Prophecy News Watch 13th August
 Islam’s footprint in America is expanding rapidly—from politics to entire communities. Eight developments show just how quickly the landscape is changing.
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 Your phone, car and online activity are creating a digital trail. The real danger begins when those separate records can be connected.
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 Arab and Islamic leaders are again demanding action against Israel—but one name is conspicuously absent from much of their outrage: Hamas.
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The Israeli military says it will deploy additional troops to the occupied West Bank after failing to force away Israeli settlers who have trapped two Palestinian families in their homes since Sunday.
The Abu Ridi and Hassan families - who live on the outskirts of the village of Qusra, south of Nablus - made appeals for help after their water and power supplies were cut off and their food stocks ran low.
The case is the latest to draw attention to the relative impunity of settlers and how Israeli forces are struggling to deal with rising settler violence. Videos shared from Qusra overnight show a dozen Israeli security vehicles – including a bulldozer.
In later footage – filmed in the daylight – there is a long line of Israeli security forces on the road to the Palestinian village, which remains a closed military zone. Local media reports say that a nearby Israeli settler outpost was demolished.
Qusay Abu Ridi, who has been trapped by settlers in his home since Sunday with his water and power cut off, told the BBC that the house had been attacked again overnight and that a few settlers remained in the area, hiding from the army.
His brother – who owns the property – is a Palestinian-American businessman who had complained to the US embassy.
The US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said his embassy had asked Israel to remove the settlers, describing them as "Israeli terrorists".
FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj4kppdk2qwo
At the Moscow offices of newspaper Novaya Gazeta, the corridors are silent. There is an overwhelming sense of emptiness.
"There is no newspaper anymore," former chief editor Dmitry Muratov tells me in an exclusive interview, published on the BBC News YouTube channel.
Mr Muratov co-founded Novaya Gazeta more than 30 years ago. It became the flagship for hard-hitting independent journalism in Russia, shining a light on human rights abuses and high-level corruption.
In 2021 Mr Muratov was joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts "to safeguard freedom of expression." The Nobel Committee noted that "six of [Novaya Gazeta's] journalists have been killed, including Anna Politkovskaya who wrote revealing articles on the war in Chechnya."
It was recognition for courageous reporting. But it didn't protect the paper. "Putin issued a decree and the newspaper's printing presses were nationalised," Mr Muratov explains. "Its registration was revoked."
Novaya Gazeta does retain a presence online. But only just: the authorities have blocked access to its website. It can only be accessed from abroad, or with the help of VPNs – virtual private networks used to circumvent restrictions.
The newspaper's difficulties reflect the broader crackdown on free speech in Russia which has accelerated since the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74grmy2v7ko
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By Lyndon Beasy - https://harbingersdaily.com/a-proper-knowledge-of-israel-and-eschatology-is-essential-to-our-understanding-of-gods-word/
I wonder if people ask you, like they ask me, “Why do you focus so much on Israel? Why not focus only on the gospel and how to live out our Christian lives today?”
Here are eight reasons why the Bible says Israel really does matter so much and why Christians should focus on the nation.
1. Without Israel, we do not have the gospel.
Jesus said that “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). The message of reconciliation and peace with God didn’t originate with any Gentile nation or even the church. It was through God’s promise to Abraham, of descendants and a great nation, that the world would be blessed (Genesis 12:1–3). God set apart Israel for His purposes and to represent Him in the world (Exodus 19:5–6).
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Dr. David Bowen - https://www.interpretingthetimes.com/blog/is-socialism-preparing-the-world-for-the-antichrist
Is socialism an economic system, or is it a worldview? Why are younger generations increasingly receptive to greater government involvement? Can freedom survive when personal responsibility is steadily transferred to the state? Does economic dependence make populations more willing to surrender liberty?
Those are uncomfortable questions. But they are questions believers should be willing to ask. The Bible never says, “The antichrist will be a socialist.” Revelation does describe a future where political authority, religious allegiance, and economic participation become interconnected.
That should make every believer pay attention whenever societies become increasingly comfortable with increased governmental power, economic dependence, technological surveillance, and centralized control.
Israeli settlers have been besieging two Palestinian families in their homes in the occupied West Bank since Sunday, with the families saying their supplies were running out and rights groups urging the authorities to step in.
On Wednesday Israeli security forces were reported to have withdrawn from the Jewish settler outpost in the village of Qusra near Nablus, following clashes with a crowd of extremist settlers. About a dozen settlers are said to remain at the site.
After the Palestinian homeowners made their initial report to the Israeli army, the first soldiers who arrived at the scene were filmed praying with the settlers.
The Abu Ridi and Hassan families have been posting on social media appealing for help after their water and power supplies were cut off and their food stocks ran low.
It is not clear exactly what the settlers in Qusra want. In the past, settlers have forced Palestinians out of their homes and seized their properties.
The stated aim of the settlers is to empty the area of its Palestinian residents.
The latest developments come as a top UN official told the Security Council in New York on Tuesday that "the West Bank is at breaking point".
All settlements are illegal under international law. Outposts are set up without official Israeli authorisation.
Palestinian security camera footage shows settlers tearing down a wall outside the Abu Ridi family's home on Sunday evening and using the stones to block the road.
This left seven people - including two young girls – unable to leave their homes while other Palestinians could not reach them. They live in what is known as Area B, part of the West Bank under Palestinian administrative control and Israeli security control.
Posting on Facebook, Qusay Abu Ridi said the situation was critical, "especially as we are completely isolated".
FULL REPORT AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0npjkqrleo
| IDF's Mechanized Mountain Goat; Antisemitism Forces Jewish Schools to Focus on Security, not Education; New App Protects Jews from Antisemitic Attacks | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Bombshell: Evidence of Direct Foreign Involvement in Oct. 7 Massacre; Israeli Family Viciously Kicked Out of Zoo; Mamdani Flipflops on NYPD Escort for Wife’s Syria Trip | ||||
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A "massive" Ukrainian drone and missile strike on Russia's port of Novorossiysk has damaged two major grain export terminals and hit the last big Russian naval base on the Black Sea, reports say.
Three people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed and another 24 injured in the overnight attack, local officials said.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had launched rockets, jet and naval drones in a "unique operation" to strike the Russian base, although he did not mention grain terminals being hit.
Ukraine's military later said four Russian warships, including two frigates, were hit. Russia has not commented on the issue. "The occupying fleet and all the infrastructure that supports it will not be safe as long as Russian aggression continues," Zelensky said in a post on social media.
Most of Russia's Black Sea fleet is docked in Novorossiysk - one of the largest ports in Russia - after it was forced to vacate its former home base of Sevastopol, in the Russia-occupied Crimean peninsula, which was too exposed to Ukrainian attacks.
The attack follows an uptick in the exchange of strikes in the Black Sea this summer, after a period of relative calm. In an interview with CNN, Zelensky said that Ukraine needs a tenth of the current US stockpile of interceptor missiles to stop all Russian ballistic missile attacks.
He added that 5% of the stockpile would get Ukraine through winter. "This year we have two and a half times less interceptors than we had in 2025," the Ukrainian president said.
FULL REPORT AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y49xp2wrno
