German Reactions to Osama Bin Laden’s Death—“An Eye for an Eye”

Der Spiegel wrote on May 2:

“Now the Americans have found the al-Qaida leader, and killed him immediately. Thus the complicated question of how and where to try such a mass murderer remains unanswered. But according to the old American understanding of guilt and punishment, justice has been done: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. One can question this form of revenge. Still, even diehard critics of America cannot ignore one simple fact — bin Laden’s death is good news for the world and for freedom…

“It would be naïve to think that the fight against terror is over. Naturally al-Qaida will continue to exist. Other terrorist leaders will take Osama’s place. Many lunatics will see bin Laden as a martyr whose death needs to be avenged, which will make them highly dangerous…

“America must finally make sure there is peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Otherwise there will be another Osama.”

We read in the Bible that God stirred up enemies to plague ancient Israel, when its ways did not please God. And unless we begin to live in a way pleasing to God, we can be rest assured that there will be another “Osama.”

“It Means Nothing… or at Least, Nothing Good…”

Deutsche Welle wrote on May 2:

“… there are still many unanswered questions and justified concerns. How could bin Laden live unmolested so close to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad for so many years? Did the American intelligence services’ manhunt truly have the support of Pakistan? What about al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is still hiding somewhere on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan? And how independently do the individual cells of the terrorist network now operate? 

“There is also fear that the followers of al-Qaeda will now try to demonstrate their strength in the aftermath of bin Laden’s death with a renewed round of attacks. The recent bombing in Marrakech and the arrest of alleged al-Qaeda terrorists in Germany shows that they could very well pull this off.

“The current upheaval in the Arab world could also create new opportunities for Jihadists. If persecution and chaos gain ground instead of freedom and stability then terrorism will find a new breeding ground… we are still a long way away from safety…”

In a related article, Deutsche Welle quoted several German papers, as follows:

“A decade after the deadly attacks of September 11, US President Barack Obama has announced the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. While Germany’s newspapers by and large welcomed the terrorist mastermind’s death, many questioned the nature of his killing – and what good it might bring in combating global terrorism…

“The Berlin-based, left-leaning Tageszeitung (TAZ) rated the killing as ‘a bit too “wild West.”’… ‘The news of his death comes years too late to stir up great emotions or even make waves in world politics…’

“The Frankfurter Rundschau daily was similarly dismissive of the American ‘victory.’ The paper recognized the symbolic significance bin Laden’s death had for Americans but stated that, in concrete terms, it meant ‘nothing – or if anything, nothing good’… ‘Was there really no alternative to granting the old top terrorist his wish of dying as a “martyr?”’…

“Germany’s most-subscribed newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung… warned that America could not afford to rest on its laurels, emphasizing that the threat of terrorism would not die with bin Laden… ‘The sheik has become a martyr, and the delusion now lives on’…”

The USA cannot please popular opinion of its allies—no matter what it does.

More German Reactions Condemnatory of U.S. Operation

Der Spiegel wrote on May 4:

“Europe, and particularly Germany, are uncomfortable with what looks increasingly like a targeted killing. Reports that bin Laden was not armed at the time of his death have only served to reinforce such unease…

“Financial daily Handelsblatt writes: ‘Osama bin Laden was a criminal… But that Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama celebrated bin Laden’s death in his speech with the words ‘justice has been done,’ and that the German chancellor supported this with an expression of her happiness over his death are shameful blunders. They place approval on an act that violates both the international prohibition of force and humanitarian law…’

“The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes: ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself, says one of the most important basic precepts of Christianity. This principle is one of the hardest to follow, much more difficult to uphold than the ban on murder. Just how thinly the layer of Christian culture coats the low, archaic instincts of humans rarely shows itself as clearly as it did the day after the liquidation of the Islamist terrorist leader Osama bin Laden by US Special Forces. President Obama, a Christian, said in all seriousness that with bin Laden ‘justice had been done,’ as though there were no American constitution, no justice, no law. The US violated a number of principles of human rights with its operation against bin Laden. This is supposed to be an example to Arab democracies?…’

“The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: ‘… George H. W. Bush lost to the widely unknown democrat Bill Clinton in 1992 despite his shining victory against Saddam Hussein, because the economy failed to gain momentum. For Obama the gutsy operation against bin Laden will mean little in the face of the enormous federal debt, the gaping budget deficit and high unemployment. In a paradoxical turn, America’s waning fear of terrorism after bin Laden’s death could reduce Obama’s chance of re-election…’”

The Reaction of the EU

The EUObserver wrote on May 2:

“A US-ordered strike in Pakistan which reportedly killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has been met with ‘relief’ and talk of a ‘safer world’ by EU leaders, despite the bloc’s official stance against targeted assassinations.

“’The news that Osama bin Laden is dead will bring great relief to people across the world,’ said British Prime Minister David Cameron in a statement. Cameron was the first among EU leaders to react to the announcement made on Sunday night (1 May) by US President Barack Obama that he had ordered the ‘operation’ which killed the top terrorist. A spokesperson for Chancellor Angela Merkel later said the German leader had communicated her ‘relief’ at the news to the US president…

“EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy and EU commission chief in a joint statement said: ‘Osama Bin Laden was a criminal responsible for heinous terrorist attacks that cost the lives of thousands of innocent people. His death makes the world a safer place.’”

However, the British Telegraph reported on May 6 that “Dr Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the 80-million strong worldwide Anglican Communion, criticised the White House for repeatedly changing its account of the raid on the al-Qaeda leader’s compound in Pakistan. Killing bin Laden when he was not carrying a weapon meant that justice could not be ‘seen to be done’, the Archbishop suggested.”

It is interesting to note that even though the EU condemns assassinations, it praises the USA for having done just that. We can expect that in the future, the EU will act in the same way to eliminate unpopular individuals, when an opportunity presents itself. In fact, as a later article suggests, NATO and the EU might already be attempting to do just that.

The Reaction of the Arab World

Reuters reported on May 2:

“Some Arabs mourned him as a holy warrior and martyr, while others saw him as a ‘pillar of evil’ whose deadly attacks on the United States unleashed a backlash against Muslims across the world. From his Saudi birthplace to the Gulf Arab shores and Palestinian territories, the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden highlighted the sharp divide between subjects and rulers, radicals and moderates across the Arab world.

