MUMBAI ATTACK REPORTEDLY TARGETED ISRAELIS AND JEWS!
(Israel Today)

The sole terrorist out of the dozens involved in the Mumbai attacks to be captured alive told Indian officials at the weekend that the massive assault specifically targeted Israelis and Jews.

The Times of India reported that according to the terrorist, the three-day siege of Mumbai was a response to Israel’s “atrocities” against the Palestinian Arabs.

At least eight Israelis and foreign Jews were among the 170 people killed in the attacks, making them the largest group of non-Indian casualties.

The Israelis and Jews were all killed at the local Chabad Jewish outreach center. Israeli medical rescue teams sent to Mumbai told Ynet that despite their long experience dealing with mass casualty incidents, they found the level of carnage at the Chabad center shocking.

Along with the Chabad center the terrorists also held two nearby luxury hotels against repeated assaults by Indian commandos for over 48 hours.

Israeli defense experts cited by the Israeli and international media harshly criticized what they called the brave, but inept action by Indian commandos.

Indian media responded furiously to the criticism, with several television commentators claiming that aside from Operation Entebbe in 1976, Israel had a far more dismal record rescuing hostages.

HERE WE GO AGAIN – MORE PALESTINIAN PROPAGANDA ABOUT ISRAEL’S GOD-GIVEN LAND!
By Aaron Klein
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – Four days after WND broke the story the Palestinian Authority has quietly asked the U.S. to impose sanctions on Israel if the Jewish state continues building any new housing structures in the strategic and historic West Bank, the PA today publicly asked Palestinian diplomats to campaign abroad for economic steps against Israeli West Bank settlements.

“We want you to make the whole world aware of the problem because condemnations and press conferences are not enough anymore,” Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad told a public gathering of Palestinian diplomats today.

Fayad reportedly singled out Britain as a model for other countries to follow in imposing economic sanctions on Israeli West Bank construction. Britain has said it is pressing European countries for tighter controls of imports to the EU from West Bank settlements, demanding West Bank Jewish imports be labeled separately from the rest of the Jewish state’s general imports.
“We call on other countries in the EU to follow suit with Britain on this issue,” Fayad said.

Last week, WND quoted a top PA source revealing the PA has asked the U.S. to impose sanctions on Israeli West Bank construction. The source, who works from PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ office, said the threat of sanctions would be part a series of Israeli-Palestinian understandings to be guaranteed by the U.S. that both sides are trying to reach before January.

The understandings, the source said, would result in an eventual Israeli withdrawal from the vast majority of the West Bank, an area rich in biblical history and significance.

Last week, informed Israeli and Palestinian sources told WND that despite media reports painting a dismal picture of negotiation prospects, Israel and the PA are still quietly working to conclude a major agreement before President Bush leaves office at the end of the year.

Aside from a major West Bank withdrawal, the agreement would also grant the PA permission to open official institutions in Jerusalem but would postpone talks on the future status of the capital city until new Israeli and U.S. governments are installed next year. A top source said the PA requested that as part of the understandings, the U.S. would threaten sanctions for any new Jewish construction in the West Bank.

Israel recaptured the West Bank in the 1967 Six Day War. The territory, in which about 200,000 Jews live, is tied to Judaism throughout the Torah and is often referred to as the biblical heartland of Israel.

The book of Genesis says Abraham entered Israel at the West Bank city of Shechem (Nablus) and received God’s promise of land for his offspring. He was later buried with the rest of the biblical patriarchs and matriarchs, except for Rachel, in Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs. The West Bank’s Hebron was site of the first Jewish capital.

The nearby West Bank town of Beit El–anciently called Bethel, meaning “house of God”–is where Scripture says the patriarch Jacob slept on a stone pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a stairway to heaven. In that dream, God spoke directly to Jacob and reaffirmed the promise of territory. Earlier, God had promised the land of Israel to Abraham at Beit El. In Exodus, the holy tabernacle rested just north of Beit El in Shiloh, believed to be the first area the ancient Israelites settled after fleeing Egypt.

