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DANIEL’S PROPHECY OF 70 WEEKS – PART 4

Daniel 9:24-27

December 25, 2009

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THE 70 WEEKS OF DANIEL’S 9:24-27 PROPHECY – Part 4

Daniel 9:24-27 – Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

[25] Know therefore and understand, that

from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. [26] And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. [27] And HE shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week HE shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations HE shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

I made a case in Parts 1, 2, and 3 of previous Blogs to prove we do not have a full week of seven prophetic years (360 days per year) left to be fulfilled in Daniel’s 70 weeks of years. The personal pronoun “HE,” which appears three times in 9:27, does not refer to the topic subordinate “prince that shall come” in verse 26, but to topic dominate “Messiah” in the same verse. The topic dominate of the entire discourse is the Christ, the One Anointed of God to be King of Israel.

Christ is “the most Holy” in verse 24, “the Messiah the Prince” in verse 25, “the Messiah” in verse 26, and the triple “he” in verse 27. Messiah is the topical, contextual, figure of this entire discourse, not a coming antichrist from Rome or Europe. In fact, some forty years after Messiah was cut off, Daniel 9:26 was fulfilled when Titus, who was the Roman prince, came down and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple with a flood of troops, and desolations continued until the final battle of that war was fought at Masada in 73 A.D.

The early church fathers, followed later by noted theologians such as Theodotion, Havernick, Hengstenberg, Barnes, and the revered Baptist theologian B. H. Carroll, held that the three personal pronouns (he) in Daniel 9:27 referred not to the prince of verse 26, but to the subject of all four verses, that being: “the most Holy” (v.24), “Messiah the Prince” (v.25), and “Messiah” (v.26), who is Jesus Christ, the Messiah the Prince.

The various figures shown at the end of this prophecy update will help you to better understand the narrative discourse that is to follow.

We know that Jesus, from his baptism, had a ministry of more than three prophetic years (1080 days), but that it fell short of three and one-half prophetic years (1260 days). He was “cut off” at some point in the “midst” of the seven prophetic years, that is, in the “midst” of the fourth year. We know that Christ’s first Passover after his baptism is found in John 2:13, his second in John 5:1, his third in John 6:4, and his fourth in John 13:1. So that accounts for three prophetic years totaling 1080 days.

Now, let’s look back at the time that expired from his baptism to his first Passover. First, he was tempted for forty days. After that he called his first disciples ((John 1:35-51), performed his first miracle in Cana (John 2:1-12), had his first stay in Capernaum (John 2:12), and then traveled to his first Passover in Jerusalem (John 2:13). I contend this probably took 65 days. And this, when added to the 40 days of temptation, totals 105 days.

And this, added to the 1080 days between the Passovers, gives us 1185 days, which linguistically qualifies as being in the “midst” of Daniel’s 70th week in the fourth year. So I contend that Jesus Christ, the Messiah the Prince, has already fulfilled the first 1185 days of the last week of Daniel 9:27, and that instead of 2520 days remaining, we only have 1335 days left to be fulfilled. When Daniel’s clock begins to tick again to finally complete the Age of the Gentiles and Daniel’s 70th week, it will only have to tick for 1335 days.

Daniel’s prophetic clock stopped ticking when Messiah was crucified. Messiah started confirming the seven year covenant at the time of his baptism, fulfilling promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David in the final 70th week. But he was cut off (crucified) after finishing 1185 of the final 2520 prophetic days. At this point the clock stopped when he made the temple spiritually desolate, thereby causing the acceptance of the sacrifice and the oblation to cease being acceptable to God.

And it will continue to be so until the consummation of this age when he returns and, at that time, the spir

itually desolate will have his wrath poured upon them.

Daniel 9:27 – And HE shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week HE shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations HE shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Matthew 23:37-39 – O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! [38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. [39] For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

It will be helpful to look at the figures on the end of this prophecy update to understand the following narrative.

Once Daniel’s clock begins to tick again it will be as if it never stopped. It will start to tick when the Israelis believe they have peace and safety. From the time it begins to tick, until it closes Daniel’s 70th week, with its final tick at the end of the battle of Armageddon, will be 1335 prophetic days. It will be 1290 days after it starts to tick that the Abomination of Desolation appears on the Temple Mount.

It will be about 75 days after it begins to tick that Israel will be attacked by a confederation of Islamic nations that were once a part of the old Roman Empire. I believe the seven vials of God’s wrath will be poured out on the earth during the 45 day period that occurs between the 1290th day, when the Abomination of Desolation is set up, and the coming of Christ with the saints on the 1335th day.

The initial attack of the antichrist, 75 days after peace comes, will drive Israel into

the wilderness for

the remaining 1260 days left in the 1335 days.

I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – 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. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

If these numbers 1260, 1290, and 1335 seem strange, please consider the last three verses in the book of Daniel, where he is told he will be standing in his inheritance when the 70th week closes.

Daniel 12:11-13 – And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thous

and two hundred and ninety days. [12] Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. [13] But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

Romans 11:25-27 – For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. [26] And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: [27] For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. Daniel, along with all the other Old Testament saints of Israel, will return to rule and reign with Christ at the end of the battle of Armageddon, which closes “the end of the days” of the Age of the Gentiles.

