blog.Tribulationperiod.com

Obama has finally realized sanctions won’t stop Iran,

But he will play with sanctions until Iran has the Bomb,

Then he will use the US Cold War scenario of Deterrence,

The old U.S. plan of containment of Russia & China by Fear,

But Israel Is Determined to Prevent Iran from Making Nukes,

Which should make 2010 a wild, woolly Middle East Escapade!

December 9, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Begin Two Excerpts from Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Daily Alert

December 7, 2009

Excerpt 1 from Washington Post

Who Loses the Iran Game?

David Ignatius (Washington Post)

How will the confrontation over Iran’s nuclear program evolve during the next year? If a simulation game played at Harvard last week is any guide, Iran will be closer to having the bomb, and America will fail to obtain tough UN sanctions; diplomatic relations with Russia, China and Europe will be strained; and Israel will be threatening unilateral military action.

The simulation was organized by Graham Allison, the head of the Belfer Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. It was animated by the key players: Nicholas Burns, former undersecretary of state, as President Obama; and Dore Gold, Israel’s former ambassador to the UN, as Prime Minister Netanyahu.

When America asked for assurances that Israel wouldn’t attack Iran without U.S. permission, the Israeli prime minister, as played by Gold, refused to make that pledge, insisting that Israel alone must decide how to protect its security. Whereupon Burns’ president warned that if Israel did strike, contrary to U.S. interests, Washington might publicly denounce the attack.

Gold said the game clarified for him a worrying difference of opinion between U.S. and Israeli leaders: “The U.S. is moving away from preventing a nuclear Iran to containing a nuclear Iran – with deterrence based on the Cold War experience.

That became clear in the simulation.

Israel, in contrast, still believes a nuclear Iran must be prevented.”

Excerpt 2 from Politico

How the “Iran Team” Leader Viewed the Harvard Simulation

Laura Rozen (Politico)

Columbia University professor Gary Sick, a veteran National Security Council Iran hand, was the leader of the Iranian team in the Harvard simulation. His account:

The U.S. team went to work with a vengeance to get a c onsensus

on sanctions. This didn’t bother the Iran team in the least. We didn’t think they could put together a package that would hurt us in any serious way, and that proved to be true. But more important, in the process they managed to offend all of their ostensible allies and wasted so much time and effort that Iran was better off at the end than they had been at the beginning.

Since this represents a version of actual U.S. strategy over three administrations, I think there is a lesson there that is ignored at our peril.

As far as I could tell, the pursuit of s anctions was essentially

an end in itself. But does it stop Iran

? To be honest, the Iran team scarcely paid any attention to all this massive policy exertion.

We never felt that our core objectives (freedom to proceed with our nuclear plans and our growing appetite for domestic political repression) were at risk, much less the survival of our regime. We largely ignored the ineffective pressure tactics originating from the U.S.

Why was there no push to test Iran on safeguards, inspections, or other techniques that might assure the world of reliable and on-going intelligence about what Iran is doing (early warning); or restricting certain key elements of Iran’s nuclear program that would lengthen the time required to actually break out into production of a nuclear device? Nobody tried.

This game provided an opportunity for me to test my understanding of the dynamics propelling each side in the Iran debate. And the result, I am sorry to say, was even more depressing than I would have imagined.

The lesson was not so much that Iran could “win” this game so easily; it was that the U.S. and its allies were unable even to imagine any alternatives.

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WILL THE REAL LEBANESE ARMY PLEASE STAND UP?

Iran will Instruct the Hezbollah to draw Israel into Lebanon,

But this is not the time that Hezbollah with be instructed to do So,

However, I do believe Hezbollah will do so a point in time 2010 & 2015!

When Hezbollah finally leads the King of the South to charge into Lebanon,

Then a Counterattack by the King of the North will drive Israel

into the Negev,

Israel is the King of the South, Syria is the King of the North, the woman is Israel!

December 8, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Daniel 11:40 – And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

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.

