israelis, and the rest in clashes with Israeli troops, according to the Israeli army.Abbas met with Biden in Ramallah for about two hours. The two did not speak to reporters and Biden did not issue a statement before or after the meeting.“Abbas expressed his condolences over the American citizen who was killed yesterday, stressing at the same time that the occupation authorities have killed 200 Palestinians in the past five months,” a statement on the official Palestinian Wafa news website said.The PA president told Biden the Palestinians are committed to the two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, and said continued Israeli control over the West Bank and the settlements were the source of the violence.According to the official PA outlet, Biden expressed the US’s longstanding opposition to Jewish settlements in the West Bank.Biden “assured of the US administration’s commitment to the principle of a two-state solution and the need to defend it, as well as the US administration’s permanent stance regarding the settlements,” Wafa reported.Biden earlier on Wednesday appeared to condemn Abbas for not speaking out against terror attacks, a day after Force was killed and 10 others were injured in the stabbing spree in Jaffa, the third attack in the span of a few hours.His comments, delivered in Jerusalem, came minutes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that not only had Abbas and his Fatah political group failed to condemn, but that Fatah had in fact praised the terrorist who killed Texas-born tourist Force.“Let me say in no uncertain terms: The United States of America condemns these acts and condemns the failure to condemn these acts. This cannot become an accepted modus operandi,” Biden said during a press conference alongside Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office.“This cannot be viewed by civilized leaders as an appropriate way in which to behave,” he continued. “It is just not tolerable in the 21st century. They’re targeting innocent civilians, mothers, pregnant women, teenagers, grandfathers, American citizens.“There can be no justification for this hateful violence and the United States stands firmly behind Israel when it defends itself as we are defending ourselves at this moment as well.”An official TV news station of the Palestinian Authority had earlier described the killer as a “martyr” and called his victims “settlers.”Abbas’s Fatah party posted a cartoon on its Twitter account of a hand holding a knife over a map of Israel and the Palestinian territories, and calling the Palestinian stabber from Tuesday’s attack a “hero” and “martyr.”“This is the result so long as Israel does not believe in the two-state solution and ending its occupation,” the Fatah statement on Twitter read, referring to a future Palestinian state alongside Israel.On Wednesday evening, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest echoed Biden’s criticisms.“Our expectation would be that public officials and those who are in positions of leadership would condemn any act of terrorism,” he said.Biden, who was meeting with Peres at the Peres Center in Jaffa as the attack unfolded nearby, also argued Wednesday that the only way forward for Israelis and Palestinians would have to be a two-state solution, and said he encouraged “all sides to take steps to move back toward the path to peace – not easy – and for the sake of Israel, and I might add, for the sake of the Palestinians in the region.”Later Wednesday, Biden told President Reuven Rivlin that Israel would not be able to stymie the wave of terror by force alone, hinting at the need for new peace talks.White House officials have insisted that Biden’s trip would not include a renewed peace push.The attack in Jaffa was the third serious incident in the span of a few hours, coming on the heels of a stabbing in Petah Tikva and a shooting in Jerusalem.Dov Lieber and agencies contributed to this report.

Biden: Israel cannot defeat terror with military force alone-After 2 days of bloody assults, US vice president says Israelis, visitors cannot continue living in fear of being attacked-By Tamar Pileggi March 9, 2016, 7:36 pm-the times of israel

US Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday asserted that Israel would not be able to stem the months-long upsurge in Palestinian violence and terrorism with military force, during a visit with Israel’s president.“The violence has to stop, period… It cannot and will not be done just by physical force,” Biden said in Jerusalem at a joint press conference with President Reuven Rivlin. “Israelis and visitors to Israel cannot go on being afraid to go about their lives for fear of being attacked.”The statement seemed to signal support for renewed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, although the US has made clear that Biden was not using his visit to try to jumpstart a new peace push.Biden met with Rivlin after holding a long meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, described by an Israeli official as “friendly, cordial and warm.”Netanyahu and Biden and their respective aides talked about various topics, including the Islamic State and Iran’s involvement in the Syrian civil war, weapons smuggling from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon, efforts to reach a détente with Turkey, the construction of a regional natural gas pipeline, security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and ongoing Palestinian incitement, the Prime Minister’s Office said.During the meeting, Netanyahu also showed Biden a clip with examples of Palestinian incitement, following a press conference in which Biden appeared to criticize Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for not condemning terror. Netanyahu mentioned to Biden that the PA’s Facebook site praises yesterday’s terror attacks, in which a US citizens was killed.Three separate terror attacks took place as Biden arrived in Israel on Tuesday, including a stabbing spree on Tel Aviv’s waterfront by a Palestinian who killed American tourist Taylor Force and wounded 10 others, while Biden and his family were nearby.“The United States of America resoundingly condemns the terrorist violence we have seen lately including yesterday…Our hearts go out to those who have suffered and their families,” Biden said.Underlining the US desire for progress in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Biden warned against delaying bi-lateral talks.“The reason why we have to deal with this plague of terrorism is it will have the tendency to harden hearts – not be willing to reach out, not be willing to reach compromise,” he said.France is currently in the midst of trying to set up a multilateral conference aimed at getting talks off the ground, but Rivlin urged the US to take a leading role in regional peace initiatives during his comments alongside Biden.“The whole region needs a clear message from the United States of America. Terror and hatred drive people apart. The only way forward, is to build trust. Peace cannot be imposed, it must be reached,” the president said.Rivlin’s statement came at the same time as in Cairo French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault walked back a threat by his predecessor that Paris would recognize a Palestinian state if the peace confab fails, addressing a major Israeli complaint.Israel and the US have not officially said if they will support the French effort.Rivlin thanked Biden for the “strong and sincere” American support for Israel during the ongoing wave of terrorism, and said the violence would not break the country’s spirit and dedication to democracy.“Israel is a strong democracy; stronger than ever. However when the region suffers from uncertainty and instability, Israel’s burden of security is heavy; perhaps heavier than ever,” the president said.“Israel has faced this kind of terror nearly every day over the past year. Israel will continue to stand firm in the face of this violence and hatred. Terror will not break us, and it will not shape our future.”After visiting Rivlin, Biden made an unannounced stop along with three of his grandchildren and his daughter-in-law at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City, under heavy security.The church is built at the site revered as the location of Jesus’s crucifixion and tomb.Earlier on Wednesday, Biden implicitly condemned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for not condemning Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis.“Let me say in no uncertain terms: The United States of America condemns these acts and condemns the failure to condemn these acts. This cannot become an accepted modus operandi,” Biden said during a press conference alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Biden is scheduled to meet with Abbas in Ramallah later on Wednesday.Ahead of the Ramallah talks, senior Palestinian official Ahmed Majdalani said he was expecting “nothing” from Biden’s visit.“Mr. Biden is only coming to the region in the context of his plans regarding the fight against terrorism in Syria, not for us,” he told AFP, referring to talks between Biden and Netanyahu on the Islamic State jihadist group.Biden’s comments, delivered in Jerusalem, came shortly after Netanyahu said that Abbas’s political group had not only failed to condemn, but had in fact praised the Palestinian terrorist who killed Force.“This cannot be viewed by civilized leaders as an appropriate way in which to behave,” Biden said. “It is just not tolerable in the 21st century. They’re targeting innocent civilians, mothers, pregnant women, teenagers, grandfathers, American citizens. There can be no justification for this hateful violence and the United States stands firmly behind Israel when it defends itself as we are defending ourselves at this moment as well.”Biden’s brief trip to Israel will focus on US economic and energy interests, as well as security concerns about Iran and Syria, the White House said ahead of his arrival.Central to the discussions are expected to be the finalizing of a new 10-year defense aid package, which Israeli officials are looking to boost beyond the $3.1 billion it currently receives annually.Raphael Ahren and AFP contributed to this report.

Likud minister submits bill to deport terrorists’ families-Proposal with broad coalition backing wins support of ex-Shin Bet chief Yaakov Peri, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid-By Marissa Newman and Raphael Ahren March 9, 2016, 7:20 pm-the times of israel

Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) on Wednesday formally submitted a bill to the Knesset to deport families of Palestinian terrorists to the Gaza Strip — a controversial proposal that has also won the backing of former top security official Yaakov Peri.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week instructed Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to check the legality of the measure.The bill would allow the Israeli government to deport families of Palestinian attackers from the West Bank, if they were aware of their relatives’ plans, encouraged them, or aided them in some way.The proposed legislation garnered broad support from coalition Knesset members, with lawmakers from the Likud, Shas, United Torah Judaism, Kulanu, Jewish Home signed on to the bill. From the opposition, Yisrael Beytenu MKs and Yesh Atid’s Lapid and Peri were also signatories.“The State of Israel is in the middle of a terror wave that has lasted over six months,” said Peri, who headed the Shin Bet security agency before becoming a Yesh Atid Knesset member. “Using the legal tools of deporting families of terrorists will serve as a certain deterrent, but isn’t sufficient as a real solution to the terror wave, which fuels itself, and we must at the same time work to change the atmosphere.”The bill was also backed by Lapid, who indicated he would support the government despite sitting in the opposition, given a wave of terror attacks.“We must work together to give the security forces all the tools at their disposal to fight terror,” he said.Hundreds of attacks by Palestinians over the past several months have left 29 Israelis and four foreign nationals dead, and hundreds more injured. Tuesday and Wednesday saw a renewed spate of attacks, including two shootings in Jerusalem and a deadly stabbing spree in Jaffa.Netanyahu last week said he was seeking to expel the families of West Bank Palestinians who attack Israelis to the Gaza Strip.“Many terror attacks in recent months were carried out by terrorists who fit into the profile of ‘lone attackers.’ These attackers come from families that support and assist their actions,” Netanyahu wrote in a letter seeking Mandelblit’s opinion on the matter.“I am requesting your legal opinion regarding the possibility of expelling family members that support terror to Gaza,” Netanyahu wrote. “I am convinced that such a measure will lead to a significant decrease in the number of terror attacks against the State of Israel, its citizens and its residents.”Right-wing politicians have long called for the deportation of attackers’ family members, including senior ministers from Netanyahu’s own Likud party. Only a few days earlier, Mandelblit shot down this idea in response to a query from Likud ministers, arguing that it would contravene Israeli and international law.The ministers have raised the expulsion option during cabinet meetings in recent weeks amid five months of near-daily attacks by Palestinians on Israeli civilians and security forces, Army Radio reported Sunday.A source who was present during the debates claimed that it was only Mandelblit’s objection that is preventing the policy from being implemented.Israel currently uses home demolitions against families of attackers, saying the measure is meant to deter attacks. Critics say the demolitions are a form of collective punishment.

SIGNS IN THE SUN, MOON AND STARS-CHEMICAL WEAPONS

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences;(BIOLOGICAL/CHEMICAL/NUCLEAR) and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun,(HEATING UP-SOLAR ECLIPSES) and in the moon,(MAN ON THE MOON-LUNAR ECLIPSES) and in the stars;(ASTEROIDS-PROPHECY SIGNS) and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear,(TORNADOES,HURRICANES,STORMS) and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:(DESTRUCTION) for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.(FROM QUAKES,NUKES ETC)

US nabs ex-Saddam expert trying to make chemical weapons for IS-Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, Iraqi dictator’s chemical and biological arms specialist, captured by special forces last month-By Qassim Abdul-Zahra and SUSANNAH GEORGE March 9, 2016, 8:36 pm-the times of israel