The world will see Israel flee into the Negev for 1260 days after some 75 days of false peace. The 1260 prophetic days are found expressed several different ways in the Scripture. At times it is identified as 42 prophetic months (30 days per month). It is also referred to as time, times, and half a time, where a time is equal to one prophetic year, times to two prophetic years, and half a time to one-half a prophetic year, making a total of three and one-half prophetic years (360 days per year).

Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Daniel 7:25 – And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his h

and until a time and times and the dividing of time.

The remainder of this Update was photographed for transmission such that continuity might be maintained. It may not produce on some types of equipment.

Is Iran’s ‘Front Man’ really Lying,

About new S-300 missile System?

Ahmadinejad is only the ‘front’ Man!

The Shiite Clerics are the real Problem,

Ahmadinejad is only a Cleric Instrument,

He can’t be elected without Cleric Backing!

The war which must come is a Religious War,

It Must Come Because the Bible indicates it So!

Cleric system of rule must be ended to stop War,

And my friend that is absolutely not going to Occur,

Because they are the final days spirit of the Antichrist,

Along The Satanic Revelation Euphrates Valley Kingdom,

Which touches on Syria, Iraq, and Iran as home of 3 Frogs,

From which a cry for the Armageddon battle must be Issued!

They are kings of the east and children of

the Revelation Beast,

We should Not Expect a European Beast, but a Beast of the East!

The three excerpts which follow give witness to the validity of Claim!

December 24, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Revelation 16:10-16 – And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, [11] And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. [12] And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. [13] And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of

the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. [14] For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. [15] Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. [16] And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Begin Excerpt 1 from YNet News

So who’s telling the truth?

Is Russia indeed supplying advanced missile system to Iran, as Tehran claims?

Ron Ben-Yishai

December 21, 2008

So who should we believe? Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his ministry’s spokesman, who only a few weeks ago declared that Russia will not be selling Iran the advanced S-300 missile system, or deputy chairman of Iran’s parliamentary commission on national security, Esmaeil Kosari, who on Sunday announced that Russia already started implementing the deal

?

According to Kosari, Russia is already transferring to Iran components of the advanced interception system, which according to experts could greatly hinder an Israeli or American aerial strike aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program.

Seemingly, one of the sides is lying, either the Iranians or the Russians. Yet a thorough examination of the official declarations on the subject, as well as publications in the Russian and Iranian media raises yet another possibility: It is certainly possible that both sides – in technical terms at least – are telling the truth. But not the whole truth.

The explanation to this has to do with the fact that any such missile system is made up of several basic components. Those include radar, a control center, the missiles and their launch vehicles, peripheral equipment, and a logistic system.

It is very possible that the Russians are not providing the Iranians with the entire system for the time being, but rather, for example, only the radar and other peripheral equipment. The modern and advanced radar of the system, should it be possessed by Iran, already upgrades its air defenses.

It also allows for the operational deployment of the missiles and other system components within a short period of time, if and when Russia decides to supply the Iranians with the entire S-300 system.

Information received in the West and published by the media informs us that Iranian operators are already training in Russia on using the S-300 system. A hint that this is in fact what the Russians are doing can be found in the words of the Iranian deputy chairman of the national security committee. Kosari told the Iranian news agency Sunday that his country is starting to receive components of

the system. He did not say that the missiles themselves have arrived.

And so, the Russians were able to tell a Western source less than a week ago that they are not supplying the missiles, yet in practice also meet their obligations in line with the missile acquisition deal signed by President Putin and Iran’s defense minister exactly a year ago in Moscow.

The Russians conducted themselves in a similar fashion in the deal signed with Tehran for supplying fuel to the nuclear reactor they built for the Iranians in Bushehr. There is no reason why the Russians will not do the same this time around.

We must keep in mind that despite the delays in the abovementioned deal, Russia ultimately delivered the goods.

We can assume that this will be the case with the S-300 missiles as well – on condition, of course, that the Iranians pay the full price of the deal, estimated at $1 billion.

Begin Excerpt 2 from Jerusalem Post

‘Israel has reached the end of the road’

December 12, 2008

JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

Thousands of Iranians held a protest rally in Teheran Friday against the blockade of the Gaza Strip, while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Israel had “reached the end of the road.”

The protested chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America” as they demonstrated on streets leading to the Teheran University compound where the weekly Friday prayer service is held.

Also attending the rally, Ahmadinejad told reporters that the Israelis “have reached the end of the road and their abnormal behavior is due to anger and even their supporters are shaky in backing them.

“By committing these atrocities they want to pressure the Palestinians to influence their elections.”

Ahmad Khatami, conducting the Friday prayers, slammed the “United Nations, Organization of Islamic Conference, Egypt, the Europeans and United States” for their inaction on Gaza.

“Why are the UN and OIC keeping silent? Where are the European nations who are the defenders of human rights?” Khatami said in his sermon, broadcast live on state-run radio and quoted by AFP.

“We can see the hands of (US George W.) Bush and (president-elect Barack) Obama in these crimes,” he said.

Khatami criticized Egypt’s leadership for closing down the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip, saying that “by doing this they are cooperating with them (Israel).

