Sunday Evening Bible Study

December 31, 2000

Why a “Prophecy Update”?

This has become a yearly thing with me, doing a “Prophecy Update” on New Year’s Eve, in the tradition of Pastor Chuck. And I have to ask myself this question every year.

Why?

Is it because I’m stuck on tradition? Not really.

Is it because I want to “hype up” the church with talk about the Second Coming? Nope.

Is it because there are so many incredibly exciting things happening in the world that it looks like we’re closer than ever to seeing Jesus return? Some years I’d have to answer, “not really”, but I don’t think that’s the right answer this year. I’d have to say “YES”!!! this year.

It’s because Jesus told us to watch and be ready, and there’s something very appropriate on New Year’s Eve, when people are celebrating the coming of a New Year, when people are looking to the future, that we take time to point ourselves at what we as Christians are looking forward to. The Second Coming of Jesus.

We need to be ready

(Mat 24:36-51 KJV) But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. {37} But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. {38} For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, {39} And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. {40} Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. {41} Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. {42} Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. {43} But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. {44} Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. {45} Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? {46} Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. {47} Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. {48} But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; {49} And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; {50} The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, {51} And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

We ought to be able to read “the times”

(Mat 16:1-4 KJV) The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. {2} He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. {3} And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? {4} A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

After telling His disciples about the signs of His coming, Jesus said,

(Mat 24:32-33 KJV)  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: {33} So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

We ought to be ready.  We ought to be aware of the times.  We’re close.

Jews Returning to Israel

(Isa 11:11-12 KJV)  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. {12} And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Jewish Tribe Return Home After 2600 Years

Thirty-seven members of the Bnei Menashe tribe in India - believed to be descendants of the ten lost tribes - arrived in Israel on Friday. The new arrivals, many of whom have relatives in Israel among the 450 Bnei Menashe who have arrived within the last five years, were brought to Israel under the auspices of the Jerusalem-based Amishav organization. Amishav is dedicated to locating descendants of the lost tribes and returning them to the Jewish people. "this is a historic moment for the Jewish people," said Amishav founder and chairman rabbi Eliyahu Avichail, who has devoted his life to finding and assisting the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. "after a lengthy and difficult separation, the Bnei Menashe are being reunited with the Jewish people in the land of Israel. This is a triumph of faith. Their return to Zion marks the closing of a historical circle."

The Bnei Menashe, with a rich oral tradition tracing themselves back to the Israelite tribe of Menashe, continue to practice many uniquely Jewish customs. About 3,500 Bnei Menashe decided to formally return to the Jewish people about 30 years ago, and began living a fully Jewish life to the best of their ability in accordance with Jewish law. Rabbi Avichail learned of their existence about 20 years ago, and began to investigate their claims to Jewish ancestry. After making several visits there and carefully studying their claims and the relevant history, rabbi Avichail consulted with leading rabbinical authorities and concluded that there is convincing evidence linking the Bnei Menashe with the Jewish people. Among the evidence, rabbi Avichail notes their ancient tradition speaking of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; their custom of circumcising male children on the 8th day after birth; and their sacrificial ceremony on an altar reminiscent of the Jewish temple in which the Hebrew biblical name of g-d, mount Sinai, mount Moriah and mount Zion are mentioned. (Arutz 7)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 2-15-00

Science

(Rev 6:8 NIV)  I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Circumcision hailed as way to curb AIDs

Bryan Appleyard; Sunday Times; March 26, 2000

NEW evidence suggests that circumcision of all male babies could help to halt the global AIDs epidemic. With 50m living cases and more than 16m deaths, the disease is now the worst human health disaster since the Black Death.

The thesis - laid out in a scientific paper to be published soon - seems likely to create huge controversy as it represents a complete change in accepted ideas about the transmission of AIDs.

One of the paper's authors, Roger Short, professor of obstetrics at Melbourne University and a respected scientist with long experience of AIDs-ravaged areas, has been told he cannot address the subject at a forthcoming international conference.

Short and his co-author, Dr Robert Szabo, are convinced that a high level of receptors - sites to which invading organisms attach themselves - on the inside of the foreskin make it responsible for transmission.

Short and Szabo noted a sharp difference in the prevalence of HIV infection in the "AIDs belt" countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In some areas the infection rates are as high as 25%, in others as low as 1%. The lower infection rates were clearly associated with the practice of male circumcision.

…"The whole of my life's prejudice has been anti-circumcision," said Short. "I've written papers against it. I didn't believe the benefits outweighed the costs. If God had made us the way we were, why remove a sound organ? But I have been totally converted."

Israeli Science

(Isa 27:6 NASB)  In the days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will blossom and sprout; And they will fill the whole world with fruit.

(Isa 35:1 KJV)  The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

Vitamin-Rich Tomatoes Developed

Hebrew University researchers have worked out a method of growing bright red tomatoes with exceptional amounts of vitamins and minerals, using genetic engineering. Material resisting oxidation is the secret, with large quantities of beta-korten which turns into vitamin a in the body. The researchers checked the various strains of tomatoes in the country to determine those with the strongest red color. The "kaye" prize of the Hebrew university has been awarded to the doctoral student, Gil Ronen, for the discovery. (Israelwire)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 6-13-00

Greening The Desert With Bioengineered Trees

"Greening the desert" through genetic engineering of trees that can withstand barren conditions is within reach, according to Prof. Arie Altman, head of the Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture at the Hebrew University faculty of agricultural, food and environmental quality sciences. Scientists at the institute have succeeded in isolating unique proteins within the poplar tree, which can preserve the activities of cells of the tree in dry and saline conditions, such as are found in deserts. Prof. Altman and his associates, in collaboration with Dr. Oded Shoseyov, have found that stimulating higher production of these proteins in the tree seedlings can help the trees withstand severe conditions.

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 9-12-00

Very Scary??

(Dan 11:45 KJV)  And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

McDonalds In The Holy land

The McDonalds hamburger chain in Israel continues to grow, now boasting 75 stores nationwide. In addition, in 1999, the burger giant in Israel turned a gross profit NIS 11.6 million, the first year the local franchise was in the black since opening its doors in Israel. In '98, McDonalds lost NIS 5 million. (Israel wire)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 4-17-00

Could the antichrist be named “Ronald”? J (just a joke!  sincerest apologies to McDonald’s)

…now … seriously …

World Opinion:  Against Israel

(Zec 12:1-3 KJV)  The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. {2} Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. {3} And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

The whole world will be against Israel.  Everyone will think Israel is bad.

Official Pa Map Of Israel

The official Palestinian Authority (PA) maps of Israel depict all of Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem as under Palestinian rule. The State of Israel does not appear on the map and the area of the map west of Judea and Samaria is a blank white area. Jerusalem neighborhoods are listed as "colonies." The map, prepared by the PA's International Planning & Development Office, under the direction of Dr. Nabil Shaath, is multi- colored and drawn to a scale of 1:130000. The map's title reads "West Bank Governorates Palestine." The map details Judea and Samaria following the first stage of implementation of the Oslo agreement in September 1999. (HaTzofe Newspaper)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 1-31-00

Sam's Club Sell Globes With 'Palestine'; No Israel

Yasser Arafat has yet to declare a Palestinian state, but "Palestine" exists -at least on globes being sold at Sam's Club stores this holiday season. The problem came to light when a Sam's Club shopper looked at the globe and didn't see Israel. But the same person did see "Palestine" printed prominently in white, and thus began an Internet chain letter that quickly made its way around the United States. Within a short time, Sam's Club had gotten dozens of e-mails from irate Jewish customers, especially in Florida and New York. As many pointed out, Israel is a bona fide country. Palestine is not. Why then was Palestine on the globe and not Israel? Sam's Club, a subsidiary of retailing giant Wal-Mart, is still trying to determine why its Chinese supplier put "Palestine" on the globes in the first place. It said it had no plans to pull them from the shelves.

CONTACT: Mr. Tom Grimm, President and CEO SAM'S Club 608 Southwest 8th Street, Bentonville, AR 72712 TEL: 501-273-4000, FAX: 501-277-7526 E-MAIL: trgrimm@wal-mart.com

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 12-25-00

Arafat, Pope to sign bilateral pact today

By Lamia Lahoud; Jerusalem Post, 2-15-00

JERUSALEM (February 15) - Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is to meet with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican today and sign an accord to normalize relations between the PA and Roman Catholic churches in Jerusalem.

Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei told The Jerusalem Post that the agreement indicates a recognition by the Catholic Church of Palestinian claims to the city.

Arab States Give Generously To Intifada Fund

Several Arab countries announced during a meeting in Cairo this week that $653 million in donations to fund the Palestinian uprising has been received out of the $1 billion recently pledged at the Arab League summit in Cairo.

The "Al-Quds intifada" fund was established on the initiative of Saudi Arabia to aid the Palestinians in their fight against Israel and to expand the Islamic presence in Jerusalem, especially on the Temple Mount.

Arab finance ministers gathered in a closed-door session in Cairo listed the newest donations as follows: Algeria $30 million, Yemen $10 million, Jordan $2 million, Qatar $50 million, Oman $10 million and Sudan $1 million. Earlier, Saudi Arabia had donated $250 million, Kuwait $150 million and the United Arab Emirates $150 million.

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 11-28-00

Propaganda - From Bradley direct

“The last few days have been especially tense for us as we have heard both tank and helicopter gunfire just several minutes from our home in the Gilo neighborhood. The US has just officially issued a travel warning for all citizens traveling to Israel and people are fleeing by the planeload. The talk on the streets is WAR and the escalation of the current crisis into an all out regional conflict.

“Living in Jerusalem and watching CNN, BBC, SKY News, etc. It is so amazing to me at how well the propaganda machine works. Each person who is interviewed delivers a well-rehearsed one-sided viewpoint of their mis-information that is shown and then endorsed and repeated over and over again by the syndicate to you, the global audience. It is as though they are all in cooperation to discredit Israel.”

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 10-25-00

Palestinians sharply up the ante

MSNBC

JERUSALEM, Dec. 30 — As Israel and the Palestinians hardened their negotiating positions on a U.S. peace plan, Yasser Arafat’s political faction called Saturday for an intensification of the Palestinian uprising against Israel.

 “LET THE INTIFADA continue, and let the resistance escalate,” Arafat’s Fatah faction said in a statement that also spoke of the Palestinians’ “total rejection” of the peace plan put forth last weekend by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
 The three-month outbreak of unrest has killed nearly 350 people, almost all of them Palestinians.
 Along Israel’s tense northern frontier, Israeli troops shot a Lebanese man the army said was trying to get across the border fence. Lebanese security officials said the man, part of a crowd of stone-throwing demonstrators, died from his wounds.
 Elsewhere, Israel closed the border between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, the army said. That step came a day after Israeli authorities sealed off the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, forbidding Palestinians to enter Israel, as part of a security crackdown after a deadly bomb attack.
 
… Iran threatened Saturday to hit hard at Israel if it strikes at Syria or Lebanon. Iran’s defense minister, Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani, was quoted by the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan as promising “astounding” retaliation if Israel attacks. Israel has threatened action against Syria if the violence along its northern frontier continues.
 In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 2,000 Palestinians turned out for a rally organized by the militant Islamic group Hamas to pay tribute to a suicide bomber who blew himself up in an Israeli cafe last week. More than a dozen organizers, their faces wrapped in black masks, called the rally a celebration of martyrdom and handed out sweets to symbolize joy.
 “Let us teach them how to kill the Jews,” they chanted.

Temple Mount

(Mat 24:15-16 KJV)  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) {16} Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

(Dan 9:27 KJV)  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

There will be a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem before Jesus comes back.  The antichrist will desecrate it, causing the “abomination of desolation”

Rabbis: Holy Site Can Be Shared

The Associated Press, Wed 6 Dec 2000

WASHINGTON (AP) — One hundred rabbis declared Wednesday that Judaism does not demand exclusive Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount, the holy site in Jerusalem that is a contentious issue in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

Keep in mind, these were NOT orthodox rabbis, these were only the liberal rabbis.  But they at least are making the possibility known.

(Rev 11:1-2 KJV)  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. {2} But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Archaeologist: Barak Allows Waqf To Build On Temple Mt.

The Moslem Waqf, engaged in intensive earthmoving and excavation works on the temple mount, continues to violate Israeli law there. The police have not intervened, and archaeologist dr. Eilat Mazar says that this is with the prime minister's say-so. Mazar, who is a member of a committee to prevent the destruction of ruins of temple mount artifacts, told (arutz-7) that the Waqf's work has continued there non-stop for a long time, but " over the last week and a half, the works have really taken a more intensive turn. Trucks are coming out loaded with pieces of the ruins - and all with Barak's approval. The other ministers know that it is Barak and Barak alone who makes the decisions. We have tried to meet with Barak for months, but he simply ignores us.

A while ago, there was a plan to build a grandiose mosque on the temple mount - the biggest one in the Middle East... Now, with work going on a full 200 meters north of Solomon’s stables [where work was permitted in the past] and next to the gate of mercy, it makes us suspect that these plans have been revived... This must be stopped."

