Israel
Top UN Official Calls Jerusalem the Ancient Capital of Israel israeltoday.co.il
Irina Bokova, the director-general of UNESCO, which last year passed a motion denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, shocked many last week when she publicly affirmed the Jews’ historic connection to the Holy City.
Israel
Prime Minister cuts funding to UN israelnationalnews
Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Foreign Ministry to cut $2 million from Israel's payments to the UN, in light of the hostile proposals adopted by the UN Human Rights Council last week.
Israel
Israel has mass evacuation plan in works should war erupt nydailynews
Israel is drawing up contingency plans to evacuate up to a quarter-million civilians from border communities to protect them from attacks from Hamas, Hezbollah or other Islamic militant groups.
UN
Furious, US Boycotts UN Cabal Bashing Israel Over 'Human Rights' breakingisraelnews
Mark Toner, the department’s spokesman, posted a statement state.gov on the department’s website, saying that not only will the US boycott the meeting, but it intends to vote against all five the council intends to pass this week.
Also see Trump Admin To Boycott U.N. Council Over Anti-Israel Agenda freebeacon
Antisemitism
Artist behind 'beware of Jews' sign apologises for causing offence theguardian
Franck Allais, a freelance photographer, said the contentious sign was part of an artistic project, which includes depictions of a woman pulling a shopping trolley, a man pushing his wheelchair and a cat.
Allais said he intended the project to be a comment on identity and that the sign in Stamford Hill, one of the largest Hasidic communities in Europe, was not an antisemitic statement. He said he was left shaken by the offence he had caused.
I posted the original story of this 'antisemetic' act yesterday on the previous blog, but appears that I (as well as several others) jumped to conclusions about the intent. I appologize for my part in passing the original story around.
Society
WATCH: University Students Stumble over Who Has Freedom to Live and Work According to Beliefs adflegal.org v
Don’t like President Trump? It’s fine to tell people you won’t write a speech supporting him. Muslim singer? No one should force you to perform at an Easter service under threat of government punishment. But for a Christian creative professional, photographer, writer, or artist, it seems they must live by a different standard. To get a sense of just how confusing this issue seems to be for some, we visited the University of Wisconsin-Madison to hear what students have to say.
North Korea
South Korea speeds up creation of Kim Jong Un 'decapitation unit' cnn v
The country is speeding up plans to set up what some call a "decapitation unit," a brigade specifically tasked with targeting North Korea's "wartime command," including leader Kim Jong Un, according to a South Korea Defense Ministry official.
The brigade was initially supposed to be ready in 2019, but the Defense Ministry now says it'll be established "by this year."
Holocaust Denial Article No Longer in Google’s Top Search Results forward
Now, when users search “Did the Holocaust happen?” they must first scroll through articles about the search controversy, two articles by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ushmm.org, and a wikipedia page on Holocaust denial before they arrive at the Stormfront article.
What's interesting about this is the potential ramifications if, say, people started complaining that the top results were "anti-homosexual" or promoted only one Way (John 14:16) or the like. I'm all for Holocaust denial (AKA anti-semetic) sites being treated as the "fake news" they are, but to intervene to control how specific results get sorted up (or down) seems to be a slipperly slope.
Abortion
Ohio Gov. Kasich Signs 20-Week Abortion Limit, Rejects 'Heartbeat Bill' npr.org
The so-called heartbeat bill, which Kasich rejected, was considered more vulnerable to legal challenge. Provisions of the measure would have essentially limited the period during which women could get an abortion to about six weeks, when many women don't even realize they're pregnant, reports the Associated Press.
Politics
Welcome to Washington’s new normal: One Trump drama after another washingtonpost
Trump summoned two dozen television executives and news anchors to his offices Monday to berate them as dishonest and disobedient. He sought to strong-arm the British government to appoint his Brexit ally, Nigel Farage ukip.org, as ambassador to the United States. He dropped his threat to prosecute Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, disregarding his “lock her up” campaign chant and incurring the wrath of some reliable supporters.
Then there was Tuesday’s meeting with the New York Times, the newspaper Trump loves to mock as “failing.” It was scheduled, then canceled, then rescheduled. And once the president-elect settled in at the Grey Lady’s wikipedia.org boardroom, he softened his position on climate change, floated the idea that his son-in-law could broker peace in the Middle East, voiced new doubts about the effectiveness of torturing terrorism suspects, savaged Republicans who wavered on his candidacy and left unresolved concerns about how — or even whether — he would disassociate himself from his global business holdings to avoid conflicts of interest.
Apostasy
German Protestants officially renounce converting Jews to Christianity religionnews
“All efforts to convert Jews contradict our commitment to the faithfulness of God and the election of Israel,” the resolution read. That Christians see Jesus as their savior and Jews don’t is “a fact we leave up to God,” it said.