“The U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority welcomed bin Laden’s killing as ‘good for the cause of peace.’ Its rival and prospective power-sharing partner, Islamist Hamas, deplored his death…

“Some said the killing of bin Laden in a raid by U.S. forces in Pakistan was scarcely relevant in an Arab world fired by popular revolt against oppressive leaders who had resisted violent Islamist efforts to weaken their grip on power… Many believe bin Laden and al Qaeda brought catastrophe on the Muslim world as the United States retaliated with two wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq…

“A rival view sees bin Laden as the only Muslim leader to take the fight against Western dominance to the heart of the enemy — in the form of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.”

As the Arab world is even divided when it comes to the viewpoint on Osama bin Laden, it should be obvious to any impartial and objective observer how dangerous it could be if true democracy by majority vote would be established in some of those countries.

Burial at Sea Likely to Cause Rage

The Associated Press reported on May 2:

“Muslim clerics said Monday that Osama bin Laden’s burial at sea was a violation of Islamic tradition that may further provoke militant calls for revenge attacks against American targets. Although there appears to be some room for debate over the burial — as with many issues within the faith — a wide range of senior Islamic scholars interpreted it as a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Mecca…

“Bin Laden’s burial at sea ‘runs contrary to the principles of Islamic laws, religious values and humanitarian customs,’ said Sheik Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand Imam of Cairo’s al-Azhar mosque, Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning… A U.S. official said the burial decision was made after concluding that it would have been difficult to find a country willing to accept the remains. There was also speculation about worry that a grave site could have become a rallying point for militants…

“According to Islamic teachings, the highest honor to be bestowed on the dead is giving the deceased a swift burial, preferably before sunset. Those who die while traveling at sea can have their bodies committed to the bottom of the ocean if they are far off the coast, according to Islamic tradition.

“‘They can say they buried him at sea, but they cannot say they did it according to Islam,’ Mohammed al-Qubaisi, Dubai’s grand mufti, said about bin Laden’s burial. ‘If the family does not want him, it’s really simple in Islam: You dig up a grave anywhere, even on a remote island, you say the prayers and that’s it. Sea burials are permissible for Muslims in extraordinary circumstances,’ he added. ‘This is not one of them’…

“Prominent Egyptian Islamic analyst and lawyer Montasser el-Zayat said bin Laden’s sea burial was designed to prevent his grave from becoming a shrine. But an option was an unmarked grave. ‘They don’t want to see him become a symbol, but he is already a symbol in people’s hearts.’”

Even in his death and “burial,” Osama could ignite hatred against the USA.

What Is It With May 1?

The New York Daily News reported on May 2:

“Osama Bin Laden and Adolf Hitler share a towering reputation for evil – and also an anniversary. Both were declared dead on May 1.

“Late on May 1, 1945 – about as late as President Obama’s TV announcement Sunday – German radio announced that Hitler had fallen ‘fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany.’ He had actually committed suicide the day before.

“In some cultures May 1 is the official beginning of summer. In many places, May Day is also Labor Day, a celebration of the working man. May 1 is also the anniversary of President Bush’s ill-conceived 2003 Mission Accomplished speech, prematurely announcing an end to combat in Iraq.”

Osama’s Killing in Violation of International Law?

While US and EU officials have declared that the killing was not a “targeted assassination,” but a legal operation, as the goal was allegedly not to kill him but to capture him alive (compare the EUObserver, May 3, 2011), not everyone agrees. It was now clarified by the White House that Osama Bin Laden was not armed, but that he “resisted” his arrest. One senator claimed, without really providing any evidence, that he was trying to get to a gun, while others say that there were no guns in the room. Pakistan claims that Osama was killed brutally and in cold blood. Der Spiegel Online published the following analysis, on May 3:

“Is this what justice looks like? Al-Qaida boss Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday in a secret military operation in Pakistan. Americans are celebrating, but there are serious doubts about whether the targeted killing was legal under international law and the laws of war.

“US President Barack Obama gets precious few opportunities to announce a victory. So it’s no wonder he chose grand words on Sunday night as the TV crews’ spotlights shone upon him and he informed the nation about the deadly strike against Osama bin Laden. ‘Justice has been done,’ he said.

“It may be that this sentence comes back to haunt him in the years to come… Obama and his predecessor Bush never sought the kind of justice that would have seen bin Laden tried in an international court. As early as his election campaign in 2008, Obama swore he would ‘kill bin Laden’ and finish the job begun by his predecessor after 9/11… A US national security official didn’t beat around the bush, telling Reuters, ‘This was a kill operation’…

“The operation didn’t take place on the actual battlefield of Operation Enduring Freedom, i.e. in Afghanistan, but rather on Pakistani territory… The commanders of the war on terror consider the entire world to be a battlefield. The US would seek to justify a military operation like the one that took place Sunday anywhere it believes the enemy is hiding — regardless whether it be in Europe or Islamabad… the vast majority of other experts on the law of armed conflict find this view unacceptable…

“And what business did the United States even have acting within the territory of Pakistan, a foreign power? A military strike that crosses national borders, barring acts of self-defense, is generally viewed as an infringement on sovereignty…”

Is It Really bin Laden?

SKY News wrote on May 2:

“Can [the] US Offer Final Proof Of Osama’s Death? The circumstances surrounding Osama bin Laden’s reported death raise urgent questions over how the US is so sure it got its man.

“US officials have said DNA testing has proved the al Qaeda leader was killed in a villa in Pakistan. They have also identified him by facial recognition… The fact his body was buried at sea has so far only added to the speculation… The release of a photograph purporting to show bin Laden’s corpse – which was later confirmed to be a fake – added to the confusion…”

In the meantime, additional photographs were published, which have all been declared to be fakes by the U.S. government. As questions are continually being raised pertaining to the authenticity of President Obama’s long-form birth certificate, so nagging doubts will remain whether it was Osama bin Laden who was killed, or someone else, and whether the corpse’s burial at sea was done for the purpose of covering up the true identity of the assassinated person.

