“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122: 6
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Ella Levy-Weinrib—Meet the Hamas Billionaires:
“Among the Palestinians, they tell you straight out, ‘I want to get rich.'”
In recent days, various media have been publishing photographs of Hamas leaders in luxurious homes with fitness equipment, at luxury hotels around the world, etc. On the other hand, distressing pictures are being shown of the suffering of the Palestinian people in their rundown houses, whom Hamas says it represents.
One of the big mysteries is how much the Hamas leaders, the Arab world’s new tycoons, are worth, and how they, born and raised in refugee camps, who raise aloft the cause of their people’s welfare, have become so wealthy and reclusive.
Col. (res.) Dr. Moshe Elad, a lecturer in the Middle East Department of the Western Galilee Academic College, who served in senior positions in the territories for 30 years, is attempting to answer these questions.
[…]
Today, Marzook is considered one of Hamas’s wealthiest billionaires. “Arab sources estimate his wealth at $2-3 billion,” Elad says.
Another Hamas leader-turned-tycoon is Khaled Mashaal. “Estimates around the world are that Mashaal is currently worth $2.6 billion, but the numbers mentioned by the Arab commentators (based on their many sources) are much higher, varying from $2-5 billion invested in Egyptian and Persian Gulf banks, and some in real estate projects in the Persian Gulf countries,” Elad adds.
[…]
To continue reading, click here.
SnyderTalk Comment: Hamas is as much organized crime as it is a terrorist organization. We now have 9 years of experience with Hamas in control in Gaza, and we know these things for a fact: Hamas can’t be trusted; Hamas’ dual aims are to make its leaders filthy rich and to destroy Israel—in that order; and no ceasefire or truce with Hamas is worth a hill of beans. This is my advice to Israel: don’t let up until you finish the job. One more thing: all the money in the world can’t protect Hamas leaders if Israel captures them.
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SnyderTalk Comment: This is an interesting video because Hillary Clinton is being surprisingly candid about Hamas and the challenges that Israel faces. Why she chose Comedy Central and The Daily Show as the venue to tell the truth is a mystery to me, but that’s beside the point.
One thing that Clinton said is completely false, though. She said matter-of-factly that the Palestinian Authority has recognized Israel’s right to exist. That’s wrong. I’ve heard that lie repeated again and again since Bill Clinton was president. He was in Gaza to ink a deal with the PA and Israel, and he needed for the PA to change its charter. Dennis Ross worked for Clinton at the time, and he talked about it in his book The Missing Peace.
This is what really happened: when the time came for the Palestinian National Council to vote to amend the Palestinian charter, the members of the council refused. Yasser Arafat was PA president at that time, and to avoid having to tell Clinton that he couldn’t deliver on his end of the bargain, he filled the room with people who were not members of the council. They “voted”; Clinton was happy; and in his book, Ross pointed to it as a great triumph. Problem is that the “vote” had no effect since the people voting had no authority to represent so-called “Palestinians”.
The media didn’t know the truth or they didn’t care. Whatever the case may be, they didn’t report what happened.
Muammar Gaddafi was President of Libya at the time. Since he funneled large sums of money to Arafat and the PA, he summoned Arafat and Arafat flew to Libya to tell him what actually took place. Gaddafi was satisfied; Arafat flew back home; and again the media didn’t bother to notice or report.
Coincidentally, at that time I was involved with high ranking Israeli security officials. I called one of my contacts and asked him about what happened. He told me the facts, and this is the bottom line: the Palestinian charter hasn’t changed one iota. It still calls for Israel’s destruction.
I’m telling you this because that lie suggests that Fatah, the political party that runs the Palestinian Authority, is moderate and perfectly willing to live in peace with Israel. Nothing could be further from the truth. For all practical purposes, Fatah and Hamas are identical—two peas in a pod. Their charters make that clear. The only significant difference between them is that Hamas leaders are getting rich brokering deals with arms smugglers and Fatah leaders are getting rich bilking ignorant donors.
Despite what you read in the mainstream media and see on television (like the interview with Hillary Clinton), Mahmoud Abbas, the current PA president, and Yasser Arafat, Abbas’ predecessor, haven’t deviated from their wholehearted commitment to annihilate Israel. Arafat explained the PA plan perfectly:
“Since we cannot defeat Israel in war we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel.” (Yasser Arafat speaking on Jordanian television, September 13, 1993—the same day the Oslo Peace Accord ceremony was held in Washington D.C.)
“Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations. Since January 1965, when Fatah was born, we have become the most dangerous enemy that Israel has….We shall not rest until the day when we return to our home, and until we destroy Israel.” (El Mundo, Caracas, Venezuela, February 11, 1980)
It’s one thing when Israel’s enemies believe a lie. It’s much worse when believers and supporters of Israel believe that lie.