Begin Excerpt from Lebanese Daily Star via World News

Netanyahu: Hizbullah is Lebanon’s ‘real army’

By Patrick Galey

Daily Star Staff

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

BEIRUT: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Lebanese government on Monday it will be held accountable for any aggression from Hizbullah after allowing the resistance to retain its weapons.

He also launched a scathing attack on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, claiming it had “collapsed” and was playing no role in preventing Hizbullah stockpiling huge arsenals of rockets.

“Hizbullah is today the real Lebanese army and it has replaced Lebanon’s army as the dominant force by arming and organizing itself as a full-fledged military,” Netanyahu told parliament’s foreign affairs and defense committee.

“The Lebanese government and Hizbullah are becoming entwined and they will bear the responsibility for any attack against Israel,” a senior official who attended the meeting quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Lebanon’s cabinet statement faces a vote of confidence this week and article six – concerning Hizbullah’s right to bear arms – is one of its most controversial issues.

The ongoing debate surrounding Hizbullah’s arms is set to be discussed during the National Dialogue sessions, Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on Sunday.

Netanyahu’s comments are the latest in a string of threats fired from Tel Aviv warning the Lebanese government that Israel will not tolerate Hizbullah’s integration into Beirut’s political sphere.

Israel claims that Hizbullah has tightened its grip on southern security affairs since 2006 and maintains that the group continues to increase its weapons stockpile, receiving arms across Lebanon’s porous border with Syria.

Retired Army General Elias Hanna said the timing of Netanyahu’s outburst was designed to scrutinize the Lebanese Cabinet when its policy statement was under review.

“[Netanyahu] is trying to bypass Hizbullah and put some pressure on the government,” he said.

Hanna also disputed Netanyahu’s claim that the resistance represented

the best military force in Lebanon.

“From a technical point of view, the Lebanese Army is deployed in the presence of Hizbullah in the south,” he said. “But Hizbullah is not the best army in Lebanon, nor is it the best military player in Lebanon.”

Hizbullah, however, remained the most effective armed contingent for repelling Israeli aggression, he added.

“The way Hizbullah fought against Israel is the best way to fight against Israel,” he said. “The Lebanese Army never had experience of 34 days standing against the strongest army in the Middle East.”

Netanyahu also criticized the continuing mandate of Resolution 1701, claiming it was having little or no affect on Hizbullah’s ability to launch military action.
“Resolution 1701 does not withstand the test of reality.

Resolution 1701 has collapsed,” he said.

Resolution 1701 – drafted to end Israel’s devastating July-August 2006 war on Lebanon and recently extended until August 2010 – forbids the presence of arms within Lebanon outside of state control.

“Resolution 1701, as an international agreement aimed at preventing Hizbullah’s rearmament, has totally failed. The number of rockets Hizbullah possesses today is much larger” than before the July-August war of 2006, Netanyahu added.

Andrea Tenenti, United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) deputy spokesman, told The Daily Star that as of Monday evening no official record of Netanyahu’s comments had been received.

UNIFIL does not comment on media reports and Tenenti said that all sides still supported Resolution 1701.

“We haven’t got anything official, so Israel’s commitment to [Resolution 1701] stands as before,” he said. “We have full commitment from all parties for the full implementation of Resolution 1701.”

Also on Monday, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michel Williams met with Hariri in Beirut’s Grand Serail. The pair discussed the implementation of Resolution 1701 and the current situation in south Lebanon.

Responding to questioning on the issue of the northern part of the occupied village of Ghajar, Williams said he was yet to hear of concrete developments. “[Ghajar] is being discussed continually with the Israelis,” he said. “It is very clear in Resolution 1701 that Israel should withdraw from the northern part of Ghajar. The discussions are continuing and I hope soon that they will move to a conclusion.” – with AFP

Begin Excerpt 2 from YNet News

Letter to Clinton: Iran trying to distract world

December 4, 2009

Members of US House of Representatives send letter to Secretary of State warning Islamic Republic may try to distract world from its nuclear program by instructing Hezbollah to launch conflict with Israel

WASHINGTON – Iran may try to distract the international community from its nuclear program by heating things up at Israel’s northern border via Hezbollah – dozens of members of the US House of Representatives wrote in a letter addressed to US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton on Friday.

