Israeli Embassy to Ukraine Evacuates to Lviv

Feb 25, 2022

Putin Invading Ukraine - VFI News Feb 24th, 2022

Putin Recognizes Ukraine Separatist Territories as Independent, Defying West

Foreign Ministry Issues Fresh Call for Israelis in Ukraine to Leave Immediately

Netanyahu Warns US Congress Members: No Accord Will Stop Iran’s Nuclear Program

Our Vision for Israel – Batya & Barry Segal

Israel Looks to Increase Trade with Morocco to $500 Million

Jordan’s King Abdullah Kept Secret Swiss Bank Accounts to Hide Vast Wealth

Israel is 6th-Most Expensive Country in the World for Groceries

New Analysis of 3,200-Year-Old Lead Ingots Sinks Theories About Bronze Age Trade

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Foreign Ministry issues fresh call for Israelis to leave Ukraine & Putin recognizes Ukraine separatist territories! Check out this video for more info on what's going on in Ukraine right now! 

#Ukraine #Russia #Putin #Biden #Invation #Evacuate #concerts #territories #embassy #Israel 

00:39 - Putin recognizes Ukraine separatist territories

01:47 - Putin accuses Nato of ignoring Russian concerns

02:25 - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson accuses  Russia of ‘breaching international law’

03:24 - Israeli embassy to Ukraine evacuates to Lviv

05:19 - Foreign Ministry issues fresh call for Israelis to leave Ukraine

06:49 - Putin laid out his Ukraine invasion rationale back in July 2021

10:49 - Biden outraged at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

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The Israeli embassy to Ukraine officially evacuated to Lviv on Tuesday, February 22, moving from the capital in Kyiv after Russia declared separatist areas of Donetsk and Luhansk to be independent republics, a likely escalation against Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid emphasized that he is prioritizing the safety of Israel’s emissaries and citizens in Ukraine, as well as that of the local Jewish community.

Lapid thanked Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky and his staff for smoothly evacuating the embassy in Kyiv, which is farther east than Lviv and therefore closer to the area of conflict. Israel has been providing consular services in Lviv for citizens seeking to return since last week.

The Foreign Ministry reiterated its call for all Israeli citizens to leave Ukraine immediately.

Lapid also thanked Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, and Hungary for coordinating with Israel in advance of the possibility that Israelis will need to be evacuated by land. Israeli diplomats in those countries visited border crossings with Ukraine in recent days and held meetings with the border authorities to ensure passage for Israelis.

Despite the efforts and the government’s entreaties over the past week, only about 4,000 out of an estimated 12,000 Israelis had left Ukraine as of Monday. (JPost / VFI News)

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. - Joshua 1:9

The articles included in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Vision for Israel. We try to provide accurate reporting on news pertinent to Israel, the Middle East, the diaspora, and Jewish issues around the world—and we hope that you find it both informative and useful for intercessory prayer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, February 21, recognized the independence of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine and paved the way to provide them with military support — a direct challenge to the West that will fuel fears that Russia could imminently invade Ukraine.

The carefully staged move announced in the Kremlin could lead to new sanctions on Russia and flies in the face of European efforts for a diplomatic solution to the escalating crisis, which has brought East-West relations to a new low and jeopardized trade. Britain’s prime minister called it a “breach of international law.”

It came amid a spike in skirmishes in the eastern regions that Western powers believe Russia could use as a pretext for an attack on the western-looking democracy that has defied Moscow’s attempts to pull it back into its orbit. 

Putin justified his decision in a far-reaching, pre-recorded speech blaming NATO for the current crisis and calling the US-led alliance an existential threat to Russia. Sweeping through more than a century of history, he painted today’s Ukraine as a modern construct that is inextricably linked to Russia. He charged that Ukraine had inherited Russia’s historic lands and after the Soviet collapse was used by the West to contain Russia.

Ukrainians shrugged off the move as meaningless, but it remains a fundamental blow to their country, eight years after fighting erupted in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces.

After his speech, Putin signed decrees in the Kremlin recognizing those regions’ independence and called on lawmakers to approve measures paving the way for military support. (TOI / VFI News)

And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. - Matthew 24:6

The Foreign Ministry on Saturday, February 19, issued a fresh call for Israelis in Ukraine to immediately leave the country, amid growing Western warnings of a looming Russian invasion.

The ministry made the appeal after holding a situational assessment and following talks that director-general Alon Ushpiz held with unspecified figures at the Munich Security Conference.

