“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122: 6
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C. Hart—Are Israel and the U.S. on a Collision Course?:
While the U.S. Obama Administration was quick to condemn the recent Gaza missile attack against Israel, it was not willing to put the blame on PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Since the forming of the new Fatah-Hamas unity government, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will hold Abbas responsible for all attacks generated by the Palestinians against the Jewish State. Israel claims that when Abbas sought world support for the new government, he agreed to honor past agreements with Israel, which included disarming terrorist organizations both in the West Bank and Gaza. The recent rocket attack was in violation of that commitment.
Israeli officials were caught by surprise when only hours after the Palestinian government was formed, the U.S. announced it could work with such a government. The Obama Administration still plans to send funds to the PA, but a fight is expected in Congress in the coming weeks. Hearings on Capitol Hill will deal with laws passed by Congress since 2006. These laws require that America cut aid to any Palestinian government that involves Hamas in the formation; in the sharing of power; and in the day to day governance. Hamas was involved in the selection process, deciding which technocrats would be elected as representatives of the Palestinian people. The input of Hamas in the aspect of governing will be more obvious when the Palestinians elect a president in the next six months.
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Caroline Glick: Hezbollah and Israel’s lawyers-in-chief—The Middle East is rapidly changing. Indeed, it is convulsing. After generations of stasis, where strong, despotic central governments ruled with an iron fist and everyone knew who he was and who he was not, today everything – borders, regimes, identities – is in flux. Take Iraq. Last week, residents of Mosul lived under Iraqi government control. On Tuesday, they lived under al-Qaida control. Today national governments throughout the Islamic world are incapable of defeating strategically minded and aggressive jihadist militias like al-Qaida and proxy forces for the likes of Iran.
Terrence McCoy: ISIS, Beheadings and the Success of Horrifying Violence—The first thing you hear is the music. It lilts and sways. Then you see the Islamist militants. They’re knocking at a policeman’s door. It’s the middle of the night, but the cop soon answers. He’s blindfolded and cuffed. They take him to the bedroom. And then, reports say, they decapitate him with a knife. Another video captures militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) herding hundreds of boys and Iraqi soldiers down a highway to an unknown fate. “Repent,” ISIS told inhabitants of its newly conquered territory on Thursday. “But anyone who insists upon apostasy faces death.”
Terrence McCoy: ISIS Just Stole $425 Million—The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria just got extremely rich. This week the group made off with 500 billion Iraqi dinars from Mosul’s central bank – $425 million. The provincial governor of Nineveh, Atheel al-Nujaifi, said that the radical Islamists had lifted additional millions from numerous banks across Mosul, as well as a “large quantity of gold bullion.” According to the intelligence consultancy Soufan Group, ISIS has attracted 12,000 militants from abroad, 3,000 of whom are from the West.
Soeren Kern: Salafi-Jihadists: “A Persistent Threat” to Europe and America— The threat to Europe and the United States from Islamic terrorism is serious and growing, and new attacks with unexpected targets and timings are increasingly likely, according to two new reports that provide insights and predictions about the threats posed by al-Qaeda and other Salafi-jihadist groups. The reports — one by the US-based RAND Corporation and another by the EU-based Europol — show that al-Qaeda and related jihadist groups are evolving, splintering and morphing, and that the number of Islamic militants, especially from Western countries, is growing apace. Taken together, the two reports thoroughly dispute claims by members of the Obama Administration and other policymakers that al-Qaeda has been severely weakened and no longer poses a major threat to the West.
Ron Ben-Yishai: Sunni Offensive in Iraq a Blow to Iran—The takeover of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, by Sunni global jihad fighters is a blow to Iran, which backs the Shiite government in Iraq. ISIS is the bitter enemy of Shiites wherever they are, meaning it is the enemy of Iran. At the moment, only Arab regimes are on the front line – Assad’s regime in Damascus, al-Maliki’s regime in Iraq. But later on, Israel might become a main target too.
Elliott Abrams: Middle East chaos— The fall of Mosul, Iraq to a terrorist group should change the American perceptions of developments in the Middle East. Although the Obama administration has spent its efforts in the region on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that front is actually stable: No one is predicting or expecting a massive collapse into violence. But look north and east. Today’s news is of the capture of Iraq’s second largest city by the terrorist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (abbreviated ISIS), an al-Qaida offshoot. Meanwhile in Syria, roughly 12,000 jihadis are now gathered, producing chaos in that country and sowing seeds of trouble for neighboring countries and our own. The estimate now is that 70 Americans are among the jihadis in Syria, one of whom recently engaged in a suicide bombing, so the question arises: What will they do when they come home?
