#about the last picture it's a child who was killed in gaza by israel | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tieflingkisser · 5 hours

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Pushed to the edge, starved and exhausted, Rafah IDPs struggle to survive

With Rafah under attack, desperate families have been forced to head back to a decimated Khan Younis while others headed to the adjacent encampment at Al-Mawasi

Um Ahmad frantically counted her children as they lay in a tent near Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah. Israeli bombs were raining down all around her. She was terrified. “One, two, three, four, five,” she counted, her voice shaking with dread. She had lost a sixth child during their second forced displacement from Khan Younis months ago. She was not prepared to lose another. Trembling, the 45-year-old scrambled to carry whatever she could on one arm and slung her four-year-old special needs son on the other. The eldest of her children was barely 12, but old enough to watch the little ones, who silently followed along. Tearful, destitute and with no other choice, she set off on a 10-kilometre trek back to Khan Younis with no destination in mind, her only support, the kindness of strangers. With her husband trapped in Gaza City in the north, she didn’t think she would ever see him again. Um Ahmad and her kids are among merely 360,000 people who fled Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah earlier this month when Israel ordered a mass evacuation, according to a UN report.

[...]

Desperate families were forced to leave what little they had behind and head back to a decimated Khan Younis where they moved back into what remained of their destroyed homes. Others headed to the adjacent seafront encampment at Al-Mawasi, where people use seawater for washing and walk at least four kilometres for a jerry can of drinkable water.

[...]

Ahmed K., who preferred to withhold his last name, recounted his ordeal following the bombing of his three-story family home in Rafah in an Israeli air raid, which killed his mother and two other family members. “Me, my sister, grandmother and uncle survived,” said Ahmed, 29, recalling how it took three hours to rescue him from under the rubble where he was trapped in what used to be his refuge. Ahmed, who is single, had a head injury and the lower part of his foot was shattered. He waited two full days, partly on a hospital floor in Abu Youssef Al-Najjar, before undergoing emergency surgery. He had no access to specialised doctors or treatment due to the overwhelming number of casualties requiring immediate attention. Long before he was ready to move, the entire hospital had to be evacuated. He was placed on a wooden cart for about 10 kilometres all the way to Khan Younis. “Before the Israeli invasion of Rafah, life was very difficult but still livable,” said Ahmed. “Now it is unbearable.” “It’s a miracle I was able to make it to Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis,” he said.

[...]

“I lost everything,” Dr Sami (not his real name) told The New Arab. “My home, my dignity, my savings, my whole being.” Dr Sami preferred to remain anonymous and refused to have his picture taken because, as he said, he could not tolerate the “humiliation” of appearing in this state in front of his students. The 49-year-old parasitology professor at Gaza’s Islamic University is married with three children, the eldest 15. This was the eighth time he has been displaced: from north Gaza to west Gaza, then to east Khan Younis, to west Khan Younis, to Rafah and now he is back in Khan Younis. With a hammer and nails, he mustered whatever was left of his strength to build a wooden hut to protect his family from the heat and rain. His hair was dishevelled, his eyes were bulging and he said he lost 27 kilogrammes of his weight. “In East Khan Younis, I shared a house with 24 other families,” he said. At one point as he headed south from west Gaza to east Khan Younis, he was stopped by Israeli occupation forces, stripped to his underwear, robbed of his money and personal belongings, and left to walk for four kilometres, amid relentless bombing, with no food or water. “I’m lucky to have this wheelbarrow to help me carry what little remains of my life,” Dr Sami said, tossing a broken wooden plank into a small fire.

#palestine #free palestine #news

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grotto-esque · 6 months

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Article under the cut, including graphic images.

Khaled Joudeh, 9, mourning over the body of his baby sister, Misk, last month in Deir al Balah, Gaza. Credit...Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

Thousands of children have been killed in the enclave since the Israeli assault began, officials in Gaza say. The Israeli military says it takes “all feasible precautions” to avoid civilian deaths.

Barefoot and weeping, Khaled Joudeh, 9, hurried toward the dozens of bodies wrapped in white burial shrouds, blankets and rugs outside the overcrowded morgue.

“Where’s my mom?” he cried next to a photographer for The New York Times. “I want to see my mom.”

“Where is Khalil?” he continued, barely audible between sobs as he asked for his 12-year-old brother. A morgue worker opened a white shroud, so Khaled could kiss his brother one final time.

Then, he bid farewell to his 8-month-old sister. Another shroud was pulled back, revealing the blood-caked face of a baby, her strawberry-red hair matted down. Khaled broke into fresh sobs as he identified her to the hospital staff. Her name was Misk, Arabic for musk.

“Mama was so happy when she had you,” he whispered, gently touching her forehead, tears streaming down his face onto hers.

She was the joy of his family, relatives later said — after three boys, his parents were desperate for a girl. When she was born, they said, Khaled’s mother delighted in dressing Misk in frilly, colorful dresses, pinning her tiny curls in bright hair clips.

Misk Joudeh via Joudeh family

Through his tears, Khaled bid farewell to his mother, father, older brother and sister, their bodies lined up around him. Only Khaled and his younger brother, Tamer, 7, survived what relatives and local journalists said was an airstrike on Oct. 22 that toppled two buildings sheltering their extended family.

A total of 68 members of the Joudeh family were killed that day as they slept in their beds in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, three of Khaled’s relatives recounted in separate interviews.

Several branches and generations of the Joudehs, a Palestinian family, had been huddling together before the strike, relatives said, including some who had fled northern Gaza, as Israel had ordered residents to do. The Israeli military said it could not address questions about a strike on the family.

In the end, members of the family were buried together, side by side in a long grave, relatives said, showing footage of the burial and sharing a picture of Misk before she was killed.

Gaza, the United Nations warns, has become “a graveyard for thousands of children.”

Determining the precise number of children killed in Gaza — in the midst of a fierce bombing campaign, with hospitals collapsing, children missing, bodies buried under rubble and neighborhoods in ruins — is a Sisyphean task. Health officials in Gaza say that 5,000 Palestinian children have been killed since the Israeli assault began, and possibly hundreds more. Many international officials and experts familiar with the way death tolls are compiled in the territory say the overall numbers are generally reliable.

If the figures are even close to accurate, far more children have been killed in Gaza in the past six weeks than the 2,985 children killed in the world’s major conflict zones combined — across two dozen countries — during all of last year, even with the war in Ukraine, according to U.N. tallies of verified deaths in armed conflict.

A wounded child arriving at Al-Nasr Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza. Credit...Yousef Masoud for The New York Times

The body of a child pulled from rubble in Khan Younis. Credit...Yousef Masoud for The New York Times

The funeral of a child in Khan Younis on Oct. 26. Credit...Yousef Masoud for The New York Times

The Israeli military says that, unlike the “murderous assault against women, children, elderly and the disabled” by Hamas on Oct. 7, Israeli forces take “all feasible precautions” to “mitigate harm” to civilians.

Hamas, the military said, deliberately caused “the maximum amount of harm and brutality possible to civilians.” During the attack on Israel, parents and their children were gunned down inside their homes, witnesses and officials say, with children taken as hostages.

In response, the Israeli military says, it is waging a war “forcefully to dismantle Hamas military and administrative capabilities.” It notes that Israeli forces have told residents to flee to southern Gaza, and says that they issue warnings before airstrikes “when possible.”

But the furious pace of the strikes — more than 15,000 to date, according to the Israeli military, including in southern Gaza as well — makes the Israeli bombing campaign on the Palestinian territory one of the most intense of the 21st century. And it is happening in a dense urban enclave under siege with high concentrations of civilians, particularly children, setting off mounting global alarm, even from some of Israel’s closest allies.

After initially questioning the death toll reported by health officials in Gaza, the Biden administration now says that “far too many” Palestinians have been killed, conceding that the true figures for civilian casualties may be “even higher than are being cited.”

So many children are brought into the morgue at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah that the morgue director, Yassir Abu Amar, says he has to cut his burial shrouds into child-size fragments to handle the influx of corpses.

“The children’s bodies come to us broken and in pieces,” he said. “It’s chilling.”

“We’ve never seen this number of children killed,” he added. “We cry every day. Every day, we cry while we’re working to prepare the children.”

During previous wars, parents in Gaza, a crowded strip with more than two million people, sometimes put their children to bed in different rooms of their homes. If an airstrike damaged one part of the house, the other children might live.

Given the scale of the bombardment this time — which many Gazans describe as indiscriminate and without warning — some parents have put much greater distances between their children, splitting them up and sending them to relatives in different parts of the Gaza Strip to try to increase their odds of survival. Others have taken to scrawling names directly onto their children’s skin, in case they are lost, orphaned or killed and need to be identified.