If you doubt anything that I’ve told you, please take the time to do some research. If you do, you will discover that I am telling you the truth.
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James T. Conway: The Moral Chasm Between Israel and Hamas— Americans are understandably concerned when they hear that the majority of Palestinian casualties in the fighting between Israel and Hamas have been civilians and when they see images of houses in Gaza reduced to rubble and women wailing. Given the lack of corresponding Israeli civilian casualties to date, this creates the impression of an unequal—and hence immoral—fight between Israel and Hamas. Although American empathy for noncombatants is a critical component of who we are as a people, it should not blind us to reality: Israel’s military exists to protect its civilian population and seeks to avoid harming noncombatants, while its adversary cynically uses Palestinian civilians as human shields while deliberately targeting Israeli civilians. I recently had the opportunity to see for myself the moral chasm between how the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas treat civilians during military operations. In May I joined a dozen other retired U.S. generals and admirals on a trip to Israel with the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.
SnyderTalk Comment: To deny the “moral chasm” between Israel and Hamas, you have to ignore the facts, basic moral principles, and experience. If you can do that with a clean conscience, then you can delude yourself about anything.
David P. Goldman: Why Israel Needs to Finish the Job Now— There will be endless admonitions to Israel from the Obama administration, the United Nations, and so forth, demanding an early end to the Gaza war now underway. Israel’s security needs dictate the opposite: Hamas’ capacity to make war must be crippled. Tel Aviv last week remained one of the safest cities in the world despite the incessant rocket bombardment. In the bomb shelters at the David Intercontinental, we joked about the lack of drinks and canapes at the hotel’s hastily improvised guest mixers. The cafe terraces were full every night on Dizengoff Street. But complacency on Israel’s part would be misplaced, perhaps even fatal. For the moment Israeli ingenuity has shifted the advantage in rocketry to the defense. That may not be the case for very long. Iron Dome has been extremely effective in containing the damage from a barrage of about 2,000 unguided rockets launched from Gaza. Most of these explode harmlessly in empty areas; the few that fly towards targets of value have been taken down with a 90% successs rate. But the advantage may shift back to the offense some time in the next few years.
Vic Rosenthal: Shame on Kerry: US comes down on side of Hamas— This is absolutely incredible (or, sadly, maybe not). Let me quote Ha’aretz diplomatic writer Barak Ravid, anything but a right-winger: The draft [cease fire agreement] Kerry passed to Israel on Friday shocked the cabinet ministers not only because it was the opposite of what Kerry told them less than 24 hours earlier, but mostly because it might as well have been penned by Khaled Meshal. It was everything Hamas could have hoped for. The document recognized Hamas’ position in the Gaza Strip, promised the organization billions in donation funds and demanded no dismantling of rockets, tunnels or other heavy weaponry at Hamas’ disposal. The document placed Israel and Hamas on the same level, as if the first is not a primary U.S. ally and as if the second isn’t a terror group which overtook part of the Palestinian Authority in a military coup and fired thousands of rockets at Israel.…
Denis MacEoin: There Must Not Be a Ceasefire— With their usual mixture of human rights concern and hypocrisy, several countries have stepped into the fresh Israel-Gaza conflict by demanding a cease-fire. Egypt has played an important role in this demarche; Hamas has turned down flatly all the conditions on which Egyptian President al-Sisi insisted. How far the war will go still hangs in the balance. As Israeli ground forces now fight with Hamas in their tunnels and bunkers, over 600 Palestinians (largely made up of men of fighting age) have died[1], as well as over 32 Israelis. The international pressure from all sides for a ceasefire is widening and intensifying. Of course, what a ceasefire amounts to, as it has before, is to give Hamas a second chance. And a third and a fourth — whatever is needed for them to achieve their clearly stated goals of wiping Israel from the map, and then Jews.
Bassam Tawil: How the Media Is Helping Hamas—”We know that Hamas uses human shields. But why would you report this when you are sitting in the middle of the Gaza Strip, surrounded by Hamas gunmen?” — Reporter covering the war, who asked not to be identified. Besides the human shields story there is another item that the international media choose to ignore: the extrajudicial execution of Palestinian “collaborators” during the last two weeks. The executions were reportedly carried out in the most brutal manner. Hamas has also been shooting suspected “collaborators” in the legs to prevent them from moving around. It is the media that is helping Hamas get away with war crimes.
Michael Oren: Israel Must Be Permitted to Crush Hamas—UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary of State John Kerry and the foreign ministers of Great Britain and France all are rushing to achieve a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Their motive – to end civilian suffering – is noble. The images of the wounded and dead are indeed agonizing. However, these senior statesmen can be most helpful now by doing nothing. To preserve the values they cherish and to send an unequivocal message to terrorist organizations and their state sponsors everywhere, Israel must be permitted to crush Hamas in Gaza. This is the lesson of previous rounds of fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and terrorist strongholds. In Lebanon in 2006 and in Gaza in 2008 and again in 2012, Israel responded to rocket attacks on its cities with fierce counteroffensives. Israel’s best efforts to avoid civilian casualties invariably proved limited. Incensed world opinion compelled Israel to back down. And the terrorists, though badly mauled, won.
