Dear Yadda,

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/religion/index.html


Three of the world's major religions -- the monotheist traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- were all born in the Middle East and are all inextricably linked to one another. Christianity was born from within the Jewish tradition, and Islam developed from both Christianity and Judaism.

While there have been differences among these religions, there was a rich cultural interchange between Jews, Christians, and Muslims that took place in Islamic Spain and other places over centuries.


Judaism

A brief history of Judaism

Judaism is the oldest surviving monotheistic religion, arising in the eastern Mediterranean in the second millennium B.C.E. Abraham is traditionally considered to be the first Jew and to have made a covenant with God.
Because Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all recognize Abraham as their first prophet,
they are also called the Abrahamic religions.
           

While there was always a small community of Jews in historic Palestine, in 73 C.E. the Roman Empire dispersed the Jews after an insurrection against Roman authority. Most Jews then lived in Diaspora, as minorities in their communities, until the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

When Jews from all over the world came to settle in modern Israel, they found that various subcultures had developed in different areas with distinctive histories, languages, religious practices, customs, and




(although he is not considered to be the son of God). Many non-Muslims mistakenly believe that Muhammad is the equivalent of Jesus in the Islamic tradition; in fact, it is the Quran that stands in the same central position in Islam as Jesus does in Christianity. Muhammad himself is not divine, but a prophet chosen by God to deliver his message and an example of piety to emulate.

Jews and Christians are specifically protected in the Quran as Peoples of the Book, reinforcing their spiritual connection to Islam by virtue of having been given revelations from God. The Islamic legal tradition has upheld the rights of Jews and Christians to maintain their beliefs and practices within their communities in Islamic lands, and this policy of tolerance has generally been upheld.

Bobby. wrote on Sep 28^th, 2024 at 11:11pm:



Aaaaaaaw.


.


Zephaniah 1:9
In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj31rgz511no



3 hours ago
David Gritten

Iran’s supreme leader has said the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah "will not go unavenged", a day after he was killed in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced five days of mourning in Iran in response to what he called the "martyrdom of the great Nasrallah", describing him as "a path and a school of thought" that would continue.

Iranian media reported that a Iranian Revolutionary Guards general was also killed in the Israeli strikes in Beirut on Friday.

Israel’s military said Nasrallah had "the blood of thousands... on his hands", and that it targeted him while he was "commanding more imminent attacks".

Gen Abbas Nilforoushan, deputy commander of operations for Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), was also "martyred" in Dahiyeh on Friday, according to the IRGC-linked Saberin News outlet.

It provided nor further details, although the moderate Didban news website said he was "assassinated along with" Nasrallah.

However, there has been no official confirmation from Iranian authorities.

Iran uses the IRGC to provide Hezbollah with most of its funding, training and weapons, which have allowed the Shia Islamist group to build a military wing stronger than the Lebanese army.

The US says the IRGC also oversees the co-ordination of Iran’s network of allied armed groups across the Middle East, which are all opposed to the US and Israel and sometimes refer to themselves as the “Axis of Resistance”. Besides Hezbollah, they include Hamas, the Houthis in Yemen and Shia militias in Iraq and Syria.

On Saturday, there were air raid sirens in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv after the Houthis launched a missile in support of Hezbollah. The Israeli military said the missile was intercepted.

Hezbollah is searching for a replacement -
they are getting another leader like the last one.
Maybe Israel will send him a Pager as a present?


https://www.arabnews.com/node/2573124/middle-east







BEIRUT: Hashem Safieddine, a potential successor to his slain cousin Hassan Nasrallah,
is one of Hezbollah’s most prominent figures and has deep religious and family ties to the Shiite Muslim movement’s patron Iran.
Safieddine bears a striking resemblance to his charismatic maternal cousin Nasrallah but is several years his junior, aged in his late 50s or early 60s.


