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Palestinians fire total of 16 rockets at Israel in past 24 hours; IAF strikes rocket squad, critically injuring one, at least 4 Palestinians killed in past day; Hamas claims responsibility for 10

Iran, Syria, Russia and China are planning the "biggest-ever wargames in the Middle East," according to an unconfirmed report on the semi-official Iranian news site Fars News. According to the article, the four countries are preparing 90,000 troops, 400 aircraft and 1,000 tanks for the massive joint maneuvers, which are to take place along the Syrian coast within a month. The report states that Russian "atomic submarines and warships, aircraft carriers and mine-clearing destroyers as well as Iranian battleships and submarines will also arrive in Syria" and that Egypt has agreed to let 12 Chinese warships cross the Suez Canal...

While condemning Israel, Arabs prefer life in Jewish state over Palestinian residency... The upheaval in Arab societies highlights the dramatic gap between Israel's democracy and its Arab neighbors. In fact, recent events in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Oman, Libya, Syria (and you ain't seen nothing yet…) have enhanced the craving in the Arab Street for the liberties and benefits of Israel's democracy. For example, Israeli ID cards have been sought by senior PLO and Hamas officials and their relatives, such as the three sisters of Ismail Haniyeh, the top leader of Hamas. They married Israeli Arabs and migrated from Gaza...

Here are 20 conveniently overlooked facts that give some perspective to the current Middle East situation. These were compiled by a Christian university professor..... Takes just 1.5 minutes to read!!! 1. Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam. 2. Arab refugees began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel. 3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C.E, the Jews had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land for the past ...

Druze Loyalty to Israel by Ari Bussel Why do I care so much about Israel? Why write constantly about different aspects of the Jewish State, a modern country in its 63rd year of existence, a country with a 3,000-year history? When I “schlep” our readers on a constant journey, a guided adventure to the Holy Land, and to less-than-holy places here, I often wonder: Why? For me it is obvious: Without Israel, Jewish people could not safely exist, not in Beverly Hills, not in London, Hamburg, Paris or Antwerp. Without Israel, no Jew will be safe in America or South...

Thousands of US troops began descending on Israel this week. Senior US military sources told debkafile Friday, Jan. 6 that many would be staying up to the end of the year as part of the US-IDF deployment in readiness for a military engagement with Iran and its possible escalation into a regional conflict. They will be joined by a US aircraft carrier. The warplanes on its decks will fly missions with Israeli Air Force jets. The 9,000 US servicemen gathering in Israel in the coming weeks are mostly airmen, missile interceptor teams, marines, seamen, technicians and intelligence officers. The incoming...

SNIPPET: "Google removed 640 videos from YouTube in the second half of last year amid fears they promoted terrorism. The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) made a request for five user accounts to be closed for allegedly promoting terrorism. Google agreed and deleted the 640 videos."

The peace process is clinically dead and Israel bears full responsibility, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared Sunday. “The ball is in the Israeli court,” Abbas said in a speech at a conference on Jerusalem that was held in Ramallah. The Palestinians, he added, have fulfilled all their obligations in line with international agreements. Abbas also accused Israel of working to destroy the two-state solution through its settlement policy. “We have emphasized that we are in favor of the two-state solution and reaching a settlement through negotiations,” he said. “The negotiations should lead to recognition of a Palestinian state with...

Is Russia a growing threat? Radio talk show host John Batchelor, offers insight. "We have tentative and alarming news of major military exercise Video http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000097085&play=1

Face to Face, Obama Tries to Persuade Putin on Syria President Obama met with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at the Group of 20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, on Monday. By HELENE COOPER June 18, 2012 SAN JOSÉ DEL CABO, Mexico — President Obama and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir V. Putin, finally had their face-to-face meeting on Monday, as Mr. Obama pressed Mr. Putin to work with him to ease President Bashar al-Assad of Syria out of power, a move increasingly viewed by the West as the only way to end the bloodshed that has been under way...

