Head
of political-military affairs at Defense Ministry, Amos Gilad, warns of
storm clouds "on the horizon," says Israel has not been able to stop build
up of Hezbollah's rocket arsenal.
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From
Eliyahu
Our Midrash this week sets forth the law of the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, and the peace offering. Each of these five types of offerings are not only varied from one another, but vary within type depending on the rules applying to the situation in which each is offered. Is that complex? Well, yes, it is. It must be complex to mirror the multi-faceted wisdom of YHWH Who is always ready in advance to deal with every possible contingency that can possibly arise! As we consider each of these offerings we learn a lot about the character and mind of YHWH and what He desires for us all - and how He lovingly has provided a way back even for those who have willfully strayed from His path. We also learn more about how all of this finds its ultimate expression in the perfect and complete offering that only the Son of Man, Y'shua Messiah, could and did give for us all. Listen in and be blessed.
Blessings and Shalom!
Eliyahu ben David
www.tsiyon.org
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In this issue of Tsiyon News:
Several years ago we told you that Israel's friends, even the USA, would be drawing back from her, exposing her to danger from her enemies. Below are some current news stories that speak of the dangers threatening Israel, and further dangers USA foreign policy is exposes her to. See these items in this Tsiyon News:
Israeli defense official: "Storm Clouds on the Horizon" - In a statement just this week, region may soon "become hell."
"Deep Resentment in Jerusalem" as US agrees to Iranian Missile Threat - A special report just this week reveals how the Obama Administration overtures to Iran are exposing Israel to potential nuke missile strike.
Jerusalem’s oldest Hebrew Engraving Found - We've been publishing articles that keep you abreast of the many new finds supporting the Biblical picture of the Kingdom of David and Solomon. In that vein, below is another article I really like. It reports the equivalent of finding a 3000 year old Coke bottle! You will be surprised at what we have learned from the simple inscription found thereon.
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Israeli defense official: "Storm Clouds on the Horizon"
Reprint from: Jerusalem Post / By YAAKOV LAPPIN / 19/05/2014
Iran can break out to nuclear
weapons "very quickly," and Israel must maintain operational readiness for
any threat that may arise, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, director of
political-military affairs at the Defense Ministry, warned on Monday.
Speaking in Tel Aviv at a security conference organized by the Israel
Defense publication and the Israel Artillery Association, Gilad said the
security forecast was not sunny. "Today is a pleasant day. But there are
clouds, and a storm, on the horizon," he said. "People don't believe it
until it comes," he added.
Iran's nuclear weapons program remains the top threat to Israeli security,
he said, describing the Islamic Republic as a "horrible regime" that
threatens to exterminate Israel. He referred to a past statement by former
Iranian president Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, who said that one atomic
bomb would be enough to destroy Israel.
"They're determined to reach nuclear weapons. They want to get to a
situation where [Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah] Khamenei asks [Ali Akbar]
Salehi, [head of the Atomic Energy Association of Iran], can we develop
nuclear weapons? And the answer must be yes we can. Not in English, in
Persian," Gilad continued.
Iran's strategy is based on the twin goals of getting rid of choking
international sanctions, and keeping the option of breaking out to nuclear
weapons within "a few months," he said.
"President Obama keeps saying, and I think he means it, we won't tolerate
Iran with nuclear weapons. Iran says, okay... we will build the
infrastructure to get to nuclear weapons, including missile capabilities,
scientists, etc. It's like a runner who can't jump two meters, so he builds
a 1.95 meter ramp, and later he can jump from it and get to two meters. This
is the greatest danger. There is a possibility Iran will achieve this. It's
a potential existential threat," Gilad said.
He noted that Iran has overseen the construction of Hezbollah's arsenal of
100,000 rockets, and spent billions of dollars to build up Hezbollah's
firepower, which threatens all of Israel's territory.
"This is a military threat, not a terrorist one," he said, adding, Israel
has "not been successful in preventing a buildup [of rockets] in Lebanon."