A source close to Hezbollah, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the grey-bearded, bespectacled Safieddine was the “most likely” candidate for party’s top job.
The United States and Saudi Arabia put Safieddine, who is a member of Hezbollah’s powerful decision-making Shoura Council, on their respective lists of designated “terrorists” in 2017.
The US Treasury described him as “a senior leader” in Hezbollah and “a key member” of its executive.
While Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem automatically takes over the Hezbollah leadership after Nasrallah’s death, the Shoura Council must meet to elect a new secretary-general.

Safieddine has strong ties with Iran after undertaking religious studies in the holy city of Qom.
His son is married to the daughter of General Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations arm who was killed in a 2020 US strike in Iraq.



Unlike Nasrallah, who lived in hiding for years, Safieddine has appeared openly at recent political and religious events.
Usually presenting a calm demeanour, he has upped the fiery rhetoric during the funerals of Hezbollah fighters killed in nearly a year of cross-border clashes with Israel.
Nasrallah said his forces were acting in support of Palestinian Hamas militants fighting Israel in Gaza.
Amal Saad, a Lebanese researcher on Hezbollah based at Cardiff University, said that for years people have been saying that Safieddine was “the most likely successor” to Nasrallah.
“The next leader has to be on the Shoura Council, which has a handful of members, and he has to be a religious figure,” she said.
Safieddine “has a lot of authority... he’s the strongest contender” she added.
Hezbollah was created at the initiative of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and gained its moniker as “the Resistance” by fighting Israeli troops who occupied southern Lebanon until 2000.
The movement was founded during the Lebanese civil war after Israel besieged the capital Beirut in 1982.
In July in a speech in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Safieddine alluded to how Hezbollah views its leadership succession.
“In our resistance... when any leader is martyred, another takes up the flag and goes on with new, certain, strong determination,” he said.

Yes Frank,
it looks to me like Israel will have to invade Southern Lebanon to stop the rockets.
My bet is that Hezbollah still has at least 100,000 more rockets in their arsenal.


https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-lebanon-war-hezbollah-09-28-24/in...

5 hr 51 min ago



The US sees the possibility of a limited ground incursion into Lebanon as Israel moves forces to its northern border, according to a senior administration official and a US official. But the officials stressed that Israel does not appear to have made a decision on whether to carry out a ground incursion.

The US assessment was based on the mobilization of Israeli troops and the clearing of areas in what could be preparation for the launching of a ground incursion, one of the officials said.

Earlier Saturday, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Peter Lerner said the military was preparing for the possibility of a ground incursion, but it was only one option being considered. Israel’s stated goal is to return more than 60,000 residents to their homes in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon.

And on Wednesday, Israel’s top general, Herzi Halevi, said the country was preparing for the possible entry of ground forces into Lebanon.

Shortly before news of the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a senior Israeli official said Israel hopes not to carry out a ground incursion into Lebanon.

“Our preference is not to have a ground incursion,” the official said.

And so, the '80s Dame Edna quip returns and is current once again:

Busy as a bricky in Beirut.

Bobby. wrote on Sep 29^th, 2024 at 3:14pm:



Nah, bobby.

All Israel needs to do is to declare,        ....that Beruit must be evacuated,
of all civilians.


i.e.
Publicly inform the Lebanese government that......

If Hezbollah intends to continue, to launch rockets into [civilian areas in] Israel,
then the Lebanese government will need to evacuate Beirut.

ALL OF IT.

Because Israel intends, to continue, to target EVERY legitimate Hezbollah target in Beirut,
which Israel is able to identify.

EVERY legitimate Hezbollah target, in Beirut.


So, the advice to the Lebanese government, is, either 'reign in' Hezbollah,
OR,
we intend to level   EVERY   Hezbollah target in Beirut.



bobby,

That would be 'inconvenient' for Lebanon, wouldn't it ?
......if the Lebanese government had to evacuate ALL CIVILIANS from Beirut ?



Well, Hezbollah         are CHOOSING,       to continue, to launch their rockets into [civilian areas in] Israel.