“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122: 6
________________________________________
#####
When Things Really Matter, the U.N. is AWOL
Finally, the nations of the world have come together to deal with the Islamist threat to civilization posed by ISIS. According to John Lichfield of The Independent, a British newspaper, in an article appropriately titled “Islamic State: International pledge to use any means necessary to defeat Isis ‘throat-slitters’”,
Twenty-six [that number is incorrect] nations, including Russia, China and 10 Arab states, pledged yesterday to fight the terrorist group Isis “by any means necessary”.
At the end of an international conference in Paris the countries promised to give “military assistance” to Iraq if requested but the meeting threw little light on which Arab countries, if any, were prepared to join the US and possibly France and Britain in air strikes on militant targets. The final statement also failed to address the question of what action should be taken against Isis, which styles itself the Islamic State.
The conference was significant mostly for providing a visible and broad base for the coalition Washington is seeking to build against the lavishly funded and ruthless extremists who have created a cross-border state in parts of Syria and the northern third of Iraq. A further meeting will be held shortly to discuss ways of cutting the flow of funds to Isis.
The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, said the conference, called by president François Hollande, was a “meeting of extreme gravity but also a meeting which offered hope”. He said the disparate participants – including Britain, the US, Turkey, Canada and Japan – had “all said we are working together to fight Da’esh [the Arabic name for Isis].”
This is an important development. Where was the U.N.? It’s supposed to lead efforts dealing with global threats to peace and security, but not in this situation. In fact, the U.N. is removing its “peacekeepers” from the Golan Heights near the Israel-Syria border because of escalated fighting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the rebel opposition.
Iraqi leaders have invited the coalition to strike ISIS targets in Iraq, but ISIS headquarters is in Raqqa, Syria. The coalition hasn’t asked Assad for permission to bomb sites in his country, and it has indicated that it won’t assist Assad in any way. Thus, in order to remain legal, coalition partners will need U.N. Security Council approval to attack targets in Syria.
According to Paulo Pinheiro, the head of the U.N.’s Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Syria, “The rise of (ISIS fighters) has emphasized the need for the government and mainstream opposition to find common ground and to commit to making compromises.” That means Assad and his enemies in Syria’s civil war will have to join forces to have any hope of ridding Syria of ISIS fighters. It’s doubtful that will happen, so coalition airstrikes in Syria may be essential.
So there is a role for the U.N. to play after all. In this instance, it will either sanction the coalition’s independent mission and approve targets in Syria, or it will become the spoiler. That means the U.N.’s role isn’t helpful, but it might be hurtful.
The agreement coming out of the international conference in Paris amounts to global vigilantism. Even so, it’s encouraging. The action taken independently by more than two dozen nations reveals that when things really matter the U.N. is AWOL, so what good is it?
#####
________________________________________
#####
#####
________________________________________
#####
Ryan Mauro: Four Dangers in Obama’s Strategy Against ISIS— Radical Shiite Influence Ends Sunni Cooperation: Iraqi Sunni tribes have pledged to work with the Iraqi government in fighting the Islamic State and the U.S. is in communication with them. Over 25 Sunni tribes are now fighting the Islamic State and are even working with the Iraqi military around the town of Haditha despite their adversarial relationship. The formation of a new and more inclusive Iraqi government is being described as a “milestone” by the U.S. Sunnis appear receptive to the new government, at least for the moment, but their cooperation could cease with any indication of sectarianism, Iranian puppetry or use of radical Shiite militias in areas where Sunnis live. The breakdown in the relationship between the Iraqi Sunnis and the Shiite-majority Iraqi government provided the critical opening for the Islamic State. Tension will arise if the Iraqi government chooses to give the post of Interior Minister to Haid al-Ameri, leader of the Iran-backed Badr Organization that has a militia.