The letter was sent ahead of Lebanese President Michel Suleiman’s upcoming visit to the White House, scheduled for December 14, and following the coalition agreement in the Lebanese government allowing Hezbollah to hold on to its arms.

Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Friday announced that he plans to hold his first visit to Syria since the death of his father Rafiq Hariri in 2005.

According to the letter, as talks with Iran have reached a dead end, the homes members fear the Iranian regime may try to divert the world’s attention from its nuclear program by ordering Hezbollah, its agent in south Lebanon, to open a regional conflict.

The letter went on to say that in light of the increasing number of incidents in southern Lebanon and the capture of an Iranian arms ship headed for Lebanon, they House of Representatives members are highly concerned by the potential for Iranian-sponsored escalation along the Israel-Lebanon border.

The letter was singed by Reps. Mark Kirk and Steve Israel. The two are members of the House of Representative’s Committee on Appropriations and their appeal has special significance due to the financial aid the United States grants Lebanon and the fact that Hezbollah, which is on the American terrorist list,

has become a part of the Lebanese government.

According to the letter’s signatories, despite UN Resolution 1701, Hezbollah has managed to re-arm and increase its strength since the Second Lebanon War, and it now hold power within the Lebanese government as well.

The signatories note that the US government has allocated $200 million in aid to UNIFIL forces in 2010, and an additional $100 million in military aid to the Lebanese government.

Following the granting of financial aid in such great dimensions, the letter read, the American taxpayer has the right to see results.

The United States is compelled to us its resources to take action against possible escalation along the Israel-Lebanon border, it said.

In light of the clear violations of UN Security Council resolutions, the signatories asked what actions the administration is taking to ensure the UN addresses these violations.

It continued to say the US must seek

to support stronger multilateral efforts to disarm Hezbollah and clear southern Lebanon of Iranian weapons.

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The Islamic and Jewish Perspectives of Inev ita

ble War – Part 2

The Inevitable War from Jewish Reality and Old Testament Perspective

December 8, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The excerpt by Barry Rubin in THE JERUSALEM POST faces the true reality of the impossibility of peace between Islam and Israel. The Islamic Jihad mind set is not going to chan ge

. The following paragraph from the Jerusalem Post Excerpt is the major reason there can never be peace – only war.

Begin Quote

“[Why, if the Palestinians are suffering so much, won’t they make peace? The answer: The Palestinian leadership wants total victory and Israel’s elimination. It is will ing to go on lett

ing its people suffer for a century in pursuit of that goal.

It hopes that the world will give it everything it wants without having to make any concessions. It realizes that saying “no” and letting the conflict continue gives it more – not less – leverage internationally because this makes Israel look like the guilty party and, consequently, is punished through European policies.

]”

End Quote

Begin Excerpt from THE JERUSALEM POST

The Region: Excuses, excuses

December 6, 2009

Barry Rubin , THE JERUSALEM POST

The Arab-Israeli, or Israel-Palestinian, conflict is the most misrepresented subject in the entire world.

The most basic facts are often distorted and the most fantastical of narratives provided, even in college classrooms, about what has actually happened.

On the most single important issue in this framework – why isn’t there peace, who wants and doesn’t want peace and how can peace be achieved – there is a common set of arguments against Israel.

It goes like this: How can the Palestinians make peace when they are suffering so much and when Israel builds settlements, or Israeli leaders make statements saying they want to keep some of the territory or won’t give up east Jerusalem, or do a variety of other things? The idea that the Palestinians don’t yearn for peace, are eagerly trying to make some kind of agreement, but are only stopped by Israeli intransigence seems completely self-evident to the point that any challenge of this idea is ridiculed, ignored or treated as some kind of

By the way, many of the things said are factually wrong. Israel has neither constructed new settlements nor expanded their boundaries for 15 years. But for the moment let’s leave aside the factual issues.

