One Sunday in March, a man strode down the aisle of the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill., pulled out a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol and fired at the pastor.

The Rev. Fred Winters deflected the first bullet with his Bible, sending bits of it into the air like confetti. But the next three rounds hit Winters, killing him.

It wasn’t the first church shooting of 2009 — in February, a man knelt before a cross at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove and killed himself with a gun — and it wasn’t the last. This month, Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas physician who performed late-term abortions, was shot to death in the foyer of his Wichita church by an anti-abortion protester.

Violence in churches is on the rise, experts say.

As more shootings at houses of worship make headlines, churches around the country are stepping up security, training their staff on how to detect and confront violent assailants, and asking congregants with licenses to carry guns during services.

That’s what brought 15 Southern California church leaders to Garden Grove last week to attend an “Interfaith Intruder Response” course.

“I think that we’re living in a violent time and we have a duty to ensure the safety of our flock,” said Fred Rodriguez, a senior pastor at Elsinore First Assembly in Lake Elsinore.

Rodriguez said he came to the seminar because he worries that church violence will get worse. “The Scripture says we’re living the last days,” the clergyman said. “A person doesn’t have to look too far to see evidence.”

“There are practical things we can do,” he added, “and we let God take care of the rest.”

The class, which met in a nondescript hotel conference room, was led by Vaughn Baker, who owns a security company called Strategos International. Baker is one of several church security consultants who travel the country like itinerant preachers, teaching seminars and writing up security plans for church leaders.

After an opening prayer, Baker offered some grim statistics. In the last decade, he said, 50 people were killed and 30 wounded in 35 church shootings. In 2007, there were six church shootings. In 2008, there were 18.

In most cases, the shooter was someone with a connection to the church.

“You guys know the world’s not getting better,” said Baker, who, along with many church security consultants, is a churchgoer and has a background in law enforcement. “We’ve got to protect ourselves. . . . The trick of it and the art of it is protecting the congregation and ministry without compromising their sense of worship and refuge and sanctuary.”

Traditional security measures, like metal detectors or pat-downs, might compromise that sense of sanctuary, Baker said. So he proposed other, subtler methods. He suggested that churches organize undercover security teams — and recommended that some members come armed with concealed weapons.

If violence breaks out at church, it could take minutes for even the fastest police and rescue crews to respond, Baker said, “and there’s a whole lot of bad that can happen in two to three minutes.”

Baker, like other security consultants, said churchgoers need to fight back instead of hiding if they’re being attacked, as many students have been coached to do in the event of a school shooting. “If I’m going to get beat, I’m going to get beat doing something,” Baker said. “I’m not going to get beat doing nothing.”

Seminar attendees — all men except for two women — nodded as Baker spoke.

One attendee, Al Brown, of Abundant Living Family Church in Rancho Cucamonga, said the pastor at his church at first was reluctant to let parishioners carry firearms into services. But with some persuasion from Brown, the former police chief at UC Irvine, the pastor came around. “He saw what was happening around the country,” Brown said.

Brown said he had attended three church security seminars. He said he did so in part because he worried that his church might be victimized because of its support for Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

Some of the churches that have been the scenes of recent shootings appear to have been targeted because of their stances on political issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion. Last year, a gunman who police said had a “stated hatred of the liberal movement” killed two people during a children’s performance at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville because the church advocates for gay rights.

Other shootings have been acts of domestic violence that just happened to occur in a church. That was the case last year when a man shot and killed his estranged wife at St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church in Clifton, N.J.

Synagogues and black churches, frequent targets of racial vandalism and violence, have long had security measures in place. Even so, some are now boosting their efforts in the wake of several high-profile hate crimes, including this month’s shooting at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

“For us, it’s an old threat that’s just lifting its head again,” said Paul Goldenberg, the director of the Secure Community Network, which provides security training to Jewish communities. “We have to do all we can.”

No matter the shooter’s motivation, churches are easy targets, experts say.

“During a church service, you’ve got a large number of people in a very confined and close space, and an armed gunman can put a lot of lead down the range in a very short amount of time,” said Greg Crane, who owns a security consultant firm called Response Options.

“If the devil comes to visit someday,” he asked, “how ready are you going to be?”

- From Prophecy News Watch

Family campaigners are furious over a new Apple application which allows teenagers to access softcore pornography via the popular iPhone.

Dubbed ‘iPorn’ it is the first time the country’s one million iPhone users can view such images with an application approved by the computer company.

