Important Takeaways:
- Israel has insisted that it must invade Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than 1 million people had sought refuge, in order to accomplish its core objective of “eliminating” Hamas’ presence in the enclave after months of fighting further north.
- But Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Sunday that even a full-scale ground assault on Rafah would fail to achieve that goal.
- Israel is “on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left or, if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas,” he said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
- “Even if it goes in and takes heavy action in Rafah, there will still be thousands of armed Hamas left,” Blinken said, noting that “we’ve seen, in areas that Israel has cleared in the north, even in Khan Younis, Hamas coming back.”
- Blinken said that instead of focusing on an assault on Rafah, Israel should prioritize presenting a credible post-war plan for Gaza.
- Talks for a new cease-fire deal have seemingly broken down, and President Joe Biden threatened last week to halt the shipment of certain arms to Israel should it launch a full-scale assault on Rafah.
- Nearly 360,000 people have fled the city since Israel ordered a partial evacuation a week ago and sent tanks in, according to the United Nations.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israeli Leaders Could Face War Crimes Charges as White House Pushes Hostage-Ceasefire Deal
- President Biden has again told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the White House opposes Israel’s planned invasion of the Gazan city of Rafah.
- Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Saudi Arabia for the first leg of a Mideast tour to lobby for a ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages in Gaza.
- White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told ABC, “That’s going to be right at the top of the list for Secretary Blinken to keep pushing for this temporary ceasefire. We want it to last for about six weeks. It would allow for all those hostages to get out, and of course to allow for easier aid access to places in Gaza, particularly up in the north.”
- The website Axios reports the Israeli government has proposed a possible hostage deal with Hamas that includes discussing an end to fighting in exchange for the hostages.
- Hamas reportedly has no objections to the deal and is sending a delegation to Cairo.
- While ending the war has been a key Hamas demand, right-wing party members of Israel’s governing coalition have threatened to leave if it agrees to what they call a “reckless deal.”
- Today Hamas took credit for launching about 20 rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel. The IDF says they were all intercepted.
- Thousands demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday, demanding the release of the hostages and the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, after a Hamas propaganda video showed two Israeli hostages in captivity: 47-year-old Israeli Omri Miran and Israeli American Keith Siegel, who said, “I want to tell my family that I love you very much.” He then begins to weep during his message.
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Important Takeaways:
- Mark Levin Calls Schumer a ‘Disgrace,’ Says ‘Vast Majority’ of Americans Support Israel
- Iran has gotten more money directly and indirectly, as a result of this administration’s policies than Ukraine — than Ukraine. We fight over $14 billion or $17 billion of military aid to Israel. He has given over $100 billion in aid to Iran. What have they done with it? They build up their military and their armaments. They have funded Hamas, the Houthis, Hezbollah, the PLO.
- So Biden is funding terrorism. Biden is funding a regime that’s building nuclear weapons, while he’s putting his foot on the throat of the Israeli people and the Israeli government. I don’t care what he says in public.
- What’s that all about? That is slime what this country this administration is doing to Israel and the Israeli people. And when Schumer goes to the floor of the Senate, and he’s telling — he is telling the Israeli people I am directing you, as Biden has, as Harris has, as Blinken, as Friedman has, to overthrow your government, to dislodge your commander-in-chief in the middle of a war they’re winning. I am telling you, you do this, I’m telling you, you accept a two-state solution whether you like it or not or we will impose it from afar. We’re going to organize the Arab countries, they are. We are going to organize the European countries, they are — against you, Israel, little tiny Israel, the only force that’s defending the world from Iran and the terrorists.
- That’s exactly what they’re doing.
- That’s the history, abandonment of the Jews. Hitler’s American friends right here, “The Third Reich,” “The Ivory Tower,” what’s going on our colleges and universities, “Buried by the Times,” Mr. Friedman, that’s you. “Beyond Belief,” Biden, Schumer and all the rest of you. that’s who you are.