Nothing could be simpler than to answer these claims.

If the Palestinians are miserable and want to get rid of settlements they have and have had a very simple solution: make peace. Their “interest,” in the framework of these claims, would be to make a good deal for themselves as fast as possible.

Yet they have refused to do so on numerous occasions going back decades. In fact, this is the 30th anniversary of the Egypt-Israel agreement at Camp David which first opened the door to a Palestinian state. Then there was the Reagan plan and US-PLO dialogue of the 1980s, followed by the peace process of the 1990s, the Camp David II and president Bill Clinton offers of 2000, and the offer of prime minister Ehud Olmert (who was absolutely desperate for a deal to save his political career) and most recently the Israeli cabinet’s peace plan.

If the Palestinians made a deal, they would get an independent state with its capital in east Jerusalem.

They would enjoy tremendous sympathy in the West to help them get the best possible terms. What wouldn’t they get? They’d have to swap, say, 3 percent or 4% of the West Bank in exchange for an equal amount of Israeli land and they wouldn’t get all of east Jerusalem.

That’s about it. Oh, and they’d also get many billions of dollars in compensation.

What else would they have to give up

? They’d have to agree that a peace treaty ended the conflict, which makes sense.

They’d have to resettle Palestinian refugees in Palestine, which also makes sense. They might well have to accept security guarantees for Israel and some limits on their own armaments. But, okay, they could bargain on that and get the best deal possible.

Again, though, there would be no Jewish settlements on Palestinian state soil, though some would become part of Israel due to the land swaps.

NOTE THAT right now the Palestinian Authority is refusing to negotiate at all, nominally because Israel is building a few apartments in Jerusalem. So what? That should be an incentive to negotiate faster so that the construction doesn’t go on and on, becoming even more irreversible.

Why is it so hard for people to understand these basic points? Of course, they have been misinformed and nobody’s pointed these things out to them. To some extent, the demonization of Israel has distorted their comprehension.

But the truly fundamental problem is that understanding that the solution for the Palestinians is to make a peace agreement – and that Israel isn’t blocking this outcome – is that it leaves them with a paradox to resolve: Why, if the Palestinians are suffering so much, won’t they make peace?

The answer: The Palestinian leadership wants total victory and Israel’s elimination. It is willing to go on letting its people suffer for a century in pursuit of that goal. It hopes that the world will give it everything it wants without having to make any concessions. It realizes that saying “no” and letting the conflict continue gives it more – not less – leverage internationally because this makes Israel look like the guilty party and, consequently, is punished through European policies.

So the arguments being made by Westerners who think they are being sympathetic to a suffering people just don’t make sense. In fact, they make things worse.

Indeed, they are part of a Palestinian strategy to avoid making peace and encourage such intransigence.

Again, the calculation goes something like this: The longer the Palestinians refuse to make peace, the more people will blame Israel, turn away from it and pressure it into unilateral concessions. This is a masochistic-based approach, a willingness to suffer in exchange for gain, and a gain that partly comes from many onlookers’ inability to believe that anyone could use such tactics.

And yet the truth is right out in the open.

Don’t like settlements? Don’t like “occupation?” Then make peace and get rid of these things.

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WHY IS The Future Islam And Israel WAR Inevitable?

Because Islam’s Strategic Perception of War is Definite,

And it holds up the Religious Perceptive Jihad Allah Akbar,

DUE to BELIEF in

Allah, the Koran, and Prophet Muhammad!

The final WAR of this age is a RELIGIOUS war with the Islamic Antichrist,

Empowered by his father Satan, and there is no way it can be Prevented,

The writings of the Old Testament, New Testament, and Koran predicted It,

Three great religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all confirm its Reality!

December 7, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

QUOTE FROM THE MEMRI EXCERPT WHICH FOLLOWS OUR HEADING

“[Sa’d Al-Din Al-Shazli: There will definitel

y be more wars.

This is based on our belief in God, the Koran, and the Prophet Muhammad.]”

I readily confess that my perception of Middle East events is extremely biased on what the three great faiths of the Age of the Gentiles perceived to be inevitable.