The ‘Hottest Girls’ package, which costs little more than a cup of coffee at £1.19, is an X-rated version of an older application that used to offer bikini and lingerie shots.

Previously users have been able to download softcore content from the web on to the iPhone but this is the first time such images have been available with Apple’s permission.

The application is rated for those aged 17 and over, although this relies on teenage iPhone users telling the truth about their age when they sign up to the App Store.

Parents in the know can set controls on the new iPhone3GS that will stop the controversial app appearing.

Miranda Suit, co-founder of the voluntary watchdog MediaMarch told MailOnline she was appalled.

‘We are very concerned about the mainstreaming of pornography,’ she said.

‘It is being packaged in a tempting way and will be disastrous for youngsters who are not equipped to deal with such content.

‘And what about the growing number of sex addicts? I know of cases where they are trying to avoid certain films and magazines, but now even their phone will be a risk for them.

‘We urge the Government to look at the affect pornography has on children and vulnerable adults.’

Those who download the application will be able to save their ‘favourite’ images to their photo library, send them to their friends and set them as images for phone contacts.

- From Prophecy News Watch

Lancaster, Pa. — This historic town, where America’s founding fathers plotted during the Revolution and Milton Hershey later crafted his first chocolates, now boasts another distinction.

It may become the nation’s most closely watched small city.

Some 165 closed-circuit TV cameras soon will provide live, round-the-clock scrutiny of nearly every street, park and other public space used by the 55,000 residents and the town’s many tourists. That’s more outdoor cameras than are used by many major cities, including San Francisco and Boston.

Unlike anywhere else, cash-strapped Lancaster outsourced its surveillance to a private nonprofit group that hires civilians to tilt, pan and zoom the cameras — and to call police if they spot suspicious activity. No government agency is directly involved.

Perhaps most surprising, the near-saturation surveillance of a community that saw four murders last year has sparked little public debate about whether the benefits for law enforcement outweigh the loss of privacy.

“Years ago, there’s no way we could do this,” said Keith Sadler, Lancaster’s police chief. “It brings to mind Big Brother, George Orwell and ’1984.’ It’s just funny how Americans have softened on these issues.”

“No one talks about it,” agreed Scott Martin, a Lancaster County commissioner who wants to expand the program. “Because people feel safer. Those who are law-abiding citizens, they don’t have anything to worry about.”

A few dozen people attended four community meetings held last spring to discuss what sponsors called “this exciting public safety initiative.” But opposition has grown since big red bulbs, which shield the video cameras, began appearing on corner after corner.

Mary Pat Donnellon, head of Mission Research, a local software company, vowed to move if she finds one on her block. “I don’t want to live like that,” she said. “I’m not afraid. And I don’t need to be under surveillance.”

“No one has the right to know who goes in and out my front door,” agreed David Mowrer, a laborer for a company that supplies quarry pits. “That’s my business. That’s not what America is about.”

Hundreds of municipalities — including Los Angeles and at least 36 other California cities — have built or expanded camera networks since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In most cases, Department of Homeland Security grants helped cover the cost.

In the most ambitious project, New York City police announced plans several years ago to link 3,000 public and private security cameras across Lower Manhattan designed to help deter, track and detect terrorists. The network is not yet complete.

How they affect crime is open to debate. In the largest U.S. study, researchers at UC Berkeley evaluated 71 cameras that San Francisco put in high-crime areas starting in 2005. Their final report, released in December, found “no evidence” of a drop in violent crime but “substantial declines” in property crime near the cameras.

Only a few communities have said no. In February, the city council in Cambridge, Mass., voted not to use eight cameras already purchased with federal funds for fear police would improperly spy on residents. Officials in nearby Brookline are considering switching off a dozen cameras for the same reason.

Lancaster is different, and not just because it sits amid the rolling hills and rich farms of Pennsylvania Dutch country.

Laid out in 1730, the whole town is 4 square miles around a central square. Amish families still sell quilts in the nation’s oldest public market, and the Wal-Mart provides a hitching post to park a horse and buggy. Tourists flock to art galleries and Colonial-era churches near a glitzy new convention center.

But poverty is double the state’s average, and public school records list more than 900 children as homeless. Police blame most of last year’s 3,638 felony crimes, chiefly thefts, on gangs that use Lancaster as a way station to move cocaine, heroin and other illegal drugs along the Eastern Seaboard.