Actually, Paul was quite clear in Romans that there is one salvation for both Jews and Gentiles (ex: Romans 10:12), that none are saved outside of Christ, and he specifically discussed this issue of "what about the Jews" in multiple locations (including looking forward to a time when, through Christ, the future Jewish nation will be saved - ex: Romans 11:11-32). Additionally, in letters like Galatians, he went to great pains to warn believers from being deceived by "Judaizers" who were trying to add obeying the law as part of salvation and that attempts at obeying the law was actually a false gospel and really no gospel at all (ex: Galatians 1:6). He even recounts a rebuke he had for Peter for seperating from the Gentiles as if there was a special status for Jews in Christ (Galatians 2:11-21). There's far too much to cover in a quick mention like this, but suffice it to say that Jesus (a Jew speaking to Jews) said that He is the Way and no one gets to the Father but through Him (John 14:6). To say that Jews aren't to be evangelized is to not understand the Gospel.
Society
University of Virginia professors: Stop quoting Thomas Jefferson washingtonexaminer
"Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend that University of Virginia students 'are not of ordinary significance only: They are exactly the persons who are to succeed to the government of our country, and to rule its future enmities, its friendships and fortunes,'" Sullivan wrote, the Cavalier Daily reported. "I encourage today's U.Va. students to embrace that responsibility."
But this quotation of the father of the University of Virginia virginia.edu was too much for 469 faculty and students, who drafted a letter in protest.
Archeaology
Evidence unearthed of Jerusalem’s protective ‘Third Wall’ from Second Temple period jpost
Compelling evidence from the breaching of Jerusalem’s so-called “third wall” – which was said to surround the capital during the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 CE – may finally help to conclusively prove its existence.
The historian Josephus, a witness to the war, recorded numerous details about the third wall. In his telling, the wall was designed to protect the new quarter of the capital, then known as Beit Zeita, which extended beyond its boundaries, north of the two existing city walls.
Israel
UNESCO votes: No connection between Temple Mount and Judaism jpost
In a 24-6 vote, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization unesco.org on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a resolution that denies Jewish ties to its most holy religious sites: the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
Also see Israel Decries UNESCO Vote on Jerusalem Site voanews and Israel suspends ties with Unesco over motion that downplays Jerusalem links theguardian
Society
Meet CoverGirl’s first-ever CoverBoy, James Charles usatoday v
CoverGirl ambassador Katy Perry took to Instagram to break the news that the beauty behemoth had signed the 17-year-old New York-based makeup artist. "Just wrapped another great CoverGirl shoot. Honored to have the pleasure to announce the very first CoverBoy, James Charles!" the pop artist captioned a photo of herself posing alongside Charles in all his contoured glory.
Society
'Modern Family' to feature transgender child actor usatoday
Wednesday's episode will feature transgender actor Jackson Millarker. The 8-year-old Atlanta native will play Tom, a friend of Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) who comes over for a playdate.
Banking
Wells Fargo’s Scandal Is a Harbinger of Doom time v
In the financial sector, scandal is the gift that keeps on giving. Publicly shamed by Senator Elizabeth Warren senate.gov after his bank opened as many as 2 million unauthorized accounts to goose profits, Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, who had been reluctant to part with any of his own compensation following revelations of the scandal, has finally agreed to give up unvested equity worth about $41 million, and forgo his $2.8 million salary while the bank is being investigated. Warren called the act “a small step in the right direction, but nowhere near real accountability,” and said he should return every dime he’s made during the period where fraud was happening.
Also see California's Sanctions Against Wells Fargo theatlantic and Wells Fargo may not be the end: Clawbacks expected to become a bigger issue usatoday
Archaeology
Gate shrine from First Temple period unearthed at Tel Lachish National Park jpost
A rare gate shrine dating to the First Temple period (8th century BCE), unearthed in Tel Lachish National Park, near Mount Hebron, may prove King Hezekiah’s Biblically-recorded efforts to abolish worship in the region, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday.
Also see II Kings 18:1-8
Abortion
Forced abortion and euthanasia? creation
A group of ‘bioethicists’ have recently released a 10-point “consensus statement” that outlines how they think doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare providers who conscientiously object to ‘medical’ procedures like abortion and euthanasia should be forced to believe in and practice them
Syria
Western powers accuse Russia of barbaric war crimes before shock UN walkout independent.co.uk v
Matthew Rycroft, alongside the French and US ambassadors, walked out of the sesson when Syria's ambassador was called to speak at an emergency meeting demanding a halt to the violence in Aleppo.
Also see US slams Russian ‘barbarism’ in Syria, as Britain brands Aleppo assault a war crime scmp and Syria conflict: US and UK rhetoric 'unacceptable' - Russia bbc