“I am telling the Gazans and Palestinians in the occupied territories that the only way for salvation is by resisting the way Hizbullah did,” continued Khatami.

Begin Excerpt 3 from Middle East Media Review Institute (MEMRI)

Arab Islamist Clerics to Palestinians: Slaughter the Jews Like You Did in 1929; Blow Yourselves Up in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

December 10, 2008

Article Number 2146

Following are excerpts from speeches by Arab Islamic leaders expressing solidarity with Gaza, which aired on Al-Manar and Al-Aqsa TV, December 3 and 5, 2008.

To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1940.htm.

Sheik Himam Sa’id, Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan: “Oh noble Gaza, raise your head high. You have made the Muslims raise their heads high. And you, people of Hebron – you are now waging a war against the Jews.

You are well-versed in this. We saw how, on a day in 1929, you slaughtered the Jews

in Hebron. Today, slaughter them on the land of Hebron. Kill them in Palestine. Arise, oh people of Palestine, all the

people of Palestine – arise in defense of your Al-Aqsa Mosque, arise in defense of Nablus and Hebron. Arise and face the [PA] Preventive Security forces.

Fear them not, for they are rabbits. They are wolves, so fear them not, oh lions.

[…]

“Oh young men, what will you say to the Jordanian government? Expel the Jewish ambassador from Amman. Amman is pure, and the Jew

ish ambassador must not defile its soil. Recall the Jordanian ambassador from Palestine. Only mujahideen should be in Palestine – not ambassadors, not ministers, or any representative of this nation. Do not recognize the ambassador of this nation in Palestine.

Palestine is the land of Jihad,

of sacrifice, and of preparation. We say to this government: Stop normalization with the Jews.

Stop all imports and exports with the Jews. Our markets are full of Jewish vegetables and Jewish fruits. Traders who bring these fruits and vegetables are traitors, collaborators.

Tell them this. Make them hear our voice.

The position of the religious scholars is that anyone who trades with the Jews is a traitor and collaborator.”

[…]

Husan Abdallah, Lebanese Association of Islamic Scholars: “I say on behalf of the Association of Islamic Scholars: The truce with the Zionist entity is meaningless. The solution is to renew the resistance in a stronger and more effective way. Let pure bodies blow up again in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and in all the cities of occupied Palestine, because this enemy understands nothing but the language of force.

[…]

“To the courageous Egyptian people we say: Arise and bring down the artificial border, and bring food and medicine to your besieged brothers in Gaza. The Egyptian people is required to show an act of violence, even if they go to jail, even if they die – they will be martyrs for the sake of Allah.”

[…]

Osama Hamdan, Hamas representative in Lebanon: “Our goal is to liberate all of Palestine, from the river to the sea, from Rosh Hanikra to Umm Al-Rashrash [Eilat]. From Gaza, gentlemen… We do not want a state 364 square kilometers in size, nor do we want a state for which we had to beg at the negotiating table. Such a state will never come to be. What we want is a free state, which maintains its dignity, 27,000 square kilometers in size – the size of Palestine in its entirety.”

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DANIEL’S PROPHECY OF 70 WEEKS – PART 3

Daniel 9:24-27

December 24, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

THE 70 WEEKS OF DANIEL’S 9:24-27 PROPHECY – Part 3

Daniel 9:24-27 – Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. [25] Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built agai

n, and the wall, even in troublous times. [26] And AFTER threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. [27] And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he

shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

The SUBJECT of this entire discourse in Daniel is not “the people of the prince that shall come,” nor is it “the prince that shall come.” They are both subordinate to the subject. The contextual subject of these four verses can only be the Messiah the Prince, who is Jesus, the anointed holy one, the Christ of the living God.

Prior to the Evangelical Movement of the mid 18th century, the belief among Bible expositors was that the three personal pronouns signified as “he” in Daniel 9:27 referred not to the sub-topical prince in 9:26, but rather to the main topical subject of each verse, that is, the Jewish Messiah who was to come. We were advised in verses 25 & 26 that, AFTER 69 weeks of years (483 years), that is, DURING the final 70th week of seven years, the Messiah would be cut off (crucified). Please allow me to exposit these verses as they were exposited by mainstream prophetic teachers up to the mid-18th century. After doing extensive research, I was not able to find anything published prior to 1740 that indicated the “he” in Daniel 9:27 was the future antichrist. Most taught that the “he” in Daniel 9:27 was the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and some thought it had already been fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC, but I have been unable to find any prior to 1740 that believed it was the antichrist we are awaiting today.

Daniel 9:25,26 – Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. [26] And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

It was generally accepted that Jesus began the confirmation of the Abrahamic covenant by offering the Davidic Kingdom promise to the nation of Israel. He began to offer it to them after his baptism by John. His baptism marked the beginning of the 70th week. We know that his offering of the Kingdom lasted more than three years, but less than three and one-half. So he was cut off (crucified) in the MIDST of the f

inal 70th week. In reality, we are not waiting for the 70th week to start – we are actually waiting for the later part of it to be fulfilled. Let’s take it verse by verse, phrase by phrase.

Daniel 9:25,26 – Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. [26] And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Jesus arrived as the Messiah the Prince, and was baptized by John 483 prophetic years after one of the decrees of Artaxerxes Longimanus. His Father’s approval at his baptism marks the beginning of his ministry of three plus years.