The understandings both sides are trying to reach before January are part of an original plan initiated at last November’s U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit, which sought to create a Palestinian state, at least on paper, by January. The summit launched talks aimed at concluding a final status agreement on all core issues – borders, the status of Jerusalem and the future of so-called Palestinian refugees.

But a final agreement has been hampered by several recent events here, most notably Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s decision to resign amid corruption charges, leading to general elections scheduled for February that will see a new prime minister elected.

The candidate for office from Olmert’s Kadima party, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, is said to oppose reaching a deal on Jerusalem or refugees ahead of elections, fearing it will harm her prospects among center-right voters. Livni is Olmert’s chief negotiator with the Palestinians.

In spite of the upcoming elections and the Israeli government’s subsequent political instability, teams of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have been quietly meeting regularly the past few weeks in hope of concluding a series of understandings on key issues. Informed sources said any understandings reached will be backed up by Bush in an official letter. It is unclear how much weight such a letter will carry under a new U.S. administration.

According to the sources, neither side expects to conclude any deal on the status of Jerusalem or Palestinian “refugees” before January, putting aside those issues for future talks. Instead, negotiations are focused on reaching an agreement emphasizing borders, particularly a pledged Israeli evacuation of the vast majority of the strategic West Bank, which borders central Israeli population centers.

A Palestinian source told WND the U.S. is said to favor Israel withdrawing from nearly the entire West Bank. The source said the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem has been closely monitoring Israeli activities in the territory, which the source said has led to the Jewish state clamping down on what are termed “illegal outposts,” or Jewish structures built in the West Bank without government permission. Israel has recently announced a series of small West Bank evacuations, including the threatened forced removal of Jews who legally purchased a house in the ancient city of Hebron.

Olmert announced he wants quick peace deal. On Tuesday, Olmert seemed to confirm the WND report exposing secret Israeli-Palestinian talks aimed at reaching an agreement on core issues, when he announced in Washington his intention to continue negotiations in hope of an agreement on core issues.

“In principle there is nothing to prevent us from reaching an agreement on the core issues in the near future,” Olmert said regarding ongoing peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.
“We’re in a situation where it’s possible to do so, and I hope we do. It would be good for the state of Israel,” said Olmert speaking to Israeli reporters after a meeting with President Bush.

Speaking of “a painful sacrifice of parts of the land of Israel and the history of the Jewish people,” Olmert told reporters now was the “time for decisions.” “I am ready to make that decision, and I hope the other side will make it as well,” he said. “You don’t need months to make a decision.”

COMMANDOS RESCUE HOSTAGES IN MUMBAI
by Hana Levi Julian

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that two Israeli hostages have been freed in Mumbai after spending more than 30 hours holed up in the Oberoi-Trident Hotel. The two businessmen, who were identified only by their last names, Weingarten and Zamir, were rescued Friday morning at approximately 7:30 a.m. Israel time.

According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Andy David, neither was injured and both are in good condition following their harrowing ordeal. “I can confirm that they’re out, they’re free… they made contact with our Consulate, our people saw them and they’re okay,” he told Israel National News, adding that both planned to return to Israel but that a timeline had not been set.

The news was not as positive about Jews who were still being held hostage in the Chabad House, located in the Nariman House building near the hotel. The Foreign Ministry firmly denied the numerous and repeated reports by Indian media that Jewish hostages had been rescued from the Chabad House.

“The reports are simply untrue,” said David. “No one has been freed there, and no one has come out. We don’t know what the situation is inside. There is no confirmation of the number of people there either,” he emphasized.

“There are Israelis who stop in there at Chabad all the time, who can visit, get a meal, join a prayer… we have no way to know many people were there,” he said. “There is a lot of battlefield fog, you know, we get a lot of reports, ‘It’s over,’ then, ‘It’s not over,’ then, ‘It’s over,’ again.”

David was grim regarding the condition of Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka, who were reported to be unconscious when terrorists first stormed the Chabad House Wednesday night. “Of course we are very worried for them, but we have no information at this point,” he said.

