Palestinians make astonishing claim,
deny they'll help restore burned tomb
By Aaron Klein
Building at Joseph's Tomb site after Palestinian Authority took control in 2000 .
In the wake of an attempt by Palestinians to burn down Joseph's Tomb – Judaism's third holiest site – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction issued a statement denying it will help restore the shrine, referring to both the shrine and the biblical patriarch as "Muslim."
"Pay no attention to the rumors that we will work with Israel to restore the burial site of the holy Muslim Joseph," said the statement, issued from Nablus, the biblical city of Shechem. "We are going to guard this holy Muslim site."
Joseph's Tomb is the believed burial place of the son of Jacob who was sold by his brothers into slavery and later became viceroy of Egypt.
Palestinian security officials in Nablus said Monday they were called to the tomb to find 16 burning tires inside the sacred structure. A Palestinian police official who inspected the site told WND there was some fire damage to the tomb.
He said the Palestinian Authority, fearing embarrassment, immediately formed a joint committee from the PA's Force 17, Preventative Security ...   more »

 Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, the eldest son of the current spiritual leader of the Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, is charging the party with endangering Jews.
Rabbi Yaakov Yosef said the Shas party should immediately quit the government or bear responsibility for putting Israel in grave danger.
He charged Wednesday that Shas can no longer use the excuse that negotiations with the Palestinian Authority to surrender parts of Jerusalem are far from fruition.  
Shas party chairman and Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor, Eli Yishai, expressed surprise Tuesday when reporters informed him that Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, chief negotiator for Israel, had discussed the status of Jerusalem with PA negotiator Ahmed Qureia in meetings Monday and Tuesday.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said repeatedly that the status of Jerusalem would not be negotiated until after all other outstanding issues had been resolved in the negotiations with the PA.
As late as Wednesday, the prime minister reassured Minister Yishai that he remained firm in his commitment that Jerusalem would not be put on the negotiating table at this point, despite numerous reports to the contrary.
Yosef said that Shas is betraying the decision of the Council of Torah Sages and putting ...   more »

by Hillel Fendel
 An Education Ministry '60th Anniversary of Israel' poster features a non-existent Christian church over the Western Wall.
The poster, distributed to all schools across the country, features eight symbols portraying important aspects of the State of Israel: The Declaration of Independence flanked by the country's official flag and emblem; photos of the Knesset, government complex and Supreme Court, representing the government's three branches; a satellite photo of the entire country; and a large photograph of the Western Wall (the Kotel). 
This last, however, is marred by technological manipulation in two ways. In addition to the golden Dome of the Rock towering over the Kotel, the minaret of another Moslem mosque is shown above the Wall - despite the fact that in reality it is much further to the north and out of sight of Jews at the Wall.  Secondly, a church spire has been placed to the right of the minaret and above the Kotel - when in fact no such church is located in the vicinity.
The photo thus creates the effect of a Jerusalem belonging jointly to three religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
An Attempt to Internationalize Jerusalem
Jerusalem City Councilman David Hadari (National ...   more »

Jerusalem municipal opposition leader accuses Prime Minister Olmert, Vice Premier Ramon of 'deceiving Israeli citizens'. Ramon aide: This is nonsense
Roni Sofer
Israeli and Palestinian representatives have reached an agreement to divide Jerusalem, the capital's municipal opposition leader Nir Barkat said Wednesday.  
"(Vice Premier) Haim Ramon and the prime minister are deceiving Israel's citizens," Barkat added after exchanging letters with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on the negotiations with the Palestinians.     
Barkat based his accusations on information from "senior sources" which he refused to reveal, claiming that Ramon and Palestinian tycoon Muhammad Rashid had agreed in secret talks on Jerusalem's division.  
"Livni refuses to reveal the fundamental information she has, according to which there is a secret channel which is not being led by the Foreign Ministry. Knowing this makes her an accomplice in this political deceit, which is really aimed at dividing Jerusalem behind Israeli citizens' backs," said Barkat.  
In his letter to Livni, Barkat wrote, "I was amazed to learn that a senior and official Palestinian source was quoted as saying that 'we can say that Israel is ready to pullout of all the Arab villages and neighborhoods in Jerusalem.'"  
He went on to ...   more »

By Barak Ravid and Yuval Azoulay,
Israel's Counter-Terrorism Bureau on Thursday issued an advisory warning Israelis abroad to be vigilant in the face of likely abduction attempts, as Lebanese guerrillas threatened to avenge Tuesday's assassination of a Hezbollah commander tied to a string of terror attacks against Israeli, American and Jewish targets.
Israel also ordered its military and embassies to go on alert Thursday, and advised Jewish institutions worldwide to follow suit, as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against Israeli targets.  
Israel on Wednesday denied involvement in the death of Imad Mughniyah, who was killed in a car bombing Tuesday in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
The slain Hezbollah deputy secretary general was on Israel's and the U.S.'s wanted terrorist lists, and Hezbollah, its Iranian backers and others pointed accusatory fingers at Israel following the assassination.
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi put forces on heightened alert, instructing them to take the necessary precautions by air, land and sea in order to protect the northern border and other Israeli interests, the army said Thursday.
The military sent more troops to the already heavily patrolled northern border with Lebanon, defense officials said, without elaborating. Soldiers were ...   more »