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 12-13-00

Temple Treasury Coins Minted

A silver-plated coin minted is being offered for purchase, with the Hebrew words "Temple Treasury" engraved on one side, and "Anticipating the renewal of the commandment of giving a half-shekel" on the other. Rabbi Menachem Makover, director of the temple institute in Jerusalem, said that the purpose is to "increase public awareness of the importance of the temple in our lives. We want to remind ourselves that this is a live issue, one that is dynamically relevant." (Arutz 7)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 3-12-00

Gog / Magog Nations

(Ezek 38:1-13 KJV)  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, {2} Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, {3} And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: {4} And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:

These are all names linked to modern Russia

{5} Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:

Persia is covered by the countries of Iran and Iraq

Ethiopia – same as today, would include some of modern Egypt

Libya – Col. Ghaddafi

{6} Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.

These could be references to some of the southern former USSR countries, the Moslem countries around the Black Sea.

{7} Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them…

…{13} Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

Sheba and Dedan – Saudi Arabia

merchants of Tarshish – perhaps parts of Europe, possibly even the U.S.

What’s happening with these nations?

Russia

Russian Parliament Approves Soviet Anthem

The federation council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, this week overwhelmingly approved a bill to restore the soviet national anthem, voting 144 to 1 with two abstentions. Senators then stood as the anthem was broadcast in the chamber, though it will not become the country's official anthem until president Vladimir Putin signs a decree.

The old-new anthem, composed by Alexander Alexandrov during World War II, originally had lyrics praising soviet dictator and mass murderer Joseph Stalin, but the words were changed after his death, praising the communist party as the leader of the "unbreakable union."

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia’s first president, Boris Yeltsin, scrapped the state symbols associated with the old regime, replacing the flag, state crest and anthem with pre- revolutionary symbols. (UPI)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 12-25-00

Russia’s Leader a Soviet Spy Turned Religious

NewsMax.comJanuary 10, 2000

 

 

Did Vladimir Putin find God, or just a better job?

The new Russian interim president was expelled from West Germany as a Soviet espionage agent in the late 1970s, during the heat of the Cold War.

Today, the same once-cold-blooded spy is warmly advocating "Christian ideals" in his new Russia.

Rising unexpectedly from the ranks of KGB spies to Boris Yeltsin’s prime minister, then to his possible successor pending elections, Putin wasted no time parading his changed colors.

In fact, he made it the subject of his first official pronouncement upon becoming acting president when Yeltsin resigned the Russian presidency on the last day of 1999.

On New Year's Eve, Putin said the ideals of Christianity "will allow us to strengthen mutual understanding and concord within our society and will support the spiritual and moral revival of the Fatherland.”

Putin lights Hanukkah candle

CNN – Dec. 22, 2000

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin lighted a Hanukkah menorah at a Jewish community center in Moscow.

Putin's high-profile participation in the rite of Hanukkah at the Marina Roshchya synagogue's community center in Moscow was praised by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was present, as evidence of "powerful change" in a land where Jews have suffered persecution for centuries.

 

Russia And Syria Strengthen Ties

The Russian deputy foreign minister Vassili Cerdin has said that Moscow intends to develop military cooperation with Syria. Cerdin stated that the Russian retreat from weapon's market in the Middle East is not logical and unfruitful at a time when other countries continue to pump weapons into the area. He remarked on Israel and Turkey's supremacy and compiling of weapons noting that Moscow sees no reason for minimizing its cooperation with Damascus in order to achieve defense sufficiency. The statement of the Russian official is of special importance because it refutes what has been mentioned of coolness in relations between Moscow and Damascus as Syria has refused to join the regional multilateral talks due to start in Moscow in February. (Arabic News)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 2-3-00

Russia and Iran open “new chapter”

Thursday, 28 December, 2000, 14:05 GMT / BBC News

Russia and Iran open 'new chapter'

The Russian (L) and Iranian (R) Defence Ministers in Tehran

Russia and Iran have agreed to launch a new long-term programme of political and military co-operation at the end of a three-day visit to Tehran by Russia's Defence Minister, Igor Sergeyev.

Mr Sergeyev called it "a new chapter in our relations, marked by the reopening of military co-operation between Moscow and Tehran," while the Iranian Defence Minister, Ali Shamkhani said it was a "historic day".

The ministers announced military co-operation on all levels as well as plans to expand political, scientific and technical co-operation.

They said they had found common ground on a number of regional issues, including Nato expansion and the civil war in Afghanistan.

Other “Gog” nations

Iran Test Fires Missile That Can Reach Israel

Iran announced over the weekend it successfully test fired an upgraded Shihab-3 ballistic missile, sparking a heated debate in Israeli political and military circles over the degree of danger the missile poses to the Jewish state. The Shihab-3 is an intermediate range missile (1,300 kilometers/850 miles) based on North Korea's Nodong-1 but with Chinese and Russian assistance. A similar test two years ago ended in failure, but the latest success likely came with help from Moscow. The test means Iran can now target Israel and Saudi Arabia with one-ton warheads - conventional and non-conventional. A next-generation missile, the Shihab-4, is under development and reportedly has double the range, putting much of Europe within range of Iranian warheads. Analysts say that since Iran has been under a Western embargo since the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, Tehran has embarked on a cheaper strategy of copying and developing missiles and other military hardware on its own, with Russian, Chinese and North Korean help. (ICEJ)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 7-18-00

5 Iraqi Divisions Near Jordan And Syria

Senior Israel television correspondent Ehud Ya'ari reported this evening that Iraq now has between four and five armored divisions near Jordan. One of these is also situated within 100 kilometers of the Syrian border. (Irma)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 10-22-00

Iraq Pulls Back From Jordan

The armored units that have been stationed in western Iraq for the last month in a show of force against Israel are in the process of being dismantled and moved to other, more distant locations, according to assessments by Israeli intelligence sources.

The Iraqi force, led by the republican guard's crack Hammurabi unit, was never intended to be deployed against Israel, the intelligence sources said. Its appearance was merely an expression of Iraq’s willingness to participate in a general Arab Israeli war should one be declared. Since the chances of such a war being launched have lessened following the Arab summit's decisions in Cairo 10 days ago, the force has no further purpose in western Iraq.

Meanwhile, a report from reliable western sources that reached Jerusalem this week expressed concern about the lack of information on the state of Iraq’s biological weapons program. Biological weapons are the "black hole" of western knowledge of Iraq, the report said. (Ha'aretz)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 10-31-00

Why Iraq's Buying Up Sony Playstation 2

(By Joseph Farah © 2000 Worldnetdaily.Com)

Many American kids may have been disappointed on Christmas morning because the Sony Playstation 2 they wanted wound up in Iraq. Both the U.S. Customs Service and the FBI are investigating the apparent transfer of large numbers of Sony Playstation 2s to Iraq, according to Military Intelligence sources. A secret defense intelligence agency report states that as many as 4,000 of the popular video game units have been purchased in the united states and shipped to Iraq in the last two to three months

What gives? Does Saddam Hussein have an extraordinarily long Christmas shopping list? And why would U.S. military and intelligence officials be concerned about such a transfer?

Two government agencies are investigating the purchases because the Playstations can be bundled together into a sort of crude super- computer and used for a variety of military applications, say intelligence sources.

Arabs Preparing For War In The Middle East

Israel's largest newspaper, (Yediot Ahronot), reports this week that Israeli officials are very concerned over increasing signs that a military alliance is being formed between Syria, Iraq and Iran. The unnamed officials say there are growing indications that the three countries are preparing for a possible war with Israel in the coming months. They say the planned trigger for such a conflict appears to be the Iranian-backed Hizbullah militia operating in southern Lebanon, which has launched four attacks upon Israel in the past month. Hizbullah staged a large rally in Beirut on Saturday, with Lebanese and Palestinian speakers calling for the destruction of Israel.

Full Report: Http://Www.Newsmax.Com/Archives/Articles/2000/12/1/194455.Shtml

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 12-6-00

Missile Deal Puts Israel In Gaddafi's Range

The Libyan dictator Col Gaddafi has taken delivery of North Korean ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets in Israel and NATO states in southern Europe. In an escalation of the Middle East arms race, the Libyan leader has negotiated a secret deal with the Stalinist state that will finally give his country the long-range missile capability he has craved since the seventies. The first consignment of North Korean no-dong surface-to-surface missiles and launchers, which have a range of up to 800 miles, were flown to Tripoli in the summer by a Libyan air transporter. (The Telegraph)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 9-26-00

Saudi Arabia: No Peace Without Jerusalem

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah said this week that peace in the Middle East would not be possible until Jerusalem was under complete Arab sovereignty, a Palestinian official said.

"Jerusalem is the base for any peace settlement in the Middle East and without the return of full Arab control over Jerusalem, there will not be peace in the Middle East," the official quoted Abdullah as saying.

Abdullah also said that Jerusalem belongs to all Arabs, not just the Palestinians, and that neither Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat nor any other Arab leader has the right to take a unilateral decision regarding it, the official said on condition of anonymity. Clinton "does not have the right to give orders to Arab countries to pressure Arafat into doing what he wants and what serves Israel," the daily Al-Jazirah said. (AP)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 7-31-00

Syrian Press Denies The Holocaust

The official Syrian Press continues to engage in its own brand of Holocaust denial. Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports that the editor of the government-run Tishrin newspaper, Muhammad Kheir Al-Wadi, published an article this past Monday denying the Holocaust and accusing Zionism of being "worse than Nazism." Following are some selections from the article, entitled "The Plague of the Third Millenium:" (Memri)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 2-8-00

Former Chief Rabbi: Let Syria Return Damascus

Former Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Mordehai Eliyahu, stated on Tuesday in a Chabad gathering in Tel Aviv, "Syria should return Damascus to Israel, since they took it in the time of King David". Rabbi Eliyahu added that we should be in mourning over the government's desire to withdraw from territories in the Golan. He said this is a dark time for the Jews, and that we need to look for the light. Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner, who served as the Lubavitcher Rebbe's secretary, stated that it is necessary to fight against a government that wants to give away territory, to rousing applause from the audience. (IsraelWire)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 1-25-00

Talk about chutzpah!

European Union

Daniel predicted that there would be a world empire in the last days, and it would be like no other.

(Dan 9:26-27 KJV)  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. {27} And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

The “prince who is to come” is the “antichrist”.  It would be his people who would destroy Jerusalem after the Messiah was killed.  The Romans destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70.  We believe the antichrist’s kingdom will be some kind of a restored Roman Empire.

(Dan 2:40-43 KJV)  And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. {41} And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. {42} And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. {43} And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

The “fourth kingdom” of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was Rome.  But this empire wasn’t like the others that preceded it because it had a part of it that was described separately, the “toes”.  We believe these are the events that are happening in Europe today.

There is a new empire forming in Europe, the European Union.  It’s a strange kind of empire, and the nations aren’t exactly “cleaving” to each other, but it’s getting kind of interesting.

While we were all caught up in the turmoil of the presidential elections for the last month, our media has totally ignored the things happening in Europe, especially the Treaty of Nice.

Currently, there are 15 nations that work together as the European Union. Plans are being drawn up to increase the membership to as many as 27.

From “The Economist”, December 15, 2000

“With the exhausted conclusion of its summit meeting in Nice in the early hours of December 11th, the European Union has taken decisions that have huge repercussions on Europe’s future. The summit prepared the way for the Union’s eventual expansion from its present membership of 15 countries to as many as 27. It also approved steps that will help the Union develop its own security force”

From the “Telegraph” (November 21, 2000)

“In Brussels yesterday, Mr Hoon formally pledged a British contribution of 12,500 ground troops, 18 warships and up to 72 combat aircraft to Europe's 60,000-strong Rapid Reaction Force. A UK commitment of about 20,000 troops will be needed to enable 12,500 soldiers to mobilise at short notice when the force becomes fully operational in 2003.”

Also, from the same article –

“PLANS for a new European defence force were embroiled in controversy last night after the Government was accused of failing to disclose that troops could be deployed as far afield as Africa, the Middle East and well into Russia.”

From Reuters News Service (November 25, 2000)

BERLIN (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Saturday that Russia was ready to cooperate with the European Union's new military force.

``We consider it completely natural, the effort by Europe with their own forces to provide for their own security,'' Ivanov told leading European policy makers and analysts at a forum on Europe. ''And in a crisis situation we are ready for constructive cooperation.''

Articles

Jews Return

Jewish Tribe Return Home After 2600 Years

Thirty-seven members of the Bnei Menashe tribe in India - believed to be descendants of the ten lost tribes - arrived in Israel on Friday. The new arrivals, many of whom have relatives in Israel among the 450 Bnei Menashe who have arrived within the last five years, were brought to Israel under the auspices of the Jerusalem-based Amishav organization. Amishav is dedicated to locating descendants of the lost tribes and returning them to the Jewish people. "this is a historic moment for the Jewish people," said Amishav founder and chairman rabbi Eliyahu Avichail, who has devoted his life to finding and assisting the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. "after a lengthy and difficult separation, the Bnei Menashe are being reunited with the Jewish people in the land of Israel. This is a triumph of faith. Their return to Zion marks the closing of a historical circle."