In the emergency room of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah said that many children had been brought in alone and in shock, with burns, shrapnel wounds or severe injuries from being crushed by rubble. In many cases, he said, no one knew who they were.

Waiting for treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Credit...Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

A wounded child was treated at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah. Credit...Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

Waiting for treatment at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Credit...Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

“They are given a designation — ‘Unknown Trauma Child’ — until someone recognizes them,” he said. “The crippling thing is that some of them are the sole survivors of their family, so no one ever comes.”

“More and more, it seems like a war against children,” said Dr. Abu-Sittah.

Two weeks ago, the emergency room at Al-Shifa registered “Unknown Trauma Child 1,500,” Dr. Abu-Sittah said.

Then, in recent days, Israeli forces stormed the hospital, where thousands of Gazans had been sheltering, saying that the facility sat above an underground Hamas command center. United Nations officials warned that the raid put Gaza’s most vulnerable in even greater jeopardy.

International experts who have worked with health officials in Gaza during this and other wars say that hospitals and morgues in the enclave gather and report the names, ID numbers and other details of people who have been killed in the territory. While the experts urged caution around public statements about the specific number of people killed in a particular strike — especially in the immediate aftermath of a blast — they said the aggregate death tolls reported by health workers in Gaza have typically proven to be accurate.

The Israeli military says it “regrets any harm caused to civilians (especially children),” adding that it is examining “all its operations” to ensure that it follows its own rules and adheres to international law.

But a growing number of human rights groups and officials contend that Israel has already broken that law.

After condemning the “heinous, brutal and shocking” attacks by Hamas as war crimes, Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, said this month, “The collective punishment by Israel of Palestinian civilians amounts also to a war crime, as does the unlawful forcible evacuation of civilians.”

“The massive bombardments by Israel have killed, maimed and injured in particular women and children,” he added. “All of this has an unbearable toll.”

Some international officials warn that children are in danger no matter where they go. “There is nowhere safe for Gaza’s one million children to turn,” said Catherine Russell, the director of UNICEF.

On Oct. 15, Dr. Mohammad Abu Moussa said that he was on a 24-hour shift at Al-Nasr Hospital in Khan Younis — south of the evacuation line drawn by Israel — when he heard a loud explosion nearby. He called his wife at home, but when she answered, he said, all he heard were screams.

Soon, he said, his wife, 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son were brought into the emergency room, bloodied, hysterical and covered in dust from rubble. He tried to comfort them, but panicked when he noticed that his youngest son, 7-year-old Yousef, was not with them.

“Where’s Yousef?” he recalled asking.

No one would answer.

When he pressed again about his son, he said a neighbor simply responded, “May God have mercy on his soul.”

Yousef Abu Moussa Credit...via Mohammad Abu Moussa

Dr. Abu Moussa didn’t want to believe it. Video from journalists at the hospital shows him frantically searching for Yousef. Dr. Abu Moussa recounted how he had asked other departments, including the intensive care unit, whether his son had been rushed there instead.

Then, he said, a journalist showed him pictures of their demolished home. Dr. Abu Moussa said he recognized the gray clothing Yousef had been wearing when he kissed him goodbye before leaving the house.

With dread, Dr. Abu Moussa walked from the emergency room to the hospital morgue. That’s where he said he finally found Yousef, a jokester with a cheeky smile who stuck out his tongue in photographs. Now, his lifeless body was lying on a gurney.

The shock was too much to bear. Dr. Abu Moussa recalled looking away before a colleague embraced him.

Multiple relatives said that airstrikes had hit their home without warning, and that Dr. Abu Moussa’s family had been pulled from the rubble. The Israeli military said it could not address questions about a strike on the family.

“Yousef was a very loved child,” said his mother, Rawan, a fitness instructor. “He was always smiling. He loved to laugh and make people laugh.”

At home, the boy had wanted to eat every meal next to his father, or in his lap, sometimes even sharing the same spoon.

“He would emulate me in everything I did,” Dr. Abu Moussa said, adding that his son had wanted to become a doctor as well.

Yousef was not the only one killed. Dr. Abu Moussa’s brother, Jasir Abu Moussa, lost both of his sons and his wife, family members said.

Dr. Abu Moussa’s nephew Hmaid, 18, had recently graduated from high school with high marks, the family said. He got his love of cars from his father and, from his mother, a love of poetry and art. He had hopes of studying mechanical engineering in Europe, relatives said, and had begun studying German even as he was studying for his high school exams.

His younger brother, Abdulrahman, 8, was even smarter, the family said. He was killed, too.

“He was a handful,” Jasir Abu Moussa said of his younger son. “But he was also very smart, and delightful.”

Death colors the living, as well.

Many children are showing clear signs of trauma, including night terrors, said Nida Zaeem, a mental health field officer with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza.

Families in Khan Younis leaving their homes to seek shelter after an explosion. Credit...Yousef Masoud for The New York Times

Wounded children in Khan Younis. Credit...Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

Children inspecting their family’s home after a blast in Gaza City. Credit...Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

“They are waking up shouting, screaming,” Ms. Zaeem said from a Red Cross shelter in Rafah, in the south, where she is staying with her family, including four children. Each night, she added, children in the shelter yell, “We’re going to die, we’re going to die.”

“They are shouting, pleading, ‘Please protect me, please, please hide me. I don’t want to die,’” she added.

In an encampment sheltering thousands of people around a United Nations center, Hammoud Qadada, 4, tried to focus on a video game inside a tent as the thundering sound of strikes were close enough to shake the ground beneath him.

When the soccer players on the screen scored, everyone in the tent — his siblings, cousins and other children from the makeshift encampment — yelled “goooaaal” so loudly that people in nearby tents thought a cease-fire had been announced.

Their parents had hooked up a television to a solar panel and, when it seemed safe enough, people played real soccer outside between the tents — trying to distract the children.

It wasn’t enough.

The next morning, Hammoud’s grandmother said he woke up and said, “I’m going to die.”

“I told him no,” said his grandmother Hanaan Jaber, 53. “God willing, you will grow up and you will get married and tell your children what happened with us here, like a story.”

Hammoud’s vocabulary has already been shaped by the war. Soon after it started, he asked his parents what “martyrdom” meant. When asked what is happening around him, he answers without hesitation: “Airstrikes. Airstrikes and war.”

Gaza, a coastal strip where cabanas and food shacks line the Mediterranean, once had a lively beach culture. Yasser Abou Ishaq, 34, recalled how he used to teach his three young daughters how to swim.

“They were always asking me to go to the beach, to the amusement park, to the parks,” he said. “I loved watching them play.”

Amal, his oldest, 7, was named after his mother. At school, she was a good student with excellent penmanship, he recalled. At home, she became the teacher who made her younger sister Israa, a 4-year-old who loved chocolate and Kinder toys, play along as the student.

From left: Habiba Abou Ishaq, 1, and her sisters, Israa, 4, and Amal, 7. Credit...via Yasser Abou Isha

When his home was destroyed by what he said was an airstrike, he lost them both, he said. His wife was killed as well, he said.

In all, 25 members of his family, 15 of them children, have been killed, he said. Local journalists reported a strike and shared footage of bodies in burial shrouds — members of the Abou Ishaq family, they said — lined up on the ground as relatives cried over them. The Israeli military said it could not address questions about a strike on the family.

Mr. Abou Ishaq said that he and his 1-year-old daughter, Habiba, had been wounded and taken to the hospital. Most of his family, including his wife and Amal, were pulled from the rubble the same day and buried by relatives, he said, while he was still being treated. He never got the chance to say goodbye, he said.

The next day, Israa’s body was pulled from the rubble, he said. He was able to see her in the hospital’s morgue and hold her one last time.

“I hugged and kissed her. I said goodbye and I cried,” he said. “God only knows how much I cried.”

Mourning relatives outside the morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah. Credit...Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

Reporting was contributed by Alan Yuhas, Samar Abu Elouf, Ameera Harouda and Abu Bakr Bashir

#palestine #gaza #israel

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riondisease · 7 months

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i completely understand why people are saying to “not forget about palestine” after palestine is free. the internet moves on so quickly. but i don’t understand how anyone could ever forget. there are children on the internet right now seeing the corpses of children their age, they scream and cry to their parents, they hug their friends and family. we will grow up traumatized and we aren’t even the ones in danger. i’ve felt so fucking disconnected from life for the last month. how could i ever be normal again after this.