Matthew 3:16,17 – And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: [17] And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

John was preaching that the Messiah was coming to bring in the Kingdom of David, which would confirm the Abrahamic seed covenant. Then Jesus came to him, and John identified him as the Messiah. Then, when John was imprisoned by Herod, Jesus began to preach the same message of the Davidic Kingdom.

John 1:32,35,36 – And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. [35] Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; [36] And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

Matthew 3:1,2 – In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, [2] And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mark 1:14,15 – Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, [15] And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Christ came to fulfill the Davidic Covenant as the Son of David and the seed of Abraham through the virgin Mary, the daughter of Heli. Mary had a double lineage from David through the man Zerubbabel, whose lineage on both sides was from David.

Genesis 15:18 + 22:17,18 + Galatians 3:16 – In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: [17] That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; [18] And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

[16] Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Then the covenant was expanded through God’s mercies to David to all the nations.

The covenant of Daniel 9:27 was first confirmed, and then fulfilled by Jesus Christ, the Messiah. It is the kingdom covenant found two chapters before 9:27.

Daniel 7:13,14 – I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. [14] And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Messiah the Prince Confirmed the Davidic Covenant of the Kingdom!

II Samuel 23:1-5 + Psalm 89:2-5,27-29 + Romans 4:6-8 – Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, [2] The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. [3] The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. [4] And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. [5] Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an EVERLASTING COVENANT, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.

[2] For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens. [3] I have made A COVENANT with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, [4] Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. [5] And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. [27] Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

[28] My mercy will I keep for him

for evermore, and MY COVENANT shall stand fast with him. [29] His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. [6] Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, [7] Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and

whose sins are covered. [8] Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

Malachi 3:1,2 – Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of THE COVENANT, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. [2] But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ sope:

John was the messenger of the Messiah, and Jesus was the Messiah, the messenger of THE COVENANT.

And this is THE COVENANT Jesus confirmed for seven years, but was cut off in the MIDST of the seven years, between the third and fourth year.

Daniel 9:27 – And HE shall confirm THE COVENANT with many for one week: and in the midst of the week HE shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations HE shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Jesus completed more than three years into the fourth year of the 70th week, and was crucified to eternally confirm the sacrifice of sinless blood and flesh for the sins of all who will receive him. His final cleansing of the temple in righteous indignation against a nation that had turned His Father’s house into a house of merchandise, rather than a holy house of prayer, was the final “overspreading of abominations” that made it spiritually “desolate” toward God. Messiah’s act caused God to abruptly “cease” honoring their “sacrifices and oblations” until the consummation of this present age, at which time those desolate of God’s Spirit, because of unbelief, will experience a time of trouble like man has never known.

Matthew 23:37-39 – O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

[38] Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. [39] For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall

say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Matthew 24:21,22 – For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. [22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Daniel 9:26 – And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Jesus was cut off (crucified) for the sins of others because he possessed none of his own. As predicted in Luke 21:24, Titus, a Roman Prince, showed up 40 years later with his army and destroyed the city and the sanctuary. In the final attack his troops came in like a raging flood, overrunning and setting fire to the Temple Mount.

The war raged on for almost three years after that, during which determined desolations were carried out by the legions of Rome.

They are recorded in the writings of Josephus, the Jewish historian. It could well make you sick at your stomach to hear the grisly desolation details. The final battle was for Masada, where the encircled Jews committed suicide rather than be carried into slavery.

Luke 21:24 – And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Daniel 9:27 – And HE shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week HE shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations HE shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

The early church fathers, followed later by noted theologians such as Theodotion, Havernick, Hengstenberg, Barnes, and B.H. Carroll, held that the three personal pronouns (HE) in Daniel 9:27 referred not to the prince of verse 26, but to the subject of all the verses, that is, “the most Holy” (v.24), “Messiah the Prince” (v.25), and “Messiah” (v.26), who is Jesus Christ, the Messiah the Prince.

As you have observed, I do not believe we have a full week of years left in Daniel’s final 70th week. So how much time do we have left when Daniel’s clock starts ticking again

? When the security wall/fence barrier is completed, and the Palestinians with their associated terrorist groups are put behind it, then the Israelis will begin to say they finally have “peace and safety,” and Daniel’s clock will soon begin to tick again for Israel and Jerusalem.

I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – 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.

[4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

In a future Prophecy Update, I will verbally lay out the scenario of the 1ast 1335 days of the Gentile Age, and present charts and graphs which picture what I verbalize.

Bah Humbug from Christ-less Foes,

Cold War Is Officially Here To Grow!

On a planet where a fiend is a fiend,

Weapons For Sale To Muslims Mean!

The Seas are Filled with Combatants,

Islamic Jihad Has NOW Circled Planet!

World prepared for war 1922 to 1939,

Now Moving Again Determined To Win,

Twixt 2010 and 2015 it will likely Begin,

Cold War gets Hot as Gentile Age Ends!

Dece

mber 23, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Begin Excerpt 1 from BBC News

December 23, 2008

Russia boosts military spending

Russia has set out plans to increase its military procurement over the next three years and commission 70 new strategic nuclear missiles.

A government official said there would also be more short-range missiles, combat planes, helicopters, tanks and naval vessels.

