ISRAEL

(Jerusalem Post 6.18.99) Much criticism of the so-called Torah Codes comes from the Orthodox Circles. 50+ PhDs signed a statement called "Mathematicians Statement" on the Bible Codes (http://math.cal.edu/code/petition.html). A quarter of them are observant Jews.
The theory is flawed. The statistics journal that published the original paper by Witztum, Rips and Rosenberg will soon publish a comprehensive analysis. There is no real tradition for Bible codes. The codes are shallow.
(Editor's comment, I came across prophecies about the last 1999 Roshana that were supposedly contained in the codes and they failed to come to pass. We have major problems with the codes when we hear that Paul Crouch is in their prophecies which he has personally bragged about on TBN).

(Midnight Call, October 1999) Q&A Question: "It will interest you that information has been found in the Bible Code that indicates the signing of the false seven (7)-year "peace covenant" with Israel - by the Antichrist - will occur September 15, 1999! The Bible Code names Bill Clinton and Ehud Barak as signers of the covenant. Since Clinton sent Carville and his ".." to Israel to buy votes for Barak in this last election, it isn't surprising he could get Barak to sign a false peace covenant, which Clinton will break in 3 1/2 years later.
"In addition, the Bible Codes give overwhelming indication of Tishri 1 (Rosh Hashanah), between sundown 9.10.99 - 9.12.99 as the date for the "Rapture" of the church. Now, I know some people hesitate over finding a date for the "rapture" because they claim "no man knows the day or the hour." .. "For your benefit, I have enclosed a copy of the applicable information on the Bible Codes about these recent findings so you can check it out for yourself.
Answer: "The fact that you have been misled into believing that September 15, 1999 is the date of the Rapture and Bill Clinton is the Antichrist should be sufficient proof. The Bible clearly states that the Antichrist cannot be revealed unless the Church is taken out of the way. The Great Tribulation and the kingdom of the Antichrist is only made possible by the removal of the light of the world, which is the Church. The "Bible Codes" have no relationship whatsoever with the Bible because this computer game can be played even with a tabloid of paper with amazing results. It's ironic that atheist Michael Drosnin is the author of the bestseller book, The Bible Code. Our Lord Jesus never said anything about hidden codes, but surprisingly asked, "Have ye not read the Scripture.. ?" In Revelation 1:3 we have this wonderful promise, "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy.. "

(Jerusalem's Post 6.18.99) Sir, what type of peace can it be when one side refuses to accept the existence of the other." It has been 20 years since Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David peace accords, yet Egypt totally ignores their existence.

(October 16 1999 CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Egyptian and American military officers opened two weeks of war games on Saturday, bringing more than 50,000 troops together for the largest military operation since the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
For a week, the different forces have been familiarizing themselves with each other's equipment and techniques. The games will test their abilities in fighting together under various wartime scenarios, such as during field combat or in amphibious landings.
"All of our forces have trained and prepared extensively to ensure the success of this exercise," U.S. Maj. Gen. Michael Gaw told reporters. "This is the largest employment of forces to have ever occurred since the desert war."
Bright Star military maneuvers, held every two years, began in 1981 as a U.S.-Egyptian training exercise. This year, Germany, Greece, Jordan and the Netherlands joined for the first time. Others included Britain, France, Italy, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. On the sidelines, 33 nations were observing the exercises, which last until November 1,1999. Bright Star '99 involves 18,000 U.S. soldiers, most of who were sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy.

(The Jerusalem Report 8.30.99) The sounds of lamentation are very audible from those on the Israeli left who voted for Barak and hoped to get Shimon Peres under another name. Both the Hebrew and Arabic press are filled with endless comparisons between Barak and his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu. Nicknames like "Barakyahu" have been coined to give form the extent of the letdown. Arafat, albeit in "private" conversation, claims that Barak is just a less sophisticated liar than Netanyahu, while Abu Ala, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council asserts that Barak is attempting nothing less than blackmail.

