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  • NCPC targets 10,000 pilgrims for 2021 pilgrimage to Israel, Jordan, Greece – Rev Pam

    NCPC targets 10,000 pilgrims for 2021 pilgrimage to Israel, Jordan, Greece – Rev Pam

    By Joyce Remi- Babayeju

    Executive Secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission, NCPC, Rev. Dr. Yakubu Pam, has disclosed that the Commission is targeting about 10,000 pilgrims for the 2022 Pilgrimage exercise to Israel, Jordan and Greece scheduled for February, 2022.

    Pam said Israel would be opened for pilgrimage in January 2022, while the commission is preparing for February to travel to the holy land.
    The Executive Secretary of the Commission gave this information in Lagos during an interactive session with the media, adding that the Commission had already raised about 3000 of that expected figures from the states.

    This was contained in a press release signed by Celestine Toruka Head Media and Public Relations made available to Daybreak today.

    According to the release , NCPC boss decried that the pilgrims spirit is dying in the South East where there is predominantly Christians scored the least on sponsorship of Christian pilgrims, followed by South West zone.

    While he commended Enugu state Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and his Lagos state counterpart, Mr Babajide Sanwoolu for doing well in sponsorship of Christian pilgrims.

    He said Ebonyi state Governor had promised to sponsor about 300 pilgrims, Imo state 500 and Lagos 300.

    Rev Pam disclosed that NCPC would soon unfold a scheme that would enable intending Pilgrims to save money and sponsor themselves, adding that the Commission would ensure that the church takes over the sponsorship of Christian pilgrimage.

    He said he had been to many states in the country to build relationships with Christian fathers, church groups and the Governors to sponsor pilgrims.

    Meanwhile, Pam who is also a peacebuilder stated that he has been involved in different peace missions to the South East to intervene on the issue of IPOB and the End SARS Protest in Lagos.

    The NCPC boss said he came on board with a 6 point agenda in fighting corruption in the commission, rebuilding relationships with the governors and Christian fathers.

    To fight corruption in the commission, the NCPC boss explained that he had made the procurement process clean by ensuring things like returning travel allowances when he was supposed to travel but could not make it.

    He disclosed further that Jordan has been added into the Christian pilgrimage package while the Commission has put up a strategy to ensure there is zero abscondment of pilgrims.

    Rev Pam said part of the strategy is also to peg the age limit of intending pilgrims to 40.

    On why the commission is not considering including local religious sites in Nigeria on its package, or recognising them for pilgrimage, Rev Pam pointed out that based on the NCPC Act, the body can only embark on pilgrimages to sites connected with Jesus Christ’s missionary journey on earth and that of other notable prophets and patriarchs.

  • NCPC charts new course for 2021 pilgrimage to Israel, Jordan, Rome

    NCPC charts new course for 2021 pilgrimage to Israel, Jordan, Rome

    By Joyce Remi-Babayeju

    Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission NCPC, Rev. Yakubu Pam is charting a new course for the 2021 general pilgrimage to Israel Jordan and Rome as he met with the State Pilgrimage Leaders and Managers, comprising of State Chairmen and Secretaries of State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Boards and FCT recently in Abuja.

    As a way forward, Rev. Pam who had recently met with Israeli Minister of Tourism and the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria informed the State Pilgrimage Stakeholders that the meeting was very fruitful as it centered on the forth coming 2021 pilgrimage exercise to Israel and the issue of COVID 19 protocols.
    He explained that the Israeli Government promised to receive Nigerian pilgrims on the condition that they would have to receive the first and second dozes of the COVID 19 vaccine and on arrival would also undergo a 5-6 hour isolation until the result of the PCR test is released.

    He explained that the Israeli authority would issues pilgrims a three months Visa as against the two weeks visa policy.

    The NCPC Chief Executive also disclosed that Israeli would commence direct flight from Nigeria to Tel-Aviv during pilgrimage.
    Daybreak reports that the 2021 General Pilgrimage to Israel, Jordan and Rome would commence in February, 2022.