Killer of hundreds of Americans
called 'hero' of 'the Muslim nation'
By Aaron Klein
Imad Mughniyah
JAFFA, Israel – A representative of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas praised Hezbollah deputy commander Imad Mughniyah as a hero after the report today of the most-wanted terrorist leader's death in a car bomb blast in Syria.
Abbas Zakki, the ambassador to Lebanon for the PA president's Fatah organization, called Mughniyah a "hero and a loss for the Palestinian people and the Muslim nation."
"We mourn with our brothers in Hezbollah this great leader who died today," Zakki said on Hezbollah's Al Manar TV as screened and translated by WND.
Zakki said he is "proud that Mughniyah was part of the Fatah revolutionary movement and that he fought Western Zionist and American imperialism as part of Fatah."
In the 1980s, Mughniyah was in Beirut working with Fatah and its leader at the time, Yasser Arafat.
Mughniyah was responsible for numerous infamous deadly attacks against the U.S. and Israel, including involvement in the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon.
He was Israel's No. 1 most-wanted terrorist, even ahead of Hezbollah chieftain Hassan Nasrallah. Mughniyah was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists ...   more »

By Hilary White
BRUSSELS, February 13, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The European Union has criticised those member states that have not lived up to the requirements of EU rules on "discrimination" relating to homosexuality and other issues. The EU commission for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities has initiated legal procedures against those countries that have failed to implement its legislation. The commission's memo covered areas of discrimination in the case of age and disability as well as sexual orientation.
Germany was particularly singled out with a letter complaining that the country's same-sex civil union registration does not sufficiently match the rights granted couples in natural marriages.
"The 'registered lifetime partnership' which gays and lesbians can enter into does not bestow the same privileges as marriage, which remains an option available to heterosexual couples only," the letter read.
Estonia, France, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the Czech Republic were listed in a memo that detailed those countries' failings in living up to the EU's definitions and directives for "discrimination" legislation. The memo by the Commissioner, Vladimir Spidla, sets out in minute detail the transgressions of each of these countries and warns that a "reasoned ...   more »

Candidate attracts 'people who think mass murderers are romantic revolutionaries'
Fox News' image of Texas Obama volunteers with Che Guevara flag
The Fox TV affiliate in Houston has captured images of a volunteer in a campaign office for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama working in front of a flag featuring the image of Che Guevara, the South American revolutionary who became Fidel Castro's executioner after the communist takeover in Cuba.
And while the Obama campaign has issued a statement placing a modest distance between the campaign and its "volunteers," the issue of such an image on display in an office operating on behalf of a man hoping to be commander in chief of the world's last remaining superpower is raising alarms.
Even Obama supporters have been forced into corners because of the issue, with one likening the Texas state Republican Party to Guevara, to whom have been attributed hundreds of executions of anti-Castro leaders.
Under the heading "Barack Guevara," Investor's Business Daily raised some of the more pointed questions, to which the campaign responded only with a statement: "The office featured in this video is funded by volunteers of the Barack Obama Campaign and is not an official headquarters for ...   more »

by Daniel Pipes
Beneath the deceptively placid surface of everyday life, the British population is engaged in a momentous encounter with Islam. Three developments of the past week, each of them culminating years' long trends – and not just some odd occurrence – exemplify changes now underway. 
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith describes terrorism as "anti-Islamic."
First, the UK government has decided that terrorism by Muslims in the name of Islam is actually unrelated to Islam, or is even anti-Islamic. This notion took root in 2006 when the Foreign Office, afraid that the term "war on terror" would inflame British Muslims, sought language that upholds "shared values as a means to counter terrorists." By early 2007, the European Union issued a classified handbook that banned jihad, Islamic, and fundamentalist in reference to terrorism, offering instead some "non-offensive" phrases. Last summer, Prime Minister Gordon Brown prohibited his ministers from using the word Muslim in connection with terrorism. In January, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith went further, actually describing terrorism as "anti-Islamic." And last week the Home Office completed the obfuscation by issuing a counter-terrorism phrasebook that instructs civil servants to refer only to violent extremism and criminal murderers, not Islamist extremism and jihadi-fundamentalists....   more »

'Students to endure gender-bending education unless parents rescue them'
If you care about your children, then you should homeschool, find a Christian school, participate in a homeschool co-op, pay the tuition, drive an older car, or do whatever is necessary to keep them out of California's public school system. That's the message from a new campaign, assembled under the Rescue Your Child slogan.
And it's all because the California Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger worked together to establish Senate Bill 777 and Assembly Bill 394 as law, plans that institutionalize the promotion of homosexuality, bisexuality, transgenderism and other alternative lifestyle choices.
"First, [California] law allowed public schools to voluntarily promote homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality. Then, the law required public schools to accept homosexual, bisexual and transsexual teachers as role models for impressionable children. Now, the law has been changed to effectively require the positive portrayal of homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality to 6 million children in California government-controlled schools," said Randy Thomasson, chief of the Campaign for Children and Families and a leader in the movement to withdraw what supporters pray will be up to 600,000 children from public districts in the state.
At a Los Angeles news conference, Thomasson's organization ...   more »

I, personally, don't believe it needs to be, but Robert Schuller and friends spent a few days in late January planning how to do it. On my February 9 radio program, "Understanding the Times," Roger Oakland reported on the event as he was able to attend a portion of it. He stated that the prominent view from most in attendance was that Christianity as we have known it has run its course and must change. It must be re-invented or it won't survive. Really?
As Oakland said, focusing on a relationship and not religiosity is what is important; however, true Christianity has survived just about everything including mass slaughter in Sudan. But the faith isn't being made stronger by such events as Schuller's "Re-Think" last month. Christianity and the church need not "re-think" and compromise their God-given biblical doctrines to accommodate the world and churches with "straying" theology.
The Schuller "Re-Think" event was co-hosted by Emergent leader Erwin McManus. Many Christian and secular leaders were invited, and it begs the question, Why are secular people speaking about "re-inventing Christianity?"
Perhaps it cannot be determined if all in attendance or invited were in agreement with this event. Roger Oakland reported that ...   more »