Friday, 21 August 2026
Israel re-establishes closed West Bank settlement, defying growing international protests
A new generation of Israeli settlers has returned to the settlement of Kadim, in the occupied West Bank, two decades after it was closed by a previous Israeli government.
Thirty "pioneer families" had arrived in the settlement on Thursday from Tel Aviv, according to the regional settlers' council, riding a wave of Jewish nationalism driven by Israel's current government.
They came in small groups, some under military escort, blue and white Israeli flags fluttering from their cars as they passed Palestinian villages and farmlands. Some dragged trailers loaded with bedding, furniture and building material.
Israel's government has overturned a 20-year ban on Jewish settlements around Jenin. Palestinian residents are watching the new push on settlement expansion here with fear.
All Israeli settlements and settler outposts are illegal under international law. Outposts are also illegal under Israeli law, though are often supported by state services and funding.
"21 years after the crime of expulsion from northern Samaria, we have completed the correction […] and have returned to the settlement of Kadim," said Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich at the opening ceremony, using the Biblical word for the northern West Bank.
FULL REPORT AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn7n0l4p0kzo
Can Modern Technology Detect Who Bows to the Antichrist?
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Syrian Nuclear Material, Turkish Encroachment, And the Burden of Damascus
It doesn’t matter who controls Syria—whether it’s the Assad regime or now Ahmed al-Sharaa—we know Biblically that there has to be a future cataclysmic event that will cause Damascus to cease from being a city (Isaiah 17:1). Knowing this, one eye has to always stay on what’s going on in Syria.
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Can Technology Detect Who Bows to the Antichrist?
For generations, students of Bible prophecy have asked a fascinating question about Revelation 13:15. How could the Antichrist and False Prophet possibly know whether someone, anywhere in the world, actually bowed down and worshiped the image of the Beast—or refused to do so?
‘Don’t’ – Netanyahu warned Turkey not to deploy forces to Syria
Economic D-Day Or Another TACO Tuesday? Trump Threatens To Isolate Iran While Tehran Bets The President Will Once Again Abandon His Own Deadline
TACO Trump Says Economic D-Day Will Completely Isolate Iran, But His Seven Abandoned Military Ultimatums Reveal Why Tehran May Not Believe A Word Of It This Time Around
Trump’s declaration of “Economic D-Day” against Iran is designed to sound final, crushing and historically unprecedented. But after six months of abandoned deadlines, cancelled attacks and endlessly extended ultimatums, the question is no longer whether Trump can threaten Iran. The question is whether anyone in Tehran still believes him. This is where TACO—“Trump Always Chickens Out”—becomes the unavoidable lens through which his announcement must be examined.
FULL REPORT AT: https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/taco-trump-declares-economic-d-day-on-iran/
When AI Becomes You: The Coming Age Of Digital Surrogates
Prophecy News Watch 21st August
 AI is moving beyond answering questions toward acting on your behalf. But what happens when a digital assistant learns to sound, think and increasingly operate like you?
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 A Muslim Senate candidate describes Sharia as an obligation before God. The critical question is what happens if religious law and constitutional liberties ever collide.
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 A growing theology says the church’s role is to affirm identity rather than call people to transformation. What happens when acceptance begins redefining discipleship itself?
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Israel Is Building A Gallows Execution Complex For Convicted Palestinian Terrorists, And Security Minister Ben-Gvir Wants To Add Viewing Booths For Spectators
Israel Has Every Right To Punish Terrorists, But Ben-Gvir’s Gallows Execution Complex With Viewing Booths Turns Justice Into A Macabre Spectacle Of Death
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Turkey Defies Israel, Vows Continued Military Support for Syria
| El-Sayed’s Mother Worked for Hamas-Linked Charities; Israeli MMA Fighter Knocks Out Anti-Israel Opponent; Israel’s Endless Cycle of War; ‘Tsunami of Hate’ Against Jews in Medicine | ||||||||||||||||||||
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How much could Trump's 'economic D-Day' hurt Iran?
Nearly six months after US President Donald Trump vowed a swift victory over Iran, the conflict appears to be at a standstill, with prospects of a military victory or negotiated settlement growing dimmer.
To break the deadlock, Trump has vowed an "economic D-Day" under which any country that does business with Iran would face "tremendous" economic consequences.Iran, however, has long faced sanctions and has so far shown a willingness to endure pain and a capacity to adapt to immense economic and military pressure as the conflict drags on.
The key question for the US then becomes, will further sanctions work where other strategies have failed? The exact mechanics of the new US economic pressure campaign remain unclear, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promising to reveal them in a news conference on 24 August.
But in an interview with CNBC, Bessent made clear that the US is willing to take action against any country - friend or foe - that it believes is extending a lifeline to Iran. "You are either with us or against us," he said. "If you insist on doing business with [Iran], either transferring money, buying their oil or doing seaborne sea transfers, then the US treasury and the US government... will put its full might and force toward enforcing against you."
Vice-President JD Vance has described the sanctions as a "new phase" of the conflict in which economic pressure is the "most effective" tool available to the US.
"They're going to try to apply economic pressure to us, but what has been true over the last couple of weeks is that they felt a lot more pressure than we have," Vance said on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show. We're going to keep that going because we think that's the best way to ultimately achieve the final objective," he added.
FULL REPORT AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cre4gdvlj9ro
US says sanctions will 'squash' Iran's economy and 'collapse' its regime
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged US allies to support Washington's efforts to "squash" the Iranian economy.
"We are going to collapse this regime. It is time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision," Bessent told broadcaster CNBC. "You are either with us or against us," he said.
Bessent's remarks come after US President Donald Trump said that countries providing "any type of lifeline" to the Islamic Republic's regime will face "tremendous economic consequences".
Bessent did not offer any insight on the measures Trump's team was looking to implement, but said the planned pressure campaign on the Iranian economy would minimise the need of a "large-scale kinetic restart" of the conflict.
The US and Israel started a war with Iran in February, arguing the strikes were to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, which Tehran has consistently denied.
Iran, however, responded by attacking Israel, US bases across the Middle East as well as targeting Gulf Arab allies of the US. Since then, Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz - the waterway through which some 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas used to transit - causing wild fluctuations in prices on world markets.
The US and Iran agreed a ceasefire in April - and then another one in June, both aimed at facilitating negotiations to end the conflict. However, the truce has been consistently broken and talks appear to have stalled but, instead of returning to war, Trump is gearing up to unleash the "most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country".
Bessent said the new economic penalties will be part of "the greatest co-ordinated economic isolation in the history of the world". "If you insist on doing business with them, either transferring money, buying their oil... then the US Treasury and the US government will put [their] full might and force towards enforcing against you," the treasure secretary said referring to the US's international trading partners.
FULL REPORT AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c87n90eg0p2o
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