The Bnei Menashe, with a rich oral tradition tracing themselves back to the Israelite tribe of Menashe, continue to practice many uniquely Jewish customs. About 3,500 Bnei Menashe decided to formally return to the Jewish people about 30 years ago, and began living a fully Jewish life to the best of their ability in accordance with Jewish law. Rabbi Avichail learned of their existence about 20 years ago, and began to investigate their claims to Jewish ancestry. After making several visits there and carefully studying their claims and the relevant history, rabbi Avichail consulted with leading rabbinical authorities and concluded that there is convincing evidence linking the Bnei Menashe with the Jewish people. Among the evidence, rabbi Avichail notes their ancient tradition speaking of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; their custom of circumcising male children on the 8th day after birth; and their sacrificial ceremony on an altar reminiscent of the Jewish temple in which the Hebrew biblical name of g-d, mount Sinai, mount Moriah and mount Zion are mentioned. (Arutz 7)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 2-15-00

Arab Nations

Arafat, Pope to sign bilateral pact today

By Lamia Lahoud; Jerusalem Post, 2-15-00

JERUSALEM (February 15) - Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is to meet with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican today and sign an accord to normalize relations between the PA and Roman Catholic churches in Jerusalem.

Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei told The Jerusalem Post that the agreement indicates a recognition by the Catholic Church of Palestinian claims to the city.

He said the PA was lobbying international support for its claim to east Jerusalem.

Emile Jarjoui, the PLO official who led talks with the Vatican, added that the agreement would "regulate the relationship between the Palestinian Authority and the Catholic churches in Jerusalem. The agreement would also state the Vatican's position regarding Jerusalem, the peace process, and Palestinian rights."

The Vatican has called Israel's annexation of east Jerusalem illegal and does not recognize Israeli sovereignty there.

Arafat will also pay an official visit to the Italian government as part of his diplomatic campaign to gather support for Palestinian positions in the final status talks.

Arafat has been lobbying for his idea of sharing undivided Jerusalem, and creating Vatican-style sovereignty in the Old City, his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said .

PA officials concede privately that Israel would only accept the idea if it would keep the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall.

The PA hopes to get the Vatican's backing for the idea. So far the Vatican and the international community have supported internationalizing the Old City, an idea which both Israel and the PA reject, Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said.

However, Qurei said, should Israel and the PA fail to reach an agreement on sharing Jerusalem, the PA would agree to create an international city in the Old City, as stated in UN Resolution 181.

Shaath said the PA was waiting for Israel to come with some suggestion of sharing Jerusalem to the final status talks, but so far Israeli negotiators have not addressed the subject.

Jerusalem Post 2-15-00

Palestinians sharply up the ante

MSNBC

JERUSALEM, Dec. 30 — As Israel and the Palestinians hardened their negotiating positions on a U.S. peace plan, Yasser Arafat’s political faction called Saturday for an intensification of the Palestinian uprising against Israel.

 “LET THE INTIFADA continue, and let the resistance escalate,” Arafat’s Fatah faction said in a statement that also spoke of the Palestinians’ “total rejection” of the peace plan put forth last weekend by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
 The three-month outbreak of unrest has killed nearly 350 people, almost all of them Palestinians.
 Along Israel’s tense northern frontier, Israeli troops shot a Lebanese man the army said was trying to get across the border fence. Lebanese security officials said the man, part of a crowd of stone-throwing demonstrators, died from his wounds.
 Elsewhere, Israel closed the border between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, the army said. That step came a day after Israeli authorities sealed off the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, forbidding Palestinians to enter Israel, as part of a security crackdown after a deadly bomb attack.
 
REGION ON KNIFE EDGE
 Only a week after Clinton met with negotiators from both sides at the White House, tensions were rising rapidly in the region, raising the specter of a regional outbreak of fighting.

 Iran threatened Saturday to hit hard at Israel if it strikes at Syria or Lebanon. Iran’s defense minister, Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani, was quoted by the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan as promising “astounding” retaliation if Israel attacks. Israel has threatened action against Syria if the violence along its northern frontier continues.
 In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 2,000 Palestinians turned out for a rally organized by the militant Islamic group Hamas to pay tribute to a suicide bomber who blew himself up in an Israeli cafe last week. More than a dozen organizers, their faces wrapped in black masks, called the rally a celebration of martyrdom and handed out sweets to symbolize joy.
 “Let us teach them how to kill the Jews,” they chanted.
 
BITTER ELECTION RHETORIC
 As the unrest intensified Saturday, the rhetoric in Israel’s election campaign sharpened along with it.
 Prime Minister Ehud Barak, warning Israelis that they would face war if Ariel Sharon booted him from office, said he would triumph over his right-wing Likud rival even though despite polls that suggest Sharon will trounce him Feb. 6.
 “I will win this election,” Barak told Russian state television. “The real choice is Barak and war. I don’t want to put Sharon off peace, but [it’s] Barak or war.”

 Sharon has said he would seek a long-term peace deal with the Palestinians to be implemented over several years, rather than try to resolve the conflict’s most sensitive issues now such as Jerusalem’s status, as Barak has tried to do.
 
CONTACTS CONTINUE, LITTLE PROGRESS
 Arafat’s Fatah faction is the largest and most influential Palestinian group. It rules the Palestine Liberation Organization and is the backbone of the Palestinian Authority.
 “Continuing the intifada is the only choice capable of achieving independence and sweeping occupation,” it said in its statement Saturday.
 Fatah’s call for militancy was echoed in Damascus, where the radical Marxist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine urged Arafat to give arms to all Palestinians to fight Israel.
 The Israeli-Palestinian peace drive stumbled again Friday when the two sides staked out opposing positions over the right of return for Palestinian refugees and control over Jerusalem.
 Clinton’s proposals call for a Palestinian state in 95 percent of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip. They also envision Palestinian control over Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem and the Jerusalem holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Arabs as al-Haram al-Sharif.

 In exchange, Palestinians would have to dramatically scale back their demands regarding refugees.
 Amid private contacts between Israelis and Palestinians, Western diplomats warned that the Palestinians and the United States might reach an impasse over the details of U.S. proposals.
 
MORE TALKS SCHEDULED
 For his part, Barak said he would not sign a deal agreeing to the right of Palestinian refugee return or Palestinian sovereignty over the disputed shrine. Meanwhile, Palestinian officials said recent meetings between Israeli minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak and Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Korei in New York had resulted in no progress.
 Marking a new channel in talks, a senior Palestinian official said Palestinian delegates were due to hold talks in coming days with U.S. officials in Washington on Clinton’s plan.
 Arafat arrived Saturday night in Tunisia to discuss the plan before heading to Morocco. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he would visit Amman for talks Sunday with Jordanian officials.

MSNBC – December 30, 2000

Iran Test Fires Missile That Can Reach Israel

Iran announced over the weekend it successfully test fired an upgraded Shihab-3 ballistic missile, sparking a heated debate in Israeli political and military circles over the degree of danger the missile poses to the Jewish state. The Shihab-3 is an intermediate range missile (1,300 kilometers/850 miles) based on North Korea's Nodong-1 but with Chinese and Russian assistance. A similar test two years ago ended in failure, but the latest success likely came with help from Moscow. The test means Iran can now target Israel and Saudi Arabia with one-ton warheads - conventional and non-conventional. A next-generation missile, the Shihab-4, is under development and reportedly has double the range, putting much of Europe within range of Iranian warheads. Analysts say that since Iran has been under a Western embargo since the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, Tehran has embarked on a cheaper strategy of copying and developing missiles and other military hardware on its own, with Russian, Chinese and North Korean help. (ICEJ)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 7-18-00

Will Saddam Hussein Attack Israel?

There is some question as to whether the current crisis in the Middle East will remain a limited dispute involving only Israelis and Palestinians or whether it will spill over and become a general Arab Israeli war. During the last few days Iraq’s Saddam Hussein has made several statements pointing toward the second possibility, and has moved an Iraqi armored division west toward Jordan.

This is not the first time that Iraq has inserted itself into the Israeli- Palestinian dispute. In 1990 and 1991, Saddam Hussein repeatedly tried to deflect world attention from his invasion of Kuwait by appealing to the Palestinian issue. This diplomatic effort was capped by his firing of 39 al- Hussein (modified scud missiles) into Israel during of the gulf war. Since late 1997, Saddam Hussein and other top Iraqi officials have steadily sharpened their rhetoric and resurrected the threat of intervening in the Israeli Palestinian dispute.

(Reuters) reported yesterday that an elite Iraqi republican guard division has begun moving westward from its base in Baghdad along with tanks but does not appear to present any immediate threat to Iraq’s neighbors, u.s. defense officials said on Thursday. The officials, who asked not to be identified, said U.S. intelligence had detected the movement by the Hammurabi division, composed of about 15,000 special republican guard troops, within the past 24 hours.

The officials said the united states was closely watching the movements, which was in the general direction of Jordan, but that there was no indication that it was anything other than maneuvers or a public flexing of Iraqi military muscle.

This is not the first time that Iraq has inserted itself into the Israeli- Palestinian dispute. In 1990 and 1991, Saddam Hussein repeatedly tried to deflect world attention from his invasion of Kuwait by appealing to the Palestinian issue. This diplomatic effort was capped by his firing of 39 al- Hussein (modified scud missiles) into Israel during of the gulf war. Since late 1997, Saddam Hussein and other top Iraqi officials have steadily sharpened their rhetoric and resurrected the threat of intervening in the Israeli Palestinian dispute.

At the end of October, an Arab league meeting is scheduled to discuss the Israeli Palestinian fighting. Iraqi officials, including Saddam Hussein, have used the lead-up to this summit to suggest that they will intervene in the current fighting and to warn the other Arabs that they face recriminations from Saddam for cowardice if they fail to act.

On Oct. 2, foreign minister Muhammad Sa'id Al-sahhaf sent the following letter to Arab league secretary general dr. Abd al-majid:

"we listened to your call for an international investigation into the massacres committed by the Zionist gang against our Arab mujahid [jihad warrior] people in occupied Palestine. Although we realize your good intention in this call, we would like to express our objection because it includes an implied recognition of the Zionist entity as a reality. Iraq believes that it is a midget entity, an usurper, and a claw of colonialism, that was made by imperialism to the detriment of the security, territory and the holy shrines of the Arabs and the believers..." (Irma)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 10-12-00

5 Iraqi Divisions Near Jordan And Syria

Senior Israel television correspondent Ehud Ya'ari reported this evening that Iraq now has between four and five armored divisions near Jordan. One of these is also situated within 100 kilometers of the Syrian border. (Irma)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 10-22-00

Iraq Pulls Back From Jordan

The armored units that have been stationed in western Iraq for the last month in a show of force against Israel are in the process of being dismantled and moved to other, more distant locations, according to assessments by Israeli intelligence sources.

The Iraqi force, led by the republican guard's crack Hammurabi unit, was never intended to be deployed against Israel, the intelligence sources said. Its appearance was merely an expression of Iraq’s willingness to participate in a general Arab Israeli war should one be declared. Since the chances of such a war being launched have lessened following the Arab summit's decisions in Cairo 10 days ago, the force has no further purpose in western Iraq.

Meanwhile, a report from reliable western sources that reached Jerusalem this week expressed concern about the lack of information on the state of Iraq’s biological weapons program. Biological weapons are the "black hole" of western knowledge of Iraq, the report said. (Ha'aretz)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 10-31-00

Why Iraq's Buying Up Sony Playstation 2

( By Joseph Farah © 2000 Worldnetdaily.Com)

Many American kids may have been disappointed on Christmas morning because the Sony Playstation 2 they wanted wound up in Iraq. Both the U.S. Customs Service and the FBI are investigating the apparent transfer of large numbers of Sony Playstation 2s to Iraq, according to Military Intelligence sources. A secret defense intelligence agency report states that as many as 4,000 of the popular video game units have been purchased in the united states and shipped to Iraq in the last two to three months

What gives? Does Saddam Hussein have an extraordinarily long Christmas shopping list? And why would U.S. military and intelligence officials be concerned about such a transfer?

Two government agencies are investigating the purchases because the Playstations can be bundled together into a sort of crude super- computer and used for a variety of military applications, say intelligence sources.

"Most Americans don't realize that each Playstation unit contains a CPU --every bit as powerful as the processor found in most desktop and laptop computers," said one military intelligence officer who declined to be identified. "beyond that, the graphics capabilities of a Playstation are staggering -- five times more powerful than that of a typical graphics workstation, and roughly 15 times more powerful than the graphics cards found in most PCs."

A single Playstation can generate up to 75 million polygons per second. Polygons, as noted in the DIA report, are the basic units used to generate the surface of 3-d models -- extremely useful in military design and modeling applications.

