Well, this has been the busiest summer of my life, bar none. Life just seems to get crazier and crazier, and time just seems to fly by. Now, I am not complaining, because I see all this as being in God’s hands, and since I truly believe that the finish line is in sight, I can at least try to accomplish all I can for the Lord and for people and trust Him to use the good and pitch the useless.

Perhaps many of you feel overwhelmed too. Time pressure, people pressure, physical limitations, financial struggles, or just sensing the spirit of the age and feeling oppressed spiritually by how weird things are getting – all of these things and more buffet us every day, and we are bound to sense it and have it affect our strength and courage.

But – I would exhort and encourage everyone to take the yoke of Jesus in all things. His yoke is easy, His burden is light – and we can do NOTHING without Him. Yes, you are in a war. Yes, we all hate war. But as a Christian if you are not in a battle everyday, you have to ask yourself if you are on the front lines of faith. A good friend and someone I really respect said recently that believing God for salvation, and having faith to live the life of the Christian are two different things. AMEN! It’s one thing – a glorious thing – to get saved and give one’s life to Christ. But that is just the beginning. If we stop there, we will not live the life of faith, not live for heaven, not grow in grace. The Lord spoke to me strongly this Sunday AM during Pastor’s message. He ministered to me about how we take our first step by believing in Him for eternity. Then, He leads us to trust Him for our months and weeks. More growth in Christ. But then as time goes on, He leads us and tries us to trust Him for our days, then our hours, then our minutes; until finally He is our Lord, our precious counselor, our all in all. And this He must be, or our faith will not be that precious imperishable thing that He values above all else. If you give him 10%, you will have a 10% Christianity. If you give him 90%, which sounds good on the surface, sorry, you will only have a 90% walk. Give Him your all, and you will have all.

So, in these ultra busy seasons, the best thing you can do is keep a tender heart open to Christ in all things. Be correctable, be kind, be tenderhearted. The world is full of rough edges that we need not contribute to. Be different. Go out of your way to be kind and generous. Bless people, spoil your mate, and above all, listen for the voice of Jesus every moment. The book of Revelation has special instructions for those who would have ‘ears to hear’. If we lose our ability to hear Him, and just hear the world, or worse yet, just ourselves, we will miss out on needed direction for our lives and we will miss out on seasons of growth and change. He is preparing us for heaven, and we must be slow to speak and quick to hear. Pray for a ‘heart of hearing’, not to be ‘hard of hearing’. Heaven is on it’s way, folks. It’s a glorious future, now go forth and live like you believe that.

mary d

I’ve been aware of this summer’s Willow Creek Arts Fest for some time now, I read the flyer with only one eye open knowing it might burn my retinas if I stared too long. Dan Kimball, Sally Morgenthaler, and others were sure to make this a time to further submerge the church into rampant silliness at best, and raging Laodicean apostasy at worst. I cannot express my disdain for the Submerging Church movement as clearly as I wish because words fail me. Just like nothing good is said about Laodicea in Scripture, I cannot find any redeeming quality for such apostasy. That apostasy would take the form of mindless drivel did not occur to me, but that is just smoke and mirrors for the dangerous spiritual road this move takes, and leads others headlong who are not rooted and grounded in the Word down the same hellish path. Lest you think I overstate, just watch this clip. Talk, talk, talk…blog, blog, blog…and they say nothing. It’s like a train wreck in the middle aisle of the church that everyone stares at but no one cleans up…disequalibrium??
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2YfrXytc5eE

The Bible is like a telescope. If a man looks through his telescope, then he sees the worlds beyond; but if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but that. The Bible is a thing to be looked through, to see that which is beyond; but most people only look at it; and so they see only the dead letter.

Phillips Brooks

By Hal Lindsey

He claimed Syria has “proof” Israel is also readying for a war. “We hear about special Israeli trainings to take Damascus. We see that Israel is re-establishing bases of the Israeli army in the Golan that are unusual and not needed except for war. We believe the Israeli government has an interest in confronting Syria to rehabilitate its image of losing to Hezbollah.”

