IDF to conclude Operation Olive Branch after saving 19 lives in Turkey

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By: Jerusalem Post Staff; jpost.com

The Foreign Ministry denied on Sunday that the United Hatzalah team sent to provide disaster relief to Turkey following the earthquake left early following a verified security threat.

Israel’s Operation Olive Branch delegation will conclude its rescue operations in Turkey and return to Israel in the coming days, according to a Sunday statement from the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit. 

The IDF delegation thus far has been able to rescue a total of 19 people trapped in the rubble in the aftermath of Turkey’s recent devastating earthquake that has already claimed the lives of over 25,000 people. 

Earlier on Sunday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry denied that the United Hatzalah team sent to provide disaster relief to Turkey following the earthquake left early following a verified security threat in the country.

cont’d…

https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-731348

‘Request was Received’: Israel to Send Earthquake Relief to Syria as Well as Turkey

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By: Lazar Berman – The Times of Israel; timesofisrael.com

Israel to send tents, medication, blankets, could receive wounded for medical treatment; first of two Israeli teams to head for Turkey tonight; Syria denies asking Israel for help

Israel is sending aid to Syria as well as Turkey as they grapple with the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that killed over a thousand people in the region, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.

Netanyahu said that Israel had received requests through diplomatic channels to assist in Syria, and that aid would be provided there.

“A request was also received to [provide relief] for the many who were injured in the earthquake in Syria,” Netanyahu said, and therefore he has “instructed that this be done.”

cont’d…

https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-says-israel-will-send-earthquake-relief-to-syria-as-well-as-turkey/

The Ukraine War Starts to Undermine Israeli Security

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By: Jonathan S. Tobin – Jewishs News Syndicate; jns.org

The U.S. decision to strip arms stockpiles stored in the Jewish state to resupply Kiev’s forces in its deadlocked fight with Moscow is a gamechanger. Why is no one protesting?

For the last 11 months, Israel has sought to signal its opposition to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine while avoiding being dragged into a war that compromises its own security and interests. Threading that needle has been a difficult task, but it was an issue on which both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main political foe—Yesh Atid Party leader Yair Lapid—have been in agreement.

Nevertheless, Israel is now being made to pay a steep price for the war. The news, broken last week by The New York Times, that the U.S. is emptying the strategic reserve of arms and ammunition it has stored in Israel for Middle East emergencies, as well as for the Jewish state to draw on in the event of its being attacked, marks a turning point.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/opinion/the-ukraine-war-starts-to-undermine-israeli-security/

Netanyahu: Israel Raised $2 Billion in Government Bonds

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Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

“The markets aren’t buying it,” says the Israeli premier regarding claims the government’s planned judicial reform will hurt the country economically.

 The State of Israel has successfully completed a major issue of government bonds, raising $2 billion from international institutional investors, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Sunday.

Demand for bonds had actually reached over $10 billion, he said during Sunday’s Security Cabinet meeting.

“Of course, this completely contravenes the campaign of fear that the media is leading against the government. This is not only a campaign of fear; it appears they hope that they will not invest here,” said Netanyahu.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/netanyahu-israel-raises-2-billion-in-government-bonds/

Where’s the Outrage over Biden Comparing Illegal Immigrants to Holocaust Victims?

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By: Jonathan S. Tobin – Jewish News Syndicate; jns.org

Millions of economic migrants crossing the U.S. southern border want a better life. But most are neither refugees nor analogous to Jews fleeing Nazi slaughter.

After two years of pointedly ignoring a problem largely of his own making, President Joe Biden finally made a brief visit to the U.S. southern border in El Paso, Texas. While there, however, he saw little of the human cost of the catastrophe, as he didn’t meet or see any of the illegal immigrants who have streamed across the border since he assumed office.

But in the days before he arrived for what was little more than a photo op, Biden rekindled a controversy that has been simmering for most of the last decade. The president declared asylum in the United States a “human right”—underlined by the plight of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany.

In so doing, he placed those who believe the collapse of security at the border is a national disgrace and a threat to the security and well-being of the nation in the unfair position of being characterized as heartless, at best. At worst, it makes them reminiscent of antisemites who refused entry to those Jews seeking to escape death during the Holocaust.

The pernicious comparison has been a recurring theme among some on the left. It was amply illustrated by the recent PBS Ken Burns documentary series, “The U.S. and the Holocaust,” which falsely linked present-day opponents of illegal immigration, such as former President Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, to those who closed America’s doors to Hitler’s victims or opposed efforts to rescue Jews.

cont’d…

https://www.jns.org/opinion/wheres-the-outrage-over-biden-comparing-illegal-immigrants-to-holocaust-victims/

Damar Hamlin Reminds Us that Americans Pray in Times of Crisis

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By: Michael Brown – The Christian Post; ChristianPost.com

Around the nation, in response to the life-threatening injury to Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin, people prayed. Hamlin’s teammates and coaches prayed. Millions of fans joined in prayer, tweeting their support. Even on live TV, sports commentators stopped in the middle of their broadcast to pray.

But this is only natural. During times of crisis, especially life and death crisis, people turn to God.

We know the situation is grave, we know we cannot change things ourselves, and we know that only God — an all-powerful being who cares — can turn the tide.

That’s why, at such times, people do not turn to atheism. They turn to God.

cont’d…

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/damar-hamlin-reminds-us-that-americans-pray-in-times-of-crisis.html

Biblical Site where Jesus Healed Blind Man Excavated for Public View: ‘Affirms Scripture’

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‘The Pool of Siloam and the Pilgrimage Road are among the most inspiring archeological affirmations of the Bible’

By: Benjamin Weinthal – Fox News; foxnews.com

JERUSALEM — The Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel National Parks Authority and the City of David Foundation announced days before the new year that the Pool of Siloam, a biblical site cherished by Christians and Jews, will be open to the public for the first time in 2,000 years in the near future.

“The Pool of Siloam’s excavation is highly significant to Christians around the world,” American Pastor John Hagee, the founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, told Fox News Digital. “It was at this site that Jesus healed the blind man (John:9), and it is at this site that, 2,000 years ago, Jewish pilgrims cleansed themselves prior to entering the Second Temple. 

“The Pool of Siloam and the Pilgrimage Road, both located within the City of David, are among the most inspiring archeological affirmations of the Bible. 

cont’d…

https://www.foxnews.com/world/biblical-site-where-jesus-healed-blind-man-excavated-public-view-affirms-scripture

New Israeli Government Swearing-in Begins Netanyahu’s 6th Term as Prime Minister

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By: Julie Stahl – CBN News; cbn.com

JERUSALEM, Israel – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has begun his sixth term in office. Israel’s 37th government was sworn in Thursday morning in Jerusalem, amid raucous protests from opposition Knesset members and hundreds of demonstrators outside.

After he spoke about his government’s priorities, which included preventing a nuclear Iran’s threat to Israel, Netanyahu was shouted down. 

“Knesset members, I don’t have to hear your shouts to know we have some disagreements,” he responded, “but some things we agree upon.”

At the top of the new coalition’s platform is a controversial goal to expand the Jewish presence throughout the country, including the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria, known to the world as the West Bank, which is considered “occupied” territory by many nations.

The prime minister finalized agreements this week with religious party leaders in his government, then his Likud Party issued a policy statement Wednesday, saying the new coalition would “advance and develop settlement in all parts of the land of Israel – in the Galilee, Negev, Golan Heights, and Judea and Samaria.”

cont’d…

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2022/december/new-israeli-government-swearing-in-begins-netanyahus-6th-term-as-prime-minister