The Likud Party won't form coalition with Barak. They withdrew from talks with the Prime Minister. Barak, in spite of it, has a 77-seat majority in the 120-member Parliament.
(Ibid., 7.11.99) Arafat and Barak Strangers no more and oddly enough, Barak and Arafat both want to move toward Palestinian statehood but for very different reasons. To Arafat it is a lifelong dream he hopes will be fulfilled before he succumbs to his ill health and Barak has accepted the inevitability of Palestinian autonomy.
(The Jerusalem Post 7.9.99)President Clinton announced that he had again exercised the waiver authority available to him under the legislative authority of the 1995 Jerusalem Act and was delaying any action on transferring the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The White House explained that "the United States should not be taking steps of its own to prejudge" the final-status negotiations that will address the fate of Israel's capital."
To the Jerusalem Post it calls into question the status of west Jerusalem, which has been an Israeli city since the founding of the state. Equally, if not more disturbing, it appears to validate the Palestinian contention that the final-status talks should be based not on Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the so-called "land for peace" resolutions, but rather on United Nations Resolution 181, which was passed by the General Assembly in 1947. It envisaged that Jerusalem would be an "international" city. Palestinian's Arab population rejected Resolution 181 and was considered a dead letter until earlier this year. The Clinton waiver decision accepts Arafat's approach.

(The Tampa Tribune, 7.19.99) US promised to provide $1.2 billion in assistance to aid an Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank during a meeting between Barak and President Clinton.

(The Jerusalem Post 7.9.99)Pope Pius's 1943 letter against Jewish statehood was revealed. At the height of the Holocaust, Pope Pius XII made known to President Franklin D. Rosevelt his opposition to Palestine becoming a Jewish homeland, according to a letter from the US Archives obtained by the Jerusalem Post from the Simon Wiesenthal Center. It was dated 6.22.1943 and sent by A.G. Cicognani, the pope's special representative to the US Ambassador Myron Taylor, Roosevelt's special emissary to Pius XII. "It is true that at one time Palestine was inhabited by the Hebrew Race, but there is no axiom in history to substantiate the necessity of a people returning to a country they left nineteen centuries before. If a "Hebrew Home" is desired, it would not be too difficult to a more fitting territory than Palestine.."

(Ibid. 7.9.99)Chief Rabbis are proposing to abolish the office of Religious Affairs Ministry due to the infighting about who is going to lead the ministry. It has a budget of $1.6 billion. The ministry controls the religious life of the people but has always been embroiled in factionalism and focuses too much on politics. "Abolishing the ministry would be a blessing for religious Judaism," said Dov Halbertal.

(The Tampa Tribune 10.26.99)Israel deports 2 Christian groups. Jerusalem - Fearing a possible outburst of 2000-related violence, Israeli authorities rounded up members of two Christian groups living on the slopes of the Mount of Olives and ordered 20 of them deported. The arrested 26 men, women and children mostly Americans from New York and Denver. I checked it out on Internet and the deported Americans belonging to Denver were not from the group previously deported namely the Concerned Christians.

(Ibid. 7.16.99)President Assad is in frail health, his country is broke, and realistic strategic alternatives to peace - like an alliance with Iraq and Iran - are dead in the water. His eldest son was killed in an automobile accident in 1994. The younger son needs a stable Syria to hand down to his son. Both Barak and Assad are motivated to come to agreements but the price is Golan Heights. Open borders and consolidation with Syria and Egypt are now being considered which would take the pressure off Golan Heights. Barak has placed security in the region on four pillars: Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinians and Syria/Lebanon. Peace with two has been achieved and Barak sees it as his mission to complete the rest.

(The Jerusalem Report, 8.30.99) Barak's (his name means "the lightening") Washington visit replaced the bitterness of the Netanyahu years with a spirit of intimate cooperation. The effect on Assad is that he knows that the greater Washington's affection for Barak, the greater the chance that Israeli can extract a Syrian aid package.