- Iran is the enemy. Hamas is the enemy. The Houthis, Hezbollah. The terrorists are the enemy. And the Democratic Party is the enemy, too. The enemy within here in the United States. They’re trying to imprison Donald Trump and they’re trying to push a coup in Israel, because the Democratic Party doesn’t believe in honest differences.
- Chuck Schumer, you are a disgrace as an American, and I want the Israeli people to know and every survey has shown it, the vast majority of the American people support you, not the Democratic Party, not Biden, and not Schumer. They are trying to undermine you as they fund and empower the terrorists. The terrorists and Iran.
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Important Takeaways:
- On Thin Ice With God: The Growing Betrayal of Israel And Obsession With Dividing Jerusalem
- This is just the beginning of the world’s obsession with Jerusalem and the Land of Israel (see Zechariah 12:1-4). In Joel 3:1-3, the Lord refers to the efforts of the nations to divide up His Land as a reason for His judgment of them in the final climatic battle, which is likely His destruction of the world’s armies at His Second Coming. God will severely judge those who seek to divide His Land.
- One website lists over a dozen occurrences of God displaying His displeasure at the attempts of the American government to facilitate deals that would divide up the Land of Israel. In each of the instances, calamities struck somewhere in the U.S. Some claim that these are merely “coincidences,” but it has happened far too many times for it not to be a warning from the Lord.
- That’s why I say the Biden administration is skating on remarkably thin ice with its devious support of solutions that would endanger the welfare of the people of Israel.
- I don’t know when the ice will break for the Biden administration or for other nations seeking to enforce the two-state solution upon Israel, but the Bible warns that it most certainly will not end well for them.
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Important Takeaways:
- King Abdullah of Jordan warns Antony Blinken there will be ‘catastrophic ramifications’ if Israel keeps dropping bombs on Gaza – as secretary of state tells Israel displaced Palestinians must be allowed to return to war-torn Strip
- King Abdullah II of Jordan has warned Antony Blinken there will be ‘catastrophic ramifications’ if the war in Gaza continues.
- During a meeting in Amman on Sunday, the Jordanian leader told the US Secretary of State there needed to be an end to ‘the tragic humanitarian crisis in the Strip.’
- Blinken is back in the region to speak with Arab leaders about a joint mission to contain the violence of the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.
- After speed round visits to Greece, Turkey, Jordan, and Qatar, Blinken will continue his visits later this week with stops in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the West Bank, Egypt, and Israel before heading back to Washington.
- At the press conference, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani conveyed the country’s desire for stability in the region, which requires an immediate ceasefire, the release of the Israeli hostages, and continued aid into Gaza.
- Israel has not agreed to a ceasefire, and the US has largely not pushed Netanyahu’s government on the point, rather, advocating for temporary humanitarian pauses in the fighting to allow aid to be delivered.
- Several weeks back, Israel opened Kerem Shalom up as a second entry point for aid to Gaza.
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Important Takeaways:
- 25 Americans Dead Among Hamas Victims from 36 Countries: ‘My Mom Died on Top of Me’
- S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Thursday at least 25 Americans were killed by Hamas terrorists in the barbaric attacks that targeted unarmed civilians inside Israel on Saturday.
- Blinken, who is in Israel, vowed American support to Israel as its military continued airstrikes in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in preparation for a likely ground operation in Gaza.
- “You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourselves, but as long as America exists you will never have to,” Blinken said after meeting with Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. “We will always be there by your side.”
- The Israeli military said it is currently targeting Hamas’ senior military and political leaders, whom it blames for the weekend attack. Its missiles are aimed at Hamas infrastructure embedded among the civilian population of Gaza.
- Meanwhile, the death toll in Israel continues to climb. More than 1,300 Israelis, mostly civilians, have been murdered by Hamas, and Gaza officials say at least 1,200 people have died in the airstrikes. The terror group attempts to hide among Palestinian civilians as it continues to fire rockets into southern Israel.
- Citizens from 36 nations are missing, have been murdered, or are among the hostages who have been abducted by Hamas.
- “By the way, many of the hostages are dual nationals — Americans, Brits, Germans, French, Italians, Brazilians, and many other nationalities. Some are not even Israelis. There are Thai workers that were taken, and abducted for, I don’t know what reason,” Conricus added.