Does DNA Fingerprinting Identify Bin Laden?

National Journal wrote on May 2:

“His face is one of the most recognizable in the world, but in the end, could it have been DNA fingerprinting that proved to U.S. officials that they had finally nailed Osama bin Laden? Maybe – but the Obama administration had better be saving some evidence.

“U.S. officials have told various news sources that CIA facial-recognition technology was used to identify bin Laden, and that his wife… called him by name during the firefight that ended his life. But they say that DNA was the final piece of evidence… One problem – whose DNA did they compare it to?… does the government have earlier DNA that, for certain, came from bin Laden? Not likely, and so the next-best source is a sibling. And in that case, says Stephen Quake, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor of applied physics and bioengineering at Stanford University, all the DNA analysis will say for sure is that the dead person is one of the many sons of Osama bin Laden’s father…

“If bin Laden’s mother, now known as Hamida al-Attas, could be persuaded to give some of her DNA, that might provide compelling evidence. She was last reported to be living in Saudi Arabia… The White House says that bin Laden was buried at sea. One can only hope they kept some tissue and blood samples to back up the DNA claims.”

The Obama Administration announced that they will not publish any pictures of Osama bin Laden, which allegedly show that he died of mortal wounds. With that highly controversial decision, conspiracy theories are bound to continue, as the next article explains.

Conspiracy Theories Abound…

Der Spiegel Online wrote on May 5:

“The confusion over the details of Osama bin Laden’s death has prompted wild speculation and a slew of conspiracy theories. Many Pakistanis believe the al-Qaida leader was not actually living in Abbottabad, while some jihadists are claiming the Americans buried Osama at sea because they had defiled his body.

“The citizens of Abbottabad have a lot of questions these days. Was Osama bin Laden truly ambushed and killed in their midst? Was it really the world’s public enemy number one, hunted down with great effort and expense, who had been living in their city? And if so, had he been living there for ‘five to six years’ as the White House is now claiming?

“’‘Impossible,’ says Zubair Gul, who lives a few hundred meters from the house where a US Navy Seals team killed bin Laden. Gul finds it hard to believe that the terrorist leader was killed here. ‘Abbottabad is in a valley, and you immediately hear every helicopter that flies by. Who can possibly believe that bin Laden was sitting in his house and had no idea that the helicopters were coming?’ Gul, a German citizen, runs two restaurants in Damme near Osnabrück in northern Germany. Originally from Peshawar, he moved to Abbottabad with his German wife in 1998, ‘because of the good climate and because things were always peaceful here,’ as he says…

“Nazar Abbasi, a pharmacist in Abbottabad, says that he was pleased about the news that bin Laden was dead. But then he was surprised that no photos of the body were released as evidence, and that fake photos were circulating instead. ‘And when I heard that the Americans had thrown the body in the sea, I knew that all of this was just a big show.’

“Many in Abbottabad agree with Gul and Abbasi. It’s all because US President Barack Obama is running for reelection, people there say…

“Or maybe it was indeed bin Laden, but the way the raid on the compound was carried out was very different to how it had been described. On Wednesday, the Al-Arabiya television network reported that a 12-year-old girl, supposedly a daughter of bin Laden, had said that her father was captured alive and then shot. The girl claimed to have been present when the building was stormed. The network’s source was an unnamed Pakistani intelligence officer.

“Given that the ultimate evidence of the death of the al-Qaida leader has not been provided, and that Washington has already had to correct its initial statements on the question of whether bin Laden was armed, speculation is now running rampant…”

America—Insolvent?

On May 3, Der Spiegel Online wrote:

“…there have been about 6,000 dead US soldiers, not to mention $1.3 trillion in new federal debt that is attributed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the real costs will likely be much higher. The US has accumulated a total debt burden of over $14 trillion, even though it was running a budget surplus just 10 years ago. The seemingly most powerful country in the world has to be worried about the prospect of having to officially declare insolvency before too long.

“America has become so caught up in a culture of fear and anxiety that it spends more on defense than all other countries put together. And it is caught up in wars that it cannot win — and which it no longer wants to fight, if one believes American opinion polls about the war in Afghanistan…

“The US is still at the forefront of spending on election campaigns. The next US president will need about $1 billion to spend on aggressive advertising spots and smear campaigns against rivals…”

Already on April 19, the mass tabloid Bild Online wrote:

“Obamaland is burned down. Why is the richest country on earth suddenly insolvent?… the President is gliding into another crisis…”

USA Sues Deutsche Bank

The Wall Street Journal wrote on May 3:

“U.S. authorities sued Deutsche Bank AG and a mortgage subsidiary, alleging that they repeatedly lied about the quality of mortgages to be included in a government insurance program so that they could profit from the resale of those mortgages.

“The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, alleges that Deutsche Bank and its MortgageIT unit ‘recklessly’ selected mortgages that violated the rules of the Federal Housing Administration’s mortgage-insurance program ‘in blatant disregard of whether borrowers could make mortgage payments.’ Those government-insured mortgages were then resold, according to the lawsuit.”

Such a lawsuit by the US government against Germany’s most prestigious bank, even if justified, is not going to help to create or maintain a friendly relationship between America and Germany.

Canada’s Number One Party “Killed”

On May 2, adcentriconline.com reported the following:

“It was an amazing two days. On Sunday, President Barack Obama announced that he had killed Osama bin Laden. And within a mere 30 hours of the demise of the world’s number one terrorist, Michael Ignatieff killed the Liberal Party of Canada, the country’s number one political party…

“The opposition Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois forced an election that no one wanted on the basis of Prime Minister Stephen Harper being found guilty of contempt of Parliament for not providing the House of Commons with the true cost of its spending. As if all governments provide proper costing. The opposition cried that Harper and his Tories were undemocratic and had to be replaced. Canadians ‘needed’ to go to the polls…

“What started off as an unnecessary election that would produce the same results the last one did became, morphed into an historic election that saw a major party realignment… for the first time in the country’s history, the NDP will form Her Majesty’s Official Opposition. And it wasn’t even close.”

