Scripture to consider before the news:
“I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.”
The Palestine two-state solution is fast approaching that will part God’s land of Israel.
In this report we will see the Vatican’s United Nations push the Palestine narrative further. Also, don’t forget that Saudi Arabia with “the prince of the covenant” requiring a two-state solution with Palestine to be in place before they normalize with Israel and confirm the covenant that will start the final prophetic week for Israel, the 70th week spoken of by the prophet Daniel.
Now unto the news:
UN rights council orders unprecedented open-ended probe of Israel.
The top United Nations human rights body decided on Thursday to create an open-ended international investigation into Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, after the UN rights chief said Israeli forces may have committed war crimes and faulted the Hamas terror group for violations of international law in their 11-day war this month.
The 24-9 vote, with 14 abstentions, capped a special Human Rights Council session on the rights situation faced by Palestinians. The session and the resolution were arranged by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which has strongly supported the Palestinians in their conflicts with Israel.
The resolution called for the creation of a permanent “Commission of Inquiry” — the most potent tool at the council’s disposal — to monitor and report on rights violations in Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It would be the first such COI with an “ongoing” mandate.
Israel rejected the resolution, saying it would not cooperate with such a probe. The Foreign Ministry said the move “completely ignores the 4,300 rockets toward Israeli citizens” fired from Gaza during the recent bout of fighting. It called the decision a “moral stain on the international community and the UN.”
It said it will “continue to defend itself against politically biased entities that seek to undermine the legitimacy of legal and justified activity.”
The commission is also to investigate “all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability, and protraction of conflict” including discrimination and repression, according to the text. Amid signs that the resolution would pass, its authors added more teeth to its language with a late revision on Wednesday.
The revised text called on states to refrain from “transferring arms” — the recipients were not specified — when they assess “a clear risk” that such weapons might be used to commit serious violations of human rights or humanitarian law. That appeared aimed at countries that sell weapons to Israel.
China and Russia were among those voting in favor. Several Western and African countries voted no, among them Austria, the UK, Germany, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. Israel thanked the countries that opposed what it called a “scandalous decision.”
Many others abstained, including France, Italy, Japan, Poland, Brazil and the Netherlands.
The US, which is not currently a member of the council, said it “deeply regrets” the decision, calling it “a distraction that adds nothing to ongoing diplomatic and humanitarian efforts” but rather “threatens to imperil the progress that has been made.”
Israel — backed at times by the United States — has long accused the council of anti-Israel bias and has generally refused to cooperate with its investigators.
Riad al-Maliki, the Palestinian foreign minister, sought to highlight years of suffering by Palestinians in territories controlled by Israel.
“The Israeli war machinery and terrorism of its settlers continue to target our children who face murder, arrest, and displacement, deprived of a future in which they can live in peace and security,” al-Maliki said.
Scripture to consider:
“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.”
There goes those words more and more with this Palestine conflict. Sudden destruction is coming to this “present evil world” after you hear “Peace and safety”.
Scripture to consider:
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.”
As we proceed to the final 70th week for Israel, Jerusalem will become a “cup of trembling” to the region and then the world.
In other news:
Blinken warns Israeli leaders Sheikh Jarrah evictions could spark new violence.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israeli leaders this week that moving forward with a series of evictions of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem could spark renewed “tension, conflict and war.”
Blinken passed along the message in-person during his visit to the region, he told the Axios news site in a phone interview Thursday while flying back to the US.
“We raised the concerns that we have on all sides with actions that in the first instance could spark tension, conflict and war and also ultimately undermine even further the difficult prospects for two states,” the Biden administration’s top diplomat said.
While in Israel on Tuesday and Wednesday, Blinken met with President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and opposition chairman Yair Lapid. The secretary told Axios that he raised the “evictions of Palestinians from their homes where they lived for decades and generations, the demolitions of housing… and of course everything that took place on and around the Temple Mount,” where Israeli police have clashed with Palestinian worshipers both before and after last Thursday’s ceasefire.
In the weeks leading up to the 11-day Gaza war that ended last Thursday, Sheikh Jarrah became the scene of mass protests, with Palestinian demonstrators clashing with police. Tensions eventually spilled over to the Temple Mount as well, and Hamas road the wave of violence, firing rockets at Jerusalem on May 10 that led to the IDF’s launching of Operation Guardian of the Walls.
The US has raised its opposition to the Sheikh Jarrah demolitions several times in recent weeks but tabled criticism on the matter once the Gaza war broke out, instead getting behind Israel and its right to defend itself against Hamas rocket fire.
Blinken made his first visit to the region as US President Joe Biden’s secretary of state this week, making stops in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Cairo and Amman as he sought to ensure the longevity of the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.
Blinken said he heard from both Israeli leaders directly and Hamas indirectly through Egypt that they wanted the ceasefire to hold. “But it’s also important that we avoid various actions that could unintentionally, or not, spark another round of violence,” he added.
He insisted that the Biden administration was interested in fast-tracking the reconstruction of Gaza, but that the UN would have to lead the effort in partnership with the PA.
Asked about his announcement of US plans to reopen a consulate in Jerusalem for the Palestinians, Blinken clarified that it would not change former president Donald Trump’s decision to recognize the city as Israel’s capital, nor was it a recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. The secretary said that such final status issues are up to the parties to decide in direct negotiations.
The consulate’s reopening — after it was shuttered by Trump in 2019 — will require approval from Israel and Netanyahu pushed back on the move during his meeting with Blinken. However, the secretary told Axios that it would ultimately be in Israel’s interest.