A GIRL MY AGE WAS MURDERED AND I SAW A PICTURE OF HER WHEN SHE WAS ALIVE SHE WAS SMILING SHE HAD HOPES AND DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS SHE HAD A FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND PEOPLE WHO LOVED HER SO MUCH SHE WAS ONLY FUCKING 15 YEARS OLD AND I CAN SEE HER FACE THEY KILLED HER THEY MURDERED HER SHES GONE AND SHE WILL NEVER COME BACK HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO FUCKING LIVE WHEN SHE DIDNT GET TO

i’ve cried so much i try to tell my family what’s actually happening but they don’t believe me, they don’t listen. i’m not trying to make this about me, it’s not about the children in the west when children in gaza are dead. i just hope people understand i, and people all over the world, will never mentally recover from the murders of thousands of people. over a thousand children. we could never grieve all of them for the amount they deserve.

i know we won’t forget because so many children all over the world will grow up traumatized. we will be able to remember the faces and names and pictures of mutilated children our age that were murdered. we will grow up afraid, paranoid of the government above us that could decide to bomb us, to bomb other children, at any moment. we will remember for the rest of our lives. our lives that were arbitrarily deemed more important than the people of gaza.

we can cope but we will never be the same people we were. children in gaza, the people of gaza, have lost their fathers. their mothers. their siblings. their pets and their friends and the people they love. no matter if you choose to deny it or not. in the matter of a someone’s right to live, there is no difference between an arab child and a white one. we will not choose to distance ourselves from them. they are just like us and now they are fighting for their lives, or dead.

please, i know your afraid, i know you’re mentally devastated, but we cannot look away. we cannot force their suffering out of our minds. we cannot give up fighting just because we feel helpless. your trauma, your mental breakdowns, no matter how much it fucking hurts, we need to remember everyone in gaza who’s been murdered by israel and the us. no matter what it takes away from us. no matter how we change for the worse. they need to be remembered. and more than anything we have to keep fighting for the living palestinians. please keep going, keep fighting, keep grieving, no matter what.

#vent post #long post #free gaza #free palestine #death #mourning

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ilovemybettafish · 3 years

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16 Questions to Consider When Protesting Against Israel:

As demonstrations against Israel take place around the world, I am asking those in my Facebook world who might be attending one to please consider the following questions in advance:

1) When demonstrators chant “Free Palestine from the River to the Sea”, meaning from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, do you realize they are calling for the ethnic cleansing of 6.5 million Jews from their indigenous ancestral homeland? Is so, where do you suggest these Jews go, who will take them and how do you plan to guarantee their safety? My elderly in-laws were born and raised in Israel. What should they do? What will keep them from the fate of the Kurds?

2) If Jews are not indigenous to Israel, where are they indigenous to? From where did they come? And why does Israel host so many Jewish religious artifacts and archaeological sites featuring Hebrew inscriptions? Were those planted underground as some sort of grand ruse? Would you consider an Irish person choosing to reside in Ireland as a form of colonialism?

3) If Israel’s citizens are guilty of genocide, as the demonstrators regularly declare, why are they so bad at it? After all, the population growth in Gaza and the West Bank far outstrips that of Israel proper. And why is Israel giving advance warning to Gaza’s inhabitants so they can flee before Israel fires upon Hamas installations, such as the media tower today? 10) Is Israel that inept at genocide? And if not, how do you think it feels for a people who actually suffered genocide to have the accusation so lazily slapped upon them?

4) Have the protesters around you shown equal concern for the genocide of Uighurs in China or the Rohingya in Myanmar? Have they recently protested at either country’s embassy? 11) If not, why is the situation in Israel so unique for them? What makes the Jewish State so particularly villainous in their eyes?

5) When people such as Bernie Sanders say “Palestinian Lives Matter”, do you honestly believe that Israelis feel otherwise? I don’t know any Jews or Israelis who are not distraught over the death of civilians in Gaza, and wish desperately that a peaceful resolution could be found that would allow all of Israel’s inhabitants to live safely and securely in the land. Do you really conceive of Israel as an entire country of genocidal maniacs?

6) What will you say (not if but) when the protesters’ chants mutate from Anti-Zionism to Anti-Semitism with calls to harm Jews wherever they may be found? Late last week, one such demonstrator bloodied a Jewish man with a metal chair. Does this sit well with you? Does your protest include Anti-Semitic images of Jews as vermin or blood thirsty animals? Accusations of Jews controlling the world’s media and finance? Libels of Jews as demonic or parasitic? Do you realize this is why all synagogue preschools need to hire full time security guards?

7) If Israel is truly an apartheid state, how is there such diverse representation of various communities within private industry and government office? In America, can you openly advocate for the country’s destruction and yet serve in congress? You can in Israel! How did Israeli Arabs come to make up 9% of Israel’s Knesset members? And how did Arab Israeli George Karra get a seat on Israel’s Supreme Court? Why do the majority of Israeli Arabs regularly poll that they would rather remain citizens of Israel than one of her neighbouring states or even a newly formed Palestinian state?

8) Did you know that the majority of Israeli Jews are from the Middle East or North Africa? Or did you assume they all present as white? And if Palestine is truly “freed” from the Jews, will you tell the hundreds of thousands of Jews who fled to Israel when they were expelled from Arab countries to “go back to Europe”?

9) If you are upset about the wide discrepancy of civilian casualties between Israelis and Palestinians, would you feel better if more Israelis were killed? Should Israel be blamed for building bomb shelters and Iron Dome missile defense systems while Hamas shoots rockets from schools and hospitals? Would more dead Jews satisfy your rage?

10)If Hamas has so little money for infrastructure and services for its citizens, how do they afford 2,000+ rockets, tunnels, drones, etc? Where did those come from? Did they suddenly win the lottery?

11) Do you think that if Israel returned to its 1967 borders and offered a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, that all would be forgiven? If so, why was an offer of nearly this magnitude turned down without even a counteroffer? Why does Hamas’ charter distinctly call for the destruction of Israel and attacks upon Jews? And why did the Arab states seek to wipe Israel off the map both in 1948 and 1967 when not a single settlement existed?

12) Did you know that Gaza shares a border with Egypt, which could be opened at any time? Have you protested against Egypt for not doing so? Jordan occupied the West Bank between 1948 and 1967. Why was a Palestinian State not declared during this time? Why is Israel uniquely to blame for the Palestinians’ awful predicament?

13) Did you know that Israel allows for a free press while all pictures and stories out of Gaza must be approved by Hamas? Did you ever wonder why there aren’t more pictures of Hamas terrorists in action? And if an Israeli soldier shoots a Palestinian teenager who lunges at her with a knife, is she guilty of killing a child?

14) If Israel is a warmonger for attacking Hamas missile positions, what would be the more appropriate response as its citizens are fired upon? Sit tight and wait until the attacks end? Offer thoughts and prayers? What would the US do if Mexico launched 2,000 rockets from Tijuana into San Diego?

15) If your protest is co-organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, do you actually know any Jews who affiliate with this group? Do you realize that they serve as a cover for Anti-Zionist rhetoric and openly advocate for the destruction of the State of Israel? Do you also think that the Westboro Baptist Church speaks for all Christians? Because I would bet that the ratio is pretty similar.

16) And perhaps most importantly - where are you and your fellow protesters receiving your information? Do you think Twitter, TikTok and Instagram offer the depth of analysis that such a complex situation requires? Can the conflict really be summarized in a tidy meme? Have you spoken with anyone who has spent considerable time in Israel, the West Bank or Gaza? Does your favorite celebrity or influencer research Middle Eastern history in their free time? Would you take a Middle Eastern Studies class taught by Dua Lipa?

I fully understand your sense of empathy for the plight of civilians under fire and the awful images of maimed children and dead civilians. And I understand your desire to point towards a culprit and define a terrible situation in terms of good and evil. And I similarly understand the propensity to equate powerlessness with nobility and power with corruption. But I ask you to consider these questions and decide for yourself if these protests truly share your values.

#protect jews #protect israel #pro israel

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the-record-columns · 4 years

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Dec. 25, 2019: Columns

Junior Johnson holding court among friends at one of his famous breakfasts - just the way we like to remember him

I didn't know Junior Johnson, but I liked him...

BY KEN WELBORN

Record Editor

Some folks are what you would call die-hard racing fans.

Others, like me, would have been called a casual racing fan who, when NASCAR pulled our race from the North Wilkesboro Speedway, felt as though we had been abandoned, and pretty much abandoned them back.

Did that make any sense?

Okay.

Now enter Junior Johnson.

I, like about everyone who can walk and chew gum, had heard about Johnson all my life. I had watched him race—of course pulling for the local guy—but really had no real means of getting to know him—and I never did.

