We now have a whole society rallying around and praising this despicable depravity.

God judges a society not just by what they do, but also by what they allow – and even more by what they celebrate. The official voice of the Palestinian people has praised one of the worst examples of inhumanity that I have ever seen, and not one Palestinian voice has been heard to protest this atrocity.

I know that there are Palestinians who are horrified by the murder of the Fogels, and by how their society has responded. They are horrified and sickened.

Unfortunately, they remain silent.

This is a mistake.

If good and just Palestinians remain silent while their leadership claims to speak for them, then they too will bear the guilt of their nation and suffer the consequences.

There is a Judge, and He is not indifferent to the affairs of mankind.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants

- Deuteronomy 30:19 (NASB)

Choose life.

On PA TV: Glorification of Fogel family murderers

Mother of Hakim Awad, killer of 5 Fogel family members:

“My greetings to dear Hakim, the apple of my eye, who carried out the operation in Itamar, sentenced to 5 life sentences”

Aunt of Hakim Awad: “Hakim Awad, the hero, the legend”

PA TV host: “We [PA TV] also convey our greetings to them”

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Twice last week, official Palestinian Authority TV broadcast greetings to the murderers of the Fogel family from the relatives of the killers and from the PA TV host.

On March 11, 2011, five members of the Fogel family were killed in their home in the Israeli town Itamar by Palestinian terrorists from the Awad family. Hakim Awad led the attack, killing the parents Ehud and Ruth and three of their children, aged 11 years, 4 years, and 2 months.

The weekly PA TV program For You dedicated to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons let the mother and aunt of one of the murderers praise the terrorists as “heroes.” After the mother of the murderer Hakim Awad explained how she is prevented from visiting her son for security reasons, the PA TV host said: “Go ahead, sister, we can convey your voice.”

On the phone, Hakim Awad’s mother “blesses” her “dear son,” and despite the fact that participants in this TV program normally do not mention the terror attacks for which their relatives are serving time, the mother mentions that her son is the one who “carried out the operation in Itamar and sentenced to 5 life sentences,” referring to her son’s brutal killings in the town Itamar.

Hakim Awad’s aunt also participated in the program and referred to the terrorists involved in the killings as “heroes,” calling Hakim Awad “the hero, the legend.” This prompted the PA TV host to add: “We, for our part, also convey our greetings to them.”

It was Hakim Awad who killed Ehud and Ruth Fogel and their young children with a knife. The other Awad family members praised on the program as “heroes” were either accessories to the murders or helped destroy evidence.

Although this was a phone conversation, the editors of the PA TV program and its host did know in advance that the callers were relatives of the Fogel murderers. The host introduced them before the conversation took place and a text with the names of the callers appeared at the bottom of the screen: “Prisoner Hakim Awad’s family / Awarta – Nablus.”

The program was broadcast on official PA TV on January 19 and 21.

Read the rest of the article here.

And, apparently this wasn’t just an arrest of some mid-level admin guy who was out raising money for the organization. Nope, this was an arrest of someone who was already far along the way towards implementing a terrorist attack in Bangkok. A BIG terrorist attack. And, people think that somehow Hezbollah won’t ever get to them?

They are already in South America and Mexico. They have already been found in the US and Canada.

They just stopped a massive terrorist bombing in Thailand. How long do you think it’s going to be before they fail to stop a massive terrorist bombing in the US?

And, what do you think will happen to your rights as an American citizen when THAT happens?

If you thought that the TSA was bad, wait till there are US troops on the streets and FEMA in your towns.

Come on America. Wake up. How many warnings do you need?

I worry that there aren’t many warnings left.

Are you ready?

This came in from STRATFOR:

A Hezbollah Threat in Thailand?

January 19, 2012, by Ben West

On Jan. 12, Thai authorities arrested a man they say was a member of the Lebanon-based Shiite militant group Hezbollah who was plotting an attack in Bangkok. In uncovering the plot, Thai police cite cooperation with the United States and Israel going back to December 2011. Bangkok is indeed a target-rich environment with a history of terrorist attacks, but today Hezbollah and other militant and criminal groups rely on the city as a business hub more than anything else. If Hezbollah or some other transnational militant group were to carry out an attack in the city, it would have to be for a compelling reason that outweighed the costs.

