Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was born April 28, 1937 and died December 30, 2006. He was the fifth President of Iraq, holding that position from July 16, 1979 until 9 April 2003. He was one of the leading members of the revolutionary Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, and afterward, the Baghdad-based Ba’ath Party and its regional organization Ba’ath Party, Iraq Region, which advocated ba’athism, an ideological marriage of Arab nationalism with Arab socialism. (Patricia Ramos, july 2013)
"The national security of America and the security of the world could be attained if the American leaders [..] become rational, if America disengages itself from its evil alliance with Zionism, which has been scheming to exploit the world and plunge it in blood and darkness, by using America and some Western countries. What the American peoples need mostly is someone who tells them the truth, courageously and honestly as it is.
They don’t need fanfares and cheerleaders, if they want to take a lesson from the (sept. 11) event so as to reach a real awakening, in spite of the enormity of the event that hit America.
But the world, including the rulers of America, should say all this to the American peoples, so as to have the courage to tell the truth and act according to what is right and not what to is wrong and unjust, to undertake their responsibilities in fairness and justice, and by recourse to reason..."
Saddam Hussein, INA 15-9-2002
"A lot of rulers today still view principled people as a burden to them"
"A lot of rulers today still view principled people, who persist in defending their noble and just causes and who refuse to compromise at the expense of their peoples, their nations, the honour of their cause, their integrity and their principles, as a burden on them.
The policy of the United States still finds in this kind of genuine, honest and loyal people an obstacle before their evil and futile ambitions towards the world and humanity at large..." Saddam Hoessein, Oath and Speech, INA 17-10-2002
"The despot thinks he is just as God... What a nadir and mean fate!
The despot, as represented in this age, in our day, imagines he can enslave the people..
But they were born free. They were freed by God’s will through prophets and messengers, to be slaves only to Him and not to anyone of the people." Saddam Hussein, Iraq Daily 4-3-2003
"...To be a human being among human beings, and remain one forever, no matter what misfortunes befall, not to become depressed, and not to falter - this is what life is, herein lies its task." Fyodor Dostoevsky (to his brother Mikhail, Dec. 22, 1849)
“All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly.
“Do not therefore do injustice to yourselves. Remember one day you will meet Allah and answer your deeds. So beware, do not astray from the path of righteousness after I am gone." Prophet Muhammad, Last Sermon
"Having principles is necessary in any talks, as they constitute a reference for the process of negotiating..." "Since the beginning of Geneva 3 talks, the delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic proposed a paper of principles that forms a basis for the talks. [...] There have been no real talks until this moment and the paper of principles has not been answered to.." Bashar al-Assad, speech 6-6-2016
"The West creates enemies; in the past it was the communism then it became Islam, and then it became Saddam Hussein for a different reason. Now, they want to create a new enemy represented by Bashar. That's why they say that the problem is the president so he has to leave. That is why we have to focus of the real problem, not to waste our time listening to what they say." (Bashar al-Assad, 9-11-2012)
"Syria is the heart of the Middle East. Everybody knows that. If the Middle East is sick, the whole world will be unstable. In 1991, when we started the peace process, we had a lot of hope. Now, after over 20 years, things are not at square one; they’re much below that square.
So the policy should be to help peace in the region, to fight terrorism, to promote secularism, to support this area economically, to help upgrade the mind and society like you did in your country. That is the supposed mission of the United States, not to launch wars. Launching war doesn’t make you a great power." (Bashar Al-Assad, 26-1-2015)
President Bashar, 'Le Figaro' interview 3-9-2013:
"How can the parliamentarians convince the French public that their country is secular, yet at the same time it supports extremism and sectarianism in other parts of the world? How can France advocate for democracy but yet one of its closest allies – Saudi Arabia – is still living in medieval times?"
"My message to the French Parliamentarians is: go back to the principles of the French Revolution that the whole world is proud of: Liberty, Justice, Equality."
“Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you can not retain.”
Saadi Shirazi
(Persian poet & humanist, born in Shiraz, Iran, c. 1210)
"The majority of people who imitate philosophers confuse the true with the false, and they do nothing but deceive and pretend knowledge, and they do not use what they know of the sciences except for base and material purposes...
And if they see a certain person seeking for the right and preferring the truth, doing his best to refute the false and untrue and leaving aside hypocrisy and deceit, they make a fool of him and mock him."
Omar has often been called the 'Voltaire of the East', and cried down as materialist and atheist. As far as purity of diction, fine wit, crushing satire against a debased and ignorant clergy, and a general sympathy with suffering humanity are concerned, ‘Omar certainly reminds us of the great Frenchman; but there the comparison ceases. Voltaire never wrote anything equal to ‘Omar’s fascinating rhapsodies in praise of wine, love and all earthly joys, and his passionate denunciations of a malevolent and inexorable. (Source)
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: "I do not say anything for certain"
Those who do not possess enough knowledge of Islam and the young men who are not fully conversant with the Islamic problems, have no right to meddle in the exposition of the Qur'an. But if they still try to misinterpret it for some ulterior motive of theirs, our youth should ignore their interpretation and pay no attention to it. Islam does not allow anybody to interpret the Qur'an according to his personal opinion or private judgment.
Anybody who tries to impose his own opinion on the Qur'an is either a materialist misinterpreting the Qur'an or is one of those who give some spiritual meaning to the Qur'anic verses.
Both these groups interpret the Qur'an according to their own wishes. Therefore it is necessary to keep away from both of them. As far as the Qur'an is concerned our hands are tied. Nobody is allowed to attribute his opinion to the Qur'an and claim that the Qur'an says so.... The interpretation which I am going to give is only a possible interpretation. When I explain any verse of the Qur'an, I do not claim that the verse means only what I say. I do not say anything for certain. I am hinting a possibility only. (www.al-islam.org)
About political holism
Political holism is based on the recognition that "we" are all members of a single whole. There's no "they," even though "we" are not all alike. Because "we" are all part of the whole, and therefore interdependent, we benefit from cooperating with each other. Political holism is a way of thinking about human cultures and nations as interdependent. Political holists search for solutions other than war to settle international disagreements. Their model of the world is one in which cooperation and negotiation, even with the enemy, even with the weak, promotes political stability more than warfare.
In an overpopulated world with planet-wide environmental problems, the development of weapons of mass destruction has rendered war obsolete as an effective means to resolve disputes.
Political dualists consider political holists unpatriotic for questioning the necessity to defeat "them." In times of impending war, political dualists tend to measure patriotism by the intensity of one's hostility to the country's immediate enemy. Naturally, they would view as disloyalty any suggestion that the enemy is not evil, any call for cooperation with the enemy, any criticism of one's own country.
To political dualists, cooperation with the enemy means capitulation, relinquishment of the nation's position of dominance.
Former Israeli President Shimon Peres has died at a hospital near Tel Aviv
Peres was admitted to Sheba Medical Centre in Ramat Gan two weeks ago, where he was intubated and sedated. Doctors expressed cautious optimism in the days immediately following his hospitalization. As foreign minister, Peres was the one to finalize the interim Israeli Palestinian Oslo Peace deal.
While it did not turn into a lasting treaty, in 1994 he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts, along with the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Peres has been a staunch advocate of the two-state solution with Palestine, trying to boost the process following Rabin's assassination in 1995. However, his position in the matter weakened following a string of suicide attacks by Palestinians and mounting pressure from Israeli nationalists. (Russia Today, 28-9-2016)
Shimon Peres in Hiroshima, 1997:
You must understand that you have to learn all the time.
If you are too strong, you will lose your eager to negotiate.
Science and technology, can they be neutral?
Are they independent from the cultures?
No, the long range missiles can hit a target on the other side of the globe in a few second. The use of science and technology should be carefully examined. Otherwise, we will do the same thing again as we dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima.
We have had five wars in the last 50 years. We have developed the emotion that we hate one another, enemies. For us, our enemies are killers. It is very difficult.
We need to compromise. It is like a relation between a wife and a husband. We have to face to our enemies and to negotiate with them. If you are too strong, you will lose your eager to negotiate. This is the point.
We have to pay the price for understanding the enemies. We understand that.
History tells us that. If you kill more, you have to kill more to protect yourself. So, it pays off. It is reasonable to pay the price. Educate people, build a science and technology based industry, develop an innovative society. These things are becoming more and more important in modern societies.
The continuation is the key thing. To defend your culture, arms are useless, though arms are useful to defend your border. Universities become more important to educate young people. The world is changing so much.
We need to learn "how to learn." We have to teach our children how to learn to work together, to communicate, etc.
The new age has arrived already. We have to create a better world for our children.
Daniella Weiss, former mayor of Kedumim and a leader of the Nachala settlement movement, recalled Shimon Peres’s contribution to the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria.
“The left talks about Peres’s sin, the beginning of the massive settlement in areas liberated during the Six Day War.
Even though the breakthrough was in Gush Etzion and in Hevron with Rabbi Hanan Porat and Rabbi Levinger, the signing of the Sebastia agreement with Shimon Peres was actually the beginning of the massive Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria,” Weiss told Arutz Sheva.
“It is not for nothing that the left refers to the Sebastia agreement as Shimon Peres’s ancient sin. I remember we gave him a bouquet of flowers. He took this historic step even though he did not agree with our being in Judea and Samaria,” she added.
At the same time, Weiss continued, one cannot ignore the Oslo Accords and in this regard, Peres made a huge mistake.
“He thought of a new Middle East, but the exact opposite happened and Peres made a bad mistake,” she said. “Peres’s contribution to the breakthrough in Samaria compared to the damages of Oslo and the illusion of a new Middle East is an historic contribution, and I am happy that there is settlement in the midst of the terrible chaos of Oslo.
“Thank God that the settlement enterprise began 40 years ago, and we will only grow from here,” concluded Weiss.
Taub: Supporting settlement is an anti-Zionist stance.
"The grounds for resisting the settlers’ enterprise are not only the right of Palestinians to self-determination but also the right of Jews to self-determination. Zionists and their allies must therefore oppose further settlement, for Israel’s, not just Palestine’s, sake."
"On the premises of secular Zionism self-determination is the over arching principle, and a Jewish democratic state is the goal. On the premises of religious Zionism redeeming the land is the overruling imperative.
The logic of each thus negates that of the other.
Liberating people? Or enslaving people? That's the question
Mainstream secular Zionism is doubly undermined by the settlers’ creed: morally, and politically.
Zionism would have to decide if it is about redeeming land, or about liberating people. If it is about liberating people, it would have to give up the occupied territories. If it is about redeeming land, it would end up enslaving people.
Gadi Taub, assistant professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 3-10-2010
The secular majority in Israel has given up on (modern) Judaism in favor of Orthodox Judaism. And Orthodoxy’s victory is everyone’s defeat—because it is political rather than ethical.
The meaning of this kind of “Judaism” (Pharisaism, Hypocritical observance of the letter, or: Deification of men-made Jewish Law) is mainly about prohibitions, constraints and excuses on opening businesses, public transportation and leisure, people marrying whoever they choose, issues of faith or a different sexual inclination and an excuse for being exempt from military service (like I was told in basic training: “If things get difficult, then we say we’re religious”).
The second partner in the Orthodox victory, Religious Zionism, has replaced the ancient principles of faith with a single “under no circumstances.” This land is all mine, they say, and the world can explode, or at least the Temple Mount.
Busy preparing us for the religious war that will eventually arrive, Inshallah, against Islam in general and the Palestinians in particular, so that there is no chance to discuss anything else with them.
The reaction to these “Judaism” shows is sometimes hostile contempt... But secular Israel is missing the point, or the essence. It does not engage in studying Judaism — or infusing it with its own content.
For example, what can actually be translated from the Jubilee year mitzvot (in the spirit of Jabotinsky)? Or: How does Maimonides philosophically overcome the problem of the existence of evil?
It seems that we have never been further away from the Judaism that can bring together a group of people for the sake of a better shared future.
Jabotinski 'the Liberal' and Maimonides 'the humanist'
Why being a Jew when you can be a Liberal and a Philosopher?
