“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: may they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122: 6
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Venetia Rainey—Peace in our time? 2014 could prove a Middle East watershed:
There’s not a lot of optimism going round the Middle East right now, but if there is one speck of hope it’s that in decades to come this may turn out to be the year that something finally shifted on the Israeli-Palestinian front.
I’m aware that such a statement will seem premature. The Israeli government is hugely likely to swing even further right in elections set for spring. The Palestinian president is old and increasingly irrelevant. Israel’s aggressive settlement expansion policy shows no sign of slowing. And the two main Palestinian parties seem utterly unable to put together any sort of united front.
But all of this makes the need for a settlement in the next few years even more pressing.
Putting off the issue of Palestinian self-determination undermines those who advocate peaceful negotiations – for what, after nearly 20 years of peace talks, do they have to show for it?
Equally, the lack of progress empowers those who argue that violence is the only salve for the frustration and desperation felt by more than 4 million stateless people – not counting the refugees outside the Palestinian territories.
Finally, there have been clear signs this year that the international community – or to be more specific, Europe – is waking up to this.
The European Parliament’s recognition “in principle” of the Palestinian state on Wednesday tops off an unprecedented few months of similar moves across the continent: Sweden’s government officially recognised Palestine in October, while the UK, France, Spain, Ireland and Luxembourg all held symbolic votes that urged their governments to do the same.
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SnyderTalk Comment: As Yogi Berra said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” It seems as though our friends in Europe can’t remember the past, so they are destined to repeat it.
There is no getting around it. Something like a mass delusion seems to be controlling the intellectual elite in Europe.
If 2014 was a watershed year for peace, I wonder what a watershed year for war would look like.
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Aaron Klein: Official: Russia plotting to start war on Israel—Russia is preparing a contingency plan to prompt Hezbollah and possibly the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad into a direct military conflict with Israel, according to a French official who has been apprised of the situation. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the contingency was meant to be used as a card against the West, particularly the U.S. and European Union, which has been engaged in efforts to isolate Moscow. This past week, the U.S. and E.U. adapted tighter sanctions on the Russian economy, including restrictions on investments in the Crimea, with emphasis on Russian Black Sea oil and gas exploration and tourism. The official said there is information Russia in recent weeks successfully shipped to Hezbollah a large convoy of Iskandar ballistic missiles and surface-to-air missiles. The missiles were received, despite Israel’s alleged airstrikes in Syria targeting Russian-shipped weapons earlier this month, the official said.
SnyderTalk Comment: Is this true? I don’t know, but I do know something about Bible prophecy. It’s certainly plausible.
Paul Brandeis Raushenbush: The False Choice of Protesting for Justice and Supporting Our Police—I’m one of the millions of New Yorkers who woke up heartbroken today thinking of NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos who were shot dead yesterday while sitting in their car in Brooklyn by Ismaaiyl Brinsley. As the news unfolded, we learned the briefest details of the two men’s lives such as the fact that Liu was married just two months ago, and that Ramos has a wife and a 13 year old son who “couldn’t comprehend what had happened to his father”, according to NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio who met with the families before a press conference last night. I offered prayers for the men, and their widows and son. Liu and Ramos were not the only victims of Brinsley’s deadly rampage yesterday. Earlier that day, the Atlanta resident had allegedly shot his former girlfriend in Maryland, who apparently now is in “serious condition”. After killing the two police officers, Brinsley fled and apparently killed himself in a nearby subway station. The assassinations come at a particularly tense moment in America. Recent deaths of black citizens at the hands of police in Ferguson, Cleveland and here in New York have sparked protests and calls for investigation of racism within our policing and criminal justice system. I have been part of those protests. One week ago, I was in Washington, D.C. along with thousands of other Americans of all ages, races and religions who came together in peaceful protest and to listen to the mothers and wives of those men whose lives had been lost. Never once did I hear any suggestion of violence against the police either in the march or from the microphone.
