MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Joel 3:11-12, “Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones. Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations.”

By Sheera Frenkel – “JERUSALEM — The attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo has brought into sharp relief Israel’s increasing isolation in a still region grappling with the changes of the Arab Spring.

Israel was forced to evacuate its ambassador and most of its diplomatic staff from Cairo this weekend after hundreds of Egyptian protesters tore down a security wall protecting the Nile-side embassy, ransacked its files and burned an Israeli flag. It came less than a week after Turkey, Israel’s other major ally in the Muslim world, announced it was expelling the Israeli ambassador and downgrading its relationship to the lowest possible level after a deadly skirmish involving a Turkish aid vessel that was attempting to deliver supplies in defiance of Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.

With another potential predicament brewing later this month when the Palestinians are expected to request membership and statehood at the United Nations, Israeli-Arab relations appear to be plunging to their lowest point in years.

‘Within a week Israel has found itself two friends down and about to face a so-called diplomatic tsunami with the Palestinians,’ said one European envoy in Jerusalem, who spoke on condition of anonymity under diplomatic protocol.

‘I would be nervous if I was an Israeli diplomat today.'” Read more.

Iran parliament voices support for attack on Israeli embassy in Cairo – “The Iranian parliament on Monday applauded the recent attack against the Israeli embassy in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, state media reported. Ismaeil Kowsari, foreign policy committee spokesman, said the members of parliament had voiced full support for ‘the ransacking’ of the embassy by Egyptian Muslims, news network Press TV reported. Thousands of Egyptians stormed the embassy Friday, climbing over a security wall, breaking windows, bursting inside, lighting fires, painting anti-Israel slogans and looting the mission’s offices on the building’s upper floors.” Read more.

Crisis threatens Israel’s Mideast ties – “Israeli leaders are struggling to contain an escalating diplomatic crisis on multiple fronts amid mounting concern that both Egypt and Turkey, the country’s two most important allies in the Muslim world, are slipping from its grasp. Following scenes of violence and mayhem on the streets of Cairo, Israel was forced to evacuate its ambassador and almost the entire diplomatic staff from the embassy in the Egyptian capital in the early hours of Saturday. The dramatic move followed the storming of the embassy premises by a group of violent protesters on Friday night.” Read more.

By Roee Nahmias – “‘Jordan and the future Palestine are stronger than Israel is today. It is the Israeli who is scared today,’ King Abdullah of Jordan said late Sunday in Amman.

The king described a recent conversation he held in the US with ‘one of the Israeli intellectuals’ who commented on events in the Arab world, arguing that they were good for Israel. ‘I replied and said that it was the opposite and that Israel’s situation today is more difficult than ever before.’

Abdullah reiterated that his country would not serve as an ‘alternative homeland to the Palestinians.’

According to the Jordanian leader, ‘Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine. We support all Palestinian rights and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state – our policy hasn’t changed. The subject of an alternative homeland must not be part of the discussion. It is unacceptable.'” Read more.

Poll: Leading EU countries support Palestinian statehood bid in UN – “A new opinion poll published Monday shows that a majority of people in Germany, France and Britain – three countries that are critical votes in the battle over the Palestinian bid for statehood – all want their leaders to vote in favor of a UN resolution to support recognition of a Palestinian state when it’s discussed in New York. The survey, which was carried out online by YouGov in Britain and Germany, and Ifop in France, on behalf of the global political web movement Avaaz – which is conducting an online petition in support of a Palestinian state – shows that in Germany 84% supported Palestinian statehood and 76% believed Germany should act now to recognize; in the U.K. the figures were 71% and 59%; and in France the figures were 82% and 69% respectively.” Read more.

Russia supports Palestinian bid to win UN statehood: envoy – “Russia supports the Palestinian bid to win UN statehood despite resistance from Israel and the United States, Moscow’s ambassador to the United Nations said on Monday. ‘We will, of course, be voting for any of the Palestinians’ proposals,’ Russia’s UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. ‘We are saying that whatever you decide to do, we will support you.'” Source.

“Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan saw ’cause for war’ with Israel last year after a deadly raid on a Turkish ship headed for Gaza, according to a transcript of a recent interview.

State news agency Anatolia released late on Sunday what it said was an original Turkish-language transcript of an interview Erdogan gave to Al Jazeera television last week. It included elements not broadcast as well as original wording for sensitive comments that had been transmitted only in Arabic translation.

Among previously unpublished elements, Erdogan said Israel’s deadly raid last year on the Gaza-bound flotilla would have justified going to war: ‘The attack that took place in international waters did not comply with any international law. In fact, it was cause for war.” Read more.

‘Turkish Navy sending 3 warships to eastern Mediterranean’ – “Turkey is planning to send three warships to the Eastern Mediterranean to defend against Israeli vessels if necessary and ensure freedom of navigation for Turkish ships, Today’s Zaman reported on Monday. The Turkish ships will provide protection for ships bringing humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and confront Israeli warships outside of Israel’s territorial waters if necessary, according to the report.” Read more.

Palmer Commission Report Released, Turkey’s Position is Severely Weakened – “The UN Palmer Commission finally released its report on the May, 2010 Mavi Marmarra flotilla incident on Friday, even as the Turkish government warned Israel of severe diplomatic repercussions if it did not issue a formal apology for the nine Turkish citizens who were killed after they attacked Israeli commandos who boarded the Marmara. The Turkish position is severely weakened by the Palmer Report, which harshly criticizes Turkey for failing to reign in Islamist activists which it knew were bent on violent confrontations with Israeli troops, and declares that Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip was legal under international law.” Read more.

This speaks volumes when a teacher of the ‘religion of peace’ can’t even preach a sermon that promotes it …

“An imam preaching against violence in Aceh was attacked and beaten as he delivered his sermon during Friday prayers, a report said.

Saiful Bahri was speaking out against election violence allegedly committed by local politicians and former members of the disbanded Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Pidie, AcehKita reported.

‘Elections make us kill people, shoot people,’ he told the congregation in the Keumala Grand Mosque in Indrajaya subdistrict. ‘God will not forgive you for killing people unless you seek forgiveness from the victims’ families,’ he said.

The topic angered one member of the congregation, who stood up and demanded Saiful end his sermon, the news agency reported.

‘Get off the podium! Don’t campaign here,’ said the man, later identified as a former GAM member.

Saiful said he would end his sermon but as he did so, a number of other congregation members rose and the situation deteriorated.

In the midst of the chaos, an unidentified man approached the preacher and attacked him.” Read more.

Indonesia: TV Station Pulls Film Promoting Religious Tolerance … Because ‘Offended Muslims’ Threatened to Riot – “‘We regret SCTV’s decision to not air the movie. The movie has passed the censorship requirements and it doesn’t violate any regulations,’ broadcasting commission official Ezki Suyanto told AFP. ‘It seems the station is just afraid of the FPI. SCTV should not have given in to them. This is a bad precedent for other groups to do the same to TV stations.’ The movie was directed by Muslim filmmaker Hanung Bramantyo, who has made several feature films on Islam, such as the box-office hit ‘Ayat-Ayat Cinta’ (Verses of Love). FPI secretary-general Sobri Lubis said the movie tried to incite hatred toward Islam and disgraced the religion by suggesting Muslims could live together harmoniously with people of other faiths in one country.” Read more.

“(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – The 5th International Conference of Ahlul Bait (A.S) World Assembly kicks off in Tehran, Iran by the attendance of many Shia scholars and political and scientific persons around the world on Sunday, September 11, 2011.

The opening ceremony kicks off in Tehran by the lecture of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The President pointed out: ‘The human beings have been created with the same origin and all of them seek to find Allah. So Allah has sent Holy Prophets and infallibles to guide the people and turn them to an ideal and complete one.’

‘But the way of guidance has not finished yet. The final survivor from the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) family is continuing the brilliant path,’ he continued.