An Israeli media report of four bodies being found in the building was brushed aside. “These were old reports by the local woman who brought out the Holtzbergs’ one and a half-year-old son when she came out early Thursday morning,” said the Foreign Ministry spokesman. The family’s babysitter, Sandra Samuel reported when she escaped that four people, including the Holtzbergs, were lying unconscious. She remained with little Moshe until his grandparents arrived from Israel early Friday morning to care for him.

David also debunked a rumor that an Israel Air Force helicopter had been seen flying around the roof of the Oberoi-Trident Hotel late Thursday night. “Not true,” he said. “Absolutely not. No Israeli security or military units or personnel or anything of the sort are in India, nor are there plans to send them. Fruitful imagination,” he added.

Commandos who entered the building Friday morning were moving “very slowly, deliberately, through each floor” reported an NDTV news anchor, who stressed that the cameraman was deliberately “shying away from showing any close-up visuals or pictures that might give away the position of the commandos to the terrorists.”

Indian forces are also slowly but surely gaining control of two luxury hotels in Mumbai, and more than 100 hostages have escaped or have been rescued during the fighting.

Operations at the Oberoi-Trident Hotel has been declared over. Reporter noted that relatives crowding around the hotel are “scared and frustrated,” adding, “They don’t understand why they don’t have any news of their loved ones if the operation is over,” she said.

Inside commandos continue to methodically search from room to room, trying to determine how many bodies are still inside.

Indian army sources have claimed that the terrorists had received commando training from the Pakistan Army and had been provided with boats and logistical support by the Mumbai underworld, according to India’s IBN Live television news.

The Chabad House was one of 10 sites that were struck by some 25 terrorists who apparently infiltrated into Mumbai by sea and then fanned out through the city. Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky of Chabad World Headquarters in New York released a statement on behalf of the movement overnight:Once again, terrorism has reared its evil head, this time in Mumbai (Bombay) India. Our Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Community Center, located in Nariman House in the Colaba district, is still occupied by the terrorists.

As of Thursday (Nov. 27) evening, we have not yet heard from our representatives in Mumbai, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, who head the center. The Holtzbergs’ 18-month old son, Moshe, was rescued early Thursday morning and is in the custody of trusted friends.

Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, through its global contacts, continues to vigilantly monitor this tragic situation as it develops.

We pray for the speedy, safe release of all the hostages and those yet missing, and for the healing and complete recovery of all those wounded. We express heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of each of those who have been brutally murdered in this senseless barbaric attack.

There is also grave concern over the fate of at least two other Jews as well, both of whom had flown to India on business to serve as Kosher food supervisors in Indian plants that provide ingredients to kosher food companies in the U.S.

Rabbi Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum of Jerusalem, the son of the Volover Rebbe of Boro Park and son-in-law of the head of the Toldos Avraham Yitzhak Chassidic sect, was in Mumbai and hasn’t been heard from, as is the case with his co-worker Ben Tzion Korman of Bat Yam.

The public is being asked to pray for Gavriel Noach ben Freida Bluma and Rivka bas Yehudis, Aryeh Leibish ben Elta Nechama Maltshi and Ben Tzion ben Elka, as well as “anyone else affected by the tragedy.”

BUSH HANDS OVER REINS OF U.S. ECONOMY TO EU!

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Bible prophecy students and scholars were taken by surprise by none other than US President George Bush! What does this mean? If there was ever a time to study our Bibles prayerfully and carefully, IT IS NOW! Read the following and ask yourself – how could this take place in the nation we love and support?)

The results of the G-20 economic summit amount to nothing less than the seamless integration of the United States into the European economy. In one month of legislation and one diplomatic meeting, the United States has unilaterally abdicated all the gains for the concept of free markets won by the Reagan administration and surrendered, in total, to the Western European model of socialism, stagnation, and excessive government regulation.

Sovereignty is out the window. Without a vote, we are suddenly members of the European Union. Given the dismal record of those nations at creating jobs and sustaining growth, merging with the Europeans is like a partnership with death.