SnyderTalk Comment: Raushenbush said, “Never once did I hear any suggestion of violence against the police either in the march or from the microphone.”
Maybe he should have participated in the New York protest that was led by the no-so-reverend Al Sharpton. They were chanting “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want it? Now!”
It’s on YouTube so Raushenbush can’t say that he had no opportunity to hear the calls for murdering police officers. Maybe he was too busy writing about the “peaceful protests” to hear the calls for murder in New York.
Never fear. Millions of people did hear it, and they know who’s to blame.
I don’t know what Raushenbush’s problem is, but I do know that Obama and Holder have set forces in motion right here in America that they can’t control. It’s the domestic equivalent of the Arab Spring that Obama also started. It set in motion forces that are still playing out in the Middle East. Several governments have fallen and Israel fought a war with Hamas thanks to our president’s community organizing skills. It’s the only thing he knows, but he doesn’t do it very well.
Talking is the only thing that Obama does well, but he’s on the verge of a problem that he can’t talk himself out of. Even his friends, if he has any, can see it coming. Those who can’t see it coming are in serious trouble.
On the bright side, more and more each day, people are beginning to realize what a disaster Barack Obama has been and is. On the dark side, he still has two more years in office and a narcissistic ego that will compel him to double down. That scares me.
I’ve said this before, but I will say it again anyway. The next two years should be very interesting and potentially very dangerous. There is no way that the President of the United States can create so many problems and not cause major mishaps that threaten us all. I have a hunch that we are almost there.
Also see “Shooter bragged to bystanders just before killing NYPD cops”.
Burak Bekdil: “Justice” in Turkey— Turkey changes, and it does not. The oppressors change; oppression does not. Every Turkish courtroom sports in big, bold letters the proud dictum: “Justice is the foundation of the state.” Perhaps that explains why the Turkish state looks like a makeshift building without a proper foundation. In Turkey, the ruling ideology has changed from one belief to another. The bête noire for the state also changed — in line with what the dominant ideology has crowned, or what is perceived as threat. Between 1923, when Ataturk built modern Turkey, and 2002, when the (Islamist) Justice and Development Party [AKP] came to power, the usual suspects were the liberals, Islamists, non-Muslim minorities, communists, Kurds and random dissidents.
Tim Walker: 9 things the Sony hack has taught us about Hollywood—#1: Hollywood is more terrified of North Korea than you are. #2: The movies are running out of viable villains. #3: Sony’s parent company stays out of its creative decisions – with one notable exception.
SnyderTalk Comment: There is a huge difference between the characters celebrated in action flicks and the real life human beings who are behind the dream factories.
Uzay Bulut: Geert Wilders Was Right— “Hate Speech” was invented in the Kremlin of the USSR by political operatives who saw that it could be used effectively against anyone who did not agree with you, whom you wanted to silence. It would seem indispensable for all people who want to defend their liberty to take a stand against criminal and violent people who aim to destroy or damage their societies. If those people are extremist Muslims, why should they be exempt? And if they are not extremist Muslims, why should they not be protected from the same threats and violence that menace us? Ironically, however, it is not the violent Islamic teachings inspiring these crimes that are questioned, criticized — or prosecuted — as hate speech on major media outlets or among political circles. It is, instead, the victims of these teachings: among others, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Lars Hedegaard, Susanne Winter, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, Imran Firasat, and Geert Wilders. What Geert Wilders does cannot be called hate speech. It is legitimate a struggle, if occasionally imperfect, to protect the liberties of all of us in the face of unending threats and attacks, most recently from Islamic extremists. Geert Wilders is not an extremist of any kind. He is a democrat who defends Western values, the most important of which are liberty and life. We should not prosecute Wilders. We should thank him for sacrificing his life to defend us — and defend him back.