Alleged Israeli action to prevent Hezbollah's armament program, as mentioned
by foreign press reports, is the exception, Gilad said.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps has global command centers for terrorism
that are located "everywhere," and planned to "slaughter dozen of Israelis
over Passover in Thailand," the senior defense official said. These efforts
are "mostly failing," he added.
"Can you imagine nuclear bombs in Iran's possession, and how this will
destabilize the region?" If the July 20 deadline for nuclear talks between
the international community and Iran is delayed, this would be "excellent
for the Iranians, as they want to stop the momentum of sanctions," he added.
Israel must maintain operational readiness, and never knows "when some
threat will come," Gilad stated. He praised the country's defense industries
for building up a shield against ballistic missile threats, and paid tribute
to "unbelievable" intelligence achievements vis-a-vis Iran.
Turning his attention to the Palestinians, Gilad said that should
Palestinian Authority security forces take exclusive control of West Bank,
there would be a "very high feasibility" of rockets and shelling raining
down on greater Tel Aviv.
Gilad expressed skepticism over the chances of Hamas and Fatah achieving
real unity, rather than an "image of unity," adding, "I cannot imagine them
reconciling. Hamas is determined to take over the PLO. Their strategic plan
has never changed, to take over whole of the Middle East, and they don't
mind starting in Ramallah."
Addressing the situation in Syria, Gilad said that two al-Qieda
organizations, terror groups "without limits," are operating over the
northern border, and include 1500 European or foreign passport holders
fighting in Syria. "Sooner or later, they will carry out a spectacular
terrorist attack in Europe or Israel." Israel has beefed up defenses along
the northern border, but the Syrian crisis is also "putting pressure on
Jordan," he warned.
"Al-Qaida is new in our neighborhood. It is [now] in Lebanon, Syria, and it
is trying but failing to attack Jordan and Israel. In Sinai, it is extending
capabilities to Cairo to be able to murder [the Egyptian] president. Either
it defeats you or you defeat it."
Israel today "can defeat any combination of enemies," Gilad said, but the
moment Iran goes nuclear and triggers an Arab nuclear arms race, the region
will become "hell," he said.
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US accepts Shahab-3s in Iran’s missile arsenal, but not long-range ICBMs. Deep resentment in Jerusalem.
Reprint from: DEBKAfile Special Report May 18, 2014, 9:16 AM
Iran's
Shahab-3 can reach all Mid East points
Two high-ranking US visitors to Israel, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, publicly assured Israel this month that the Obama administration “would do what it must” to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. Yet at the same time, the same administration informed Tehran that the demand to restrict Iran’s missile arsenal did not apply to the Shahab-3 ballistic missile, whose range of 2,100km covers any point in the Middle East, including Israel. This missile carries warheads weighing 760 kg, to 1.1 tons, which may also be nuclear.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon challenged both Rice and Hagel on this omission. It came to light from Washington’s demand, in its direct dialogue with Tehran outside the framework of the six-power talks in Vienna, to place restrictions on Iran’s arsenal of ICBMs whose 4,000 km range places Europe and the United States at risk.
The Obama administration said it was not demanding restrictions on the medium-range missiles capable “only” of striking Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf. But the comprehensive nuclear accord when it is finally negotiated must apply restrictions on the Sajjil1, Safir, Simorg (satellite launcher), Ashura1 and Ashura2 (other versions of the Sajjil class).
But this US “concession” did not placate Tehran. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei burst out on May 11: “They expect us to limit our missile program while they constantly threaten Iran with military action. So this is a stupid idiotic expectation.” He thereupon ordered missile plants to shift to mass production.
Hagel was not just queried in Israel on this point, but also by Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council, when he attended their defense ministers’ meeting in Jeddah Wednesday, May 14. Saudi Crown Prince Salman was in the chair.
When Hagel assured those present that their countries had nothing to fear from the rapprochement between Washington and Tehran, he was asked to fully explain President Obama’s policy on Iran’s missile arsenal. He replied that the plan was to establish a common anti-missile defense network for the region.