BAGHDAD (AP) — US special forces captured the head of the Islamic State group’s unit trying to develop chemical weapons in a raid last month in northern Iraq, two senior Iraqi intelligence officials told The Associated Press, the first known major success of Washington’s more aggressive policy of pursuing IS militants on the ground.The Obama administration launched the new strategy in December, deploying a commando force to Iraq that it said would be dedicated to capturing and killing IS leaders in clandestine operations, as well as generating intelligence leading to more raids.US officials said last week that the expeditionary team had captured an Islamic State leader but had refused to identify him, saying only that he had been held for two or three weeks and was being questioned.The two Iraqi officials identified the man as Sleiman Daoud al-Afari, who worked for Saddam Hussein’s now-dissolved Military Industrialization Authority where he specialized in chemical and biological weapons. They said al-Afari, who is about 50 years old, heads the Islamic State group’s recently established branch for the research and development of chemical weapons.He was captured in a raid near the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar, the officials said. They would not give further details.The officials, who both have first-hand knowledge of the individual and of the IS chemical program, spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to talk to the media. No confirmation was available from US officials.A US official said Wednesday that one or more follow-up airstrikes were conducted against suspected IS chemical facilities in northern Iraq in recent days. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence-related operations, was unfamiliar with details of the airstrikes but indicated that they did not fully eliminate IS’s suspected chemical threat.The US-led coalition began targeting IS’ chemical weapons infrastructure with airstrikes and special operations raids over the past two months, the Iraqi intelligence officials and a Western security official in Baghdad told the AP.Airstrikes are targeting laboratories and equipment, and further special forces raids targeting chemical weapons experts are planned, the intelligence officials said. They and the Western official also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.IS has been making a determined effort to develop chemical weapons, Iraqi and American officials have said. The militant group, which emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq, is believed to have set up a special unit for chemical weapons research, made up of Iraqi scientists from the Saddam-era weapons program as well as foreign experts.Iraqi officials expressed particular worry over the effort because IS militants gained so much room to operate and hide chemical laboratories after overrunning around a third of the country in the summer of 2014, territory which they then joined with territory they controlled in neighboring Syria.Still, IS group’s progress in developing chemical weapons has been limited. It is believed to have created limited amounts of mustard gas. Tests confirmed mustard gas was used in a town in Syria when IS was launching attacks there in August 2015. Other unverified reports in both Iraq and Syria accuse IS of using chemical agents on the battlefield.But so far, experts say, the extremist group appears incapable of launching a large-scale chemical weapons’ attack, which requires not only expertise, but also the proper equipment, materials and a supply-chain to produce enough of the chemical agent to pose a significant threat.“More than a symbolic attack seems to me to be beyond the grasp of ISIS,” said Dan Kaszeta, a former US Army chemical officer and Department of Homeland Security expert who is now a private consultant, using an alternative acronym for the IS group. “Furthermore, the chemicals we are talking about are principally chlorine and sulfur mustard, both of which are actually quite poor weapons by modern standards.”Speaking to reporters from a base outside the city of Tikrit, Iraq’s defense minister played down fears of the Islamic State group’s chemical weapons capabilities, saying the group lacks “chemical capabilities.”The attacks the group has carried out, Khaled al-Obaidi continued, were only intended to “hurt the morale of our fighters,” as they have so far not caused any casualties.The United States has been leading a coalition waging airstrikes against IS in Iraq and Syria for more than a year. The campaign has been key to backing Iraqi and Kurdish forces that have slowly retaken significant parts of the territory the militants had seized.But after coming under pressure at home for greater action against the militants, the Obama administration moved to the tactic of stepped-up commando operations on the ground.Last year, US special forces killed a key IS leader and captured his wife in a raid in Syria, but the new force in Iraq was intended as a more dedicated deployment. American officials have been deeply secretive about the operation. Its size is unknown, thought it may be fewer than 100 troops.“This is a no-kidding force that will be doing important things,” was about all Defense Secretary Ash Carter would say about the force in testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee in December.

EZEKIEL 38:11-15
11 And thou shalt say,(RUSSIA-ARAB-MUSLIMS) I will go up to the land of unwalled villages;(ISRAEL) I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil,(OIL IS IN SPOIL) and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
13  Sheba, and Dedan,(SAUDI-ARABIA) and the merchants of Tarshish,(SPAIN) with all the young lions thereof,(ENGLAND,AND ALL ITS ASSOCIATES-CANADA,AUSTRALIA-NEW ZEALAND, USA, AND WESTERN ENGLISH SPEAKING NATIONS) shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?(OIL IS IN SPOIL-I BELIEVE THATS WHY RUSSIA,ARAB/MUSLIMS MARCH TO ISRAEL)
14  Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In that day when my people of Israel dwelleth safely, shalt thou not know it?
15  And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
Russian military seeking five combat dolphins-Moscow looking for two females, three males between 3-5 years old with perfect teeth and no physical impairments-By AFP and Times of Israel staff March 9, 2016, 10:02 pm

DANIEL 11:40
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)

Russian military seeking five combat dolphins-Moscow looking for two females, three males between 3-5 years old with perfect teeth and no physical impairments-By AFP and Times of Israel staff March 9, 2016, 10:02 pm

