Thursday, November 05, 2009
In the biggest arms seizure in its history, Israeli commandoes captured more than 500 tons of weapons bound for Hezbollah. If you'd like to see some of the footage of the raid and the weapons they found, you can click here:
In the video, you'll notice containers marked "IRISL," which stands for "Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines." Some of the containers actually bore the markings of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. While Hezbollah claims the weapons were not meant for them, the chief spokesperson for the IDF told CBN News those claims are "not serious." They maintain it's no secret Iran is arming and funding Hezbollah and has become its main supplier of weaponry, with Syria as its next biggest supplier.
Some people have asked how Israel could seize this ship. They acted under the auspices of UN Council Resolution 1747. That resolution specifies, "Iran shall not supply, sell or transfer directly or indirectly from its territory or by its nationals or using its flag vessels or aircraft any arms or related material, and all States shall prohibit the procurement of such items from Iran by their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, and whether or not originating in the territory of Iran."
Yet Iran transfers arms in three main ways to Hezbollah. One is by air into Beirut's airport, the other by land from Syria and the third by sea. One defense analyst told us both land and air leave larger "intelligence signatures," which makes smuggling by sea more attractive. Five hundred tons of weapons would require Iran to use 20 planes, which is more expensive and easier to track.
The weapons cache was huge - 500 tons - ten times the weapons seized by Israel in 2002 when they caught the Karine-A trying to smuggle 50 tons of weapons to Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. The weapons were also surrounded by bags filled with a substance making it difficult to scan. Obviously Israel acted on intelligence to track and seize this cargo.
While this definitely represents a blow to Hezbollah and Iran, financially, diplomatically and militarily, Hezbollah still possesses a prodigious amount of weapons. Some estimates put their arsenal at 34,000 rockets. That's more rockets than Hezbollah had in its possession before the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
Israel may have won this round, but it's just one more chapter in the ongoing Israeli-Iranian war. Given Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, the next round could potentially be a lot bigger.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
One of the most talked about books here in Jerusalem is called The Israel Test. Written by American author George Gilder, it offers a fresh perspective on the Jewish State.
With Israel beseiged in the U.N. and other international forums, it's a welcome tonic to many Israelis weary of what they see as a blatant attempt to delegitimize Israel.
CBN News sat down with Gilder during his recent visit to Israel and explained what he means by "The Israel Test" and it's significance to the United States.
Watch more about what Gilder has to say, here and here
Many of you may have heard of the recent Goldstone Report. It's the United Nations report alleging Israeli war crimes during its war earlier this year with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
While many nations have castigated Israel for the way it handled the war, on Oct. 16, Col. Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afganistan, painted an entirely different picture before the UN Human Rights Council.
Click here for the video clip or read a transcript of his address below. His version of events on the ground fits in with the version we heard earlier this year from retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Thomas McInerney.
Thank you, Mr. President. I am the former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan. I served with NATO and the United Nations; commanded troops in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Macedonia; and participated in the Gulf War. I spent considerable time in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, and worked on international terrorism for the UK Government's Joint Intelligence Committee.
Mr. President, based on my knowledge and experience, I can say this: During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.
Israel did so while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population.
Hamas, like Hizballah, are expert at driving the media agenda. Both will always have people ready to give interviews condemning Israeli forces for war crimes. They are adept at staging and distorting incidents.
The IDF faces a challenge that we British do not have to face to the same extent. It is the automatic, Pavlovian presumption by many in the international media, and international human rights groups, that the IDF are in the wrong, that they are abusing human rights.
The truth is that the IDF took extraordinary measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas, dropping over 2 million leaflets, and making over 100,000 phone calls. Many missions that could have taken out Hamas military capability were aborted to prevent civilian casualties. During the conflict, the IDF allowed huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza. To deliver aid virtually into your enemy's hands is, to the military tactician, normally quite unthinkable. But the IDF took on those risks.
Despite all of this, of course innocent civilians were killed. War is chaos and full of mistakes. There have been mistakes by the British, American and other forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq, many of which can be put down to human error. But mistakes are not war crimes.
More than anything, the civilian casualties were a consequence of Hamas' way of fighting. Hamas deliberately tried to sacrifice their own civilians.
Mr. President, Israel had no choice apart from defending its people, to stop Hamas from attacking them with rockets.
And I say this again: the IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare. Thank you, Mr. President.
On Tuesday night, Oct. 20, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a bold challenge to Israel and a statement to the world. He called for an alternative to the world's dependence on oil within the decade.
It's a bold vision but he asserts not an impossible one. It's one more example of why some people - particularly after his recent U.N. speech - have started calling Netanyahu the "leader of the free world," a title usually reserved for U.S. presidents.
"Making the Impossible Possible - Finding Alternatives to Fossil Fuels and Renewable Energy"
". Therefore, tonight I would like to talk to you about one of the more significant matters on the global agenda: eliminating the world's dependence on fossil fuels, particularly oil. We all know the simple truth: dependence on oil endangers the world. It is a threat to our security, our economy and the environment. Our security, because dependence on fossil fuels strengthens the dark regimes that encourage instability and fund terror with their petrodollars.
