Bless Israel Investments
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I will make you a great nation, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. Gen: 12: 2-3
The Chosen Stocks Rally
cont'd-the trend is surprising considering Israel's turmoil over the past three months: the Gaza assault in December and January after weeks of heavy rocket attacks on the Jewish state; national elections that have yet to produce a government (as of this writing this is not the case with the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu); the threat of a nuclear Iran. Last week, Israel's intelligence chief said the Iranian nuclear program has passed a key threshold, raising new speculation of an Israeli military strike.
So how to explain the strong performance, given the bearish investors tend to run from instability? Israeli stocks on Wall Street come mainly from high-tech and medical sectors-two areas less exposed to the credit crunch. Also, the basic conservatism of the Israeli financial system, as well as its lack of dependence on mortgage-backed securities, have ensured its stability relative to the rest of the world, says leading analyst Eytan Avriel. "Israeli bank were horse-drawn carts and U.S. banks were racing cars," says Avriel. "But those racing cars crashed badly whereas the carts traveled more slowly and stayed on course." Yet another helping factor; the discovery of a major natural gas field off Israel's coast in January, which has helped companies with stakes in drilling oil/gas wells, such as DELEK, to peak sharply.
Still, Avriel cautions against reading too much into Israel's recent performance, warning that "there are no big miracles here." But in those rough economic times, investors are thankful even for small ones.
Clinton calls Israeli concessions 'unprecedented'
JERUSALEM – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday that Israel is making "unprecedented" concessions on West Bank settlement construction — a position clearly at odds with the prevailing Palestinian view.
Palestinian leaders have said they will not return to peace talks with Israel unless it halts all settlement building on lands they claim for a future state, and they believe Israel has blatantly defied a U.S. demand for a settlement freeze.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, Clinton said Israel is putting significant limits on settlement activity.
"What the prime minister has offered in specifics on restraints on a policy of settlements ... is unprecedented," she said.
The issue of settlements has become the biggest sticking point in getting Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Clinton made it clear that she wasn't pleased with Israeli settlement construction but that it was no reason to hold up talks.
"There are always demands made in any negotiation that are not going to be fully realized," she said.
Clinton also agreed with a statement by Netanyahu that Palestinians had never demanded a settlement freeze in the past as a condition for sitting down with Israel.
Her comments appeared to represent a significant departure in tone from her previous statements demanding a total Israeli settlement freeze without exception. Israel has been resisting that demand for months, and has given no indication it would be willing to call a total freeze.
Clinton's main aim during her one-day visit to Israel was to resuscitate the Obama administration's flagging Mideast peace push by persuading the two sides to return to talks.
But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is sticking to his refusal to resume negotiations until Israel stops building settlements. Abbas is fighting a perception among his people that he repeatedly caves in to U.S. demands.
Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh, responding to Clinton's comments, said, "There can be no excuse for the continuation of settlements, which is really the main obstacle in the way of any credible peace process.
"Israel is not interested in stopping its settlement activities and the American administration didn't succeed in convincing the Israeli government to stop these activities," he said. "There should be a real change in the Israeli position toward this issue in order for the peace process to be restarted."
Earlier in the day, a top aide to Abbas, Saeb Erekat, told The Associated Press that Abbas rejected Clinton's request that he allow Israel's government to complete building 3,000 units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and to allow the government to construct public buildings and continue construction in east Jerusalem — a territory Palestinians hope will be their future capital.
"This is a nonstarter," Erekat said. "And that's why it's unlikely to restart negotiations."
Before visiting Israel, Clinton met with Abbas in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi. Besides meeting Netanyahu, Clinton also held talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
Palestinians see Jewish settlement building as one of the biggest threats to their ability to form a viable state in the territories of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Some 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
Clinton intends to consult with a range of Arab foreign ministers on the Israel-Palestinian stalemate when she attends an international conference in Morocco on Monday and Tuesday.
At the press conference with Clinton, Netanyahu said Israel is "willing to engage in peace talks immediately without preconditions. Unfortunately the other side is not."
Hamas' control over Gaza is another main stumbling block to peace efforts. The group violently seized control of Gaza from Abbas' forces two years ago, leaving the Palestinians with rival governments. Hamas has long preached that Abbas' moderation doesn't pay and that only armed struggle will produce a Palestinian state.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the U.S. could not effectively engage in peacemaking while ignoring Hamas, and said Clinton's visit was "destined to fail."
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By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer Robert Burns, Ap National Security Writer
Associated Press reporter Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this report from Ramallah, West Bank.