I am certain the final war MUST come by faith.

My guesstimate as to WHEN it will begin is based on the occurrence of events now falling into place, which point to it as starting at some point in time between 2010 and 2015, with the most likely time in that frame being 2013 to 2015.

Begin Excerpt from Middle East Media Review Institute (MEMRI)

August 17 and September 14, 2009 Clip No. 2244

Former Egyptian Chief of Staff Sa’d Al-Din Shazli: There Will Definitely Be More Wars between the Arabs and Israel

Following are excerpts from two interviews with former Egyptian chief of staff Sa’d Al-Din Al-Shazli, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on August 17, 2009 and September 14, 2009.

[…]

The [Soviets] said to us openly, even in the days of Gamal Abd Al-Nasser: “We supply [arms] to you so that you can retrieve the land you lost in June 1967, but the destruction of Israel is where we draw the line.”

Interviewer: That’ s an important point.

Sa’d Al-Din Al-Shazli: Of course. Who are we to destroy Israel?! There was still a long way to go… They could give us weapons, knowing for sure that we were a long way from destroying Israel, which was the red line of the USSR vis-à-vis the US. Obviously, this could be done only under a different intern

ational balance of power.

Interviewer: If you had destroyed Israel’s military force in the Sinai and the “Seam Line,” this would be tantamount to the destruction of Israel.

Sa’d Al-Din Al-Shazli: No, no. Even if we had destroyed their armored brigades, we could not have reached the straits. We could not reach the straits as long as the Israeli air force was in place. We did not yet have mobile air defense systems.

There was still a long way to go. The destruction of Israel is still difficult to accomplish. The [Soviets] helped us only to retrieve our land, and even this – in stages.

[…]

Interviewer: Do you expect future wars between the Arabs and Israel, or was the October 1973

war the last war, as some people have claimed?

Sa’d Al-Din Al-Shazli: There will definitely be more wars. This is based on our belief in God, the Koran, and the Prophet Muhammad.

Interviewer: So you do not ignore the aspect of faith…

Sa’d Al-Din Al-Shazli: Absolutely not. Without the aspect of faith, we could not have done a thing. Without faith, we are nothing. Like any regular person, faith is the basis for everything. The words “Allah Akbar” are a central component of victory. The great thing is that this religious perception is supported by the strategic perception, which says that sooner or later, the Arabs will definitely defeat the Jews, or defeat Israel.

Interviewer: That is the strategic perception?

Sa’d Al-Din Al-Shazli: This is definite.

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NUMBER of CHRISTIAN Jews in ISRAEL Continues to Climb,

There Will Be A NEGEV REMNANT of 144,000 CHRISTIAN Jews,

Led by the Two Witnesses and They will give Glory to Their God,

By Testifying to the Remnant of the WOMAN that JESUS IS the Messiah!

The Seed of the Woman is Jesus the Son of God whom the 144,000 Trust,

The Woman is the Remnant of Israel that flees into the Negev in Zechariah,

The Woman numbers 1/3 of Israel (Some 2 Million) &Christian Jews 144, 000!

December 7, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Revelation 12:5,6 – And she (Israel) brought forth a man child (her Seed), who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. [6] And the woman (Israel) fled into the wilderness (Negev), where she hath a place prepared of God, that they (friendly nations) should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days (1260 days).

Zechariah 13:8 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be LEFT THEREIN.

NOT “LEFT THEREIN” JORDAN AT PETRA – NOT “LEFT THEREIN” THE UNITED STATES – NOT “LEFT WITHIN” ANY OTHER PLACE THAN THE BORDERS OF ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WILL BE THEIR WAR CONTINGENCY EVACUATION AREA CHOSEN IN 1948 – IT WILL BE THE NEGEV!

Revelation 12:17 – And the dragon was wroth with the woman (2 million Jews), and went to make war with the remnant (the 144,000) of her seed (Jesus Christ), which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 11:3 – And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Revelation 11:7 – And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

Revelation 11:12 – And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.