Ahmadinejad points out the thirsts of the mankind for the final survivor and stressed: ‘All the people are waiting for the final survivor and, all of them have standing for his government. It is our duty to introduce and invite them to the ideal Mahdavi government, the government of peace, justice and unity.’

In other part of his speech he stressed the main cause of disasters among the mankind and said: ‘The main cause of the discord among all human beings has stemmed in the devil thoughts. The devil superpowers attempt to spread the seeds of discord among the oppressed people.’

‘Over the past century, they caused more than one hundred wars in different areas, have killed millions of innocent people and make a lot of refugees,’ he added.” Read more.

With 10 Million Muslims Killed Since 1948 at the Hands of Fellow Muslims, Golda Meir Was Right – “Let’s speak of facts. Sudan is not in the conventional Middle East, so let’s ignore the genocide there. Let’s ignore, also, the West Pakistani massacres in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) totaling 1.25 million in 1971. Or 200,000 deaths in Algeria in war between Islamists and the government in 1991-2006. But a simple, strictly Middle East research will give you one million deaths in the all-Muslim Iran-Iraq war; 300,000 Muslim minorities killed by Saddam Hussein; 80,000 Iranians killed during the Islamic revolution; 25,000 deaths in 1970-71, the days of Black September, by the Jordanian government in its fight against the Palestinians; and 20,000 Islamists killed in 1982 by the elder al-Assad in Hama. The World Health Organization’s estimate of Osama bin Laden’s carnage in Iraq was already 150,000 a few years earlier. In a 2007 research, Gunnar Heinsohn from the University of Bremen and Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, found out that some 11 million Muslims have been violently killed since 1948, of which 35,000, (0.3 percent) died during the six years of Arab war against Israel, or one out of every 315 fatalities. In contrast, over 90 percent who perished were killed by fellow Muslims.” Read more.

By Per Nyberg – “(CNN) — A Swedish SWAT team backed by local police arrested four people overnight on suspicion of plotting terror attacks, the Swedish Security Service told CNN Sunday.

The four were held in the city of Gothenburg for “probable cause” of preparing the attacks, the highest level of suspicion in Sweden, said Sara Kvarnstrom, a spokeswoman for the security force.

She refused to say whether the suspects had been under surveillance or if the arrests resulted from a tip-off, saying she could not discussed details on an ongoing investigation.

‘Through these arrests we have been able to prevent a situation from occurring,’ Malena Rembe, head analyst at the Swedish Security Service, told CNN affiliate TV4…

The head of the Swedish Security Service, Anders Danielsson, warned last week that “Islamic terrorism is still the biggest threat against Sweden.”

‘But it is different today,’ he said, calling it ‘more complex and unpredictable, both in terms of who could be a target and how they can strike.’

Al Qaeda is now encouraging Muslim radicals to stay home ‘and strike where they are,’ rather than traveling to conflict zones to get experience, said Rembe of the Swedish Security Service.” Read more.

Losing Malmo: Sweden Surrenders Their Third Largest City … to Muslims – “Do you remember the jihadist terror campaign that ravaged Malmo, Sweden’s third largest city? Do you recall the bombings, the suicide-hijackings, and the random assassinations that finally coerced the city to surrender to Islamization? No? Funny, I don’t remember them either. Yet there is no question that Malmo has surrendered. Large enclaves of the city, like similar enclaves throughout Western Europe, have earned the dread label ‘no-go zone.’ They are unsafe for non-Muslims, particularly women who do not conform to Islamist conventions of dress and social interaction. They are especially perilous for police, firefighters, and emergency-medical technicians.” Read more.

Yet another ‘proud moment’ for the Egyptian people as ‘freedom’ continues to flourish …  

By Ivan Watson – “Cairo (CNN) — An angry crowd lingering near the Israeli embassy in Cairo after an attack on the building a day earlier turned on journalists reporting the incident Saturday, accusing at least one of being an Israeli spy.

As a CNN crew filmed the embassy from across the street, another crew from American public television — led by Egyptian television producer Dina Amer — approached the building.