Algemeiner Staff: Rockland County Jewish Legislator Receives ‘Islamic State’ Threat— A Jewish legislator in Rockland County is living in fear following the receipt of a threatening picture in which his face is superimposed on the body of a prisoner about to be beheaded by the Islamic State terrorist organization. Legislator Aron Wieder (D-Spring Valley,) said the chilling color image was sent in an envelope postmarked from Monsey to his county office and that he opened it while the Legislature was in session on Monday. “I opened the letter and I was completely shocked. I literally had shivers running down my spine,” Wieder said afterwards. “It’s meant to intimidate and to shock. If it’s someone who is sympathetic toward ISIS or someone who is hateful toward the Orthodox community is no matter, it’s equally disgusting.”
Michael Curtis: Amnesty International Should Listen to Mrs. Arafat— What can explain the distressing ailment of tone deafness on Middle Eastern affairs suffered by Amnesty International and well-meaning Human Rights Groups and Charity Organizations? Except for rabid anti-Semites and those zealous bigots who reject the right of the Jewish People to self-determination, every rational observer favors peace, if not mutual affection, between Israel and the Arab people, including the Palestinians. Sincere advocates of a peace process recognize that one-sided attacks and condemnations of the State of Israel will not lead to that desired objective. The pursuit of that objective is not helped by a new publication, a Report by Amnesty International, issued in November 2014, that ignores or minimizes the provocative militancy of the terrorist group Hamas in its continual and persisting attacks on the State of Israel and its citizens.
Moshe Phillips and Benyamin Korn: They Hate ‘Progressive’ Israelis, Too— An anti-Israel group called “Adalah” picketed a recent performance by the Batsheva Dance Company at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The most interesting aspect of the controversy is that the anti-Israel activists were undeterred by the fact that the dance troupe’s director has himself accused Israel of committing “war crimes.” Speaking to a Canadian newspaper in 2005, Batsheva artistic director Ohad Naharin expressed anguish that “I continue to do my work, while 20 kilometers from me, people are participating in war crimes.” Naharin is so extreme that after anti-Israel hecklers disrupted one of his group’s performances in Scotland in 2012, he declared: “If I would think for a moment this [tactic of disruption] can help the Palestinian cause, I would even welcome it — let’s disturb the show, break my house, break my windows if it can help the Palestinian cause.”
Louis René Beres: You Can’t Ask Israel to Kill Itself— It would seem preposterous to connect the United Nations General Assembly and genocide in causal terms, but this link is plausible today. On December 2, the world body overwhelmingly endorsed a plainly one-sided resolution, calling upon Israel to renounce possession of nuclear weapons, and, simultaneously, to join a Nuclear Weapons Free-Zone for the Middle East. Should Israel ever feel compelled to abide by such a carefully contrived proposal, it would immediately become complicit in its own planned disappearance. Almost from the beginning, when first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion saw the primary need for a “great equalizer,” Israel’s core security as a beleaguered state has depended upon nuclear weapons. Although still ambiguous and still undisclosed, this Israeli “bomb in the basement” has managed to keep a substantial number of potentially existential enemies at bay. And while it was never a suitable deterrent against historically “normal” wars, or acts of terrorism, this available nuclear option has successfully thwarted what enemy states have expressly wanted most of all – that is, in the precise words commonly favored in such recurrent Arab and/or Iranian pleas, a “liquidation of the Zionist Entity.”
Sara Yoheved Rigler: I Wanna Be a Maccabee— The founders of the “Jewish Olympics” had a formidable task. To find a name for the games, they had to pick through Jewish history and find a hero who, if not actually athletic, was minimally physically fit. Two millennia of pasty-faced scholars did not qualify, so they reached back further. King David had a spindly physique and, as the author of Psalms, was remembered more for his lyrical poetry than his military conquests. The greatest war hero among the Biblical kings was perhaps Ahab, the husband of Jezebel, but he was a villain. “The Ahab Games” just wouldn’t do. Then, voila! They found them: the Maccabees! These five brothers valiantly fought and vanquished the mighty Greek army. They were physically strong and morally upstanding. The games would be called the Maccabiah. After all, the Maccabees are the perfect role models for aspiring Jewish athletes. Or are they?