"When I first saw this report, I was highly skeptical," said an intelligence source. "so, I did some checking with computer experts I know within the department of defense. From what they tell me, bundling these video game units is very feasible."

Additionally, Sony will make the process even easier with planned upgrades to the system. Beginning early next year, you can purchase a plug-in, 3.5 gig hard drive for the Playstation, along with interface units that allow integration into the World Wide Web. If the Iraqis have trouble developing military software for the Playstation computer system, they can probably find needed assistance on the Internet, say U.S. intelligence sources.

What could Iraq do with such a primitive super-computer constructed with Sony Playstation 2s?

"applications for this system are potentially frightening," said an intelligence source. "one expert i spoke with estimated that an integrated bundle of 12-15 Playstations could provide enough computer power to control an Iraqi unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV -- a pilot less aircraft."

Iraq has been working on development of UAVs for several years as a possible platform for delivering chemical weapons, say intelligence experts.

Bundled Playstation computers could also be used to calculate ballistic data for long-range missiles, or in the design of nuclear weapons, they add. Iraq has long had difficulty calculating the potential yield of nuclear devices -- a critical requirement in designing such weapons. Networking these computers might provide a method for correcting this deficiency, said one intelligence source.

So, why doesn't Saddam Hussein simply buy computers or workstations from friendly nations or on the black market? While this is a possibility, current United Nations sanctions prohibit the sale or transfer of virtually all types of computer hardware and technology to Iraq. However, computer-based video game systems -- like the Playstation 2 -- are not included in the ban. Iraq's scientists and engineers have apparently found a convenient loophole in the U.N. sanctions.

Defense experts say it is also relatively easy to smuggle Playstations into Iraq, since customs inspectors don't view toys as potential military weapons. Jordanian and Turkish inspectors rarely examine "small" shipments under 100 pounds, making it possible to send large numbers of Playstations into Iraq without arousing suspicion.

The Sony Playstation 2 is one of the most popular all-in-one home entertainment systems of its kind. At just over 4 pounds, it contains a 300 mhz-driven, 128-bit cpu. In addition to a plethora of new games designed to utilize Playstation 2's hardware, it can play games from the original Playstation’s library, audio compact discs and dvd movies.

Not only has Saddam Hussein apparently found a creative way around the computer embargo, he has helped to exacerbate the Sony Playstation 2 shortage reported in many parts of the united states. Etoys.com and other e-tailers are sold out of the units and not expecting any more shipments in time for Christmas.

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 12-25-00

Arabs Preparing For War In The Middle East

Israel's largest newspaper, (Yediot Ahronot), reports this week that Israeli officials are very concerned over increasing signs that a military alliance is being formed between Syria, Iraq and Iran. The unnamed officials say there are growing indications that the three countries are preparing for a possible war with Israel in the coming months. They say the planned trigger for such a conflict appears to be the Iranian-backed Hizbullah militia operating in southern Lebanon, which has launched four attacks upon Israel in the past month. Hizbullah staged a large rally in Beirut on Saturday, with Lebanese and Palestinian speakers calling for the destruction of Israel.

Full Report: Http://Www.Newsmax.Com/Archives/Articles/2000/12/1/194455.Shtml

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 12-6-00

Missile Deal Puts Israel In Gaddafi's Range

The Libyan dictator Col Gaddafi has taken delivery of North Korean ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets in Israel and NATO states in southern Europe. In an escalation of the Middle East arms race, the Libyan leader has negotiated a secret deal with the Stalinist state that will finally give his country the long-range missile capability he has craved since the seventies. The first consignment of North Korean no-dong surface-to-surface missiles and launchers, which have a range of up to 800 miles, were flown to Tripoli in the summer by a Libyan air transporter. (The Telegraph)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 9-26-00

Saudi Arabia: No Peace Without Jerusalem

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah said this week that peace in the Middle East would not be possible until Jerusalem was under complete Arab sovereignty, a Palestinian official said.

"Jerusalem is the base for any peace settlement in the Middle East and without the return of full Arab control over Jerusalem, there will not be peace in the Middle East," the official quoted Abdullah as saying.

Abdullah also said that Jerusalem belongs to all Arabs, not just the Palestinians, and that neither Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat nor any other Arab leader has the right to take a unilateral decision regarding it, the official said on condition of anonymity. Clinton "does not have the right to give orders to Arab countries to pressure Arafat into doing what he wants and what serves Israel," the daily Al-Jazirah said. (AP)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 7-31-00

Syrian Press Denies The Holocaust

The official Syrian Press continues to engage in its own brand of Holocaust denial. Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports that the editor of the government-run Tishrin newspaper, Muhammad Kheir Al-Wadi, published an article this past Monday denying the Holocaust and accusing Zionism of being "worse than Nazism." Following are some selections from the article, entitled "The Plague of the Third Millenium:"

"Zionism hides the dark chapters of its black history. It invents stories regarding the Nazi Holocaust in which the Jews suffered and inflates them to astronomic proportions."

"The problem is not in the Zionist ambition to forge history, but rather in the Zionist organizations' ambitions to revive their distorted version of history and use it to deceive international public opinion, win its empathy, and blackmail it..."

The editorial has sparked a formal condemnation from Jewish leaders and distinguished Holocaust scholars, led by Zionist Organization of America President Morton Klein. "Unfortunately, this is the latest in a series of outrageous and offensive statements and actions by Syria concerning the Holocaust," the statement reads. "Syrian government publications have repeatedly denied the Holocaust and claimed that Israeli policies are similar to, or worse than, the policies of the Nazis. In addition, after the Holocaust, Syria gave shelter to numerous Nazi war criminals, and to this day harbors the most-wanted Nazi war criminal in the world, Alois Brunner." (Memri)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 2-8-00

Former Chief Rabbi: Let Syria Return Damascus

Former Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Mordehai Eliyahu, stated on Tuesday in a Chabad gathering in Tel Aviv, "Syria should return Damascus to Israel, since they took it in the time of King David". Rabbi Eliyahu added that we should be in mourning over the government's desire to withdraw from territories in the Golan. He said this is a dark time for the Jews, and that we need to look for the light. Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner, who served as the Lubavitcher Rebbe's secretary, stated that it is necessary to fight against a government that wants to give away territory, to rousing applause from the audience. (IsraelWire)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 1-25-00

Talk about “chutzpah”!

Russia

Russia’s Leader a Soviet Spy Turned Religious

NewsMax.com

January 10, 2000

 

 

Did Vladimir Putin find God, or just a better job?

The new Russian interim president was expelled from West Germany as a Soviet espionage agent in the late 1970s, during the heat of the Cold War.

Today, the same once-cold-blooded spy is warmly advocating "Christian ideals" in his new Russia.

Rising unexpectedly from the ranks of KGB spies to Boris Yeltsin’s prime minister, then to his possible successor pending elections, Putin wasted no time parading his changed colors.

In fact, he made it the subject of his first official pronouncement upon becoming acting president when Yeltsin resigned the Russian presidency on the last day of 1999.

On New Year's Eve, Putin said the ideals of Christianity "will allow us to strengthen mutual understanding and concord within our society and will support the spiritual and moral revival of the Fatherland.”

One week later, before ostentatiously attending a church service, he repeated that refrain by saying the Orthodox Church could help mold a new sense of Russian nationhood.

The Financial Times of London reported Putin promised fellow church-goers he would uphold all democratic freedoms, including the freedom of religious conscience.

That wasn’t exactly the line he was pushing when he was hard at work for the late Soviet Union, whose official policy was that religion, as "the opiate of the masses,” should be stamped out.

The very week that Putin was posturing as a friend of religion, Western news outlets were unraveling his trail as a communist spy.

The German newspaper Saechsische Zeitung, quoting intelligence sources, reported that Putin had arrived in the West German capital of Bonn in 1975 under the guise of a correspondent of TASS, the official Soviet news agency, then expelled a few years later for espionage.

Putin popped up again in the East German city of Dresden, where he held an "important post in the external services of the KGB" from 1984 to 1990, according Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, BND.

There, he was decorated in 1988 by the communist East German government for his "considerable services” as a KGB agent, the Agence France-Presse news service reported.

Der Spiegel magazine reported the KGB concentrated in Dresden on recruiting West German businessmen and East Germans hoping to emigrate, and using them as plants in the West.

It said German counter-intelligence sources are convinced spies recruited by Putin could still be in the West, providing Moscow with information.

Meanwhile, all across Russia hundreds of churches taken over by the Communists are being steadily reclaimed for their original purpose, according to the Financial Times.

In Moscow, one of its writers reported after attending a recent candlelight service at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a Russian Orthodox church blown up by Stalin in the 1930s, then rebuilt in the 1990s by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov:

Worshippers were not worried that religious freedoms would be threatened in Russia — even though the country is now run by a former officer in the KGB, which played the central role in suppressing religion under communism.

Times change and so do individuals' consciences, they said.

Putin lights Hanukkah candle

CNN – Dec. 22, 2000

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin lighted a Hanukkah menorah at a Jewish community center in Moscow.

Putin's high-profile participation in the rite of Hanukkah at the Marina Roshchya synagogue's community center in Moscow was praised by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was present, as evidence of "powerful change" in a land where Jews have suffered persecution for centuries.

Meanwhile in Washington, U.S. President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton lighted one candle on a candelabrum with eight branches in the Oval Office and were serenaded by about 25 children from a Jewish congregation in suburban Maryland. The children recited a prayer and sang songs, including a traditional song about playing with a dreidel, a spinning top used in Hanukkah games.

Earlier in the day Clinton met with about 10 Muslims to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan.

The appearance of Putin, who is a Russian Orthodox Christian, at the Moscow synagogue drew a standing ovation from the several hundred people who were there.

He lit the "shamash" or "servant" candle, which was then used by Rabbi Berl Lazar to light the first of eight other candles. Each day during Hanukkah, which is also known as the "Festival of Lights," another candle is added after sundown.

The festival commemorates a victory by outnumbered Jewish forces over Syrian occupation and the reclaiming of the second Temple of Jerusalem in the 2nd century B.C. At the Temple, they found but one small cruse of oil, enough to last one day, but when they lit the Temple menorah with it, the candle burned for eight days -- setting the length for the observance of Hanukkah.

Putin said the holiday meant "above all the victory not of arms, but a moral victory and without such a victory it is impossible to build a strong society."

Lazar then presented Putin with a menorah.

The president responded that "the light and the kindness that this will radiate will always illuminate the Kremlin."

A history of persecution, pogroms

During the Soviet era, hundreds of thousands of Jews left Russia to escape religious persecution, and many settled in Israel. In pre-Soviet Russia, Jews were confined in ghettos and subject to frequent pogroms.

Netanyahu, who is visiting Russia, said some of his Russian- born friends in Israel "were put in jail because they wanted to celebrate Hanukkah."

But now Putin's participation in the menorah lighting ceremony was "powerful evidence of the change that has happened in Russia," said Netanyahu.

"This is change, big change, positive change, powerful change," he said.

Putin's attendance was also praised by Avraham Berkowitz, executive secretary of the Federation of Jewish Organizations in the former Soviet Union.

"The fact that the president shared this holiday with us is a very good sign for the future of Jewish communities in this country," he said.

"One cannot imagine a Russian leader attending such a holiday in the past. This is really a Hanukkah miracle," he added.

Some Jewish leaders in Russia this month called for tougher government action after a Jewish official was beaten near the offices of a newly elected regional governor who made headlines with controversial remarks about Jews. Putin ordered an investigation into the beating.

Clinton stresses faiths' common values

In Washington, the White House released a statement in which the president and first lady extended "best wishes to all for a joyous Hanukkah celebration."

Clinton's statement also noted that this year Hanukkah is celebrated during the same week Christians celebrate Christmas and Muslims celebrate the Eid Al-Fitr.

"The coinciding of these special days, sacred to followers of the world's three Abrahamic faiths, serves as a powerful reminder of the fundamental values we share: a reverence for our Creator, a belief in human dignity and a conviction that we must love our neighbors as ourselves," Clinton said.

"These ancient lessons still hold great meaning for us today, as the global community grows ever closer and American society becomes increasingly diverse. By taking them to heart at this blessed season, we can build a future where all God's children live together in peace."

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Yeltsin Has Tears Of Joy For Arafat

Breaking Into Tears Over What He Said Was His Joy At Meeting Yasser Arafat In The Holy Land, Boris Yeltsin On Thursday Wished His Friend A Bright Future And Expressed Hopes For A Palestinian State. ``I Want To Tell My Friend That He Should Believe In Russia And Trust Russia,'' Yeltsin Told Arafat As They Met At Arafat's Headquarters In Bethlehem, Jesus' Traditional Birthplace In A Palestinian-Controlled West Bank Enclave.