The crew’s Russian cameraman was preparing to film the embassy when a woman in the crowd began hurling insults at the TV team, Amer said.

‘There was this older lady who decided to follow me and rally people against me,’ Amer recalled.

‘She said ‘you’re a spy working with the Americans.’ Then they swarmed me and I was a target.’

A growing crowd surrounded Amer and her colleagues, as they tried to leave the scene.

Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, a producer working for CNN, rushed to help escort Amer through the angry crowd. But suddenly the two reporters were pinned against the railing of an overpass by young men who were accusing Amer of being an Israeli spy.

Yelling ‘I’m Egyptian,’ Fahmy managed to pull Amer another 10 meters down the road, until the pressure from the mob overwhelmed the pair.

Amer screamed as she and Fahmy were knocked to the ground and the crowd started to trample them.

Other CNN journalists tried to reach in to help, but were pushed back by a wall of angry men.

Fahmy lay on top of Amer, shielding her with his body.

‘I was thinking, how powerless I was because there was no police to save us,’ Fahmy said. ‘I was worried that they were going to rape her.'” Read more.

Flashback: CBS reporter Lara Logan raped by large group of Egyptian men shouting ‘Jew! Jew!’ – Last Friday (2/11/11), Lara Logan, chief foreign correspondent for CBS News, was beaten and raped in Cairo during a thirty minute assault by a frenzied throng of over 200 Egyptians. According to a report in today’s New York Post, Logan’s attackers were shrieking, ‘Jew! Jew!,’ while they assaulted her. Moreover, the day before the assault, Logan informed Esquire.com that she and her crew were harassed by Egyptian soldiers who had accused them of ‘being Israeli spies.’ The 39 year-old Logan—who is based in Washington, where she lives with her 2-year-old daughter, and husband—is not Jewish.” Read more.

Zechariah 12:1-3, “The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah [and] against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

By Chana Ya’ar – “Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told reporters in a statement Saturday night in Jerusalem that Israel will stand by the peace treaty with Egypt, and thanked the United States for its assistance in persuading Cairo to take action in protecting people at the Israeli embassy following an attack.

‘The attack on the Israeli embassy in Egypt was a very serious thing, but could have been even worse, had they made it past the last door, and hurt our people who were trapped in the embassy,’ the prime minister said.

‘I’m glad we were able to prevent a disaster… Israel will continue to adhere to the peace agreement with Egypt. We are working with the Egyptian government,’ he said. ‘The diplomats will return to Egypt.'” Read more.

Beyond Cairo, Israel Sensing a Wider Siege – “JERUSALEM — With its Cairo embassy ransacked, its ambassador to Turkey expelled and the Palestinians seeking statehood recognition at the United Nations, Israel found itself on Saturday increasingly isolated and grappling with a radically transformed Middle East where it believes its options are limited and poor.  The diplomatic crisis, in which winds unleashed by the Arab Spring are now casting a chill over the region, was crystallized by the scene of Israeli military jets sweeping into Cairo at dawn on Saturday to evacuate diplomats after the Israeli Embassy had been besieged by thousands of protesters.” Read more.

‘Jerusalem belongs to the Muslims’ … even if the whole world burns with fire – “‘We have not yet finished off the Zionists and their allies. Soon the whole world will see what is the reward of Allah. They (the Jews) think that money can buy everything, but the Muslims will prove to them that their money is powerless before the retribution of Allah. Money is not protection against suicide bombers, bombs and missiles. Jerusalem belongs to the Muslims. And it will be ours even if the whole world will burn in the fire,’ said Abdul-Walid.” Read more.

Gaza Terrorists Fire Rocket Attack at Southern Israel – “Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists in northern Gaza attacked civilian communities in southern Israel Saturday night. The terrorists launched a Qassam rocket aimed at the coastal city of Ashkelon. The Color Red air raid siren was activated in the city and in the surrounding areas as well, at about 9:30 p.m.” Read more.