As a philosopher (NOT a Jew) Maimonides agrees with Aristotle in teaching that the use of logic is the "right" way of thinking. In order to build an inner understanding of how to know God, every human being must, by study, meditation and uncompromising strong will, attain the degree of complete logical, spiritual and physical perfection required in the prophetic state.
Here he rejects previous ideas (especially portrayed by Rabbi Yehuda Halevi in "Hakuzari") that in order to become a prophet, God must intervene. Maimonides claims that any man has the potential to become a prophet (not just Jews) and that in fact it is the purpose of the human race. (Wikipedia info)
As a liberal (NOT a Jew) Jabotinsky recoiled from all dictators and from totalitarianism. He was an extreme individualist, almost a committed anarchist. (Israel Eldad, 1980)
“Every person is a king” Jabotinsky formulated and this meant an inner freedom, the freedom of choice. Even the acceptance of the discipline that Jabotinsky desired to be the result of a free decision by man as man. In the beginning, G-d created the individual. Every individual is a king equal to his fellow. It is preferable that the individual sin against the society than the society sin against the individual. Society was created for the good for individuals, not the opposite. The messianic vision is one of a paradise for the individual, a glorious anarchic kingdom, a contest between personal abilities “society” has no rule but to help those who have fallen... [Jabotinsky, in “My Story,” 1936 in Autobiography]
"My outlook is in essence the negation of the totalistic state. The instinctive ideal of man is a serene anarchy. As long as this ideal cannot be realized, democracy must be recognized as the form closest to the ideal.
Our tradition has it that in the beginning, G-d created the individual. Man is intended to be free. Democracy’s meaning is freedom and the goal of democracy is to insure the influence of the minority. [Jabotinsky, “Introduction to the Theory of Economy – Part Two,” 1934]
The Temple Institute has brought the Third Temple one step closer by establishing a school for Jewish priests (kohanim) to learn how to perform the Temple Service. Four months ago, the Temple Institute established a registry of Kohanim, a list of men who have a clear patriarchal heritage from the priestly class....
The Temple Institute was founded in 1987 to fulfill the mission of bringing about the Third Temple.
It has recreated over 70 vessels that are ready to be used in the Temple, is breeding the Red Heifer in order to purify the Nation of Israel, and has produced the special garb the Bible requires the Kohanim to wear while performing the Temple service. The Institute has also reconstructed the High Priest’s breastplate...
The Ephod: Plate Of Judgment
The Jewish high priest wore a vest with a breastplate (the ephod) composed of twelve precious stones arranged in four rows. This was known as "the breastplate of judgment."
The ephod was fastened at the shoulders with two onyx stones. According to Adam Clarke, the stones were to remind God of the needs and desires of the Israelites whenever the high priest stood before Him. Josephus writes that one of the onyx buttons of the ephod would shine brilliantly whenever God attended their sacrifices.
Josephus & The Mystic (Astrological) Ephod Meanings
In Josephus, chapter VII, verse 7 we learn the inner most understanding as to why the Ephod was designed in the manner that YHWH commanded. It reads and explains, as such:
And for the ephod (apron), it shewed that YHWH had made the Universe of four elements (Fire, Air, Water, Earth); and as for the gold interwoven, I suppose it related to the splendour by which all things are enlightened.
He also appointed the Breastplate to be placed in the middle of the Ephod, to resemble the Earth, for that has the very middle of the world.
And the girdle, which compassed the High Priest round, signified the ocean (Water), for that goes round about and includes the Universe.
Each of the Sardonyxes (stones) declares to us the Sun and the Moon; those I mean that were in the nature of buttons on the High Priests shoulders.
And for the twelve stones (in the Breastplate), whether we understand by them the months, or whether we understand by them the like number of the Signs of that circle which the Greeks call the Zodiac, we shall not be mistaken in their meaning.
And for the mitre, which was of a blue colour, it seems to mean…Heaven... (Children of Yahweh website)
In astrology Water-signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, Earth-signs are Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, Fire-signs are Aries, Leo and Sagitarius, Air-signs are Gemini, Libra and Aquarius.
Persian Zoroastrism was a Fire-religion, pre-Islamic religion in Mecca was as feminine Water (Moon) cult (the priests wore women clothing), Babylonian religion was a combined Water (Moon or Nanna=Mother) and Fire (Jupiter|Marduk=Son) cult.
The Twelve Tribes & the Twelve Signs, according to Rabbi Joel C. Dobin Benjamin and Judah (FIRE-signs) are the two signs|tribes of the Jewish State of Israel
The other signs have disappeared... ( 'The ten lost tribes'...)
'Lost' means: a broken band with G'd (the universe - universalism - holism)
In a 24-6 vote, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization gave preliminary approval to a resolution that denies Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the vote stating: “The theater of the absurd continues at the UN.” “Today UNESCO adopted its second decision this year denying the Jewish people’s connection to the Temple Mount, our holiest site for more than 3,000 years,” he said. The Palestinian Authority, however, welcomed the results.
The official spokesman of the Palestinian Presidency Nabil Abu Rudeinah said that the continued international decisions against the occupation and its policy including that of UNESCO regarding Jerusalem and the al-Aksa Mosque form a clear message from the international community that it does not agree with the policies that protect the occupation and contribute to the creation of chaos and instability.
A sentence has been inserted into the text that mentions that Jerusalem and its Old City walls are holy to all three religions; Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The Western Wall is mentioned twice in quotes. Otherwise it was referenced in the text by its Muslim name of the Buraq Plaza.
Netanyahu suggested that the Bible aside, UNESCO members should visit the Arch of Titus in Rome.
“On it one can see what the Romans brought back to Rome after they destroyed and looted the Second Temple on the Temple Mount 2,000 years ago. There, engraved on the Arch of Titus, is the seven-branched menorah that is the symbol of the Jewish People, and I remind you, is also the symbol of the Jewish state today,” he said. “By this absurd decision, UNESCO has lost what little legitimacy it had left,” Netanyahu added.
Twenty-six nations abstained from the vote and two were absent. Those who supported the motion included Algeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, China, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan and Vietnam. Those who opposed the resolution were: the US, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Germany and Estonia
The temple: A center of Enlightment or a center of Power?
the Antonia-citadel, a Roman armycamp
declared as Israel's most holy place...
Fort Antonia was described by Josephus as being like a city with large areas for troop parades etc. A legion of troops (5000 fighting and 5000 support) was housed there. Only the Haram fits the description and the small area now designated the site of the Fort would have been impossibly small.
The habit of accepting the temple mount tradition as fact has fatally perpetuated a blindness regarding all the descriptions of the temple which testify against such an assumption.
It means that for the past 170 years and beyond, everyone has never doubted the temple mount tradition, even though Jerusalem seethes with similar fictitious inventions. Ernest L. Martin (in: The Temples that Jerusalem Forgot) proves the alleged 'temple mount' is actually the Roman tower of Antonia, which Herod and his successors expanded from the Baris.
The tower of Antonia remained as the only building occupying Jerusalem after the destruction, housing the Roman Legion X Fretensis for over 200 years. Among archaeologists and writers, only Martin did not overlook the statement of Eleazar in Josephus:
"Where is this city that was believed to have God himself inhabiting therein? It is now demolished to the very foundations, and it has nothing but that monument of it preserved, I mean the camp of those that has destroyed it... (War VII, 8, 376)
Megalomania is mental disorder causing a person to hold exaggerated opinions about his power or abilities. There's always an obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions.
Someone who thinks he is much more important, powerful, or capable than he really is, despite all evidence to the contrary, would be considered a megalomaniac. The same term would apply to a person who causes harm to himself and others because of an obsession with his power or image.
Megalomania has two key components: inaccuracy and injury.
Megalomania involves delusion: what the megalomaniac thinks about himself is not, in fact, true. A megalomaniac is the mediocre chess player who accuses everyone who beats him of cheating, because he’s “too smart” to lose fair and square. Megalomania also involves harm. True megalomaniacs hurt themselves and others. Their disconnection from reality results in actions that are irrational, dangerous, or absurd.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who is also president of Israel's National Commission for UNESCO, has decided to suspend immediately all activities in conjunction with the international organization. His decision comes one day after UNESCO decided to accept the Palestinian Authority's suggestion to detach Jewish history from the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
"The Israeli committee will cease all participation. There will be no more meetings with UNESCO representatives, or participation in international conferences. There will be no professional cooperation between us and an organization that backs terror," Bennett's office told the press.
Bennett also turned to countries represented in UNESCO and wrote: "The Western world needs to stand up against UNESCO and against handing prizes to terror supporters. Just like we work against Islamic terror in Aleppo and Palmyra, we need to fight political terror in Jerusalem. Cutting Jerusalem off from Israel will create a domino effect that will affect the entire Western world," he said.
The UNESCO decided to accept the Palestinian Authority's suggestion to detach Jewish history from the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
"We shall learn from the historic mistakes of others in the same way as we learn from our own;
for we are a modern nation and wish to be the most modern in the world." Theodor Herzl
Everyone admits David's city was on the southeast corner of Jerusalem, many hundreds of feet south of the Haram walls. The Temple was to the north of David's city (build on the Ophel hill). "It contained an inexhaustible spring, there were subterranean excavations in the hills and tanks and cisterns for holding rain water" (Tacitus)
Rabbi David Kimchi reported about the condition of the Temple and the Temple Mount about twenty years after Rabbi Samson (about 1235 C.E.). He was the final Jewish authority who stated without ambiguity that the site of the former Temples in Jerusalem "was still in ruins" in his day and he qualified his statement with the further observation that no gentile buildings were then erected over the temple site. (E.L. Martin)
The well-known "Wailing Wall" has nothing to do with the original sanctuaries in Jerusalem.
The western parts of the rectangular shaped area that they have selected to adore and at which they congregate to worship (and they have done so for almost 380 years) are the remains of a structure that was held by their forefathers in the first century to be in utmost contempt. Modern Jews have literally set aside the true location of their former Temples and have substituted the real location for a first century Roman citadel called Fort Antonia that was built by Herod the Great. This Herodian structure was situated about 600 feet north of the northern wall of their former Temple at Jerusalem.
The actual southern site of their Temple now stands in an unrecognized state. It is forlorn, lonely, abandoned, thoroughly forgotten and bereft of even a meager amount of attention by the people who once adored it. The site is even accounted today by the Jewish people as an inferior part of Jerusalem... (E.L. Martin)
"Utter desolation has possessed the land. Their once famous Mount Sion instead of being as it once was, is a Roman farm like the rest of the country. Yea, with my own eyes I have seen the bulls plowing there, and the sacred site sown with seed. And Jerusalem itself is become but a storehouse of its fruit of old days now destroyed, or better, as the Hebrew has it, a stonequary..."
Eusebius of Caesarea, bishop of Cæsarea in Palestine, born about 260
According to Josephus Herod Agrippa was able to look down into the priests’ court of the Temple from a room in the Herodian palace (west of the Temple).
" About the same time king Agrippa built himself a very large dining-room in the royal palace at Jerusalem, near to the portico. Now this palace had been erected of old by the children of Asamoneus. and was situate upon an elevation, and afforded a most delightful prospect to those that had a mind to take a view of the city, which prospect was desired by the king; and there he could lie down, and eat, and thence observe what was done in the temple... The chief men of Jerusalem were very much displeased at it; for it was not agreeable to the institutions of our country or law that what was done in the temple should be viewed by others, especially what belonged to the sacrifices. They therefore erected a wall upon the uppermost building which belonged to the inner court of the temple towards the west, which wall when it was built, did not only intercept the prospect of the dining-room in the palace, but also of the western cloisters that belonged to the outer court of the temple also, where it was that the Romans kept guards for the temple at the festivals." Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (Book 20, Chatper 8, Paragraph 11)
When the Haram was thought to be the Temple Mount, the Sisters of Zion, a Catholic order of nuns who excavated the small building just off the northwest corner of the Haram, declared that their little building was the Roman Fortress.
But it could not hold 500 troops, much less a whole legion (5,000-6,000), as the Romans always kept in the Antonia. It was also at the same level as the Haram, so the troops could not have gone down from there to the Haram. There is no room between that little building and the Haram for a bridge and road to have been built.