Http://Dailynews.Yahoo.Com/H/Ap/20000106/Wl/Orthodox_Christmas_Yeltsin_1.Html

From Realnews 1-7-00

Russia And Syria Strengthen Ties

The Russian deputy foreign minister Vassili Cerdin has said that Moscow intends to develop military cooperation with Syria. Cerdin stated that the Russian retreat from weapon's market in the Middle East is not logical and unfruitful at a time when other countries continue to pump weapons into the area. He remarked on Israel and turkey's supremacy and compiling of weapons noting that Moscow sees no reason for minimizing its cooperation with Damascus in order to achieve defense sufficiency. The statement of the Russian official is of special importance because it refutes what has been mentioned of coolness in relations between Moscow and Damascus as Syria has refused to join the regional multilateral talks due to start in Moscow in February. (Arabic News)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 2-3-00

Russia and Iran open “new chapter”

Thursday, 28 December, 2000, 14:05 GMT

Russia and Iran open 'new chapter'

The Russian (L) and Iranian (R) Defence Ministers in Tehran

Russia and Iran have agreed to launch a new long-term programme of political and military co-operation at the end of a three-day visit to Tehran by Russia's Defence Minister, Igor Sergeyev.

Mr Sergeyev called it "a new chapter in our relations, marked by the reopening of military co-operation between Moscow and Tehran," while the Iranian Defence Minister, Ali Shamkhani said it was a "historic day".

The ministers announced military co-operation on all levels as well as plans to expand political, scientific and technical co-operation.

They said they had found common ground on a number of regional issues, including Nato expansion and the civil war in Afghanistan.

America rebuffed

Mr Sergeyev's visit, which is the first of its kind since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, comes less than two months after the Russians notified Washington that they were scrapping a secret understanding reached in 1995 not to supply Iran with military hardware such as tanks and submarines.

The US has hinted at trade reprisals against Moscow, but nothing has materialised.

During his visit, Mr Sergeyev insisted Moscow would not break international agreements by selling arms to Iran and said any deal would not "prejudice a third country".

Iran has rebuffed any suggestion of co-operation with the United States.

"Iran's attitude is negative with respect to prospects for the resumption of contacts with the United States in the military field," said the Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani, according to the Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said it had agreed to long-term political co-operation with Russia in central Asia, the Caucasus and the Persian Gulf.

President Khatami of Iran has also said he plans to make an official visit to Moscow.

BBC News – December 28, 2000

Israeli Science

Circumcision hailed as way to curb Aids

Bryan Appleyard; Sunday Times; March 26, 2000

NEW evidence suggests that circumcision of all male babies could help to halt the global Aids epidemic. With 50m living cases and more than 16m deaths, the disease is now the worst human health disaster since the Black Death.

The thesis - laid out in a scientific paper to be published soon - seems likely to create huge controversy as it represents a complete change in accepted ideas about the transmission of Aids.

One of the paper's authors, Roger Short, professor of obstetrics at Melbourne University and a respected scientist with long experience of Aids-ravaged areas, has been told he cannot address the subject at a forthcoming international conference.

Short and his co-author, Dr Robert Szabo, are convinced that a high level of receptors - sites to which invading organisms attach themselves - on the inside of the foreskin make it responsible for transmission.

Short and Szabo noted a sharp difference in the prevalence of HIV infection in the "Aids belt" countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In some areas the infection rates are as high as 25%, in others as low as 1%. The lower infection rates were clearly associated with the practice of male circumcision.

"The presence of an intact foreskin," says the Short-Szabo paper, "has consistently been shown to be the single most significant factor associated with the much higher prevalence of HIV in countries of the Aids belt."

The link is stronger than with more familiar indicators such as promiscuity, other sexually transmitted diseases and multiple marriage.

Even more startling evidence came from a recent study in Uganda, reported in February. This showed that among a large group of "discordant couples" - where one is infected and one not - no circumcised males became infected over 30 months, even though their wives were HIV-positive. Short describes these results as "staggeringly significant".

Outside Africa there is the same pattern. Countries with low circumcision rates, such as Thailand, India and Cambodia, have between 10 and 50 times the rates of infection compared with countries with high circumcision rates, such as the Philippines, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

Once they get ethical clearance in Australia, Short and Szabo intend to test their conclusions by applying live HIV virus to newly removed foreskins to check its rate of uptake. They could have definite results within weeks.

If experimentally confirmed, the implications are radical. Short and Szabo believe that about 80% of male HIV infections in the world happen through the foreskin.

Short is not advocating adult circumcision, a painful and potentially dangerous operation. But future generations could be saved if mass circumcision began now.

Short believes his findings should be spread globally, as rapidly as possible. "There has been insufficient focus on prevention," he said, "and too much emphasis on the search for a vaccine." Despite the billions poured into research, there is still no sign of an Aids vaccine.

The crisis in sub-Saharan Africa - where life expectancy rates at birth as a result of Aids have dropped from 59 to 44 - is out of control.

"The whole of my life's prejudice has been anti-circumcision," said Short. "I've written papers against it. I didn't believe the benefits outweighed the costs. If God had made us the way we were, why remove a sound organ? But I have been totally converted."

Vitamin-Rich Tomatoes Developed

Hebrew University Researchers Have Worked Out A Method Of Growing Bright Red Tomatoes With Exceptional Amounts Of Vitamins And Minerals, Using Genetic Engineering. Material Resisting Oxidation Is The Secret, With Large Quantities Of Beta-Korten Which Turns Into Vitamin A In The Body. The Researchers Checked The Various Strains Of Tomatoes In The Country To Determine Those With The Strongest Red Color. The "Kaye" Prize Of The Hebrew University Has Been Awarded To The Doctoral Student, Gil Ronen, For The Discovery. (Israelwire)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 6-13-00

Greening The Desert With Bioengineered Trees

"Greening the desert" through genetic engineering of trees that can withstand barren conditions is within reach, according to Prof. Arie Altman, head of the institute of plant sciences and genetics in agriculture at the Hebrew university faculty of agricultural, food and environmental quality sciences. Scientists at the institute have succeeded in isolating unique proteins within the poplar tree, which can preserve the activities of cells of the tree in dry and saline conditions, such as are found in deserts. Prof. Altman and his associates, in collaboration with Dr. Oded Shoseyov, have found that stimulating higher production of these proteins in the tree seedlings can help the trees withstand severe conditions.

The Hebrew university research has particular significance in view of dire forecasts of steadily increasing desertification of the earth's surface. Scientists have predicted that within 50 years some 40-50% of the earth's surface will be dry and saline as a result of global warming and increasing drought. It is estimated that within a few years, over 60% of all irrigation water in israel will become saline.

Tests carried out by the Hebrew university scientists under high saline conditions have demonstrated the viability of the bioengineered trees. Further, tests in other countries in which the trees were planted in land not only of high salinity but also in proximity to industrial pollution also proved successful. This holds out a solution for cleaning and greening areas particularly afflicted with industrial waste. Because of the projected favorable consequences for industrial nations, the European Community has joined in cooperative research on the project. In this research, genetic material from euphratica poplars growing in the Avdat canyon in Israel's Negev region are being used.

The Hebrew university researchers have more recently turned their attention to characterizing the genetic material, which produces the proteins that strengthen the poplar. The work has thus far shown that isolating the genetic material and engineering it into the plant has resulted in a poplar tree which can grow successfully in dry, saline deserts.

The global consequences of greening not only dry and saline lands but also areas polluted by industrial waste hold great potential for many developed and developing nations in the world, the Hebrew university scientists believe.

For further information: na'ama shpeter, dept. Of media relations and publications, the Hebrew university of Jerusalem, tel. 972-2- 5882913, or prof. Altman at 972-8-9489477, 972-8-9463695 (home), or 972-52-608045. (Hebrew university - Jerusalem, August 28, 2000)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 9-12-00

Very Scary

McDonalds In The Holy land

The McDonalds hamburger chain in Israel continues to grow, now boasting 75 stores nationwide. In addition, in 1999, the burger giant in Israel turned a gross profit NIS 11.6 million, the first year the local franchise was in the black since opening its doors in Israel. In '98, McDonalds lost NIS 5 million. (Israel wire)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 4-17-00

Temple Mount

Archaeologist: Barak Allows Waqf To Build On Temple Mt.

The Moslem Waqf, engaged in intensive earthmoving and excavation works on the temple mount, continues to violate Israeli law there. The police have not intervened, and archaeologist dr. Eilat Mazar says that this is with the prime minister's say-so. Mazar, who is a member of a committee to prevent the destruction of ruins of temple mount artifacts, told (arutz-7) that the Waqf's work has continued there non-stop for a long time, but " over the last week and a half, the works have really taken a more intensive turn. Trucks are coming out loaded with pieces of the ruins - and all with Barak's approval. The other ministers know that it is Barak and Barak alone who makes the decisions. We have tried to meet with Barak for months, but he simply ignores us.

A while ago, there was a plan to build a grandiose mosque on the temple mount - the biggest one in the Middle East... Now, with work going on a full 200 meters north of Solomon’s stables [where work was permitted in the past] and next to the gate of mercy, it makes us suspect that these plans have been revived... This must be stopped."

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 12-13-00

Rabbis: Holy Site Can Be Shared

The Associated Press, Wed 6 Dec 2000

WASHINGTON (AP) — One hundred rabbis declared Wednesday that Judaism does not demand exclusive Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount, the holy site in Jerusalem that is a contentious issue in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

``As Jewish leaders, we do not want the site of our Holy Temple to be an obstacle to peace between our two people,'' they said in a statement distributed by the Jewish Peace Lobby, a dovish private group.

The site is considered sacred by both observant Jews and Muslims. A dramatic visit to the site of the ancient Jewish temple by Ariel Sharon, leader of the opposition Likud coalition in Israel, stirred resentment and violence among Palestinians.

The rabbis said they were ``horrified by the shedding of blood in our Holy Land'' and that they mourn the loss of Palestinian and Israelis lives in prolonged conflict between the two sides.

``We are even more horrified by the emergence of mob violence on both sides of the ethnic divide,'' the rabbis said. ``We appeal to all those responsible not to inflame or use the passions and anger of young people.''

While the Israeli government has sharply criticized the Palestinian Authority and its leader, Yasser Arafat, for Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, the statement was evenhanded — taking neither side of the dispute that has claimed nearly 300 lives, most of them Palestinian.

The rabbis said Judaism does not demand exclusive Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount and cited a passage from Isaiah in the Bible that the Temple Mount is a ``house of prayer for all nations.''

The rabbis were drawn from the Reform, Reconstruction and Conservative Movement. No Orthodox rabbis signed the statement, according to a lobby publicist.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in July offered Arafat control of some areas of Jerusalem, but rebuffed any attempt to assert Palestinian sovereignty over parts of the city. He has since suggested the dispute over Jerusalem be deferred and that Israel and the Palestinians conclude an interim agreement that would give Arafat most of the West Bank and Gaza and a state.

On Tuesday, the Israeli general in charge of military operations said Israel must not fall into a trap of open conflict with Hezbollah guerrillas who have carried out four attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians in the last six weeks.

Sent here to meet with his counterparts at the Pentagon and with members of Congress, Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland said it would be a mistake to strike back with full force. ``Hezbollah is highly motivated to continue fighting and would continue,'' he said.

On another front, Farouk Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization's political department, said the peace process had failed and that the Palestinians had ``started our intifada.''

``We have to continue the intifada by the stones, only by the stones, in order to ... safeguard our own interests,'' said Kaddoumi, who unofficially serves as foreign minister for the Palestinian government-in-exile.

Kaddoumi sought a meeting with State Department officials, but was turned down as a consistent opponent of the peace process, an official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Eiland said Iran had armed the Hezbollah guerrillas with missiles and seeks the destruction of Israel. He called Hezbollah, which operates out of southern Lebanon, an Iranian ``tool.''

At the same time, the general said Israel had hoped President Bashar Assad of Syria would be more moderate than his father, Hafez, and concentrate on Syria's economic needs.

Instead, Eiland said, Assad has given Hezbollah a green light and encourages them ``with military and political support.''

Syria, which is in effective control of Lebanon, is the ``real address'' should Israel decide to hit back hard, Eiland said.

Last month, in a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright asked Assad for help in freeing three Israeli soldiers and a reserve colonel kidnapped by the Islamic group. They remain in Hezbollah's hands.

Without the buffer zone inside Lebanon's border that Israel abandoned seven months ago at U.N. behest, the guerrillas can easily strike at Israeli civilians, Eiland said at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a private research group.

On another subject, he said Israel was willing to lift its blockade of Gaza if the Palestinians would re-arrest 80 terrorists that Eiland said had been released from prison.

Eiland said he had told Mary Robinson, the U.N. human rights chief, about the proposal during a trip to the region last month, but she dismissed it out of hand, saying it was not fair of Israel to ask the Palestinians ``to make the first move.''

Robinson, in a subsequent report, described herself as ``shocked and dismayed and even devastated'' at the plight of the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Kaddoumi said U.S. mediators need international help in brokering peace in the Middle East because ``they are biased'' toward Israel and their efforts so far have failed.

``The United States, who was the only superpower in this world and was expected to do something, did nothing,'' Kaddoumi said of the faltering 1993 Oslo peace process.