The suspect was identified as Hussein Atris, who was born in Lebanon but acquired Swedish citizenship and a passport after marrying a Swedish woman in 1996. Atris was arrested on immigration charges as he was trying to board a plane at Suvarnabhumi airport, Bangkok’s main international airport. Police said another suspect is still at large and possibly already out of the country. Atris’s arrest on Jan. 12 was followed by a statement the next day from the U.S. Embassy warning U.S. citizens in Bangkok of the potential foreign terrorist threat in the country and encouraging them to avoid tourist areas. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Israel, issued similar warnings. Thai police have responded by increasing security in tourist areas like Bangkok’s Khao San Road and the island of Phuket.

Then, on Jan. 16, some 200 Thai police officers searched a three-story commercial building in a town along the coast 32 kilometers (about 20 miles) southwest of Bangkok. Information on the location and contents of the building was said to have been provided by Atris after two days in custody. On the second floor of the building, officers found 4,380 kilograms (about 10,000 pounds) of urea-based fertilizer and 38 liters (about 10 gallons) of liquid ammonium nitrate — enough materials to construct several truck bombs comparable to the one detonated at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in 2008. Urea fertilizer can be used to manufacture the improvised explosive mixture urea nitrate, which was the main charge used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The compound is also frequently used in improvised explosive devices in Iraq and to some extent in Afghanistan. On the ground floor of the same building, police found reams of printing paper and 400 electric table fans in cardboard boxes.

The following day, a Bangkok court charged Atris with illegal possession of explosive materials. As in many other countries, a permit is required for handling such large amounts of fertilizer in Thailand.

Read the rest of the article here (while you can).

It is routinely used by Bedouin to smuggle all kinds of things into Israel – drugs, prostitutes, weapons and terrorists. Until now, Egypt has had a tight control on access to the Sinai and few weapons and terrorists have been able to gain access. Not so now.

Libyan weapons are flowing unchecked into the Sinai and terrorists are having a field day – with a free hand to do what they want. This is NOT good news to anyone that wants to see peace in the Middle East. Hamas no longer needs to just shoot rockets into Israel from Gaza, they can now launch attacks over land on Eilat and into southern Israeli cities.

And, to think that Barack Obama celebrated this “Arab Spring” that is shaking out Arab dictatorships.

Israel raises alarm over Sinai-Gaza cooperation
Jan 16 01:35 PM US/Eastern, AFP

Israel is facing a growing security threat to its south because of the changes brought on by the Arab Spring which is not likely to disappear any time soon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.

“The security problem which is developing as a result of changes in the Middle East is getting worse, and is expected to continue for years,” Netanyahu told MPs at the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and defence, in remarks communicated by a spokesman.

“The state of Israel is required to strengthen its defence and attack capabilities immediately, which costs a lot of money,” he said.

“Libyan arms continue to flow into Gaza through Sinai,” he said, indicating that there were “more than 10,000 missiles” in the coastal enclave, some of which had a range “surpassing 40 kilometres (24 miles).”

The ongoing reconciliation process between Fatah and Hamas would force Israel to demand that Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip would be under similar terms as Fatah-controlled West Bank, Netanyahu said.

“Fatah-Hamas unity would force us to demand that the Gaza Strip be demilitarised,” he said.

He accused Iran of using the Egyptian Sinai as a staging area for launching attacks on Israel.

“Terror elements have entered the region, they’re using the area as a platform for terror, Sinai has become a destination for Iran,” he said, noting that in an attack last summer a missile was shot at a helicopter, which managed to dodge it.

Read the rest of the article here.

What I want to describe here on Israel Outlook, is a book written by the subject of the email, Richard Maybury. The name of the book is The Thousand Year War in the Mideast – How It Affects You Today.

I have lived in the Middle East for a decade and a half, analyzing everything I could find about the place, and I can truthfully say that the book is unusually accurate – while being subtly flawed.

Let me get into the flaws of the book, first. Actually, it’s pretty much one flaw that propagates itself throughout. And, it’s not really a flaw. It’s a misrepresentation of a tiny, tiny minority.