In fact, I really had only one conversation with Junior Johnson in my life during a chance encounter at Smithey's Goodwill Department Store on Tenth Street in North Wilkesboro. It was in the 1980’s; for me, the old Thursday Magazine days, for him, a retired driver and now car owner. I was at the back of the line at the lunch counter in the Goodwill waiting to take lunch back to work for me and Joyce Newman—an amazing worker who also liked those special Smithey burgers every much as me. I happened to look out the corner of my eye to the guy who walked up behind me and, lo and behold, it was Junior Johnson, dressed, as he so often was, in bib overalls

We nodded and spoke, and instantly began talking about the hamburger like no other, the Smithey Burger. I made my favorite comment about them which is "…not since the Lord blessed the loaves and fishes has anyone taken five pounds of hamburger and stretched it this far," to which Johnson replied, "If eating these burgers would kill you, I would have been dead a long time ago." (With a quick nod to the late Max Ferree, I confess that I stole that line from Junior and have used it ever since.)

In no time, more folks came in and they all wanted to talk with Junior—and he accommodated them to a man, clearly glad to see them and even signed several scraps of paper held up to him.

Fast forward to the days of The Record. We would have occasion call on him now and again for a quote or something, and he would always take our call or call hack promptly. One time that sticks in my mind is a postal carrier who was retiring with about a million and a half miles without an accident. The carrier didn't want a cake or a party—he just wanted his picture taken with his hero—Junior Johnson. The postmaster called us, and our Editor Jerry Lankford called Junior, and he gladly came to town for the retirement ceremony.

I tell those two little vignettes to illustrate what I liked best about Junior Johnson.

In fact, when interviewed by a NASCAR program about the 50th Anniversary of Thomas Wolfe's "Last American Hero" story about Junior from 1965, I was asked what I liked best about Junior Johnson.

"That’s easy," I said, "Unlike NASCAR, Junior Johnson hasn't forgotten his fans, the folks who made him famous."

As ever, I value loyalty above all else, and, while I didn't really know Junior Johnson, I liked him.

Robert Glenn "Junior" Johnson

Rest in Peace

Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas guilty of child abuse

By AMBASSADOR EARL COX and KATHLEEN COX

Undoubtedly the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will meet (multiple times) in 2020 to again go through their regular routine of condemning Israel for one trumped up violation or another yet they will ignore the atrocities committed by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

For more than two decades, Palestinian children have been taught that terrorist murderers are heroes; that Jews are evil pigs deserving of death; that Israel has no right to exist and is, in fact, the enemy of all Muslims and the enemy of the entire world.

Messages such as these are taught in Palestinian schools and are themes woven into children’s cartoons broadcast on PA television. In Palestinian culture, there is no escaping these negative, brainwashing messages which are used by Hamas and the PA to mobilize and recruit Palestinian youth to become actively involved in acts of terror against Israel.

If the stakes were not so high and the consequences not a matter of life and death, the circumstances would be almost comical. When Hamas uses these messages to target and recruit children to participate in their weekly confrontations against Israel at the Gaza border, the PA is publicly critical yet the PA uses the same tactics making it just as guilty. A clear example of the pot calling the kettle black.

The UNHRC finds it perfectly acceptable to blame Israel for the deaths of those killed during the weekly border confrontations yet finds nothing wrong with the PA and Hamas brainwashing and poisoning young Palestinian hearts and minds thus enabling them to use their children for fodder during these border confrontations. While the UNHRC claims to be a protector of human rights, it’s simply not true otherwise it would condemn Hamas and the PA for indoctrinating generations of Palestinians to hate Israel and the Jews. By creating little killing machines, the PA and Hamas are guilty of the worst kind of child abuse. Palestinian youth have been robbed of their innocence. They are being raised in a culture that promotes violence and martyrdom as ideals for which they should strive. The PA and Hamas are grooming and using their children as combatants which is a violation of international law.

As the New Year dawns, we must commit anew to standing, without fear or intimidation, for that which is right. Israel must not suffer condemnation for acting in self defense no matter the age of the perpetrator(s). The use of children in committing acts of terror is illegal and morally unacceptable. Hamas and the PA must be held accountable.

“YES, VIRGINIA, THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS”

Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps

THE EDITORIAL

DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O’HANLON. 115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

A Christmas Morning Story

By CARL WHITE

Life in the Carolinas

It was a long time ago on Christmas morning that little Timmy and his sister Sara woke up early and ran downstairs to see what Santa had brought. They did not expect much, but there was always something special under the tree.

The year had been long and difficult for the Watson family and so many others. Ken and his wife, Mary, both worked for a company that had been in business for almost 100 years.

There had been concerns for years that the factory was losing so much to competition that it might not be able to survive.

With all the good efforts of everyone the dreadful day arrived. It seemed as if it was the worst of all days.

The family-owned factory employed more than anyone in town. The company supported the schools, the healthcare system, the arts and almost everything else in town. For almost 10 decades it was a family company that cared for everyone in the community.

The Watson family was now in its third generation. Ken’s father and grandfather worked of the factory and little Timmy looked forward to going to work with his father. That would make four generations of Watsons. This however it was not to be.

As soon as it was announced that the factory would close Ken and Mary both started to look for other employment. The problem was that almost 2,000 other people were doing the same thing and in a small town that did not have another large factory that was hiring a lot of people this presented a significant problem for just about everyone.

Most of the people who had lost their jobs were highly skilled people with solid work history. The type of people that any company would love to have. The few openings that were available in the area were quickly filled with the first applicants. And that’s when things got complicated.

Ken and Mary were not in the group of people who quickly got new jobs. They were putting in applications everywhere and getting the same response. “We would love to hire you, but we don’t have an opening”

The Watson family always attended Wednesday night church service. The local minister was aware of the stress in the community over the factory closing, so his messages were focused on giving hope and inspirations.

On one of the weekly midweek services Pastor Simpson delivered a message that sparked and idea for both Ken and Mary. He said, it’s true that we have lost one big company but what would happen if there were a lot of new smaller companies started.

That night when the Watson family returned home. While having tea at the kitchen table Ken and Mary looked at each other and at the same time said. “Let’s start our own business”.

For years Ken had been a furniture designer and Mary had worked in the business office. So, she knew all the administrative basics and Ken knew how to design and make furniture.

Timmy and Sara overheard the conversation and smiled big for the first time in months. They could just tell something good was going to happen.

Ken and Mary stayed up all night long talking over the idea and planning. Before they knew it, it was time for breakfast and the plan was set.

Ken would do what he always wanted to do. He would design and make high quality wooden toys. It would be a balance for Christmas gifting. The idea was not to replace all the high-tech toys and gifts but add to the options. A gift that would not have a short life but would last a lifetime if taken car of.

Ken and Mary’s Forever Gifts would become a household name for those who love the look and feel of real wood. Gifts there stir the imagination and nostalgia that you didn’t even know existed.

In case you are wondering Little Timmy got the first prototype of an airplane that Ken made. That’s the one that launched the company. Sara received the prototype of the first carved wooden ornament that her mother Mary designed.

Other gifts were under the tree as well, however those are the ones that the brother and sister would cherish and share with there children.

Carl White is the executive producer and host of the award-winning syndicated TV show Carl White’s Life In the Carolinas. The weekly show is now in its eleventh year of syndication. For more on the show visit www.lifeinthecarolinas.com and join the free weekly email list. It’s a great way to keep up with the show and things going on in the Carolinas. You can email Carl White at [email protected].

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garudabluffs · 6 years

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Map of Concentration Camps in Italy

List of Italian concentration camps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Italian_concentration_camps

How evil happens

Why some people choose to do evil remains a puzzle, but are we starting to understand how this behaviour is triggered?

READ MORE https://aeon.co/essays/is-neuroscience-getting-closer-to-explaining-evil-behaviour?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=af34be6cf1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_08_08_01_46&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-af34be6cf1-70417325

It wasn’t just hate. Fascism offered robust social welfare

“The fascist solution ultimately was, of course, worse than the problem.”