The only sizes, descriptions, and locations that fit the literature are those that place the temple behind the Spring of Siloam and the Roman fortress 600 feet to the north and more than 200 feet higher in altitude. (AMEU 2014)
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon distanced himself from a recent UNESCO resolution which failed to acknowledge the ties between 'the Jewish people' and the Temple Mount.
"The Al Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram al-Sharif, the sacred shrine of Muslims, is also the Har HaBayit - or Temple Mount - whose Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism...
He noted that "any perceived undertaking to repudiate the undeniable common reference for these sites does not serve the interests of peace and will only feed violence and radicalism" and he called on all sides "to uphold the status quo in relation to the holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem."
Don't search for the truth, just make out of lies your own 'truth'
US, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Germany and Estonia
TITUS: "If we go up to this tower of Antonia, we gain the city; for if there should be any more occasion for fighting against those within the city, which I do not suppose there will, since we shall then be upon the top of the hill and be upon our enemies before they can have taken breath, these advantages promise us no less than a certain and sudden victory."
When Titus saw that these men were neither to be moved by commiseration towards themselves, nor had any concern upon them to have the holy house spared, he proceeded unwillingly to go on again with the war against them. He could not indeed bring all his army against them, the place was so narrow; but choosing thirty soldiers of the most valiant out of every hundred, and committing a thousand to each tribune, and making Cerealis their commander-in-chief, he gave orders that they should attack the guards of the temple about the ninth hour of that night.
But as he was now in his armor, and preparing to go down with them, his friends would not let him go, by reason of the greatness of the danger, and what the commanders suggested to them; for they said that he would do more by sitting above in the tower of Antonia... So he sent the soldiers about their work at the hour forementioned, while he went out himself to a higher place in the tower of Antonia, whence he might see what was done...
The rest of the Roman army had, in seven days' time, overthrown some foundations of the tower of Antonia, and had made a ready and broad way to the temple.
Then did the legions come near the first court, and began to raise their banks. The one bank was over against the north-west corner of the inner temple, another was at that northern edifice which was between the two gates; and of the other two, one was at the western cloister of the outer court of the temple; the other against its northern cloister...
"...the tower of Antonia was parted from the temple..."
In the mean time, the Jews were so distressed by the fights they had been in..., that they, as it were, cut off those limbs of their body which were infected, in order to prevent the distemper's spreading further...
For they set the north-west cloister, which was joined to the tower of Antonia, on fire, and after that brake off about twenty cubits of that cloister, and thereby made a beginning in burning the sanctuary... Two days after which the Romans set fire to the cloister that joined to the other, when the fire went fifteen cubits farther... The Jews, in like manner, cut off its roof; nor did they entirely leave off what they were about, till the tower of Antonia was parted from the temple, even when it was in their power to have stopped the fire..
The next day the Romans burnt down the northern cloister entirely, as far as the east cloister, whose common angle joined to the valley that was called Cedron [Kidron], and was built over it; on which account the depth was frightful. And this was the state of the temple at that time.
Titus retired into the tower of Antonia, and resolved to storm the temple the next day, early in the morning, with his whole army, and to encamp round about the holy house...
While the holy house was on fire, every thing was plundered that came to hand, and ten thousand of those that were caught were slain... There was at once a shout of the Roman legions, who were marching all together, and a sad clamor of the seditious, who were now surrounded with fire and sword... Yet was the misery itself more terrible than this disorder; for one would have thought that the hill itself, on which the temple stood, was seething hot, as full of fire on every part of it...
And now the Romans burnt all the surrounding buildings, as also the remains of the cloisters and the gates, two excepted; the one on the east side, and the other on the south; both which, however, they burnt afterward... The soldiers also came to the rest of the cloisters that were in the outer [court of the] temple... they were in such a rage, that they set that cloister on fire...
Titus (Latin: Titus Flāvius Caesar Vespasiānus Augustus) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own biological father. Prior to becoming Emperor, Titus gained renown as a military commander, serving under his father in Judea during the First Jewish–Roman War.
Antonio Guterres, the former Socialist Prime Minister of Portugal, was appointed to the role of UN chief on Thursday after a unanimous vote by the international body’s 193 member states.
In his first address at the UN headquarters in New York, he said he would be a “bridge-builder” and “honest broker” after he officially becomes the world’s top diplomat on 1 January. He promised to take a “humble approach” to “the dramatic problems of today’s complex world”.
Mr Guterres, 67, spent a decade as the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees and is expected to be a more high-profile figure than the outgoing Secretary-General, South Korean Ban Ki-Moon...
His previous role saw him tackling refugee crises across the globe, not least in Syria, which remains the most pressing item on the UN agenda. “Whatever divisions might exist now it’s more important to unite,” Mr Guterres said. “It’s high time to fight for peace.”
In his speech, Mr Guterres warned of the mutually reinforcing rhetoric of terror groups and of populist political movements
“We must make sure that we are able to break these alliances between all those terrorist groups or violent extremists on one side, and the expression of populism and xenophobia on the other side,” he said
The Central Anatolian city of Konya attracts nearly 2 million tourists annually and is considered the birthplace of Islamic mysticism, with a history as deep as the spiritual doctrine of renowned Persian poet, Rumi.
Rumi established the Mawlavi order of Islam, also known as Islamic Sufism, in modern-day Konya, where he settled with his family after fleeing the Mongol invasion of Central Asia in the 1220s. His doctrine is centered around the core meaning of love and scores of books have been written by literary scholars about the Sufi poet whose doctrine is best embodied in the following poem:
"Come, come, whoever you are: Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn't matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again , come , come."
The Sufi mystic is buried in a tomb in Konya, which is now a shrine and point of pilgrimage for millions of spiritualists and tourists alike every year. The Mevlana Museum, also known as the Green Dome or the Green Mausoleum, is the former residence of the Mawlavi Whirling Dervishes and the place where Rumi's tomb is located.
Even though this spiritual place is one of the few destinations around the city that you will feel the incredible energy that surrounds you immediately, we should all understand that it is not because of the museum itself, but because of Rumi's doctrine: "Do not seek our tombs on this earth, our tombs are in the hearts of the enlightened."
Rumi, was born on September 20, 1207 in Balkh,
which was part of the Persian empire.
Rumi's writings may be enjoyed by everyone. We still yearn for the same spiritual balance that Rumi spoke about; we still ask the same questions about the meaning of life and death that Rumi addressed.
Rumi peace is the natural quest for a "whole person," and the human being's inclination to it arises from a natural universal order. In humankind's fight to root out conflict, violence and war, Rumi's holistic view of unconditional love may prove one of our best friends...
Islam today is challenged with critical problems and fundamental tensions within the Muslim world. Islam is challenged to address the misguided and hostile youth and their negative attitudes that can no longer be tolerated or ignored.
These tensions throughout the Muslim world must be confronted with a new and more realistic approach. Today serious and significant debates are taking place in many parts of the Muslim world.
Obviously there is a confrontation between Muslim intellectuals and the conservative elements of their societies.
However, the moderate argument is not strong enough to influence change. What is needed at this stage is the acceptance of Muslim societies of modern ideas and global coexistence.
A renaissance of ijtihad is needed to address the distorted interpretations of Islamic values and principles.
The prevalent perception that the extremist ideology is the only correct one has misguided the Muslim youth for too long. Muslim societies need enlightened scholars who can interpret the old and introduce the new to serve Islamic ideals...
Obviously there is a confrontation between intellectuals and the conservative elements of their societies
President Bashar al-Assad gave an interview o the local newspaper al-Thawra, in which he claimed that his opponents have “used up all their tools” and failed to overthrow his regime.
Interviewer: Mr President. You first stated that what is happening in Syria is not a revolution... What made you say that it was not a revolution from the inception?
President Assad: From a historical perspective, any genuine revolution is purely internal and cannot be linked externally by any means, as manifested by the Russian, French and even the Iranian revolutions. Real revolutions are intrinsic, spontaneous, and are led by intellectual and ideological elites. What occurred in Syria since the outset of the crisis was flagrant external interference. There were attempts to hide this, but it has become absolutely clear.
Secondly, the real revolution of 1963 was a revolution that empowered the country, society and human values. It promoted science and knowledge by building thousands of schools, it brought light to the Urban and rural areas of Syria by building electricity lines and networks, it strengthened the economy by providing job opportunities according to competencies. It supported the wider foundations of society including farmers, labourers and skilled-workers. ... Revolutions are about building countries and societies, not about destroying them; so how can we call what is happening in Syria a revolution? Attempts to package the events on the ground as a part of a revolution have been futile from the beginning. ....
"Anyone who thinks that the US, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are campaigning against Syria for the cause of reform is living in a dream world. Every wild accusation made by activists and dutifully reported by the media is grist to their mill. They don't want the violence to end. They want it continue until the Syrian government is destroyed.... In their grey suits and pastel ties, these people are as crazy as any fascist in a brown uniform." Jeremy Salt, 16-1-2012
President Bashar al-Assad said Syria looks positively at the improvement of relations between Moscow and Ankara recently.
His remarks came in an interview with the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Answering a question on whether he thinks the Russians are making a mistake by trusting Recep Tayyip Erdogan after his forces’ shooting down of the Russian warplane, President al-Assad said “In fact, I positively view this relationship.”
“We in Syria only wish that, out of this rapprochement between Russia and Turkey, Russia will be able to make changes in the Turkish policy,” the President added.
President Assad: "We are talking about two parties.. Russia bases its policy on the international law, respecting the sovereignty of other states, and understanding the repercussions of the terrorism prevailing anywhere in the world, while the other party, the Turkish party, bases his policy on the ideology of Muslim Brotherhood...
So, you can see there’s polarization.... So, through this rapprochement, let’s say, between Russia and Turkey, the only hope that we have as Syria is that Russia can make some changes in the Turkish policy. This is our hope, and I’m sure that this is the first goal of the Russian diplomacy toward Turkey these days; in order to decrease the damage of the messing-up with the Syrian territory by the Turkish government.
I hope they can convince them that they have to stop supporting terrorists, stop allowing the flow of terrorists and money for those terrorists through their borders." (SANA, 14-10-2016)
UN Staff Arrive in Aleppo to Begin de Mistura Proposed Militants' Evacuation Sputnik News, 15-10-2016
On October 6, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura offered to accompany Jabhat Fatah al Sham (also known as Nusra Front, or Jabhat al-Nusra) militants if they decided to leave Aleppo with arms and to head for the city of Idlib or somewhere else. Russia supported this offer.
A source said that the UN employees had arrived to Bustan Qasr district where the buses to take the militants away were already waiting.
The evacuation may begin later in the day, however, the total number of evacuees remains unknown.
Fighting in Aleppo has recently escalated with the Syrian army and local militia forces having managed to encircle large groups of militants in the eastern districts of Aleppo. Government troops began to advance after the September 12 ceasefire collapsed
"2,000 militants have contacted their families and announced their readiness to lay down arms and join the peace plan in Aleppo city," Arabic-language al-Watan reported on Saturday, quoting militants' relatives and family members.
"In the meantime, renowned figures and tribal leaders in Aleppo districts have formed local committees to identify those militants who want to join the peace agreement to introduce them to the national reconciliation committees," al-Watan said...
Commander of the operations’ department at the Russian General Staff Lieutenant General Sergey Rodskoy said on Thursday that his country's army is ready to ensure a safe exit for gunmen and civilians who want to leave the Eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo.
An official source at the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry said that the government expressed full readiness to ensure the safety of those who wanted to leave the area. The source added that the Syrian government also would guarantee the safety of gunmen who wanted to leave the area to settle their legal status or to head to other areas...
Syrian security services chief Ali Mamluk met with Egyptian officials in his first public foreign visit in five years, state media in Damascus said on Monday. State news agency SANA said Mamluk met with Egyptian head of general intelligence Khaled Fawzy and other "high-level security officials" during his one-day visit. The Syrian and Egyptian officials "agreed to coordinate on political positions... and strengthen coordination on fighting the terrorism faced by both countries," SANA said.
A Syrian political source in Damascus told AFP that Mamluk had "met with Egyptian officials in Cairo previously, but this is his first public visit."