“It’s not like we’re making headlines as the worst crime-ridden city in the country,” said Craig Stedman, the county’s district attorney. “We have an average amount of crime for our size.”

In 2001, a local crime commission concluded that cameras might make the city safer. Business owners, civic boosters and city officials formed the Lancaster Community Safety Coalition, and the nonprofit organization installed its first camera downtown in 2004.

Raising money from private donors and foundations, the coalition had set up 70 cameras by last year. And the crime rate rose.

Officials explained the increase by saying cameras caught lesser offenses, such as prostitution and drunkenness, that otherwise often escape prosecution. The cameras also helped police capture and convict a murderer, and solve several other violent crimes.

Another local crime meeting last year urged an expansion of the video network, and the city and county governments agreed to share the $3-million cost with the coalition. Work crews are trying to connect 95 additional high-resolution cameras by mid-July.

“Per capita, we’re the most watched city in the state, if not the entire United States,” said Joseph Morales, a city councilman who is executive director of the coalition. “There are very few public streets that are not visible to our cameras.”

The digital video is transmitted to a bank of flat-screen TVs at coalition headquarters, several dingy offices beside a gas company depot. A small sign hangs outside.

On a recent afternoon, camera operator Doug Winglewich sat at a console and watched several dozen incoming video feeds plus a computer linked to the county 911 dispatcher. The cameras have no audio, so he works in silence.

Each time police logged a new 911 call, he punched up the camera closest to the address, and pushed a joystick to maneuver in for a closer look.

A license plate could be read a block away, and a face even farther could be identified. After four years in the job, Winglewich said, he “can pretty much tell right away if someone’s up to no good.”

He called up another feed and focused on a woman sitting on the curb. “You get to know people’s faces,” he said. “She’s been arrested for prostitution.”

Moments later, he called police when he spotted a man drinking beer in trouble-prone Farnum Park. Two police officers soon appeared on the screen, and as the camera watched, issued the man a ticket for violating a local ordinance.

“Lots of times, the police find outstanding warrants and the guy winds up in jail,” said Winglewich, 49, who works from a wheelchair on account of a spinal injury.

If a camera records a crime in progress, the video is given to police and prosecutors, and may be subpoenaed by defense lawyers in a criminal case. More than 300 tapes were handed over last year, records show.

Morales says he refuses all other requests. “The divorce lawyer who wants video of a husband coming out of a bar with his mistress, we won’t do it,” he said.

No state or federal law governs use of public cameras, so Morales is drafting ethical guidelines for the coalition’s 10 staffers and dozen volunteers. Training has been “informal” until now, he said, but will be stiffened.

Morales said he tries to weed out voyeurs and anyone who might use the tapes for blackmail or other illegal activity.

“We are not directly responsible to law enforcement or government at this point,” he said. “So we have to be above suspicion ourselves.”

Morales, 45, has a master’s degree in public administration. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., he grew up mostly on Army bases. He was accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy, he said, but turned it down. “I made a lot of bad choices,” he said. “Substance abuse was part of that.”

Mary Catherine Roper, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, says the coalition’s role as a self-appointed, self-policed gatekeeper for blanket surveillance of an entire city is unique.

“This is the first time, the only time, I’ve heard of it anywhere,” she said. “It is such a phenomenally bad idea that it is stunning to me.”

She said the coalition structure provides no public oversight or accountability, and may be exempt from state laws governing release of public records.

“When I hear people off the street can come in and apply to watch the camera on my street, now I’m terrified,” she added. “That could be my nosy neighbor, or my stalker ex-boyfriend, or a burglar stalking my home.”

J. Richard Gray, Lancaster’s mayor since 2005, backs the program but worries about such abuses. He is a former defense attorney, a self-described civil libertarian, and a free-spirited figure who owns 12 motorcycles.

“I keep telling [the coalition] you’re on a short leash with me,” Gray said. “It’s one strike and you’re out as far as I’m concerned.”

His campaign treasurer, Larry Hinnenkamp, a tax attorney and certified public accountant, took a stronger view. He “responded with righteous indignation” when a camera was installed without prior notice by his home.

“I used to give it the finger when I walked by,” Hinnenkamp said.

But Jack Bauer, owner of the city’s largest beer and soft drink distributor, calls the network “a great thing.” His store hasn’t been robbed, he said, since four cameras went up nearby.

“There’s nothing wrong with instilling fear,” he said.

- From Prophecy News Watch

Kobian, a “humanoid” robot, which can express seven human emotions, has been unveiled by researchers at Waseda University in Japan.

