Builder of Noah's Ark Replica Hopes to Sail it to Israel - CBN News Tzippe Barrow

Life-Size Replica of Noah's Ark, Photo, Wikipedia Commons

Builder of Noah's Ark Replica Hopes to Sail it to Israel

11-26-2018

CBN News Tzippe Barrow

JERUSALEM, Israel – Dutch Christian businessman Johan Huibers plans to sail his life-size replica of Noah's Ark to Israel, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported last week.

Huibers completed the four-year project – built to the exact specifications in Genesis 6 – in 2012, raising the $5 million needed for its construction. He had hoped to sail it to Israel not long after its completion, but Israel was dealing with massive wildfires at the time so the plan was postponed.

CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell traveled to Holland several years ago to interview Huibers. Watch here: Chris Mitchell interviews Huibers

Though the ark quickly became a popular tourist attraction in southern Holland along the Maas River, Huibers says it belongs in Israel.

"My preferred destination for the ark is Israel," he told JTA. "I love the land, I love the country, I love the people."

Huibers said he believes the Bible verbatim, that is, word for word.

Johan Huibers, Screen Capture, CBN News

"It may sound scary, but I believe everything written in this book, cover to cover," he told JTA, pointing to a Dutch translation of the Hebrew Bible. "This [the ark] is a copy of God's ship. It only makes sense to take it to God's land."

According to the report, Huibers needs to raise $1.3 million to hire tugboats for the voyage because the ark has no motor of its own. Earlier, he'd considered sailing it to Brazil, but those plans didn't materialize.

The 60-year-old businessman, who made his fortune building storage units, told JTA he got the idea in 1993 after reading a story about Noah to his children.

Huibers and a crew of seven amateur carpenters built the 390-foot-long, 75-foot-high structure in just four years.

Inside the Ark, Screen Capture, CBN News

"We had a butcher, a hairdresser and a teacher working here," he said, definitely not professional boat makers.

Huibers hopes his replica of Noah's Ark will help people understand that God is real, "to show people that God exists." He says we're living in the end times though many people aren't aware of it.

Born five years after the North Sea flood in 1959, which killed some 2,000 people, Huibers believes there will be more flooding in the future, but that's not why he built it.

"Maybe it will, who knows, but my survival is not its purpose," he said. Rather it's meant to educate people and strengthen their belief in God.

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Time to Call Out Europe on its Thinly Disguised Anti-Semitism? - CBN News Tzippe Barrow

EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, Photo, AP archives

Time to Call Out Europe on its Thinly Disguised Anti-Semitism?

07-13-2018

CBN News Tzippe Barrow

JERUSALEM, Israel – European anti-Semitism is no secret to anyone who follows the news. It's hard 

to know where it's the most virulent – Germany, France, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, the United Kingdom

– there are troublesome incidents throughout Europe and they're increasing.

Burgeoning Islamic populations are taking a toll in several countries, including Sweden, France, 

Germany and the UK, which often factor into terror attacks against Jewish citizens.

Some Bible believers see rising anti-Semitism as prophetic, citing Jeremiah 16:16.

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"Behold, I will send for many fishers, says the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send 

for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the 

holes of the rocks."

Some hope the increasing danger facing Europe's Jewish communities will convince families to make 

aliyah – immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return.

When terror attacks became a regular occurrence in France several years ago, thousands of 

French Jews decided it was time to start a new life in Israel.

Earlier this week, German police beat up an American Jewish professor after he was attacked in a 

park. The 20-year-old assailant, reportedly a German citizen of Palestinian Arab descent, attacked 

the professor because he was wearing a kippah, hitting and shoving him, as he shouted, "No Jew 

in Germany."

The attacker fled the scene and was later arrested and released. Police claimed they punched the 

professor in the face and threw him to the ground thinking he was the aggressor.

The police chief later apologized on behalf of the officers.

In her weekly column for the Jerusalem Post, entitled "A glimpse of Europe's truce face," Israeli 

Middle East analyst and author Caroline Glick explains what's behind the EU's pervasive anti-Israel 

stance.

