“Peaceful” Stone-Throwers

I was recently asked about an incident that had allegedly occurred in Gaza that put Israel in a bad light. The person who asked the question has been consistently critical of Israel. At that point, I hadn't been aware of the incident, and I still haven't checked the facts. But my immediate response was to ask my friend what he knew exactly. As it emerged, he knew about as much as I did - zilch. He'd heard in the media that Israel had acted in some inappropriate way and someone wasn't happy about it and that was good enough for him. Apprarently some people naturally expect Israel to be the oppressive aggressor.

Here's an article from CAMERA that highlights media "savvy":

Fox News Channel's coverage from the West Bank on a Friday in mid-July left some viewers a little puzzled. First, the station broadcast footage of Palestinians hurling rocks toward Israeli troops. A minute later, a Fox correspondent in Israel, Reena Ninan, told viewers that the demonstrators were actually "peace activists." And after another minute, she relayed the Palestinian claim that Israel used "extreme force" when it fired tear gas because the protesters did not even throw stones — just before the footage of Palestinian stone-throwers again appeared on television screens...Read more


Asia Times Online:

Has it all come to this? The wars and invasions, the death and destruction, the exile and torture, the resistance and collapse? In a world of shrinking energy reserves, is Iraq finally fated to become what it was going to be anyway, even before the chaos and catastrophe set in: a giant gas pump for an energy-starved planet? Will it all end not with a bang, but with a gusher? The latest oil news out of that country offers at least a hint of Iraq's fate...Iraq on track to its true destiny

DAMASCUS - Attacks on six churches in Iraq early this month and the targeting of Christians across the country have served as a microcosm of the difficulties facing Christians in the Middle East today. Migration, whether forced or to pursue a better life and employment opportunities elsewhere, has seen Christian numbers in the Middle East drop dramatically....Middle East Christians hit the road


Lori's links and comments:

Netanyahu: ‘Jews Can Buy in East Jerusalem; Arabs Can Buy in West Jerusalem” ,

Blair hails Israeli/Palestinian Start up,

US May Allow Building in Return for Setting Borders,

Israel to U.S.: Keep Out of Jerusalem,

Jews to Reclaim Land in Jordan? ,

Qatar Sheikh Funds Hamas to Buy Jerusalem Buildings,

Islamist Movement: The Temple Will Never be Rebuilt,

Iraq wants urgent water talks with Turkey, Syria,

Erdogan to make surprise trip to Syria,

Aly Gomaa’s WMDs,scroll down

Understanding Russia,

Russia & China warn US: Israeli attack on Iran means world war,

Russia set to build up its naval facilities in Syria , "Russia has reportedly been involved in talks to establish naval facilities in Yemen, Syria and Libya, among other countries in the Mediterranean."

Blair Urges Council on Foreign Relations to Pressure Israel

by Baruch Gordon

IsraelNN.com) Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for United States President-elect Barack Obama to press hard for Israel to make further territorial concessions to the Palestinian Authority. Blair, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday, also praised Obama’s selections to lead his national security team, most notably former NATO commander General James L. Jones as National Security Advisor for the incoming administration. Jones was until recently the US special envoy for Middle East security and in that role has advocated sending a NATO force to impose a solution in Judea and Samaria. Read it HERE.

Also from Bible Prophecy Today:

"Tony Blair, the former British PM and now the special Peace Envoy to the Middle East for the Quartet, offered praise for President-elect Obama's selections to lead his National Security team and told him that the time is right for a fresh push for progress in the Middle East peace process..."

"If Tony Blair and the Obama team are successful, we will see the prophetic scenario that is called for in Bible prophecy come into better focus. The ancient, Jewish prophet Daniel wrote 2,500 years ago that a world leader from Europe, the area of the revived Roman Empire, indeed would bring peace to the Middle East, Daniel 9:27. Please do not misunderstand. I am not saying Tony Blair is that world leader spoken of in Bible prophecy as the Antichrist; however, I would say Tony Blair is doing everything Bible prophecy calls for.Tony Blair is a perfect prototype of that world leader and is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled."

Note: Personally, I don't see Tony Blair as that world leader. What is evident to me, though, is that the world is ready to accept a world leader, whoever he may turn out to be.