The WorldNetDaily report also says that Damascus believes newly-installed Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a former prime minister, “wants to prove he is a military expert.” This information is perfectly in line with the official statements made by both Bashar Assad and Mushen Bilal to several major Arab newspapers.

Furthermore, London’s Daily Telegraph reported June 25 that Tehran was establishing a missile defense shield for Syria. Iran is also preparing to ship sophisticated military hardware, including “dozens of medium-range Shahab-3 and Russian-made Scud-C missiles, together with Scud-B missiles.”

Syria recently test-fired two Scud-D surface-to-surface missiles that have a range of about 250 miles. This puts virtually all of Israel’s population centers within range. Analysts say the planned Iranian arms shipment to Syria may be coordinated with the delivery of advanced Russian fighter jets.

Syria is also known to be producing non-conventional warheads, including those containing V-X gas for delivery via the new longer range and more accurate Scuds. All Israel’s cities are within range of these missiles. Most of them can be reached in less than three minutes. Syria is gambling that Israel’s performance in the Hezbollah war of June 2006 means that it has seen all Israel has to offer.

Apparently, Bashar Assad now believes Israel can be beaten. Assad is miscalculating. In the event Syria launches a gas attack on Israel, it’s a virtual certainty that Damascus would be instantly obliterated by Israeli nuclear weapons.

The thought of being gassed evokes a visceral response among Israel’s Holocaust survivors and their descendants that Damascus wildly underestimates. Israel has more than 400 nuclear weapons in hidden silos in various places within its borders, as well as at least two submarines in the Mediterranean that are launch capable. And you can be certain that in the event of a massive WMD attack by the Syrians, Israel will respond in kind.

There are two particular codes used by Israeli Defense Forces when planning worst-case scenario responses. One is called the “Masada Option.” Masada was an ancient fortress taken by the Romans following a three-year siege. Just before they were overrun, the defending Jews committed suicide rather than be captured.

The other code term, “The Samson Option,” refers to Samson, who said just before he pulled down the house of the Philistines on himself – and them – “Let me die with the Philistines.” Judges 16:30 records it this way: “Then Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.”

That’s pretty clear imagery. Israel will not just meekly fade away into destruction. And it certainly won’t die alone, even if it has to destroy itself in the process of nuking the Middle East.

I once encountered Ariel Sharon in the Knesset in the late 1970s. I asked him if Israel still had a Masada Option. He boldly announced, “No longer ‘Masada Option’ – now ‘Samson Option.’”

Moshe Dayan and Golda Meir almost used that “Option” in the first days of the Yom Kippur War, when it appeared they were going to be overrun. Dayan gave the code for its use when he told Prime Minister Meir, “Arm the doomsday weapons, the Third Temple is about to fall.”

War with Syria threatens to bring all nations of the Middle East into direct conflict with Israel – even the supposedly moderate state of Jordan. Jordan has never recovered from the defeats it suffered at the hands of the Israelis, particularly in 1967, in which it lost both the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Amman plays a cagey game, sitting on the fence, not quite friends with Israel and not quite enemies, but certainly ready to reclaim Jerusalem should the opportunity arise. The words of Zephaniah outline both Amman’s history and its future.

“I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Amman, by which they have reproached my people, and made boasts against their border. Therefore as I live, says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Amman as Gomorrah, even the breeding of weeds, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall plunder them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.” (Zephaniah 2:8-9)

Each of these events is in the future, according to Scripture. In each case, these prophecies remain unfulfilled. But current events suggest that all could be fulfilled to the letter – in an instant of time.

Never in history have any of these events occurred. More than that, at no time in recorded history were any of these things even possible. And never before have all the causative factors been present at the same moment in history.

But today, they are the only logical conclusion if current events continue along their current path. It’s a terrifying scenario, but to those who trust that these signs point to the imminent return of Christ for His Church, it is, nonetheless, an exciting time to be alive.

Posted: July 17, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Janet Folger

by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) A four-day International Conference of Descendants of the biblical figure Aaron, the Priestly Tribe (Kohanim) and the whole Tribe of Levi to which the Kohanim are a part, begins on Sunday, July 15.