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Hamas conducts rocket tests in Gaza, drawing the attention of the Israeli military
Syrian state media unveils IDF drone allegedly ‘shot down’
IDF arrests knife-wielding Palestinian at West Bank checkpoint
‘One in three children in Israel is poor,’ says new report by poverty NGO
Finance Committee approves funding for settlements despite objections by leftist politicians
What do the latest Olmert recordings mean for his legal saga?
Hamas arrests global jihadis who fired rocket on Friday, defense minister says
Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick to run in Likud primaries
Swedish politician calls for Jews to abandon their faith
Israel looks at Europe with utter dismay
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Muslim Scholar Calls for Jewish Place of Worship on Temple Mount
Herzog and Livni Pledge to Keep Western Wall
Netanyahu Sources: Cooperation with Yishai’s Party
Palestinians, Leftists Uproot Israeli Olive Grove
Pakistani Appeal on Mumbai Mastermind Bail Delayed
1,500 Jews Find Vandalism at Joseph’s Tomb
Police Admit Arab Stabbing of Jew is Terror Attack
Cops Detain Temple Mount Visitor Over Fruit Knife
Netanyahu: Israel is Fighting a War on Two Fronts
France: Bold Campaign Combats Anti-Semitism
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Hamas seeks to douse flareup on Gaza border
Hamas to blame if hostilities escalate again, Netanyahu warns
Livni: ‘The world listens to me,’ not to Netanyahu
SnyderTalk Comment: Tzipi Livni has a lot in common with Barack Obama, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton. Thankfully, the Israeli people are beginning to see the light.
The difference between the political left in Israel and the political left in the U.S. is slight. Both groups ignore reality and pretend that the world is fantasyland.
If you think that’s scary, consider this: staunch Democrats in the U.S. believe that Barack Obama leans too far to the right. That’s why they are drooling over Elizabeth Warren.
The world is not fantasyland, and pretending that it is is very dangerous. After 6 years of Obama’s wild imaginings, that’s becoming clear to most Americans. By the time he completes his presidency, I think that everyone will see it–even his ardent admirers.
Arafat gave us arms for Second Intifada attacks, Hamas official says
Spanish imam probed for asking Allah to destroy Jews
Ancient clay seals may shed new light on King David
Retreating IS fighters call Kurds ‘dogs of Israel’
For Israeli politicians, poverty is someone else’s problem
Israeli IS “Leader” Says Caliphate Will Rule over Jews
French immigration to Israel dwarfs North American figures
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Report: ISIS Executes 150 Women for Refusing to Marry Militants
Over 100 Nigerian Women, Children Missing After Suspected Boko Haram Raid
EU Backs Palestinian Dictatorship
Netanyahu to Europeans: Stop Rewarding Palestinian Intransigence
Islamic Militants Claim Responsibility for Bombing French Center in Gaza
Pakistan military: 32 militants killed in ambush in NW following school massacre
Pakistan to appeal bail for man accused of masterminding Mumbai attack
Syria: 66 journalists murdered in 2014
Palestinian Boycott of Israeli Goods Faltering
Palestinian envoy rebukes Canada for skipping UN meeting criticizing Israel
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Iran has know-how to build nukes, senior cleric claims
Pakistan Executes Four More Islamic Militants, Including Russian
Egyptian ‘spy’ charged for allegedly passing Israel intel on Iranian warships’ movements
UK loses bid to opt out of benefits deal with Turkey
PM accuses EU of ‘dirty campaign’ against Turkey
Turkey’s Descent Into Paranoia
Russia Says It Won’t ‘Cave In’ To New Western Sanctions
Russia’s Crisis Is Just Getting Started
Iran Says U.S.-Cuba Thaw Proves Sanctions Are Useless
US seeks China’s help against North Korean cyberattacks
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Genesis 41: 50-52
50 Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. 51 Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” 52 He named the second Ephraim, “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
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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Do we all worship the same god?
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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.