Mamluk was appointed as the head of national security in 2012 after a major explosion in Damascus killed four top security officials.
He is considered to be a key member of President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle and is blacklisted under EU sanctions.
Mamluk's last public appearance was in May 2015 in a meeting between Assad and the head of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, Alaedin Boroujerdi.
This summer Ali Mamluk paid a secret visit to Berlin, for counter-intelligence sharing with German intelligence (defying EU sanctions).
The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) has suffered a fresh setback to its attempts to exert authority in Libya after gunmen seized its offices in Tripoli.
In a so far bloodless coup attempt, militia units stormed the city centre Rixos hotel, a base for the GNA’s advisory assembly, the High Council of State and proclaimed support for a rival body, the National Salvation Government.
The United Nations’ envoy to Libya Martin Kobler condemned the latest challenge to the GNA, warning it would sow "further disorder and insecurity". The European Union External Action Service, which provides aid projects to Libya, also objected to "the use of force to seize power".
Coup leader Khalifa Ghwail, a former Salvation Government premier, declared in a statement that the GNA was now "an illegal executive authority". Mr Ghwail proclaimed the return of authority to the National Salvation Government, which lost power in the capital following the arrival of the GNA in March.
The GNA’s ruling presidential council (PC), which was in Tunis at the time, issued its own statement ordering loyalist security forces to arrest those responsible.
Khalifa Ghwail (NSG-Tripoli) - Fayez Al Serraj (GNA-UN|USA) - Aguila Saleh Issa (HOR-Tobruk)
The coup attempt adds a further twist to Libya’s already bewildering chaos. While the Salvation Government and GNA are now struggling for domination of Tripoli, both are rivals to the House of Representatives parliament (HOR) in the eastern town of Tobruk.
The HOR has not commented on the coup, but its MPs have twice this year rejected a cabinet of ministers proposed by the GNA.
The coup attempt has come despite Libya receiving a boost to the economy with a doubling of oil production from two months ago to 500,000 barrels per day, after Gen Haftar’s forces captured four key oil ports from a pro-GNA militia on September 11.
ISIS can trace its roots to Tawhid and Jihad, a Sunni group which rose against the US and Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Tawhid's leader, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian, declared his allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2004, renamed his group al-Qaeda in Iraq and pushed a vicious campaign of suicide bombings and attacks on Iraqi and US targets.
After Zarqawi's death, the group rebranded as the Islamic State in Iraq with a new leader, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. Baghdadi led the group, which continued to attack sectarian and US targets, until he was killed by US and Iraqi forces in 2010. He was replaced by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, whose real name is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri. It was from this point that the group began its international rise.
In 2012, Baghdadi turned his attention to establishing an ISIL presence in Syria, as the civil war worsened and rebel factions began to fight among themselves. After a string of internecine clashes that strengthened the group's position, Baghdadi declared a merger with the Nusra Front, another al-Qaeda-inspired group, to form the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, ordered the merger invalid.
Isis is digging in for a battle that could last months to keep control of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, by extensively rigging the streets with bombs, preparing scores of suicide bombers, and filling trenches around key access points with burning oil. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on state TV in the early hours of Monday that the long-awaited operation had begun.
Several sources said residents have started an armed resistance themselves, setting fire to Isis vehicles and stealing weapons, although intiial reports could not be verified.
Civilians inside Mosul reported in recent days that Isis has prepared booby traps under bridges or hidden inside jackhammered holes on main roads. The US Defence Department warned last month that Isis could also use its rudimentary attemps to manufacture mustard gas on both residents and the advancing army, providing 50,000 gas masks to Iraqi troops as a precaution.
Several areas have been blocked off with cement blast walls to funnel citizens into neighbourhoods where they can be used as human shields, text messages and photos sent to Reuters showed, and Isis has created an extensive network of underground tunnels for shielding and transporting both equipment and fighters.
The tactics are similar to how Isis has defended other cities, but Mosul will be the biggest battle the group has ever faced. Losing control of the city will ultimately spell their defeat in Iraq.
The UN is worried that fighting could displace up to 700,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance in the first few days, and that agencies on the ground will not be able to cope... The city - home to two million people - fell under Isis’ control in 2014 when the group rapidly expanded its territory across Iraq to form its so-called caliphate.
The long-anticipated campaign to reclaim Mosul from the Islamic State began Monday. It is the largest military operation in Iraq since U.S. forces left five years ago. Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, who commands the U.S.-led coalition targeting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, cautioned it could take weeks or even longer to recapture Mosul. "This may prove to be a long and tough battle, but the Iraqis have prepared for it and we will stand by them," he said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said this is a "decisive moment" in the campaign against Islamic State.
"We are confident our Iraq partners will prevail against our common enemy and free Mosul and the rest of Iraq from ISIL's hatred and brutality," he said in a statement.
In the hours before the announced start of the offensive, the Iraqi Air Force dropped thousands of leaflets on Mosul to warn residents.
Humanitarian workers, though, say it is unclear what Mosul civilians are meant to do. They have criticized war planners for failing to mark out clear escape routes for civilians.
The Norwegian Refugee Council highlighted similar concerns, saying it feared the humanitarian consequences of the fight for Mosul "will be massive." The group said the most important priority is making sure civilians have access to safe routes out of the city.
For weeks, the assault on Mosul has been expected, but disagreements have flared between coalition allies over how the greater Mosul region of Nineveh will be governed after liberation and who should be involved in the fight to get rid of IS.
Kurdish claims earlier this month that any territory the Kurdish Peshmerga captures will remain part of Kurdistan have infuriated the Shi’ite-dominated government in Baghdad.
U.S. air strikes pound Libya's Sirte to oust Islamic State militants REUTERS, 17-10-2016
U.S. aircraft hit Islamic State targets with more 30 strikes over the last three days on the Libyan city of Sirte as pro-government forces push into its last militant-held districts, the U.S. military said on Monday.
Libyan forces are close to ending a six-month campaign to liberate Sirte from Islamic State, which took over the city more than a year after taking advantage of factional infighting that emerged after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Forces mostly from nearby Misrata city are pushing ahead street by street, facing snipers and suicide bombers. They are helped by U.S. air strikes since August and coordination with small teams of Western special forces on the ground. U.S. aircraft carried out 36 strikes from Friday to Saturday mostly on enemy fighting positions but also on a car bomb, according to a U.S. Africa Command statement on Monday.
Islamic State steadily imposed control on Sirte a year ago, and used the city as a base to launch attacks on oilfields and ports as well as to target checkpoints in nearby Misrata.
Since Gaddafi's fall in a war in 2011 (NATO's 'Humanitarian Mission') Libya has slipped steadily in the fractional fighting among brigades of former rebels who turned against each another. Islamic State profited from the security vacuum.
Militants in Aleppo have continued receiving US-made TOW (tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided) anti-tank missile systems, Head of the Main Operations Department at Russia’s General Staff Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi said on Monday.
"According to information coming from several sources, militants continue receiving modern types of weapons, including US-made TOW guided antitank missiles," the general said.
The militants are also not abandoning their attempts to restore the routes of supplying gangs with armaments and ammunition in eastern Aleppo.
However, the Russian air task force "is constantly delivering strikes against arriving reserves and formations with armaments on the approaches to the city," the general said. In the current situation, a unilateral ceasefire is senseless and will allow Jabhat al-Nusra and terrorists aligning with it to restore their combat capability, the Russian general explained.
Nevertheless, Russia is working with the United Nations on the issue of withdrawing Jabhat al-Nusra from Aleppo and will introduce humanitarian pauses on its initiative, the general said. The first such pause will be held on October 20.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday that Turkey and the U.S. are discussing a possible joint operation to liberate Raqqa, Syria from Daesh terrorists.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the academic year at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Erdoğan said that Turkey has consistently told the U.S. that the PKK's Syrian offshoots the PYD and YPG should not participate in military operations.
"We know the history and all details regarding the region," Erdoğan said... "Manbij will be cleansed of PYD elements, we have no toleration on this issue and we expressed our position to our partners in coalition. Our goal is to form a 5,000 square kilometer terror-free zone," Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan also reiterated his earlier words that Turkey will both be on the ground and at the table in Mosul, while slamming the Iraqi government. "Before messing with Turkey, go deal with Daesh, the PKK," Erdoğan said, referring to the latest actions describing the Turkish presence in Bashiqa camp near Mosul as an invasion. Erdoğan criticized the U.S. for its stance in the diplomatic spat between Ankara and Baghdad, along with its reluctance for Turkey taking part in the Mosul operation.
"We are partners in NATO. Iraq is not in NATO... Why you partner with them (Iraqi government) and terrorist groups?", Erdoğan said. President Erdoğan has long slammed Washington for joining forces with "terrorists."
Russian defense minister, Sergey Shoigu, announced today that both Russian and Syrian air forces are ceasing airstrikes against rebels in the northern city of Aleppo for 48 hours a head of humanitarian ceasefire set to be implemented on Thursday, October 20th.
The 8-hour long humanitarian pause is meant to provide a safe exit for civilians trapped in the rebel-held districts of the city, as well as to allow more aid into the embattled city. “The goal of this work is to separate the terrorist from the ‘moderate opposition’ and get them out of eastern Aleppo,” Shoigu said.
Ksenia Svetlova (born Moscow 28 July 1977) is an Israeli politician, journalist and associate professor at Hebrew University. She serves as a member of Knesset for the Zionist Union (an alliance of the Labor Party and Hatnuah). She is an advocate for progressive denominations of Judaism.
MK Ksenia Svetlova demanded that Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein cancel the special Knesset session set for next month to honor the memory of former Minister Rehavam Zeevi, who was assassinated in 2001.
In an open letter to Knesset members, Svetlova wrote that “this honorable house should be a model for our constituents from all parts of the political spectrum - right and left, Jew and Arab, religious and secular, women and men.” “Having a session for the memory of Rehavam Zeevi for his problematic legacy will cheapen the rule of law in general, and the honor of every Israeli in particular, and will miss the goal of the Knesset and its function.”
According to Svetlova, “It is not the function of a house of legislation to celebrate a legacy of crime, underworld, sexual offenses and hatred of foreigners. Those are main chapters in the legacy of Ze'evi, [and] the Knesset ought to free itself from them immediately.."
Rehavam Zeevi was an IDF general and the outspoken head of the Moledet party. He was also sharply opposed to the Oslo Accords, and led and participated in many protests against them. In 2001, he was appointed Tourism Minister in the government of Ariel Sharon. Zeevi was murdered at the height of the Second Intifada, as he left the Hyatt Hotel on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem.
Flashback 2001: Rehavam Zeevi dies after Palestinian shooting
Israel's ultra-nationalist tourism minister, Rehavam Zeevi, died in hospital Wednesday after being shot in the head by a hardline Palestinian group claiming revenge for Israel's assassination of its own leader, a hospital official said on public radio.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed to have shot Zeevi in his hotel in east Jerusalem earlier Wednesday in revenge for Israel's liquidation of its leader Abu Ali Mustapha in August. (AFP, 17-10-2001)
Israeli Minister Rechavam Ze'evi, who took his place in Ariel Sharon's cabinet March 7, 2001, a former Israeli army major-general, wants the 3 million Palestinians expelled from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Ze'evi is the founder of the Moledet party. Joining him in Sharon's cabinet is the Russian-Jewish immigrant Avigdor Lieberman, the new infrastructure minister. The leader of a political party, Mr Lieberman has called for Israel to bomb Egypt's Aswan dam.
Ze'evi will push for the invasion of Palestinian-ruled towns to end the resistance. He wants to cleanse the West Bank of Palestinians: "The Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza have to be transferred..."
He has been drawing up battle scenarios for Sharon, and has joined Lieberman in demanding assurances that Mr Sharon will invade the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He also wants the army to unleash attack dogs on Palestinian demonstrators. (Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, London, March 7, 2001)
"Zeevi once called then-President George Bush a liar and anti-semite for pressuring Israel to stop settlement expansion in the West Bank.
During a public ceremony four years ago, he called the US ambassador a Jew boy, apparently because the American official also was urging Israel to make concessions in peace talks with the Palestinians. Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, is a viper and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak was insane for negotiating with him."
