[36 minutes] https://www.youtube.com/live/rhvw7maK0iA The Biden ceasefire in Lebanon fell apart in four days, but officially it’s holding. In what seems like a Seinfeld routine come to life, administration officials and their media allies are propping up the dead ceasefire by arguing that you can have a ceasefire even if the fire doesn’t cease. Biden had promised in his ceasefire announcement that “this is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” The permanent part of that cessation barely lasted that week. The media reacted to the ceasefire that isn’t by arguing that having a war during a ceasefire is a perfectly normal thing. “Why Israel and Hezbollah Are Still Firing Amid a Lebanon Cease-Fire,” the New York Times tried to explain. Multiple media headlines described the ongoing firefights as “testing” or “straining” the ceasefire rather than more sensibly nullifying the whole thing. A ceasefire in which the fire does not cease is a fiery but mostly peaceful ceasefire. Within days the ceasefire wasn’t even one in name only. And the Biden administration blamed Israel. https://worldisraelnews.com/is-it-a-ceasefire-if-the-fire-doesnt-cease/ @patrician Blaming Israel because they hit back?! These concerted efforts to destroy Israel by the Moslem/Arab world is beyond obvious. Blaming Israel because they try to defend themselves is absurd. Amir Tsarfati, December 12: Hamas has said for the first time that it might agree to a deal that would allow Israeli forces to remain temporarily in Gaza. As part of the latest proposal, Israel and Hamas are considering a 60-day cease-fire period that would see the release of up to 30 hostages being held in Gaza, including U.S. citizens, according to the mediators. Hamas on Sunday submitted to mediators in Cairo a list of hostages that includes U.S. citizens, women, the elderly and captives with medical conditions, Arab mediators said. Amir's Weekly Newsletter snippets: What Happened? When Hafez died, his son, Bashar, an unassuming-looking ophthalmologist, took over. Bashar was as bad, if not worse, than his father. Not only did he massacre the Syrian people, even using chemical weapons, he allowed Russia and Iran to join in the fight. In the 13-year civil war that began in 2011 as part of Barack Obama’s Arab Spring, more than 600,000 Syrians lost their lives. Many of them were outright slaughtered by government soldiers. As hard as the rebel armies fought, they couldn’t defeat the ruling minority Alawites because al-Assad had both Russia and Iran propping him up – sometimes with troops, and always with weapons. But then at the end of November, the fighting in the north began to grow. Turkey weighed in on the side of the rebels, arming them to fight the government troops. More and more rebel groups began loading up their weapons and soon the force pushed southward. Aleppo, Hama, and Homs were all taken. Southern rebels saw what was happening and they, too, slammed their magazines into their AK-47s and set off. Soon, the rebels were entering Damascus and Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia where he was warmly welcomed partly due to his stunning personality and partly due to the $158 billion bank account he brought with him. Who are the Major Players? But of even greater consequence in the civil war are the Sunni rebels. The largest of these is Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which has taken the lead in establishing the new government. The leader of this rebel group is Ahmed al-Sharaa. Although this is the man’s real name, until this past weekend he was known his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. Unfortunately, his al-Jolani persona, was notorious for its previous ties to both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq. Needless to say, it isn’t very encouraging to those of us in Israel to have these schmoes running the show. But we take our encouragement from three sources. First, the rebel groups are fighting each other. These aren’t a bunch of buddies who decided to team up and attack. HTS took the lead and when the rest saw them gaining ground, they joined in. But these guys hate each other.... The third source of encouragement to Israelis is our own military. Iran and Russia had spent a lot of money outfitting Assad’s incompetent army. Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF were determined that this war materiel would not fall into the hands of the rebels. Thus, they launched Operation Arrow of Bashan. In only two days this week, Israel destroyed 80% of Syria’s military capabilities.... Current Syria Unfortunately, Ahmad al-Sharaa can only control his own people, and even then only to an extent. Throughout Syria, there are mass executions and ethnic and religious cleansing taking place by HTS and SNA forces. And you can be sure that ISIS is carrying out their fair share of atrocities. Syria is not the place to be if you are a Christian or a Shiite Muslim. It’s for this reason that the United Kingdom is saying, “You’ll have to show us a lot more if you’re getting off our terrorist list.” What Does this Mean for Israel? As I mentioned earlier, the north is now back open for Israeli citizens to move home. Not all are ready to do so, but they can if they want. If you had told me a few months ago that by