“Bring forth Aharon’s sons….Then anoint them, just as you anointed their father, so that they will be Kohanim (”priests”) to Me. It will be done so that their anointing will make them an eternal [hereditary] priesthood for all generations. Moses proceeded to do exactly as G-d had commanded him.” (Exodus 40:14, 15)

Throughout Jewish history and to this day, Jews are careful to note which families belong to the tribe of Levi and the priestly family of Aaron. At the special gathering this week in Jerusalem, they will learn more about their roots and discuss the latest research proving their genetic ties.

The International Conference of Kohanim and the Tribe of Levi falls on the first day of the Hebrew month of Av and the beginning of the nine-day period leading up to Tisha B’Av, the second-most solemn fast day in the Jewish calendar.

It is also the date on which Aharon the High Priest, brother of Moses left this world to enter the World to Come.

Recent scientific research and DNA testing has allegedly proven a genetic connection between the descendants of the Tribe of Levi, the biblical priests and their assistants who began with the sons of Aharon.

Project director Professor Karl Skorecki, one of the main researchers in the seminal “Kohen Genetic Signature” study, is scheduled to present the findings Monday, July 16 at 11:30 a.m. in “HaKotel Hall” auditorium, near the Western Wall Plaza.

“This is not only the first family reunion of the Jewish priestly dynasty in nearly 2,000 years,” said conference organizer Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman in a statement sent to the media. “The research and information we will share will play an important role in appreciating and maintaining our unique and precious heritage.” Rabbi Kleiman is the director of The Center for Kohanim in Jerusalem and the author of “DNA & Tradition.”

Molecular geneticists have recently discovered the “Kohen Modal Haplotype,” a Y-chromosome DNA lineage signature shared by a majority of both Ashkenazic and Sephardic Kohanim.

This indicates direct patrilineal descent of present-day Kohanim from an ancient ancestor, genetically dated to have lived approximately 3,000 years ago, corresponding to the time of the Exodus from Egypt.

Kohanim and other “members of the tribe,” the Levi’im (Levites), are being invited to participate in what has been billed as the “first ‘family reunion’ held since the days of the Temple in Jerusalem.”

Four days of seminars, touring, presentations of the latest research and lectures by leading rabbis and scientists on such topics as genetic genealogy, biblical history and contemporary issues in the Jewish legal arena will be offered in English as well as Hebrew.

By Janet Folger

Buy now! Pay later! More than a commercial aimed at short-term thinkers, this is the policy of our U.S. Congress:

• Spend more than you have and create a deficit.
• Borrow to pay the deficit.
• When you can’t pay the interest on that loan, just borrow some more!
• Result: Bankruptcy.

In Fiscal Year 2006, the United States government spent $406 billion of your money just on interest payments to the holders of the National Debt. That National Debt is now $8.8 trillion.

Who needs terrorists? America is destroying herself.

Put it on credit, drive it today! Here’s a neat short-term idea – let’s sell off (or lease for a lifetime) our highways, bridges, ports, water departments and infrastructure to foreigners for some fast cash up front!

(Column continues below)

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, along with an increasing number of others, wanted some quick cash. But it wasn’t his house he refinanced. He sold the Indiana toll road to Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A. of Spain for $3.85 billion. Who pays the price? The same ones who paid for the road to begin with – the taxpayers – who will be left with potholes and doubled tolls (for starters) channeled overseas rather than re-invested in their state. Robert Poole, an engineer who advised the George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations to privatize U.S. highways, estimates that more than $25 billion in Public-Private-Partnership, or PPP, highway projects are planned or approved in the United States.

And now the short-term globalists are taking a page from the European Union and building a NAFTA superhighway (four football fields wide) from Mexico to Canada right through America – taking farms, businesses and homes from people all along the way. Texas Gov. Rick Perry just paved the way by vetoing legislation which would have delayed the Mexico to Oklahoma portion of the superhighway. Oh, and the same Spanish group, Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., will own the leasing and operating rights for 50 years after completion. By the way, Cintra is represented by Bracewell & Giuliani, Rudy Giuliani’s law firm. How very nice.

