Israel is interested in pursuing bilateral negotiations for the resolution of the Israeli-Arab conflict, National Infrastructure Minister Yuval Steinitz said Monday 13 March 2017, but has no partner in the Palestinian Authority willing and able to make peace. Steinitz made the comments on Israel Radio just ahead of the arrival of special White House envoy Jason Greenblatt, who was slated to land in Israel Mondayfor talks with PM Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas. Minister Steinitz slammed the PA leader, arguing his extremist positions made negotiations between the PA and Israel impossible. "Israel is just telling the truth about Mahmoud Abbas’ extreme positions, which negate the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.” (INN) Former Deputy Education Minister Avi Wortzman has likewise in the past sharply criticized the Palestinian Authority for making endless demands to continue peace talks. ''They demanded independence, and we gave it to them. They demanded recognition of a Palestinian state, and we gave it to them. They demanded weapons and we gave them to them. They demanded Hebron, and we gave it to them. They demanded Gaza, and we gave it to them. They demanded terrorist releases, and we gave it to them, again and again," said Wortzman. "In response: we received attacks, we received wounded and dead, we received damage to our economy," he continued. "Now they're coming back and demanding we withdraw to '67 borders, with eastern Jerusalem as their capital. If we do it, God forbid, what will they ask for tomorrow? It's time to demand that we stop giving," he stated. "It's time to put our existential needs and our security before their demands. The time has come to say it clearly: this is our country. Ours - period." [Comment]

 Hours after his release from 20 years in jail for gunning down seven Israeli schoolgirls, ex-Jordanian soldier Ahmed Daqamseh declared on 12 March 2017 that Israelis are "human waste” that must be eradicated. Daqamseh made his remarks to al-Jazeera TV station, shortly after returning from jail to his home village of Ibdir to cheering friends and family. "The Israelis are the human waste of people that the rest of the world has vomited up at our feet” he told the TV station. "We must eliminate them by fire or by burial. If this is not done by our hands, the task will fall on the future generations to do.” In a later media interview Daqamseh said that he did not want to cause political instability in Jordan, and indicated he was not planning to carry out future attacks. "My position regarding Zionists is known. I did what I did 20 years ago and that’s it,” he said. In March 1997, Daqamseh opened fire with an automatic weapon at Israeli schoolgirls on a trip to the Jordan-Israel border, killing seven of them and wounding five others and a teacher. A Jordanian court deemed Daqamseh mentally unstable and sentenced him to life in prison, rather than imposing the death penalty. Early this week Daqamseh was released from the Bab al-Hawa prison in Irbid, 60 miles north of the capital Amman after serving 20 years. Daqamseh was driven home in a convoy of dozens of cars whose drivers were honking their horns. His brother Bassem said the family home was full of well-wishers. (Times of Israel) [Comment]

A British daily revealed on 12 March 2017 that 24 Palestinian Authority schools are openly ignoring Western demands to cease encouraging violence against Israelis - or else forfeit foreign aid. According to the Daily Mail, despite public outrage over the UK government’s payments to the PA as part of a commitment to spend £12 billion on foreign aid - following an expose by the paper last year about how taxpayers’ money was going toward paying salaries to convicted terrorists and families of suicide bombers - the schools in question have been continuing to incite students to terrorism through text books and classroom indoctrination. MP Joan Ryan, chair of Labour Friends of Israel - for which a report was prepared by Jerusalem-based research organization Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) - said that though she supports sending aid to the Palestinians, "We cannot stand idly by while the Palestinian Authority sanctions anti-Semitic incitement which poisons young minds and makes a two-state solution ever more difficult to achieve.”

Among the 24 schools in question, all dedicated to prominent Palestinian terrorists, are four named after the mastermind of the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, one after the founder of Hamas and one after Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who backed Hitler during WWII and helped recruit for the SS. Another of the schools on the list, in Hebron, is one of three named after Dalal Mughrabi, the woman behind the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history - the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre, which left 37 people dead, among them 12 children. "Britain and the European Union bear responsibility for this terror when they are funding a school system that is actively promoting, and thereby creating, terrorism,” PMW head Itamar Marcus told the Daily Mail. "This is simply child abuse, encouraging kids to die in armed struggle. It is a terrible message for the next generation. Children are the key to peace, but look at what they are being exposed to from a young age, growing up in an environment of terror and told the killing of Israelis is a heroic action.” (Algemeiner) How grave is the tragic truth that Palestinians are destroying the souls of their own society and especially their children. They do so by glorifying terrorists as heroes, furthering incitement to hate and kill Jews via children’s TV programs, school text books and in summer camps designed to instill jihad aspirations in the young. Pray against the sacrifice of Palestinian children to jihadist hatred and murder.