He claims that all religion is based on two fundamental laws:

Do all you have agreed to do.

Do not encroach on other persons or their property.

To put it more succinctly, the two fundamental laws can be summarized in four words:

Integrity and Property Rights

If you say that I’m ignoring ‘encroachment on persons’, I can tell you that I’m not. Under his paradigm, you own yourself, so anything encroaching on you is an issue of property right. If you touch me, you are touching my property. Don’t touch me.

He characterizes Christianity and Judaism this way, and that is an incorrect characterization for true Christians, and for that matter, true Jews. Let me take Judaism first because it feeds into Christianity.

Rabbi Hillel, one of the greatest authors of modern Judaism is famous for “The Golden Rule”. As it is recounted to us, one day, a non-Jewish man went to Rabbi Hillel and challenged the Rabbi to explain the Torah, while the man stood on one foot. Rabbi Hillel answered:

That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.

That, is classic Judaism.

When Jesus began to preach, Hillel had been dead for something close to twenty years. One day, a rabbi went up to Jesus, and like the non-Jew, challenged Jesus to tell him how to earn eternal life:

He has a gift for getting things right and writing about it in a way that helps his readers understand difficult issues – issues that are both real and horrifying. That scary nature of his writing may dissuade you from picking up his books, but it is his accuracy that should convince you of the need to read what he says.

Now, I understand that we’re talking about ‘fiction’ here. But, I actually think that this is the proper medium for people wanting to understand events and their context. Joel Rosenberg’s fiction (and non-fiction) takes what we know, fills in the gaps of what’s missing, and presents the possibilities of what might result. After all, it is the exploration of ideas (and their implication) that is the single most redeeming virtue of fiction. Fiction that helps you understand the world, is fiction worth reading.

This is not to say that other forms of fiction are illegitimate. They certainly have their place, and you’ll find my electronic bookshelves lined with many examples.

But, fiction that helps you understand the reality of our apocalyptic future?

A true gem.

And, it seems that we have one of those gems in the form of the Tehran Initiative by Joel C. Rosenberg. If you haven’t picked up any of his books, I suggest that you start now.

I stumbled over the publication of the new book on The Blaze. Here’s an excerpt of what they say:

Author Joel C. Rosenberg has been called a modern-day Nostradamus. His fiction writings have been viewed by many as intriguing, yet eery, as they often highlight major world-wide events months before they actually occur.

Don’t believe me? Consider the author’s track record. In January 2001, Rosenberg began working on his first novel, “The Last Jihad.” The book, which is a fictional account of a U.S. war with Iraq (yes, this preceded the actual war that America launched in that region), describes the highjacking of an airliner in an attack on America.

Then, there was his second novel, “The Last Days,” which starts by recapping the death of Yasser Arafat (and published 13 months before the Palestinian leader perished). Call it coincidence of divine providence, but Rosenberg definitely seems to have a knack for clairvoyance.

Earlier this month, the communications advisor and famed novelist released his seventh work of fiction, “The Tehran Initiative” (additionally, he has two non-fiction books under his belt). In his latest work, Rosenberg creates a story that he hopes will both entertain and educate readers. A description of the action-packed book reads:

“The world is on the brink of disaster and the clock is ticking. Iran has just conducted its first atomic weapons test. Millions of Muslims around the world are convinced their messiah—known as ‘the Twelfth Imam’—has just arrived on earth. Israeli leaders fear Tehran, under the Twelfth Imam’s spell, will soon launch a nuclear attack that could bring about a second holocaust and the annihilation of Israel.

The White House fears Jerusalem will strike first, launching a preemptive attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities that could cause the entire Middle East to go up in flames, oil prices to skyrocket, and the global economy to collapse. With the stakes high and few viable options left, the president of the United States orders CIA operative David Shirazi and his team to track down and sabotage Iran’s nuclear warheads before Iran or Israel can launch a devastating first strike.”

Read the rest of the article here.

 The Blaze also references these illuminating videos of Joel Rosenberg talking about his new book:

Here is Joel interviewed by the 700 club. I was pleasantly surprised at how illuminating that interview was.

This comes from a radio interview:

You can fine The Tehran Initiative for sale on Amazon.