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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
7/12/2014 1:09:11 AM

2,000 Tunisians protest against Israel's Gaza assault

AFP

Protesters gather, while blocking the traffic, during a protest against Israel's air strikes in Gaza, in London July 11, 2014. REUTERS/Neil Hall


Some 2,000 people, mostly supporters of the main Islamist party, protested in Tunis Friday against Israel's military offensive in Gaza, which has claimed more than 100 lives in four days.

"The people want the liberation of Palestine," and "Forward Hamas, you fight for our honour," were among the slogans shouted by demonstrators, who waved Tunisian and Palestinian flags.

The green and white flag of Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza, was also visible.

Some protesters shouted slogans against Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whom Islamists have vilified for crushing the Muslim Brotherhood and taking a back seat as Israel pounds Hamas.

"The world, with all its organisations and institutions, watches this odious crime without demanding whether it is more than just a cry of terror," said Nabil Boulifi, a civil servant attending the rally.

Former health minister Abdellatif Mekki, a senior member of Ennahda, the Islamist party that headed the ruling coalition until its forced resignation in January, welcomed the firing of Palestinian rockets into Israel.

The Palestinians had, he said, "introduced a new equation by responding to the aggression with strikes... against the fortress of the enemy".

Israel's latest air assault on Gaza, launched on Tuesday in response to continuing rocket fire and dubbed Operation Protective Edge, is the bloodiest against the coastal enclave since November 2012.

So far, it has killed 103 Palestinians, including many women and children, and wounded hundreds.

A similar protest was planned in the Moroccan capital Rabat later on Friday.



"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
7/12/2014 1:42:00 AM

Over 100 killed in Gaza as rockets fall on Israel

Associated Press





JERUSALEM (AP) — With the official Palestinian count of the dead passing 100, and rockets fired by militants striking Israel from the Gaza Strip and from Lebanon, Israel's prime minister on Friday brushed off a question about cease-fire efforts.

There is no end in sight to Israel's effort to halt militant rocket fire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"I will end it when our goals are realized," he said. "And the overriding goal is to restore the peace and quiet."

Israel says it launched the offensive Tuesday in response to weeks of rocket fire from Gaza. At least 21 Palestinians were killed Friday, pushing the overall death toll to 106, including dozens of civilians, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Palestinian militants have fired more than 600 rockets at Israel.

One rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a gas station and set it ablaze earlier Friday in southern Israel, wounding three people, one seriously, and the army said the condition of a soldier wounded by rocket shrapnel on Thursday had worsened. But there have been no deaths on the Israeli side, in large part because of a new rocket-defense system that has intercepted at least 129 incoming projectiles.

Also Friday, the Lebanese military said militants fired three rockets into northern Israel. The Israeli military responded with artillery fire.

Israel's allies have backed the country's right to self-defense, but they have called for restraint. And the top U.N. human rights official said the air campaign may violate international laws prohibiting the targeting of civilians.

"We have received deeply disturbing reports that many of the civilian casualties, including of children, occurred as a result of strikes on homes," said Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

Netanyahu said the Israeli airstrikes are aimed at military targets. He blamed Hamas for causing civilian casualties by hiding in residential areas and criticized the group for targeting Israeli population centers.

Israel has massed thousands of troops along the border in preparation for a possible ground invasion. Netanyahu was evasive when asked about the odds of a ground operation, saying only: "We are weighing every possibility."

___

Associated Press writer Najib Jobain in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.


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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
7/12/2014 10:21:59 AM

Palestinians draft UN resolution urging cease-fire

Associated Press

An Israeli soldier leans on the barrel of the gun of a mobile artillery unit at a position on the Israel-Gaza border, Friday, July 11, 2014. Gaza rocket fire struck a gas station and set it ablaze Friday in southern Israel, seriously wounding one person as rocket fire also came from Lebanon for the first time in the four-day-long offensive. Rocket fire by Palestinian militants continued from Gaza toward various locations in southern Israel. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)


UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Palestinians and their international supporters are discussing a U.N. draft resolution that would condemn all violence against civilians in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and call for "an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire."

An initial draft of the proposed Security Council resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, expresses "grave concern" at the escalating violence and deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territories due to Israeli military operations, particularly against the Gaza Strip, and at the heavy civilian casualties including children.

The council is deeply divided and often paralyzed over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the United States defending close ally Israel and the majority of other council members firmly backing the Palestinians.

The Palestinian draft makes no mention of the firing of hundreds of rockets into Israel by Hamas, which controls Gaza, and that would likely make it unacceptable to the United States if it was introduced in the Security Council.

It calls on the parties in the conflict to abide by their obligations under the Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in war, to refrain from actions that could further destabilize the situation and to make urgent efforts to achieve a comprehensive peace agreement based on a two-state solution.

The Palestinians began talks on the resolution after an emergency meeting of the council on Thursday.

At that closed meeting, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Jordan's deputy ambassador told members he had some "elements" that could be the basis for a press statement, which unlike a resolution would not be legally binding.

The elements, obtained by The Associated Press, call for "immediate calm and ending the hostilities in Gaza including the launching of rocket attacks," restoration of the 2012 cease-fire and resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed at a comprehensive peace agreement and a two-state solution. They also call for protection of civilians.