Yoel Guzansky and Gallia Lindenstrauss: Operation Protective Edge and a Fragile Regional Arena— Operation Protective Edge and the talks that are supposed to end it have brought the political and ideological fault lines in the Middle East into sharp relief. The mediation attempts demonstrate the extent to which the countries involved in the ceasefire negotiations have different political agendas, as well as opposing ideologies and interests. While firmly held ideologies and weighty interests are not an obstacle per se to success in mediation, it seems that they are complicating the current efforts of the regional players as they attempt to achieve a ceasefire. Indeed, the upheavals in the Arab world of recent years have seriously eroded its ability to come together, even on an issue where in the past consensus was the easiest to achieve – criticism of Israel in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Operation Protective Edge has not only highlighted the rifts in the Muslim world, but appears to have aggravated them further.
Victor Sharpe: Not Moderate, Not Radical: Just Islam— The irrevocable Islamic and Koranic injunction upon all Muslims is to wage relentless war against any non-Muslim nation state that exists within what Islam decrees as the Dar al-Islam (the House of Islam). Wherever the Muslim foot has trod triumphal in the name of Allah, that territory is considered eternally Islamic land. If it is lost, then it enters the Dar al-Harb (the House of War) and must be retaken and the population either forcibly converted to Islam, forced into dhimmi degradation, or exterminated. According to Abraham I. Katsh, who wrote the following as far back as 1954 in his book, Judaism and the Koran: “The duty of Jihad, the waging of Holy War, has been raised to the dignity of a sixth canonical obligation … To the Moslem, the world is divided into regions under Islamic control, the dar al-Islam, and regions not subjected as yet, the dar al-harb. Between this area of warfare and the Muslim dominated part of the world there can be no peace. Practical considerations may induce the Muslim leaders to conclude an armistice, but the obligation to conquer and, if possible, convert never lapses. Nor can territory once under Muslim rule be lawfully yielded to the unbeliever. Legal theory has gone so far as to define as dar al-Islam any area where at least one Muslim custom is observed. Thanks to this concept, the Moslem is required to subdue the infidel, and he who dies in the path of Allah is considered a martyr and assured of Paradise and of unique privileges there.”
Michael Curtis: Indicting Hamas for War Crimes—Hamas must be indicted in the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Evidence of Hamas’s crimes in the Gaza Strip has been visible for a decade to anyone not blinded by an obsessive commitment to an anti-Israeli or anti-Semitic outlook. It is now obvious to the head of the United Nations, even as it is denied by the U.N. Human Rights Council; by Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights; by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; and by all those dedicated to the demonization or destruction of Israel. The truth has been revealed, unexpectedly, by two organizations: the European Union and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), a body that challenges the United Nations Human Rights Council for the title of the most worthless international organization in the world.
Batya Ungar-Sargon: What David Petraeus Can Teach Us About Gaza— Emotions are running high. As Operation Protective Edge enters its third week, Israel and Hamas’s relative moral standing has been called into question. On the one side are those who argue that Israel is morally superior for their marksmanly attempts to avoid civilian casualties, while Hamas immorally places weapons stores in kindergartens and hospitals, immorally targets Israeli civilians, and use their own as human shields. Others have argued that Israel is responsible for the immoral collateral damage of more than 700 civilians, many of them children, while the Palestinians are blameless victims of colonial oppression. But what if the moral question is not the only, or even the most important, question? Israel is surely not to blame for protecting its citizens. But here’s another, uncomfortable truth: Hamas is not entirely to blame for targeting them.
SnyderTalk Comment: Notice that the author didn’t mention Yahweh and His promises to and about the country Israel and the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob/Israel. That’s not an oversight. He didn’t intend to bring Yahweh into the discussion, but I will assure you that Yahweh and His promises are the most important issues on the table—like it or not. In fact, nothing else even compares to Yahweh’s promises in terms of importance because He will do exactly what He said He will do. Nothing can stop Him, and as believers, we should rejoice because Yahweh and His promises are all that we have to rely on.
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Netanyahu slams UN cease-fire plan for not addressing Israel’s security needs
UN Security Council officially calls for unconditional cease-fire in Gaza
IAF resumes air strikes in Gaza amid rocket attacks
‘We are looking at the beginnings of a Holocaust’
MK Shamir: US harmed its Middle East allies
Toulouse Jewish center firebombed after anti-Israel protest in area
SnyderTalk Comment: As Gomer Pyle said, “Surprise, surprise.” One more thing: Obama doesn’t represent me and a growing number of Americans.
