SUCCOT 2010 CELEBRATION AND TOUR TO ISRAEL: SEPT. 22 TO SEPT. 29: Barry and Batya Segal extend a warm invitation for you to attend The Succot Celebration (Feast of Tabernacles) in Jerusalem together with the remnant of Israel and the remnant from the nations. Speakers and worship leaders for the 2010 celebration: Lance Lambert, Barry and Batya Segal, Frank and Marlou van Essen, David Silver, Mattheus van der Steen, and more to come. There will be an optional tour group package available beforehand which will be touring all over Israel. For more information and instructions on how to participate go to: www.succotcelebration.com. For all UK residents, please call Polly at Arch Tours: +44.(0)1372-843678 or The Joseph Storehouse at 01793-862121

NETANYAHU: NO EXTENSION TO 10-MONTH SETTLEMENT FREEZE: PM Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel will not extend a 10-month freeze in West Bank settlement construction, which is set to end in late September. It was not clear whether Netanyahu was trying to pressure Palestinians to resume direct peace talks. Netanyahu noted that his cabinet declared the moratorium to encourage Palestinians to negotiate with Israel directly, instead of through the US.  He said the freeze was limited in time: "It has not changed and that's how it will be." (J.Post)  It is easy for those who have not visited Israel to picture “Israeli settlements,” so often in the news, as a few tents, huts or trailers in the wilderness; temporary camps with handfuls of Jewish zealots that could easily find other accommodations - if that’s all it would take to make peace with the Palestinians.  In fact, as of November 2009, approximately 280,000 Israelis live in the 121 officially-recognized settlements in the West Bank, a further 190,000 Israelis live in settlements in East Jerusalem.  Settlements range from farming communities to suburbs to frontier villages, and, in the case of East Jerusalem, city neighborhoods. The three largest settlements, Modi'in Illit, Maale Adumim and Betar Illit, are cities with over 30,000 residents each.  These Jewish communities include homes, schools, government buildings, shopping centers and thriving business. The US in past months has insisted that Israel forgo even natural growth construction to meet the need for additional schools, medical facilities, apartments, and shops. The reason for this is to accommodate the outrageous Palestinian hopes and demands that Israelis will eventually agree to walk away from these thriving towns and neighborhoods and turn them over to their enemies in exchange for a false peace.  It is an answer to many prayers that the Israeli government has now refused to continue the settlement freeze past late September. The agreement has borne only bad fruit. The Gaza Strip is an outstanding example of what always happens when Israel and her so called allies fall for the lie of peace with Islamists: Ongoing terrorist attacks, rocket assaults and years of Jewish work on homes and businesses destroyed.

LIEBERMAN EXPRESSES SUPPORT FOR END OF BUILDING FREEZE: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman went on a brief walking tour on Monday to show support for the coming end to the government-mandated building freeze in September.  "The reality that residents of the settlements face is unbearable. I speak as someone who lives in such a community.  We must repay the people who came to the territories on behalf of all previous Israeli governments and found themselves in an absurd situation," said Lieberman. He added, "This situation is intolerable. We want to ensure that at the end of September life will return to normal. We do not want to protest or to make provocations, but it is people's right to live normally.  There is no reason that people in the settlements do not enjoy the same living conditions of all other Israeli citizens." (J.Post)  Pray for the strength of Israel’s government leaders to stand against international pressures and demand to which no other nation would submit.

STRIKE ON IRAN BECOMING MORE LIKELY, FORMER CIA CHIEF SAYS: A former CIA director says military action against Iran now seems more likely because no matter what the US does diplomatically, Tehran keeps pushing ahead with its nuclear program. Michael Hayden, a CIA chief under President George W. Bush, says that during his tenure a strike was "way down the list" of options. He now says such action "seems inexorable."  He predicts Iran will build its program to the point where it's just below having an actual weapon. Hayden says that would be as destabilizing to the region as the real thing. US officials have said military action remains an option if sanctions fail to deter Iran. (Fox News) "When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him." Is 59:19

ARABS PRESSURE OBAMA TO ENDORSE STRIKE ON IRAN: For the first time since coming into office, US President Obama is under serious pressure to study the possibility of an Israeli military strike against Iran, a top Egyptian intelligence official said this week. The Egyptian representative said the pressure does not only come from Israel but also from Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia that are at odds with Iran and its Shiite theocracy. The official said Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, has been involved in an intense, behind-the-scenes lobbying effort urging the US and other Western countries to do everything necessary to ensure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons. Such weapons would threaten Saudi Arabia's position of influence in the Middle East. The Egyptian source said his country believes it is not likely Obama will grant Israel permission to attack Iran. (WND) )

JORDAN: MUSLIM MURDERS 16-YEAR-OLD NIECE IN HONOR KILLING: A Jordanian man this week confessed to killing his 16-year-old niece to save his family's "honor" after she was sexually assaulted. The 43-year-old fired 30 machine-gun rounds in the direction of the girl killing her instantly. The man confessed to the murder, saying he did it to "cleanse the family honor" over suspicions of "bad behavior" after the girl "lost her virginity a month ago in a sexual assault by a young man aged 17."  Between 15 and 20 women are murdered in honor killings each year in the kingdom. Men who carry out such killings consistently receive light sentences for the crime of murder. (Jihad Watch)

ISRAELI POLICE HEADING TO HAITI: Israel's Cabinet agreed to send a group of police officers to Haiti to maintain public order. The 14 officers will assist the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, which is working to uphold order and stabilize the area following January's earthquake. The quake killed more than 100,000, left hundreds of thousands injured and damaged the homes of some 3 million people. The group, which works on a voluntary basis, will operate as part of a combined force of Israel, Italy and Serbia. Immediately following the earthquake, Israel sent a field hospital and an evacuation and rescue team to the island. "This is a Jewish and humanistic action, and it follows up on the rapidly organized activity that preceded it after the Haitian earthquake," PM Benjamin Netanyahu said this week.  (JTA

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Blessings from Jerusalem,
Barry Segal with the Editorial Staff