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"Standing with the residents of Sderot and Ashkelon as the war with Hamas continues DID ISRAEL JUST BLINK, OR WIN?: Olmert declares unilateral cease-fire January 16, 2009...7:21 am BIBLE PROPHECY AND GAZA WAR "Is there a connection between Bible prophecy and the war in Gaza right now?" I'm getting asked that everywhere I travel here in the epicenter. It's an intriguing question, and there are two quick answers - no, and yes. 1.) No, there is no specific passage of Scripture that points to this specific war between Israel and terrorists in Gaza in the "last days," though there are certainly some passages that are evocative of the current conflict. The Lord once said through the Hebrew Prophet Amos, for example, "I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza and it will consume her citadels….I will even unleash My power upon Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish." But this was fulfilled between 760 and 750 B.C. 2.) That said, the current war between Israel and the terrorist leaders and fighters of Hamas in Gaza could be preparing the way for the coming "War of Gog and Magog" described in Ezekiel 38-39. In that prophecy (as well as chapters 36 and 37), Ezekiel says that: 1. The State of Israel will be resurrected in the last days 2. Jews will pour back into the Holy Land after centuries of being scattered in exile all over the world 3. By God's grace, the Jews will rebuild the ancient ruins in the land of Israel 4. By God's grace, the Jews will see the land of Israel blossom and bear fruit like never before"

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"A Qassam rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip exploded in the western Negev on Monday, a day after an Israel Air Force strike killed three Islamic Jihad men posed at a launching ground in the coastal territory. There were no casualties or damages reported in the incident on Monday. Israeli security forces were summoned to the area to locate where the rocket had exploded. The IAF strike Sunday came hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a "powerful response" to recent rocket and mortar shell attacks from the coastal territory. The strike targeted a cell as its members, which included a senior Jihad field commander, were launching rockets at Israel. Advertisement Four mortar shells were also fired at Israel from Gaza on Sunday, but they exploded on the Palestinian side of the border. Addressing an increase of rocket fire into Israel from Gaza, Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday advised Gaza's Hamas rulers to "watch their step, and not to cry crocodile tears if they force [Israel] to take action." "

"Israel inched a step closer on Wednesday to deploying the Iron Dome missile defense system along the border with the Gaza Strip after it successfully intercepted a number of missile barrages in tests held in southern Israel this week. Iron Dome successfully... The tests were overseen by the Defense Ministry, the Israel Air Force and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., which developed the Iron Dome, slated to become operational and be deployed along the Gaza border in mid-2010. The missile volleys which the system succeeded in intercepting included a number of rockets that mimicked Kassam and longer range Grad-model Katyusha rockets that are known to be in Hamas's arsenal. The Iron Dome is supposed to be capable of intercepting all short-range rockets fired by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and by Hizbullah in Southern Lebanon. The system uses an advanced radar made by Elta that locates and tracks the rocket, which is then intercepted by a kinetic missile interceptor. During the test, the radar succeeded in detecting which rockets were headed towards designated open fields and therefore did not launch an interceptor to destroy them. The IDF has formed a new battalion that will be part of the IAF's Air Defense Division and will operate the Iron Dome. Prototypes have been supplied to the new unit, which has already begun training with the systems."

WASHINGTON - The United States has warned that Iran could use its proxies to spark a war in the Middle East as an increasingly restive Iranian population continues to challenge the regime. ShareThis U.S. National Securit Adviser James Jones said Iran could be ready to order such proxies as Hamas and Hizbullah to launch hostilities that would spark a regional war. Jones said Iran could use the two Islamic militias to target Israel from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. "History shows that when regimes are feeling pressure as Iran is internally and will externally in the near future, it often lashes out through its surrogates, including in Iran's case, Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza," Jones said.