Zeevi has many ideas on how to find a solution to the current conflict: "I am not one of those who say we ought to kill them with live fire because even if there will be 10,000 dead on their side they will still be 200 million and we 5 million, and we’ll have the condemnation of the world media to boot. We need to make the Arabs hurt so much so that they will come crawling on their knees begging us for peace." (Source: New Kach Movement 2001)
"Rehavam Zeevi, who has been assassinated aged 75, was so rightwing that he barely remained within the outer perimeter of political acceptability." (The Guardian 2001)
Chairman David Shain of the Likud Youth attacked Member of Knesset Ksenia Svetlova (Zionist Union), for her attempt to cancel the Knesset's annual session in memory of Rehavam Zeevi, scheduled for next mont.
Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions and Islamist forces have given the Kurdish YPG just 48 hours to leave Tal Rifaat or else face a war.
Tal Rifaat lays just 10km west of Marea and 40km north of Aleppo city.
In particular the video states that the Kurdish People's Protection Units - known as the YPG - but referred to in the video as the Turkish-Kurdish outfit "the PKK" - will be targeted. Also warned off are the Syrian Democractic Forces (referred to as "Jaish al-Thuwar" or Army of Revolutionaries, a reference to a sub-division within the SDF).
Kurdish forces took control of Tel Rifaat in February having pushed back FSA rebel groups, including the al-Qaeda linked Fatah al-Sham, and Islamic State group forces in the area.
But since Turkey announced the launch of operation "Euphrates Shield" in August Turkey-backed rebels (who count al Nusra as their allies) have battled both Islamic State group militants and clashed with Kurdish forces with Ankara wary of growing Kurdish autonomy in Syria. According to Reuters the Islamist forces are made up of Failaq al Sham, Sultan Murad, Ahrar al-Sham and Jabha al Shamiya units.
For Turkey an autonomous Kurdish state along its southern border is anathema. Ankara fears that such a state would intensify the efforts by Turkey’s own Kurdish population for a semi-autonomous state within Turkey itself.
This effort was the subject of a long running civil war between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PKK led a long-running campaign of domestic violence against the Turkish government and military from 1978 to the present. Despite a number of cease fires, the most recent in 2013, the conflict has continued and since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria has intensified dramatically. Turkey’s objectives in the Syrian Civil War are, in order of priority, to prevent the formation of an autonomous Kurdish state along its southern border, to overthrow the Assad regime and replace it with a Sunni dominated government, and to defeat the Islamic State. (Huffington Post, 21-2-2016)
Ahrar al-Sham seeks to establish a Sunni Islamic state in Syria. Unlike the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, Ahrar al-Sham emphasizes that its campaign is limited to Syria and that it is not pursuing global Jihad.
To combat the impression of extremism, Ahrar al-Sham began rebranding itself as a moderate group in 2015. With Turkey’s help, Ahrar al-Sham is attempting to convince the United States that it is a better option for post-war Syria than the Assad Regime.
Taqi ad-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah (22 January 1263 – 26 September 1328) was a Islamic scholar, theologian and logician. He lived during the troubled times of the Mongol invasions, much of the time in Damascus.
He was a member of the school founded by Ahmad ibn Hanbal and is considered by his followers, along with Ibn Qudamah, as one of the two most significant proponents of Hanbalism.
The Hanbali school was seen as the most traditional school out of the four legal systems (Hanafi, Maliki and Shafii) because it was "suspicious of the Hellenist disciplines of philosophy and speculative theology."
Ibn Taymiyyah sought the return of Sunni Islam to what he viewed as earlier interpretations of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and .
He is renowned for his fatwa issued against the Mongol rulers declaring jihad by Muslims against them compulsory, on the grounds that they did not follow Sharia and as such were not Muslim, their claims to have converted to Islam notwithstanding. His teachings had a profound influence on Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, and other later Wahabi scholars.
Ibn Taymiyyah collaborated with the Mamluks in 1300, when he joined the expedition against the Alawites, in the Kasrawan region of the Lebanese mountains. Ibn Taymiyyah thought of the Alawites as "more heritical yet than Jews and Christians.
He condemned "the cult of saints". He declared that, the one who visits the Prophet's grave commits innovation (bidah). His strong opposition to what he believed to be un-Islamic innovation (bid‘ah), caused upset among the prominent Sufis of Egypt.
He was arrested and imprisoned at the age of 63, on 18 July 1326, in the Citadel of Damascus, with an order from the sultan also prohibiting him from issuing any further fatwas.
During his time in prison he wrote that, "when a scholar follows the ruling of a ruler which contravenes a ruling of God and his messenger, he is a renegade, an unbeliever who deserves to be punished in this world and in the hereafter."
The militant organization Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant used a fatwa of Ibn Taymiyyah to justify the burning alive of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh.
Ibn Taymiyya's fatwa on Alawites as "more infidel than Christians and Jews" has been recited by Muslim Brotherhood affiliated scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi and the Syrian rebel Islamist leader of Jaysh al-Islam Zahran Alloush.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received on Wednesday a phone call from the Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussing with him the latest developments related to combating terrorism in Syria and the exerted political efforts to resolve the crisis in it.
The Russian President stressed, during the call, that the Russian stance towards Syria has not changed as it remains committed to continuing the fight against terrorism and to preserving the unity of the Syrian territory.
In turn, President al-Assad thanked the Russian President for Russia’s efforts on the international arena despite pressure on it by some countries to discourage it from continuing to adhere to the rules of international law and respect the sovereignty of states.
President al-Assad stressed Syria’s determination to fight terrorism in parallel with achieving reconciliation and continuing work towards activating the political track to resolve the crisis in Syria.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday that Turkey has employed new understanding when it comes to counterterror operations, stressing that the government will take necessary steps to eliminate all terror threats before terror groups take action.
The president said that Turkey will no longer follow what he called the "wrong security approach," saying that "From now on, we will not wait for troubles to come knocking on our doors."
Underlining that Turkey has been through difficult times both politically and economically, the president said that the Turkish people have suffered for many years due to internal conflicts which he referred to as "brothers killing brothers."
"No matter where these groups are, where they have found shelter, we will go and deal with them there and destroy them...", Erdoğan asserted, while urging other states to cooperate with Turkey against terror groups...
Erdoğan said the main issue in Tuesday's phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin was Aleppo. He said that as of 10 p.m. air bombardment was stopped. They appealed to us regarding evacuating the Nusra Front from Aleppo. We have reached a consensus to give our friends necessary instructions on evacuating the Nusra Front from Aleppo and maintaining the peace of the people of Aleppo," Erdoğan said.
Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, the commander of US troops in Iraq warned Shi'ite militia that the US doesn’t support their involvement.
“The coalition only supports those elements that are under the command and control of the Iraqi security forces,” Volesky warned, noting that the group in question, the Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) are not under such control, and that's why “we don’t support them.”
Invasion of Mosul itself is likely weeks away, and the PMF comments centered on offensives near Mosul, in particular the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul. Volesky refused to comment on this, however, insisting the US is exclusively focused on Mosul.
Tal Afar is along the main route between Mosul and ISIS-held eastern Syria, aiming to ensure that ISIS forces can’t flee from the major city when the invasion begins. By extension, this likely will further complicate allowing civilians to flee Mosul, since the Iraqi government, and its militias, have generally not allowed Sunni Arabs to flee into government-controlled territory.
Atheel Al-Nujaifi 2014: "Support must be provided for the moderates"
Shi'te militias in Iraq are commonly seen als pro-Iranian, anti-Sunni and anti-Baathist right-wing fighters, who are not interested in conciliation ('once an enemy, forever an enemy').
Atheel Al-Nujaifi, 26-6-2014: We are trapped between ISIS and the Shiite militias. It is if they are saying to us - the moderates who want to live in peace, you have no place in this new order.
Support must be provided for the moderates, for the people who can fight both ISIS and the extremist Shiite militias. ISIS should be fought under a Sunni, not Shiite, umbrella. And the Sunnis must regain their true clout in Iraqi political decisionmaking. (Atheel al-Nujaifi is the leader of the Arab Nationalist Party Al-Hadba - Read more: Saddam's Death, page 41)
A militia generally is an army or other fighting unit that is composed of non-professional fighters, citizens of a nation or subjects of a state or government who can be called upon to enter a combat situation, as opposed to a professional force of regular, full-time military personnel.
The concept of Conciliation Ethics in the Qurʾan
is a crucial aspect of Islamic Law
The Qur’an advises the well-wishers and peacemakers of the society to step in and mediate between two parties and attempt reconciliation before the situation escalates out of control and blood is shed.
However, if one of the two quarrelling parties aggressively resorts to violent behaviour and tramples on the principles of decency and civility, then it must be stopped by any means. If stern action that causes the aggressors to desist and accept God’s law, then the Qur’an directs that reconciliation be affected by keeping in mind fairness and justice.
There is a very subtle but important point that can be inferred here from the verse, which is that, one must in every situation keep in mind Islam’s primary objectives of nurturing and developing society, and its emphasis on establishing and administering the nation of Islam on the foundation of justice and fairness in its truest and widest meaning, and its desire to remove every tendency for injustice and transgression from the minds of individuals in the society... (al-islam.org website)
President Hassan Rouhani says Iran wants to live in peaceful harmony with the countries in the region and across the globe.
“In our target markets, we must be able to compete in terms of quality, price and packaging and reach the point where we beat our foreign competitors,” the president said in Tehran on Thursday.
Rouhani, who was speaking at a gathering of exemplary exporters in a ceremony to mark the national day of trade, emphasized Iran's openness to foreign investors and businessmen.
"The businessman and investor who want to come, we must be hospitable. They must come and leave Iran easily," Rouhani said in his speech. "All the efforts... of the government in the last three years including in the (nuclear agreement) have been designed to remove obstacles in the way of businessmen, entrepreneurs, exporters of goods and services, entry of capital and banking relations," said Rouhani. "Our aim was to remove Iranophobia. The government has done a great job in this regard. Iran is shouting with a loud voice … [for] peaceful coexistence with the region and the world," he said.
Foreign policy experts and analysts say they are perplexed by a hacked email in which Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appears to accuse the Saudi and Qatari governments of providing logistical and financial support to Islamic State extremists.
The lengthy message is dated Aug. 17, 2014... It says in part, "We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region."
In a statement to VOA on Wednesday, the Saudi Embassy said "the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not comment on leaked documents. However, any claims that the Saudi government funds Daesh [IS] are preposterous and simply defy logic."
In October 2014, Vice President Joe Biden once apologized to regional allies after bluntly expressing concerns about their role in the rise of the Islamic State militant group in a speech at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
- Question: In retrospect do you believe the United States should have acted earlier in Syria, and if not why is now the right moment?
- Biden: The answer is ‘no’ for 2 reasons.:
One, the idea of identifying a moderate middle has been a chase America has been engaged in for a long time. We Americans think in every country in transition there is a Thomas Jefferson hiding beside some rock – or a James Madison beyond one sand dune. The fact of the matter is there was no moderate middle, because the moderate middle are made up of shopkeepers, not soldiers...
Two: What my constant cry was that our biggest problem is our allies – our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria....
What were they doing? They were so determined to take down Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war, what did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens, thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad, except that the people who were being supplied were Al Nusra and Al Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world...
Now you think I’m exaggerating – take a look.... We could not convince our colleagues to stop supplying them...
Tens of thousands of Israelis and foreign friends of Israel from across the world flooded Jerusalem’s streets on Thursday as they marched to celebrate Israel’s existence.
With Israeli flags waving high, an electric enthusiasm permeates Jerusalem’s streets as tens of thousands turn out to march across the capital and demonstrate their friendship; ‘We love Israel, and we want to support Israel.’ The display of solidarity was particularly significant in light of the recent UNESCO decision to adopt a controversial resolution which Israel has said denies the deep historic Jewish connection to [Mountain Moriah: Fort Antonia, Haram al-Shariff or 'Templemount'...]