A Foreign Ministry statement also cited “the events in eastern Ukraine,” apparently referring to intensifying clashes there between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists.

“An eruption [of war] will be quick and severe,” the statement said.

The ministry said it decided to keep Israeli Ambassador Michael Brodsky in Kyiv to assist Israelis seeking to leave. He and embassy staff will open the consular section on Sunday “to provide travel documents to citizens that require this,” according to the statement.

The Foreign Ministry also said it was keeping tabs on the decisions by the US and Britain to move their embassies in Kyiv to the city of Lviv, “with the aim of safeguarding the lives of the State of Israel’s envoys in Ukraine while providing a response to Israeli citizens.”

The Foreign Ministry issued a travel warning for Ukraine last weekend and urged Israelis in the country to immediately leave, a call repeated throughout the week by Israeli officials. These pleas have been met with a mixed response.

In an interview with The Times of Israel on Tuesday at his Kyiv office, Brodsky said Israelis should immediately leave Ukraine and not count on rescue flights to extract them if war breaks out.

The Foreign Ministry’s latest appeal came as Germany and France urged their citizens to leave Ukraine, as deadly clashes broke out between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists, and Moscow test-fired nuclear-capable missiles in a defiant show of force.

Both German airline Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines said they would stop flights to Kyiv and Odesa from Monday until the end of February but would maintain flights to western Ukraine.

“God, we ask that you keep your children safe from impending war, terror, and destruction.”

Opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu told a group of visiting members of the US House of Representatives that no signed agreement would ever stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, and insisted that only stiff sanctions and military action would be effective.

Dozens of Congress members from both the Republican and Democratic parties are in Israel this week, meeting with local officials on a trip organized by the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation.

Western officials have indicated that negotiations between world powers and Iran to restore the faltering 2015 nuclear deal could produce an agreement within days. The so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action has unraveled since the US unilaterally pulled out of it in 2018, in a move supported by Israel when Netanyahu was still prime minister.

Netanyahu told the US lawmakers on Monday, February 21, that history has shown that other countries in the region seeking nuclear weapons were only stopped when Israel took military action and bombed reactor sites before they became operational, citing the attacks on Iraq’s reactor in 1981 and a Syrian reactor in 2007.

“The way to stop the arming of such regimes with military weapons is not, then, through agreements. It is important to understand that it just does not work,” Netanyahu said.

“The only thing that has worked in the past is one of two things or both: either crippling sanctions or a credible military response or both — preferably both,” he said. “Nothing else has worked and in my judgment, nothing else can work.”  (TOI / VFI News)

“God, we pray that You would stop Iran in their tracks and keep them from destroying Israel and being a threat to the world.”

Vision for Israel co-founders Barry & Batya Segal sit down to talk about their work of blessing and mercy in the land of Israel—thanks to the unshakeable support of all who believe in the restorative power of Yeshua’s love.

Our Vision for Israel – Barry & Batya Segal

Israel is targeting an annual trade volume of $500 million with Morocco, up from $131 million currently as the two countries look to broaden cooperation since they normalized relations in 2020, Israel's economy minister said on Monday, February 21.

Orna Barbivai made the statement following talks in Rabat with Moroccan industry and trade minister Ryad Mezzour, with whom she signed a trade and investment cooperation deal.

Under this deal, the two countries commit to facilitating trade and investments in the aerospace, automobile, agri-food, textile, and pharmaceutical industries in particular, Mezzour said.

Earlier in the day, Barbivai discussed with her Moroccan counterpart Nadia Fettah Alaoui future agreements on investment incentives, customs cooperation, and double taxation, Morocco's economy and finance ministry said in a statement.

Morocco is also looking forward to cooperating with Israel in fields relating to industrial research and development and the setting up of industrial zones, Mezzour said.

Barbivai's visit to Morocco comes three months after the two countries signed a defense pact. (JPost / VFI News)

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. - 1 Thessalonians 5:11

The king of Jordan, Abdullah II, has for years kept massive bank accounts in Credit Suisse, a Swiss bank known for providing secrecy for high-end clients, during a period in which his country has suffered through economic and political turmoil.

King Abdullah was in possession of at least six accounts with the bank, including one that at one point was worth 230 million Swiss francs ($251 million), while his wife maintained another account. Some of the accounts date from as far back as 2011.

Lawyers for King Abdullah II and Queen Rania asserted that their clients had abided by every relevant tax law, that there had been no wrongdoing by the couple, and that most of the wealth in the bank accounts had been inherited from King Abdullah II’s father.