"This analysis was eritten by Hamid Ghoriafi, Middle East Analyst & Journalist, Published on 07/01/10 by the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah, Translated from Arabic by Elias Bejjani, LCCC Chairman *Israel is providing her 4.5 million citizens with anti-weapons of mass destruction masks. *Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is expecting a war with Hezbollah and Iran by the end of next March. *The Israeli army fears that Hezbollah might launch missiles with biological and chemical warheads. *Israel confirmed that its response would include southern Lebanon, the suburbs of Beirut, the Bekaa valley and the heart of the Gaza strip."

A recent report says the visit by Israeli National Security Council Head Yaakov Amidror to Turkey is aimed at securing an airbase in Iran's neighbor to pave the way for a military attack against the Islamic Republic. PressTV In an article, the Sunday Times said that during his visit on Sunday, Amidror is expected to solicit Turkey's agreement with regard to the deployment of Israeli fighter jets in Akinci airbase, northwest of Ankara, in exchange for advanced military equipments and technology, the Times of Israel reported. "Until the recent crisis, Turkey was our biggest aircraft carrier. Using the Turkish airbases could make the difference between success and failure once a showdown with Iran gets underway," Sunday Times quoted an unnamed Israeli military source as saying. Ankara agreed to restore relations with Tel Aviv on March 22 after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkey for the deaths of nine Turkish activists in a 2010 Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound international flotilla. Israel also agreed to pay compensation to the families of those who were killed by Israeli commandos. The apology was brokered by US President Barack Obama during his recent visit to Israel. The Israeli source added that the regime's military has been "lobbying hard for the politicians to find a form of apology, in order to restore the Israeli-Turkish alliance against Syria and Iran."

"There is something about the Arab-Israeli conflict that does strange things to people. Even otherwise distinguished personalities, who in every other context are rational, sensible thinkers, become unrecognizable. The international law of self-defense is a case in point. United Nations. United Nations. Photo: AP [file] It is trite to say that the first and most basic human instinct is that of self-preservation. Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which enshrines "the inherent right" of self-defense, emanates from this. The occurrence of "an armed attack" triggers the right. In the context of Israel's incursion into Gaza last year, in response to several thousand rockets which had been fired from there into Israel over a period of years, a letter appeared in The Times of London, exactly a year ago today, signed by 31 lawyers. The lead signatory was Sir Ian Brownlie, professor emeritus of public international law at Oxford University, undoubtedly one of the world's preeminent international law authorities. The letter asserted, in so many words, the astonishing proposition that the thousands of rockets which landed in Israel (and were aimed at civilian populations and centers) "do not, in terms of scale and effect, amount to an armed attack entitling Israel to rely on self-defense." "

"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has proposed that the Obama administration negotiate the final borders of a Palestinian state with Israel, a Palestinian official said Wednesday, as a U.S. envoy headed to the region for another attempt to restart Mideast peace talks. Such a proxy arrangement could provide a way around the current deadlock over reviving Israeli-Palestinian talks, which broke off more than a year ago. Abbas says he won't return to the table without a complete Israeli settlement freeze, something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to do. As an alternative, U.S. officials could replace Palestinian negotiators in border talks with Israel, said an Abbas aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the content of internal meetings. The U.S. negotiators would be given clear parameters, the aide said. Advertisement The state would have to be established in the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War - the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem - but the Palestinians would agree to swap up to 3 percent of the territory to accommodate some Israeli settlements, the aide said. Abbas made the proposal in recent meetings with Egyptian officials who passed the idea along to Washington, the aide said. It was not clear how the Americans reacted. Officials at the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which serves the West Bank, had no comment. Abbas has said much ground has been covered in his talks with Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, and that the time has come for decisions. In those talks, Abbas offered a swap of up to 1.9 percent of West Bank land for Israeli territory, while Olmert proposed 6.5 percent. Alternately, Abbas could resume negotiations with Netanyahu, provided the Israeli leader agrees to a six-month settlement freeze in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Netanyahu would not have to announce the freeze, the aide said, presumably to avoid a rebellion in his hardline coalition. The