Ahead Of Trip, Obama’s Middle East Map Erases Israeli Territory And Implies That Jerusalem Does Not Belong To Israel

Zechariah 12:3, “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”

The Washington Free Beacon – “The map of the Middle East displayed in an Obama administration video released days before President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel shows the Jewish state dispossessed of substantial parts of its current territory, including its capital.

The map of Israel, displayed repeatedly during the video, shows the Golan Heights, Jerusalem, northern Israel, and areas surrounding what is currently the West Bank as non-Israeli territory. The Golan Heights is shown as part of Syria; Jerusalem is shown as part of the West Bank; and northern Israel is shown as part of Lebanon.

The itinerary on the White House website also implies that Jerusalem is neither Israel’s capital nor even part of Israel.

The president’s schedule lists two stops in ‘Tel Aviv, Israel’ and one in ‘Amman, Jordan’ but his activities in Israel’s capital city are identified as taking place only in ‘Jerusalem’ — with no country name attached. This keeps with a reluctantly-acknowledged administration policy of denying that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital or even a part of Israel.” Source – The Washington Free Beacon.

Former Knesset Member: Obama’s Knesset Snub ‘Worrying’ – “Former Knesset Speaker MK Reuven Rivlin expressed concern Tuesday over United States President Barack Obama’s decision not to speak in Knesset during his visit to Israel this week. Instead, Obama will speak in the Binyanei Hauma convention center in Jerusalem. ‘President Obama must speak to the Israeli nation directly, but opposite its leaders,’ he said. ‘When President Obama avoids the Knesset in Jerusalem, that’s a worrying sign, it’s a statement of lack of faith in the representatives of the nation he’s addressing.'” Read more.

ESCALATION: Chemical Weapons Attack Reported In Syria, Dozens Killed, Both Sides Blame Each Other

Regardless of which side is responsible, there is now a high likelihood that the other will respond in kind. This has now gone from bad to much worse …

CBS News – “The Syrian government accused rebels of firing a chemical weapon for the first time on Tuesday in the north of the country, killing at least 25 people in the war-torn Aleppo province. Rebels quickly denied the report and accused regime forces of firing a chemical weapon on a long-range missile.

Neither of the accusations could immediately be verified, and a chemical weapons expert in the U.K. told CBSNews.com there was very little evidence to suggest any actual chemical weapons had been deployed. A U.S. official, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, also said there was no evidence of a chemical attack. Also expressing doubts was the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which reported no independent information of chemical weapons use.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney told reporters the administration had no evidence to suggest the rebels had used chemical weapons, but added: ‘We are looking carefully at the information as it comes in… This is an issue that has been made very clear by the president to be of great concern to us.’

The Syrian state news agency SANA said ‘terrorists’ had fired a rocket ‘containing chemical materials’ into the area around the village of Khan al-Assal in the northern province of Aleppo. The regime regularly uses the term terrorists to refer to rebels fighting to overthrow authoritarian President Bashar Assad.

Russia, one of the Syrian regime’s few remaining allies, joined the Assad regime in accusing the rebels of carrying out a chemical attack, calling it an ‘extremely dangerous’ development in the crisis. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said rebels had detonated a munition containing an unidentified chemical agent early Tuesday in Aleppo province, without giving further details. The claim was nearly identical to the reports by Syria’s state media.” Read more.

Flashback: Israeli Intelligence Chief: Syria Is Preparing To Use Chemical Weapons – “Israel’s military intelligence chief says Syria’s embattled president, Bashar Assad, is preparing to use chemical weapons. Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi told a security conference in the coastal town of Herzliya that Assad is stepping up his offensive against rebels trying to oust him. Kochavi claims Assad is making advanced preparations to use chemical weapons …” Read more.

Flashback: Shock Video Shows ‘Syrian Rebels’ Testing Chemical Weapons, ‘This Is Your Fate … I Swear By Allah To Make You Die’ – “A shocking You Tube video shows alleged Syrian rebels testing chemical weapons on lab rabbits before making threats to use them against Syria’s pro-Assad Alawite population. The video is particularly pertinent given reports yesterday that claim President Bashar Al-Assad has ordered the Syrian military to load ‘the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs,’in preparation for fighter jets to drop the bombs on the civilian population.” Read more.