December both Hamas and Hezbollah would be gone, I would have told you that you were dreaming. But this is what we see. Both terrorist groups are decimated to the point of being non-threats. That doesn’t mean Israel will give up hunting down threats. It’s just that we no longer have to worry about an invasion from the north or the south. Israel is in a very strong place right now. Netanyahu has done what he said he would do; he has brought safety back to Israel. Many doubted him and many still do, but he has proved his mettle and will go down in history as one of the greatest Israeli leaders of all time. We are also in a great place because of the U.S. elections. Many in the incoming Trump administration are more Zionist than even some in our government.... With the incoming Trump presidency, I see both the Saudis and the Indonesians quickly lining up for normalization with Israel under the Abraham accords. With the collapse of Iran’s axis, Hamas has been left hanging. With prayer and strong negotiations, I believe we could see a hostage deal soon.... Hopefully, individual Hamas members will give in to temptation and take the proffered $5 million for every hostage returned. These times are historic. Ever since October 7, we’ve constantly reminded ourselves “…but God is still on the throne.” This past week, He reminded us that He was there all along working and maneuvering. Then, when the timing was right – Bam! – He stepped in and did something marvelous before our eyes. He truly is the almighty God who proves over and over that He will never neglect to take care of His children. https://mailchi.mp/beholdisrael/amirs-amirs-weekly-newsletter-11465851 
The Anchor Podcast: The Reality of Heaven with Amir Tsarfati and Special Guest Mike Golay:
Is it a ceasefire if the fire doesn’t cease?
(The Wall Street Journal)
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Chicago, USA:
A Syrian citizen celebrates victory against Assad, then starts warning against cooperation with the west, only to be immediately silenced.
On US soil they warn against the US!
Such treacherous people !
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The IDF believes: with the complete destruction of the Syrian air defense system, we have now an opportunity to attack the nuclear facilities in Iran.
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The new Syrian government announces that 700,000 Shiites received citizenship in Syria illegally and it will be revoked next week.
Sometimes it takes only two weeks to make a change.
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Today the IDF continued to expand the take over of territories in what used to be Syria. Everything is abandoned, the rest of the Syrian army has fled.
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In Germany, Islamists go to Christmas markets and start reciting the SAME prayer that Mohammed's army recited when they invaded Mecca and drove out the pre-Islamic population.
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Breaking: Representatives of six Druze villages in southern Syria request to be annexed to Israel and live under Israeli rule.
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https://t.me/s/beholdisraelchannel
Syria’s most recent regime began with Hafez al-Assad in 1970. Yes, there was a rich history prior to that going back to the time of Abraham, which you can hear about in my MidEast Update. But for our purposes here we’ll start with the beginning of the Alawite regime. The Alawites are a small Syrian minority that align closely with Shi’a Islam, a fact which didn’t play too well in what was Sunni Syria. Al-Assad was ruthless, butchering men, women, and children throughout the country.
Essentially, the primary aggressors in the civil war are made up of Sunni rebels and Kurds. The Kurds are the largest people group in the world without a homeland, covering parts of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. They are unwanted by all four countries in which they reside, with each of the countries at times trying to wipe them out and at others aiding them in settling into a neighboring nation. This is how Turkey got involved. One great way for Turkey to get the Kurds out of their country is to give help to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Peshmerga, and the People’s Protection Unit (YPG)....
It is evident that nearly everyone wants this war over as soon as possible, including the rebels. Ahmad al-Sharaa of the HTS said, “We have turned to stability. The [Syrian] people are exhausted, and we will not enter into another war.” Will they keep moving to Israel? No, says al-Sharaa. “Our concern was about Iran and Hezbollah who carried out the massacres.” By all appearances, al-Sharaa truly wants to go mainstream. He has installed the prime minister of his unrecognized rebel state as the new prime minister of the Syrian Transitional Government, with a term running until March 2025. Both the United States and the United Nations are already considering removing HTS from its list of terrorist groups if al-Sharaa can keep his people from going too crazy.
I’ve had many people ask me if this is a fulfillment of Isaiah 17:1 which says that Damascus must be destroyed. It is not. Assad’s regime was destroyed. Damascus is still standing.