READ MORE https://aeon.co/ideas/fascism-was-a-right-wing-anti-capitalist-movement?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=db840944ed-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_08_08_03_52&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-db840944ed-70417325

These are human shields, in the strong and specific sense, and it is Israel that has a history of using them. OpEdNews Op Eds 8/3/2

Israel's "Human Shield" Hypocrisy By Jim Kavanagh "The conquest of the earth, which mostly means taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look at it too much""-- Joseph Conrad "Heart of Darkness" [h/t William A. Cook]

The Israeli-American (Let's never forget this is a team effort!) slaughter in Gaza is so horrifying that I've been at a loss to find the words to comment on it without letting anger get the better of me. The media coverage of what's happening, dominated by the ridiculous notion that Israel is "defending" itself, is so grotesquely mendacious, hypocritical, and racist (imbued with colonialist ethno-supremacism) that it is hard to know where to begin critiquing it--without, again, becoming enraged. - Advertisement - For the moment, I'll focus on one particular, insistent meme, constantly being promoted by Israel and its apologists, namely that Hamas is using civilians as "human shields." The idea is that for Hamas to place any kind of military personnel anywhere in or near a civilian neighborhood constitutes using all the civilians in that neighborhood as "human shields." Furthermore, it makes of that neighborhood a legitimate "military" target for devastating Israeli attack, absolves Israel from any culpability for the scores of resulting dead, blown-apart civilians including children, and places all moral and legal responsibility for those victims on the Palestinian resistance fighters who dared appear anywhere near civilians. So, for example, the personal homes of Palestinian political and military leaders, construed as "command and control centers," are legitimate military targets. If a Hamas functionary lives with his family of five children in an apartment building of 8 stories with 4 apartments per floor, it is perfectly legitimate to bomb that building and kill all 32 families--"human shields," after all--in order to destroy that "command and control center." - Advertisement - This "human shields" argument is what allows Israeli officials, as Noura Erakat points out, to "openly admit that they are deliberately and systematically bombing the family homes of suspected militants," killing whole families. It suggests an ethic that supposedly justifies an Israeli offensive which produces 75-80% civilian causalities , 33% of which are children, among the Palestinian population (and somehow renders insignificant the contrasting fact that almost 100% of Israeli casualties from Palestinian resistance operations are military). To hear it in the American media, poor, anguished Israel actually becomes the victim of all these "telegenically dead," deliberately sacrificed, Palestinian "human shields." American political "leaders" and media pundits universally endorse this pretense of an ethic, or at the least, let it pass unchallenged. Of course, anyone with an ounce of intellectual or moral honesty would have to accept that such an ethic was universally applicable: Kill by that ethic, die by that ethic. - Advertisement - As Amira Hass points out, "the [Israeli] Defense Ministry is in the heart of Tel Aviv, as is the army's main "war room." [These are real "command and control centers"] And"the military training base at Glilot [is] near the big mall" And the Shin Bet headquarters [is] in Jerusalem, on the edge of a residential neighborhood." If Israel's claimed ethic were anything other than the flimsiest excuse for its presumed ethno-supremacist license to kill, Israel and its supporters would have to accept that Hamas has at least as much right to fire its crude rockets in the general direction of the Israeli Ministry of Defense as Israel does to blow up homes, schools, and hospitals with its precision weapons--civilian casualties be damned. By Israeli logic and ethic, are not the Israeli civilians near these military facilities "human shields"? When they get killed, should we not sympathize with the anguished Hamas rocketeers who were forced to kill the civilians that Israel cleverly placed in dangerous neighborhoods? [Actually, unless one is comfortable with colonialism, it's arguable that Hamas has every right to its attacks, and it's inarguable that Israel has no right to theirs.] We all know, of course, that there is no intellectual or moral consistency here, only the ethic of ethno-supremacist, colonialist "exceptionalism." Can you imagine the moral outrage and gnashing of teeth on the part of the oh-so-tough-minded American political and media personalities who accept the Israeli "human shields" argument if anyone tried to apply it to hundreds of dead Jewish children? If this were the scene, day after day, for Israeli Jews: The father is saying: 'Wake up -- I brought you a toy.' (Image by مختلفون mo5talfoon) PermissionDetailsDMCA But we need to take a step back to see how Israel is deliberately and dishonestly confusing a specific definition of "human shields" with a more general notion of something like "collateral damage" in a way that tries to justify the viciousness of its current massacre in Gaza. As Brad Parker, of Defence for Children International Palestine, points out: the use of civilians as human shields is prohibited under international law and involves forcing civilians to directly assist in military operations or using them to shield a military object or troops from attack. The rhetoric continually voiced by Israeli officials regarding "human shields" amounts to nothing more than generalisations that fall short of the precise calculation required by international humanitarian law when determining whether something is actually a military object. Israel is using the "human shield" argument in a way that dilutes is specific meaning in international law, and turns it into another catchall bugaboo, used to hinder careful thought and justify the unjustifiable. Israel finds "human shields" everywhere there are civilians in the way the U.S. government now finds "weapons of mass destruction" anywhere there's "an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce." It's particularly brazen for Israel to be raising and confusing the "human shields" issue because it is Israel itself which has repeatedly used the specific, prohibited tactic of using children as "human shields" to protect its military forces. According to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, along with the torture, solitary confinement, and threats of sexual assault toward detained children, Israel is guilty of the "continuous use of Palestinian children as human shields and informants." The report, issued last year, cites14 cases in 3 years. We're not talking here about some vague notion of endangering children by allowing them to live in a dangerous town. Nor are the accusations limited to namby-pamby UN Committee that no red-blooded American/Zionist would pay any attention to. We're talking about specific practices, identified and denounced by the High Court of Justice in Israel, "like the 'neighbor procedure,' whereby neighbors of wanted Palestinians are forced to go into the wanted man's house ahead of troops, in case it is booby-trapped." Here's a picture, from The Guardian in 2007, of Sameh Amira, 24, who--along with his15-year-old cousin Amid, and an 11-year-old girl, Jihan Dadush--was forced to act as a human shield to search homes in Nablus during a search for bomb-making labs. They were forced them to enter apartments ahead of the soldiers, and to search the houses, emptying cabinets and cupboards, in order to protect the most-moral IDF boys from getting hurt. And here's a picture of a 13-year-old Palestinian boy lashed to the front of an Israeli armored vehicle to prevent stone throwers from" What? Damaging the clearcoat? These are human shields, in the strong and specific sense, and it is Israel that has a history of using them. And, according to a report in Mondoweiss, there is evidence that Israel is using these explicit human shield tactics in the present conflict. One resident of Khuza, Ayman Abu Toaimah, reports that: "As Israeli invading troops advanced to the village they besieged it and used residents as human shields." Another, Abu Saleem, 56, says: "Israelis claim that Hamas is using us as human shields-- how? This is a lie, we do not see fighters in the streets. It's them, the Israelis who used us as human shields in Khuza'a and Shuja'iyeh. They turned our houses into military posts, terrified residents in the houses." And a third, Abu Ali Qudail, said: "When the ICRC told us that ambulances are waiting us at the entrance of the village from the western side, about 1,000 people rushed to leave their homes, some of which were used as a hideout for Israeli forces." Here's a good rule of thumb: Every nasty tactic that Israel accuses the Palestinians of using is one that they are actually the masters of. It's called projection, and you'll be understanding the world a lot better if you consider that most of the accusations Israel (as well the United States) makes against its enemies are projections of its own faults and crimes. Do you think for a second that, if there were one piece of evidence as clearly dispositive of Hamas's use of human shields as the pictures above, you would not have seen it all over the news every day? Corollary question: With all the constant chatter about "human shields," why does none of this factual evidence about Israel's use of the human shield tactic ever enter into the media discourse? Because American politics and media are in complete collaboration with the colonial savagery that is Zionism, and they do not want to disturb the American public's acquiescence to that. This is a stance that must be refused, with contempt. As Congress approves unanimously and Obama supplies the weapons, no American can think s/he stands in a neutral space, shielded from the nasty effects of the decision s/he is making--whether by resting silently complicit or by speaking up in protest.

#mass murder

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cfijerusalem · 6 years

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Watching Over Zion Report 16th August 2018 (5th Elul 5778)

The Word:

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Israel defend you; May He send you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion… May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your purpose. We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy hill with the saving strength of His right hand. Some trust in chariots; some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen; but we have risen and stand upright. Save, Lord! May the King answer us when we call. (Psalm 20)

POINTERS FOR PRAYER

As stated in the last report, regarding Israel and the Jewish people, God’s Word and promises to them do not change. The end result might not yet be visible, never-the-less, we can have 100% confidence that God is faithful and just and will fulfil all His promises to Israel through His eternal Word (Jeremiah 31:35,36). This week we continue to report on the troubles in Gaza; we report from New Wine; we check out just why the Israeli Prime Minister got angry over Corbyn, and we bring encouragement from the words of the Vicar of Baghdad – Canon Andrew White – who knows the true meaning of ‘Faith under Fire’. In the midst of the battle, we can still give thanks and praise to our God, for He is indeed faithful to all His promises, and to the fact that the Lord God, unlike man, does not change.