The Emotional Humanoid Robot can express seven different feelings, including delight, surprise, sadness and dislike. In addition to assuming different poses to match the mood, Kobian uses motors in its face to move its lips, eyelids and eyebrows into various positions, according to pinktentacle.

To express delight, for example, the robot its hands over its head and opens it mouth and eyes wide.

To show sadness, Kobian hunches over, hangs its head and holds a hand up to its face in a gesture of grief.

Kobian can also walk around, perceive its environment and perform physical tasks. The robot features a double jointed neck that helps it achieve more expressive postures.

It was developed and unveiled by researchers at Waseda’s Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering in Tokyo on Tuesday June 23.

They were led by Professor Atsuo Takanashi, and worked with robot manufacturer Tmsuk, based in Kitakyushu, southern Japan.

According to Kobian’s developers, the robot’s expressiveness makes it more equipped to interact with humans and assist with daily activities.

There are plans for it to be further developed and then possibly deployed into the field of nursing.

- From Prophecy News Watch

Poor, uneducated and living in a “parallel society” of headscarf-wearing women and criminal youth: The common stereotype of Muslims in Germany is not an all-too-positive one. But a new study reveals a surprisingly different picture of the reality — including the fact that many more Muslims live in Germany than was previously believed.

The study, which was commissioned by the Interior Ministry together with Germany’s Islam Conference, is the first country-wide study that gives a representative overview of Muslim life in Germany. Researchers from the Nuremberg-based Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) interviewed around 6,000 Muslims from 49 different countries about the role of religion in their everyday life and various aspects of integration. A summary of the study was published Tuesday and the full study will be presented Thursday at the last meeting of the Islam Conference, which Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble initiated in 2006 in a bid to launch a dialogue between the German state and the Muslim community.

Many More Muslims in Germany

One of the study’s most surprising findings is that Germany is home to many more Muslims than was previously believed. The researchers concluded that between 3.8 million and 4.3 million Muslims live in the country, making up around 5 percent of the total population of 82 million. The figure had previously been estimated at between 3.1 million and 3.4 million. The reason for the huge increase is that the study’s authors took more countries of origin into account than had previously been the case, and also looked at the children of Muslims with German citizenship.

Regarding the issue of citizenship, the study revealed that around 45 percent of Muslims living in Germany have a German passport. Another sign of successful integration, in the view of the authors, is the fact that more than half of Germany’s Muslims are members of what the authors term a “German” club or association — a designation that includes sports clubs, unions and associations for senior citizens, but not clubs based around members’ country of origin.

Almost two-thirds of Germany’s Muslims are of Turkish origin, the researchers found, while smaller groups come from Balkan countries such as Bosnia or Albania, the Middle East and North Africa. Almost all live in the states of the former West Germany and Berlin, with the most living in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state.

The study also reveals surprising results when it comes to some key issues in the often-heated integration debate in Germany. Contrary to popular stereotypes, 70 percent of female Muslims do not wear a headscarf, with second generation immigrants less likely to wear a headscarf than their mothers. And Muslim girls, who are commonly imagined to be closeted away by their families, are much more involved in school activities than generally believed: Some 90 percent of female Muslim students take part in school trips while 93 percent take part in swimming lessons, another hot-button issue in Germany.

Educated Second Generation

The study also found that the majority of Muslims consider themselves religious. Around a third described themselves as “very religious” and a half said they were “somewhat religious.” However only about a third of respondents regularly attended a mosque, although 76 percent said they wanted Islamic religious education classes in schools.

When the researchers compared the first and second generations of Muslim immigrants, they found that Muslims born in Germany showed higher levels of education compared to their parents, particularly when it came to girls. In the case of female Muslims, this was partly due to the very low level of education of many female first generation immigrants.

However it wasn’t all good news. The study’s authors found that the Muslim community is home to a disproportionately high level of school drop-outs, unemployed and poor people — particularly among immigrants of Turkish descent.

- From Prophecy News Watch

A senior bishop has backed the move, which is part of a Church of England initiative to put a Christian emphasis on the annual celebration of fatherhood.

Concerns over the lack of men attending services year-round has led clergy to offer a range of incentives today, including free beer, bacon rolls and chocolate bars.

It is the first time that the Church has attempted to treat Fathers’ Day in the same way as Mothering Sunday, which has traditionally formed part of its calendar.

