A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – Ministers will vote Sunday on annexing Israeli local authorities beyond the Green Line to Jerusalem following several long delays. The bill is expected to win the support of the panel and be sent to the Knesset floor for approval.

Cabinet ministers were told Wednesday that the so-called “Greater Jerusalem Bill” will be brought to a vote at Sunday’s meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who previously delayed the vote on the bill, initially agreed to promote it in July following an attack on the Temple Mount that killed two police officers. But the bill never made it to the panel for a vote. [ Source: Ha’aretz (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee declared on Wednesday that the US had sent an unmistakable message to Iran’s Lebanese Shia proxy, Hezbollah, with the passage by the House of Representatives of three new measures targeting the terrorist organization’s financing and recruitment operations.

“Hezbollah is Iran’s leading terrorist proxy, and it is only growing more dangerous,” Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), said in a statement announcing the new measures, which were introduced with bipartisan support. “It now has an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets aimed at Israel and has become battle-hardened while propping up the murderous Assad regime (in Syria) alongside the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”

Royce continued: “Hezbollah has taken hundreds of thousands of lives, including Americans. With the House’s action today, we send a strong message that the United States will not allow this threat to go unchecked. These critical measures will impose new sanctions to crack down on Hezbollah’s financing, and hold it accountable for its acts of death and destruction.” [ Source: Algemeiner (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Connecting Egypt to a new $500 billion Saudi city via a bridge across the Red Sea will require cooperation from Israel, analysts say. Could it one day help integrate the Jewish state with its Arab neighbors?

Israel’s 1979 peace treaty with Egypt guarantees it access to the Red Sea’s Straits of Tiran, which the planned bridge and causeway would cross. That makes Israel’s involvement in the project crucial, says Yoram Meital, chairman of the Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies & Diplomacy at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Egypt’s closing of the straits to Israeli shipping in 1967 was one of the central actions that led to that year’s Mideast War.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the project, whose plans were announced Tuesday by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at an international business conference in Riyadh. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog will visit Iran on Sunday for talks with senior officials there, as opposition from the United States threatens to undermine an international accord to curtail Iran’s nuclear program.

Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will discuss Iran’s implementation of the 2015 agreement, the IAEA said on Wednesday.

The visit comes during a dispute between Washington and Tehran over U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision this month not to certify Iranian compliance with the landmark nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. [ Source: Reuters (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – US Vice President Mike Pence will visit Israel and Egypt in December at President Donald Trump’s request, overlapping with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

Pence is expected to meet with Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian leaders during his trip to the region, in which he will promote the president’s desire for a comprehensive peace agreement. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would declare a national emergency next week on opioid abuse, a move that could give states access to federal funds to fight the drug crisis.

“The opioid is a tremendous emergency,” Trump told Fox Business network. “Next week, I’m going to (be) declaring an emergency, (a) national emergency on drugs.” The United States is battling a growing opioid abuse epidemic that claimed more than 33,000 lives in 2015, more than any year on record, according to federal data.

Opioids, primarily prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl – a drug 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine – are fueling the drug overdoses. [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Vice President Mike Pence announced Wednesday night that President Trump has ordered the State Department to shut off funding for ‘ineffective’ United Nations programs to help persecuted Christians in the Middle East, saying the administration will take over those efforts directly.

“From this day forward, America will provide support directly to persecuted communities through USAID,” Mr. Pence said at the In Defense of Christians annual solidarity dinner in Washington. “We will no longer rely on the United Nations alone to assist persecuted Christians and minorities in the wake of genocide and the atrocities of terrorist groups.”

Saying Christians have been victims of a genocide at the hands of the Islamic State across the Middle East, Mr. Pence said the “sad reality” is that the U.N. spends about $1 billion per year on humanitarian aid in the region that doesn’t help Christians enough.

“While faith-based groups with proven track records and deep roots in these communities are more than willing to assist, the United Nations too often denies their funding requests,” Mr. Pence said. “My friends, those days are over. This is the moment. Now is the time. And America will support these people in their hour of need.” [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]