Mashaal: Hamas is ready to coexist with Jews, but not the occupation
SnyderTalk Comment: Mashaal should be captured—alive if possible.
Hamas spokesman: Israel has reached only a fraction of our tunnels
SnyderTalk Comment: Good point. Let the war continue until Hamas and the tunnels are eliminated.
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Iran: Hezbollah Can Fire Rockets ‘Nonstop’ at Israel
Dayan: Obama, Kerry Caused ‘Long-Term Damage’
Online Campaign Aims to Build Third Temple
Netanyahu Vows to Continue Destroying Terror Tunnels
PA to Send Delegation for Ceasefire Talks
Riots, Rock Throwing Continue Throughout Country
French Official: 1,000 French Jihadists ‘Getting Ready’
Despite Cease-Fire Talk, Rockets Continue Falling
Ministers: We Should Have Attacked Harder
‘Heavy Pressure’ by Obama on Israel to Cease Fire
SnyderTalk Comment: Just say “NO!”
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Kerry’s mistakes strengthen Hamas’s resolve
Hamas official claims it rejected Egyptian deal to avoid recognizing Israel
Hamas threatening journalists in Gaza who expose abuse of civilians
Israel disputes US account of Kerry’s ceasefire effort
UN Security Council calls for Gaza cease-fire
Obama calls Netanyahu, urges immediate, unconditional ceasefire
‘Hamas will resume tunneling as soon as we leave’
Terrorists attempt to infiltrate kibbutz via tunnel
When numbers in Gaza masquerade as fact
Truce offer may signal Hamas has reached breaking point
SnyderTalk Comment: Don’t count on it. Learn from experience. Eliminating Hamas is the best alternative at this point. That’s what the facts tell us.
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Benjamin Netanyahu vows ‘lengthy campaign’ in Gaza
Ebola, Spreading in Africa, Could Land in US
Hamas and North Korea in Secret Arms Deal
Both Egypt and Israel Want to Subdue Hamas
Al Jazeera Publishes Updated List of Gaza Dead; Analysis Confirms Israel Targeting Combatants
Report: Hamas Beats Gazans Seeking to Heed Israeli Calls to Leave Targeted Area
Islamic State torches 1,800-year-old church after expelling Christians
Hamas Killed 160 Palestinian Children to Build Terror Tunnels
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Email Distribution List:
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Genesis 22: 1-8
1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
SnyderTalk Comment: The land of Moriah is Jerusalem today. The exact location is Mount Moriah—the Temple Mount. Don’t underestimate the importance of Mount Moriah to Yahweh. Read His Name is Yahweh.
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His Name is Yahweh explains why the Name of God, Yahweh, is so important. It’s available in eBook format and in paperback. It’s also available for free in PDF format.
- God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This [Yahweh] is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” (Exodus 3: 15)
- “Therefore behold, I am going to make them know—this time I will make them know My power and My might; and they shall know that My name is Yahweh.” (Jeremiah 16: 21)
- “Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)
- Yeshua said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (John 8: 58)
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The Name Yahweh Sets the Messiah Apart
Click here to download the entire audio presentation for free and with no strings attached. Share it as often as you want.
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Blessings in the Book of Revelation is a book that you need to read, especially now. There are blessings throughout the Scriptures but Revelation is the only book in the Bible actually containing a specific blessing for reading it. It’s repeated twice, once at the beginning and again at the end. This is the reason that I believe Revelation should be the first step toward studying biblical prophecy. Though not easy to do, Revelation can be broken down and understood by anyone, not just the academic elite. So, Revelation’s blessings are for everyone. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
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Other Books by Neil Snyder
- Stand! is a suspense novel that exposes the lies, corruption, and greed underlying the theory that man-made CO2 emissions are responsible for global warming. Professor Wes Carlyle and Karen Sterling, his research collaborator, carefully scan the audience for their would-be attacker—a member of the enviro-gestapo who has been following them for days. Wes spots his man in the back of the room leaning against the wall. Suddenly, another man in the audience steps forward and moves toward Karen at a menacing pace. With a vicious stroke, he swings a billy club at her head. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- What Will You Do with the Rest of Your Life? deals with a question that every Christian has to consider: what should I do with my life? Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
- Falsely Accused is a true story about a young woman who was accused of committing a double homicide. It’s about a travesty of justice, and it reveals Yahweh intervening in the life of a believer to rescue her from danger in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Everyone will enjoy the book, but young people in particular need to read it because the mistakes made that led to the problem could have been avoided. They were the kinds of mistakes that young people are prone to make. As they say, forewarned is forearmed. Click here to order the eBook. Click here to order the paperback.
