Watchman Newsletter

One million protest in France over pension reform

Tehran Times (Link) - AP (September 25, 2010)

French authorities estimated nearly 1 million protesters filled the streets Thursday to try to force President Nicolas Sarkozy to drop his plan to raise the retirement age two years to 62, while strikes also disrupted airports, train stations and schools for the second time this month.

The protest movement has been a big test for Sarkozy, who, like other European leaders, has struggled to convince his country of the need for cost-cutting and scaling back generous social benefits after the Greek debt crisis scared markets and sapped confidence in the entire 16-nation euro currency.

France’s powerful unions consider retirement at 60 to be a near-sacred right, and more than 230 demonstrations stretched from the southern port city of Marseille to Lille in the north. Some protesters carried signs demanding early retirement for Sarkozy, whose dismal approval ratings hover in the mid-30s.

With stakes high, the government and unions disagreed about the size of the turnout — even more so than usual.

The Interior Ministry said the protest movement had lost steam since the last day of protests Sept. 7, with 997,000 protesters in the streets, a drop of about 11 percent. But unions said the movement grew to nearly 3 million protesters, up from what they said was about 2.5 million last time.

Turkey: Direct talks with Iran best way to prevent development of nukes

Haaretz (Link) - Reuters (September 24, 2010)

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Friday Turkey’s direct relations with Iran remain the best way to achieve a diplomatic solution for keeping Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Turkey voted against the latest round of UN sanctions aimed at putting pressure on Tehran, which says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

The United States, a key Turkish ally and fellow member of NATO, suspects Iran seeks to develop atomic weapons and is leading the effort to thwart its nuclear ambitions.

Gul, speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations while attending the UN General Assembly meeting, addressed criticism that Turkey was shifting its orientation away from the West by engaging with Iran.

“If you look at all our allies, which leaders among those countries have the ability to be able to have direct discussions with the Iranian leaders, including the supreme religious leader?” Gul asked.

“There isn’t anyone,” he said, adding its engagement is for moving the process forward and should not be misunderstood.

Jordan’s king warns of war by year’s end

YNet News (Link) - Yitzhak Benhorin (September 24, 2010)

Several hours after describing what Israel and the Palestinians are expected to gain from peace in his UN General Assembly address, Jordan’s King Abdullah warned Thursday night that if the settlement construction freeze issue would not be solved, a violent conflict could break out by the end of 2010.

“If we don’t get past the 30th, which shows sincerity that the Israelis and Palestinians are going to move forward,” expect a war by the end of the year, the Jordanian king told Jon Stewart on the Daily Show.

He expressed his fear that dealing with the settlements instead of solving the core issues would harm the peace talks.

People are waiting for us to fail, he said, in order to tell us there is no chance for a dialogue with Israel and violence is the only way.

Olmert urges ‘int’l trusteeship’ for Holy Basin

The Jerusalem Post (Link) (September 24, 2010)

Israel should agree to an international trusteeship in Jerusalem’s Holy Basin, should allow non-Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem to serve as the capital of a Palestinian state, and should offer to solve the Palestinian refugee problem within the framework of the Arab peace initiative, former prime minister Ehud Olmert urges in an op-ed article in today’s Jerusalem Post.

“If [Israel] takes a clear stance on these issues and presents them as its position for the negotiations,” Olmert writes, it would “transform the atmosphere” surrounding the direct talks with the Palestinian Authority.

A source close to Olmert told the Post that the positions he sets out in the article reflect the terms he offered to PA President Mahmoud Abbas at the end of their two years of negotiations – “terms which Abbas now regrets not responding to,” the source said.

The source confirmed that Olmert’s reference to an international trusteeship in the Holy Basin, which “will not be a sovereign part of either the State of Israel or the state of Palestine,” would involve Israel relinquishing sovereignty at the Western Wall and the Temple Mount. “There would be complete and unlimited access for all believers – of course, for Jews – to these sites. Basically,” the source said, “this would represent a maintenance of the status quo, but under international trusteeship.