  • Celebrations in Gaza as Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire takes hold

    Celebrations in Gaza as Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire takes hold

    Palestinians celebrated on the streets of Gaza, while loud-speakers in Mosques hailed “victory of the resistance over the occupation”. Israel also claimed victory.

    The ceasefire came into effect at 2am Jerusalem time after being validated by the Israeli government’s security cabinet.

    Each side said it was ready to retaliate for any violations, with a Hamas official warning its hands were still “on the trigger”.

    A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Paris, Simon Seroussi, told France Info radio: “We will resume hostilities if we are attacked again.”

    Cairo said it would send two delegations to monitor the truce.

    Meanwhile US President Joe Biden said the deal brought “genuine opportunity” for progress, also promising humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where most deaths occurred.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to travel to the Middle East “in the coming days”, where he would meet with Israeli, Palestinian, and regional leaders.

    Medical officials in Gaza said more than 100 women and children were among its casualties. On the Israeli side, authorities said two children were among 12 people killed.

  • Gaza: Egypt sends ambulances to evacuate wounded Palestinians

    Gaza: Egypt sends ambulances to evacuate wounded Palestinians

    Egypt opened its Rafah border crossing with Gaza Saturday to allow 10 ambulances to transport Palestinians seriously wounded in Israeli air strikes to Egyptian hospitals, medical officials said.

    Egypt “exceptionally opened the Rafah crossing to allow 10 Egyptian ambulances into the Gaza Strip to transport wounded Palestinians… to be treated in Egypt,” a medical official said.

    An official at the Gaza border said the opening was “exceptional” because it is usually closed during public holidays including Eid al-Fitr, this year running from Wednesday to Sunday in Egypt.

    The Egyptian public health authority said Friday that the holiday was being suspended for some Egyptian doctors and nurses in preparation to receive “those coming from the Gaza Strip”.

    The Rafah border crossing is usually open on working days.

    Medical officials in Gaza say Israeli strikes have killed 139 people, including 39 children, since Monday. Around 950 people have been wounded.

    Rockets fired by Palestinian armed groups have killed nine people in Israel, including a child and a soldier.

    The strikes were retaliation for the Palestinian group Hamas launching rockets on Israel after Israeli police moved in on Palestinian worshippers in the Al-Aqsa mosque and cracked down on protests against planned Israeli expulsions of Palestinians from their homes in annexed east Jerusalem.

    The grand imam of Egypt’s famed Al-Azhar mosque and university, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, late Friday launched a campaign on social media in “support the Palestinian people”.

    “Stop the killing,” he said.

    “Enough with silence and double standards if we are really working towards peace.”

  • US Appeal to Israel To Spare Civilians In Showdown With Palestine

    US Appeal to Israel To Spare Civilians In Showdown With Palestine

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that a US envoy would travel to the Middle East to seek to calm tensions as he implored Israel to avoid civilian deaths.

    Hady Amr, the deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of Israeli and Palestinian affairs, was leaving Wednesday and will meet both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, US officials said.

    “He will urge on my behalf and on behalf of President Biden a de-escalation of violence,” Blinken told reporters.

    In the latest high-level interaction, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called his Israeli counterpart, Benny Gantz, and backed Israel’s “legitimate right to defend itself and its people” while also urging steps to restore calm, the Pentagon said.

    A senior US official separately said to expect further high-level contacts, including with Jordan and Egypt, although Washington does not speak to Hamas, which it considers a terrorist group.

    Blinken described scenes of dead Palestinian civilians, including children, as “harrowing” but defended Israel’s assault on Gaza in response to rocket fire by Hamas militants.

    “I think Israel has an extra burden in trying to do everything they possibly can to avoid civilian casualties, even as it is rightfully responding in defense of its people,” Blinken said.

    But Blinken said there was a “very clear and absolute distinction between a terrorist organization, Hamas, that is indiscriminately raining down rockets — in fact, targeting civilians — and Israel’s response defending itself.”

