HAMAS: BUS ATTACK IS ‘JUST THE BEGINNING’: Hamas officials on Tuesday 19 April 2016, warned that the bomb attack on a Jerusalem bus a day earlier was “just the beginning.” So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, though all of them – Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and even Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah – welcomed it. In recent years, Hamas would delay publication of claims of responsibility for such attacks, explaining it wanted to protect its members. But Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Tuesday the attack was a “natural response to the Israeli crimes. Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official in Samaria, said the attack was the first of many in a series of attacks designed to surprise the “enemy wherever he is.” Badran stressed that the assault proves that the Palestinian people will not abandon the struggle. (Arutz-7) 

Strong intercession is vital to end the continuing incidents of terrorist attacks in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. Pray against the resurgence of bus bombing attacks and for special protection throughout the country during Israel’s Passover holidays that begin at the end of this week.

BRUSSELS BOMBER PLANNED TO ATTACK FLIGHT TO TEL AVIV: One of the terrorists responsible for the Brussels airport bombing said during questioning that one of the goals of the attack was to hit checkout counters of flights headed to Israel, French news agencies reported on 14 April 2016. Terrorist Mohamed Abrini, who was apprehended days ago after he was first seen on surveillance footage of the attack wearing a hood, told authorities that Ibrahim el-Bakraoui chose the targets of the airport attack which included a flight to Tel Aviv. Ibrahim and his brother, Khalid El Bakraoui, are believed to have carried out two suicide bombings during the attacks. It seems Abrini apparently had a change of heart and fled after the two explosions in the airport. According to the report, Abrini went into hiding after seeing an arrest warrant was issued against him. French networks reported that he changed his hideout location several times, wearing wigs to avoid being recognized in public. Prosecutors have already filed charges against four people believed to have been involved in the attacks last month. A total of 32 people were killed and 270 wounded. (INN)

MUSLIM NATIONS LAMBAST IRAN, HEZBOLLAH, FOR TERRORISM: Leaders from more than 50 Muslim nations accused Iran on Friday 15 April 2016 of supporting terrorism and interfering in the internal affairs of regional states including Syria and Yemen. The leaders, including Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, have been attending a summit in Istanbul this week of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss a range of issues such as the humanitarian fall-out from Syria's civil war. "The Conference deplored Iran's interference in the internal affairs of the States of the region and other Member States including Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, and Somalia, and its continued support for terrorism," the OIC said in its final summit communiqué. The final communiqué came a day after Iran's Rouhani urged summit delegates to avoid sending out divisive messages. "No message which would fuel division in the Islamic community should come out of the conference," said Rouhani, according to Iranian state television. Also on Friday, most states taking part in a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) denounced the terrorist group, Hezbollah, for spreading “terrorism” and for destabilizing the national security of its member countries. (Arutz-7) Iran is the main supporter of Hezbollah and Palestinian terror groups that constantly add to their advanced weapon’s arsenals and plan - and carry out - attacks against Israel.

ISRAEL WARNS: EUROPE FLOODED WITH HUNDREDS OF JIHADISTS PLANNING TO STRIKE: Europe has been flooded with "hundreds of jihadists planning to strike Western targets on European soil," Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon told his visiting Polish counterpart, Antoni Macierewicz, in Tel Aviv on 6 April, 2016. "We are concerned that what we saw in Paris and Brussels is just the start, and that attempts to carry out terror attacks in Europe will continue," he added. Turning his attention to events north of the Syrian border, Ya'alon said, "We do not expect there to be stability and an end to the bloodshed in Syria anytime soon. In the Syrian war there are many conflicting interests and too many players in the arena. Some of these players, the global jihad organizations for example, are determined to continue fighting," he added. "Jihadists in Europe are stockpiling weapons and knowledge that they obtained through fighting in Syria, as well as extremist ideology," Ya'alon warned. Addressing the humanitarian catastrophe afflicting Syrian civilians, Ya'alon said that Israel is providing medicines, food, "and anything that refugees who reach our northern border need." (J. Post)

