This issue looks at the upcoming U.S.-Israeli mIssile defense drill, anti-Semitism from London, the death of free speech in Austria, tougher sanctions on Iran, and the State Department’s latest dirty trick to protect Islam.OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

U.S. and Israel to Hold Joint Missile Defense Drill
Jerusalem Prayer Team reports: What I am about to tell you was told to me by a former Chief of Staff in Israel. The U.S. is going to hold the largest-ever joint missile defense drill with the Jewish state. Scheduled for May, the drill will be called “Austere Challenge” and is expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel. It will also include the establishment of IDF command posts at European Command headquarters in Germany-with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East. The U.S. will bring its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and ship-based Aegis ballistic missile defense systems to Israel to simulate the interception of missile salvos against Israel. The American systems will work in conjunction with Israel’s missile defense systems-the Arrow, Patriot, and Iron Dome and live interceptions are expected to take place during the drill. At that point all of the pieces for a serious joint strike against Iran to halt their nuclear weapons program will be in place.
 
Archbishop Attacks Israel Ignores Muslim Barbarity
One Jerusalem reports: On Christmas eve, as thirty five Catholics were killed by bombs set by Muslim terrorists in Nigeria, in London a senior prelate Archbishop Vincent Nichols focused his message on land disputes between the people of Israel and residents of Bethlehem but ignored the massacre of Christians by Muslims in Egypt, Nigeria, and other parts of the Muslim world.
 
Even if one limits the topic to the Christians of Bethlehem, Israel is not the cause of the many life and death problems facing the Christians of Bethlehem. Since the Palestinian Authority gained control of Bethlehem the Christian population of the city has gone from 80% to less than 25%. The reason for this decrease in population is the systematic persecution of Christian Arabs by their Muslim overlords. Just like in Egypt, the Christians of Bethlehem find Muslim populations intolerant of their continued existence. Read more.

IT’S NEWS TO ME

A Black Day for Austria
An Austrian appellate court has upheld the conviction of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, a Viennese housewife and anti-Jihad activist, for “denigrating religious beliefs” after giving a series of seminars about the dangers of radical Islam. The December 20 ruling shows that while Judaism and Christianity can be disparaged with impunity in postmodern multicultural Austria, speaking the truth about Islam is subject to swift and hefty legal penalties. Although the case has major implications for freedom of speech in Austria, as well as in Europe as a whole, it has received virtually no press coverage in the American mainstream media. Read more.
 
Watch an amazing video of an interview with a Palestinian suicide bomber.
 
Obama Signs into Law Toughest Sanctions on Iran
The Israel Project reports: President Barak Obama signed into law a new defense bill that imposes the strictest sanctions yet on Iran. With more pressure on Tehran, Iranians are now calling for new talks on its nuclear program in another apparent attempt to avoid international condemnation of their pursuit of nuclear weapons. The sanctions can be imposed on institutions dealing with Iran’s central bank, the main conduit for Iranian petroleum sales, and would ban the institutions from American markets. They are the result of previous international calls for “crippling sanctions” that would force Iran to finally respect repeated United Nations resolutions demanding a halt to its nuclear program.

In the face of harsh world reaction, Iran also backed down from threats last week that the Iranian military would respond to the sanctions by blocking shipping in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. A senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Masoud Jazayeri, said the time was not right to raise the issue of closing the vital shipping lanes.
 
Lafferty Detained by State Department
Traditional Values Coalition reports: (December 15th, 2011) -TVC president Andrea Lafferty was targeted and detained by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s security personnel this Wednesday during the closing event capping the three day closed-door conference advancing the implementation of U.N. Resolution 16/18. “For weeks we have been asking whether the true aims of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and U.N. Resolution 16/18 would be used to apply “old fashioned techniques of peer pressure and shaming” to chill and coerce those critical of the Islamist agenda,” said Lafferty.                                                                                

“Hillary Clinton was as good as her word,” said Lafferty. Lafferty was circled by several members of Secretary Clinton’s staff before being approached by a member of the security detail, demanding Lafferty follow him.  When asked why she was being removed from the reception hall, the security detail announced that a phone call had identified Lafferty as a “security threat” to Secretary Clinton. Read more.

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ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
Some cause happiness wherever the go. Others, whenever they go–Oscar Wilde