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(Reuters) - Israel launched a major offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza on Wednesday, killing the military commander of Hamas in an air strike and threatening an invasion of the enclave that the Islamist group vowed would "open the gates of hell". The onslaught shattered hopes that a truce mediated on Tuesday by Egypt could pull the two sides back from the brink of war after five days of escalating Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli strikes at militant targets. Operation "Pillar of Defense" began with a surgical strike on a car carrying the commander of the military wing of Hamas,...

Hamas confirms Ahmed Jabari killed when a missile hit two cars near the Gaza port; Palestinians report another person was killed.

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem A New Journey…The Names of God in The Scriptures El-Olam-Everlasting God...Isaiah 40:28Isaiah 40 28. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31. but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on...

Islamic militants fired more than 110 rockets and mortars into Israeli territory over the past four days in attacks that injured eight Israelis, according to a report issued by the Israeli Defense Forces Strategic Division. The unprovoked attacks have been dispersed throughout the Jewish state’s southern territory and have forced more than a million civilians into bomb shelters. One soldier has been critically injured in the barrage. The Israel Project says that 898 rockets have fallen on Israel thus far in 2012—over 200 more than hit Israel in the entirety of 2011. The Obama administration has yet to issue a...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem A New Journey…The Names of God in The Scriptures God is My Redeemer...Job19:25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

AFP - Palestinians on Tuesday began work to open the grave of the late Yasser Arafat ahead of an exhumation of his body for a murder probe, a source close to his family told AFP. "Today they started removing concrete and stones from Arafat's mausoleum and the work will last for almost 15 days," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Sydney – A new partnership between Australia's national airline Qantas and Emirates Airlines is causing turbulence in the company's relations with the Jewish community, prompted by fears for the safety of Jews and Israelis who purchase seats on the "Flying Kangaroo." The 10-year deal, announced in September, will mean Dubai will now replace Singapore as the major hub and layover spot for customers flying to and from Europe. As part of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai prohibits Israeli passport holders from entering its territory. The UAE and Israel do not have formal diplomatic relations.

Just weeks after a billion-dollar lawsuit was filed in a New York state court against the Bank of China, one of the litigants arrived in Cleveland and talked about how the suit is an attempt to stop terror. Naftali Moses, the father of Avraham David, a high school student who died at the Mercaz Harav Jerusalem terror attack in 2008, said Sunday during a break in his book tour that the suit is "obviously not to get rich" but rather to attempt to cut off funds to terrorist organizations. "You can't sue a terrorist organization because they are not going...

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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas threw cold water on President Barack Obama’s election victory, answering the president with a direct “no” after Obama told him his administration is opposed to the PA’s unilateral move for recognition by the United Nations General Assembly. Abbas’ blunt “no” underscored the new Middle East reality, where the PA chief feels he can snub the United States and bank on international opposition to the State of Israel’s position for defensible borders, said analysts. "There was a long telephone conversation between president Mahmud Abbas and Barack Obama," the Palestinian leader's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP....

Israel Army Scores 'Direct Hits' On Syrian Source Of Mortars Fired Into Golan Heights Agence France PresseNovember 11, 2012 Israeli troops fired tank shells into Syria on Monday in retaliation for a mortar round that struck near an army post in the Golan Heights, scoring "direct hits" on the source of the fire, the army said. "A short while ago, a mortar shell hit an open area in the vicinity of an IDF (army) post in the central Golan Heights, as part of the internal conflict inside Syria, causing no damage or injuries," it said. "In response, IDF soldiers fired...

Israel’s government has passed a historic decision, one that paves the way for the return of a Lost Tribe of Israel to Zion. Resolution 5180, which on October 24 received unanimous ministerial approval, will allow 275 members of the Bnei Menashe community of northeastern India to make aliya. Coming at a time of increasing uncertainty for the Jewish state, this development should infuse us all with some much-needed optimism regarding the future. [The discovery of traces of the tribe was first reported in America by The New York Sun, whose columnist, Hillel Halkin, told their story in the book “Across...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem A New Journey…The Names of God in The Scriptures God is My Salvation...Isaiah 12:2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.”

Islamization isn't only happening in Europe. If these are our "allies", I'd sure hate to hear what our enemies have to say about us. According to Rabbi Baruch Efrati, "Jews should 'rejoice at the fact that Europe is paying for what it did to us for hundreds of years by losing its identity.' " "With the help of God, the gentiles there will adopt a healthier life with a lot of modesty and integrity, and not like the hypocritical Christianity which appears pure but is fundamentally corrupt," he explained." "even if we are in a major war with the region's...

Minister Moshe Yaalon (Likud) said Sunday that Israel does not intend to maintain restraint in the face of the intense rocket attacks from Gaza. "If the terror organizations do not cease their fire we will be prepared to toughen our response as much as necessary, until they say 'enough!'," he said. "There is a complicated war here, and in the end we will finish it," he said. "This is not a one-off move. But we will put an end to it. We do not intend to maintain restraint because the situation is unbearable for us." "We will bring quiet to...

Israel was drawn into the Syrian civil war for the first time on Sunday, firing warning shots into the neighboring country after a stray mortar shell from across the border hit an Israeli military post. The Israeli military said the mortar fire caused no injuries or damage at the post in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and then annexed. But in recent weeks, incidents of errant fire from Syria to the north have multiplied, leading Israel to warn that it holds Syria responsible for fire on Israeli-held territory.

After winning a second White House term, US President Barack Hussein Obama aims to start direct, fast-track nuclear talks with Tehran as soon as December, even before his January swearing-in, on the assumption that Iran’s window of opportunity is very narrow – just three months, Washington sources disclose. White House go-betweens with the office of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warn that Iran’s campaign for the June 14 presidential election gets going in March. After then, it is estimated in Washington, that Khamenei, whose ill health keeps his working-day short, will be fully absorbed in a struggle to purge...

For the first time since the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israeli forces on Sunday fired over the country’s northern border to Syria as a warning after a mortar shell fired from Syrian territory exploded in the Golan Heights, officials say. Israeli newspaper Ynet reported the Israeli Defense Forces Artillery Corps fired at a post in Syria in response. On Thursday, three Syrian mortar shells struck in and around an Israeli village in the Golan Heights. The IDF vowed in a statement, “Further attacks [from Syria] will illicit a vigorous response,” the Jerusalem Post reported. A longer statement posted on the...

Israel drawn into Syria fighting for first time AMY TEIBE 8:20 am Photos An Israeli military officer surveys the damage of house after a rocket fired by Palestinian militants hit a community along the Israel-Gaza Border, southern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012. Rockets and mortars from Gaza have pummeled southern Israel, drawing Israeli airstrikes that killed a Palestinian militant. The Israeli military said 60 rockets and mortars were fired by early morning Wednesday, following a volley the night before and that Israeli aircraft struck Gaza three times. JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel was drawn into the Syrian civil war for the...

Palestine can count on about 12 Yes votes by EU countries when it tries to upgrade its UN status, in a move expected later this month. … A senior EU diplomat told this website the Union remains divided on the question, however. He noted that member states’ votes “will probably follow the same pattern as with UNESCO,” referring to a decision by the UN’s Paris-based cultural wing to admit Palestine as a member last year. At the time, 11 countries—Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia and Spain—backed Palestine’s UNESCO bid. Another 11—Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Italy,...