CFI UK has over the past two weeks been at the New Wine festival. Thank you for all who prayed for us over this two week period.I have included a short report below along with a LINK to a new video Matthew Soakell created at New Wine.Do pray that we would have good fruit from this festival.Please also pray for the One Festival at Lincoln that Julia and I will be at representing CFI at. This is another family based festival, but do lift before the LORD the youth of our Churches, that the fire of God would stir up their passion for the LORD, and that revelation would burn in their hearts regarding Israel.Pray that the many people we challenge at the One Festival would seek the truth regarding God's purposes for Israel, that they would read the literature we hand out regarding the Jewish nation and the CFI ministry, and that many of the youth leaders and Pastors would bring their youth based ministries in line with the Word of God, giving sound teaching on this whole issue.

Please continue to pray that we will reach many people of various ages through our Twitter and Facebook feeds, along with our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/cfiuk. Please pray that we will see an increase in support and will have fruit that will last.

BATTLING THROUGH THE TURMOIL

[Above photo: A monument showing the Land of Israel in the Palestinian Authority controlled city of Jenin. Photo Credit: Nasser Ishtayeh / Flash 90]

In the above Scripture of Psalm 20, we read, ‘May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Israel defend you; May He send you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion’. Recently, my wife Julia sent me a short study via her Bible App on her phone with the following comments: “In the Jewish tradition, this psalm is part of the daily prayer service because it speaks to the various struggles that we grapple with daily. Its message is beautifully summed up in verse 7: ‘Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.’ No matter what battle we are fighting in life right now, and no matter how much things seem to be not in our favour, God can help us be victorious.” The article continues, “This psalm, penned by King David, is reminiscent of his very first battle when he took on the giant Goliath. Everyone tried to talk him out of fighting the giant. David was just a boy, so small that the armor King Saul offered him only weighed him down, so he went into battle unprotected — in physical armor, that is. David came fully armored in the most impenetrable armor that exists – David came clothed in the name of God. He said to the giant Goliath, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty…” (1 Samuel 17:45). And with God’s help, David took that giant down.”

However, the article then goes on to tell of another story from Israel’s recent history. “In spring 2003, Israel was fighting a war against terrorism. The Israel Defense Forces were fairly successful, but a few battles were hard to win. One such fight took place in Jenin, a Palestinian stronghold. The Israeli fighters described an incident where the morale was very low. Many soldiers had already lost their lives, and as a last resort, an Israeli general had threatened over the loudspeaker to send in F-16 fighter jets. It was an empty threat that neither the soldiers nor the terrorists took seriously. That is until a loud booming sound was heard moments later. At first the soldiers were confused, but then they realized the sound was thunder, even though it was spring and in Israel it never rains in the spring. The terrorists were not as wise. They immediately surrendered. When asked why, they said, “We heard the sound of fighter jets and knew we were defeated.” God’s thunder won the battle. A modern-day miracle!”

With many within the church seemingly appearing ignorant regarding God’s Word on Israel; and with some even opposing Israel and teaching ‘replacement or fulfilment theology’, the battle can be hard at times. Add to that the issues that Israel have to deal with constantly with terrorism, and then the issues with anti-Semitism, such as we are seeing in the UK Labour Party, no wonder many are struggling with the battles we are fighting. And yet, with God on our side, surely we must be able to overcome any giant and adversity? No matter how big the obstacles seem, our God is bigger. No matter how mighty the enemy might seem, our God is even stronger. Pray that in every situation, we would all be victorious.

ISRAEL’S CONTINUING BATTLE

Even though CFI were working at the New Wine Festival in Somerset this past two weeks, both our son Matthew and I were keeping the CFI Social Media up-to date various times each day. Much of the news was concerning the constant rocket attacks Israel suffered from the terrorist group Hamas. On Wednesday evening of August 9, 2018, Israel was hit by over 150 rockets from Hamas in Gaza. One Israeli was killed and more than 19 injured as Hamas fired their rockets at Israeli civilian areas. This video was recorded by Yaron Bob in Sderot, Israel, showing the rockets being fired at children's playgrounds and schools: https://www.facebook.com/CFIUK/videos/1813013228746340/ . Naturally, the Israel Air Force retaliated by striking Hamas terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip. However, the BBC and other Western Media channels reported nothing until of course, Israel struck back at Hamas in Gaza. The BBC then made its headlines read, "Gaza air strikes ‘kill woman and child’." So who was this alleged child that Israel killed, and what was the background?

As stated, the Gaza terrorists fired a barrage of rockets at Southern Israel Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and air raid sirens continued to sound in the South of Israel throughout the night with thousands of Jewish families having to sleep in bomb shelters and protected spaces. Nineteen people were treated for injuries resulting from rocket attacks from Gaza against southern Israel including a 30-year-old Israeli woman who was seriously injured on Thursday morning when a rocket hit a building. Another Israeli was killed and thousands were treated for trauma and panic attacks, including two pregnant Jewish women who went into labour. Two homes in Sderot, Israel, were hit as well as a home in Ashkelon. Several cars were also damaged as was a factory in Sderot. However, the news stories against Israel got worse as the week continued. And what was the truth regarding the news that the BBC headlines read when stating "Gaza air strikes ‘kill woman and child’?"

The alleged child that was supposedly killed was actually nothing more than a random picture of a girl the Palestinians took from Instagram called Elle McBroom and she's alive and well and living in L.A. America! Her parents were pretty angry about this on twitter (@AustinMcbroom @CatherinePaiz) when they realised the Gaza Palestinians had used their daughters photo claiming it to be a Palestinian child killed by Israel! [One of the many sources here]. And even the BBC ran the headlines using this fake story! It’s incredible! For more on this, go to Honest Reporting here: http://honestreporting.com/a-night-of-rockets-and-headline-fails/.

Interestingly, with the above story in mind, Gaza ‘activist’ Ahmad Abu Rutema, spokesman for the so-called ‘March of Return’, the Hamas-led riots on Israel’s border, has conceded that Hamas has “lost the battle for public support,” and that “there is nothing wrong with a tactical withdrawal” when the path becomes too costly. Speaking at a meeting organized by Hamas, Abu Rutema said that “the images of torn limbs, wounded people, blood, and martyrs are very painful, and must drive us to reexamine all our tactics and to invent new ones,” the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported. Now note exactly what the Gaza spokesman stated here. Ahmad Abu Rutema clearly stated that they need to “reexamine all our tactics and to invent new ones.” Does this ‘inventing new ideas’ include stealing photos of American children from Instagram? It appears it does! Since the so-called “March of Return” was launched by Hamas in March, there have been near-weekly, violent riots along the Israel-Gaza border organized by the terrorist group. The riots have given Palestinians cover to attack Israeli security forces with gunfire, grenades, Molotov cocktails, and efforts to illegally infiltrate into Israeli territory to carry out terrorist attacks. Hamas also forced women and children to the front line to use them as human shields. Needless to say, politicians will use these issues to promote their own causes, irrespective of the truth.

NETANYAHU CONDEMNS CORBYN’S WREATH TO ‘MUNICH MASSACRE’

As you will no doubt have seen in the media, there has been further trouble this week for the UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as photos and video reveal the Labour leader allegedly paying at tribute to Palestinian 'martyrs'. According to various reports in the British media including the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and many others, Jeremy Corbyn was seen attending a tribute in 2014 of the terrorists linked to the Munich Massacre. Many reports stated that “Fresh evidence emerged with photographs showing Jeremy Corbyn seen holding a wreath at the tribute for Palestinian 'martyrs' of the Black September terrorists who killed 11 Israelis”. Corbyn denied he had laid the wreath to terrorists.

With his party engulfed in rows over anti-Semitism, the pictures gave Mr Corbyn fresh questions to answer about his alleged sympathy for Islamic extremists. Jennifer Gerber, director of Labour Friends of Israel stated, "It beggars belief that anyone would wish to honour the terrorists behind the brutal massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at Munich. However, it is sadly utterly unsurprising that Jeremy Corbyn appears to have done so. Others will rightly regard it is as totally sickening." In other developments, a video surfaced showing the UK Labour party leader apparently making a direct comparison between the alleged Israeli "occupation" of Judea & Samaria and the Nazi occupation of Europe. A Labour ex-minister took out a full-page advert in a Jewish newspaper to lambast Mr Corbyn's response to the anti-Semitism crisis. Jim Murphy said it had been “intellectually arrogant, emotionally inept and politically maladroit”. The Board of Deputies of British Jews warned Mr Corbyn to 'come out of hiding' and said the anti-Semitism crisis would not go away. A full story with photos and video were published in the Daily Mail on Saturday August 11, 2018. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has largely avoided publicly criticizing British Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, let loose on Tuesday, saying Corbyn's participation in a ceremony commemorating the perpetrators of the Munich massacre deserved widespread condemnation. This then led to Corbyn criticizing Netanyahu via Twitter.