Short-term pleasure; long-term pain. Making less sense than the words, “Sell the house honey, we’re going to rent,” adolescent thinking has become the norm everywhere you look:

Let’s just eat candy. Churches that have become ear-tickling, ever-smiling, self-help centers. Hymns may as well be replaced with the anthem: “Don’t worry, be happy.” It draws the big crowds. Big crowds on a broad road who never hear about a thing called sin or a place called Hell. That is, until, without repentance, they arrive there. At least they had a positive attitude along the way. It’s all about me. Adolescents (of all ages) want to have sex now. They don’t want to have a child now. Let’s set a government policy to accommodate that selfish short-term thinking – and 50 million children pay with their lives. And while Americans can’t be inconvenienced with more than two children, Muslims and foreigners are having 10 and 12. Welcome to the minority.

I want my MTV. Think adults haven’t adopted that mentality? Seventy-four million people voted for “American Idol” – that’s 12 million more than voted for our president in the last election. As long as we focus on what matters.

Drink beer and take drugs. Reaching far beyond the university campus, that mentality is commonplace in the home. Sedated and anesthetized, Americans are throwing away their lives, watching four hours of television each night and living for the weekend party.

Just get the cliff notes – it’s easier than reading the book. And watching television is less taxing than doing research and forming your own opinions. The liberal agenda is the lazy man’s worldview: Impress people at the dinner party by spewing back what you’ve heard on TV.

Play Nintendo. Like the Xbox fanatic, adult adolescents are lost in distraction, escape and fantasy. As evidenced by the $57 billion porn industry, our nation is consumed with the fake and the pretend. It’s like missing the Grand Canyon because you’re playing with your Game Boy. Important stuff is going on while we’re looking the other way: “Excuse me, did you say something about a bomb? I was listening to my iPod.”

I want to look cool, and all the “cool kids” are talking about “tolerance” and “diversity.” The attacks on Sept. 11, the Madrid train bombings, England’s subway terrorism and the attempts in Egypt, Jordan, Germany and France all had one thing in common. The terrorists all fit the very same profile: ALL were fervent Muslim men between the ages of 16 and 40. But we don’t want to risk being called a “profiler.” We’ll look oh, so “diverse” by frisking grandma instead of the likely suspects. Certainly there aren’t any long-term consequences to this.

I want everyone to like me. Let’s keep our borders wide open and vulnerable and give lawbreakers amnesty. Then more people will like us, and we can tell our new illegal friends: “No necesita aprender otro idioma” [You don't need to learn another language]. Soon we won’t be able to communicate in our homeland, but we’d rather not think that far ahead.

Short-term pleasure isn’t worth the long-term pain.

Would you like to do something about all this? Here’s a few places to start. Add to the 12 states that have passed legislation against the NAFTA superhighway. Join Reps. Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul in their battle against it. Balance the budget. Build the fence. And whenever you see an “adolescent” in authority, replace them with an adult who is able to think in the long-term and comprehend consequences.

GLOBAL JIHAD

Message says they wanted to ‘take the battle inside America’

With doctors in custody over attempted terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow, British police have now discovered a group of 45 Muslim doctors threatened an attack in the U.S. with car bombs and rocket grenades. The threat was found in an Internet chat room run by Younis Tsouli, 23, of London, one of three members of a “cyber-terrorist” gang, according to the Daily Telegraph of London.

One message read: “We are 45 doctors and we are determined to undertake jihad and take the battle inside America.

Tariq Daour, Younis Tsouli and Waseem Mughal (Courtesy London Telegraph)

“The first target which will be penetrated by nine brothers is the naval base which gives shelter to the ship Kennedy.”

The reference apparently is to the USS John F. Kennedy and its home port, the Mayport Naval Base in Jacksonville, Fla., the Telegraph said.

The message discussed targets at the base, including gasoline tanks and “clubs for naked women.”

It also referred to using six Chevrolet GT vehicles and three fishing boats to carry out the attacks.

Tsouli was sentenced today with Tariq Daour, a biochemistry student, and Waseem Mughal, a law student, for between six-and-a-half and 10 years in the first case of its kind in Britain.

The head of Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism unit, Peter Clarke, said in a statement after the sentencing that the men, “by their own admission, were encouraging others to become terrorists and murder innocent people.”

