“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122: 6
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Marc Champion—Erdoğan of Arabia:
Every once in a while, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan just blows your mind.
This morning, Turkish jets carried out airstrikes against bases of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, after days of rioting and attacks by Kurds infuriated by Turkey’s abandonment of the Kurdish defenders in Kobani, Syria. The bombing probably means the end of Turkey’s 18-month cease-fire and peace talks with the PKK, a huge decision by Erdogan and, in my view, a tragic if predictable mistake.
The surprise, however, lay in how Erdogan prepared Turks for restarting their 30-year war with the PKK, and what that says about his world view.
The problem, Erdogan told students at Marmara University in Istanbul on Monday, is that new “Lawrence of Arabias” are tearing up the Middle East. He was referring to the British army officer T.E. Lawrence, who helped to stir Arab tribes to rise against their German-allied Ottoman rulers during World War I, leading to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
So who are these modern day Western meddlers, and what are they trying to do? According to Erdogan, Lawrence was an “English spy disguised as an Arab.” His recent incarnations “are new voluntary Lawrences, disguised as journalists, religious men, writers and terrorists,” Erdogan said, adding that it is “our duty to explain to the world that there are modern Lawrences who were fooled by a terror organization.”
No doubt this formulation was intended to cover the five foreign journalists arrested as they covered Kurdish protests over Turkey’s blockade of Kobani. The religious man Erdogan has in mind is surely the U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen, with whom he is at war politically. And the terrorists are the Kurds of the PKK, and of the People’s Protection Units in Kobani. But Erdogan thinks bigger.
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SnyderTalk Comment: Under Erdoğan, Turkey is no ally. I’m afraid that Turkey may become an enemy.
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Prime Minister’s Office: Netanyahu: The Root Cause of the Gaza War? Hamas’ Commitment to Kill Every Jew— Prime Minister Netanyahu: Mr. Secretary, It is a pleasure to receive you once again in Jerusalem. You have come to Israel after visiting Egypt and Libya, the West Bank and Gaza. I appreciate your ongoing efforts to secure peace, peace and stability and security for all of us in this all too turbulent region. The impression that we all have, certainly in the last few days and in the last few weeks, is of the tremendous burst of violence that came out of Gaza. Mr. Secretary, The root cause of the violence that burst from Gaza is not Israel’s occupation in Gaza, for a simple reason: Israel doesn’t occupy Gaza. Israel left Gaza to the very last centimeter, to the very last inch. We uprooted all the settlements and vacated all the settlers. So there is no Israeli occupation of Gaza.
Tovah Lazaroff: UN Chief Ban: Israeli Occupation Led to Gaza War— UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonblamed last summer’s Gaza war on Israel’s “occupation” of Palestinian territories, as he called on both parties to finalize an agreement for a two-state solution. “We must not lose sight of the root causes of the recent hostilities: a restrictive occupation that has lasted almost half a century, the continued denial of Palestinian rights and the lack of tangible progress in peace negotiations,” Ban said. He spoke on Sunday at a donor conference in Cairo to raise funds to repair the damage from the Gaza war. On Monday he is expected to visit Israel, where he will meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. On Tuesday he will visit Gaza.
SnyderTalk Comment: This is a perfect example of UN malfeasance. Blaming Israel for defending itself is the height of hypocrisy. This isn’t an isolated example. It’s the norm at the UN. That’s why I believe that the UN has outlived its usefulness.
Matthew Holehouse: Britain: We Won’t Go On Paying for Gaza— Britain will cut off aid to Palestinians unless a political solution is found to the Middle East crisis, ministers have warned. Desmond Swayne, the development minister, said it is “not an option” for Britain to be asked to “pick up the pieces” again in Gaza, as Britain signed off a further £20 million of aid to the territory. The funding will pay for reconstructive surgery for those injured in Israel’s incursion over the summer, the clearance of unexploded ordnance and rubble, and shelters for those left homeless by bombing. But Mr Swayne warned that further British aid for Gaza was contingent on political progress in the region. “Simply relying on international donors to continue to pick up the pieces is not an option. The cycle of conflict and emergency aid is unsustainable. The need for bold political steps from all parties has never been more apparent,” he said. “It is critical that reconstruction efforts now form part of a process of meaningful political change. The UK will continue to stand alongside the people of Gaza in their hour of need, but this must be the last time that we see Gaza being rebuilt.”
SnyderTalk Comment: The expectation that others will pick up the tab for their misadventures has motivated Hamas to continually provoke Israel knowing that if they push long enough and hard enough Israel will have no choice except to respond. After Hamas gets its derriere kicked, they go on a global fundraising spree that would make Barack Obama proud. Each time they come home with billions of dollars that they use to prepare for their next misadventure. It’s just like clockwork, as predictable as the sun rising in the east.