(Reuters) - The United States expressed alarm that its protégés in the Egyptian army were abusing hopes for democracy by ordering more military rule just as the Muslim Brotherhood was claiming victory in the country's first free presidential election. The Islamists' self-assurance was contested by the other candidate in the run-off race, a former general who was prime minister when Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year by an army anxious to save itself from the revolution in the streets. But there was still no result from the two-day poll, although independent officials privately spoke of a likely win for Islamist...

China Radio seeks accounts of Jewish refugees who lived in the country during WWII.They were reluctant adventurers whose painful decision to leave their homes in Europe and travel thousands of miles over land and sea was driven by fear of Nazi persecution rather than wanderlust. Nonetheless, the experience of thousands of Jews who took refuge in China during World War II was one they would never forget. Now, on the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the People’s Republic of China and Israel and 67 years after the war ended, China Radio International is inviting former Jewish...

German neo-Nazis helped Palestinian terrorists kill 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, newly released intelligence files reveal. Abu Daoud, who is believed to the mastermind of the atrocity, met fascist Willi Pohl in Dortmund, according to a city police dossier kept secret for 40 years. But despite the file being passed on to the German federal intelligence agency, Verfassungsschutz, there is no evidence that they acted upon the 2,000-page report. And this lack of action allowed Daoud, who is named in the police report as his alias Saad Walli, to travel the country to meet fellow terrorists...

And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honour; but, lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honour. And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to...

<p>Russia has announced it is readying two warships to sail to Syria to protect Russian citizens, in a sign that it is taking precautions against a worsening of the security situation there.</p> <p>A spokesman for Russia’s Black Sea fleet, Vyacheslav Trukhachev, told Russia’s Interfax news agency the mission would be undertaken “in case of necessity”. His comments appeared designed to clarify speculation that warships had already set sail for Syria. Interfax had earlier quoted an anonymous official as saying that was the case on Monday morning.</p>

Monday morning's attack by terrorists against Israeli workers building the security fence on the southern border is further evidence of the increasing failure of Egyptian security efforts in Sinai, said Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Speaking at a meeting of his Atzma'ut faction, Barak said that several recent events, including Grad rocket attacks against Israel over the weekend, meant that Egypt needed to do more to fulfill its international obligations. “We see Monday's attack as a very serious incident,” Barak said. “It comes in the wake of an incident on Shabbat in which two Grad rockets were fired into southern Israel...

In an interview on CNN in advance talks between Iran and Western countries on Tehran's nuclear program, President Shimon Peres said that “time is running out” for Iran. You cannot provoke the world, assuming the world is made of fools only," Peres told the network. The talks got underway in Moscow Monday, after several inconclusive sessions over the past several months in Baghdad and Istanbul. The talks, with the U.S., Britain, China, Russia, France and Germany on one side of the table and Iran on the other, were “not going well,” an Iranian source quoted by European news agencies said...

The Israel Defense Force has moved tanks closer to Egypt following a cross-border attack into the Jewish state by bomb-laden terrorists who targeted defense contractor crews building a border fence. Ynet News reported that armored units will supplement existing IDF forces in the region, even though Israeli tank maneuvers so close to Egypt's border is a violation of the peace treaty with Cairo. The paper said the last time IDF bolstered its presence in the area was n August 2011, following a terror attack by the Islamic Jihad, which left nine Israelis dead. The paper's chief military commentator, Ron Ben...

TEHRAN – An informed source has announced that Iran, Russia, China, and Syria plan to stage a joint war game in Syria in the near future, the Persian service of the Fars News Agency reported on Monday. 90,000 forces from the four countries will be involved in the war game, the informed source said. No official from the countries has confirmed the news report, but a Syrian official, who spoke on conditional anonymity, announced that the joint war game will be launched in Syria.

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem Isaiah 41 22. “Yet you have not called on me, Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, Israel. 23. You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with grain offerings nor wearied you with demands for incense. 24. You have not bought any fragrant calamus for me, or lavished on me the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your offenses. 25. “I, even I, am he who blots out your...