Nations Continue to Trample Outside the Temple Walls (Revelation 11:2)

Gaza (GPA) – The Israeli Air Force launched aircraft at a group of Palestinians launching incendiary balloons a group Sunday evening, challenging the commitment to a ceasefire agreed upon between ‘Israel’ and Hamas earlier this weekend.

A ceasefire between the resistance group and the occupying entity was brokered Saturday following this weekend’s heavy shelling by Israel during the 16th week of the ongoing Great Return March protests.

The occupying state also said it would open its blockade zone and expand the original fishing zone if the ceasefire was respected.

Four Palestinians were killed Friday and 120 injured following a series of attacks by the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) near the Gaza strip border. Among those killed were Mahmoud Khalil Qishta, 23, killed in Rafah; as well as Mohammed Riyad Farahza, 31, and Shahban Rihab Abu Khater, 26, both killed in Khan Younis.

The three were fighters with the Al-Qassam Brigades, a military wing of Hamas. A fourth Palestinian, Muhammad Badwan, 24, was shot in the chest as he was participating in protests on that same day in east Gaza City.

The attacks came following the death of an IOF soldier by a Palestinian sniper, with Israel responding via another deadly wave of aerial bombings. The IOF also bombed east of Rafah city Thursday, killing Abdul-Karim Radwan, 38, and injuring three others from shrapnel.

The aerial bombings came as Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman reiterated his commitment in a statement Friday to launch a “wide-scale and painful military operation,” blaming Hamas for instigating via incendiary balloons and kites against Israel.

“Israeli killing and aggression will increase their costs,” Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum. “And [the state] must bear the consequences.”

He emphasized the commitment of groups fighting Israel’s “targeting and escalation” is “governed by the right to defend its people.”

Attacks against Palestinian demonstrators also affected the West Bank. At least three more Palestinians were injured that same day in a violent crackdown by IOF forces against weekly Great Return March demonstrations against settlements in the village of Kafr Qaddum, 17 kilometers east of Qalqilya.

More recently, following the ceasefire, the IOF participated in a night raid on a Palestinian home in the Dheisheh refugee camp. In response to resistance and retaliation from civilians, IOF shot and killed 15-year-old Arkan Mezhe in the chest, according to the health ministry.

Last weekend, IOF snipers killed two Palestinian teens. On July 14, 15-year-old Othman Rami Halas died in east Gaza City, and 18-year-old Muhammad Nasser Sharab of Khan Younis was killed in Khan Younis demonstrating in support of the Khan Al-Ahmar village residents, in the occupied West Bank, who are currently resisting demolition.

Luay Khaleel, 16 and Amir al-Nimra,15, were also killed the following day in an air raid as they played on the rooftop of a building.

Israel is continuing the blockade of Gaza’s main commercial paths from humanitarian assistance and also by limiting the Palestinian coastal enclave’s fishing zone on July 9.

Israel’s intensification of its air strike campaign, it’s third since 2008 and heaviest since 2014, follows a steady increase in military aid from the United States and ongoing enactment of a State Department 10-year Memorandum of Understanding signed September 2016 that gives $38 billion in military aid and missile defense to Israel.

US supplied F-35 jets are also used in attacks against Syria. Along with Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia buy the planes from the United States in their wars waged against Yemen as well as Palestine and Syria.

In the last 24 hours alone, the IOF waged airstrikes against 60 locations in Gaza.

Top Photo | An Israeli airstrike hits a government building in Gaza City, July 14, 2018. The Israeli military carried out its largest campaign of airstrikes in Gaza since it’s 2014 assault on the strip. Khalil Hamra | AP

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The Nuclear Meltdown at the Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12)

A group of residents opposed to the Algonquin gas pipeline project meet at Somers Intermediate School Monday, Dec. 4, 2017. Peter Carr/The Journal News

State asks Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for more steps ‘to minimize risk and protect public safety’ near the Buchanan plant

Several New York state agencies are urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to institute additional safety measures on the Algonquin Pipeline portions near the Indian Point nuclear reactor.

In a letter to the commission, officials from the state health, public safety, environmental conservation and homeland security agencies called for “additional scrutiny and monitoring” to minimize risks near the Buchanan plant.

“While the probability of pipeline incidents is low, the proximity to the Indian Point nuclear plant makes the potential consequences of such an event very significant,” the state agencies said in a joint statement. “Additional scrutiny and monitoring to better understand and reduce risks associated with the Algonquin pipelines is warranted.”

Pipeline owner Enbridge is in the midst of expanding the half-century old natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania, through Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, and north into New England.

Work done so far includes a new section through Stony Point, under the Hudson River, into Verplanck and near the Indian Point Energy Center.

The plan has sparked protests throughout the pipe’s path.

On Friday, the state agencies asked the federal commission for additional safety measures near the Indian Point property, including:

• Ensure that Enbridge will not be allowed to send additional natural gas at higher pressure through the pipeline to meet high demand for gas in the Northeast.

• The commission should work with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to examine Entergy Corp.’s decommission plan for Indian Point “to determine potential impacts to the original Algonquin pipelines.”

A Nuclear Storm is Brewing with Persia (Daniel)

The Trump administration’s war of words against Iran reflects a widening diplomatic chasm, and comments from four leaders over the past two days make it clear that tensions are rising dramatically.

