VFI News October 30, 2020

Jewish and pro-Israel politicians and organizations have praised the US-brokered normalization agreement between Israel and Sudan.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) called Friday’s announcement “a historic milestone.”

“We applaud the courageous leadership of both nations for taking this step… in facilitating this significant diplomatic breakthrough,” AIPAC said in a statement.

“Fifty-three years ago, Arab leaders gathered in Sudan to declare ‘no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, and no negotiations with [Israel].’ Today’s announcement is a major breakthrough in eroding tired, old shibboleths that have led to division and conflict,” the statement added.

AIPAC also called on other Arab leaders, “particularly Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas,” to negotiate with Israel. (JPost / VFI News)

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. - 2 Thessalonians 3:16

“God, we ask that you continue to bless and heal Israel and all her allies.”

Hamas is very concerned about the normalization of relations between Sudan and Israel. Sudan, a Sunni Muslim state, has for many years been a convenient setting for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas and a vital smuggling route for weapons from Iran into the Gaza Strip because of its location along the Red Sea.

The Israel-Sudan agreement is a double whammy to Iran and Hamas alike.

On October 23, Hamas issued a statement condemning the agreement, calling on the Sudanese people to “fight all forms of normalization and have nothing to do with the criminal enemy.”

Hamas’ statement warned that the agreement would not bring stability to Sudan, would not improve its situation, “and would tear up Sudan itself.”

Sudan was a terrorist-supporting state that hosted al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden and even embraced Hamas. This policy was conducted by Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan from 1989 to 2019, dispersed the National Assembly and governed by martial sharia law. (INN / VFI News)

Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but those who plan peace have joy. - Proverbs 12:20

“God, we ask that you continue to sow peace among the people, and that the forces of evil be weakened under the pressure.”

The United States believes it killed seven senior leaders of al-Qaeda in Syria in an airstrike last week as they were meeting near the Turkish border, US Central Command said Monday.

A Central Command spokeswoman, Major Beth Riordan, said the strike was conducted in Idlib, in northwest Syria, on October 22. She did not identify the seven leaders by name.

‘The removal of these AQ-S leaders will disrupt the terrorist organization's ability to further plot and carryout global attacks threatening U.S. citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians,’ she said.

‘AQ-S takes advantage of the instability in northwest Syria to establish and maintain safe havens to coordinate terrorist activities,’ she added. ‘With our allies and partners, we will continue to target al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.’

In total 17 jihadists died in the strike, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (DM / VFI News)

But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. - Amos 5:24

Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis met with his Greek counterpart Development and Investment Minister Adonis Georgiadis in Athens on Monday, during which they agreed upon establishing a regional economic conference between the respective governments.

The conference will be attended by, Israel, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Cyprus and will rotate between being held first in Jerusalem before being held next in Athens. The goal behind establishing the conference is to promote economic ventures benefiting the entire region, in addition to promoting investments in both Israel and Greece.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs and Cooperation Kosta Fragkogiannis and Deputy Minister for Development and Investment Nikos Papathanasis. (JPost / VFI News)

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. - John 14:14

“God, we ask that you continue to provide for all your children in need.”

The US on Monday slapped fresh sanctions on Iran's oil sector including over sales to Syria and Venezuela.

Under the new measures, the administration designated the National Iranian Oil Company, Iran's petroleum ministry and the National Iranian Tanker Company under a counterterrorism authority.

The Treasury Department issued the sanctions by linking the three entities to the Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force which was earlier designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and whose commander, Qassem Soleimani, was killed in a US attack at Baghdad airport in January.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the sanctions should send a warning to "the few remaining buyers of Iranian crude oil."

"These designations are an important step in the maximum pressure campaign to limit the Iranian regime's ability to threaten its neighbors and destabilize the Middle East," Pompeo said in a statement. (INN / VFI News)

“God, we ask that you use these measures to bring peace and justice throughout the world.”

A federal judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit in which a Muslim civil rights group sought to block the state of Maryland from enforcing its ban on contracting with businesses that boycott Israel.

US District Judge Catherine Blake didn’t reach a decision on whether the executive order that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed in October 2017 is constitutional.

The judge ruled that a software engineer who is named as the lawsuit’s plaintiff hasn’t shown he has suffered any “direct injury” giving him the legal standing to challenge the order.

The order bars the state from doing business with companies that boycott Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, and requires contractors to certify in writing that they do not boycott Israel. The order was called “Prohibiting Discriminatory Boycotts of Israel in State Procurement.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) sued Hogan and state Attorney General Brian Frosh on behalf of software engineer Syed Saqib Ali, a former state legislator. CAIR argued the order has an unconstitutional chilling effect on First Amendment-protected political advocacy supporting Palestinian Arabs. (INN / VFI News)

Fragments of nails believed to have been used in Jesus’s crucifixion have ancient wood and fragments of bone on them, according to a new study.

The fragments appeared for the first time after a 1990 excavation of a burial site of Caiaphas, the high priest who organized a plot to kill Jesus according to the New Testament.

Scholars at the time slammed the suggestion, denying the nails that Israeli filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici had found were the same ones from Caiaphas’s tomb.

Last week, Aryeh Shimron, a retired Jerusalem-based geologist who led a new study on these fragments, discovered that the nails were the same ones taken from the Caiaphas site and were also used to crucify someone.

“Within the rust and sediment attached to the nails, we also identified and photographed a number of microscopic fragments of bone,” he said.

“I believe that the scientific evidence that the nails were used to crucify somebody is indeed powerful,” Shimron said. (JPost / VFI News)

When Ryan Sherriff took the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays in the top of the seventh inning on Friday night to face the Los Angeles Dodgers and pitched a scoreless inning, little did he know what type of exclusive group he was about to join.

Sherriff added his name to a club that Sandy Koufax belongs to – a Jewish Hall of Fame pitcher featured in the World Series. And one whose maternal grandparents, Helen and Seymour Wildfeuer, were Holocaust survivors to boot.

In Sunday’s Game 5, Sherriff once again came on in relief and pitched a perfect eighth inning by retiring Max Muncy, Will Smith and Cody Bellinger down in order. Despite the Rays losing the game 4-2 and giving the Dodgers a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, Sherriff did his job with a 3-up-and-3-down inning. (JPost /VFI New)