The plan to distribute ale has upset groups working to tackle alchohol abuse, but the Rt Rev John Inge, the Bishop of Worcester, said that it could help churches to attract more men.

He argued that the free beer was intended to be symbolic of “the generosity of God”.

Men at St Stephen’s church in Barbourne, Worcester, will be handed bottles of beer by children during the service. A prayer will be said for the fathers before the gifts are distributed.

The Ven Roger Morris, archdeacon of Worcester, who will be leading the service at St Stephen’s today, said that it was a practical way of sending a message to fathers.

“I don’t see any other time that we can stop and remember fathers, and this is a gesture saying ‘Here’s something that will bless you,’” he said.

“Posies of flowers are given to mums on Mothering Sunday and we wanted to give a laddish, blokeish gift to the men. A bottle of beer hits the mark. The whole of life is to be celebrated in church.”

However, Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, criticised the Church, claiming that it was acting irresponsibly.

“Bearing in mind the country is facing rising health harms from its high level of alcohol consumption, anyone in a position of authority or respect should perhaps think twice about promoting alcohol to the public,” he said.

Bishop Inge said that it was wrong to claim that the move would encourage alcholism, and encouraged churches to use it as a way to reach out to men.

“Jesus created a lot more wine at a point in the party when some thought that there had already been enough drinking. He was all in favour of partying,” the bishop said.

“We give wine away every Sunday, so giving away beer could be said to going downmarket a bit, but it’s an attempt to speak of God’s generosity.

“It’s something that could be used as part of a service to encourage fathers to come. Once they are in church, hopefully they will be challenged by the deeper questions around fatherhood.”

The bishop said that the Church was keen to support fathers and “to do everything possible to encourage them to take their responsibility very seriously”.

A survey conducted by Opinion Business Research (ORB) found that less than a fifth of men claim to attend some type of church service once a month, compared with more than a quarter of women.

Some churches are trying to lure men back with the offer of free food. St Michael’s, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, is holding a Hog Roast on the church forecourt and St Mary’s, Arnold, Nottingham, will serve bacon rolls as men arrive at its service.

- From Prophecy News Watch

Presently, there is an unprecedented push for peace in the Mideast. President Obama, Pope Benedict XVI, along with a significant host of other powerful world leaders, clamor once and for all for a two-state solution. They have heightened concern that the writing is on the 403-mile wall currently protecting Israeli’s from Palestinian terror that a Middle East war is imminent.

As the clock rapidly ticks toward what will likely be the prophetic Psalm 83 showdown, Israel circles the wagons in preparation for a multi-front confederate conflict with its ancient enemies, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu loosens his grip from the thorny Obama olive branch of “Engagement.”

Currently, the international prescription for two states comprised of Jews and Palestinians living autonomously and peacefully side by side requires Israel to destroy outposts, freeze settlements, forfeit land acquired after 1967, divide Jerusalem and allow Palestinian refugees to homestead the Holy Land. These refugees number in the millions, cannot obtain citizenship in the surrounding Arab nations and represent a second-generation population that hates and blames the Jews for their impoverished existence. The ploy of Israel’s enemies has been to banner the plight of these Palestinians as the justification for Islamic jihad against Israel and her supporters.

It is quite apparent that the world has become empathetic to the Palestinian plight but apathetic to God’s foreign policy contained in Genesis 12:3 and the one-state solution prescribed in Jeremiah 12:14-17. Genesis 12:3 bestows blessings upon those that bless the Israeli descendants of Abraham but conversely must curse those populations that oppose them. Jeremiah 12:15-17 follows stride by declaring that God would have compassion on the pro-Israel populations, but “will utterly pluck up and destroy” Israel’s neighbors who fail to operate in compliance with God’s roadmap for peace.

God’s peace plan

The Bible foretold in Isaiah 11:11, Ezekiel 37:12, Deuteronomy 30:3-5 and elsewhere of a time when the Jews would be brought back into the Promised Land from the nations of the world. This regathering began 61 years ago on May 14, 1948, and is ongoing today. Possessing omniscient foresight, God foreknew that an Arab-Israeli conflict would erupt as a result.

Jeremiah 12:14-17 tells us that as the time drew near for the return of the Jews into Israel the landscape of the Middle East would undergo a geopolitical facelift as God intended to restore Arabs, Persians and Jews back into the historical homes of their ancestral heritages. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1917, we see this turn of geopolitical events take place as one by one the Arab, Persian and Jewish states emerged.