Reducing the current or any other uprising in Palestine to a dispute over al-Haram al-Sharif is to radically distort the nature of the Palestinian cause - cutting into it with an Israeli cookie cutter that consistently demonises Palestinians by reducing them to their religious denomination. Palestinians revolt not because they are Muslims, Christians, agnostics, or atheists. They revolt because they are Palestinians and their land is being robbed from under their feet.
Like all other Muslims, Palestinian Muslims for sure hold al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in a particularly sanctified light. But irrespective of being Muslim, for Palestinians at large, Haram al-Sharif is also the symbolic summation of their homeland.
Palestinians are Palestinians not just by virtue of their historic rootedness in their ancestral homeland of Palestine, but also by a sustained course of resistance to the Zionist theft of their homeland and the collective and the cultural memory that resistance has generated. Dividing and reducing Palestinians to their religious affiliation is a Zionist trap inaugurated by their own fanatical entrapment within a militant zealotry that sees the whole world in its own image.
The Palestinian cause is an anticolonial, national liberation movement, irreducible to any religious denomination.
Al-Haram al-Sharif, of course, has historic and sacred significance for all Muslims around the world. But its significance in Palestine and for Palestinians is a matter of national pride and territorial integrity..
Mount Zion (Ophel), or the 'City of David, the real temple site & the 'old city of the Jews', destroyed by the Romans
It has been proven true over the years that victors write the history. Nowhere is this fact more obvious than in Jerusalem, where some Israelis are trying unsuccessfully to rewrite centuries-old history.
By changing facts on the ground the some Israelis are desperately trying to claim exclusivity to a city that has been known for its diversity and religious pluralism.
The latest attempt to monopolize the holy city has been so over the top that an Israeli newspaper called the effort “absurd.” A map of Jerusalem’s old city distributed for free to all tourists and produced by the Israeli tourism ministry received widespread condemnations from Christian and Muslim religious and social leaders. Of the 57 tourist locations identified by Israelis in the old city of Jerusalem, only one Islamic and five Christian sites were listed.
Al Haram Al Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary covering 144 dunums, which occupies about a quarter of the old city is the only Islamic site on the said map. Christian locations which fill out the old city are also greatly reduced to a mere five.
In exchange for the ignored historic religious sites and locations that have been preserved and honoured for centuries, the Israeli ministry of tourism, run by a right-wing minister, has forced down the tourists’ throats Jewish locations that not even Israeli tour guides heard of. Almost every Jewish owned house or synagogue in the old city is given prominence, an attempt that the Israeli daily Haartez called “absurd” because of its silliness.
The controversial map is the latest reflection of the struggle for the narrative regarding Jerusalem.
Israel’s apologists are working overtime to try and minimise Christian and Islamic cultural connections to the city of Jerusalem while greatly exaggerating any remnants of Jewish presence.
" Excavations in Jerusalem [...] undermined the fantasies about the glorious past [and] failed to find any traces of an important tenth-century kingdom, the presumed time of David and Solomon.
No vestige was ever found of monumental structures, walls or grand palaces, and the pottery found there was scanty and quite simple."
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday that the Israeli government would assist in funding a settler-driven archeological project in occupied East Jerusalem, in response to the passage of a UNESCO resolution strongly condemning Israeli policies at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Jews as the “Temple Mount.”
Netanyahu slammed the decision at the time, calling it "delusional": "With this absurd decision, UNESCO lost the little legitimization it had left.
But I believe that the historical truth is stronger and the truth will win," he said...
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the 'Temple Mount Sifting Project' works to “sort through debris” from an excavation undertaken in 1999 by the Islamic Endowment (Waqf) that has managed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967.
According to Haaretz, the archeological project is run by the right-wing settler group Ir David Foundation, also known as Elad, the main financiers of the contentious archeological digs around the Old City of Jerusalem, while also managing the City of David National Park, which was established to promote Jewish connection to Jerusalem.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Dr. Riad Malki: "Palestine will continue to defend itself through available legal and Multilateral fora. We will not be intimidated by spin and PR bullying and efforts to divert attention from Israel’s violations and disregard for international law.
Our resolve to protect Palestine’s heritage as a bastion of tolerance and coexistence is unwavering and we appreciate the principled support of states who stand up to these fallacious campaigns and stand tall in defense of international law and the rights enshrined therein."
Song For Gaza: "I live in the USA and during this time Dec 25th 2009 -Jan 3rd 2010 I saw no reference to Gaza or the Freedom March or the multi national protesters gathered there. Anyway I was moved, in the circumstances, to record a new version of 'We shall overcome'. It seems appropriate." Roger Waters, august 2011
With new Israeli encroachment in the name of security and restrictions on the importation of chemicals and fertilizers, even more of Gaza's farmers are being forced to abandon their lands despite a near-total lack of other employment options.
Unlike other manufacturing sectors, the farmers’ economic downfall will have immediate and dire consequences for residents of the Gaza Strip. Even now, the UN’s Relief and Works Agency regularly supplies more than half the residents with sacks of flour, rice, sugar and oil. Fruits and vegetables grown locally make up an important part of their meager diets.
The slow ruin of Gaza’s agricultural sector began about a decade ago, when Hamas came to power and Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip.
But farmers were dealt a near fatal blow by the 2014 Israel-Hamas war, known as Operation Protective Edge, and are having a hard time recovering. Now farmers are saying that what little remained after the war has been wiped out in recent months....
The dire state of farming in Gaza is similar to the desperate straits of Gaza’s traders, who claim Israel has revoked the permits that allowed them to travel to the West Bank.
Thus, step by step, Gaza is gradually becoming unfit for habitation by the 1.8 million people who still live there.
As for Netanyahu, his worldview has won. The ‘two-state’ solution has been buried, and all that is left for Bibi to do is to manage the current complex situation, which he is attempting to treat as a permanent solution. I am not dismissing the possibility that he will succeed, at least in the medium term. These are not unusual comments. They reflect a deep revision among liberal public opinion leaders in the US, especially the Jews among them. Now we see, they told me, that those who described Israel as “a villa in the jungle” were right...
An expression of this new spirit could be found this week in the usually left-wing Jewish American magazine Tablet, which seriously suggested that Netanyahu should receive a Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to Mideast stability.
Consider the evidence: With three of his country’s four neighbors ravaged by turmoil, Netanyahu, Israel’s second-longest-serving prime minister, has kept things rock-solid.
Netanyahu’s government has succeeded in considerably strengthening Israel’s ties with other Arab nations, which is why the Jewish state is set to open a diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi, and why you can now read pro-Netanyahu op-eds in the Saudi press .
Finally, understanding the crucial importance of a sound energy policy to the future stability and prosperity of the region, Netanyahu managed to curb the crisis with Erdogan’s Turkey.
Add to that Israel’s repeated aid to the suffering people of Syria — everything from taking a risk and opening its borders to facilitate aid to those who need it most to taking in more than 2,000 Syrian refugees and treating the wounded rebels — and you have a solid case for Bibi, peace Nobelist. So give Netanyahu his due, and give him the prize next year.
The rebels are Jihadists. Turkey has been a supporter of Muslim Brotherhood extremists in Syria, only interested in hateful revenge. Abu Dhabi is an absolute monarchy. Saudia Arabia also is an absolute monarchy. Its statereligion is Wahabism, the (pharisaic) enemy of all forms of spiritualism that are based on the rights of individuals to create their own forms of worship.
Pharisaic means: practicing or advocating strict observance of external forms and ceremonies of religion or conduct without regard to the spirit.... ; no empathy, self-righteous; sanctimonious; hypocritical..
UN Security Council Resolution 1973, passed in March 2011, marked the end of the Arab Spring and the beginning of the Arab Winter.
The mass and popular demonstrations that succeeded in toppling Tunisian dictator Ben Ali and is Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak were not replicated in Libya.
Instead, in Benghazi, where the anti-Gaddafi movement was centred, Islamists predominated. There was no nationwide mass movement in Libya, such as those that swept across Tunisia and Egypt, and there was no popular support for toppling a government and leader who presided over a society that enjoyed the highest standard of living of any in Africa. Loyalist Gaddafi forces were defeated by NATO, not the opposition forces emanating from Benghazi.
Indeed it was at the point at which the country’s armed forces were approaching Benghazi, preparatory to crushing the uprising, when NATO intervened – based on the lie of protecting civilians when in truth it was intent on regime change... What took place in Libya was a monstrous crime for which those responsible have yet to be held accountable.
On the contrary, Sarkozy is currently in the process of preparing a political return as French president, while Hillary Clinton is favorite to win the race for the White House...
Vladimir Putin stated on March 21 that the resolution of the UN Security Council on Libya was flawed.
"The Security Council resolution is deficient and flawed; it allows everything and is reminiscent of a medieval call for a crusade," Putin told workers at a ballistic missile factory in the Urals region. "It effectively allows intervention in a sovereign state," RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.
Putin did not defend Gaddafi, though. The current Libyan regime can not fall under the criterion of a democratic country, Putin admitted. "It's obvious, but it doesn't mean that someone can interfere in an internal political conflict from outside, defending one of the sides," Putin added. Libya is a complex nation, which is based on the relations between the tribes, he also said...
"This U.S. policy is becoming a stable trend," Putin said, recalling the U.S. air strikes on Belgrade under Bill Clinton and Afghanistan and Iraq under the two Bush administrations. "Now it's Libya's turn - under the pretext of protecting civilians," the premier said.
"Where is the logic and conscience? There is neither." (Pravda 2011)
Prophet Jesus, enemy of pharisaism, turned water into wine
A wedding took place at Cana in Galilee.When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” She said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Nearby stood six stone water jars. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”.. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. (John, 2)
Kurdish officials rejected on Sunday the decision by the Iraqi parliament to ban the sale, import, and production of alcohol.. The surprise move by Baghdad is expected to cause outrage among minority groups, but also to please influential religious parties.
“The [Kurdish] Region has its own parliament and will not implement this..” Falah Mustafa Bakir, Kurdistan Regional Goverment’s (KRG’s) Minister of Foreign Relations told ARA News. “They [Iraqi central government and parliament] should focus on more important matters than this issue...”
“It’s a matter of personal freedoms, whether people want to drink or not drink. If you ban it, people will want it more, but if it’s allowed, it will be normal,” said Xelil Hassan (50), a Kurd from Erbil.
“Banning alcohol [in Iraq] will put a lot of people out of work, aside from everyone going and spending their money in Lebanon instead. It’s not like it’s going to stop them from drinking. They’re just going to start making homemade alcohol which can’t be taxed and regulated and probably kill a bunch of people,” he said.
“A ban of alcohol in Iraq will be like the prohibition days in the US: they will just create a black market...”
Religion is about defending divine values,
like freedom, equality and brotherhood...
"Then Jesus, defender of secularism, said to them, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him. (Mark 12:17) "You are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven." (Matthew 23:9)
Egypt’s oldest and largest university has decided to remove the religion identity field on all university certificates and documents related to students and staff. The decision will be applied in all faculties and institutions.
“Cairo University does not take random decisions. Rather, we act to amend illegal or unconstitutional situations. We received many complaints about the possibility of discrimination on the basis of religion,” head of Cairo University Gaber Nassar said. Mohamed Fayek, head of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), praised Nassar’s decision.
“This decision, taken by Cairo University, underlines there should be no discrimination on the basis of religion, as is guaranteed by the constitution,” he said. Article 53 of the constitution states: “Citizens are equal before the law, possess equal rights and public duties, and may not be discriminated against on the basis of religion, belief, sex, origin, race, colour, language, disability, social class, political or geographical affiliation or for any other reason.”
Salafi leaders were far less happy. “We ask God to guide Nassar on to the right path. Nassar is implementing a malicious agenda which seeks to undermine Egypt’s Islamic identity,” complained Yasser Borhami, vice president of Salafist Calling. (Info: Salafism = Pharisaism)
"He will arise in the land of Galilee...he shall reveal himself in the land of Galilee;
for in this part of the Holy Land the desolation first began, and therefore he will
manifest himself there first..." (Zohar 3:7b-8a).