Russia’s defense ministry is looking to buy five dolphins, the government revealed on Wednesday, as the country strives to revive its Soviet-era use of sea mammals for military tasks.The military has opened the bidding on a 1.75 million ruble ($24,000) contract to deliver dolphins to the military in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol by August 1, according to a document uploaded Wednesday to the government’s procurement website.According to public contract documentation, it is seeking two female and three male dolphins between three and five years old with perfect teeth and no physical impairments.An unnamed source told RIA Novosti state news agency in March 2014 that new training programs were being designed to make the dolphins serve Russia’s military interests.Dolphins were used by the Soviet Union and United States at the height of the Cold War, having been trained to detect submarines, underwater mines and spot suspicious objects or individuals near harbors and ships.Retired colonel Viktor Baranets, who observed military dolphin training in the Soviet and post-Soviet eras, said that the sea mammals were part of the broader Cold War arms race between the USSR and the United States.“Americans looked into this first,” Baranets told AFP. “But when Soviet intelligence found out the tasks the US dolphins were completing in the 1960s, the defense ministry at the time decided to address this issue.”Baranets added that combat dolphins in the Soviet era were trained to plant explosive devices on enemy vessels and knew how to detect abandoned torpedoes and sunken ships in the Black Sea.Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in March 2014 amid international indignation, has housed this training facility since 1965.The training center was severely neglected after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Baranets said, and its dolphins were reportedly sold to Iran.The Ukrainian navy reestablished the center in 2012 but Russia’s landgrab two years later saw Crimea’s combat dolphins fall under Moscow’s control.The defense ministry could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.The US navy also uses sea mammals to carry out military tasks, with sea lions deployed to Bahrain in 2003 to support Operation Enduring Freedom after the 9/11 attacks.Israel, which does not have a military dolphin program, has been accused by Hamas of sending dolphins to “spy” on the Gaza Strip. In August 2015, the terror group said it captured a dolphin equipped with “spying equipment” including cameras.

US calls for more detailed reports on Iran nuke program-First post-nuclear deal report by watchdog IAEA draws criticism for lack of specifics on Tehran’s compliance-By George Jahn March 10, 2016, 2:51 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

VIENNA (AP) — The United States on Wednesday urged the UN atomic agency to continue providing details on Iran’s compliance with a deal crimping its nuclear work amid Western concerns that the agency’s newest report is too light on specifics.With the US and partner nations that negotiated the deal with Iran keen not to jeopardize it, such concerns have mostly been voiced privately.But chief US IAEA delegate Henry S. Ensher told the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency board Wednesday that continued “robust and detailed reporting on Iran’s implementation of its commitments” remains vital even with the agreement now in effect. US State Department spokesman John Kirby echoed those sentiments, saying “we want these reports to be as thorough as they need to be, and as detailed as they need to be.”All six nations that struck the deal with Iran are confident that the agency has a better-than-ever overview of Tehran’s nuclear program due to transparency commitments on the part of the Islamic Republic as part of the deal.But the four Western countries that negotiated with Iran — the US, Britain, France and Germany — prefer more details than were evident in last month’s first post-deal report.In contrast, the other two countries — Russia and China — consider the new report balanced, while Iran complains the report is too in-depth. IAEA chief Yukiya Amano feels he has struck the right balance, considering Iran is no longer in violation of UN and agency demands to curb its nuclear program.His report was much less detailed than pre-nuclear deal summaries, essentially ticking off the major obligations that Iran agreed to when the deal took hold Jan. 16 and stating that most were met or minor deviations quickly remedied.Amano has suggested he won’t be pressured, telling The Associated Press that his Iran reporting will remain “factual, impartial and include the information which the agency considers necessary.”

Dutch Zionist Christians defy labeling with ‘Made in Israel’ warehouse-Popular among European Protestants, members of the Christians for Israel movement believe it is their religious and moral duty to help Jews return to their ancestral lands-By Cnaan Liphshiz March 10, 2016, 3:53 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