NATO Kills Gaddafi’s Youngest Son

BBC News wrote on May 1:

“The death of Saif al-Arab Gaddafi… is likely to have come as a consequence of Nato’s increasingly aggressive tactics… his killing in an air strike is a grievous strategic error – militarily insignificant but diplomatically disastrous…

“Assassination of a head of state is illegal under international law, and forbidden by various US presidential orders. On the other hand, the targeted killing of those woven into the enemy chain of command is shrouded in legal ambiguity.

“Given the personalistic nature of the regime, and the ‘all means necessary’ clause in UN Resolution 1973, it might be argued that killing Col Muammar Gaddafi and certain members of his family – such as his son Khamis, commander of an elite military brigade – would be permissible, even if it posed a risk to those non-combatants around the regime. Legality, though, indicates neither legitimacy nor prudence.

“This strike, and the death of Saif al-Arab, have produced little military result at the greatest diplomatic and symbolic cost to Nato. Saif al-Arab was, unlike his brothers, not a senior military commander or propagandist. His death is redolent of the 1986 US strike on the same compound. That raid killed Col Gaddafi’s adopted daughter and, in the scarred buildings and craters, furnished him with a long-lasting symbol of defiance.

“The propaganda value of such unintended deaths is potentially severe… The problem is that the direction of this effect is unclear. The dramatic visual impact of this air strike, and the death of those disconnected from political and military leadership, will harden the diplomatic opposition to the war, from Russia and China amongst others. More consequentially, it will anger the alliance’s warier members, like Germany and Turkey, and inflame parts of Arab and African public opinion.”

Many suspect that it is the declared goal of NATO and Europe to kill Gaddafi, even though the official reason for the attacks is to “protect civilians.” The killing of Gaddafi’s son and grandchildren places NATO in a bad light, as it appears to reveal their true motivation. This, in turn, is bound to backfire.

John Paul II beatified in Vatican Ceremony

BBC News wrote on May 1:

“The late Pope, John Paul II, has been officially beatified at a ceremony at the Vatican… It comes amid criticism of the Church for the speed of the beatification and the clerical child sex abuse scandal. Much of the abuse occurred while John Paul II was Pope, from 1979-2005, and the Church has been criticised for not doing enough to punish those found responsible.

“Police in Rome estimated that one million people had come to the city for the event… Rome has not seen crowds of this size since the death of Pope John Paul II six years ago…

“Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe was among those attending the beatification. A Roman Catholic, he was given special permission by the EU to fly to Italy despite being the subject of a travel ban. The presidents of Poland and Mexico are also among some 90 heads of state and other dignitaries attending the beatification…

“Beatification, or declaring a person to be ‘blessed’, is the necessary prelude to full sainthood. For this to happen, the Vatican must declare the person to have performed a miracle. In John Paul II’s case, Sister Marie, 49, said she and her fellow nuns had prayed for the intercession of the Pope after his death to cure her from Parkinson’s Disease. Her sudden cure had no logical medical explanation and she later resumed her work as a maternity nurse, the Vatican says…

“If the late Pope is declared to have performed another miracle he will be eligible for canonisation as a saint…”

In case you did not notice it, the beatification of John Paul II required that he performed a miracle after his death!!! This false belief holds that he is alive in heaven, from where he performs miracles. But Christ said that no one goes to heaven, except for the Son of Man. In fact, the Bible teaches that everyone who has died, including John Paul II, is in their graves, waiting for the resurrection from the dead. They are right now without any consciousness, knowing nothing, and they can therefore work no miracles, either.

USA Not a Christian Nation?

On May 2, USA Today published the following article by Henry G. Brinton, pastor of Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Virginia. Although clearly not intended, his statements at the end of the article show the reasons WHY the USA is in the terrible state that it is in:

“The King James Version is the most influential Scripture translation of all time, molding Christian faith and English literature for the past four centuries. It has also played a role in political and moral debate throughout the history of our country.

“John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, spoke in 1630 of a ‘city upon a hill’— an image drawn on by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan in their descriptions of America, with Reagan famously speaking of a ‘shining city.’ This line is based on the King James Version, which says, ‘Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid’ (Matthew 5:14).

“’Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof’ is inscribed on the Liberty Bell and on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty (Leviticus 25:10). During the Civil War, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison changed the motto of his anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator to this verse from the King James Version. Facing the prospect of a nation half slave and half free, Abraham Lincoln said, ‘a house divided against itself cannot stand’ (Matthew 12:25)…

“America is grounded in the Constitution, which never mentions God or Jesus, and forbids the establishment of religion. Because of this, we will never be a Christian nation. But our use of the King James Version has made us a biblical nation, and we will be such a country as long as we turn to this book for inspiration and guidance. So what does it mean to be biblical but not Christian?

“… citizens in a country based on religious freedom must always be allowed to disagree with scriptural admonitions. The Bible should never be used as the basis of legislation… God does not appear in our Constitution, and no more than three of the Ten Commandments would be appropriate for civil law — specifically, ‘thou shalt not kill,’ ‘thou shalt not steal,’ and ‘thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor’ (Exodus 20). The legislation of other commandments would either create an inappropriate and unenforceable law (‘honor thy father and thy mother’) or violate the Constitution’s rule against making laws respecting an establishment of religion (‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me.’)… I do not support legislation based on the Bible, or any effort to label America a Christian nation. And I say that as a proud and practicing Christian.”

This highlights a grave conflict between the Bible and man’s government. The Bible demands that a nation under the true God must be a Christian nation, and that it must be subject to the laws of the Holy Scriptures, including all of the Ten Commandments, judgments and statutes. A nation which is refusing to do so has subjected itself to God’s curse, while rejecting to embrace God’s blessings. Thanks be to God that He will soon send His Son Jesus Christ to this earth to establish the Kingdom of God, and with it righteous and true laws and injunctions, as set forth and revealed in the Bible.

President Obama Releases Long-Form Birth Certificate

Newsmax reported on April 27, 2011:

“After years of ignoring demands that he release his full birth certificate, and steadfast goading from Donald Trump and others, President Barack Obama has finally presented the official document, saying he has ‘better stuff to do’ than deal with the controversy…”

USA Today added on April 27:

“The signed-and-sealed Certificate of Live Birth shows he was born exactly where he had said: Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu. During the 2008 campaign, he had released a copy of his Certification of Live Birth, a shorter official form with fewer details.”

