A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – The Knesset on Tuesday marked 120 years since the First Zionist Congress was held in Basel, convened and chaired by Theodor Herzl, who is considered to be the father of modern political Zionism.

“On this day, we honor the Knesset for allowing MKs to refresh Herzl’s legacy. Herzl stated that Zionism is the infinite ideal and therefore on this day, his legacy is expressed in the present and the future,” said Avraham Duvdevani, Chairman of the World Zionist Organization.

“In every nation’s life, there are special turning point,” Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said during a festive event which followed the series of committee meetings. “Today we celebrate one hundred and twenty years, since one of the most important turning points in the history of the Jewish people: the first Zionist Congress in Basel. In Basel, not only was the torch of Jewish freedom lit up – in Basel the big bang was ignited, which changed the course of history.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s new proposal to simply repeal Obamacare appears to already be dead, less than 24 hours after he dropped his replacement plan for lack of support among fellow Republicans.

GOP Senators Susan Collins, Shelley Moore Capito and Lisa Murkowski said Tuesday they’ll oppose a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. McConnell said late Monday the Senate would vote on a repeal with a two-year delay to give Congress time to agree on a replacement, but he could afford to lose no more than two Republican votes to advance the measure.

“We’ll let Obamacare fail” and then Democrats may want to agree on a replacement, President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House. “I am disappointed because for so many years I’ve been hearing repeal and replace.” [ Source: Bloomberg (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The House Budget Committee unveiled its Building A Better America 2018 budget Tuesday, which is balanced and achieves a $9 billion surplus in 10 years and increases GDP growth to 2.6 percent.

“Our budget is one of sustainability, smaller government, stronger national security, and greater freedom for individuals,” the committee states. “The status quo is unsustainable spending, higher deficits and debt, higher taxes, bigger government, and more federal control over the lives of Americans.”

The budget not only balances within a decade, but aims to increase economic growth by implementing tax reform and reducing government regulations, as well as reforming several government programs to ensure taxpayer dollars are used efficiently and appropriately. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Mike Pence said that God had a hand in creating the state of Israel, as he heaped praise on the Jewish state while addressing the evangelical group Christians United for Israel last night.

The Vice President also promised that the Trump administration will move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

‘Indeed though Israel was built by human hands it is impossible not to sense that just beneath its history lies the hand of heaven,’ Pence said. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – One of the survivors of the massacre of 29 Egyptian Christians in Minya in May said that the Islamic State extremists forced the women off the bus and ordered them to renounce their faith in Christ, but the Copts refused.

Financial Times reported on Tuesday that Mariam Adel, a young mother whose husband and nine of her relatives were killed in the attack, has been speaking from her hospital bed about the terrorist group’s attack.

Adel said that the jihadists opened fire with machine guns at the bus carrying the Christians traveling to a desert monastery, before getting on board to kill any men left alive. [ Source: Christian Today (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Barronelle Stutzman, also known as the “Christian grandma florist,” is now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her appeal to reverse a Washington court’s decision earlier this year that found her guilty of discrimination for refusing to provide flowers for a gay wedding.

The Associated Press reported on Sunday that lawyers for Stutzman are claiming that Washington’s high court violated her First Amendment protection for artistic expression in its ruling in February.

Alliance Defending Freedom positioned in a post on Friday that Stutzman is taking her “last stand” at the Supreme Court. [ Source:Christian Post (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Palestinian militant groups Hamas and the Islamic Jihad called for an escalation in violence amid new Israeli security measures on the Temple Mount.

The two groups said that Israeli-installed metal detectors on the Temple Mount –home to the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock — were a red line and intolerable, reported Palestinian news agency Maan.

The metal detectors were placed outside the Temple Mount’s nine gates following a terror attack on Friday, where three Israeli-Arabs killed two Israeli police officers at the holy site. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Two more Republican senators said Monday they will oppose the current Republican health-care bill — enough to doom its passage, for now.

Following the announcement, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell abruptly called for a vote to repeal Obamacare without an immediate replacement as the replacement effort seemed to collapse.

In messages posted to Twitter, Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Ks., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, became the third and fourth GOP senators to say they would not support their party’s Obamacare replacement plan as written. They said they would not even back a motion to proceed — a procedural vote that would start debate on the bill. [ Source:CNBC (Read More…) ]

Donald Trump Tweets Call For Clean Repeal

Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2017

(Worthy News) – Israel may need to take military action to prevent Iran or Hezbollah from setting up permanent bases in Syria, former National Security Council head Yaakov Amidror said on Monday.

Amidror’s comments come a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told journalists in Paris that Israel was opposed to the Syrian cease-fire brokered recently by the US and Syria because it perpetuates Iran’s military presence in the the country.

If Israel’s interests are not taken into account by those determining what the future arrangements will be in Syria – the Americans, Russians or others – “that might lead the IDF to intervene and destroy every attempt to build [permanent Iranian] infrastructure in Syria,” he said. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Dozens of Muslims protesters clashed with police outside of Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday amid continued tensions over new security measures put in place at the entrance to the Temple Mount after Friday’s terror attack.

During the scuffles near Lions Gate, police officers called to the scene to disperse protesters blocking a road adjacent to the Old City were attacked with rocks and other objects, police said.

The Red Crescent told the Palestinian Wafa news agency that five protesters were injured during the confrontations, including the chairman of the Palestinian National Initiative party, Mustafa Barghouti. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]