In all, Russia will spend nearly $140bn (£94.5bn) on buying arms.

Higher oil revenues in recent years have allowed the Kremlin to increase the military budget, analysts say.

The move comes months after the war with Georgia, which exposed problems with outdated equipment and practices within Russia’s armed forces and led to calls for military modernisation.

Missile row

The comments came from Vladislav Putilin, whose department oversees weapons industries, after a government session chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

“More than 70 strategic missiles will be bought and delivered to troops in the next three years, more than 30 short-range Iskander missiles and a large number of booster rockets and aircraft,” Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

The military would also purchase 14 naval vessels, 48 combat jets, more than 60 military helicopters and almost 300 tanks, he added.

The move comes amid tensions with the US over its plan to deploy elements of a missile shield in Eastern Europe.

Last month President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would deploy short-range Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, a Baltic enclave near Nato member Poland, if the US went ahead.

Begin Excerpt 2 from DEBKAfile Special Report

Moscow sends warships on Mediterranean tour, offers Lebanon heavy weapons

DEBKAfile Special Report

December 7, 2008, 10:20 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that, four months after the Georgian war, Moscow is again testing the limits of its Mediterranean reach. Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo announced that two flotillas from the Barents Sea and the Black Sea are heading for the Mediterranean:

One, based in the Barents sea near Finland, is led by the Admiral Kuznetsov carrier accompanied by two guided missile destroyers, the Admiral Chabanenko and Admiral Levchenko, with two supply ships in tow, one a tanker.

The second is the guided nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great, one of the biggest warships afloat, with three accompanying ships. They come from a joint Caribbean exercise with Venezuela.

According to the Russian Navy spokesman, the two groups will merge upon entering the Mediterranean and spend several months calling in at various ports.

Another Russian military initiative which should worry Jerusalem is the arrival in Beirut Saturday Dec. 6 of Mikhail Dimitriev, head of the Russian military cooperation department, to prepare the visit to Moscow next week of Lebanese defense minister Elias Murr.

After greeting his Russian visitor, Murr said: “There are no obstacles in terms of equipping the army. We prepared for my visit to Russia next week.

I will discuss… with the Russian defense minister what could be provided to the Lebanese Air Force.”

Clearly, Moscow and Beirut are preparing the way for their first important arms transaction.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that on the table are sales of Russian tanks, missiles, helicopters, and possibly warplanes. Murr’s statement about no obstacles signals Washington that with Moscow ready and willing, Beirut is prepared to flout US opposition to the Lebanese army’s acquisition of heavy weapons for fear they may fall into Hizballah’s hands.

Gen. David Petraeus, head of the US Central Command, raised this concern during a surprise three-hour visit to Beirut last Tuesday, Dec. 2. His trip was prompted by intelligence that Lebanese president Michel Sleiman had been bidding in Tehran, Moscow and Paris, for heavy arms – tanks, warplanes and self-propelled artillery – for the army of which he was formerly chief of staff.

Gen. Petraeus warned prime minister Fouad Siniora and the new chief of staff Gen. Jean Qahwaji that the United States would not allow heavy weapons to reach Lebanon, irrespective of the source. It now looks as though Sleiman and Siniora are prepared to go out on a limb and defy Washington with Moscow’s help.

Begin Excerpt 3 from Jerusalem Post

‘Iran rocket arsenal tripled in 2008’

December 8, 2008

JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

In a sign that Iran is taking military measures to ward off the threat of an attack on its nuclear facilities, the country has tripled the number of long-range rockets in its arsenal, Channel 10 reported on Monday.

According to the report,

Iran possessed 30 Shihab-3 missiles at the beginning of 2008. Currently, the country claims to have over 100 over long-range missiles capable of hitting Israel.

While the ability of the Islamic Republic to strike any point in Israel has long been known, this latest build-up potentially points to an Iranian intent to launch a protracted counter-strike against those who seek to destroy its nuclear program.

The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.

Last summer, Iran held a massive missile exercise during which it claimed to have launched an improved version of the Shihab-3, known to have a range of 1,300 kilometers. The Iranian Fars News Agency Web site reported that the Shihab-3 had recently been equipped with an advanced guidance system that significantly improves the missile’s accuracy and can correct its flight plan in midair.

Begin Excerpt 4 from DEBKAfile

Iran test-fires new surface-to-surface missile from warship

December 7, 2008, 10:15 PM (GMT+02:00)DEBKAfile’s military sources report that mock air strikes “which sank big enemy vessels” were said to be part of the war game, a clear reference to American air carriers, three of which are now present in waters opposite Iran. Navy chief Adm. Habibollah Sayyari boasted Wednesday: “Iran has pushed back the frontiers of naval capabilities to become the decisive maritime force in the region.”

DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report that the exercise is part of Tehran’s preparations for a US and/or Israeli attack on its nuclear installations and Revolutionary Guards bases, which its political, military and intelligence strategists are convinced is on the way ahead of Barak Obama’s January 21 inauguration as US president.

Begin Excerpt 5 from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy

I Don’t Doubt the “Hoot” Exists!

But is the “Hoot” really a “Hoot!”

Or only a little ‘Hoot’ that ‘Toots?’