Marc Weitzmann: He Tortured for ISIS: So, Why Was He at Large Before the Jewish Museum Massacre?— A week after the Brussels Jewish Museum massacre, French journalist Nicolas Hénin recognized alleged shooter Mehdi Nemmouche as his jailer in Syria, where he and three other French reporters were held hostage by ISIS between June 2013 and April 2014. The identification of Nemmouche as an active long-term member of ISIS suggests the complexity and menace of the cycle by which disaffected Muslims from the West are sucked into anti-Western and anti-Semitic ideologies that can lead them to the battlefields of the Middle East and then back home. It also raises troubling questions about what French security agencies and other European authorities knew about Nemmouche. “I was in a rest-cure clinic in Germany,” Henin wrote in his newspaper Le Point last week, of the moment when pictures of Nemmouche were first published by the press. “They were not good pictures. With a lot of pixels as if they’d been faxed. But the air of familiarity hypnotized me. I said to myself, ‘Impossible, it can’t be him.’ I spent a long night of insomnia with my computer on my knees. Abou Omar was getting to me one more time like a ghost from Syria.”
Benny Avni: The Golan Heights, Once Peaceful, May Drag Israel Into the Syrian Civil War—A green flag waves peacefully, clearly visible through the smart fence, a camera-equipped electric apparatus surrounding a remote-controlled gate here in the Golan Heights. Next door is Camp Ziouani of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). In the distance, the faint booming sound of a constant artillery exchange can be heard. Flying a mere 150 yards away from the blue-white Israeli flag, that green banner represents a Syrian jihadist group, one of many here. Far from where an American-led battle against the Islamic State (commonly called ISIS) is brewing, this deceptively tranquil posting, separating Israelis from Syrians, is more unstable than it has ever been. The jihadists, moderate Syrian rebels, U.N. observers from Fiji and the Philippines, Israeli farmers, and soldiers who come together here as unlikely neighbors face a volatile future.
Nabila Ramdani: Hollande’s mission impossible—The global struggle against radical Islam is currently providing distinct relief to France’s President François Hollande. With his domestic approval rating at a pitiful 13 percent, and his self-styled reputation as a caring but politically effective socialist in tatters, the 60-year-old president of France still attempts to stride the world’s trouble spots with dignity and purpose. Hollande visited Iraq last week in preparation for Monday’s meeting of a “coalition of the willing” which is gathering in Paris to discuss the country’s deepening security crisis. He tried to sound as statesmanlike as possible, as he pledged military support to fight the heavily armed Islamic State (IS), a group that has overrun vast swaths of Iraq. In a message to President Fouad Masoum, the French head of state spoke of a “global terrorist threat” that “knows no borders”.
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidror: We Have to Be Prepared— Last week media outlets in Israel quoted a diplomatic official as warning that Hamas has resumed manufacturing rockets and has begun rebuilding the terror tunnels destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces during the recent Gaza operation. I dare surmise that the reports were merely attempts to demonstrate how badly Israel’s Gaza operation had failed rather than the product of reliable information. However, I do believe that at some point in the future Hamas will in fact resume manufacturing rockets and digging tunnels. After all, that is the nature of the cease-fire agreement: Both sides preserve the calm while preparing for the next confrontation. Anyone with eyes can see that in order to obviate preparing for a future confrontation, or to prevent a future confrontation for that matter, the recent operation should have been handled differently. The IDF should have re-conquered the Strip, or at least Gaza City and its immediate surroundings and paid the price that occupation entails in order to clean out the city.
Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira: Hizbullah’s Plan for War with Israel: Conquest of the Galilee— On 27 October 2011 the Lebanese newspaper Al Joumhouria reported that in recent weeks the leader of Hizbullah, Hasan Nasrallah, held a series of meetings with the organization’s highest level military command, as well as field commanders and operational-level commanders responsible for preparing Hizbullah’s military force for war with Israel. Nasrallah updated his commanders on regional developments, the situation in Lebanon, and on Hizbullah’s internal and organizational affairs. Nasrallah emphasized the supreme importance of maintaining the organization’s field security, given U.S. and Israeli intelligence organizations’ successes in penetrating Hizbullah and recruiting individuals holding sensitive posts. The exposure of agents within Hizbullah was profoundly unsettling to Nasrallah and the other leaders. According to a source close to Hizbullah, Nasrallah’s operational directive to the commanders was to prepare for the fact that in the next military conflict with Israel, Hizbullah will hit Tel Aviv with missiles at the outset of the war, while also dispatching forces to conquer the Galilee. The source stressed that this is an operational directive and not a matter of psychological warfare.