"Whereas Europeans fear the Iranians and the Russians, they hate Israel. And the goal of Europe's 

Israel policy is to weaken the Jewish state through delegitimization, political and legal subversion 

and the constant threat of commercial sanctions," she writes.

Glick says US President Donald Trump recognizes "that European rhetoric doesn't represent its 

actual policy…It camouflages it."

Israel, for its part, has tried for many years to reason with Europe's leaders.

Glick noted, "We send our best lawyers to Europe to explain that our policies conform with 

international law. We deploy our most talented diplomats to Europe to prove that our actions advance 

human rights. And our greatest statesmen have spent decades trying to prove our commitment to 

peace."

Glick says what many in Israel understand: that "all these efforts are completely irrelevant."

"The Europeans could care less about the truth. They aren't here to promote truth. They prefer lies. 

Lies help them hide their policy predicated on hatred of Israel."

And she further believes that President Trump recognizes EU's policies for what they are and Israel 

should do the same.

"The time has come for Israel to finally stop taking European rhetoric seriously. The time has come 

for Israel to begin exacting a painful price from Europe for its hostile and damaging policies toward 

us," Glick concludes.

While life in the Jewish state has its share of challenges, polls show Israelis are among the world's 

most contented people.

Perhaps that's because in the wake of centuries of persecution in Europe and elsewhere, they're 

celebrating the 70th anniversary of a modern miracle in the land where they belong.

Netanyahu Praises Congress on Passage of Taylor Force Act - CBN News Tzippe Barrow

Netanyahu Praises Congress on Passage of Taylor Force Act

03-25-2018

CBN News Tzippe Barrow

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the US Congress and the Trump administration for passing the Taylor Force Act.

The legislation was named in memory of US Army veteran Taylor Force, stabbed to death by an Arab terrorist during a visit to Israel in March 2016.

On Friday, the Senate approved the Taylor Force Act as part of the $1.3 trillion budget package to prevent a government shutdown. In early December 2017, the House passed the bill unanimously.

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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly said he would never stop providing monthly stipends to terrorists and their families – a practice that became known as "pay to slay." Passage of the legislation will significantly affect US funding to the Palestinian Authority until it stops the payments. 

Netanyahu said the legislation sends a "powerful signal" that changes the rules.

"The American Congress has passed the Taylor Force Act, which is named after an American student who was murdered in Jaffa, Taylor Force, from a wonderful family," Netanyahu told cabinet ministers. "It is designed to deny to the Palestinian Authority hundreds of millions of dollars that they invest in encouraging terrorism and lavish on terrorist families and the murderers themselves."

He continued. "I think that this is a very powerful signal from the US, which is changing the rules. It is unwilling to accept the truth of the past or, I should say, the lies of the past, and live with them. It is simply exposing lie after lie and is standing up on truth after truth," he said.

"I congratulate the American Congress and President Trump for these decisions. I am certain that I do so on behalf of all Israeli government ministers," he concluded. 

Israel Reveals Historic Nuclear Strike: When Israel Is Left Alone, It Will Act - CBN News Tzippe Barrow

Israel Air Force, AP file photo

Israel Reveals Historic Nuclear Strike: When Israel Is Left Alone, It Will Act

03-21-2018

CBN News Tzippe Barrow

JERUSALEM, Israel – More than a decade after Israeli pilots destroyed a Korean-built nuclear reactor in Syria, Israel declassified top secret documents Wednesday detailing the operation.

After failing to convince former US President George Bush and his administration of the danger posed by the Syrian nuclear plant, Israel decided to act on its own.

Shortly before midnight on September 5, 2007, the Israel Air Force deployed eight jet fighters to take out the reactor.

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The mission was successful, the facility destroyed and the pilots returned safely to their base.

IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot shares his perspective on the 2007 bombing that destroyed Syria's nuclear reactor before it came online. Eisenkot was GOC of the Northern Command at the time, responsible for Israel's northern border with Syria and Lebanon.

Dr. Ronen Bergman, author of "Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations," told journalists in a conference call organized by The Israel Project that despite their close relationship, Mossad chief Meir Dagan was unable to convince his US counterpart, CIA chief Michael Hayden, to strike the nuclear facility.