However, the release of the long-form birth certificate will not silence President Obama’s critics. On April 27, USA Today reported about a poll taken before the release of the birth certificate:

“… only 38% of Americans said they thought the president was ‘definitely’ born in the United States; 18% said he ‘probably’ was. Nearly one in four, 24%, said he was probably or definitely born in another country. Nineteen percent said they didn’t know enough to say. Among Republicans, 43% said Obama was definitely or probably born abroad — more than the 35% who said he was definitely or probably born in the USA.”

Fox News wrote on April 27:

“Trump… took credit Wednesday for the president’s decision to release the document. He said his team would have to examine the birth certificate and questioned why the White House took so long…”

Newsmax wrote on April 27:

“The critics… still note a pattern of secrecy surrounding much of Obama’s life before he entered politics. They note that Obama has never unveiled many key documents that presidential candidates release to the press and public… Ironically, during his campaign for president, Obama promised he would make his White House ‘the most open and transparent administration in history.’

The Smokinggun.com listed the following questions on April 27, which will most likely be raised by those who doubt the authenticity of the certificate:

“If the original document was in a bound volume (as reflected by the curvature of the left hand side of the certificate), how can the green patterned background of the document’s safety paper be so seamless? Why, if Obama was born on August 4, 1961, was the ‘Date Accepted by Local Reg.’ four days later on August 8, 1961?… David A. Sinclair, the M.D. who purportedly signed the document, died nearly eight years ago at age 81. So he is conveniently unavailable to answer questions about Obama’s reported birth… Finally, the ‘Signature of Local Registrar’ in box 21 may be a desperate attempt at establishing the document’s Hawaiian authenticity.”

According to the Drudge Report, others have speculated whether different layers were used for the document.

The issue is not going away, and may very well become a determining factor for the outcome of the next presidential election.

No Easter Proclamation

Newsmax reported on April 26:

“The media and the blogosphere are abuzz with dumbfounded reactions to the White House’s snub of Christians during the weekend. No presidential proclamation celebrating Christianity’s highest holy day of Easter was issued…

“Barack Obama made no bones about admitting in his 2006 memoir, ‘The Audacity of Hope,’ the secularism of his mother, father, and stepfather led him during his younger days to be far from a devoted Christian when it came to Easter. ‘On Easter or Christmas Day my mother might drag me to church, just as she dragged me to the Buddhist temple, the Chinese New Year celebration, the Shinto shrine, and ancient Hawaiian burial sites,’ Obama remembered… Obama noted his mother’s now well-known skepticism and hostility toward religion… ‘In our household the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita sat on the shelf alongside books of Greek and Norse and African mythology’…

“Obama added that ‘although my father had been raised a Muslim, by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist, thinking religion to be so much superstition, like the mumbo-jumbo of witch doctors that he had witnessed in the Kenyan villages of his youth.’ Obama’s Indonesian stepfather was, similarly, ‘a man who saw religion as not particularly useful’ in life.”

While the Bible rejects Easter celebration as pagan inventions, President Obama’s upbringing is still interesting to consider. It would be tremendous, if an American President would return to and embrace true biblical teachings. For more information, please read our free booklet, “Is That in the  Bible?—Man’s Holidays and God’s Holy Days.”

Pope vs. Evolution… Sort of…

The Associated Press reported on April 23:

“Pope Benedict XVI marked the holiest night of the year for Christians by stressing that humanity isn’t a random product of evolution. Benedict emphasized the Biblical account of creation in his Easter Vigil homily Saturday, saying it was wrong to think at some point ‘in some tiny corner of the cosmos there evolved randomly some species of living being capable of reasoning and of trying to find rationality within creation, or to bring rationality into it.’

“If man were merely a random product of evolution in some place on the margins of the universe, then his life would make no sense or might even be a chance of nature,’ he said. ‘But no, reason is there at the beginning: creative, divine reason.’

“Church teaching holds that Roman Catholicism and evolutionary theory are not necessarily at odds: A Christian can, for example, accept the theory of evolution to help explain developments, but is taught to believe that God, not random chance, is the origin of the world. The Vatican, however, warns against creationism, or the overly literal interpretation of the Biblical account of creation.”

However, such viewpoints contradict the Bible. Please read our free booklet, “The Theory of Evolution—a Fairy Tale for Adults?”

To Be Like God

Reuters reported on April 17:

“Pope Benedict led Roman Catholics into Holy Week celebrations, telling a Palm Sunday crowd that man will pay the price for his pride if he believes technology can give him the powers of God… ‘From the beginning men and women have been filled — and this is as true today as ever — with a desire to “be like God”, to attain the heights of God by their own powers,’ he said… ‘Mankind has managed to accomplish so many things: we can fly! We can see, hear and speak to one another from the farthest ends of the earth. And yet the force of gravity which draws us down is powerful,’ he said.

“While the great advances of technology have improved life for man, the pope said, they have also increased possibilities for evil, and recent natural disasters were a reminder, if any were needed, that mankind is not all-powerful. If man wanted a relationship with God he had to first ‘abandon the pride of wanting to become God,’ said the pope, celebrating his sixth Easter season as the leader of the world’s some 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.”

Even though it is most certainly correct that man must not attempt to become like God by his own means and endeavors, it is also true that it IS man’s potential to become God. For more information, please read our free booklet, “God Is a Family.”

Catholic Church Goes on the Offensive

The Telegraph wrote on April 19:

“A film about a panic-prone Pope who has unwittingly been thrust into the papacy and has to hire a psychiatric assistant to help him has sparked controversy in the Roman Catholic Church… Traditionalists say that the film, by the acclaimed Italian director Nanni Moretti, is ‘an instrument of Satan’… Bruno Volpe, the Catholic lawyer, has launched suit for defamation against Moretti and the producers under the terms of the Lateran Pact, which extends the same protections to the prestige of the pope as to the Italian president. Mr Volpe said Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope), never mentioned the current Pope by name but it was nevertheless clear that it was a parody of Pope Benedict XVI and dishonoured the figure of the Pontiff in general…

“Gerardo Pierro, archbishop of Salerno, said the launch of a similar film in an Islamic country would have led to the burning of cinemas and attempts to kill the director for blasphemy. ‘I think many people take advantage of the traditional meekness of Catholics, which is often confused with foolishness or resignation,’ Archbishop Pierro said… The Pope is played by Michel Piccoli, an 85-year-old French actor, and many Catholics have acknowledged Moretti’s sympathetic depiction of the film’s ecclesiastical characters, though the Vatican has not reacted officially.”