Revelation 11:13 – And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant (144,000) were affrighted, and GAVE GLORY to the God of heaven.

Begin Excerpt from THE JERUSALEM POST

‘Haredim torched messianic Jew’s car’

December 3, 2009

BEN HARTMAN , THE JERUSALEM POST

Beit She’an police on Wednesday

arrested two haredi residents on suspicion they torched a car belonging to a local messianic Jew late Tuesday night. The car was parked next to the city’s police station when it was burned.

The two suspects’ remands were extended until Sunday.

Police are probing whether the incident is linked to rising tensions over what some Jews in the area are calling missionary activities on the part of some Christians.

Beit She’an has a relatively large population of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, some

of them Christians or messianic Jews.

The owner of the car, Eliav Levine, identifies with the messianic Jewish community and has lived with his family in Beit She’an for a year and a half.

Originally from the former Soviet Union, Levine and his family have been subjected to repeated harassment by local Orthodox Jews, Levine’s attorney said Wednesday.

In a letter sent to Israel Police Insp.-Gen. David Cohen on Wednesday, attorney Calev Myer, a senior legal adviser at the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, said that the family had been subjected to repeated verbal abuse and harassment.

Myer said in the wake of Tuesday’s arson that “the apparent indifference exhibited by the police toward extremist haredi activists leaves innocent citizens exposed to grave danger, simply because of their religious affiliation.”

Myer also called on Cohen to fight violence against messianic Jews “before it is too late, before this harassment takes a toll in human life.”

In a press release issued Wednesday, Myer, who provides legal representation for messianic Jews in Israel, said that “haredi extremists” had turned the life of the Levine family “into a living hell just because of their religious beliefs,” adding that the family “lives in fear for their lives.”

Last April, Myer wrote, assailants tried to torch another automobile belonging to the Levine family when it was parked outside their house. The fire, ignited outside the bedroom of their children, aged three and five, was extinguished, but caused thousands of shekels in damage.

The family subsequently moved, but according to Myer and Levine, the harassment continued, with unknown people spreading rumors about the family to their neighbors.

The harassment included an incident around a month ago, when haredi men drove around the Levine family’s neighborhood in a car with speakers on top, announcing that the neighborhood must expel “the Christian missionaries who are paying neighborhood children money in order to baptize them as Christians.”

The Levine family has denied all such claims of bribing children or conducting missionary activities.

Levine told The Jerusalem Post that “there is some fear, we have no clue what could happen next.”

Levine said the family has installed a security camera outside their home, partly because they feel that police have not done enough to stop the harassment.

Levine recalled several incidents of harassment, including a landlord who demanded they leave their apartment only two months into a one-year lease, after he found out they were messianic Jews.

He also said one of his children reported being taken out of class at school and questioned by Beit She’an religious authorities about the family’s religious beliefs, without her parents being notified.

Levine denied that they are missionaries.

“We are not missionaries, we are Jews who believe in Jesus and pray with other Jews from Russia who also believe in Jesus,” he said.

Levine said the family drives to Nazareth Illit on Shabbat, where they attend prayer services in the home of other messianic Jews.

Levine said that in spite of the harassment, the family has no intention of leaving Beit She’an.

“We want to stay here. We don’t see any reason for us to leave,” Levine said.

Rabbi Shalom Lipshitz, chairman of Yad L’Achim, a religious Jewish outreach group that fights missionary activities in Israel, said the group does not

in any way condone violent acts.

“We don’t justify any sort of violence at all and we are against it, it only makes our work that much harder,” Lipshitz said, adding that the arsonist was “just a stupid man who went out and did something stupid. What did he gain from this?”

A spokesman for the Galilee Police told the Post on Wednesday that police are still checking possible motives and are not convinced that the only possibility is the arson was linked to religious tensions.

He said that local police were not aware of other violent incidents of this nature that they could link to tension between Jews and Christians in the Galilee.

The spokesperson also denied that the Levine family were messianic Jews, saying they were Christians.

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from which we extracted it.