"He who first built Jerusalem was a potent man among the Canaanites, and is in our own tongue called Melchisedek, the Righteous King, for such he really was.. He called the city Jerusalem (Uru-Salim), which was formerly called Salem. "Josephus
Salim or Shalem is attested as a god, presumably identified with the evening star. The Ugaritic text describes Shahar and Shalem as morning & evening stars. Shahar is the god of dawn in the pantheon of Ugarit. He is a son of El, along with his counterpart and twin brother Shalim the god of dusk. Both are gods of the planet Venus, and were considered by some to be a twinned avatar of the god Athtar. As the markers of dawn and dusk, Shahar and Shalim also represented the temporal structure of the day.
Aijeleth Shahar or Ayelet HaShachar ("hind of the dawn") is found in the title of Psalm 22.
Psalm 22 is about a person who is crying out to God to save him from the taunts and torments of his enemies, and (in the last ten verses) thanking God for rescuing him. (biblegateway)
A week after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ratified a resolution negating the Jewish ties to the Temple Mount and Western Wall, Texas Senator Ted Cruz (Republican & Christian Zionist) rebuked the Obama White House for not making a diplomatic effort to fight the controversial measure.
“America should be rallying our friends and allies to oppose these insidious UNESCO resolutions that attempt to undermine the historic connection of the Israeli people with all of their country, including their capital, Jerusalem,” Sen. Cruz argued in an opinion piece published by The Washington Times (24-10-2016).
On Monday, Cruz signed onto another joint, bipartisan letter by members of Congress, opposing yet another planned UNESCO resolution.
Entitled “The Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls,” the proposed resolution continues a pattern set by the recent UNESCO measures which present key sites in Jerusalem as Islamic, negating their far older ties to Judaism.
“Members of the World Heritage Committee should reject this pernicious effort to delegitimize Israel, and vote against this resolution that attempts to rewrite thousands of years of Jerusalem’s Jewish identity, which has been scientifically reaffirmed by the archaeological record,” Cruz wrote on Monday. (Arutz Sheva 2016)
Palestinians are the endogenous people of the Southern Land of Canaan and the Western Part of the Fertile Crescent, the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan. Key milestones in human civilization occurred in this Land of Canaan: animal and plant domestication, development of the alphabet, and development of laws and religions. Key historical periods:
5000-1500 BC: Canaanites from Northern Iraq to the Sinai ("the fertile crescent") develop agricultural communities and city-states from cave dwellers hunters and gatherers. Phoenician Canaanites in the north develop commerce and shipping around the Mediterranean. Philistine (flst) canaanites develoip desert routes and commerse. Nebatean Canaanites build cities like Petra and BirSaba and 'Asqalan.
1500 BC-500 BC: Palestine is an amalgam of small kingdoms and tribal ruling groups representing multi-religious communities of Canaanites (Jebusites, Amurites, Nebateans, Hebrews, Phoenicians, Philistines).
The dominant language was Aramaic (most dominant); its local dialects of Arabic and Hebrew and Syriac developed their scripts from proto-Aramaic in Palestine.
500 BC-765 AD: Palestine remains an amalgam of small tribes and religions but now ruled by empires (Assyrian, Persian, Egyptian, Byzantine, Roman).
Christianity develops under the Roman Empire in Palestine and becomes the predominant religion among the natives by 300 AD (some Judaic, Nazarene, Samaritans and others remained on the Abrahamic tradition).
Around the same time a new religion based on the Abrahamic religion evolved and became known as Talmudic Rabbinic Judaism.
The Talmud ('Oral law') came more than 200-300 years after the New Testament (primarily evolved in Safad in Palestine and in Mesopotamia). There were no Talmudic Jews prior to the 2nd to third century AD.
Mazin Qumsiyeh is challenging the prevailing misconceptions, facile generalizations, and downright ignorance that have long served to obscure Palestinian realities, and, consequently, to prevent the articulation of a just solution. Breathtaking!" Dr. Hanan Ashrawi
"Jews had no interest in the Haram until after the Crusades,
when they misunderstood that it was the Temple Mount." G.W. Buchanan
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed on Wednesday a resolution that denied Jewish ties to Jerusalem’s Old city, two weeks after voting on a resolution announcing Al-Aqsa mosque compound Islamic heritage. The resolution denounces Israeli settler enterings into Al-Aqsa mosuqe and ongoing excavations carried out by Israeli Occupation Authorities under Al-Aqsa mosque, and call for a halt to these aggressions.
PLO Secretary General Dr. Saeb Erekat in an official statement on the vote said “Israel’s Illegal attempts to change the identity of Occupied East Jerusalem have been ongoing since its occupation of the city in 1967".
“Through an orchestrated campaign, Israel has been using archeological claims and distortion of facts as a way to legitimize the annexation of Occupied East Jerusalem...."
"Contrary to what the Israeli government claims, the resolution that was voted by UNESCO aims at reaffirming the importance of Jerusalem for the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The resolotion calls for respecting the status quo of its religious sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound that continues to be threatened by the systematic incitement and provocative actions of the Israeli government and extremist Jewish groups.”
Josephus: "It was a seditious temper of our own that destroyed us"
"It was a seditious temper of our own that destroyed us. It were the tyrants among the Jews who brought the Roman power upon us, who unwillingly attacked us, and occasioned the burning of our holy temple. Titus Caesar, who destroyed it, is himself a witness, who, daring the entire war, pitied the people who were kept under by the seditious, and did often voluntarily delay the taking of the city, and allowed time to the siege, in order to let the authors have opportunity for repentance."
Titus placed himself on the western side of the outer [court of the] temple; for there were gates on that side above the Xystus, and a bridge that connected the upper city to the temple.
This bridge it was that lay between the (Jewish) tyrants ('Zealots') and Caesar, and parted them; while the multitude stood on each side; those of the Jewish nation about Sinran and John, with great hopes of pardon; and the Romans about Caesar, in great expectation how Titus would receive their supplication.
So Titus appointed an interpreter between them, which was a sign that he was the conqueror, and first began the discourse, and said, "I hope you, sirs, are now satiated with the miseries of your country..." When I came near your temple, I departed from the laws of war, and exhorted you to spare your own sanctuary, and to preserve your holy house to yourselves. I allowed you a quiet exit out of it, and security for your preservation; nay, if you had a mind, I gave you leave to fight in another place. Yet have you still despised every one of my proposals, and have set fire to your holy house with your own hands.
What preservation can you now desire after the destruction of your temple? O miserable creatures! what is it you depend on? Are not your people dead? is not your holy house gone? is not your city in my power? and are not your own very lives in my hands? And do you still deem it a part of valor to die? However, I will not imitate your madness. If you throw down your arms, and deliver up your bodies to me, I grant you your lives...
To that offer of Titus they made this reply: That they could not accept of it, because they had sworn never to do so; but they desired they might have leave to go [,,] into the desert, and leave the city to him...
At this Titus had great indignation, that when they were in the case of men already taken captives, they should pretend to make their own terms with him, as if they had been conquerors... So he gave orders to the soldiers both to burn and to plunder the city... AND thus was Jerusalem taken, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, on the eighth day of the month Gorpeius [Elul].
The name "Zealot" was first used by Josephus to describe the militant Jews in the War of 66-70.
Herford summarizes the simple ideas that they believed the Torah demanded:
1) YHWH was the only king that the Jews would acknowledge; 2) they would establish His reign by rooting out paganism and by breaking the yoke of tyranny; 3) the Torah made separation from Gentiles necessary, exalted Israel as the chosen of God, and promised triumph. The zealots would seek to enforce these beliefs by violence of any kind.
Following the second UNESCO vote to deny the connection between the Jewish people and the Temple Mount, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made the decision to recall Israel's ambassador to UNESCO (Shama-Hacohen).
"We will decide what do, what our next steps vis-à-vis the organization will be.” "What we have to understand in the end is that this absurdity harms not only the historical truth, but also harms the truth of the present. The credibility of the United Nations will end while Israel continues to grow and flourish."
After the vote was taken Shama-Hacohen symbolically lifted a black dustbin with the word 'history' written on it and placed a copy of the resolution in the dustbin.
“This is yet another absurd resolution against the State of Israel, the Jewish people and historical truth." he said, comparing the resolution to the infamous UN resolution declaring Zionism as racism in 1975...
Flashback: The beginning of the Temple revolution
Jewish Extremists & the Noble Sanctuary - IMEU, 30-10-2014
In February 2014, Naftali Bennett, leader of the extreme right-wing Jewish Home party and Minister of Religious Services and of the Economy, told a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations that Israel was attempting to exercise greater control over the Noble Sanctuary, stating that he had already taken measures that would "ultimately influence the eastern side of Jerusalem, and that will include the Temple Mount.”
Housing Minister and settler Uri Ariel, from the Jewish Home, regularly visits the Noble Sanctuary and has publicly called for the construction of a Jewish temple in its place.
In November 2013, during a parliamentary debate on a bill that would allow Jews to pray in the Noble Sanctuary, Knesset member Orit Strock from the Jewish Home party called Palestinians “savages,” stating: “When King David bought the Temple Mount you were savages in the desert. You have no rights on the Temple Mount, that’s a historical fact. Nothing will help you. Even now you are savages.”
Naftali Bennett (since 2015 Education Minister)
"The Temple Mount is the basis of our existence"
Arutz Sheva 19-11-2014
Since the election of the current Israeli government in January 2013, Jewish extremists have significantly increased their efforts to assert Jewish control over the Noble Sanctuary.
In February 2014, the Knesset held hearings to debate asserting Jewish control over the Noble Sanctuary, during which Deputy Speaker Feiglin declared: "I call on the government to apply the full sovereignty of the State of Israel in the entire Temple Mount. I call on the Israeli government to allow free access to any Jew to the Temple Mount through any gate, and allow them to pray."
On March 30, 2014, the Temple Institute, which is part of the Temple Mount Faithful coalition, held its fifth annual "International Temple Mount Awareness Day" with an Internet broadcast featuring Deputy Knesset Speaker Feiglin and others.
In an interview prior to the broadcast, the institute's "International Director," Rabbi Chaim Richman, told settler media: More than anything, International Temple Mount Awareness Day is an indicator of the tremendous change that's going on in this generation. It's the beginning of the Temple revolution."
The Fox and the Lion
"In the supposed conflict between the secular West and the Muslim world, Sufism is presented as the ‘modern’, ‘light’ or ‘open’ version of Islam. Yet Sufism is pure Islam just like any other form of Islam. There is no Sufism without Islam and there is no Islam without Sufism.
Today, however, people want to create a new sort of Sufism, which relates more to commercialized spirituality. But real Sufism is a sort of ‘self-education’. The human being is in between being an animal and a human being and in Sufism it is believed that the real reason of our creation is ‘to become human’. "Kudsi Erguner
The word "spiritual" is a term that postulates a new relationship between the human and God that is no longer regulated by existing "tradition" or normative religious discourses.
One has to assert that Islam emerges and is centered in the metaphysical first and foremost... In classical and foundational Islamic thought, the metaphysical shapes and regulates the material world, and not the other way around.
This statement might appear controversial to some who are rooted in modernism and materialism, but it is set at the root of every Muslim scholar of repute spanning centuries. The confusion is the result of a modern crop overtaken by the outer glitter of the material modern world.
When the material becomes the measure of all things then mankind itself becomes but material, emptied of inner and metaphysical meanings... What makes the human a human if the only measure is the material!
In the pre-colonial period, the spiritual and temporal constituted a coherent whole, with each informing and reflecting the other inwardly and outwardly.... One's actions, work, family relations, political sphere, pastime and moments of rest were all a spiritual undertaking, governed by the metaphysical understanding of the universe. Colonialism left the inward and the spiritual in a state of dislocation and disorientation, which consequently produced a vacuum and total loss of outward meaning.
To compensate for and in some cases to resist colonial intrusion, a particular mode of spiritual production arose that was vested in the material and temporal representation of an emptied inward state...
Countless Islamic groups, sects and modes of discourse are located in this spiritual materiality and reducing or totally eliminating the metaphysical imprint of the society. The quest for many a Muslim group is to capture and hold on to power... They are pre-occupied with power and the material world to the extent that the metaphysical ultimate realities are reduced to and measured by the material rather than being subverted by it. The attempt to develop spirituality based on constructing a relationship with the material and physical is nothing but a refined form of idolatry. Renewing Islam is meaningless if it is not founded upon a re-centering of the metaphysical and de-centering the material.