December 3, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

IRAN’S “HOOT” TORPEDO DOCUMENTED

SECRECY NEWS – from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy

Volume 2008, Issue No. 114

December 3, 2008

Secrecy News Blog: www.fas.org/blog/secrecy

In April 2006, Iran successfully test-fired a new high-speed torpedo called
Hoot. It was test-fired again last July, along with various other missiles.

“The torpedo is capable of destroying the largest warships and any other
vessel on the surface or beneath the water, and split it into two parts,”
according to an Iranian Naval Forces official.

Technical specifications www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iran/missile/hoot.pdf (pdf)
for components of the Hoot torpedo are presented in an Iranian document (in
Farsi) that was provided to Secrecy News. The document appears to have been
produced by a subunit of Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization, according
to a colleague who reviewed it.

“Only Iran and another country possess the technology to build this
[torpedo],” the Iranian press reported after last July’s test, apparently
referring to Russia and its Shkval torpedo. On 4 April 2006, Izvestiya
Moscow said that the Hoot resembles the Shkval technically and in
appearance, and that Shkval torpedoes may have found their way to Iran via
China, where they were delivered in the mid-1990s. But Iranian officials
insist the Hoot is a completely original production.

“From a tactical point of view,” said Rear Admiral Morteza Safari of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps naval forces, “what is of critical
importance is that we are everywhere, while we are nowhere!” (Fars News
Agency, July 10, 2008, via OSC).

“Let me briefly say that the intelligence that the Americans have about us
is very different from the intelligence that they do not have about us,” he
went on. “What I mean is that they have only little information, and there
is a lot of intelligence that they are not aware of.”

Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation
of American Scientists.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.

We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107

of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

Will Israel attack Iran nuke sites a Question?

New U.S. Negev Site is part of a Nuke Umbrella,

But Israel’s had nuclear weapons

since Mid-Sixties,

Spying on Foes & Friends has always Been Universal!

Everyone knows best friend can become worst Enemies!

Israel bombed spy ship USS Liberty in international Waters,

To stop U.S. from hearing tank chatter orders to go into Syria!

Everyone spies on everybody, so this isn’t some new Revelation!

December 22, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

I first issued the history of Israel’s nuclear bomb development in 2001 in our first Prophecy Updates some 31 years after I retired from the USAF Branch of the NSA, but due to requests in 2004, I placed it in our Blogs. Since the same subject came up again in the excerpt from the Jerusalem Post on December 12, 2008, I am placing it before the two excerpts on the U.S. Umbrella protection and spying.

Begin 2004 Updated History of the Development of Israeli Nuclear Weapons

The Forty-Eight Year History of Nuclear Development in Israel!

I have recently received queries, from scanners of our web, for an updated outline of Israel’s historical nuclear development. Israel has maintained two nuclear reactors since 1960. The Nahal Soreq reactor has been used for peaceful nuclear pursuits, while the one at Dimona has been used for nuclear weapon production. The United States has walked a tightrope to avoid association with the production of nuclear weapons at Dimona, but has supplied enriched uranium for the Nahal Soreq facility. My interest has always been focused historically on the Dimona Site. This was ElBaradei’s second visit to Israel. In 1998 he met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visited the smaller research facility at Nahal Soreq. But he is not allowed to visit the Dimona Site.

1956 – Israel asked France to build a nuclear reactor in return for its cooperation in the 1956 recovery of the Suez from its takeover by Egypt.

1957 – The French began to build an atomic reactor at Dimona in the Negev.

1960 – The 24 megawatt reactor was completed, supposedly for the purpose of generating commercial power.

After the French left, the Israelis jacked it up to 150 megawatts in order to build atomic bombs.

1960 – Israel got a small nuclear reactor from the United States as a cover for the Dimona atomic bomb project. It was not to be used in the production of nuclear weapons. It was placed at Nahal Soreq, and has been running on enriched uranium supplied by the United States since its installation. Nahal Soreq is located southwest of Jerusalem. In 1978 the United States Congress passed a law forbidding the provision of nuclear fuel to countries which have nuclear facilities not monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Nahal Soreq reactor is monitored by the IAEA, but the Dimona reactor is not. The Dimona reactor produces plutonium for Israel’s nuclear weapons. The Israeli government has refused to return any of the enriched uranium stores it received from the U.S. before 1978, and is continuing to use them to fire the Nahal Soreq reactor.

1964 – The first atomic bomb was completed. I will not discuss where, or how, it was tested.

1967 – Egyptian overflights of Dimona in May caused Israel to launch pre-emptive strikes in June against her Arab neighbors because of the fear of three pronged air strikes against her nuclear facility, and the Six Day War began. Israel had a few atomic bombs at that time, but did not use them.

1968 – About 200 tons of yellowcake (crude uranium) was smuggled into Israel in December off a Liberian tanker. Israel continued to use its enriched U.S supplied uranium for its Nahal Soreq reactor.

(It was not from Liberia, but I will not reveal what country supplied it, only that it was not the United States)

1969 – Israel developed its first hydrogen bomb. I will not discuss how, or where, it was tested.

1973 – Israel was attacked by its Islamic neighbors, but does not use its numerous nuclear weapons.