Afghanistan 1919
Egypt 1922
Saudi Arabia & Iraq 1932
Iran 1935
Lebanon 1943
Syria & Jordan 1946
Israel 1948

Jeremiah’s passages make it clear that God would import the Jews into Israel and export the Arabs and Persians out of Israel when the time came for the implementation of God’s one-state solution. Jeremiah 12:14 refers to the Arab and Persian populations as “My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit,” alluding to the Promised Land given to the Jewish Patriarch Abraham in Genesis 15:18. As stated prior, God intended to have compassion on those populations that would operate in compliance with His divine plan.

As I point out in my book, “Isralestine the Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East,” many predominately Islamic populations will fail to comply. These nations and/or terrorist entities are described in Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 and include but are not limited to: Palestinians, Syrians, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iranians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Saudis, Egyptians, Libyans and Turks.

The Saudi peace plan

For even your brothers, the house of your father, Even they have dealt treacherously with you; Yes, they have called a multitude after you. Do not believe them, Even though they speak smooth words to you. (Jeremiah 12:6; NKJV)

In the above passage Jeremiah appears to issue a stern warning to the modern-day state of Israel not to believe the smooth words of the descendants of their ancestral brothers. Without going into a detailed Bible study, the abbreviated interpretation is likely as follows:

Tents of Edom – Palestinians, Southern Jordan
Ishmaelites – Saudi Arabia (Ishmael Father of Arabs)
Moab – Palestinians, Central Jordan
Hagrites – Hagarenes – Egyptians
Gebal – Hezbollah, Lebannon
Ammon – Palestinians, Jordan
Philistia – Hamas, Gaza Strip
Amalek – Arabs of Siani
Tyre – Lebannon, Hezbollah
Assyria – Syria, Northern Iraq

The subjects of the prophecy for the most part are the Jews, Saudis and Palestinians. The “brothers” of the Jews from the “house of” their Hebrew fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were Ishmael and Esau. Ishmael was the half brother of Isaac, and Esau was the twin brother of Jacob. Jacob was renamed Israel in Genesis 32:28, and Esau was also referred to as Edom in Genesis 36:1, 9. Both Ishmael in Genesis 21:18 and Esau in Genesis 25:23 were promised to father nations. Ishmael is generally associated today with Saudi Arabia, and Esau with the Palestinians.

The “multitude” formed by the “brothers” Ishmael and Edom is most likely the confederacy tabled below contained in Psalm 83 that ultimately seeks to destroy the modern-day Jewish state, “that the name Israel be remembered no more” (Psalm 83:4).

The “smooth words” are deceptive and the Jews are cautioned not to trust them. They are likely penned in the Saudi Mideast peace plan initiated at the Beirut Summit of the Arab League in March of 2002. This Saudi peace initiative calls for a two-state solution that embraces and strongly favors the Palestinian plight. In a nutshell it requires Israel to withdraw from the territories acquired in the aftermath of the “Six-Day” war in June of 1967 to provide for the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Furthermore, it calls for the return of millions of Palestinian refugees into Israel. In return, Arab states, like those listed in Psalm 83, would establish normal relations with Israel.

Sounds pretty smooth on the surface, but in application it puts Israel in harm’s way. Surrendering land like the Golan Heights would compromise Israel’s security from external attacks, and assimilating refugees who hate Israel would subject the Jewish state to terrorism and turmoil from within. The bottom line is that the Arabs don’t want peace with the Jews; they want another Arab state called Palestine and they feel the only way to ultimately achieve this goal is to destroy modern-day Israel. The Saudi two-state solution puts the enemies of Israel one step closer to the kill.

Jeremiah appears to be warning his descendant Jewish brothers and sisters of today to Say NO to the Saudi two-state solution!

Bill Salus’s latest book “Israelstine – The Ancient Blueprints of the Middle East” – which chronicles the war of Psalm 83 above, a possible pre-runner to Ezekiel 38 – click here:
http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/Previous%20Items/Isralestine.html

- From Prophecy News Watch

A deal is close to completion for the purchase of the F-35 stealth fighter jet after the Defense Ministry and the Pentagon recently reached understandings on a number of IAF demands to integrate Israeli technology into the plane.

The apparent breakthrough was made following a series of visits to Washington recently by OC Air Force Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan and IAF Equipment and Procurement head Brig.-Gen. Kobi Bortman. Last week, Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with top officials from Lockheed Martin – the F-35 manufacturer – on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show.