Jordan’s economy, while strong compared to those of many other Middle Eastern countries, has been negatively impacted by COVID-19, contracting by 1.6% during 2020, according to the World Bank. Abdullah, meanwhile, has been dogged by allegations of corruption in recent years.

Through the release of the Panama Papers, it was revealed that he had secretly purchased 14 luxury homes — at an estimated total value of $106 million — in the United States and the United Kingdom between 2003 and 2017, through front companies.

According to a report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, attorneys and advisers to Abdullah worked extensively to conceal his real estate holdings, including establishing multiple shell companies and working through entities in Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands. The investigation found Abdullah owned at least 36 secret shell companies in tax havens.

Jordanian intelligence worked relentlessly to quash the publication of information related to King Abdullah II’s finances, threatening and intimidating local media outlets.

Jordan has been criticized for lapsing into increased authoritarianism in recent years. The US advocacy group Freedom House, which monitors democracy and human rights across the world, downgraded the kingdom from “partly free” to “not free” last year. (TOI / VFI News)

“God, we ask that you inspire leaders to be honest, humble, genuine, and kind.”

Israel has the sixth-highest cost of groceries in the world, according to a new study that analyzed the average cost of a “standard” trip to the grocery store in 36 countries around the world.

According to the research, the average cost of groceries in Israel totals $28.45 per person a week – a figure higher than that of the US, Denmark, or Canada.

The most expensive country to shop for groceries was Switzerland, with an average weekly cost of $48.16. Switzerland is known for its high cost of living, with meat prices being particularly high at $7.94 for 300g of chicken filets and $5.20 for 100g of beef.

Conversely, the cheapest country to purchase groceries was Turkey, with a meager $8.95 average cost – only about a fifth of Switzerland’s. Colombia came in second place with an average spend of $9.71 per week.

The study also analyzed the cost of groceries in comparison to average weekly earnings, finding that the country with the least affordable groceries per capita was Mexico, while the Netherlands was considered the most affordable country.

Although the Netherlands' average cost was $22.28 – compared to $14.47 in Mexico – the average monthly income in Mexico is $1,352, while the average monthly income in the Netherlands is over $4,900, or just 1.97% of cost/earning compared to 4.65% of individual earnings in Mexico, more than twice as much.

Grocery prices have gone up across Israel since the start of 2022, which has led to a backlash. Prices for goods such as fruits, Osem products, and even diapers have risen in the last few months, angering shoppers and leading to calls for boycotts. Israel’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.8% in 2021 and increased another 0.1% to 2.9% this year as of January 30, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported in January. (JPost/ VFI News)

A new analysis of four 3,200-year-old lead ingots from shipwrecks off the coast of Caesarea redraws late Bronze Age trade routes and may shift researchers’ understanding of Cyprus’s geopolitical role.

The recently published study in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, “Incised Late Bronze Age lead ingots from the southern anchorage of Caesarea,” takes a new look at four lead ingots originally recovered in dives in the late 1980s, which were etched with indecipherable Cypro-Minoan markings used by Cypriots in the 13th–early 12th century BCE.

“It was a bit of a detective story,” said co-author Prof. Naama Yahalom-Mack of the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology in conversation Monday. “We started from the markings and went on to the metal itself to understand where it comes from. First of all what it is, then to see in isotopic analysis that the lead’s ‘fingerprint’ points us to Sardinia.” She noted that Sardinia is an unexpected place of origin for these presumably Cypriot ingots because it is “beyond the western Mediterranean, beyond the [Cypriots’] regular route of trade, which is Egypt, the Levant, Anatolia and the Aegean”

According to Yahalom-Mack, Cyprus was once thought of as a “passive” bit player, merely a producer of copper for others to buy and sell in the international metals trade. Bronze, the ubiquitous metal of the era, is forged through a combination of tin, lead, and copper.

However, new interdisciplinary research published jointly by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Haifa describes a small but agile nation with both formal and informal trade ties that may well have helped fill the power vacuum that occurred with the collapse of entrenched empires around 1200 BCE.

What the new study points to is that “along with formal trade expressed in texts, there is informal trade — smaller ships, entrepreneurs, taking advantage of formal trade and hitching a ride on it,” Yahalom-Mack said.

Yahalom-Mack said there is some evidence that Canaanites may have been involved. She said the current study is “another brick in the building” that is taking Cyprus from a passive player to a more active player, but much more work is needed. (TOI/ VFI News)

The suggestions, opinions, and scripture references made by VFI News writers and editors are based on the best information received.
 
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