2004 – Israel has at least 200 nuclear warheads. Many are mounted on Jericho missiles in the Negev wilderness. These missiles are capable of reaching all targets in the Islamic kingdoms of the Middle East.

Israel also has more than enough chemical and biological warheads to launch against any nation that launches the same against her. I do not believe Israel will launch chemical, biological, or nuclear warheads unless they are first launched against her. If the armies of Islam are able to drive her into the Negev without launching any of the aforementioned types of warheads against her, and will stop their advance north of Beersheba, I do not believe that Israel will launch her warheads against them.

End 2004 Updated History of the Development of Israel’s Nuclear Weapons

Begin Excerpt 1 from Middle East On Line

Bush’s Parting Gift to Israel

In accepting that it must rely on a US shield, Israel may have answered the Middle East’s biggest question of 2008: will it launch a go-it-alone strike against Iran’s presumed nuclear weapons program? Notes

By Jonathan Cook.

December 20, 2008

Almost unnoticed, Israel and the White House signed a deal over the summer to station an early-warning missile radar system, staffed with US military personnel, in Israel’s Negev desert. The media here described the Joint Tactical Ground Station, which brings Israel under the US protective umbrella against missile attack, as a “parting gift” from President Bush as he prepared to leave office.

The siting of what is likely to become America’s first permanent base on Israeli soil was apparently not easily agreed by local defense officials. Aware of the country’s vulnerability to missile strikes, they have been trying to develop their own defenses – so far without success – against the varying threats posed by Palestinian Qassam rockets, Hizbullah’s Katyushas, and Iran and Syria’s more sophisticated arsenal.

In finally accepting that it must rely on the US shield, Israel may have answered the Middle East’s biggest question of 2008: will it launch a go-it-alone strike against Iran’s presumed nuclear weapons program?

The local media reported that the early-warning station would limit Israel’s freedom to attack Iran since it would be the prime target for a retaliatory strike, endangering the lives of US personnel. Or as the Haaretz newspaper noted, Israeli officials viewed the radar system “as a signal of Washington’s opposition to an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program”.

Although ostensibly the warm relations between Israel and the US are unchanged, in reality recent events are forcing a reluctant Israel to submit to the increasingly smothering embrace of Washington.

Tel Aviv has long seen itself as a military ally of the US, largely sharing and assisting in the realization of Washington’s strategic objectives.

But it has also prized a degree of independence, especially the right to pursue its own agenda in the Middle East.

For some time, the key point of difference between the two has been over the benefits of “stability.” US planners have promoted regional calm as a way of maintaining American control over the flow of oil. In practice, this has meant keeping the Arab peoples, and Arab nationalism, in check by bolstering reliable dictators.

In contrast, Israel has preferred instability, believing that weak and fractious neighbours can be more easily manipulated. A series of invasions of Lebanon to accentuate ethnic divisions there and the fueling of civil war in the occupied Palestinian territories have been the template for Israel’s wider regional vision.

The implicit tension in the Israeli-US alliance surfaced with the ascendance under President George W. Bush of the neocons, who argued that Washington’s agenda should be synonymous with Israel’s. The US occupation and dismemberment of Iraq was the apotheosis of the White House’s application of the Israeli doctrine.

The neocons’ partial fall from grace began with Israel’s failure to crush Hizbullah in Lebanon more than two years ago. All the evidence suggests that both Israel and the neocons regarded Hizbullah’s defeat as the necessary prelude to a US attack on Tehran. Israel’s loss of nerve during the month-long war – attributed by critics like the former defense minister, Moshe Arens, to the general softening and feminisation of Israeli society – proved the country’s once-celebrated martial talents were on the decline.

In the war’s immediate wake, there was much discussion in Israel about how such a high-profile failure might damage the country’s standing in the eyes of its US sponsor. Penance arrived in the form of the exculpations of the Winograd post-mortem – and with it the inevitable undoing of Ehud Olmert as prime minister. Washington’s stables, meanwhile, were cleaned out less ostentatiously.

But where does this leave Israel? Certainly not friendless in Washington, as cheerleaders like AIPAC and the fawning of US presidential candidates amply demonstrate. But the relationship is changing: it looks increasingly as though Israel is turning from US ally to protectorate.

The consequences are already visible in the buckling of Israel’s commitment to launch a unilateral attack on Iran. Months of bellicose talk have been mostly stilled. A few believe this is the quiet before the storm of a joint US and Israeli strike. More likely it is the sign of an Israeli-fueled war agenda running out of steam.

Washington, already overstretched in the Middle East and facing concerted opposition to its policies from China and Russia, seems resigned to living with an Iranian nuclear bomb. In the new climate that means Israel will have to accept that it is no longer the only bully on the Middle East block. Israel is on the verge of its very own regional Cold War.

As in the earlier Cold War, this one will be played out through alliances and proxies. But there the similarity ends. Iran is emerging as a regional superpower, quickly developing the financial and military clout to sponsor other actors in the region, most obviously Hamas and Hizbullah.

Israel, on the other hand, is losing ground – quite literally, as the radar base reveals. It can no longer impose its own agenda or build alliances on its own terms. Its strength is becoming increasingly, and transparently, dependent on US approval.

The most immediate and tangible effects will be felt by the Palestinians, though their plight is not likely to let up any time soon. Just as before, Israel needs a long-term solution to the Palestinian problem, but cannot concede on the creation of a viable Palestinian state.