Also known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the F-35 will be one of the most advanced fighter jets in the world and will enable Israel to phase out some of its older F-15 and F-16 models.

According to senior IDF officers, the Defense Ministry and Pentagon have reached understandings on most of the major issues at the core of disagreement between the parties.

“There is understanding today on the main basic issues,” explained one top officer.

As first reported in The Jerusalem Post, the IAF demands focused on three issues – the integration of Israeli electronic warfare systems into the plane, the integration of Israeli communication systems, and the ability to independently maintain the plane in the event of a technical or structural problem.

According to top officials involved in the deal, the Americans have given their consent and will grant Israel independent maintenance capabilities.

One of the US’s main concerns regarding the installation of Israeli systems was that it would require configurations to the jet’s internal computer system and expose top-secret technology to Israel.

In the recent round of talks, however, the Israeli side presented the Americans with a proposal of how to bypass the computer mainframe when installing the systems. The sides have yet to agree on a final price.

Israel has argued that due to operational requirements, it needs to have the ability to repair damaged or broken computer systems in “real time” and cannot wait for a computer system to be sent to Europe for repairs in the middle of a war.

Negotiations on the integration of Israeli technology began several years ago after Israel paid $20 million to receive the low-level status of a Security Cooperation Participant in the JSF program. Nine countries – including the US, Britain, Turkey and Australia – are full members of the JSF program.

If the sides reach a complete understanding, as expected, the IAF plans to issue an official letter of request for the plane in the coming weeks. The letter will be followed by the signing of a contract in 2010.

The first stage of the deal will be the purchase of 25 aircraft, which will comprise the first Israeli F-35 squadron. According to Lockheed Martin, if the letter of request is issued this year, delivery of the planes will begin in 2014.

- From Prophecy News Watch

A new Jewish interfaith initiative launched last week argues building the Third Jewish Temple in Jerusalem would not necessitate the destruction of the Dome of the Rock.

“God’s Holy Mountain Vision” project hopes to defuse religious strife by showing that Jews’ end-of-days vision could harmoniously accommodate Islam’s present architectural hegemony on the Temple Mount.

“This vision of religious shrines in peaceful proximity can transform the Temple Mount from a place of contention to its original sacred role as a place of worship shared by Jews, Muslims and Christians,” said Yoav Frankel, director of the initiative.

The Interfaith Encounter Association at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim’s Konrad Adenauer Conference Center in Jerusalem is sponsoring the program, which includes interfaith study and other educational projects.

According to Islamic tradition, the Dome of the Rock, built in 691, marks the spot where Muhammed ascended to Heaven.

But according to Jewish tradition, Mount Moriah, now under the Dome of the Rock, is where the Temple’s Holy of Holies was situated.

Until now Jewish tradition has assumed that destruction of the Dome of the Rock was a precondition for the building of the third and last Temple.

However, in an article that appeared in 2007 in Tehumin, an influential journal of Jewish law, Frankel, a young scholar, presented a different option.

His main argument is that Jewish doctrine regarding the rebuilding of the Temple emphasizes the role of a prophet.

This prophet would have extraordinary authority, including the discretion to specify the Temple’s precise location, regardless of any diverging Jewish traditions.

Frankel considers the scenario of a holy revelation given to an authentic prophet that the Temple be rebuilt on the current or an extended Temple Mount in peaceful proximity to the dome and other houses of prayer such as the Aksa Mosque and nearby Christian shrines.

However, both Muslims and Jews have expressed opposition to the initiative.

Sheikh Abdulla Nimar Darwish, founder of the Islamic Movement in Israel, said it was pointless to talk about what would happen when the mahdi, the Muslim equivalent of the messiah, would reveal himself.

“Why are we taking upon ourselves the responsibility to decide such things?” Darwish said in a telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post. “Even Jews believe that it is prohibited to rebuild the Temple until the messiah comes. So what is there to talk about.

“The mahdi will decide whether or not to rebuild the Temple. If he decides that it should be rebuilt, I will go out to the Temple Mount and help carry the rocks.”

Darwish warned against any attempt to rebuild the Temple before the coming of the mahdi.

“As long as there is a Muslim alive, no Jewish Temple will be built on Al-Haram Al-Sharif [the Temple Mount]. The status quo must be maintained, otherwise there will be bloodshed.”

In contrast, Baruch Ben-Yosef, chairman of the Movement to Restore the Temple, made it clear that the Temple had to be built where the Dome of the Rock presently stands.