First up was President Hassan Rouhani, who warned President Trump on Sunday, “do not play with the lion’s tail, because you will regret it eternally.” Rouhani noted that a war with Iran would be the “mother of all wars.” Then came Rouhani’s boss, Ayatollah Khamenei who, with a thin veil, warned Rouhani that Iran will not suspend its strategic design of expanded theological power. Rouhani is pressuring Khamenei to divert funds away from the revolutionary guards and into domestic economic investment and liberalization. But Khamenei is siding with the hardliners.

Some—erroneously— talk about the necessity of separating diplomacy from ideology, while there is nothing wrong with an ‘ideological diplomacy’. It is wrong and illogical to inculcate [in public opinion] that there exists a contradiction between ideology and national interests.

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) July 22, 2018

The U.S. messaging came first from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Speaking on Sunday, the former CIA director warned that U.S. policy in Iran “is clear. It’s to deny the Iranian leadership the resources, the wealth, the funds, the capacity to continue to foment terrorism around the world.” The Trump administration knows that their focus on restricting Iran’s leaders of their oil export revenue means a serious risk of violent interaction. The Iranian hardliners have threatened as much in recent weeks.

On Monday, President Trump quite literally capped off the war of words with an attempt to deter Iranian aggression against U.S. interests.

To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018

But what happens next?

Trump must clarify his words here if he wants to achieve his Iran interests without a violent conflict. The vagueness of Trump’s threat is problematic in that it gives the hardliners great space to fray U.S. credibility without acting in a way that would justify a U.S. military response.

Still, the major issue underpinning these tensions is the complete isolation of the Iranian more-moderates. Khamenei won’t give them more power to assuage populist anger over the country’s moribund economy and the U.S. now regards the more-moderates as one and the same as Khamenei and the hardliners, and thus undeserving of a more nuanced U.S. policy. As Pompeo put it on Sunday, “Some believe that President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif [are more moderate.] The truth is they are merely polished front men for the Ayatollahs’ international con artistry. Their nuclear deal didn’t make them moderates; it made them wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

There’s no question that the U.S. holds more of the cards here, but if he is serious about avoiding unnecessary wars, President Trump should consider his position carefully. After all, what happens if the Rouhani-bloc now collapses and the hardliners seize all elements of national power?

That increasingly likely possibility would require the U.S. to employ the immediate use of force (in a context of other near-term global conflict threats), or accept an implausible acquiescence to the new Iranian order.

A storm is coming.

Save the OIL and the Wine (Revelation 6)

Khamenei backs suggestion to block Gulf oil exports if Iran’s sales stopped

DUBAI: Iran´s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday backed President Hassan Rouhani´s suggestion that Iran may block Gulf oil exports if its own exports are stopped and said negotiations with the United States would be an “obvious mistake”.

Rouhani´s apparent threat earlier this month to disrupt oil shipments from neighbouring countries came in reaction to looming US sanctions and efforts by Washington to force all countries to stop buying Iranian oil.

“(Khamenei) said remarks by the president … that ´if Iran´s oil is not exported, no regional country´s oil will be exported,´ were important remarks that reflect the policy and the approach of (Iran´s) system,” Khamenei´s official website said.

Iranian officials have in the past threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route, in retaliation for any hostile US action. Khamenei used a speech to foreign ministry officials on Saturday to reject any renewed talks with the United States after President Donald Trump´s decision to withdraw from a 2015 international deal over Iran´s nuclear programme.

“The word and even the signature of the Americans cannot be relied upon, so negotiations with America are of no avail,” Khamenei said. It would be an “obvious mistake” to negotiate with the United States as Washington was unreliable, Khamenei added, according to his website. The endorsement by Khamenei, who has the last word on all major issues of state, is likely to discourage any open opposition to Rouhani´s apparent threat. Khamenei also voiced support for continued talks with Iran´s European partners in the nuclear deal which are preparing a package of economic measures to offset the US pull-out from the accord.

“Negotiations with the Europeans should not be stopped, but we should not be just waiting for the European package, but instead we should follow up on necessary activities inside the country (against US sanctions),” Khamenei said.

France said earlier this month that it was unlikely European powers would be able to put together an economic package for Iran that would salvage its nuclear deal before November.

Iran´s oil exports could fall by as much as two-thirds by the end of the year because of new US sanctions, putting oil markets under huge strain amid supply outages elsewhere in the world.

Washington initially planned to totally shut Iran out of global oil markets after Trump abandoned the deal that limited Iran´s nuclear ambitions, demanding all other countries to stop buying its crude by November.

France said earlier this month that it was unlikely European powers would be able to put together an economic package for Iran that would salvage its nuclear deal before November.

Iran´s oil exports could fall by as much as two-thirds by the end of the year because of new US sanctions, putting oil markets under huge strain amid supply outages elsewhere in the world.

Day: July 24, 2018

Nations Continue to Trample Outside the Temple Walls (Revelation 11:2)

60 Targets in 24 Hours

The Nuclear Meltdown at the Sixth Seal (Revelation 6:12)

NYS agencies urge more scrutiny of Algonquin pipeline at Indian Point

A Nuclear Storm is Brewing with Persia (Daniel)

A storm is brewing between Trump, Mike Pompeo, and Iran

Save the OIL and the Wine (Revelation 6)

Khamenei backs suggestion to block Gulf oil export