(Jerusalem Report, 8.30.99) Last year the Iraqi opposition got its biggest break of all. In October 1998, President Clinton signed the Irap Liberation Act (ILA), a controversial piece of legislation that Chalabi takes credit for initiating The ILA confirmed that Washington's policy of intending to help the Iraqi people topple Saddam. It also allocated $97 million worth of military equipment and aid for seven approved Iraqi opposition groups - including the INC, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and other groups to help them prepare for Saddam'' eventual demise.

(Ibid. 7.16.99)The largest collection of bronzeware from the Islamic Fatimid period ever found in an archaeological dig contains 70 extremely rare coins from the Byzantine Empire. Instead of the customary likeness of the ruler, these coins, a type known as Anonymous Folles, carry a depiction of Jesus and a religious phrase such as "Jesus the Messiah, King of Kings." What would a collection of Christian coins be doing in the heart of the Islamic world? The coins range in date from 976-1078 CE, which raises the possibilty, perhaps the likelihood, that the evacuations of the premises was connected with the approach of the Crusaders in 1099. That year, after conquering Jerusalem, Crusade contingents moved up the Jordan Valley to take Tiberias. Although Moslems, the Seljuks were of central Asian origin and of a rigidly orthodox Islamic persuasion that did not take kindly to Shi-ite dynasties such as the Fatimid.

(The Jerusalem Report, 8.2.99) Jewish Renewal's critics snipe at its unorthodox mix of alien spiritual influences in spite of the fact that a number of adherents say it offers them a unique connection to God. And so what if one participant NUN sang 'AVE MARIA' at the Sabbath service. This is a hard-to-define Jewish Renewal movement: that with a renewed emphasis on spirituality, people have a direct experience with God. Typically, it is wrapped in a package of political activism, feminism and environmentalism. The movement dates to the late 1960s, when intimate, hands-on groups emerged to fill the spiritual emptiness that was turning many young Jews to Eastern meditation and other traditions. YOGA is practiced daily, blended with meditation on the kabbalah's heavenly gates. As participants twist themselves into a half-moon position, the leader urges them to "bring awareness to the left hemisphere of your head. Become filled with the wisdom needed to fulfill your intention." "Ahhhhmmmmm."

(The Jerusalem Report 8.30.99) An Israeli tries to envision the year 2000 in Israel. "Bottleneck" Scenario 1. Hordes of tourists slowly making their way through woefully inadequate Ben-Gurion International Airport, on their way to traffic jams on the roads to the holy sites, where they'll stand in lines thousands of hours, waiting to squeeze through the narrow entrances to venues that can, at best, accommodate a few hundred people at a time.
Scenario 2 is very different, but just as depressing. In it, thousands of hotel rooms remain empty, police and guards at tourist sites swat flies instead of controlling crowds, and tour guides are forced to moonlight as waiters in empty restaurants. There is no agreement at this point on numbers coming. Pope John Paul II has much to do with bookings. He would bring 1.5 million extra tourist tourists. His visit will legitimize Israel as a pilgrimage destination for Catholics. No date for a papal visit has been set. [Editor's note: The pope is taking full advantage of this situation to use this opportunity as a political ploy to make Israel comply with the world's demands.]

(Ibid. 8.30.99) The two front-runners in next year's race for the White House: both Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat, and Republican George W. Bush say that "charitable choice" - allowing religious organizations to get government funds to provide social services - would be a cornerstone of their policies as president.
Charitable choice would allow the federal government to support social welfare programs that may be religious in nature. That might include, for example, a synagogue that ran a gambling rehabilitation program led by the rabbi and open only to Jews, or a Catholic day-care center for the children of inner-city working mothers. The idea is already on the statute books, as part of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. The Bush and Gore proposals go farther, opening up other areas to religious institutions, such as drug and substance abuse, mental health and juvenile crime. Opponents say the plan violates church-state separation.
It is possible that under charitable choice, federal funds could end up in programs that proselytize, or in ones that discriminate based on religion. The proposals could pose a threat to the vitality of religious organizations. "We are talking about putting religious institutions, in effect, on the government payroll," said Mark Pelavin, associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. "It's a grave threat to their autonomy." Competition for the dollar will be another side effect. AJC's Steinlight recently received a $200,000 grant to develop guidelines for implementing "charitable choice." It will pit institutions against each other in seeking federal funds. It's the key to religious strife.