- France has said that 11 French citizens are confirmed dead in the fighting and 20 are unaccounted for, including several believed held hostage.
- The British government has said 10 or more U.K. citizens are dead or missing after the attacks on southern Israel.
- The Colombian government reported the first death of one of its citizens in Israel
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Important Takeaways:
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered reassurances of ongoing U.S. support to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, heading into a meeting in Tel Aviv, in the wake of bloody attacks perpetrated by Palestinian militant group Hamas against Israel over the weekend.
- Separately, Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said on X that Blinken will convene with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on Friday.
- The U.S. has firmly denounced the Hamas attacks and previously proposed a humanitarian corridor for civilians in the Gaza Strip.
- The death toll meanwhile continues to mount in Israel and Gaza, as sirens blare and war wages.
- Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Israel Katz said Thursday that the Gaza siege will not be lifted until the country’s hostages, taken by Hamas, are returned home.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- North Korea criticizes Blinken’s China visit as ‘begging trip’
- At one of the most significant U.S.-China exchanges since U.S. President Joe Biden took office, Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on Monday and agreed to stabilize their intense rivalry so it did not veer into conflict.
- Blinken said after the meeting on Monday that he urged China to encourage North Korea to stop launching missiles as Beijing holds a “unique position” to press Pyongyang to engage in dialogue.
- In a commentary carried by the North’s KCNA news agency, Jong Yong Hak, whom it described as an international affairs analyst, said the rare visit was aimed at begging for the relaxation of tensions as the “attempt to press and restrain China may become a boomerang striking a fatal blow to the U.S. economy.”
- “In a word, the U.S. state secretary’s recent junket can never be judged otherwise than a disgraceful begging trip of the provoker admitting the failure of the policy of putting pressure on China,” the commentary said.
- The commentary said the United States was responsible for escalating regional tensions with “anti-China complexes,” such as the QUAD grouping with Japan, India and Australia and the AUKUS pact with Britain and Australia.
- “It is the height of the double-dealing and impudence peculiar to the U.S. to provoke first and then talk about the so-called ‘responsible control over divergence of opinion,'” the commentary said.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Blinken ruffles feathers by stating US ‘does not support Taiwan independence’ after meeting China’s Xi
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised eyebrows Monday, telling reporters the US “does not support Taiwan independence” after meeting in Beijing with officials including Chinese President Xi Jinping.
- Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said on Twitter. “Why won’t this administration stand up to bullies and stand for freedom?”
- The Taiwan issue is among the most contentious in the US-China relationship, with Xi making it his No. 1 priority to “reunite” Taiwan with China — though the island about 100 miles off the country’s southeastern coast has never actually been part of it.
- Ben Cline (R-Va.) tweeted that Blinken’s statement was a “dangerous display of weakness towards our adversaries on the world stage.”
- “The Biden admin is giving China a green light to increase its intimidation of our ally, Taiwan,” he said.
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Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
Important Takeaways:
- Blinken Meets Xi as China Warns U.S. Must Choose Between ‘Cooperation or Conflict’
- News of the diplomatic head-to-head came after China told the U.S. earlier in the day it must choose between “cooperation or conflict” with Beijing as both countries seek to navigate a diplomatic way forward amid fraught relations between the world’s two largest economies.
- The pair spoke for three hours on Monday at the ornate state guesthouse in the ancient Diaoyutai gardens, according to a State Department official cited by AFP.
- “The Secretary of State’s trip to Beijing this time comes at a critical juncture in China-U.S. relations,” Wang told Blinken, according to a readout from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
- He also issued a warning on Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy claimed and continually threatened by Beijing, while reasserting the Communist dictatorship’s longstanding claim to vast swathes of the South China Sea.
- “On this issue, China has no room to compromise or concede,” Wang told Blinken, according to CCTV.
- “The United States must truly adhere to the One China principle confirmed in the three joint U.S.-China communiques, respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and clearly oppose ‘Taiwan independence’.”
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