History does not confirm any “traditional meekness” of the Catholic Church. For proof, read our free booklet, “Europe in Prophecy.” It is also interesting to note that the institution of the Pope enjoys the same legal protection as the Italian president. Truly, the religious power has become an image of the political power, as the Bible prophesied in Revelation 13.

The Downfall of America

WorldNetDaily wrote on April 24:

“… has it become twilight in America? That’s the question Jerome Corsi’s Red Alert is asking, noting that Business Insider has listed 25 signs of economic decline in the United States:

“1) Standard & Poor’s altered its outlook on U.S. government debt from ‘stable’ to ‘negative’;
“2) China has announced it is going to be reducing its holdings of U.S. dollars;
“3) Hedge-fund manager Dennis Gartman says that ‘panic dollar selling is setting in’ and that the U.S. dollar could be in for a huge decline;
“4) The biggest bond fund in the world, PIMCO, is now shorting U.S. government bonds;
“5) The economy is causing ‘ghost towns’ to appear across the United States, with many counties across the nation that now have home vacancy rates of more than 50 percent;
“6) There are now about 7.25 million fewer jobs in America than when the recession began back in 2007;
“7) Only 45.4 percent of Americans had a job during 2010, the lowest percentage since 1983;
“8) Only 66.8 percent of American men had a job last year, the lowest level ever in the United States;
“9) The average CEO made 343 times more money than the average American did last year;
“10) Gas prices reached $5 per gallon at a gas station in Washington, D.C., on April 19, 2011;
“11) Over the past 12 months, the average price of gasoline in the United States has gone up about 30 percent;
“12) Due to rising fuel prices, American Airlines lost $436 million during the first quarter of 2011;
“13) U.S. households are now receiving more income from the U.S. government than they are paying to the government in taxes;
“14) Approximately $1 out of every $4 that the U.S. government borrows goes to pay the interest on the national debt;
“15) Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about five times larger than it was just 20 years ago;
“16) Total credit card debt in the United States is now more than eight times larger than it was just 30 years ago;
“17) Average household debt in the United States has now reached a level of 136 percent of average household income, while in China it’s only 17 percent;
“18) The average American now spends 23 percent of their income on food and gas;
“19) Seventy-eight percent of Americans said they plan to slow their spending in coming months due to rising prices;
“20) Fifty-nine percent of Americans receive money from the federal government;
“21) The average length of unemployment in the United States is now a record 39 weeks;
“22) As the economy continues to collapse, frustration among young people will continue to grow and we will see more seemingly ‘random acts of violence’;
“23) Some Americans have become so desperate for cash that they are literally popping their gold teeth and selling them to pawn shops;
“24) As the economy has declined, the American people have been gobbling up larger and larger amounts of antidepressants and other prescription drugs;
“25) Even the latest market rally could be ending.”

The Crime of Adultery

The Associated Press reported on April 26:

“The crime of adultery appears headed toward repeal in Colorado, where lawmakers from both parties call the crime an outdated 19th-century holdover junking up the books. Adultery carries no criminal penalty, though it remains illegal. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-1 Tuesday to repeal the old crime, as well as a law against ‘promoting sexual immorality.’ Colorado is one of a handful of states where adultery laws are still on the books… [The] provision [against promoting sexual immorality] outlaws providing a place for out-of-wedlock sex, a law probably aimed at frontier flophouses… Adultery remains a crime in U.S. military law, and adultery laws aren’t unusual in other countries.”

Deadly Tornados Devastate South of USA

The Associated Press reported on April 28:

“Dozens of tornadoes ripped through the South, flattening homes and businesses and killing at least 215 people in six states in the deadliest outbreak in nearly 40 years… Alabama’s state emergency management agency said it had confirmed 131 deaths, while there were 32 in Mississippi, 30 in Tennessee, 13 in Georgia, eight in Virginia and one in Kentucky… The storm system spread destruction from Texas to New York, where dozens of roads were flooded or washed out. The governors of Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia issued emergency declarations for parts of their states…

“In Alabama, where as many as a million people were without power, Gov. Robert Bentley said 2,000 national guard troops had been activated and were helping to search devastated areas for people still missing… The storms came on the heels of another system that killed 10 people in Arkansas and one in Mississippi earlier this week. Less than two weeks earlier, a smaller batch of twisters raced through Alabama, touching off warning sirens, damaging businesses and downing power lines in Tuscaloosa, but there were no deaths there then.”

Dollar Drops Further

Bloomberg reported on April 28:

“U.S. stock-index futures fell and the Dollar Index dropped to a three-year low as reports showed the economy slowed more than forecast and jobless claims unexpectedly rose… The dollar weakened as much as 0.6 percent against the euro, falling for the eighth day and breaching $1.48 for the first time since December 2009. It dropped 0.5 percent versus the yen. The decline in U.S. futures indicated the S&P 500 may fall from the highest level since June 2008. Jobless claims increased by 25,000 to 429,000 in the week ended April 23, the most since late January, according to Labor Department figures.”

As we observe the social and economic downfall of the USA, so we can also recognize the downfall of GB—as the next article shows.

The Downfall of Great Britain… Broken-Up Family Life

The Daily Mail wrote on April 18:

“Shocking figures reveal that births outside marriage are at their highest level in two centuries and nearly half of children can expect their parents to separate by the time they turn 16. Nine out of ten couples now live together before – or instead of – tying the knot. Before the Second World War, it was fewer than one in 30. From a situation 30 years ago where it was often considered shameful to have a child outside of wedlock, it has now become the norm. Some 46 per cent of children are born to unmarried mothers, according to research by the Centre for Social Justice.