In Jerusalem, the defense secretary assured Netanyahu and Ya’alon that the close US-Israeli collaboration in maintaining one of the most sophisticated anti-missile shields in the world was sufficient security against Iranian Shahab-3 ballistic missiles.
A joint US-Israeli exercise against missile attack, Cobra Juniper, which takes place every two years, began Sunday, May 18, with the participation of 1,000 US servicemen.
However, neither Jerusalem nor the Gulf leaders accepted Washington’s explanations. Their disquiet was further exacerbated by the failure of latest round of nuclear negotiations with the six powers, which took place in Vienna Thursday, May 15, to bridge gaps between the sides and so prevented a start on the drafting of a final accord.
These widening gaps reflect the growing controversy over nuclear diplomacy in Tehran.
Saturday night, May 17, President Hassan Rouhani speaking to associates at a private meeting voiced his frustration with Khamenei: “That person thinks he knows everything and lays down policy without considering all the facts,” he complained.
Rouhani understands that tactical compromises will not bring about substantial relief from economic sanctions that at preying on his country. He is urging substantial concessions of Iran’s nuclear aspirations, enough to convince the world that his country is not after a nuclear weapon.
Khamenei and the Revolutionary Guards have rejected this approach. They are not open to real concessions either on their nuclear program or missile arsenal. This intransigence shows no sign of softening under the Obama administration’s willingness for compromise at the expense of Iran’s potential targets.
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Decoded: Jerusalem’s oldest Hebrew engraving refers to lousy wine
Researcher says ancient inscription describes low quality of jug’s contents,
served to King Solomon’s laborers and soldiers - proves high literacy in ancient
Israel. The carving was discovered on a clay jug in the Ophel area, near the southern
wall of the Temple Mount, by a Hebrew University archaeological team headed by
Dr. Eilat Mazar. It is considered the most ancient Hebrew engraving to emerge
from the archaeological digs in Jerusalem to date.
Reprint from: The Times of Israel
An ancient eight-letter inscription — dating back to King Solomon’s reign in
Jerusalem some 3,000 years ago — was deciphered by a researcher from the
University of Haifa, shedding light on the Solomonic kingdom’s impressively
sophisticated administrative system.
However, the meaning of the cryptic inscription eluded researchers until
Professor Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa interpreted it as a
classification of a type of wine stored in the jug. He published his findings in
the journal “New Studies on Jerusalem.”
According to Galil, the first intact letter of the inscription was actually the
last letter of a longer word that got cut off and represented the date. The
middle portion refers to the type of wine in the jug, a cheap variety. The final
letter was also cut off from a longer word, and according to Galil listed the
location from which the wine was sent.
Galil estimated that the carving was written in the middle of the tenth century
BCE, after King Solomon built the First Temple, his palaces, and the surrounding
walls that unified the three areas of the city — the Ophel area, the city of
David, and the Temple Mount. These tremendous infrastructural projects
contributed, Galil said, to the sudden need for copious quantities of
poor-quality wine.
“This wine was not served on the table of King Solomon nor in the Temple,” Galil
wrote. “Rather it was probably used by the many forced laborers in the building
projects and the soldiers that guarded them. Food and drinks for these laborers
were mainly held in the Ophel area.” His theory is shored up by pottery
fragments found in Arad, Galil wrote.
Beyond that, Galil emphasized that the find lends support to claims of an
organized bureaucratic system and provides evidence that writing was prevalent
at the time.
Archaeological excavations in
Jerusalem’s Old City next to the Temple Mount
“Scribes that could write administrative texts could also write literary and
historiographic texts, and this has very important implications for the study of
the Bible and understanding the history of Israel in the biblical period.”
(photo credit: Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
“The ability to write and store the wine in a large vessel designated for this
purpose, while noting the type of wine, the date it was received, and the place
it was sent from, attests to the existence of an organized administration that
collected taxes, recruited laborers, brought them to Jerusalem, and took care to
give them food and water,” Galil said.
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