Liz Sly and Craig Whitlock: Turkey denies reaching accord with U.S. on use of air base against Islamic State— Turkey denied Monday that it has reached any “new agreement” with the United States to allow the use of Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey for attacks on the Islamic State militant group, despite suggestions from the Obama administration that a deal had been reached. A statement issued by the office of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said talks are continuing between Ankara and Washington over whether to permit U.S. forces to use Incirlik in the fight against the Islamic State, a radical al-Qaeda offshoot that has captured parts of Syria and Iraq. However, “there is no new agreement on the Incirlik issue,” the statement said. “There are requests and expectations and the negotiations continue,” it added. The Obama administration has been pressing Turkey to allow warplanes to use Incirlik — where the United States bases aircraft under existing NATO agreements — as part of an effort by a U.S.-led coalition to roll back Islamic State gains.
Piotr Zalewski: Turkish strikes on Kurds complicate anti-IS fight—Turkish fighter jets pounded positions held by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the country’s southeast Monday, according to Turkish media reports, adding to the deadly fallout from the war raging in neighboring Syria and bringing a 2-year-long peace process to the verge of collapse. The airstrikes by F-4 and F-16 jets took place after a military outpost near the Iraqi border came under PKK fire for three consecutive days, local news sources said. “In an immediate response, the terrorists were silenced through the military means available,” said a statement posted on the Turkish Armed Forces website. The airstrikes were the first since a ceasefire took hold in March 2013, the result of peace talks between the Turkish government and the Kurdish rebels. The PKK and the Turkish army have waged war for thirty years over Kurdish demands for greater autonomy, at a cost of more than 30,000 lives. Tensions between the two sides have simmered over the past few months as the peace process appeared to stall, but came to a head last week after Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) forces tightened their stranglehold over Kobani, a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria within sight of Turkish troops massed on the other side of the border.
AFP: Jihadists Fight Way into Center of Syria Border Town Kobane— The breakthrough saw IS claim half of Kobane, nearly a month after the Sunni extremists began their assault on the town on the Turkish frontier, despite more than three weeks of US-led air strikes in Syria aimed at stopping them. That failure will be among the main points up for discussion in today’s meeting in Washington of military chiefs from the 21 countries in the US-led coalition, as will Turkey’s call for the establishment of a protective buffer zone. In their latest air strikes, American and Saudi warplanes targeted seven sites around Kobane, the US military said, including IS staging posts used in its bid to cut the town off from the outside world. A Kobane politician who is now a refugee said IS fighters had surrounded Kobane to the south, east and west, and warned of a “massacre” if they take the northern front bordering Turkey.
Gabi Siboni: Considering a New Strategic Course— Refreshing a security concept is not a simple task, but Israel must undertake it, given the particularly complex regional changes in the Middle East. Israel must reassess its attitude toward sworn enemies. There is more than a little historical irony in the fact that Israel, a veteran of bitter ongoing conflict with the radical Shiite bloc, including Hizbollah, Iran, and the Alawite regime in Syria, now shares an interest with this radical bloc. As to stopping ISIS, Israel finds itself on the same side of the equation as some of the elements of this bloc, though not with the same degree of prominence or importance, and also has common ground with the pragmatic Arab states fighting radical elements, whether Sunni or Shiite. Given this sensitive state of affairs, Israel must make the effort to wipe clean the slate of earlier preconceptions that have characterized its security policy for many years. Circumstances have changed and Israel’s thinking must change accordingly.
Ehud Yaari: Hamas Searches for a New Strategy—Hamas’ Executive Council is taking a hard look at the realities it faces. Gaza’s local Hamas leadership, under growing pressure from residents, pushed Hamas’ top leader, Khaled Mashal, to accept a cease-fire long before he himself was willing to drop his preferred terms in return for a cessation of hostilities. The main conclusion for Hamas is that beyond the bombastic rhetoric about the “success of the resistance,” its military strategy has proven self-defeating. The tendency among most in Hamas’ leadership council is to finally accept that Gaza offers only limited opportunities for escalating the struggle against Israel. Mashal has explicitly stressed the far greater importance of the West Bank and east Jerusalem for any military undertakings, reflecting a recognition of the limited opportunities offered by Gaza for future military assaults.