Now, however, it no longer has the luxury of biding its time as it dispossesses the Palestinians. It needs to find a solution before an Iranian bomb – and an ever-more confident Hamas and Hizbullah – force a settlement on Palestine not to its liking.

Israel is therefore engaging in a frenzy of West Bank settlement building – up six times on a year ago – not seen since Oslo. It only appears paradoxical that, just as Israel’s leadership is intoning the end of a Greater Israel, the most influential and optimistic supporters of a two-state solution on both sides – including Sari Nusseibeh and Shlomo Ben Ami – have been reading the last rites of Palestinian statehood.

This disillusionment, it might be expected, would provoke a new re solution towards a one-state

solution among Israeli and Palestinian peace activists. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even the Palestinian leadership’s growing threats that it might adopt a one-state campaign are little more than that: blackmail designed to galvanize Israeli public opinion behind two states.
Instead of a fledgling state, however, Israel is creating a series of holding pens for the Palestinians – or “warehouses,” as the Israeli peace activist Jeff Halper has referred to them – on the last vestiges of the occupied territories.

For Halper, warehousing means containing the Palestinians at minimal economic and political cost to Israel as it steals more territory.

But is the warehousing of the Palestinians intended by Israel to be the equivalent of storing unwanted books? Or, to continue this disturbing metaphor, are the Palestinians being warehoused so that at a later date they can be given away – or, worse still, pulped?

The answer again suggests Israel’s growing dependence on the US. Washington has for some time been strong-arming the Sunni Arab world, especially loyal regimes like Egypt and Jordan, against Shia Iran. With its back to the wall, Israel appears willing to use this leverage to its own advantage.

Its leaders are increasingly thinking of “peace” terms that, passing over the heads of the Palestinians, will be directed at their neighbours in Jordan and Egypt. A regional solution requires a further entrenchment of the physical and political divisions between the two “halves” of the occupied territories, with control over the Palestinian parts of the West Bank handed to Jordan and Gaza to Egypt.

It is a sign of the terminal loss of faith in their leaders and Israeli good faith that the latest poll of Palestinians shows 42 percent want their government-in-waiting, the Palestinian Authority, dismantled. More than a quarter are ready to abandon the dream of independent nationhood, preferring instead the establishment of a joint state with Jordan.

Palestine’s fate, it seems, rests on the resolve of the Arab world. It is not a reassuring prospect.

Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East” (Pluto Press) and “Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair” (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net. A version of this article originally appeared in Adbusters Magazine.

Begin Article 2 from the Jerusalem Post

‘US spies on Israel to gain info on its atomic capabilities’

December 12, 2008

JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

The United States routinely attempts to gather in formation

on Israel’s assumed atomic arsenal and secret government deliberations, a new official history of Israel’s intelligence services, reviewed by Reuters, says.

While espionage by allies on their friends is not uncommon, a new Israeli state-sponsored publication acknowledges it openly. Bilateral ties have been especially touchy in this regard since a Jewish US Navy analyst, Jonathan Pollard, was jailed for life in the US for treason in 1987 for passing classified documents to Israel.

The book “Masterpiece: An Inside Look at Sixty Years of Israeli Intelligence,” claims American spy agencies use technologies like electronic eavesdropping, and specially trained staff located in the US embassy in Tel Aviv, for “methodical intelligence gathering.”

“The United States has been after Israel’s non-conventional capabilities and what goes on at the decision-making echelons,” says the book in a chapter on counter-espionage written by Barak Ben-Zur, a retired Shin Bet officer.

Asked about the assertions, the US embassy spokesman said only: “We don’t comment on intelligence matters.”

Israel is widely believed to have been armed with nuclear weapons since the late 1960s, but a policy of “strategic ambiguity” has prevented state officials in the know to confirm or deny the claims.

While successive US administrations have accepted this reticence, Israel’s so-called “bomb in the basement” has been a worry for Washington – especially during the Six Day War of 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when fighting inflamed the wider Cold War.

Declassified Pentagon documents published in a 2004 book about then US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld estimated that Israel had 80 nuclear warheads. Last May, former US President Jimmy Carter put the number of Israeli bombs at around 150. The estimates on Israel’s nuclear arsenal range from about 80 to more than 200, as do estimates on its launching capabilities, which apart from ballistic missiles may or may not include special custom-designed torpedoes.

The issue has taken on new relevance recently given Western fears that Iran’s nuclear program is an attempt at acquiring a bomb; despite Teheran’s insistent denial, Israel’s policy has been not to allow any Middle Eastern state to acquire nukes. Some analysts believe Israel should instead “take thebomb out of the basement and create an overt nuclear deterrence against Iran.

Ben-Zur declined to give Reuters operational details on how the United States might be conducting its espionage on Israel. But he described the effort as largely benign, given the closeness of defense ties between Israel and Washington.

“At the end of the day, the United States does not want to be surprised,” he said. “Even by us.”

Due out later this month, “Masterpiece” is published by the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center and includes prefaces by chiefs of Israel’s military intelligence, the domestic Shin Bet and the Mossad spy service active abroad.

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http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.

You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner

from which we extracted it.