“This is the first successful prosecution for inciting murder using the Internet, showing yet again that terrorist networks are spanning the globe, Clarke said. “… Their terrorist tradecraft was sophisticated, but nevertheless defeated by this investigation.”

The Telegraph quoted officials saying it was “definitely spooky” jihadis were discussing the use of doctors up to three years ago.

Investigators of the London and Glasgow incidents want to know whether al-Qaida has recruited doctors because they are less suspicious and can move around more easily in Western countries.

The three “cyber terrorists,” who had close links with al-Qaida in Iraq, admitted using the Internet to incite Muslims to a violent holy war.

The Telegraph said the three men ran the “cyber-jihad” on websites run from their bedrooms. They appeared to normal lives, studying and living with their parents.

Tsouli came to Britain with his family from Morocco in 2001.

In one of his messages, he said he was “very happy” about the July 7 bombings in London in 2005.

FROM WND’S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Kingdom said to be solidifying control of Judaism’s holiest site

By Aaron Klein

Israel’s Maariv daily newspaper reported a member of the Jordanian royal family has been leading efforts to purchase properties near the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site – as part of the kingdom’s plan to solidify its already strong presence there.

The Maariv story was first reported by WND four months ago in an exclusive report revealing Jordan has used shell companies during the past year to purchase several apartments and shops located at key peripheral sections of the Temple Mount.

Israeli and Palestinian officials told WND Jordan also set up a commission to use the shell companies to petition mostly Arab landowners adjacent to eastern sections of the Temple Mount to sell their properties. They said profits from sales at any purchased shops would be reinvested to buy more real estate near the Mount and in eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods.

(Story continues below)

The Jordanian shell companies at times have presented themselves as acting on behalf of the Waqf, the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount, WND has learned.

Sheik Azzam Khateeb, who was installed in February as the new manager of the Waqf, is known to be close to the Jordanian monarchy. The previous Waqf manager, Sheik Adnon Husseini, was loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and had relations with Israel and some Jewish groups.

“Khateeb answers directly to Jordan,” a Fatah official told WND.

Israeli and Palestinian officials said Jordan recently placed a bid to purchase Jerusalem’s Intercontinental Hotel, which is situated on an important road that leads to an ancient cemetery on the Mount of Olives, adjacent to the Temple Mount. Informed sources tell WND the hotel is owned by groups representing the Israeli government and is leased every 10 years to a new company. The last lease was signed in 1997 and expires later this year. It was not immediately clear whether Jordan’s bid was accepted.

The Mount of Olives is the site of many biblical events and is considered important to Judaism and Christianity.

Real estate ownership in Jerusalem’s Old City is widely considered a sensitive matter. Previous Israeli-Palestinian peace proposals tentatively divided parts of the city based on Jewish or Arab residence.

Jordan previously controlled eastern Jerusalem and the Temple Mount from 1948 until Israel liberated the territory in the 1967 Six-Day War. During the period of Jordanian control, Jews were barred from the Western Wall and Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest sites, and hundreds of synagogues were destroyed. Jordan constructed a road to the Intercontinental Hotel that stretched across the Mount of Olives, bulldozing hundreds of Jewish gravestones.

Jordan the past few months has boosted its public profile on the Temple Mount.

The appointment of Khateeb as the new Waqf manager for the Temple Mount was widely seen as a nod to Jordan.

In January, Israel granted Jordan permission to replace the main podium in the Al Aqsa Mosque from which Islamic preachers deliver their sermons. The podium is considered one of the most important stands in the Muslim world. Muslims believe it marks the “exact spot” their prophet Muhammad went up to heaven to receive revelations from Allah.

The new stand bears the emblem of the Jordanian kingdom. It replaces a 1,000-year-old podium believed to have been shipped to Jerusalem by the Islamic conqueror Saladin. That stand was destroyed in 1969, when an Australian tourist set fire to the Al Aqsa Mosque.

In February, WND first reported Prime Minister Ehud Olmert granted permission to Jordan to construct a large minaret at a site on the Temple Mount where Jewish groups here had petitioned to build a synagogue. According to Israeli diplomatic sources, an announcement on the minaret has been stalled.