Lee Smith: Ted Cruz Exposes Christian Bigotry Against Jews In the Middle East— Cracks in what is normally represented as a tight alliance between Jews and Christians in Washington D.C. over Middle East issues were highlighted by Senator Ted Cruz’s dramatic and courageous performance Wednesday night as keynote speaker at the gala dinner for the In Defense of Christians conference. The gathering was assembled to address the plight of Middle Eastern Christians, who have been targeted by various extremist groups—with ISIS currently getting the lion’s share of media attention. Cruz kicked over a hornet’s nest when he encouraged his audience to see a potential ally in another Middle Eastern minority—Israeli Jews. After all, explained the likely 2016 GOP presidential hopeful, Christians and Jews in the region share many of the same enemies, from ISIS to Hamas. “The very same people who persecute and murder Christians,” said Cruz, “who crucify Christians, who behead children, are the very same people who target Jews for their faith, for the same reason.” This was too much for the IDC audience, which evidently included a large number of anti-Zionists—including featured speaker Antioch Church patriarch Gregory III Laham, who in this video of Wednesday’s event can be seen demanding that Cruz leave the event. Eventually the Texas Senator did leave the stage amidst a deafening chorus of boos.
Albert Wachtel: Peace in the Middle East is Possible— The unthinkable is happening, and it’s time to build on it. After Israel traded Sinai for “cold peace” with Egypt, quietly entering a warm alliance on defense and energy with the most populous Arab state, it was impossible for Arab countries to make war on Israel. But another Arab neighbor had proposed peace earlier. Largely forgotten, in 1949 under the Kurd Husni al-Zaim, Syria signed a cease-fire and offered peace to Israel. But he was quickly deposed and executed. A fierce foe thereafter, Syria was forced by Egypt’s peace agreement to accept a belligerent cease-fire. Jordan made peace, resulting in beneficial business agreements like its purchase of Israel’s natural gas and the mutual construction of a desalination facility, with Palestinians sharing the potable water.
David E. Sanger and Julie Hirschfeld Davis: Struggling to Starve ISIS of Oil Revenue, U.S. Seeks Assistance From Turkey— The Obama administration is struggling to cut off the millions of dollars in oil revenue that has made the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria one of the wealthiest terror groups in history, but so far has been unable to persuade Turkey, the NATO ally where much of the oil is traded on the black market, to crack down on an extensive sales network. Western intelligence officials say they can track the ISIS oil shipments as they move across Iraq and into Turkey’s southern border regions. Despite extensive discussions inside the Pentagon, American forces have so far not attacked the tanker trucks, though a senior administration official said Friday “that remains an option.” In public, the administration has been unwilling to criticize Turkey, which insists it has little control over the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq and Syria across its borders, or the flow of oil back out. One senior official, calling President Obama’s recent conversations with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “sensitive,” said the decisions about what the country will do to counter ISIS “will be theirs to make.”
Fox News: Emerson on Fox with Judge Pirro on How the US is Manipulating the Truth on Radical Islam— Judge Jeanine: And with me now the founder of the Investigative Project, Steve Emerson. All right Steve, ISIS claims to have beheaded this British hostage. Your reaction tonight. Emerson: Look, ISIS is very adept at manipulating the entire world. This is a recruitment video. It’s going to recruit a lot more jihadis from the West. There’s a reason why they’re videotaping it. There’s a reason why they’re using British or foreign jihadis to do the executions. There’s a reason why these videos recruit thousands more Western jihadis who go through Turkey, our ‘ally,’ that John Kerry just praised; an ally that refuses to allow the US to use its military bases, an ally that won’t shut down the black oil market that ISIS now gains $1.5 million a day in black oil market sales. So the reality is that our allies that the administration praises – Turkey and Qatar – are sabotaging our campaign against ISIS while the President has basically angered good allies lie Egypt, which really could be participating in a very meaningful way because it is significantly and ideologically against the Muslim Brotherhood which [ISIS] has in its origins..”