Melanie Phillips: Recognizing Palestine Won’t Promote Peace— The idea that Israel-Palestine lies at the core of global danger has been exploded (literally) in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and other Muslim states. According to the main proposer of a motion in Parliament to recognize Palestine, Labour MP Grahame Morris, the international community has “cruelly refused” the Palestinians their right to a state. Totally untrue. The sole reason no Palestine state exists alongside Israel is that the Arabs have consistently refused to accept one. Such a state was proposed in 1937, 1948, 2000 and 2008. The Jews agreed to or promoted every such proposal. The Arab answer has always been rejection, war and terrorist campaigns. Recognizing Palestine makes no sense, as such a state has no agreed boundaries. Negotiations with Israel are supposed to hammer out the borders. Unilaterally declaring a state tears up the Oslo treaty that committed both sides to a negotiated settlement. Imposing Palestinian demands upon Israel in this way would destroy the peace process altogether.
Fredrik Dahl: Iran refused to let in U.S. member of U.N. nuclear team: sources— A United Nations atomic agency official recently denied entry into Iran as part of a team investigating suspected bomb research is believed to be an American nuclear weapons expert, diplomatic sources said. The International Atomic Energy Agency last month said Iran denied a visa for one member of an IAEA delegation that visited Tehran on Aug. 31 to try to advance a long-running inquiry into what the U.N. agency calls the possible military dimensions of the country’s nuclear program. It was the third time the person had been unable to obtain an entry permit, the Vienna-based IAEA said. It did not reveal the official’s nationality or expertise. But the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said they believed he was a U.S. national and an atomic arms expert. The IAEA declined to comment on Thursday.
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Zoabi at Old City protest: No peace without Palestinian sovereignty over Jerusalem
Hanegbi: PA is trying to bypass negotiations to avoid compromise
Israeli President Thanks Evangelical Christians for Support of Israel
French MP: Recognizing Palestinian statehood would be ‘grave mistake’ for Europe
Arabic prayer inscribed on Turkish jet sparks ISIS panic
Pedal to the metal: Netherlands allows Dutch biker gangs to fight Islamic State
Hamas official slams UN chief Ban’s ‘hypocrisy’ after visit to Gaza, Israel
Muslim MEP calls on European Jews to halt flight
Israeli minister: World may be wasting its money on Gaza
SnyderTalk Comment: “May be”? Try “will be”.
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Chag Sameach! Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah Starts Tonight
Ya’alon: The Palestinians Will Have an Autonomy – Not a State
U.S. Names Anti-ISIS Campaign ‘Operation Inherent Resolve’
Hamas Official: Ceasefire Talks to Resume This Month
Rabbi Ronski: ‘Spirit of Zionism Helped Us’
Israelis Express Interest in Moving South
Has anyone heard foreign condemnation of Arab Terror?
Syrian Lawmaker Assassinated in Restive Hama
U.S.: No Plans to Extend Iran Talks
Iran: Talks Should Ignore ‘Trivial’ Centrifuges
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Islamic State: Slain hostage was no innocent – he was a Jew
Nobody wanted Israel at Gaza conference, Egyptian FM says
Israel fumes at ‘post-sanctions’ Iran conference in London
Kerry said to seek new talks to hold off PA Security Council bid
French loathed Sarkozy because of his Jewish origins, says former FM
UN chief calls for end to rocket fire, probe into UN school shelling
Hamas lambastes UN chief for criticizing tunnels
3 police hurt at Arab protest against limited Temple Mount access
Recruiting and building rockets, Hamas determined to retain Gaza grip
Quietly, Israel is easing Gaza restrictions
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WHO: 10,000 new Ebola cases per week could be seen
WHO: Ebola Cases Expected to Top 9,000 Soon
In statement, nurses at Presbyterian Dallas describe confused response to Ebola case
Survey: Four Out of Five Nurses Have Gotten No Ebola Training At All
2nd Texas health care worker tests positive for Ebola
City of Houston Demands Pastors Turn Over Sermons
Claims of Police Brutality Threaten to Escalate the Hong Kong Protests
Israel losing support in UK because of settlement building and Gaza offensive
Israel Sees Gas as Key to Transforming Mideast Relations
SnyderTalk Comment: Don’t be surprised when/if oil and gas discoveries in Israel create more problems, not fewer. Arabs who don’t think there should be an Israel, Hamas and Fatah in particular, will want to take it from Israel to enrich themselves. Their incentive to escalate the violence will increase, not decrease, and they will attempt to draw in their Arab brothers for an all-out war on Israel. This is just speculation, but don’t rule it out. It’s more than possible. I think it’s likely.
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Email Distribution List:
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Genesis 34: 13-17
13 But Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, because he had defiled Dinah their sister. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we consent to you: if you will become like us, in that every male of you be circumcised, 16 then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.”
SnyderTalk Comment: 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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It’s time to remove the veil and tell the world who God is by Name.
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.