‘Palestine new UN member in 2011 if talks succeed’

The Jerusalem Post (Link) - Jordana Horn (September 24, 2010)

In address to General Assembly, US President Barack Obama condemns efforts to “chip away” at Israel’s legitimacy.

In his address to the UN General Assembly Thursday, US President Barack Obama called for a continuation of the settlement freeze and expressed the hope that by next year, current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations will have resulted in “an independent, sovereign state of Palestine.

“We believe that the moratorium should be extended.

We also believe that talks should press on until completed,” Obama said, adding later that “now is the time for this opportunity to be seized, so that it does not slip away.”

Deeming the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “as old as this institution,” Obama told the General Assembly that both Israel and the Palestinians must espouse “genuine reconciliation” rather than resorting to familiar tropes of intransigence.

Jews Pelted with Rocks at Feast of Tabernacles

WorldNet Daily (Link) - Aaron Klein (September 23, 2010)

Riots near the Temple Mount that left at least 10 Israelis wounded were instigated and partially directed by the Palestinian Authority, according to a senior Israeli security official speaking to WND.

The security official said elements of the Israeli government yesterday asked the PA to cease its involvement in instigating the clashes, which included Palestinians throwing rocks from the Mount aimed at Israeli worshipers at the Western Wall below.

"The clashes are guided mostly by Fatah (PA) militants as a tool to pressure Israel on Jerusalem," the security official said.

The riots come just days after the U.S. administration publicly called on Israel to halt Jewish construction in the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem in line with U.S.-brokered talks aimed at creating a Palestinian state in those territories.

Top 10 Failures of ObamaCare After Six Months

Human Events (Link) - Emily Miller (September 22, 2010)

President Obama today is proudly touting the success of the biggest disaster of his presidency: ObamaCare.

The trillion-dollar, government takeover of our health care officially kicks in tomorrow, but it has already had a destructive impact on our economy and health care system.

Obama’s crowing about his health care debacle shows how totally out of touch he is with the American people. Polls show that 56 percent of likely voters believe that ObamaCare is bad for the United States and 71 percent think the health care law will hurt the economy.

The facts speak for themselves, here are the top ten failures of ObamaCare after only six months:

Interfaith movement brings world closer to global religious system

Examiner (Link) - Nicole Horrelt (September 21, 2010)

During the last days prior to the return of Jesus Christ, one of the many signs heralding His return will be a global apostasy (2 Thessalonians 2:3) coinciding with a global cry for peace.(1 Thessalonians 5:3) Globalized communications of our day facilitate the rise and speed of this falling away from the faith, and have also been prophesied since the Bible foretells the world will see certain events come to pass. (Revelation 11:9-10; 17:8)

With nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons technology, terrorist threats, combined with several nations increasingly more hungry for power and domination than for true peace, the capability of mankind destroying all life on earth today, is real. Over 2000 years ago, Jesus predicted this capability for world destruction at a time when only spears and swords were the weapons used. (Matthew 24:21-22)

All these factors and more, play into the role of fulfilling the prophecy found in Revelation chapter 13, the time coming when the Antichrist , or ‘false messiah’ forms his one world religion (Revelation 13:12)

To get to the point of global worship of the Antichrist who will rule the world temporarily during the tribulation prior to the return of Jesus Christ, the true Messiah, there must (logically) be a global ‘conditioning’ or preparation, and this begins with apostasy, or the ‘falling away’ from the true faith in Jesus Christ in much of the Christian world. This is happening right now and increasingly so, with the global cry for peace. Jesus Christ is denied as being the ‘only way, truth, and life’ (John 14:6) and in many churches, this truth is excluded (subtly in many cases with a weak gospel) in the name of ‘peace and tolerance.’ How can this happen? What is the motive or inspiration? This is an examination of only a few factors working together to bring about this change.

Lebanese Gunfire at IDF on Northern Border

Israel National News (Link) - Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (September 21, 2010)

Lebanese soldiers fired at Israeli troops Monday evening after hearing gunshots from the Israeli side, which the IDF said were part of a routine training exercise. No one on either side of the border was injured.