(Ibid. 9.10.99) Barak and Arafat sign Sharm accord. Sharm is a new West Bank land-for-security agreement charting the course toward a historic final peace accord by September 2000. It was a modified Wye Memorandum. Under the new agreement, Israel and the Palestinians are to begin final-status talks immediately with the aim of reaching a statement of principles on final status in five months and a final status accord by next September.

(Ibid. 9.3.99) The Palestinian position is that there is no room for any Israeli settlements, even those that were established long before 1948, overrun during the war, and re-established after 1967. "East" Jerusalem is viewed as Palestinian territory, ignoring Jewish historical rights that were trampled there from 1948-1967. They demand the "right to return" for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants, based on United Nations resolutions from 50 years ago that have since lost any validity, and insist that Israel accept "moral responsibility" for their plight. Final-status talks will mean rewriting Palestinian mythology, and, after so many years of avoidance, coming to grips with the Jewish side of the story.

(Ibid. 10.15.99) Syria Rejects US Peace Equation. According to sources close to the negotiations, five points were presented to the Prime Minister of Syria, Assad: security arrangements, normalization of relations, water arrangements, terms for Isaeli withdrawal from Lebanon, and a timetable for implementation of all issues. President Clinton appealed to Assad which was designed to bypass current deadlock on the territorial questions and offer a broad context that would permit the resumption of peace talks.

(The Jerusalem Report 10.25.99) A former Utah Congressman told us about a project his nonprofit, Washington-based Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation was advocating: Construction of a $399-million desalination plant in Israel, and of a second smaller plant in Gaza, to help alleviate the water shortage. One of the plants would provide a fifth of Israel's domestic water needs. It would be privately funded for profit. Israel is in a crippling 65-year low water situation.

(Ibid. 11.8.99) Ouster of Irish group highlights chaos over millennium pilgrims. Officials scuffled with Irish group who stresses that they have no connection to the Concerned Christians cult. The group of 25 arrived at Haifa in early October and was told that they wouldn't be allowed into Israel. They were forcibly returned to their ship. A national police spokeswoman said the group had no connection with the Concerned Christians, but claimed they were an "EXTREMIST CHRISTIAN CULT." "They kicked people, dragged my husband by his tie, dragged people by their hair," O'Leary said afterwards.. The incident was front-page news in Ireland, a Catholic community, and Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs David Andrews raised it with Israeli Foreign Minister David. "We are incredibly saddened," O'Leary said. "And we'd still love to spend a short time in the Holy Land."

(The Jerusalem Report 10.29.99) Church leaders agree that the biggest battle facing Israel's Christian community - which is centered in Jerusalem - is its declining numbers. Restrictions imposed by the Jordanians brought 31,000 original Christians in Jerusalem down to 12,000 by 1967 and today while the Jewish and Moslem population have grown exponentially, the Christian population has dwindled to 10,000, mostly clergy and other church employees. Growing Islamic fundamentalism has played a big role in the exodus. It is considered to be a hopeless situation.

(The Tampa Tribune 8.19.99)Hebrew Christian Ministry is creating a $10 million theme park in Orlando. The Holy Land Experience is what it is called, sits on 15 acres near Universal Studios. This is being created for the "..sole purpose of converting Jews to Christianity," said Eric Geboff, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando. But there will be no attempts to proselytize and the park is open to all. The attraction recreates the land of Israel shortly after Jesus' death with replica of Herodian Temple and the limestone caves where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. It will also have a replica of the Tabernacle and more.
Arafat is livid and wants equal representation. He has made it known that he would like to be represented too. He is trying to get something going at Disney's Epcot.