“The think-tank said a child growing up in a one-parent family is 75 per cent more likely to fail at school, 70 per cent more likely to become a drug addict, 50 per cent more likely to have an alcohol problem and 35 per cent more likely to be unemployed as an adult. Some 48 per cent of children are likely to see their family break up before they are 16. Ten years ago, it was 40 per cent.

“Gavin Poole, executive director of the CSJ, which was set up by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, said: ‘Current high levels of cohabitation are a key factor in the rise in family breakdown in our country and this paper shows that we have not been here before… Marriage and commitment tend to stabilise and strengthen families and cannot be ignored. The peculiarly high levels of family breakdown found in Britain are at the heart of the social breakdown which is devastating our most deprived communities…’

“The report says the decline in the traditional family is a crucial factor in the social decay that is blighting Britain… Family breakdown, the experts claim, is being fuelled by the growth in the less stable relationship of cohabitation. ‘A child growing up in a fractured, chaotic or fatherless family is far less likely to develop the pro-social skills essential for success later in life,’ Mr Poole said.”

Toyota Cuts Production Due to Earthquake

BBC News reported on April 20:

“Toyota said it will cut production at its North American plants by 70% from 26 April to 3 June. Car manufacturers have been facing a shortage of parts due to the damage caused to Japanese component makers by the earthquake and tsunami. Toyota said it may also lower its US sales target for 2011… Toyota Motors also announced that it is curbing production at its factories in China.”

Natural disasters can and do have devastating effects for any country; and no country—regardless of how powerful it might be–is exempt from such catastrophes and their consequences.

EU: “Discuss Policies in Dark Secrecy”

The EUObserver reported on April 21:

“Eurozone economic policies should only be conducted in ‘dark secret rooms’, to prevent dangerous movements in financial markets, the Eurogroup chief [Jean-Claude Juncker] said… As exists in the case of monetary policy, all economic decisions should now be discussed behind closed doors, he said. ‘I’m ready to be insulted as being insufficiently democratic, but I want to be serious,’ he said.

“Having served as finance minister and then premier of Luxembourg for the past 22 years, Juncker pointed out that over the course of his career, despite his Catholic upbringing, he often ‘had to lie’ in order not to feed rumours.”

Centralized EU Decision-Making

The EUObserver wrote on April 20:

“MEPs have toughened up the provisions in a package of six laws that centralise economic decision-making in the EU, delivering more powers for oversight of national fiscal policies to the European Commission… Cheering the move, Liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt said: ‘The European Commission shall be entitled to intervene with all necessary means if the stability of the euro is at stake, to preserve our European project.’”

The Schengen Agreement in Jeopardy?

Der Spiegel wrote on April 27:

“French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi have put aside their differences to call on the European Union to reform the Schengen zone of border-free travel… Berlusconi and Sarkozy signed a joint letter to the EU to demand that the Schengen agreement be amended to take into consideration ‘exceptional’ situations such as the current massive influx of immigrants from North Africa…

“Many observers see the French and Italian leaders as striking a populist stance in response to pressure from far-right parties in their countries. Sarkozy, who is running for re-election in 2012, is under threat from Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front, which strongly opposes immigration, while Berlusconi is under pressure from the xenophobic Northern League, the country’s third strongest party which is part of Berlusconi’s coalition government.

“The Schengen agreement was originally signed in 1985 in the Luxembourg town of that name and went into effect in 1995. A total of 22 EU members are currently part of the system, as are Norway, Switzerland and Iceland. Britain and Ireland are not, however, members. Along with the euro common currency, the Schengen zone is seen as one of the European Union’s main achievements…”

The above-quoted articles on Europe show the gradual and steady development of a centralized power bloc, and the time is passed when Europe could disintegrate again in national entities which would be fighting themselves. The Bible prophesies that Europe will become the most powerful economic and military unity in the world—which leads us to conclude that neither the euro nor the Schengen agreement could fail (even though some “adjustments” might be made, as the next article speculates).

The EUObserver wrote on April 28, 2011:

“Several member states have indicated they are prepared to back attempts by France and Italy to make it easier for countries to re-instate border controls, following an influx of migrants from north Africa. Germany, the Netherlands, Greece and Malta have all given their blessing to Paris and Rome’s call for adjustments to be made to the Schengen Agreement on passport-free travel within most of the EU, while underlining the importance of an ‘open Europe’.

“‘If you can improve the Schengen system then that is good and you should,’ German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle said Wednesday, reports AFP. ‘But travel freedom in Europe is such an important achievement that it should not be up for renegotiation.’”

Deutsche Welle added on April 28:

“German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle warned on Wednesday against taking away the luxury of visa-free travel enjoyed by millions of Europeans by reforming the Schengen Agreement. A German government spokesman said the treaty was sacrosanct.”

A Critical Look at the New British Wedding

Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 27:

“The wedding of William and Kate on Friday… feels like an aberration of history… The Guardian newspaper wants to abolish the monarchy, as does the Independent and the Economist magazine. Many professors, film directors, writers, actors and politicians would like Britain to become a republic — but they remain in the minority which for years has been constant at around 18 percent of the population…

“Great Britain… has no written constitution but a rigid class system. The lawyers wear wigs in court and there are no citizens, just subjects… British soldiers are fighting for democracy in Afghanistan and Libya, and they fought for it in Iraq. But at home, they defend the absurdly undemocratic idea that nobody but a Windsor can be head of state. As soon as Elizabeth, 85 [dies], her son Charles, 62, already worn down by his long wait for the accession, will take the throne, even though opinion polls show the majority of Britons don’t want the brooding, esoteric prince to become king…

“More than 10,000 journalists are descending on London. The German networks… will hardly be broadcasting anything else on Friday. Everyone is pretending that this spectacle is the most important and beautiful event on earth — but it is not. Oddly, the British public isn’t as interested in the wedding as one might think. Most Britons say they don’t really care about the event. Only about a third of them plan to watch the show on TV…

“Britain is still mired in its worst economic crisis since World War II. Everyone should be rolling up their sleeves to haul the nation out of the doldrums. But the government declared the wedding day a public holiday, and schools, banks, offices and factories will be closed — just because the heir to the heir to the throne is getting married. The extra holiday… will end up costing the economy billions…