NIJKERK, Netherlands (JTA) — As a boy, would often accompany his father, Karel, on the elder van Oordt’s weekly shopping excursions specifically seeking out products made in Israel.A Christian Zionist businessman in Amersfoort, some 25 miles east of Amsterdam, Karel van Oordt sought to strengthen the Jewish state economically by purchasing its exports to feed his family of eight. But it wasn’t easy.“At the greengrocer, my father asked for Jaffa oranges, but they didn’t offer those,” Pieter van Oordt recalled. “Then at the liquor store, dad asked for Israeli wines. Same reply.”Four decades later, those Israeli goods and thousands more are available across the Netherlands thanks to the international advocacy group founded by Karel van Oordt in 1979. Pieter and his brother, Roger, have run Christians for Israel since their father’s death in 2013.Through its own import agency, the Israel Products Center, or IPC, the organization brings in 120,000 bottles of Israeli wine each year, as well as many tons of Dead Sea cosmetics and other merchandise. Most of the products are sold in IPC’s own store, on its website or by a corps of 200 volunteer door-to-door sales agents, a majority of them women.The effort is unique in Europe, and not only because IPC profits are distributed annually among a small group of shareholders who reinvest the money back into the business. Also because IPC openly promotes the sale of settlement goods, part of a conscious effort to bolster the settler movement and push back against European efforts to distinguish them from goods produced in Israel proper.Last month, Pieter van Oordt, who runs IPC, wrote a letter to his customers recommending they purchase two brands of wine, dates and olive products produced in the West Bank.“Now the government wants to say on our products that they’re not from Israel,” said Pieter van Oordt, referring to the adoption in November of EU regulations mandating that goods produced in Israeli settlements are labeled as originating in Palestinian territory. “So we must tell our customers that it’s not true.”‘Now the government wants to say on our products that they’re not from Israel’-Most IPC customers probably agree with van Oordt. The company’s most dedicated patrons are ideological supporters of the Christians for Israel movement, which is popular among European Protestants who believe it is their religious and moral duty to help Jews return to their ancestral lands.It was that obligation that led 300 donors to front the money for IPC’s creation by Karel van Oordt in 1980. Since then, the business has grown from something resembling a souvenir stand to a corporation with annual revenues of several million dollars and substantial profits, according to Pieter van Oordt, who declined to provide exact figures.Those original donors are shareholders now, and the company’s profits flow to them. They “always re-invest in the business or the movement, though they’re free to use the money as they wish,” Pieter van Oordt said.IPC imports fill an underground storage room the size of three tennis courts in Nijkerk, a sleepy suburb of Amersfoort. The room is stocked with everything from cleaning detergents from Haifa to iconic Israeli foods like Osem soup nuts and exotic merchandise like avocado oil and zaatar spice mix.IPC imports fill an underground storage room the size of three tennis courts-IPC’s newest addition is a fully furnished training facility for beauticians, where the only products used come from the Dead Sea. Approximately 500 beauticians train there each year.Other parts of the Christians for Israel movement have also grown far beyond their humble origins. The group now includes independently run affiliate groups in 30 countries that advocate for Israel and, in some cases, collect money to help with Jewish causes identified by the Dutch headquarters. One of the international offices, in Uganda, doubles as an Israeli embassy whenever the non-resident ambassador needs an office in Kampala.Still, the movement’s beating heart remains in Holland, Belgium and Germany — the cradle of Protestant Christianity, with its emphasis on the Hebrew Bible. The movement’s Dutch branch has a $6 million annual budget, not including IPC. It is here that hundreds of thousands of dollars are collected for Israeli children at risk from Hamas rockets and needy Israeli Holocaust survivors. In total, the movement and its subdivisions have approximately 30 employees.The group’s headquarters overlooking a major traffic artery here is housed in a large blue-and-white building with a huge Israeli flag at the entrance and a 36-foot menorah built in 2013 as a symbol of friendship with Dutch Jews.That friendship is especially strong with Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, who is a personal friend of the van Oordts. When Jacobs’ house was attacked for the fifth time in 2014, the rabbi told Roger van Oordt, who immediately brought his family to help clean up the mess. Later this month, the two are leaving for Ukraine, where Christians for Israel is providing assistance to needy Jews.In Holland’s ultra-secular society, many regard Christians for Israel as fundamentalist for its mix of ardent religiosity and Zionism. Still, Christians for Israel regularly partners with major organs of Dutch Jewry, though these relations are often complicated by disagreements with the community’s liberal-minded leaders.In 2011, Dutch Jewry’s main pro-Israel advocacy group, CIDI, sat out a major Christians for Israel rally at the parliament building because its banner was “keep Jerusalem united.” CIDI does not rule out a possible territorial compromise in the Israeli capital.Last year, CIDI and Christians for Israel did cooperate on a rally outside parliament to protest Palestinian incitement during a visit by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. But the following day, CIDI led a delegation of Jewish leaders to speak with Abbas, a move the van Oordts opposed.“It cuts like a sword in our souls that he is received here with pomp while he oversees a system that incites his countrymen to kill Jews,” Roger van Oordt said of the PA leader.Back at the shop, Pieter van Oordt focuses on a pain that is easier to cure: On his latest trip to Israel, he has discovered a boutique factory near the capital that makes leather shoe inserts “that actually work,” he says.“The first clients say it’s like walking on a cloud,” Pieter said, “with the added benefit of having Jerusalem at your feet.”

ALLTIME