Churkin said the Jordanian ambassador "retreated to talk to the American delegation" and "that was the end of it — we never received any draft of a press statement."

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said: "Ambassador Churkin knows very well that no country can block another country from circulating a text."

"There's a lot of diplomacy going on right now to achieve our shared goal, which is a reduction in tensions and ensuring the safety and security of civilians on both sides," the official said. "And we've engaged with Security Council delegations on this."

Several diplomats said Friday that the Jordanian press statement was still being discussed.





An initial draft expresses "grave concern" over the situation in the Palestinian territories from Israeli military action.
What it doesn't say


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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
7/12/2014 10:47:01 AM

Israel strikes Gaza mosque as death toll tops 120

Associated Press

More than a hundred Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Friday night. The protesters, angry at Israel's military operation in Gaza, threw petrol bombs and stones at the soldiers. (July 11)


GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas in Gaza hit a mosque its military says concealed the militant group's weapons, as the Palestinian death toll topped 120 Saturday in an offensive that showed no signs of slowing down.

Israel launched its campaign five days ago to stop relentless rocket fire on its citizens. While there have been no fatalities in Israel, Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra said overnight attacks raised the death toll there to over 120, with more than 920 wounded.

Dozens of the dead are civilians, though the exact breakdown remains unclear.

Hamas said Israel for the first time also hit a pair of mosques in its offensive. It hopes the incident will galvanize support in the Muslim world.

"The bombing of two mosques in Gaza overnight shows how barbaric this enemy is and how much is it hostile to Islam," said Husam Badran, a Hamas spokesman in Doha, Qatar. "This terrorism gives us the right to broaden our response to deter this occupier."

The Israeli military released an aerial photo of the mosque it hit, saying it concealed rockets right next to another religious site and civilian homes. It said Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Gaza militant groups systematically use this tactic of abusing religious sites to conceal weapons and establish underground tunnel networks, deliberately endangering its own civilians.

"Hamas terrorists systematically exploit and choose to put Palestinians in Gaza in harm's way and continue to locate their positions among civilian areas and mosques, proving once more their disregard for human life and holy sites," said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman.

Gaza militants have fired nearly 700 rockets and mortars toward Israel in five days of fighting. The "Iron Dome," a U.S.-funded, Israel-developed rocket defense system, has intercepted more than 130 incoming rockets, preventing any Israeli fatalities so far.

Israel's military says it has struck more than 1,100 targets, including rocket launchers, command centers and weapon manufacturing and storage facilities, delivering a devastating blow to the Islamic militants.

The offensive is the heaviest fighting since a similar eight-day campaign in November 2012 to stop Gaza rocket fire. The outbreak of violence follows the kidnappings and killings of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, and the kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian teenager in an apparent revenge attack.

Israel has pummeled Gaza at twice the rate of the 2012 operation and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press on with the campaign until there is a complete halt to rocket attacks from the seaside Palestinian territory. Israel has massed thousands of troops along the border in preparation for a possible ground invasion.

After days of little criticism, Israel has begun coming under more international pressure as Palestinian casualties have grown.

A senior Arab league official said Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Monday to discuss the continued Israeli offensive and measures to urge the international community to pressure Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas requested the meeting, which was approved by several Arab foreign ministers in coordination with the Arab League. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief journalists.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians and their international supporters are discussing a United Nations draft resolution that would condemn all violence against civilians in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and call for "an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire." However, the Palestinian draft makes no mention of the firing of hundreds of rockets into Israel by Hamas, likely making it unacceptable to the United States if it was introduced in the U.N. Security Council.

___

Heller reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.







The leveling of a mosque is a first for Israel, says Hamas, as the Palestinian death toll tops 120. No Israeli fatalities so far



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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES?
7/12/2014 10:48:18 AM
What a new 'toy' to play with

Pentagon Successfully Tests First Small-Caliber, Self-Guided Bullets [VIDEO]

The Daily Caller

Pentagon Successfully Tests First Small-Caliber, Self-Guided Bullets [VIDEO]


The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has announced the first successful live-fire tests of the military’s first smart, self-guided bullets.

In a video released by DARPA Thursday, Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordinance (EXACTO) .50-caliber bullets maneuvered independently mid-flight to accurately strike targets purposefully offset from where the firing sniper rifle was aimed.


Wired reported in 2012 the first successful prototype test of the military’s first-ever guided small-caliber bullets, developed by Sandia National Laboratories and Lockheed Martin. Around 4-inches long, the bullets feature optical tips to detect laser beams shown on targets. Actuators inside the bullets then steer tiny fins on their surfaces, which guide them to targets based on information from the tip sensors.

The bullets can strike a target accurately while accommodating for weather, wind, target movement and other factors, according to DARPA. The prototype tests were able to successfully strike targets from more-than a mile, or 6,500 feet away.

“For military snipers, acquiring moving targets in unfavorable conditions, such as high winds and dusty terrain commonly found in Afghanistan, is extremely challenging with current technology,” the agency explains on its website. “It is critical that snipers be able to engage targets faster, and with better accuracy, since any shot that doesn’t hit a target also risks the safety of troops by indicating their presence and potentially exposing their location.”

“The EXACTO .50-caliber round and optical sighting technology expects to greatly extend the day and nighttime range over current state-of-the-art sniper systems.”

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"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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