“In truth, the marriage of William and Kate is a sad spectacle. Two young people aren’t getting wed in the way they would like but how the palace, protocol and [grandmother] demand it. William, 28, is accustomed to that because he was born into it. But for Kate, 29, Friday will mark the end of her freedom…

“Some friends and relatives will be present in Westminster Abbey, but most of the guests will be strangers, and some of them will be repulsive ones at that. King Mswati, the despot of the impoverished African nation of Swaziland who has 13 wives, will be flying in with his entourage of 50 people. Arab potentates have also been invited, some of whom are currently having pro-democracy demonstrators shot at in their streets…”

Germany’s Fascination with Royalty

The Local wrote on April 26:

“A supposedly proud proletarian city like Berlin throws itself at the feet of just about anyone with an exotic title….  I can’t think of any other community outside the Netherlands that is so fascinated by [Queen] Beatrix and her strange taste in hats…

“Now we are bracing for… Britain’s royal wedding this Friday. This is the moment when Germans get to compare all the terrible royal families of the world… The thuggish King of Bahrain, Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa – unless he has to stay at home and order the shooting of demonstrators demanding democracy. And Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf should be able to make the nuptials; his sex parties were always on a Monday, or after his hunting trips, so his Fridays are free… [ and] Prince Laurent of Belgium who famously had his dead dog put in a freezer. And… Prince Henrik, husband of the Danish queen, who has been telling everyone how much he likes to eat dogs… All these people will be welcoming or pretending to welcome Kate Middleton into the extended family, and she may be wondering whether it was worth the price.

“Perhaps that is the appeal of royalty to the Germans: they can envy the wealth on display but criticise the dress sense and the twisted mentality of inbred monarchs. Almost everyone has a black sheep in the family but royal clans have whole flocks of them… All I can say to Germans is enjoy the show. The House of Windsor is, after all, just the renamed House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. So perhaps Germany can rightfully claim them as its own royal family.”

The thought of a revival of a functioning monarchy in certain European countries—including Germany—should not be rejected or dismissed too lightly.

UK Royals Snub EU Chiefs, but Rome Does Not

The EUObserver wrote on April 28, 2011:

“All three EU presidents and the bloc’s foreign policy chief – one of the most senior UK dignitaries – have been snubbed by the British royal family. While the great and the good from around the world have been invited to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on Friday, not a single European Union representative has been sent a gold-embossed wedding request to attend the occasion…  On Saturday, it emerged that Queen Elizabeth may believe the EU is too large…

“If Great Britain’s monarchy is wary of the Union, the Holy See is more than pleased to recognise the importance of European leaders, who are set to attend the beatification of the late pope, John Paul II, in the Vatican this coming weekend. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek are all heading to Rome to witness the final step before the Polish ex-pope is transmogrified into a saint.”

NATO’s Bad Options in Libya

Deutsche Welle wrote on April 21:

“NATO’s mission in Libya has now lasted four weeks, and there are no signs of an ending yet… But what is the aim of this mission? Will the protection of civilians only end when Gadhafi has fallen?… A quick military success is certainly not in sight… NATO has relatively few ways out of Libya, especially because France, Britain and the US have ruled out direct negotiations with the Libyan regime… For NATO, that means more airstrikes, even if weeks and months go by. The idea is to destroy Gadhafi’s heavy weapons, his ammunitions stores and his communications structure, but that’s extremely difficult… staying for the long haul entails its own risks…

“The Security Council’s Libya resolution expressly confines itself to protecting the civilian population. This new moral principle, which emerged following the genocide in Rwanda and the Balkans, dictates that the international community is responsible for civilians if the state fails to keep them safe… It’s exactly that – a long-term military operation – that NATO is now committed to in Libya. Whether the members want it or not, NATO is a combatant there, not an arbiter.”

Syria In Turmoil

Der Spiegel Online wrote on April 26:

“Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has sent in tanks to crush the pro-democracy protests, in a sign that he has abandoned all pretense at reforming his regime, German media commentators say. Even though the pillars of his administration remain intact, his days could well be numbered…

“Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: ‘…Syria’s officers may be loyal to the Assad regime and may keep firing on the opposition for the time being. But in the end, every army consists of citizens with families. If the killing goes on, officers and ordinary troops may start to ask themselves for whom they are shooting at their compatriots. That could end in the army becoming divided or launching a coup. The latter has a precedent in Syria: it’s how Assad’s father came to power.’…

“Conservative Die Welt writes: ‘…The Sunni majority is demanding a political say. The Syrian president is to blame for having failed to recognize this and to respond in time. His people didn’t want to topple him, they just wanted more freedom. But Assad missed his chance to grant it. His speech to the pseudo-parliament was amateurish, silly and foolish. It’s only now that the Syrians want to get rid of him and his nepotistic power apparatus, and he’s no longer in control of events.’

“Left-wing Frankfurter Rundschau writes: ‘The world is appalled at how a further Arab regime is resorting to gunfire to crush a revolution by people yearning for freedom. The confrontation is escalating… The chance for political compromises that could calm the enraged citizens has been missed. More than 120 deaths from bullets fired by the government killers — no wonder the people don’t trust Assad or his supposed readiness to reform. They will go for broke now because they know such a system of power cannot be reformed.’”

What’s Behind the Palestinian Unity Deal?

The Local wrote on April 28:

“Germany has joined Israel and the United States in expressing deep scepticism about the reconciliation between former rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, declaring the latter too radical and violent for a peace agreement. ‘Hamas is not a dialogue partner for us because we don’t work with organizations that fight with violence against Israel’s right to exist,’ Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Thursday…  Germany’s position would not change as long as Hamas maintained its radical stance against the Jewish state, he said…

“Israel quickly condemned the deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Fatah could not hope to forge a peace deal with Israel if it pursued a reconciliation accord with Hamas. ‘The Palestinian Authority must choose either peace with Israel or peace with Hamas. There is no possibility for peace with both,’ he said in a televised statement.

“The United States is now reconsidering financial aid to the Palestinians, according to The New York Times. ‘As we have said before, the United States supports Palestinian reconciliation on terms which promote the cause of peace,’ Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said. ‘Hamas, however, is a terrorist organization which targets civilians.’”