Israel/Jerusalem

Al-Aksa Intafada Has Cost Israel $1 Billion

The Israeli economy has lost $1 billion - equal to one-percent of the gross national product - due to the security-related events during the last two months, but a sluggish stock market in America could have an even more devastating effect on the local economy, according to an "economic information" booklet published by the finance ministry yesterday. (Ha'aretz)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 11-28-00

Sodom And Gomorrah 'Found At Bottom Of Dead Sea'

A Bible scholar believes that he has found the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah, the evil cities destroyed by god with fire and brimstone, after leading the first expedition to explore the bottom of the Dead Sea. Michael Sanders and an international team of researchers discovered what appear to be the salt-encrusted remains of ancient settlements on the seabed after several fraught weeks diving in a mini submarine. Mr Sanders, a Briton who is now based in the United States, said yesterday that he was "immensely excited" about the find, and he is already planning a follow-up expedition. He said: "the evidence cannot be ignored. I predicted there must be something extraordinary there and, lo and behold, there was. What we found matches exactly what the remains of an ancient city might look like."

Dr John Whitaker, a geologist from Leicester university and the former editor of geology today, said yesterday that the new development - which will be unveiled in a television documentary tomorrow - appeared "very significant". He said: "there is a good chance that these mounds are covering up brick structures and are one of the lost cities of the plains, possibly even Sodom or Gomorrah, though I would have to examine the evidence. These bible stories were handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation before they were written down, and there seems to be a great deal in this one."

God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to punish the sexual immorality of their inhabitants is one of the most graphic episodes in the Old Testament. Genesis says that "the lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground". Many archaeologists and scholars have concluded that the story was symbolic, a warning to erring humans of the divine punishment they faced for wickedness. But there has been speculation for centuries that the cities existed in the region of the Dead Sea. A growing number of experts, including Mr. Sanders, are now convinced that "the cities of the plain" were destroyed by an earthquake, which threw up flaming pitch, about 5,000 years ago.

Since the 1960s, archaeologists have discovered mass graves on a peninsula jutting into the Dead Sea which contain human bones dating from the Old Testament period. And sulphur, or brimstone, have been found in nearby cliffs, adding to the mystery. (electronic telegraph)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 3-27-00

Israel Admitted To Un

After 40 Years Of Exclusion, Israel Was Given Temporary Membership In A United Nations Regional Group That Opens The Way For Its Eventual Election To Key U.N. Bodies. Israel's U.N. Envoy, Yehuda Lancry, Said He Received A Letter On Friday From The Current Chairman Of The West European And Others Group, Ambassador Peter Van Walsum Of The Netherlands, Informing Him Of The Group's Decision. Lancry Called It ``An Historic Turning Point'' In The Relationship Between Israel And The United Nations, And Said His Government Would Respond Formally Within A Few Days.

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 5-30-00

Letter From Arik Sharon To Sec. Of State Albright

Her Excellency Mrs. Madelaine Allbright

Secretary Of State

The State Dept.

Washington Dc

 

Monday October 2, 20000

Dear Secretary Allbright:

I deeply regret, and I find it totally unacceptable that your spokesman was quick to make a false statement that my visit to the temple mount "may have caused tension," insinuating that it ignited the riots and disturbances in Jerusalem that spread to Judea, Samaria and Gaza and later, to Israel itself.

I find it most regrettable and disturbing that your spokesman has been swayed by slanderous propaganda on the part of the Palestinian leaders and media, intended to put pressure on Israel and the us to make additional concessions in the negotiations, under threat of violence if their demands are not met.

I have expressed my concern and regret at the widespread violence and the senseless loss of lives and injuries on both sides. But it must be clearly understood that it wasn't my visit to the temple mount the holiest site for Jews and under full Israeli sovereignty - that ignited the current outbreak of violence.

Israel's security establishment has publicly presented its conclusions that the violent riots and armed confrontations, are part of a premeditated and organized campaign initiated by the Palestinian Authority (p.a.). This campaign began over ten days ago in the Netzarim area in Gaza, starting with stone throwing and escalating to the use of firearms and explosives against Israeli soldiers and civilians travelling there,

These riots have spread out through the deliberate incitement (prior to the visit) by the 'Tanzim' (the armed militia of chairman Arafat’s Fatah organization). Last Friday Arafat instructed the 'Tanzim' to escalate the riots. Moreover, Palestinian security chiefs have been directly involved in inciting the violence and in ordering Palestinian police to open fire on Israeli soldiers, police and civilians.

Arab members of the Knesset (MKs) have contributed to and joined this violent campaign by repeated incitement calling Arab Israelis as well as Palestinians to resort to violence prior, during and after my visit to the temple mount.

This is not the first time I’m visiting the temple mount. The inspector general of the police has explained that the large forces which the police deployed to safeguard the visit, were required due to Palestinian threats prior to the visit to resort to large scale violence in order to take control of the western wall area below the temple mount.

I wish to emphasize, Mrs. Secretary, that Prime Minister Barak has already stated very clearly that every Israeli citizen, be it Arab or Jew, has a right to visit any place which is under Israeli sovereignty.

The united city of Jerusalem, which you are all very familiar with, as well as the temple mount, are under full Israeli sovereignty. Neither I, nor any Israeli citizen need to seek permission from the pa or from any foreign entity to visit there or any other site which is sovereign territory of the state of Israel.

As for myself, I wish to assure you that despite the recent violent events I remain fully committed to achieving peace with all our Arab neighbors including the Palestinians.

I believe we can reach peace, but it must be durable and real peace based first and foremost on complete negation of violence. Furthermore, it requires Arab Palestinian recognition and acceptance of the historical inherent rights that Jews have on their land in their undivided capital Jerusalem and particularly sovereign rights and free access to our most sacred site on the temple mount. This right is granted and has only been safeguarded to every Israeli citizen as well as visitors, regardless of race, creed or religion since Israel united the city in 1967.

Sincerely Yours.

Ariel Sharon, Chairman

Likud Party

 

38 King George St. Tel Aviv 63298 Israel

Tel. 972-3-5252925 Fax 972-3-5252932

E-Mail: Likud@Likud.Org.Il

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 10-3-00

If He's Beaten, He Must Be Palestinian

This past Saturday, the New York Times and many other papers published a picture - supplied by the associated press - of an angry Israeli policeman and a badly-beaten and bloodied man, with the caption, "an Israeli policeman and a Palestinian on the temple mount." the picture can be seen on our home-page; click above. Dr. Aaron Grossman, of Chicago, Ill., sent the following letter to the times:

"Regarding your picture on page a5 (sept. 30) of the Israeli soldier and the Palestinian on the temple mount - that Palestinian is actually my son, Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago. He, and two of his friends, were pulled from their taxicab while traveling in Jerusalem, by a mob of Palestinian Arabs and were severely beaten and stabbed. That picture could not have been taken on the temple mount because there are no gas stations on the temple mount and certainly none with Hebrew lettering, like the one clearly seen behind the Israeli soldier attempting to protect my son from the mob."

Tuvia Grossman was on his way to the western wall on Friday afternoon, and has been hospitalized ever since with head injuries and a stab wound. He told arutz-7 today,

"I was in a taxi on the way to the kotel [western wall] and we got stoned... [they took me out of the car and beat me and] I gave a scream, and for a second they let go of me, and I said shma yisrael, because I thought it was all over... After they let go of me, I ran - even though I had a knife in my leg, g-d gave me the strength to run and I was able to make it up the hill where there were soldiers by the gas station and they took care of me. But I was being beaten for around 5 or 6 minutes with a rock on the top of my head, and I was stabbed in the back of my leg and kicked and punched all over my body."

"[when I saw the mis-captioned AP picture] I was extremely, extremely upset. People see a picture of a youth and they think that it's a Palestinian being beaten by Israelis, it changes their world view and makes them think that it's the Israelis beating up the Arabs. I was extremely upset. It was totally the opposite. That policeman was yelling at the Arabs to back off, and was protecting me from them - so to change it around and to say that he was beating me, that's just total distortion, and the world must be notified about how this is not true - the Jews are the ones suffering at the hands of the Arabs."

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 10-5-00

The Media's Propaganda War (Jerusalem Post)

After careful examination of the record, several media analysts have concluded that many among the foreign media, especially in CNN and the BBC, are actively engaged in a propaganda war designed to delegitimize Israel.

This is a harsh conclusion, but it is obvious that these media mandarins are promoting the Arab propaganda line that Israel is a colonialist power with few legitimate rights to the land, and that it willfully kills innocent Arabs, even children.

Many hundreds of Arabs, while systematically attacking a few Israeli soldiers with stones, blocks, firebombs, automatic weapons, and dynamite, are systematically called "demonstrators" (as if they were manning a peaceful picket line).

Israel's defensive response is always depicted as initiating aggression. To prove Israeli brutality, CNN reported almost one hundred Arab dead, including "nearly two dozen of them children," on October 13. But an October 27 Arab list, known for exaggerating, claimed only eight children dead.

Moreover, considering there were over 3000 violent mass attacks on Israelis, half involving firearms, the number of Arab casualties is comparatively low, while the extraordinarily high ratio of estimated wounded to killed (30 to 1; it is usually 4 to 1) proves that Israelis were extremely careful not to kill.

CNN and the BBC habitually refer to "conquered Palestinian land," though no land could have been conquered from a Palestinian entity that never existed. They ignore the fact that these territories were taken from Jordan after it illegally annexed them and launched several unprovoked wars against Israel.

They do not mention that Israel took the unprecedented (some say foolish) step of ceding the territories where over 90% of the Palestinian Arabs live, to Palestinian authority chairman Yasser Arafat. Nor do they explain that Arafat, until recently head of a terrorist organization, established a corrupt oppressive regime, violating human rights by kidnapping, arbitrary arrest, torture and extortion, while deflecting the resulting Palestinian anger against Israel.

A false picture is painted because the media's motives would be exposed if people realized what a horrible dictatorship they support (though anyone remembering western media's wide support for Stalinism ought not to be surprised).

We are not told that Palestinian children "demonstrate" because t hey are subjected to the Palestinian authority's racist indoctrination program that depicts Jews as murderers and rapists, bloodsuckers, dogs, monkeys and pigs, and enemies of Islam who massacre the faithful; nor of its incitement to a holy jihad and to the murder of Jews and Christians.

The BBC alleges that Israeli aggressors gratuitously rained "wave after wave of missiles" on civilians. This, on the day that two Israelis were lynched, and Israel fired two missiles at an empty Palestinian police station.

CNN and the BBC do not air footage showing children being used as human shields by heavily armed Palestinian soldiers, masked as "police" or "civilians" ("protesters" in their doublespeak), who are attacking Israelis with the intent to kill. They never mention that, should Israeli soldiers hold their fire, they would be overrun and brutally butchered, as the Ramallah lynching so graphically demonstrated.

As third world "underdogs," the Arabs can do no wrong, despite the Palestinians' long bloody record and the several wars mounted in an effort to annihilate Israel.

Arafat's well orchestrated assaults constitute a war of attrition, and yet are always described as "protests" or "clashes" that " erupt" spontaneously as a result of putative Israeli "provocations," such as the visit by Likud leader Ariel Sharon to "the Jerusalem site known [sic] as the temple mount..." (also described as "a jerusalem shrine [sic] revered by Moslems [first, of course] and Jews" or "a Jerusalem holy site... Which Moslems [first, again] call [sic] the noble sanctuary and Jews the temple mount".)

Anything but the simple truth, that it is the Palestinians who always attack; that "the holy site" is not only "called", but actually is the ancient Jewish temple mount, antedating Jesus’ birth; or that a Moslem imperial conqueror graced it with two (beautiful) Moslem shrines to assert Moslem domination.

 nor are we told that Israel liberally allowed Moslems to control these shrines, while Arabs violently deny any Jewish right, even the right of prayer, on Judaism’s most sacred site.

We cannot here fully describe the Orwellian doublespeak, selective reporting, and tendentious omissions habitually used to falsely condemn Israel, while whitewashing a murderous jingoistic Arab nationalism. The notorious laziness and ignorance of many correspondents (eternalized in Evelyn Waugh's scoop) cannot excuse such extreme partiality.

It must be ideology that motivates such a motley crew as the BBC's Paul Adams and Lyse Doucet, or CNN's Mike Hanna and Jerrold Kessel to discard their professional integrity and mount a propaganda campaign against Israel, repeating without checking or questioning the Goebbels-like lies of Hanan Sshrawi and Saeb Erekat. They can see what their false reporting has wrought: an atavistic wave of anti-Semitism, including synagogue torching in Europe, promoted by their depiction of Jews as child killers.