Our economy, because if we don't develop alternative energy sources, the demand for fossil fuels will increase and the supply will decrease. This will lead to an increase in prices, which in turn will adversely affect global economic development in countries that import fossil fuels - which is the majority of countries. This will cause serious economic harm. Environmentally, because the pollution from fossil fuels poisons the air that we breathe, the water that we drink and the food that we eat. Our dependence on oil harms us and the Earth every day, and has done so for decades.
To counteract all this, we must set a goal: we must free ourselves from our dependence on oil. I know it seems impossible, but believe me - it is possible. Sometimes all it takes is one or two inventions to make a breakthrough and change the world. Look at salt during the 19th century. Until the beginning of the 20th century, salt was a luxury item used to preserve food. Caravans of camels carried salt through the Sahara Desert, and the salt was traded for gold. Entire empires became rich trading salt, because of the world's dependence on salt. But two inventions were made. The first was the canning process and the second was refrigeration, and all at once the world's huge dependence on salt was eliminated. As a result, the salt empires crashed almost overnight.
Is Israel the country that will discover the breakthrough that will free the world of its dependence on fossil fuels? I believe so because Israel has two significant resources that provide us with a good chance of doing so. We have the minds and the hearts, the capability, the will. Israel is very advanced in the technological fields - agro-tech, hi-tech, nanotechnology, solar energy, battery technologies and renewable energies. Naturally, we are leading candidates to create a global revolution in the clean energy field because of this capacity.
Here is the essence of what I'm saying. It's possible to change the world. The greatest changes in man's history occurred when there was not only a technological change, but a conceptual change. For many generations, hundreds of thousands of years, man was a hunter-gather. He went to seek out food. He had to go great distances, chase animals to get the protein he needed, or to look for berries or fruit to gather so he'd have the nutrients that were needed for life.
These nomadic hunter-gatherer patterns changed one day, because man realized that the food was right underneath his feet. And that was the day that agriculture was born. We are hunter-gatherers for energy. We go to the depths of the oceans. We seek energy from the bowels of the Earth and distant lands. But the energy is right under our noses. It's all around us. It's bountiful. It's in the sun. It's in the wind. It's in the water. We just have to tap it.
I think we have the capacity to develop this. Our Nobel Prize winners were mentioned - yes, we have per capita more Nobel Prize winners than any other country, than any other people. We have the second largest concentration of technological capacity; in terms of venture capital, the highest per capita by far. We have scientific publications and we have patents in abundance. So we have the capacity, including in these areas - the development of energy from hydrogen, from water, the development of solar energy and other energies. We have the brains, but we also have the will.
Because think what this will mean for our national security. Think of what it would mean for our future if the world ended its dependence on fossil fuels, and especially on oil. By changing this dependence, we can change the world. I don't know which technology will triumph. Yesterday, Ray Kurzweil, who hasn't changed a bit in 35 years - I remember you from MIT, Ray - you gave us a course on entrepreneurship and you proceeded to be an entrepreneur, like Shimon Peres, in your own great scientific capacities. Yesterday you said that the efficiency of solar energy doubles every two years. You said that we live in a very brief generation that will develop the energy of the proximate future. If that's the case, then we're in good shape. But I say let's make it happen faster.
If we have placed a man on the moon, surely we can harness the energy of the sun. What I propose to do today is to establish a nation commission of scientists, engineers, business and government people to set a goal that within ten years, we'll have a practical, clean, efficient substitute for oil. I think it's possible. I think we can make the impossible possible.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have never been accused of being a disciple of government intervention. However, sometimes the private market simply cannot create the critical mass of activities needed to make such a big change. Sometimes it needs a push and support from the government. Finding an alternative to oil is a critical matter for the State of Israel must deal with - with regard to geopolitics, security concerns, environmental concerns, to secure the future and to change the world's order of priorities.
Therefore, I repeat my announcement that I am going to establish a national commission comprised of scientists, manufacturers, engineers, businesspeople and government officials, with the goal of formulating a practical plan for efficient development in technologies and engineering in order to replace fossil fuels within the decade. I ask the minds and talents who are here, and around the world, to help.
It is not in our interest alone. The resources need not be exclusively Israel's. Most of the world shares this interest. But Israel has a strong and clear interest in achieving this. "For out of Zion will come Torah": We are commanded to bring a new light to the world. God willing, with your help and the help of many others around the world, we will make the impossible possible. Thank you."
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Earlier this week, an explosion took place in southern Lebanon. It appeared to be a weapons cache stored by Hezbollah in violation of a UN resolution passed after the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
The resolution sought to prevent the smuggling of arms in that area by Hezbollah. During that war, Israel destroyed many of the rockets Hezbollah had in its arsenal.
But Benny Begin, currently a Minister in Bibi Netanyahu's government, told the Foreign Press Association earlier this week that Israel now faces a greater danger from an emboldened and re-armed Iranian backed Hezbollah.