Dagan was convinced that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would not retaliate – as long as he wasn't publicly humiliated. The CIA argued he would call for all-out war.

Dagan's assessment proved right and the CIA's wrong.

Bergman explained that Israeli Intelligence officials convinced then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that if Israel did not take responsibility for the strike or publicize it – a move that would have humiliated Assad before his Middle Eastern counterparts and forced him to react, he would not. That proved to be true.

Asked why Israel finally decided to lift the gag order on the operation, Bergman cited two main reasons.

First because most of the details were already known outside of Israel there was no longer any need to keep it secret.

Second declassifying the information would send an important message: "That when Israel is left alone, it reacts, and with extreme force."

Bergman agrees there are similarities between what happened then and Iran's attempts today to embed its forces in Syria.

In 2007, Israel asked the US to fulfill its commitment to Israel's security by striking the reactor. Today, Israel is asking the US to exercise its leverage on Russia to convince Iran to back off in Syria. Israel sees an Iranian presence in Syria as its main strategic threat today.

According to Bergman, Israeli officials are "extremely frustrated" by the Trump administration's lack of engagement. He says for all intents and purposes, "the US has evacuated the Middle East."

But the bottom line, Bergman stressed, is that Israel will always do what it has to do.

"The message is that when Israel is left alone, it would react and as it reacted and used force 11 years ago and destroyed the North Korean facility in Syria, it would do so again today and destroy any Iranian attempt to further deploy military forces, guerilla forces [and] Hezbollah forces in Syria."

Anti-Semitic Incidents in US Rise Nearly 60% in 2017 - CBN News Tzippe Barrow

Antisemitic Rally, Ilustrative

Anti-Semitic Incidents in US Rise Nearly 60% in 2017

02-27-2018

CBN News Tzippe Barrow

JERUSALEM, Israel – A new study shows hate crimes against American Jews are hitting record levels across the United States.

According to the Anti-Defamation League's latest report, harassment, threats and vandalism targeting Jews rose by nearly 60 percent in 2017. It's the largest rise on record in a single year and the second highest since the ADL began tracking anti-Semitic incidents in America in the 1970s.

The report recorded 1,986 incidents, including bomb threats on Jewish institutions and schools, vandalism in Jewish cemeteries and physical assaults. It's the second highest number in 40 years and not one state was exempted from some type of anti-Semitic attack.

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Jewish Cemetery in Philadelphia Vandalized

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"A confluence of events in 2017 led to a surge in attacks on our community – from bomb threats, cemetery desecrations, white supremacists marching in Charlottesville and children harassing children at school," ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan A. Greenblat said. "These incidents came at a time when we saw a rising climate of incivility, the emboldening of hate groups and widening divisions in society."

Vandalism saw the largest increase in 2017, though most of the people who vandalized Jewish homes, businesses and community spots remain unidentified. In the first quarter of 2017, there were 163 bomb threats against Jewish institutions.

New York, California, New Jersey Massachusetts, Florida and Pennsylvania experienced the most attacks, presumably because they have the largest Jewish populations.

Incidents in schools from kindergarten through college campuses nearly doubled from the previous year.

"The consistent increase of anti-Semitic incidents against students of all ages is deeply troubling," Greenblatt continued. "We know that students do not always report when they are being bullied so for every incident that's reported, it is likely there's another that goes unreported.

Greenblatt said the ADL is committed to take its "No Place for Hate" program into more schools this year.

The ADL said its report includes both criminal and non-criminal incidents and was compiled from interviews with victims, law enforcement officials and community leaders.

Push Is On for More Embassies to Move to Jerusalem - CBN News Tzippe Barrow

Push Is On for More Embassies to Move to Jerusalem

12-26-2017

CBN News Tzippe Barrow

Just three weeks after US President Donald Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and begin preparations to move the US Embassy there, more than 10 countries are considering the same move.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely told Israel Radio the talks are taking place, though she declined to specify the countries.