HAMAS ON ‘LAND DAY’: ‘SATURATE THE GROUND IN BLOOD’: Hamas on Wednesday, 30 March, 2016 called to "saturate" the ground in blood during a large ceremony held on the border of Gaza for "Land Day," in the 40th annual marking of the event. Arab citizens of Israel for their part held a general strike, protesting how the Israeli government took control of land in the Negev and Galilee in 1976, demolishing illegal Arab buildings and evacuating communities established illegally by Arab squatters. Yahi Musa, a senior Hamas official, was present at the ceremony on the border with Israel on Wednesday which launched off a series of "Land Day" events in Gaza. Musa spoke about the need to reject the notion of a political solution and normalization with Israel, and called on all the Palestinian organizations to adopt a path based on the "struggle" [terrorism] as the only way to "return the rights.” “Without saturating the land in blood it won't be possible to return the homeland," added the official of the terror organization, who said the ceremony was held on the border with Israel to symbolize the hopes of "liberating" the land. (INN) 

      “I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.” Ps 120:7

ABBAS, FATAH CONTINUE TO OPENLY SUPPORT STABBING ATTACKS: With daily attacks on Israelis taking place across the country, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement appear intent on promoting violence, using both social media and traditional media outlets to legitimize and encourage murder. According to the Palestinian Media Watch organization, which monitor’s incitement in the PA, Fatah has launched a social media blitz in support of the recent spate of stabbing and shooting attacks against Jews all over Israel. In one the newer images, Fatah posted a picture of a knife, with an image of the Temple Mount superimposed. The image, posted on Fatah’s official Twitter account, was accompanied by the message “Israel is forcing the young Palestinians to follow this path to Jerusalem. Leave our land, you, your occupation, and your soldiers, and let us live in peace.” Despite his image in much of the Western media as a moderate, Abbas made similar statements following the murder of four Israelis late last year. In October 2015 the PA President spoke on official PA state television, echoing comments he made to the Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper in which he said "the Palestinian side did not attack and did not do anything against the Israelis. We have to protect our holy sites." When an Arab terrorist murdered Taylor Force, an American citizen, and wounded 11 others in a recent stabbing attack in Jaffa, official PA television praised the attacker as “a martyr." (Arutz-7)

BELGIANS PROTECT ISRAELI FLAG AT BRUSSELS ATTACKS MEMORIAL: In the wake of last week’s terror attack in Brussels, Belgians transformed a central square in the capital into an impromptu memorial for the victims. Thirty-five people died in a series of suicide bombings on Tuesday 22 March 2016, at the city’s main airport and a subway station. Starting the next day, people gathered in Place de La Bourse. Locals and foreigners filled part of the square with candles and flags from dozens of countries. Amid the display of national and international unity, a few people went out of their way to exclude Israel. In at least three incidents captured on video last week, people speaking Arabic or wearing Muslim garb destroyed, removed or covered up Israeli flags at Place de la Bourse. In an incident on 27 March 2016, locals intervened. A crowd confronted a man who, after praying in Arabic, shouted “Palestine” and anti-Israel slogans - calling Israel a “terrorist state.” The white-haired man stepped on other flags and candles in an effort to reach an Israeli flag located near the center of the memorial site. Dozens of Belgians began booing him. Several shouted in Flemish and French: “Shameful!” When the man grabbed the Israeli flag, another man shoved him to the ground and wrestled it from his hands amid applause from onlookers. Police officers made their way to the scene, and escorted the shouting man away from the memorial. (JTA)

‘ISIS BRANCH IN EGYPT’S SINAI PLANNING BIG OPERATION IN SOUTHERN ISRAEL’: The ISIS affiliate in Egypt's Sinai peninsula plans to carry out a "big operation" in southern Israel, which will include an attack on the resort city of Eilat, a source close to the group warned. Abu al-Ayna al-Ansari, a Salafistmovement senior official in the Gaza Strip, said that Israel and the USA are among the ISIS group’s chief targets. "The Islamic State [ISIS] educates its people that Israel and the United States are the leaders of the infidels and we believe that Israel should be done away with," Ansari said. He vowed that "it is only a question of time when there will be a big operation in Eilat and in the south of Israel." Col. Yehuda Cohen, the commander of the IDF’s Sagi Brigade operating on the border with Egypt, acknowledged in Sep. 2015 that ISIS in Egypt would at any moment attempt to carry out a terrorist attack against Israel. I believe that it will happen during my tenure,” he warned in an interview with Army Radio. “I teach my people to expect it to come tomorrow, to always be ready for it. When it happens, my doctrine is that we must strike a very strong blow at the same point and ensure that there are zero successful actions for the enemy,” he said. (J.Post) 
      "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.” Isa 54:17