A minaret is a tower usually attached to a mosque from which Muslims are called to the five Islamic daily prayers.

There are four minarets on the Temple Mount. The new minaret will be the largest one yet. It will be the first built on the Temple Mount in more than 600 years and is slated to tower over the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. It will reside next to the Al-Marwani Mosque, located at the site of Solomon’s Stables.

A top leader of the Waqf told WND Olmert’s granting of permission to build the minaret in the synagogue’s place “confirms 100 percent the Haram al-Sharif (Temple Mount) belongs to Muslims.”

“This proves Jewish conspiracies for a synagogue will never succeed and solidifies our presence here. It will make Muslims worldwide more secure that the Jews will never take over the Haram al-Sharif,” the Waqf official said.

Hamas plans for Temple Mount takeover thwarted

The reports of Jordan gaining Temple Mount control come as Israeli security officials revealed yesterday they foiled a Hamas plan to take control of the Temple Mount and spread the terror group’s ideology and recruit new members in Jerusalem.

During a year-long operation, Israel’s Shin Bet Security Services revealed it arrested 11 Hamas officials based in Jerusalem, 10 of whom are Israeli identity cards holders.

Hamas’s Jerusalem headquarters were reportedly funded by Hamas headquarters in Syria, as well as a chain of charity institutions based in Saudi Arabia.

Shin Bet officials said Hamas invested large sums of money in construction on the Temple Mount, including the building of a public bathroom facility and enlargement of a library and several prayer halls in a massive mosque that was built in a southeast Mount area known as Solomon’s Stables. The area had been called Solomon’s Stables since Crusader times, when it was used by the Crusaders as horse stables.

“[Hamas'] goal is to gain full control over the Temple Mount,” a high-ranking security officer told the Jerusalem Post yesterday, adding Hamas also tried to infiltrate its members into the Temple Mount as maintenance staff, in addition to its religious leaders who preach, give tours and teach Quran classes there.

According to officials, Hamas has invested millions of shekels in recent years in Jerusalem charities and religious institutions, as well as in construction on the Temple Mount, in an effort to recruit Israeli Arab residents of Jerusalem into its ranks, thus bolstering its presence in the capital.

The official said that Hamas recently built a bathroom on the Temple Mount and also enlarged a library and several prayer halls in Solomon’s Stables.

“Their goal is to gain full control over the Temple Mount,” a high-ranking security officer said Monday, adding that Hamas also tried to infiltrate members into the Temple Mount as maintenance staff, in addition to its religious leaders who preach, give tours, and teach Koran classes there.

The official said Hamas had taken advantage of the Jordanian Wakf, which is responsible for the holy site. The Wakf has been suffering from financial constraints since 2000, when the Temple Mount mosques were closed to visitors.

Officials said the Hamas takeover of the Temple Mount was a “strategic” move to bolster its standing in the Palestinian territories and throughout the Muslim world.

During a year-long operation, Shin Bet arrested 11 Hamas officials based in Jerusalem, 10 of whom are Israeli identity cards holders.

Hamas’s Jerusalem headquarters were funded by Hamas headquarters in Syria, as well as a chain of charity institutions based in Saudi Arabia. In addition to Hamas’s efforts to take over the Temple Mount, the movement increased in recent years its activity in east Jerusalem, where it had set up religious institutions and used what seemed to be innocent festivities to “brainwash” Muslims with Hamas ideology.

In order to implement its goals, Hams had also set up a number of institutions of a semi-religious nature to front illegal activities. According to officials, there are no Hamas institutions currently active in Jerusalem.

The Shin Bet also focused its operations in curbing the flow of money into Hamas. A senior Hamas official, Yakub Abu Assab, was arrested for allegedly running a courier service that transferred funds from the West Bank and abroad to the Hamas headquarters in Jerusalem.

Israeli efforts to stop Hamas also included the arrests of Hamas parliamentarians, including Khaled Abu Afa, former Hamas minister for Jerusalem affairs.

All 11 detainees were due to be indicted for membership in a terror group and financing illegal terror activity.