At the G-20 meeting, Bush agreed to subject the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and our other regulatory agencies to the supervision of a global entity that would critique its regulatory standards and demand changes if it felt they were necessary. Bush agreed to create a College of Supervisors. According to The Washington Post, it would “examine the books of major financial institutions that operate across national borders so regulators could begin to have a more complete picture of banks’ operations.” Their scrutiny would extend to hedge funds and to various “exotic” financial instruments. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), a European-dominated operation, would conduct “regular vigorous reviews” of American financial institutions and practices. The European-dominated College of Supervisors would also weigh in on issues like executive compensation and investment practices.

There is nothing wrong with the substance of this regulation. Experience is showing it is needed. But it is very wrong to delegate these powers to unelected, international institutions with no political accountability. We have a Securities and Exchange Commission appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, both of whom are elected by the American people. It is with the SEC, the Treasury, and the Federal Reserve that financial accountability must take place.

The European Union achieved this massive subrogation of American sovereignty the way it usually does, by negotiation, gradual bureaucratic encroachment, and without asking the voters if they approve. What’s more, Bush appears to have gone down without a fight, saving his debating time for arguing against the protectionism that France’s Nicolas Sarkozy was pushing.
By giving Bush a seeming victory on a moratorium against protectionism for one year, Sarkozy was able to slip over his massive scheme for taking over the supervision of the U.S. economy.

All kinds of political agendas are advancing under the cover of responding to the global financial crisis. Where Franklin Roosevelt saved capitalism by regulating it, Bush, to say nothing of Obama, has given the government control over our major financial and insurance institutions. And it isn’t even our government! The power has now been transferred to the international community, led by the socialists in the European Union.

Will Obama govern from the left? He doesn’t have to. George W. Bush has done all the heavy lifting for him. It was under Bush that the government basically took over as the chief stockholder of our financial institutions and under Bush that we ceded our financial controls to the European Union. In doing so, he has done nothing to preserve what differentiates the vibrant American economy from those dying economies in Europe.

Why have 80 percent of the jobs that have been created since 1980 in the industrialized world been created in the United States? How has America managed to retain its leading 24 percent share of global manufacturing even in the face of the Chinese surge? How has the U.S. GDP risen so high that it essentially equals that of the European Union, whose population is 50 percent greater?

It has done so by an absence of stifling regulation, a liberation of capital to flow to innovative businesses, low taxes, and by a low level of unionization that has given business the flexibility to grow and prosper.

Europe, stagnated by taxation and regulation, has grown by a pittance while we have roared ahead. But now Bush — not Obama — Bush has given that all up and caved in to European socialists. The Bush legacy? European socialism. Who needs enemies with friends like Bush?

(EDITOR’S NOTE: May God give us all wisdom and courage as we now face what will soon be very troubling times for America! How we need a moral and spiritual revival!)

PERES SPARS WITH HECKLERS AT OXFORD!

Israeli President Shimon Peres was repeatedly heckled as a “war criminal” during an address at Oxford University on Tuesday.

As he spoke about Zionism, peace and the election of Barack Obama, a handful of students in the audience of 1,000 frequently interrupted to demand that Peres bow down in shame for the genocide, ethnic cleansing and other persecution they claimed Israel has visited on the Palestinian Arabs for the past 60 years.

Most of the interruptions were halted by the other students in the audience, who booed down the hecklers.

On one occasion, Peres himself replied, telling a protestor that Israel did not need his permission to defend itself. When another student alleged that Israel is purposely starving the residents of Gaza, Peres suggested that he “open your eyes and ears and keep your mouth shut for a different perspective.”

Peres visited Oxford as part of a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom. He was presented with an honorary doctorate by the school’s president.

Peres is also scheduled to address both Houses of Parliament in London, and visit Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II will bestow upon him an honorary knighthood.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The growing resentment toward Israel and its people is a specfic fulfillment of the prophecies of our Lord Yeshua Who said to them almost 2000 years ago: “Ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake.” Please pray for the peace of Jerusalem – the only One Who can bring it is the Messiah of Israel!)