Police raided the eastern Jerusalem home of the Arab terrorist responsible for a stabbing attack which left two Border Police officers injured early Monday morning 13 March 2017. The attack took place at a security post just outside of the Lion’s Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The terrorist entered a booth occupied by the two officers and proceeded to stab them before being shot and killed. One officer suffered serious injuries, while the other has been listed in light-to-moderate condition. Both were evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital and are in stable condition. After the attack, police and Border Police officers raided the terrorist’s home in the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, searching the premises and taking four of the terrorist’s relatives into custody. Police say the four are being questioned in connection with the attack. Jabel Mukaber has been dubbed a terrorist hotbed by security experts, who warn of increasing support there for the ISIS terror movement. "The neighborhood school brings parents of terrorists to laud the greatness of their children's activities,” said Dr. Ephraim Herrera, an expert on Islam and the Middle East. "Our inquiries to the Education Ministry were answered saying it is a private school, so don't be surprised that this is happening." (Arutz-7) Pray for the swift and complete recovery of Israel’s latest terror victims – also for the protection of Jerusalem and surrounding areas from brutal outbreaks of terrorist violence.
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 Since the Second Lebanese War between Israel and the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah in 2006, the Lebanese army has rearmed itself, strengthening its ability in the air as well as on the ground and sea, with the help of the United States, France and Saudi Arabia. In the past two years, a new challenge has risen on the northern front. Should Israel go to war with Hezbollah, the Lebanese army would fight on the Shi’ite terrorist organization’s side, Israeli security officials said on Friday, 3 March 2017. According to the officials, unlike Israel’s 2006 war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, a future war would feature the Lebanese Armed Forces on Hezbollah’s side. The army had originally rearmed itself in order to deal with internal terrorism, however they also strengthened their ability to fight an army such as the IDF. While the army may not have specifically advanced weaponry, they do currently have more ability than before to fight the IDF, including more precise anti-tank rockets. The strengthening came from the army’s rearming as well as its commander- in-chief, Michel Naim Aoun and Hezbollah.” Aoun, 82 years old, was once a Lebanese Armed Forces officer, and in the 1980s was an ally to Israel. He has since changed his views, winning wider support and taking Lebanon’s presidential office in October 2016. In an interview with Egyptian TV two weeks ago, Aoun hinted that Hezbollah and the Lebanese Armed Forces are working side-by-side. "The Lebanese army is not strong enough to fight Israel face-to-face,” he stated. "Because of that, Hezbollah is necessary. There is no contradiction between them." (J.Post) [Comment]

"The most important strategic issue we're currently facing is the strengthening of the Shiite axis led by Iran in Syria, especially after the fall of Aleppo," Hagai Tzuriel, director-general of Israel's Intelligence Ministry who served for 28 years in the Mossad, told media sources. Recent developments in Syria have created "a strong imbalance in the region to Iran's benefit. Yet at the same time, since Moscow decided to take a more engaged role in actively supporting the Assad regime, Iran's role as Damascus' main backer has been somewhat diminished. The Russians have managed to become the key player with only a few dozen aircraft. That's proof that political will and the readiness to use military force are key. For Israel, it is important to see the USA remaining active in Syria and the region," Tzuriel said. Continued USA involvement is crucial to Israel's interest in seeing Iran kept from extending hegemony to Syria, allowing the Islamic Republic to link Tehran and Beirut.

He said President Obama's decision, in 2013, to not use military force against Assad's regime despite its use of chemical weapons, "was a pivotal moment for the entire region. This moment changed everything. It showed Putin that the USA was not willing to use force. It opened the door for Russia to take center stage." For Israel, the most important issue is making sure Iran and its proxies aren't able to set up a base in Syria from which to attack Israel. "If Iran and Hezbollah manage to base themselves in Syria, it would be a permanent source of instability in the entire region," he said, referring specifically to the threat of an Iranian naval base on the Mediterranean. (Times of Israel)

 Israeli PM Netanyahu spoke on 5 March, 2017 about his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At their discussion scheduled for Thurs. 9 March 2017, Netanyahu intends to speak with Putin about Israel's opposition to the Iranian attempts to establish a permanent military and naval presence in Syria. "On Thursday I will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. One of the most important issues we will discuss is Iran's attempt to make an agreement with Syria. With or without Syria's agreement, Iran will attempt to establish a permanent military presence in Syria, both on land and at sea. In fact, Iran is attempting to slowly open a front in the Golan Heights. I will tell President Putin about my extreme opposition to this plan, and about the possibility Israel will choose to attack. I hope we will be able to come to the understandings necessary to prevent confrontations between Russian and Israeli forces - just as we have been able to do until now." (Arutz-7) Be prayerfully alert to events taking place in countries adverse to the Jewish state on the other side of Israel’s northern borders. This region, most immediately, includes Syria and Lebanon, out of which terrorists groups rabidly hostile to Israel and supported by Iran, operate. Pray that Iran will not be allowed to establish a permanent military and naval presence in Syria. End time alliance of nations that will come against Israel include: Magog (southern portion of the former Soviet Union; (Rosh - Russia; Meshech and Tubal) - Turkey; Persia (Iran); Cush – (Sudan); Put- (Libya). Current headlines suggest many of these players are coming together in ways that will lead to a proactive invasion force against Israel. Intercede for Israel’s divine wisdom and discernment in its dealings with Russia, and for the safety of Israel’s northern border communities.
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