So why did Benjamin Netanyahu publically condemn Corbyn? Well one reason could be due to Yonatan Netanyahu, Benjamin’s brother, getting killed by Arab Terrorists when Yoni commanded the elite commando unit Sayeret Matkal during Operation Entebbe, an operation to rescue hostages held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda in 1976. The mission was successful, with 102 of the 106 hostages rescued, but Yoni Netanyahu was killed - the only IDF fatality during the operation. Benjamin Netanyahu lambasted the UK Labour leader stating, “The laying of a wreath by Jeremy Corbyn on the graves of the terrorists who carried out the Munich massacre and the comparison he made between Israel and Nazis deserves unequivocal condemnation from everyone – from the left, the right and across the entire political spectrum.” The Sun reported that Corbyn was said to be attending a service to commemorate Palestinian “martyrs” at a cemetery in Tunisia. Corbyn said he was at the cemetery to commemorate 47 Palestinians killed in a 1985 Israeli air strike on a Tunisian PLO base. In addition, a video of a speech he gave in 2013 came to light where he compared Israel’s action on the West Bank to the Nazi occupation of Europe. “The West Bank [is] under occupation of the very sort that is recognizable by many people in Europe who suffered occupation during the Second World War, with the endless roadblocks, imprisonment, irrational behavior by the military and the police,” Corbyn said.

NEW WINE BRINGS ENCOURAGING WORDS FROM CANON ANDREW WHITE

It was good to be back at New Wine again last week, and this festival is a great way to enable Christians to get a better understanding of Israel. There is a report in Julia Soakell’s CFI Prayer Support Update on New Wine and Julia writes, “Although we had very few negative responses at all, it would be fair in summary to say, that we need to pray for those who avoided visiting the stand or who think Israel is completely irrelevant to their walk with the Lord and the Church and nation at all. We chatted with some great pastors and leaders, and with possible church links… also as many commented on recent headlines about anti-Semitism, we were able to share about the need to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day and ask them to think about contacting us about ideas for their own locality/ church/ youth group etc.”

Both Matthew Soakell and I kept the CFI Social Media up-to date various times each day, and Matthew also created a new short video, so do check out our highlights from New Wine, where once again CFI UK had a marketplace stand and engaged with thousands of festival visitors. This year was the last year New Wine will take place in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, so it was extra special to be a part of. You can view the video here:

Do pass this on and please do comment on the video on YouTube.

For me personally, it was a great pleasure to have Canon Andrew White – the Vicar of Baghdad visit our stand, and for me to get the chance to listen to him speak at one of the meetings. Andrew White is certainly a great advocate for Israel and is someone who knows the true meaning of ‘Faith under Fire’. He started his seminar by stating, “I’ve been asked to come to New Wine for five years running, and I could never do it. One time I was coming and all my staff were blown up; another time they were all kidnapped; another time they [Islamic terrorists] blew up my church… and this time I’m here.” He then went onto state, “I love Israel, I am a Christian Zionist, I am not an anti-Israel Palestinian supporter, but I do stand with the Palestinian Arabs”. After 40 minutes he then gave an opportunity for the audience to ask questions, and I was able to ask him regarding how he coped with stress in the harrowing situations he experienced. Having survived a terrorist attack myself in Jerusalem, and been on the Gaza border during rocket attacks, I know what it’s like to suffer stress. Andrew’s answer brought tears to my eyes. He stated, “How do I cope under all the terrorist attacks and all the violence… I cope by one reason only, love, love, love (of which he used the Aramaic word). I’ve seen terrible things; there have been times when I just cried.” He then shared his harrowing experiences of when ISIS threatened his people to deny Yeshua, and to confess their allegiance to Islam and Mohammad, but they would not deny Yeshua (Jesus) and so they killed the children. And yet his faith in his Messiah is how he copes.

Another person in the audience asked Andrew what the future was for him. Canon Andrew White answered, “The future for me, is, even though my body might be failing, I am just beginning. I know that the best is yet to come… we are going to do a lot in Israel, a huge amount, teaching the church to love Israel, teaching the church that Israel is a root of our Yeshua, of our Jesus. The church has done terrible things to Israel over the years, and one of my challenges now is to turn the church around…” To buy a recording of the talk -Faith under Fire - by Andrew White go to Essential Christian at New Wine website. It’s only £3.99 and is available here: https://www.eden.co.uk/shop/search.php?q=NEWB10418

David Soakell Media Correspondent Tweet me @David_Soakell

Sources: Unless stated, personal sources throughout Israel, the Israeli Embassy London, The Jerusalem Post, Israel National Radio & i24news.tv/en

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legane · 6 years

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The Israeli invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip continues : The boys killed in the Israeli air raid

An Israeli air strike slaughtered Luay Kaheel, 16 and Amir al-Nimra, 15, while they were playing on a housetop of a building.

Umm Luay zooms in on a photo on her cell phone and kisses the screen, over and over.

In the photograph, her child, Luay Kaheel, is seen grinning close by his companion, Amir al-Nimra. The two youngsters, 16 and 15 separately, kicked the bucket on Saturday minutes after an Israeli air attack hit the housetop of a working in Gaza where they were playing.

"I heard an explosion, and of course I realized something had happened to my child," said 33-year-old mother Louai.

The youthful mother had recently arrived home when the air attack struck the working in al-Kateeba square, situated beside a recreation center frequented by Palestinian families amid the late spring months.

"I initially heard that Amir was murdered, and it was then that I knew," she said. "I hurried to the healing center and started searching for my child, wildly."

Upon her landing in al-Shifa healing center, a gathering of men quickly broke the news to Umm Luay - her child had additionally lost his life.

On Saturday, the Israeli armed force propelled a progression of air attacks on what it said were Hamas positions inside Gaza. Aside from the two young men slaughtered, no less than 30 Palestinians were likewise injured in the assaults.

It was the most savage light strike on the blockaded enclave since the 2014 war when no less than 2,251 Palestinians, the majority of whom regular citizens, were executed. No less than 66 Israeli warriors and six regular citizens were likewise killed at the time.

Hamas said on Saturday it propelled many rockets and mortars in light of the Israeli air strikes. No less than four Israelis were softly injured.

'Never thought I'd lose one of my children's

Both conceived in 2003, Luay and Amir were indistinguishable. "Like twin siblings", their moms said.

The two young men experienced childhood in a similar road in focal Gaza. They were colleagues since pre-school and would walk together to class each day.

"He was exceptionally shrewd," Umm Luay said of her child, her voice breaking. She had dependably trusted Luay, who delighted in perusing, would grow up to seek after a college degree abroad so he would approach "better openings".

"I treated him now and then like he was 10 years more established," she included of Luay, the oldest of six kids.

At the point when not in school, the match would likewise hobnob, frequently going by the recreation center close al-Kateeba square to play football.

Enthusiastic about the game, the young men took after the 2018 World Cup competition intently and would dependably contrast themselves with well known players.

"My child went out with a football, not a weapon," Umm Luay said.

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Pulverizing attack

In the same way as other Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Luay and Amir had lived the greater part of their developmental years under a devastating Israeli and Egyptian-forced bar, now in its twelfth year.

The attack has crushed the beach front enclave's economy, extremely limiting sustenance section and access to essential administrations. Home to in excess of two million individuals, Gaza has been named "the world's biggest outdoors jail", and in the previous 12 years, it has seen three Israeli ambushes.

"Multi day before he was killed … he disclosed to me how he felt choked by the truth on the ground," Umm Luay reviewed.

Since March 30, individuals in the Gaza Strip have been challenging the bar and for Palestinians' entitlement to come back to the homes from which they were removed from in 1948. In excess of 130 individuals have been murdered by Israeli gunfire amid the mainstream Great March of Return mobilizes nearby the fence with Israel.

A week ago, Israel closed Karam Abu Salem, Gaza's solitary business fringe crossing, saying it was in countering to Palestinians setting flame to Israeli land. The intersection is the essential way utilized for the transportation of necessities to the enclave's occupants, including development materials expected to modify a significant part of the city's crushed foundation.

Ayed Abu Qtaish, a chief with the Line from Defense for Children International - Palestine NGO, disclosed to Al Jazeera the quantity of kids murdered by Israeli powers in the Gaza Strip since the start of 2018 stands at 25.

Umm Luay said she was constantly mindful of the dangers of bringing her kids up in a place filled with so much injury and brutality, however she didn't anticipate that something like this will happen.

"I never thought I'd lose one of my children," she stated, crying.

'I can't comprehend it'

While Luay endured a hit in the head and in the back, Amir's whole body was punctured with shrapnel wounds.

Doctors at the scene discovered Amir's cell phone close-by and offered it to his relatives.

Looking through the gadget, Amir's mom, Maysoon al-Nimra, took a gander at the last photo of her child, taken without anyone else's input at the highest point of the semi-deserted working before the air attack.