Flashback 2013: Sunni cleric Ramadan al-Bouti killed by Islamist rebels
Qaradawi (Muslim Brotherhood):
All Pro-Gov't Syrian Civilians
Are Legitimate Targets
A suicide attack inside Damascus mosque kills Sunni cleric Dr Mohammed al-Bouti, leaving at least 42 dead and 84 wounded.Dr Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti, Imam of Damascus' historic Ummayyad Mosque, was killed in the explosion in the Iman Mosque in the central Mezzeh district.
Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut, said: "We know that in the past years, he's [Bouti] been a prominent cleric against the Muslim Brotherhood movement, so for the regime, his death is a loss."
Regional leadership of al-Baath Arab Socialist Party condemned the brutal crime: "They target everything including the mosques and houses of worship...". (SANA)
Sheikh Al-Bouti (born: 1-1-1929, school: traditional Sunni) was the leading Islamic scholar in Syria.
In his opinion a poor understanding of the term jihad has led to its abuse by both Muslims and non-Muslims. His view is that those who are unaware of the basis of 'fiqh' have manipulated the idea of jihad for their own benefit.
Islam calls for rationality and science. The road to Islam can't be through the US White House or Tel Aviv. (The Muslim 500)
"Al-Bouti is of the opinion that Islamist groups do not perform their tasks properly. They do not set a good example for youngsters, have no patience in choosing the long road of da’wa, education and upbringing. They aim gaining power quickly to force (ikrâh) people to accept and apply the norms and values of Islam, while ikrâh in religion is not allowed. “Ikrâh” means to force someone to do something which they do not want to do." (Zekeriya Budak, Leiden 2011)
Israeli archaeologists presented new details of what they said were the first tiny artifacts, unearthed in situ on the Temple Mount, ever conclusively dated to the time of the First Temple over 2,600 years ago. The artifacts excavated from the mount are said to include olive pits, animal bones and pottery fragments dating to the time of the First (Solomon's) Temple, between the 8th and 6th Centuries BCE.
Archaeologists have previously found a limited number of artifacts from First-Temple-period Jerusalem, but none of those finds were uncovered atop the mount (Mount Moriah**) itself. Rather, they were recovered from the Ophel excavations to the south of the Mount (Mount Zion**), and from the 'Temple Mount Sifting Project', which examines rubble credibly believed to have been removed from the holy site and dumped in the nearby Kidron Valley.
The digs at the Mount were carried out between 2007 and the past year.. The finds on the Temple Mount itself range from a previously undocumented monumental structure believed to be from the 11th and 12th centuries — the period preceding and including the Crusades — to artifacts from Roman times and finds from as far back as the First Temple period.
David and Solomon didn’t have a huge palace in Jerusalem in the 1000s and 900s BC. The Assyrians, the gossips of the ancient world, wrote down everything on their clay tablets. They knew events in the whole Middle East. They did not know anything about a glorious kingdom of David and Solomon at Jerusalem.
Indeed, in the 1000s when David is alleged to have lived, Jerusalem seems to have been largely uninhabited, according to the digs that have been done.
Jerusalem was not in any case founded by Jews, but by Canaanites in honor of the god Shalem, thousands of years ago. There is no reason to think anyone but Canaanites lived in the area of Jerusalem in the 1000s or 900s BC.
Likely some Canaanites became devoted to Y*H*W*H in a monotheistic way during the Babylonian exile when they began inventing Judaism and becoming “Jews” and projecting it back into the distant past.
During the Babylonian exile they began inventing Judaism and becoming “Jews” and projecting it back into the distant past...
The City of Salem|Shalem
Shalem: 'the stable one' is connected to the evening star and is paired with Shahar who is connected to the morning star.
The two gods are called the 'celestial ones' and correspond to the Greek Castor and Pollux. His name appears in the names Jerusalem 'the foundation of Shalem' and two of David's sons...
Genesis 33:18: And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram (an early Aramean kingdom in Mesopotamia); and pitched his tent before the city.
Genesis 33:19: And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money.
Genesis 33:20: And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel...
Genesis 34:27: The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.
Genesis 34:28: They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field,
Genesis 34:29: And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.
Genesis 34:30: And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house....
Shechem was a Canaanite city, first mentioned in Egyptian texts on the Sebek-khu Stele, an Egyptian stele of a noble at the court of Senusret III (c. 1880–1840 BC). Traditionally associated with Nablus, it is now identified with the nearby site of Tell Balata in Balata al-Balad in the West Bank. In the Amarna Letters of about 1350 BC, Šakmu (i.e. Shechem) was the center of a kingdom carved out by Labaya (or Labayu), a Canaanite warlord who recruited mercenaries from among the Habiru.
Labaya was active over the whole length of Samaria and slightly beyond. Shechem was important in ancient Palestine because of its position in an east-west pass between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, one of the few such routes in Palestine’s hill country. Salem (Jerusalem) was just a tiny part of the Shechem kingdom, ruled by tribal leaders (Canaan was a tribal society. Local wars were fought between individual city-state kingdoms. Villages were often raided by nearby bandits and outlaws.) Habiru are considered to have been the original Hebrews. The Habiru are variously described as nomadic or semi-nomadic, rebels, outlaws, raiders, mercenaries, and bowmen, servants, slaves, migrant laborers, etc. The Amarna letters suggest that this class of people held unique status in the Near East.
"The national security of America and the security of the world could be attained if the American leaders [..] become rational, if America disengages itself from its evil alliance with Zionism, which has been scheming to exploit the world and plunge it in blood and darkness, by using America and some Western countries.
"Syria is the heart of the Middle East. Everybody knows that. If the Middle East is sick, the whole world will be unstable. In 1991, when we started the peace process, we had a lot of hope. Now, after over 20 years, things are not at square one; they’re much below that square. 
And if they see a certain person seeking for the right and preferring the truth, doing his best to refute the false and untrue and leaving aside hypocrisy and deceit, they make a fool of him and mock him." 
Those who do not possess enough knowledge of Islam and the young men who are not fully conversant with the Islamic problems, have no right to meddle in the exposition of the Qur'an. But if they still try to misinterpret it for some ulterior motive of theirs, our youth should ignore their interpretation and pay no attention to it. 
Peres was admitted to Sheba Medical Centre in Ramat Gan two weeks ago, where he was intubated and sedated. Doctors expressed cautious optimism in the days immediately following his hospitalization.
The secular majority in Israel has given up on (modern) Judaism in favor of Orthodox Judaism. And Orthodoxy’s victory is everyone’s defeat—because it is political rather than ethical.
As a philosopher (NOT a Jew) Maimonides agrees with Aristotle in teaching that the use of logic is the "right" way of thinking. In order to build an inner understanding of how to know God, every human being must, by study, meditation and uncompromising strong will, attain the degree of complete logical, spiritual and physical perfection required in the prophetic state. 
The Temple Institute has brought the Third Temple one step closer by establishing a school for Jewish priests (kohanim) to learn how to perform the Temple Service. Four months ago, the Temple Institute established a registry of Kohanim, a list of men who have a clear patriarchal heritage from the priestly class....
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the vote stating: “The theater of the absurd continues at the UN.” “Today UNESCO adopted its second decision this year denying the Jewish people’s connection to the Temple Mount, our holiest site for more than 3,000 years,” he said.
It means that for the past 170 years and beyond, everyone has never doubted the temple mount tradition, even though Jerusalem seethes with similar fictitious inventions. 
Megalomania is mental disorder causing a person to hold exaggerated opinions about his power or abilities. There's always an obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who is also president of Israel's National Commission for UNESCO, has decided to suspend immediately all activities in conjunction with the international organization. His decision comes one day after UNESCO decided to accept the Palestinian Authority's suggestion to detach Jewish history from the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
The well-known "Wailing Wall" has nothing to do with the original sanctuaries in Jerusalem. 
" About the same time king Agrippa built himself a very large dining-room in the royal palace at Jerusalem, near to the portico. Now this palace had been erected of old by the children of Asamoneus. and was situate upon an elevation, and afforded a most delightful prospect to those that had a mind to take a view of the city, which prospect was desired by the king; and there he could lie down, and eat, and thence observe what was done in the temple...
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon distanced himself from a recent UNESCO resolution which failed to acknowledge the ties between 'the Jewish people' and the Temple Mount.
TITUS: "If we go up to this tower of Antonia, we gain the city; for if there should be any more occasion for fighting against those within the city, which I do not suppose there will, since we shall then be upon the top of the hill and be upon our enemies before they can have taken breath, these advantages promise us no less than a certain and sudden victory."
Titus retired into the tower of Antonia, and resolved to storm the temple the next day, early in the morning, with his whole army, and to encamp round about the holy house...
Antonio Guterres, the former Socialist Prime Minister of Portugal, was appointed to the role of UN chief on Thursday after a unanimous vote by the international body’s 193 member states. 
The Central Anatolian city of Konya attracts nearly 2 million tourists annually and is considered the birthplace of Islamic mysticism, with a history as deep as the spiritual doctrine of renowned Persian poet, Rumi.
Interviewer: Mr President. You first stated that what is happening in Syria is not a revolution... What made you say that it was not a revolution from the inception?
President Bashar al-Assad said Syria looks positively at the improvement of relations between Moscow and Ankara recently.
On October 6, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura offered to accompany Jabhat Fatah al Sham (also known as Nusra Front, or Jabhat al-Nusra) militants if they decided to leave Aleppo with arms and to head for the city of Idlib or somewhere else. Russia supported this offer. 
Syrian security services chief Ali Mamluk met with Egyptian officials in his first public foreign visit in five years, state media in Damascus said on Monday. State news agency SANA said Mamluk met with Egyptian head of general intelligence Khaled Fawzy and other "high-level security officials" during his one-day visit.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday that Turkey and the U.S. are discussing a possible joint operation to liberate Raqqa, Syria from Daesh terrorists.
MK Ksenia Svetlova demanded that Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein cancel the special Knesset session set for next month to honor the memory of former Minister Rehavam Zeevi, who was assassinated in 2001.
Israeli Minister Rechavam Ze'evi, who took his place in Ariel Sharon's cabinet March 7, 2001, a former Israeli army major-general, wants the 3 million Palestinians expelled from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 
Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, the commander of US troops in Iraq warned Shi'ite militia that the US doesn’t support their involvement.
President Hassan Rouhani says Iran wants to live in peaceful harmony with the countries in the region and across the globe.
- Question: In retrospect do you believe the United States should have acted earlier in Syria, and if not why is now the right moment?
Tens of thousands of Israelis and foreign friends of Israel from across the world flooded Jerusalem’s streets on Thursday as they marched to celebrate Israel’s existence.
Reducing the current or any other uprising in Palestine to a dispute over al-Haram al-Sharif is to radically distort the nature of the Palestinian cause - cutting into it with an Israeli cookie cutter that consistently demonises Palestinians by reducing them to their religious denomination. 
Consider the evidence: With three of his country’s four neighbors ravaged by turmoil, Netanyahu, Israel’s second-longest-serving prime minister, has kept things rock-solid. 
Vladimir Putin stated on March 21 that the resolution of the UN Security Council on Libya was flawed. 
5000-1500 BC: Canaanites from Northern Iraq to the Sinai ("the fertile crescent") develop agricultural communities and city-states from cave dwellers hunters and gatherers. Phoenician Canaanites in the north develop commerce and shipping around the Mediterranean. Philistine (flst) canaanites develoip desert routes and commerse. Nebatean Canaanites build cities like Petra and BirSaba and 'Asqalan.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed on Wednesday a resolution that denied Jewish ties to Jerusalem’s Old city, two weeks after voting on a resolution announcing Al-Aqsa mosque compound Islamic heritage.
Titus placed himself on the western side of the outer [court of the] temple; for there were gates on that side above the Xystus, and a bridge that connected the upper city to the temple. 
Israeli archaeologists presented new details of what they said were the first tiny artifacts, unearthed in situ on the Temple Mount, ever conclusively dated to the time of the First Temple over 2,600 years ago.