“Anybody who says anything else simply does not know what he is talking about,” he said. “A prophet does not have the power to change the law which explicitly states the location of the Temple.”

Ben-Yosef also rejected the idea that rebuilding of the Temple had to be done by a prophet.

“All you need is a Sanhedrin,” he said.

Mainstream Orthodox rabbis have opposed attempts to rebuild the Temple since the Mount came under Israeli control in 1967.

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel even issued a decree prohibiting Jews from entering the area due to ritual purity issues.

However, several grassroots organizations such as the Movement to Restore the Temple, and maverick rabbis, including Rabbi Israel Ariel, head of the capital’s Temple Institute and a leading member of the revived Sanhedrin led by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, have called to take steps to renew the sacrifices on the Temple Mount and rebuild the Temple.

- From Prophecy News Watch

Terrorist groups that have long used the Internet to spread propaganda are increasingly tapping the Web to teach Islamic extremists how to be hackers, recruit techies for cyberwarfare and raise money through online fraud, U.S. officials say.

A senior defense official said intelligence reports indicate extremist groups are seeking computer experts, including those capable of breaching government or other sensitive network systems.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information, said the extent and success of those recruiting efforts are unclear.

But jihadists’ interest in hacking is evident in forums across the Internet. Law enforcement officials say terrorists are branching out into Internet fraud to raise money for their operations.

‘Experts in the electronic jihad’

One Internet forum, the Mujahedeen Electronic Net, offers hacking instructions in a number of postings. A lengthy posting markets a weekly course and limits it to regular contributors to the Web site who confirm they are committed to Islam. The author of the offer claims the course will be taught by “experts in the electronic jihad,” according to a translation of the posting.

Last week, U.S. and Italian authorities broke up an international telephone fraud ring that had roots in Italy and employed hackers in the Philippines. The operation is believed to have funneled thousands of dollars to terrorist groups in Southeast Asia.

Italian officials drew a fragile link to Osama bin Laden. They said one of the men charged with financing the hacking scheme had close ties to members of the International Islamic Efforts Foundation, a Philippines-based group linked to an Islamic charity organization once headed by one of bin Laden’s brothers-in-law, Muhammad Jamal Khalifa. Khalifa was reported killed in 2007 during a burglary in Madagascar, where he had a sapphire business.

To date, experts say extremists largely have engaged in “sport hacking” — defacing or taking down Web sites belonging to groups they consider enemies, such as sites featuring Shiite, Jewish or Christian beliefs.

“It’s more for propaganda value than for tactical value,” said Jarret Brachman, a former West Point researcher who is an expert on jihadist groups.

These “hacktivists” prefer to use the electronic media for advertising and spreading their beliefs. Internet sites that promote Islamic extremism abound, as do sites that instruct followers how to build bombs or conduct other types of attacks.

Aggressive push among extremists?

But some recent activity suggests there may be an aggressive push among extremists for expertise such as engineering and technical backgrounds that could be used against the U.S. government or other vital systems.

A senior counterterrorism official, who also requested anonymity in order to speak on the sensitive matter, said al-Qaida is known to seek out followers with scientific knowledge, and computer ability is a logical step.

Adam Raisman, a senior analyst at the Washington-based SITE group, an organization that monitors militant Web sites, said he has seen pitches for people adept at photo or flash video programs that can be used to build propaganda Web sites or take down sites considered offensive.

But, he added, “It’s very difficult to gauge what they will do if they have the ability to penetrate a network and realize the damage they can create.”

Brachman described a growing network of people in the U.S. who go online and “cheer from the sidelines. They will never do anything violent, but they have the skill sets to do low-level hacking and this is a way they can play.”

Bringing consumers into the jihad

The challenge for extremist organizations, he said, is to find those people and then “get them to take the step from being a consumer to actually being an active participant” in the jihad.

Terrorist groups lack the skills to match the abilities of sophisticated governments such as the U.S., China and Russia in launching widespread Web attacks, but they could hire someone who does, Steven Chabinsky, assistant deputy director of cyberissues for the Obama administration’s director of national intelligence, recently told a technology conference.

Reaching out to hackers with equipment and expertise could enable those groups to transmit viruses or worms to take over computers and direct them to send spam, carry out identity-theft or take down Web sites.

Some officials contend that extremists don’t have to take down a critical network or system to have an impact. Even the ability to penetrate and deface a well-trafficked Web site could shake public confidence in the government.

- From Prophecy News Watch