What is equally disturbing, however, is that the Israeli public, and Jews worldwide, tolerate such bloody abuse without a strong reaction. (Jerusalem Post)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 11-14-00

Europe

After Nice

Dec 15th 2000
From The Economist Global Agenda

With the exhausted conclusion of its summit meeting in Nice in the early hours of December 11th, the European Union has taken decisions that have huge repercussions on Europe’s future. The summit prepared the way for the Union’s eventual expansion from its present membership of 15 countries to as many as 27. It also approved steps that will help the Union develop its own security force

 

THE boast by Jacques Chirac, France’s president, that the Nice summit had been a great success, was soon challenged. Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, the Union’s executive arm, expressed disappointment that reform had not been more sweeping. But two of the meeting’s achievements were solid enough. There was an opening of the EU’s door to membership by a dozen applicant countries, mostly victims of decades of communist oppression in Central and Eastern Europe. And there was a new recognition that NATO should remain the bedrock of western security, even as the Union strives to create its own “defence identity”.

The really bitter arguments—so bitter they brought the summit to the brink of failure—were not about the principle of enlargement, so much as the struggle for power and influence in the newly expanded EU. A European Union with more members necessarily means that each individual country will have less sway. Most of the EU’s decisions are now made by majority voting so, inevitably, the question of how a majority is constituted assumes crucial importance. The big development at Nice was a move by the big countries—Germany, France, Italy, Britain and Spain—to increase their relative voting weight at the expense of the small countries. This change proved so hard to swallow for the small countries that it brought them to the brink of a walkout—even such habitual “good Europeans” as Belgium and Portugal considered this.

 

Forming a majority will require surmounting several hurdles. All the countries in the enlarged EU will have notional voting weights, and a “qualified majority” will require 74.6% of these votes. This means a coalition of three big countries plus one small one will usually be enough to block a qualified majority. Another form of blocking minority is constituted by a clause requiring a check that any decision has the backing of countries representing 62% of the population of the enlarged EU.

Almost alone among the 15 countries around the table in Nice, the French resisted a much simpler system called the “simple double majority”. This would have stated that any EU decision had to command the support of a majority of votes, with each state having one vote; and of a second majority of countries making up over 50% of the EU’s population. France rejected this idea because it would have downgraded its traditionally central role in the EU; France would have become just one vote around the table; and would have had to accept a clear advantage for Germany, based on its larger population.

Even so, the Nice treaty does represent a power-shift towards Germany. Populous countries are given more weight in the Council of Ministers, and Germany also gains more seats in the European Parliament, which shares the power to make European laws. Perhaps more profoundly, after the EU’s expansion, the Germans will be at the geographic centre of the union, rather than at its eastern edge.

Despite the achievement of an agreement, rejoicing over securing enlargement of the EU would be premature. Much remains unclear, and there is to be a new conference in 2004 on the division of power between the Union and its members. And the Nice summit did not even address some of the thorniest issues of all—such as how to reform the EU’s costly Common Agricultural Policy, which will become unsustainable if and when the EU expands eastwards.

Getting defensive

The British, the traditional bad boys of Europe, relished being out of the main arguments for once. They also were pleased that defence is excluded from proposals for “enhanced co-operation”—where groups of eight or more countries can push ahead with closer integration in chosen areas, provided other countries are free to join later.

Britain also partially defused an incipient EU row over whether the Union’s new defence force will undermine NATO by setting up an independent military planning staff. This had become an even thornier issue after remarks made earlier this month by William Cohen, the American defence secretary, suggesting that the United States was uneasy about closer European co-operation on defence. In Nice, some ambitious French proposals for endowing the Union with a broad measure of autonomy from NATO were watered down under strong British pressure.

Beating a tactical retreat, Mr Chirac, in a carefully chosen phrase, still insisted that the Union would acquire the military means—in terms of both equipment and command posts—“to defend its interests” and handle crises. Taken literally, this could mean that the Union will aspire to act militarily in emergencies which do not involve any threat to its members’ territorial integrity (that would still be NATO’s business), but which may nonetheless be quite serious.

At least until recently, this sort of terminology—crisis management, the promotion of stability and western interests and values—was being used by NATO strategists to describe the role which the alliance itself might take on in future. Since the Kosovo war, American enthusiasm for using NATO as an “out-of-area” policeman has waned, in part because of the sheer incompetence demonstrated by European forces during the fighting. In the medium term, the Union may improbably step into that role; but it remains without the military muscle, the skills or the clout for the job.

The messages sent from Nice—once the more strident French-inspired language had been toned down—should have helped ease tensions at a meeting in Brussels on December 14th and 15th of NATO foreign ministers. The terms of a deal between NATO and the Union seem clear in outline, with NATO doing the planning and lending its European friends military equipment that is not needed elsewhere. But tempers have been frayed not just by suspicions of France’s intentions, but by the refusal by Turkey to allow EU members guaranteed access to NATO assets. It argues that the EU will not give the same status to it and other European allies that are not in the EU. The EU’s French presidency has devised an elaborate set of consultation procedures to reassure these six nations; all but Turkey are satisfied. It may be trying to exact leverage in its own efforts to join the EU, out of fear that the enlargement bandwagon is about to roll without it.

Britain pledges 12,000 to Euro-army

By George Jones, Michael Smith and Andrew Sparrow

(November 21, 2000), Telegraph)

PLANS for a new European defence force were embroiled in controversy last night after the Government was accused of failing to disclose that troops could be deployed as far afield as Africa, the Middle East and well into Russia.

The Tories claimed that reports about the new force in Germany suggested the EU was developing "superpower ambitions". Tony Blair, Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, and Nato chiefs yesterday defended the new force, rejecting accusations that it could lead to the United States losing any role in European security.

The Prime Minister accused Lord Healey, the former Labour Defence Secretary, and two of his Tory successors, of peddling "scare-mongering nonsense" in a letter to The Daily Telegraph on Monday.

Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, said in a response published in the newspaper today that there was no intention to "decouple the US from European security". Lord Robertson, the secretary-general of Nato, said in a separate letter that the EU plans were "no danger to Nato's future". Downing Street insisted in a statement that British armed forces would remain exclusively under the control of British authorities.

In Brussels yesterday, Mr Hoon formally pledged a British contribution of 12,500 ground troops, 18 warships and up to 72 combat aircraft to Europe's 60,000-strong Rapid Reaction Force. A UK commitment of about 20,000 troops will be needed to enable 12,500 soldiers to mobilise at short notice when the force becomes fully operational in 2003.

France and Germany are making similar commitments, with other member states contributing smaller numbers to make up a pool of 90,000-120,000 EU troops, from which a maximum of 60,000 would be drawn for any one mission. The Government rejected accusations that it would be a "European standing army" or that Brussels would be taking decisions on the deployment of British troops.

But the Conservatives seized on a report in the German newspaper Die Welt on Saturday about the EU's plans for a "new super Army" for heavily-armed military deployments. The newspaper said the European force could be sent up to 2,500 miles from Brussels. That would include large parts of Africa, the Middle East and the Caucasus. It published a map showing the radius of the new force - extending well beyond Moscow, taking in Baghdad and going beyond Cairo in the south.

Announcing Britain's contribution, Mr Hoon said there was technically no geographical limit to where the new force could operate, although initially he would expect any deployment to be "in Europe's backyard". Asked how far that extended, he replied: "If there is a geographical limit we will know it when we see it."

Downing Street said later that the force could "conceivably" operate outside EU boundaries - such as a situation in which European nationals needed to be taken out of part of Africa. Ministry of Defence officials suggested privately that missions it might have undertaken included the UN operation in East Timor and the failed US attempt to separate warring factions in Somalia where 18 US servicemen died.

Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative defence spokesman, said: "The Government are telling the British people one thing while others in Europe are being told a different story about the European Union with superpower ambitions and now an army to match. It doesn't matter what is in the communique, what this Government has created is the beginnings of a Euro-army which will weaken and dilute Nato."

Mr Blair, speaking to reporters on a flight to Moscow for a mini-summit with Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, insisted that the efforts to give the EU a military capability to match its economic power would not undermine Nato.

When asked about the claims made by Lords Healey, Owen and Carrington and Sir Malcolm Rifkind in yesterday's Telegraph, Mr Blair said they were "complete nonsense". He said: "It is only a force where Nato does not want to be engaged. It's limited to peacekeeping and humanitarian tasks. It is not a conflict force. The idea of some European army marching under the Brussels Commission with Romano Prodi at its head, directing the troops, this is just the usual scare story."

Mr Hoon accused the Conservatives of playing political football with a commonsense plan to pool European military resources. In an attempt to deflect domestic criticism, he secured a definitive statement in the final communique that the EU plan "does not involve the establishment of a European Army".

Downing Street said all 15 EU member states would have to agree before the force was deployed. Each country would then be able to decide whether to commit troops.

Russia Says Could Join EU Military Force

Saturday November 25 1:35 PM ET

By Adam Tanner

BERLIN (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on Saturday that Russia was ready to cooperate with the European Union's new military force.

``We consider it completely natural, the effort by Europe with their own forces to provide for their own security,'' Ivanov told leading European policy makers and analysts at a forum on Europe. ''And in a crisis situation we are ready for constructive cooperation.''

European countries announced this week they would form their own rapid reaction force outside NATO, the Atlantic alliance heavily dependent on U.S. military might which formed the West's primary Cold War buffer against the former Soviet Union.

EU countries said they would create a force of up to 60,000 ground troops from the EU's 15 member states by 2003 to deal with regional conflicts and humanitarian crises.

``The possibility of a Russian contribution in the conduct of European Union operations in regulating crises will be studied,'' Ivanov said. ``I am sure that this will open good possibilities for our joint contribution to strengthening stability and security in Europe.''

Ivanov's proposal could raise U.S. fears of losing influence in European peacekeeping operations, and his remarks sought to highlight cases where U.S. and European interests diverged.

For example, Ivanov mentioned Europe's differences with Washington over the possible development of a ballistic missile defense system. ''We very much appreciate that a whole series of leading European governments have come out with us and the overwhelming majority of the world in defense of strategic stability,'' he said. ``One would like to believe that the series of supporters on our continent for the preservation of the ABM treaty will expand.''

Warning that a failure to following international norms would lead to chaos, Ivanov cited the 1999 U.S.-led NATO air war against Yugoslavia as an example of NATO gone astray.

``Unfortunately, the well-known events in the Balkans in the spring of 1999 are evidence that such an alternative cannot be excluded,'' he said. ``After the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, there was again talk in the world that maintaining security was only possible by military means, including through the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.

``I am sure that such a negative development of events is not in the interests of a single European government.''

He called for the European Union to be more involved in the peace process in the Middle East.

``Russia, as a co-sponsor of the Middle East peace process believes that the European Union should take a more active role in its international mediation,'' he said. ``The very proximity and approaches on these questions between Moscow and Brussels allows us to act in tandem and if necessary, in a joint effort.''

In another proposal, Ivanov called for the creation of a European monument to the victims of repression during the Nazi era and Stalin's iron rule in the former Soviet Union.

Weather/Science

Chip Implants

Why you should get a chip implant Capabilities would make life so much better - or would they?

By Paul Somerson, PC Computin; ZDNN (reported on MSNBC); 9-27-00

Sept. 27 - How'd you like to avoid waiting in lines for the rest of your life? Breeze through everywhere like you owned the place. Watch lights snap on, doors open automatically, money pop out of ATMs as you approach. Never have to show an ID, buy a ticket, carry keys, remember a password. You'd leave stores loaded with packages and waltz right past the cashiers. You wouldn't have to carry a wallet. Ever. Family and friends could find you instantly in any crowd.

THERE'S ONLY ONE CATCH - you'd need to have a tiny little chip implanted in your body. No big deal. Just ask Kevin Warwick, a British professor who had a silicon-based transponder surgically inserted into his forearm last year.

You'd think from all the attention that the natty professor was jacking chips into his brain like some cheese-ball sci-fi android. Truth is, his modest implant simply turned him into a walking EZ-Pass. Warwick's gizmo - a coil of wire and a few chips embedded in a small glass capsule about a tenth of an inch wide and a little less than an inch long - generates a 64-bit number when zapped by an RF transmitter. A receiver then looks it up in a database. Animal shelters have implanted millions of these electronic IDs in cats, dogs, and birds. Metal tags can fall off, and tattooed numbers could be placed anywhere and are often hard to find - who wants to play slap-and-tickle with a snarling rottweiler?