The incident follows by six weeks a border clash in which Lebanese soldiers opened fire and killed an IDF reserve officer during a routine IDF maintenance operation within Israeli territory. The United Nations criticized Lebanon for the incident, in which another Israeli reserve officer was wounded and three Lebanese—two soldiers and a journalist—were killed in retaliatory fire.

Monday’s exchange of gunfire occurred several miles east of the northeastern Israel border in the same area where Hizbullah kidnapped and killed two reserve soldiers in 2006, touching off the 34-day Second Lebanon War.

Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television network alleged that Israeli soldiers fired on the Lebanese army with what Lebanon called "provocative” gunfire. The Lebanese army, which was reinforcing its position at the nearby village of Duheria, placed its soldiers on alert and shot towards Israeli soldiers.

“What the Lebanese army heard came from these exercises,” An IDF spokeswoman said. Lebanese authorities claimed that 14 bullets were fired over the heads of Lebanese soldiers in Duheria.

United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said it is investigating the incident. †

Countries welcome new Assembly President’s focus on global governance

UN News Centre (Link) - Shaul Rosenfeld (September 21, 2010)

Several countries have expressed support for the initiative of the General Assembly President to make global governance a central theme of the current session of the United Nations body.

Prime Minister Klaus Tschütscher of Liechtenstein, as well as Sheikh Khalid ibn Ahmad Al Khalifa, the Foreign Minister of Bahrain; Xavier Espot Miró, the Foreign Minister of Andorra; and Amr Moussa, the Secretary-General of the Arab League concurred with Joseph Deiss on prioritizing such an important topic.

The leaders voiced their support in separate meetings held with the President on Monday, on the sidelines of the high-level summit being held at UN Headquarters on how to advance the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015.

Outlining priorities for the 65th session at a news conference last week, Mr. Deiss called for efforts to “reinstate” the UN and its 192-member General Assembly to the centre of global governance.

Israeli Researcher: Palestinians Not A Partner for Peace

Bridges For Peace (Link) - BFP Israel Mosaic Radio - Joshua Spurlock (September 21, 2010)

The director of an Israeli research and analysis organization that examines Palestinian newspapers, television and schoolbooks believes that the Palestinians are not laying the groundwork for peace with Israel, but are in fact doing the opposite. Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), cited examples from Palestinian leaders and media that show the Palestinians continue to reject Israel’s right to exist, continue to demonize Israel and continue to glorify terrorism. Speaking with Bridges for Peace, Marcus said that even the so-called moderate Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership is failing to prepare their people for peace.

Said Marcus of Palestinian demonization of Israel, “All of this, coming from so many different directions and so many different ways, makes us conclude that Israel does not yet have a peace partner.”

As one example also posted on the PMW Web site in late August, Marcus pointed to a children’s PA TV program in which a moderator asks a little girl what occupied cities she has visited. When the child lists Hebron, which is in the West Bank [Judea and Samaria], the PA TV moderator corrects the child and notes that city is liberated. The moderator then lists as occupied cities several Israeli cities such as Jaffa, Tel Aviv’s sister city, and Haifa, a northern coastal city that is one of Israel’s largest cities.

Marcus points out that such a position is being presented by PA TV, which is controlled by the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “[Abbas] is supposed to be the most moderate, who we’re supposed to be able to reach an agreement with,” he said.

Overhaul in Israel’s Bible education

YNet News (Link) - Tamar Trabelsi-Hadad (September 20, 2010)

If one were to ask a new Israeli high school graduate to name the Ten Commandments, specify the Three Pilgrimage Festivals or relate the creation story, one would be met with a deafening silence more often than not.

For years, the study material for the Bible matriculation exam has not included Bible basics such as the Shema Yisrael prayer, Tefilin, and other fundamental social commandments.

Having conducted a thorough examination, the Education Ministry has decided to revolutionize next year’s Bible study program with the aim of restoring Bible education to its original status.