"In spite of her troubles, and the difficulties, Israel has built one of the stongest economies in the world. The Israeli Shekel has strengthed against both the US dollar and the Euro! She is also the most innovative country on the planet. Weekly, new breakthroughs are announced in the fields of medicine, science and technology." - Susan Michael, US Director, ICEJ
Egypt: A Critical Turnaround
For almost 30 years, Egypt has remained convinced that it is in the best interests of peace to have maintained the famous Camp David agreements intially brought forth between then president Jimmy Carter and Egypt's president Anwar Sadat on Sept, 1978. Then on October 6th, 1981 Sadat was assassinated due to the reprisals of militant Islamic forces against peace. Soon afterward, Hosni Mubarak rose to fill the position and has been there until recently.
To his credit, under Mubarak's rule, Egypt has prospered. It's Suez Canal is one of the vital commercial waterways in the world. With a certain level of stability and international business sense, Egypt has prospered. Its populace, however, has remained in a state of significant poverty, waiting for a catalyst to bring forth change as most societies expect.
In the waning days of January 2011, demonstrators took to the streets, sparked into action by the recent uprising in Tunisia. It was time, they said, to establish democratic rule in Egypt. It appears that a few well intentioned students and politicians thought the time has come for revolution.
During the height of the crisis, President Obama publicly praised the rioting factions, saying the time had come for Mubarak to step down.
This horrified Israeli leaders. On Feb. 3, 2011, Israel National News reported the reaction of Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, former army general, Labor Party chairman and Cabinet Minister.
He said, "When I watched his speech in which he said he would step down, it pained me to see his collapse. He stood by our side for 30 years. He was a strong leader, he kept proudly to Sadat's commitments and followed in his path. He always emphasized the strategic importance of peace with Israel, and that this peace was the basis for stability in the Middle East." Continued above
Ben-Eliezer continued, "We learn from history. We remember what was said when Carter proposed that the Shah of Iran give up nicely and allow (the Ayatollah) Khomeini to take his place. In Gaza too, when the Americans came in, they supervised the democratic elections (via which Hamas came into power). If there are elections in Egypt the way the Americans want, I will be surprised if the Muslim Brotherhood does not win....This will be a new Middle East - radical, Islamic and extremist."
He concluded, "I think the Americans still don't realize the extent of the catastrophe into which they have pushed the Middle East."
Practically universal, the Israelis are saying that Jimmy Carter will be remembered as the President who lost Iran, while Barack Obama will be remembered as the President who lost Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt.
The Muslim Brotherhood
An earlier edition of Israel National News dated Feb. 1, 2011 claimed that the uprising of Egyptian citizens had already been infiltrated and subverted by the dreaded terrorist group; "Many Western analysts agree that the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are one and the same. One leading Brotherhood cleric has said, "Kill Jews - to the very last one". A Brotherhood takeover of Egypt would strengthen Hamas in Gaza.
Taken from "Egypt: Revolution and Prophecy" by Gary Stearman , Prophecy in the News, 3/11, Vol. 31, #3; Oklahoma City, OK 73153
Cont'd..... The World in Denial
nation in the Middle East, which provides equal representation to all parties, Arab included.
What the world has totally forgotten is that on May 14, 1948 the State of Israel made these appeals in its Declaration of Establishment
"WE APPEAL - in the very midst of the onslaught launched against us now for months - to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its provisional and permanent institutions. We extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bond of cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own land. The State of Israel is prepared to do it share in a common effort for the advancement fo the entire Middle East.
To this date, this offer still stands.
Israel My Glory; "From Bill Sutter's Desk" by Bill Sutter (ISSN 8755-402X ) Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc. Westville, NJ.
Triple Income Portfolio
In May of 2010, a new theme park opened on a remote mountaintop 37 miles from Beirut, Lebanon in a small town called Mleeta. Opened by Hezbollah, it has named the the theme park, Musuem for Resistance Tourism. Others call it HezbollahLand. Thus far more than a half a million people have visited the park since its opening. It's primary goal is to promote the "resistance" and thereby terrorism against Israel by showing destroyed Israeli tanks, armoured personnel carriers, piles of old army helmet and other various munitions.
Israel My Glory; "Eye on the Middle East" by Steve Herzig (ISSN 8755-402X ) Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc. Westville, NJ.
The World in Denial
Blatant attempts to defame Israel as illegitmate and deny the Jewish state its rightful place among the countries of the world have been painfully obvious to those of us who stand with and support, from a biblical perspective, what God has planted in the Middle East.
It disturbs us that the UN treats Israel as an outcast while elevating sponsors of terrorism like Libya, and Syria to seats on the Security Council. Compounding Israel rejectionism at the UN is a steady stream of anti-Israeli resolutions and releases of by fact-finding commissions and councils all aimed at denying Israel's validity as a nation. Meanwhile, the UN glosses over the abominable actions of the world's worst human rights abusers, countries like Iran and Liby, and accepts them as "respectable" members of the international community. Moreover, Israel is the only democratic ...........cont'd above