Watch above. Click here to read more.
Friday, October 09, 2009
"Here we go again." That's the text message I just received from a friend in Israel's Border Police. It's a reference to more disturbances here in and around Jerusalem he and other police are facing.
In the city, you can see the signs of a nascent Palestinian uprising. An Israeli surveillance balloon is stationed over the Temple Mount during Friday Muslim prayers. A police helicopter patrols the skies around the Old City. Anecdotal reports sift out of the combat areas near Sur Baher, Ras Al Amud or the Old City itself.
It started a week ago. I first heard about it from friends who live near the Western Wall. They heard the sound of tear gas canisters and saw Palestinians fleeing across the housetops. Like other uprisings before, it's not always what it appears, as if a "spontaneous" outbreak of violence burst forth. For example, there have been reports of rocks being stored beforehand on the Temple Mount before the rock throwing began. But now a week old, it remains to be seen what direction this will take.
There's a real concern we're on the cusp of another Palestinian intifada. Ironically, just when the Palestinian economy seems to be blossoming, an intifada could rise up to snuff out the economic gains. My colleague Erick Stakleback wrote on the rise in the West Bank economy on one of his latest blogs. You can see it here.
This excerpt from an article in YNet makes the point that when the Palestinian economy starts reviving; historically a new Palestinian uprising seems to break out:
The statistics are clear and frightening: Every time the standard of living in the Palestinian parts of the West Bank reaches a new zenith, an Intifada breaks out and turns back the wheel.
This was the case in 1987, this is what happened in 2000, and this may be happen now.
The similarities are worrisome. Again, just like 22 years ago and nine years ago, the Palestinian economy is completing a period of impressive growth. Again, just like on the eve of the two previous Intifadas, the media provide extensive and gleeful coverage of the economic miracle in Nablus, Ramallah, and Jericho.
New stores are opening up, the coffee shops are packed, and unemployment is down. And again, Israel's public opinion tends to believe that the Palestinian problem has been resolved given the current reality. What else can the Palestinians aspire for when they have advanced autonomy and when their standard of living skyrockets? As a reminder, at the end of a hot August in 2000, tens of thousands of Israelis hit furniture stores at the outskirts of Qalqiliya.
Meanwhile, other Israelis waited in long lines for direct buses from southern Tel Aviv to the casino in Jericho. According to data provided by the International Monetary Fund, the per capita income in Palestinian Authority areas during the years 1995-2000 rose by 8-10% per year." Sever Plocker, YNet News.com, October 9, 2009.
Where did the current violence come from?
One of the sources for the current violence is a man called Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the Islamic Movement in Israel. He's a serial inciter.
For example, a few years ago when Israel began excavating an archeological site outside the Temple Mount, he accused Israel of digging underneath the Al Aksa Mosque on the Mount itself. Anyone with good eyesight could see that the site was situated far away from the mosque itself. But Salah is not alone. Voices throughout the Muslim world are calling for Muslims to rise up and "protect" the Al Aksa mosque.
But other voices are being raised as well. Not for incitement, but for intercession. Just last week, thousand of believers gathered here in Jerusalem as part of the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem. Millions more joined in prayer around the world.
For them, this latest threat to the peace of Jerusalem needs to be met with prayers to the God of Israel. As Psalm 121: 4 says, Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."
They would say this is one more time "to pray for the peace of Jerusalem."
Typhoons have devastated the island nation of the Philippines, and Israel is one of those nations sending out medical teams to lend a hand. Here's a story on these volunteers.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
This week in Jerusalem thousands of Christian pilgrims have come here to celebrate the Biblical Feast of Tabernacles. One of those celebrations is hosted by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.
You can see a description of their week long program on their Web site, www.icej.org. We asked its director Malcolm Hedding the significance of this Feast of the Lord as described in Leviticus 23: 33 - 43 where it says:
The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD's Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work. --"
'These are the LORD's appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing offerings made to the LORD by fire-the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day. These offerings are in addition to those for the LORD's Sabbaths and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the LORD.-- "
'So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.' "
I think you'll find Hedding's explanation of this Feast both edifying and inspiring since its future fulfillement will usher in the return of the Lord!
Thursday, October 01, 2009
On Sunday, Oct. 4, millions of Christians in more than 200,000 churches worldwide will participate in the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem.
God TV also plans to broadcast the prayer gathering here in Jerusalem to more than 190 nations.
Robert Stearns co-founded this event eight years ago. We spoke with Stearns earlier today and he made this impassioned invitation for you to join in this worldwide prayer meeting.
If you'd like to know more about this you can log onto Day to Pray. God bless you as you pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
On Wednesday, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the U.N.'s General Assembly. Today, he's the most visible representative of the Islamic revolution begun in 1979.
However, thirty years later, there's another revolution going on within Iran. Shiite Muslims are accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior in unprecedented numbers.
We recently talked to Reza Safa, a former Shiite Muslim who now broadcasts the Gospel into Iran through his television program. You should hear what he says about this supernatural work going among the people of Iran.