Boaz Bismuth: The spectacular dissolution of Iraq— It took jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (abbreviated ISIS) no more than two days to take over two of Iraq’s most important cities. But what should sound the alarm isn’t the takeover of Mosul or Tikrit alone, but how odiously easy it was for both cities to fall. Iraqi troops, which were supposed to have taken command after American troops left in 2011, are behaving at best like extras in a movie. The year 2014 doesn’t bode well for Iraq. It started with the fall of Fallujah and parts of the city Ramadi, situated west of Baghdad. The rebels took control of Nineveh Province (of which Mosul is the capital) in northern Iraq, and now they are expanding their territory to Kirkuk and Saladin provinces. Half a million residents have already fled their homes. Many Iraqis in these areas, mostly Sunnis, already dislike the Shiite government in Baghdad, and welcome the rebels with open arms.
Fareed Zakaria: Who Lost Iraq? The Iraqis Did—From 2003 onward, Iraq faced a Sunni insurgency that was finally tamped down by Gen. David Petraeus, who said explicitly at the time that the core element of his strategy was political, bringing Sunni tribes and militias into the fold. A senior official closely involved with Iraq in the Bush administration told me, “Not only did [Iraqi Prime Minister] Maliki not try to do broad power-sharing, he reneged on all the deals that had been made, stopped paying the Sunni tribes and militias, and started persecuting key Sunni officials.”
Anna Mahjar-Barducci: Liberating Libya: General Vows to Crush Terrorists— Libya has a new man, willing to fight against Islamist extremists. Maj. Gen. Khalifa Haftar, commander-in-chief of a breakaway military force, and denounced by the Libyan central government, has been described as the new “Libyan Al-Sisi.” Just as newly elected Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi declared open war on the Muslim Brotherhood, Haftar vows to crush Islamists in Libya. Sisi seems to be Haftar’s role model. The Libyan general is willing to follow Sisi’s model in what he sees as a fight against Egypt’s and Libya’s common enemy: the Muslim Brotherhood [MB]. In a recent interview in the Saudi-owned daily, Asharq Al-Awsat, Haftar defined the MB as a “malignant disease that is seeking to spread throughout the bones of the Arab world.” To fight Islamism, Haftar has launched “Operation Dignity,” a military campaign against Islamist militia groups in Benghazi.
Lee Smith: At Some Point, Regional Powers Will Intervene to Block a Restored Caliphate—ISIS claims it is in the process of restoring the caliphate, and erasing the Sykes-Picot lines drawn by the Great Powers in 1916. Long before ISIS planted its flag to claim a caliphate, the Muslim Brotherhood was there first, promising its adherents a political order that would unite Arabs from North Africa to the Persian Gulf under the banner of Islam. Nonetheless, Muslim Brotherhood chapters around the region, and even sometimes within states, are in constant competition with each other. The Sykes-Picot lines were drawn in the full knowledge that Arab unity was a myth. Arab efforts to redraw Sykes-Picot, like Saddam’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, have been rebuffed by the Western powers. It is likely that at some point, regional as well as international powers will intervene and send everyone back to their corners – the states established by the Sykes-Picot lines.
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Hamas attacks PA for cooperating with investigation into missing teens
Security forces ‘making some progress’ in search for kidnapped teens, senior source says
Ya’alon: IDF in the middle of widespread recovery operations for missing teens
Rouhani: Nuclear deal by July 20 deadline still possible
Israeli official: Abbas’ ‘terror government’ responsible for fate of missing teens
Palestinians riot following Friday prayers on Temple Mount
Danon blasts Livni over reported meeting with Palestinian official in London
‘Beach of abomination’ in Jerusalem denounced by haredi leadership
IPS uncovers tunnel dug by Palestinian security prisoner to escape from Israel jail
Iran intelligence minister blames Israel, US for Iraq crisis
SnyderTalk Comment: I buy the U.S. role in part. Obama’s cut-and-run strategy in Iraq left a vacuum that terrorists recognized and filled. It was bound to happen. The same kind of thing is going to happen in Afghanistan because of his cut-and-run strategy there, but Israel played no role in the Iraq mess. The Iranian intelligence minister’s comment is based on Jew/Israel-hate and nothing more.