"I can only say that there are more than 10 countries," Israel Hayomquoted her as saying. "We, at the Foreign Ministry, are working intelligently with each one. Every country has a different background."

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"There are plenty more countries in the works," she continued. "I know this because the Foreign Ministry is currently in the middle of important and meaningful efforts with these countries, some of which are European."

Guatemala, with its strong evangelical population, is the first country to follow suit.

"I spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. We discussed the excellent relations between the countries since Guatemala's support for the establishment of Israel. One of the most relevant subjects was the return of the embassy of Guatemala to Jerusalem. I have instructed the foreign minister to begin coordinating the implementation of the move. G-d bless you," said evangelical Christian and Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales, the Government Press Office reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Morales for the decision.

"Last night I spoke with my friend, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales. I thanked him for Guatemala's support for us in the UN [General Assembly] vote and I expressed my hope that he would follow in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump, recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and begin to move the embassy to it," Netanyahu told Israeli parliamentarians at the Knesset Monday.

In related news, the Jerusalem-based Friends of Zion Heritage Centerannounced a global campaign to encourage other countries to move their embassies to Jerusalem.

The ministry kicked off its campaign with a colorful banner in Jerusalem thanking the US and Guatemalan presidents for their support of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state.

Evangelical leader and author Dr. Mike Evans called  it a "must see site in Jerusalem."

Earlier this month, Evans presented the Friends of Zion award to President Trump in a ceremony in the Oval Office attended by faith leaders representing more than 150 million Christians worldwide.

"The Friends of Zion Heritage Center has become one of the central institutions in the State of Israel influencing the world and strengthening Israel's relations globally while fortifying the pillars of the State of Israel," FOZ said in a statement.

Growing Speculation Awaits President Trump's Embassy Decision - CBN News Chris Mitchell,Tzippe Barrow

Growing Speculation Awaits President Trump's Embassy Decision

12-04-2017

CBN News Chris Mitchell,

Tzippe Barrow

JERUSALEM, Israel – Both Washington and Jerusalem are anticipating one of President Trump's most important foreign policy decisions this week: whether to move the embassy of the United States from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

At this year's Saban Forum, Trump's personal envoy to the Middle East peace process, Jared Kushner, told participants the president is still undecided.

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"The president is going to make his decision and …"  Haim Saban, the sponsor of the Forum interrupted Kushner and asked, "He hasn't made his decision?"  Kushner replied, "He's still looking at a lot of different facts and he'll be the one who will want to tell you not me, so he'll make sure he does that at the right time."

It's expected that President Trump will make an announcement about the issue on Wednesday. He could decide to move U.S. embassy to Jerusalem or even declare Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Whatever the president's decision, the move has generated a great deal of speculation.

At the same forum, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained why he keeps warning the world about Iran.

"I speak so often about Iran because I read history," Netanyahu said. "When tyrants call for the destruction of my people, I believe them. I don't have the luxury of discounting their genocidal threats, so let me reiterate Israel's policy…"We will not allow a regime hell bent on the annihilation of the Jewish state to acquire nuclear weapons. We will not allow that regime to entrench itself militarily in Syria as it seeks to do for the express purpose of eradicating our state."   

Recently Netanyahu said Israel will not tolerate an Iranian military presence inside Syria within 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) from Israel's northern border on the Golan Heights.

But what seemed to resonate with much of the media was his quote of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"Recently, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia referred to Iran's supreme leader as the new Hitler of the Middle East. Obviously there are some important differences between Nazi Germany and the Islamic Republic of Iran, but both regimes do have two important things in common: one, a ruthless commitment to impose tyranny and terror, and second, a ruthless commitment to murder Jews," Netanyahu told the audience by videoconferencing.

He ended on an optimistic note.

"My friends, one day the Iranian regime will fall. Iranian mothers and fathers will rejoice in the street. Israel will be first in line to restore relations and rebuild our great partnership. That's just one reason why I'm so hopeful about our future. Today Israel is more welcome by the nations of the world than ever before. Our economy is booming. Our foreign relations are flourishing. Our army is more powerful than ever. Our unique, our indispensable alliance with America is growing from strength to strength," he said.