"At the point when the assaults happened, similar to any mother I assembled my youngsters around me, however Amir was as yet not home," she reviewed.

Minutes after the fact, a relative came running with a photograph they had gotten from somebody at the doctor's facility. It demonstrated a kid in a green shirt that was shrouded in blood.

Maysoon understood the shirt had a place with Amir and raced to the doctor's facility.

Subsequent to being informed that it was just Luay who had been executed, Maysoon speculated the healing center staff were just endeavoring to comfort her before gradually letting her know reality about her child.

She rapidly advanced toward the healing center funeral home rather, and discovered her child enclosed by a few layers of white sheets.

"I began shaking him, attempting to wake him up. I had an inclination that I was in a fantasy.

"I can't comprehend it. I spent the night simply gazing at one picture of him, grinning and the other picture of him, blood leaving his head," she said.

"How did this happen? How might it happen? There's a monstrous gap in our home now and it will never be filled."

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yhebrew · 7 years

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The constellations give witness when men will not. This same signal was in the skies for two years when Yeshua Jesus was born in -3 BCE. It has been in our skies for two years since the Sabbath year 2014-15.d The Lunar Tetrad signaled the beginning of the fight for Jerusalem. The 8.21.17 solar eclipse signaled the troubles of Virgo’s water breaking.

Hurricane Jason was number 11…. Hurricanes: Paul ‘Harvey’ is telling us the ‘rest of the story’ being #9.a number of severing.. and Irma is #10…(yood..hand of G-d). There are nine stars making up Leo and three planets sit at his paw for a total of twelve (tribes of Israel) and twelve shakings.

Venus (Morning Star – Yeshua Jesus), Mars is next (Michael The Archangel of War). and the closest to the virgin is Mercury (Gabriel The Messenger Archangel). The messenger brings the message of WAR…who fill fight with Yeshua…to bring Jupiter’s (Father God) peace to the world. Michael was delayed 21 days as he was fighting with the Prince of Persia (Iran) earlier in scripture. He is the Warrior angel. Twenty-one days is that 20.6 half hour of silence that is spoken of in Psalms. Jacob was with Laban 20 years and came out of his silence from his family bringing forth Benjamin in the 21st year. Twenty-one years will end the silence….or it begins the silence…depending which end of it you’re on. Don’t think Greek…but think patterns…and Hebrew and Middle Eastern. Know the signals…

As I type Jupiter, (Father G-d) is half out of the birth canal of the virgin Virgo. The Hurricanes and earthquakes show the water breaking and the earth shaking. The total alignment of these constellations like this have not been seen for 7000 years.

Rosh Hoshanna is the Feast of Trumpets….September 21, 2017. Open your bibles….Draco the dragon (Satan) will swipe his tail and drop one-third of the hosts of heaven (evil spirits) to the earth. Comets?

Everyone should look up and take Revelation 12 very seriously. The woman is hidden…not taken…for 1260 days…42 days…3.5 years. The battle is won by the man-child (Yeshua) returning…but not before two witnesses intentionally speak more stress on the earth. The earth kills these witnesses and even give each other gifts in celebration of it. There are 144,000 virgin male Jews that also will be martyred for the cause The Torah. They represent the twelve tribes of Israel…the nine stars and three planets that make up twelve shining object in Leo…The Lion of Judah. This Lion leads Virgo that has the sun bathing her for all to see…and the dark moon at her feet…as she crushes the one at her heel…Satan. Do you know of any religion that uses the sliver of the moon as their symbol?

These witnesses have tried to bring God’s instruction back to the earth. Many are killed for this testimony and then it’s done…The earth is purified with Satan and demons locked up for 1000 years…one day…so men will be shown how to REST in The Anointed One…The Messiach.

2015 – Wars begin just before Rosh Hoshanna…the trumpet was blown. Eclipse warnings began that Feast of Tabernacles….two years ago…as I sat watching a couple share their wedding vows at Lake Paradise. It pictured what our Creator has meant for us to be…joined with him in a marriage covenant…that is seen in The Feast of Tabernacles..15 days later.

2016 – The struggle for leaders that will love Israel…. The last Trumpet of G-d was Trump… But, he can not divide Israel…there is NO two-state solution. The day his son-in-law was there and acted as an outlaw to Israel…Hurricane Harvey formed and then hit quickly. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina formed the day the last Jew was removed from Gaza. She hit the day the bulldozers plowed under their Gaza homes. They promised the Palestinians that Gaza/Hebron would be their new home. The Jew was never to return. When you remove someone’s home…they can NOT return. Katrina victims moved to Houston and never returned…but were displaced once again by Harvey. Our Creator will NOT forget…and will keep chasing us down as we continue to revolt against His plans. (He wants Israel in ALL her land…and more than she has now.)

2017 – Creation is at war with humanity…especially America at Rosh Hoshanna 2017.

2018 – Mankind seeks shelter in caves and wilderness with the woman to whom they have agree to graft into… The God man-child, The Messiach.

Read these current blog posts while you can. Many in Florida no longer have cell service…no electricity for several weeks. Texas the same. What has happened and what is still going to happen? Check with G-d….is he talking to you? There is a time of silence… time is about up…. To whom are you trusting your life to? As in the days of Noah has more meaning than you might ever know. Cain, Lot, Jonah all ran from God. Job held the course and did NOT deny who had created him. Noach built an ark showing his faith..Abraham and Sarah held the course for 100 years to see the ‘Seed’ Isaac of whom birthed Jacob renamed, Israel.

Yah’s (G-d) War is about establishing the earth back to the beginning of correction instruction on worship. If you know him…you will know his father…and nothing that He spoke was not from the father. They are in total agreement with this plan. There is a birthing taking place with troubles for 2520 days; 360 days year x 7 = 2520. There are problems for 1260 days….three years….and then Daniel speaks of 1290 days…add 30 days (1 month). It is a marker of still trouble….and then Daniel says that if you can make it tothe 1335th day you’ll be blessed. Read my my current blogs and you’ll see what being blessed means.

Are you willing to multiply on the earth? Are you willing to produce children that you instruct them in The Torah? The ways of the Bible as understood by Yeshua Jesus? He rested on the Sabbath…he did not have pork BBQ…or Pepperoni pizza…. Certain things were laid out that have proven to be very healthy for us…but that doesn’t even matter… We do it because He first loved us and died for the penalty that we bore because of sinning. He took that when The Creator himself laid his life down willingly on the cross (stake). No Jew killed him…if so…then I did it too and you did it too…we all did it…it ordained from the foundation of the world to make that sacrifice for mankind. Just as this day is ordained in the heavens from the foundation of the world. There is no surprise…in what is ready to happy.

Visual sightings are available, verbal messages have been sent and our bibles give witness to some of the greatest events to ever happen. They truly will be a Wonder…just as He is our Wonder. And all of this will send us into situations that will test our ‘faith’. It is time the Christian will give witness not to Mother Nature, but to the one really in charge of every hair on our head….The L-RD… The Great I AM has found us wonting…as the handwriting on the wall expressed to King Belshazzar. He became like a bird with claws and ate from the ground as a donkey. But, in the end his sanity came back and his kingdom was restored…but he truly was a changed man and knew that The Creator was in charge of all of life….

We’re going through this my friends as every pattern shows it. No one was lifted out…even Moses died…Enoch died at Mt. Sinai over 500 years of age. We haven’t had the entire story and thus have been lead astray. We prefer books that man tells us are the BEST to read because they don’t think we can look through the chicken bones and pick out the meat. Read The Book of Jubilees….let’s get straight so our King of Kings will still hear your prayers as you talk to him moment by moment as a comet comes to burn the earth. It will shake more than ever before…and it is all for us to one last time….ask ourselves…What do we believe. I believe in Yeshua, The Messiach because he first believed in me. I will NOT turn my back…but keep typing as fast as I can..giving testimony to the ONE true name in which to be saved….

YESHUA

It is in this name that a broken calf raised it head and then it’s hoof…. That will be my next witness in order to our Creator glory. Do you have a witness story? Pray and ask in sincerity….He does hear our request because He sees our hearts love Him…

Amein and love to each of you! We are only safe in Him…don’t run…TRUST….is enough!

Constellation Virgo lead by Lion of Judah in skies today..King of Kings being birthed by 9.23.17. The constellations give witness when men will not. This same signal was in the skies for two years when Yeshua Jesus was born in -3 BCE.

#Constellation Virgo Leo #Faith in Yeshua Jesus #Jupiter as King coming #King of Judah Virgin #King of Kings over Israel #Rosh Hoshanna Signal #Signs in Israel Trumpets #Woman taken to wilderness

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