A lot of us carry similar mechanisms inside ID cards, to open doors. But these can get lost, forgotten, or stolen and misused. And biometric devices like retinal scanners and fingerprint sensors are intrusive and imperfect. Besides, people have been sticking all sorts of things in their bodies for years - pacemakers to fix broken hearts, silicone to perk up skinny chests, Norplant to prevent third-world countries from becoming fourth-world ones. Consider the benefits. It would end password PINsanity forever. Sensors would wave chipped consumers through checkout lines and tollbooths. Contractors would build implant-friendly homes and offices with Gatesian gimmicks that could customize temperature, background music, and even images on wall-size flat-screen displays as you move from room to room. It would help sort out newborn babies, Alzheimer's patients, amnesiacs, comatose (or worse) accident victims, and military casualties. In fact, there's an entire paranoid-delusional faction out there that be-lieves the government is already chipping soldiers and prisoners. And kidnap-prone executives are sup-posedly implanting tiny Lo-Jack devices to track their movements. Internal chips could measure irregular heartbeats and blood-sugar levels in diabetics. Or, as Warwick points out, chips could sense muscular movements so you could play air guitar, type on virtual air key-boards, move invisible mice. And Warwick won't make a lot of new redneck friends with his suggestion that gun buyers first get chipped before their weapons are delivered. Computers are rapidly evolving into Internet terminals. When your chip goes in, you'll be able to walk up to any terminal in any office and log on instantly. Incoming phone calls and faxes will automatically be routed to wherever you happen to be. Of course, employers could also log your time in the john or at the water cooler. If you don't think you're already being monitored, you're naïve. Your credit cards, telephone bills, supermarket club cards, Internet purchases and public records like home purchases and car licenses already do a pretty good job. How will they convince people to implant these chips? First, they'll hype the convenience of leaving your keys, credit cards and money at home. Then they'll automate everything from cash registers to tollbooths so if you're chipped you can zoom through in a digital carpool lane. Me, I'll wait.

 

Arctic expert unthaws alarming data on ice thinning

(The gist of the article is that weather patterns may be disrupted, changing the Gulf Stream, causing much colder winters on the Atlantic coast.)

January 3, 2000
Web posted at: 4:27 p.m. EST (2127 GMT)

By Jack Hamann
CNN Environment Unit

(CNN) -- He's an expert on Arctic ice, but he's never been to the North Pole.

Drew Rothrock says he's a "digital guy:" the sort of scientist who would rather pore over data on a computer screen than get his feet wet in the field. (Or, in the case of Arctic tundra, get his feet frozen.)

Dr. Rothrock and two colleagues from the University of Washington's Polar Research Center recently published a four-page paper in a relatively obscure journal called Geophysical Research Letters. But the findings in that brief paper won worldwide attention in media like the New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor and CNN. Not bad for data jockeys.

Why all the attention? Turns out, Arctic ice is getting pretty thin.

Rothrock

Thawing decades of data

For most of the 1990s, Rothrock and his partners have been studying measurements of North Pole ice taken by U.S. Navy nuclear submarines. The Arctic Ocean is fairly deep in many places, and military submarines regularly glide beneath the ice, trying to remain strategically invisible to competing navies, while taking sonar soundings of the ice pack above. Since the end of the Cold War in 1990, the military has been increasingly willing to let scientists use their vessels, vehicles and aircraft to study the planet.

Arctic ice is very different than the stuff found on land, like glaciers. For starters, ice formed in seawater never gets all that thick. Most of the actual freezing takes place on the bottom of the ice sheet, where ice contacts the ocean. Ice traps air, which acts as an insulator, which eventually slows down the ice-forming process. Icebergs, by contrast, can be huge -- they are formed on land, and break off into the sea and float around.

Even in the sub-freezing temperatures of midwinter, Rothrock commonly finds Arctic ice measurements only a few inches thick, although in some places it can pile up to 10 feet or more. The Navy numbers from the '90s seemed to show a disturbing trend, however: on average, the thickness seemed to be decreasing about 4 inches (10 cm) a year.

Rathrock's data shows that Arctic ice is thinning at an alarming rate

Were these measurements yet another sign that our planet is getting warmer? Or were they simply a small slice of natural global fluctuations?

The Navy has been recording ice data for decades, but like most Cold War calculations, the information has been top secret. If an unfriendly nation obtains information on where and when submarines had taken their measurements in the past, they might be able to guess where those subs would travel in the future.

But -- like the Arctic ice itself -- military secrecy seems to be thawing. About a year ago, Rothrock convinced Navy brass that measurements taken in the 1950s could be helpful in figuring out whether the data from the '90s was statistically significant. Armed with a pile of new numbers, Rothrock guessed that they might show that the polar cap had shrunk perhaps 18-20 inches over the past half century.

He was wrong. The actual shrinkage left him astonished.

On average, the University of Washington team found that ice had thinned by four feet (1.3 meters) -- a 40 percent decrease since 1953. The "trend" of the 1990s seemed to be an indisputable fact.

Scientists fear Gulf Stream diversion

When Arctic ice melts, it doesn't raise the level of the ocean, and doesn't threaten coastal communities with flooding. The sea ice merely changes form when it melts. As the ice above the surface melts, its weight decreases, so it displaces less water. At the same time, the melted ice adds more water, so the ocean level remains the same.

By contrast, land-based ice does pose a threat to coastlines if it melts too dramatically.

But there is still reason to pay attention. Water from the Arctic Ocean plays an important role in Northern Hemisphere weather. The powerful Gulf Stream current moves warm water from the tropics past the east coast of the United States and Canada and northwestern Europe. If the Arctic continues to melt, some scientists fear the Gulf Stream will be diverted. Without that warm water, heavily populated areas around the northern Atlantic might suffer bitterly cold winters.

Could global warming be the cause of Arctic melting? And could that melting, ironically, make some places colder?

Rothrock won't go that far. His own theory is that a cyclical pattern of Arctic winds has stayed strong longer than expected, and that those winds have hastened the normal seasonal breakup of polar ice. He does not say -- as many environmentalists do -- that global warming is the culprit. But he also cannot say why those Arctic winds have stayed so strong.

A nuclear submarine churns through Arctic ice

The folks at the Polar Science Center say they need even more data. On the one hand, they are expanding their relationship with the Navy, as more and more scientists are allowed to travel on submarines and conduct experiments. On the other, they are gently pressuring the Pentagon to release even more of the mountains of Cold War data, enabling them to piece together a more complete picture of changes in ice thickness over time.

Of all the places where submarines sneak around, the statistics at one precise point are already fairly well-established. No matter what the date or the mission, the place submarines are most often given permission to surface is right at the North Pole. By tradition, the lucky sailors who are allowed to frolic at 90 degrees North play a game of softball.

Rothrock, however, doesn't care whether he ever plays in one of those games. He's content to simply analyze the numbers they bring back ... and perhaps play a digital softball game on his computer.

 

Archaeologists Find Lost Pharaonic Cities Under Sea

Archaeologists scouring the Mediterranean seabed announced on June 3rd they have found the 2,500-year-old ruins of submerged Pharaonic cities that until now were known only through Greek tragedies, travelogues, and legends. Among the stunning discoveries at the sites - where the cities of Herakleion, Canopus, and Menouthis once stood - are remarkably preserved houses, temples, port infrastructure and colossal statues that stand testimony to the citizens' luxuriant lifestyle. His is the first time that historians have found physical evidence of the existence of the lost cities, which were famous not only for their riches and arts, but also for numerous temples dedicated to the gods Isis, Serapis, and Osiris, making the region an important pilgrimage destination for various cults.

"It is the most exciting finds in the history of marine archaeology. Among the finds are the remains of the entire submerged city of Herakleion, once a customs port where commerce flourished until the founding of Alexandria by Alexander the great in 331 b. C. "we have an intact city, frozen in time," at a news conference to announce the discovery, underwater television footage of the site were shown to the reporters. Some of the buried treasure was also on display - a basalt head of a pharaoh, a bust of the curly-haired and bearded god Serapis and a life-size headless black granite statue of the goddess Isis, draped in a cloak held together by knots at her breast.

(The Jerusalem Post)

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 6-13-00

New Evidence Of Great Flood Found

Washington (AP) - artifacts found at the bottom of the black sea provide new evidence that humans faced a great flood, perhaps that of the biblical Noah, thousands of years ago, the discoverers say.

Remnants of human habitation were found in over 300 feet of water about 12 miles off the coast of turkey, undersea explorer Robert Ballard said Tuesday. ``there's no doubt about it, it's an exciting discovery,'' Ballard said in a telephone interview from his research ship. ``we realize the broad significance the discovery has and we're going to do our best to learn more.''

Fredrik Hiebert of the University of Pennsylvania, chief archaeologist for the black sea project, said from the ship, ``this find represents the first concrete evidence for the occupation of the black sea coast prior to its flooding.'' many ancient middle eastern cultures have legends of a great flood, including the bible story of Noah.

Last year Ballard found indications of an ancient coastline miles out from the current black sea coast. His new discovery provides evidence that people once lived in that now inundated region.

Ballard, a national geographic society explorer in residence, said he had studied shells found along the ancient coastline and found two types. One group is an extinct type of freshwater shell, while the second is from saltwater shellfish. The saltwater shells date back 6,500 years, while the freshwater shells all date to 7,000 years ago and older.

``so,'' he said Tuesday, ``we know that there was a sudden and dramatic change from a freshwater lake to a saltwater sea 7,000 years ago. ``and we know that as a result of that flood a vast amount of land went underwater.

``and we now know that that land was inhabited. What we don't know is who these people are, we don't know how broad their settlements were... But we're expanding our studies to try to determine that.'' Ballard said his team, using remote-controlled underwater vessels with cameras, located a former river valley beneath the sea and in that valley was a collapsed structure, including some preserved wooden beams that had been worked by hand.

The structure was ``clearly built by humans,'' and was characteristic of stone-age structures built 7,000 years ago in the interior of turkey, Ballard said. It contained a stone chisel and two other stone tools with holes drilled through them, he said, adding that nothing has been removed from the site. ``when you first find a site you don't just run in there and start picking up things,'' he said.

The group is now mapping the site and looking for other structures in the area. ``this is a work in progress,'' Ballard said. ``it is critical to know the exact era of the people who lived there, and to that end we hope to recover artifacts and wood for carbon dating so we can figure out what sort of people lived there and the nature of their tools.''

The discovery occurred within turkey's coastal waters and that country's directorate of monuments and museums has a representative on the research vessel. Ballard, best known for finding the remains of the ships titanic, Bismarck and Yorktown, among other discoveries, operates the institute for exploration in mystic, Conn.

His expedition is sponsored by the national geographic society, which is planning a book and television programs on Ballard’s black sea research.

On the net: national geographic: http://www.nationalgeographic.com institute for exploration: http://www.mysticaquarium.org

Calvary Chapel Jerusalem 9-12-00

Staring down evolution

from Sydney Morning Herald; Saturday, July 1, 2000

By James Woodford

After six years of research scientists have been unable to find any difference between the DNA of one Wollemi Pine and another, leaving the nation's leading plant geneticists completely baffled.

Genetic variability is the fuel of evolution, the basis of life and yet the trees are impossibly perfect clones.

In 1994 a bushwalker, called David Noble, returned to civilisation with a fragment of a 40 metre tall ``dinosaur tree'' - it had a fossil record stretching back 120 million years.

Mutations in DNA allow one individual to gain an advantage over another, a process thought to be fundamental to the health of a species. Variability is also the basis of Darwin's theory of natural selection.

Low genetic variability has always been regarded by scientists as a fast track to extinction.

This is a basic rule of genetic theory and one which the Wollemi Pine, a new member of an ancient family called the Araucariaceae, does not seem to be obeying. The trees - only 40 adults are known - in spite of their apparent genetic problems, are remarkably strong, healthy and reproducing viable seeds and seedlings.

The trees also appear to be cloning themselves by sending out roots which break through the surface and eventually become adults in their own right.

Clones have identical DNA as do identical twins.

But if a pair of clones or a pair of twins reproduce then their offspring will be genetically different.

Wollemi Pine seedlings, however, have identical DNA to the parent trees.

After searching 1,000 points on the trees' genome, using the most sensitive DNA analysis equipment available plant geneticist at the Australian National University, Dr Rod Peakall has been unable to find a single trace of any genetic variability.

He has searched the DNA of Wollemi Pines from the two known stands - both in a single canyon system in the Wollemi Wilderness - and also from seedlings.

So far the genetic fingerprint of every Wollemi Pine has turned out to be bafflingly identical.

What has most stunned Dr Peakall is that the two stands of the Wollemi Pine are two kilometres apart and separated by such rugged terrain that he says, in a report prepared for the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, any genetic interchange is extremely unlikely.

The two sites are likely to have been independent of each other for at least 10,000 years - the time of the end of the last ice age. Yet both stands of pines, remarkably, share an indistinguishable genetic code.

In a new scientific paper just published in the Australian Journal of Botany, Dr Peakall and his colleagues write that the "complete lack of genetic variation" has meant they are so far unable to explain what forces are at work deep in the trees' canyon.

"Given the scale of the genetic survey, which included adults from both sites and progeny from one site, the results indicate unusually low levels of genetic diversity within the species," says the paper. "Few, if any, other plant species are known to exhibit such apparently low levels of genetic diversity."

Dr Peakall hopes to mount an even more comprehensive search for variability in the genome of Wollemi Pines.

"Wollemia maybe an exception that disproves a rule," Dr Peakall said. "The assumption has always been that genetic diversity is good because it is the basis of natural selection. The Wollemi pine might actually prove that in some systems it is possible to have exceptionally low variability and yet survive for thousands of years."

An extract of James Woodfords book The Wollemi Pine will appear in Good Weekend.