“Many students today complete their matriculation exams without knowing the book of Genesis, Abraham and the Hebrew Prophets,” Drora Levy, national Bible supervisor in the Education Ministry admitted. “The book of Genesis is the Bible’s genetic code, our foundation as a people. Without it we have no roots, no promise,” she added.

The new Bible study program for state high schools will require teachers to follow the chronological order of events in their classes, contrary to the current custom. In addition, schools will not be given a choice of subjects but will be required to teach all stipulated contents. “The students will learn the Bible in the appropriate manner,” Levy said.

Stop plan to put colleges under political supervision

The Denver Post (Link) - Bill Armstrong and Hank Brown (September 20, 2010)

Should the nation’s colleges and universities be subjugated by federal and state government? That’s what is going to happen if the U.S. Department of Education goes ahead with its proposal to turn both private and public schools into “authorized” institutions.

The plan, scheduled to go into effect in November, entails a heavy cost in time and money. But what is more ominous is the whole idea of political supervision of higher education.

As a practical matter, the department’s power grab carries with it an implicit invitation for various pressure groups to seek legal mandates requiring colleges and universities to implement their pet theories about curriculum, degree requirements, faculty qualifications, teaching methods, textbooks, evolution, phonics, ROTC, climate change, family policy, abortion, race, sexual orientation, economic theory, etc.

If adopted, regional accreditation will be denied to any institution that has not first been given “substantive” state “authorization.”

National Intelligence Council and European Union’s Institute for Security Studies Release Report on Prospects for Global Governance

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (Link) (September 20, 2010)

Global governance—the collective management of common problems at the international level—is at a critical juncture, according to a new report released today, issued jointly by the ODNI’s National Intelligence Council (NIC) and the European Union’s Institute for Security Studies (EUISS). The report, Global Governance 2025—a follow-on to the NIC’s 2008 report, Global Trends 2025—posits that the growing number of issues on the international agenda, and their complexity, is outpacing the ability of international organizations and national governments to address these challenges.

The report concludes that three effects of rapid globalization are driving demands for more effective global governance:

1. economic interdependence;

2. the interconnected nature of the challenges on the international agenda; and

3. interwoven domestic and foreign challenges.

According to the report, more effective global governance is critical to addressing “threats such as ethnic conflicts, infectious diseases, and terrorism as well as a new generation of global challenges including climate change, energy security, food and water scarcity, international migration flows and new technologies,” which are increasingly taking center stage.

Report: Hizbullah successfully tests new missile in Iran

The Jerusalem Post (Link) (September 19, 2010)

Iranian “Fatah 110” has a range of 200 km, capable of reaching Ashdod, Jerusalem; Lebanese terror group reportedly has list of priority targets.

Special Hizbullah units in Iran have successfully launched and tested a new Iranian missile “Fatah 110,” according to a report over the weekend by Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai, Channel 2 news reported.

According to the report, the Iranian missile, which was displayed with great pride in Teheran less than a month ago, has a maximum range of 200 kilometers. This means it is capable of reaching Jerusalem and Ashdod if it was to be launched from the Israel-Lebanon border. The Kuwait newspaper said the test launches took place in Iran since such an event could not take place in Lebanon.

“The test was successful and part of the units which participated returned to their bases in Lebanon,” unidentified officials told Al-Rai. Hizbullah has formulated a “bank of targets” in Israel such as “power stations and sensitive institutions” across the country, the sources added.

Israel Believes it will Face Russian Missiles

The Media Line (Link) (September 19, 2010)

Israeli defense officials have little doubt that their armed forces will come up against the sophisticated Russian missiles Moscow has agreed to sell to Syria.

On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced that shipment of P-800 Yakhont supersonic cruise missiles pursuant to a deal signed in 2007 will go forward in defiance of American and Israeli requests to the contrary.

Israel argues that the weapons will undoubtedly end up in the hands of Hizbullah, the Iranian and Syrian terrorist proxy based in Lebanon. The P-800, which can be fired from land or sea, can carry a payload of 440 pounds over a distance of 186 miles at speeds of up to Mach 2.5. (13 miles/minute).