Problem is that Iran took concrete steps to save the Iraqi government while Obama contemplated his navel. When the dust settles in Iraq, Iran will be the winner and the U.S. will be the loser–again. Regrettably, Israel will suffer the consequences for our strategic blunders and for our willingness to let Iran strengthen its position in Iraq.
I’m reminded of this old adage: things have never been so bad that they can’t get worse. That’s a fact–one that President Obama doesn’t grasp. He’s too preoccupied fixating on himself and on his opinions to pay attention to facts.
In the president’s mind, facts don’t matter, but in the real world they do. Since Obama is president of a real country in the real world, his wild imagining has placed the U.S. and its allies in harm’s way. At this point, I think it’s fair to say that Obama has unleashed forces that he can’t control.
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Gaza: Palestinians Celebrate Kidnapping by Handing out Candy
Abbas Says PA Will Assist Israel in Search for Missing Students
PA Official: We’re Not Responsible for Boys’ Disappearance
State Department ‘Very Concerned’ Over Missing Yeshiva Boys
IDF Spokesman: Doing Everything We Can to Locate Students
Belgium: 46 Suspected Islamists to Stand Trial
Iraq: Cleric Calls on Citizens to Fight ISIS
Students Ask UN Chief to Help Locate Missing Teens
Qatar to Pay Angry Hamas Employees
Islamist Pincer Move Tightens the Noose on Baghdad
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Officials release identities of teens who disappeared near Hebron
Military official: Search for teens may take days
Analysis: Kidnapping or worse? With every passing hour, the concern grows
Israel makes series of arrests in hunt for missing teens
PM to Kerry: Feared abductions a result of Hamas entry into government
Even after unity deal, Hamas still runs failing Gaza
Marginalized by Maliki, Iraq’s Sunnis turned violent
Methodist pension board divests from co. supplying Israel
Brussels Jewish museum shooter was no ‘lone wolf’
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Iraq violence threatening OPEC’s precarious balance
Iraq military halts advance of ISIS north of Baghdad
Tony Blair: the whole Middle East is under threat – but it is not our fault
Shiite militia seizes control of Iraqi town, slowing ISIS drive toward Baghdad
Iraq crisis presents an opportunity for Iran’s Rouhani
Militants Storm Turkish Consulate in Mosul, Taking 49 Turkish Citizens as Hostages
ISIS Fields 7,000-10,000 Fighters
U.S., Iranian Negotiators Fail to Break Impasse
Iran to Scale Down Plutonium Production Plans
Ukraine vows firm response after rebels shoot down military plane
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Genesis 10: 1-5
1 Now these are the records of the generations of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and sons were born to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer and Magog and Madai and Javan and Tubal and Meshech and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz and Riphath and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan were Elishah and Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.
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His Name is Yahweh explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important. It’s available in eBook format and in paperback. It’s also available for free in PDF format.
- God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This [Yahweh] is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 15)
- “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
- “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)
- Yeshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8: 58)
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The Name Yahweh Sets the Messiah Apart
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Blessings in the Book of Revelation is a book that you need to read, especially now. There are blessings throughout the Scriptures but Revelation is the only book in the Bible actually containing a specific blessing for reading it. It’s repeated twice, once at the beginning and again at the end. This is the reason that I believe Revelation should be the first step toward studying biblical prophecy. Though not easy to do, Revelation can be broken down and understood by anyone, not just the academic elite. So, Revelation’s blessings are for everyone. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
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Other Books by Neil Snyder
- Stand! is a suspense novel that exposes the lies, corruption, and greed underlying the theory that man-made CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming. Professor Wes Carlyle and Karen Sterling, his research collaborator, carefully scan the audience for their would-be attacker—a member of the enviro-gestapo who has been following them for days. Wes spots his man in the back of the room leaning against the wall. Suddenly, another man in the audience steps forward and moves toward Karen at a menacing pace. With a vicious stroke, he swings a billy club at her head. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- What Will You Do with the Rest of Your Life? deals with a question that every Christian has to consider: what should I do with my life? Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- Falsely Accused is a true story about a young woman who was accused of committing a double homicide. It’s about a travesty of justice, and it reveals Yahweh intervening in the life of a believer to rescue her from danger in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Everyone will enjoy the book, but young people in particular need to read it because the mistakes made that led to the problem could have been avoided. They were the kinds of mistakes that young people are prone to make. As they say, forewarned is forearmed. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