#####
________________________________________
#####
#####
________________________________________
#####
Palestinian Authority compares Islamic State to ‘settlers’
UN: Palestinian unity government crucial for Gaza recovery
Israeli Arabs overwhelmingly deny support for Islamic State
FM brushes off hecklers at JNF parley in LA
Hamas denies Mashaal being expelled from Qatar, seeking shelter elsewhere
Abbas to seek statehood recognition from France during Paris visit
Iraqi FM says military op to retake Mosul from IS ‘shouldn’t take too long’
Report: UN pulling out peacekeepers from Syrian side of Golan Heights
Police arrest 22 suspected of rioting in east Jerusalem
IDF destroys illegal structures in West Bank
#####
________________________________________
#####
IAEA: Iran Must Fulfill What It Has Agreed To
Report: Qatar Asks Hamas’s Meshaal to Leave
Russia Offers to Join Fight Against ‘Islamic State’
Gaza Imam: Weapons Are Our Only Means to Establish the Caliphate
Khamenei: U.S. Has ‘Dirty Hands’
Akunis: ‘Two-State Solution’ will Bring Terror Tunnels to Center
Hezbollah: We Won’t Leave Syria
Report: Hamas Executes Officer over Spying Charges
Arab Kids Hurl Firebombs at Jews in Jerusalem
How Israel Protects ‘Europe’s Achilles Heel’
#####
________________________________________
#####
#####
________________________________________
#####
Israelis warned of heightened terror risks abroad
Several Islamic Nations Quietly Trade with Israel
In Iraq, parents take silent stand against Islamic State education
Scottish independence leader appears to equate Israel, Islamic State
Tiny Qatar plays outsize role in US war strategy
Enigmatic ancient crescent in Galilee pegged as massive moon shrine
Hezbollah vows to destroy Islamic State in Syria
Mystery airstrikes target Libyan Islamist militias
Israeli diplomats nix drone sale to Ukraine — report
Northerners uneasy after official warns Hezbollah could capture towns
#####
________________________________________
#####
IDF Concerned of Possible Hizbullah Invasion of Northern Israel
Report: Qatar Paid $20 Million Ransom for Release of Fijian Peacekeepers
Al-Qaeda’s Syrian Cell Bigger Threat to U.S. than ISIS?
US airstrikes target Islamic State in Iraq
The United States Returns to Iraq
Islamic State fighters drawing on oil assets for funding and fuel
US sees Middle East help fighting IS, Britain cautious after beheading
Ukraine cease-fire in peril, Merkel urges Putin to respect it
Former CIA Head Explains U.S.-Israel Differences on Iran
Prominent Muslim Brotherhood Figures to Leave Qatar
#####
________________________________________
#####
#####
________________________________________
Email Distribution List:
I have created an email distribution list that I use to notify people when I post a new SnyderTalk. If you would like to be on that list, send your email address to nhsny@yahoo.com, and put “add me to your distribution list” in the subject line. If you know others who are interested in SnyderTalk content, tell them to send me their email address, and I’ll put them on the list.
________________________________________
Genesis 30: 1-8
1 Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she became jealous of her sister; and she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.” 2 Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” 3 She said, “Here is my maid Bilhah, go in to her that she may bear on my knees, that through her I too may have children.” 4 So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her. 5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. 6 Then Rachel said, “God has vindicated me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son.” Therefore she named him Dan. 7 Rachel’s maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. 8 So Rachel said, “With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have indeed prevailed.” And she named him Naphtali.
SnyderTalk Comment: Read His Name is Yahweh.
________________________________________
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)
________________________________________
#####
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.
#####
________________________________________
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.
________________________________________
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.