    President Joe Biden’s administration earlier appealed to ally Israel to reroute a flashpoint parade in Jerusalem and prevent evictions of Palestinians in the holy city, the immediate trigger for the new round of violence.

    Taking more nuance after the militantly pro-Israel administration of Donald Trump, Blinken renewed US support for the eventual creation of an independent Palestinian state.

    “This violence takes us further away from that goal,” Blinken said.

    “We believe Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live with safety and security and will continue to engage with Israelis, Palestinians and other regional partners to urge de-escalation and to bring calm.”

  • Israel and Kosovo to develop business and military ties

    Israel and Kosovo to develop business and military ties

    Development and investment body is set up in Kosovan capital Prishtina with branch offices in Israel by six Israelis, including three military men, aimed at establishing business and military/defence relations between the two sides, as the two countries have established diplomatic relations last month.

  • COVID-19: Israel announces third nationwide lockdown

    COVID-19: Israel announces third nationwide lockdown

    Israel announced Thursday that it will impose a nationwide lockdown from next week, its third of the Covid-19 pandemic, just days after it began vaccinations against the virus. “A general lockdown will be imposed from 17:00 (1500 GMT) on Sunday for two weeks,” a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

    “There is an option to extend the lockdown for an additional two weeks, unless the basic reproduction number (for the virus) falls below 1 and the number of new cases per day falls below 1,000.” Israelis will be barred from travelling more than one kilometre (1,000 yards or so) from their homes and businesses will be closed except for deliveries. Exceptions will be made for those travelling for vaccinations and schools will remain partially open for some age groups. The new lockdown comes after a sharp rebound in the infection rate since the last lockdown in September, when the per capita infection rate was among the highest in the world.

    In a population of nine million, Israel has now confirmed 385,022 coronavirus cases, 3,150 of them fatal. Israel launched a nationwide inoculation programme on Monday after receiving a first consignment of the vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. On Wednesday, the health ministry confirmed four cases of a new strain of Covid-19 that emerged in southern England and that British health officials believe spreads faster. In response, Israel this week banned foreign nationals arriving from Britain, Denmark or South Africa, where a separate new strain has emerged. It also imposed a mandatory quarantine for all arrivals from abroad.

  • Israel to impose second nationwide Coronavirus lockdown after recording more than 4,000 cases daily

    Israel has announced it will be going into a national lockdown for the second time amid a new surge in Coronavirus cases.

    Israel to impose second national Coronavirus lockdown after recording more than 4,000 cases daily

    Israel fighting off a major death toll, now records over 4000 cases of the deadly virus daily.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the announcement in a televised speech on Sunday, September 13 saying from Friday, the eve of the Jewish New Year, schools, restaurants, shopping centres and hotels will shut down and restrictions on movement will be imposed. 

    ‘Our goal is to stop the increase (in cases) and lower morbidity,’ Mr Netanyahu said.

    ‘I know that these steps come at a difficult price for all of us. ‘This is not the holiday we are used to.’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a briefing today 

    The tightening of measures marks the second time Israel has gone into a lockdown. The lockdown will remain in place for at least three weeks, at which point officials are expected to relax measures if cases decline.

    Israel has had more than 150,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and more than 1,100 deaths amongst its population of nine million.

  • Trump nominated for 2021 Nobel Peace Prize

    Trump nominated for 2021 Nobel Peace Prize

    American President, Donald Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize following his efforts to broker peace between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

    The US president’s name has been put forward by Norwegian politician Christian Tybring-Gjedde, according to Fox News.

    “For his merit, I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other Peace Prize nominees,” Mr Tybring-Gjedde, a four-term member of parliament, told the channel.

    Details shortly…

  • Iran, Turkey likely to suspend ties with UAE over deal with Israel

    Iran, Turkey likely to suspend ties with UAE over deal with Israel

    Iran and Turkey have said that the United Arab Emirates’ decision to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel was a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.

    Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S.- led deal was a “dagger that was unjustly struck by the UAE in the backs of the Palestinian people and all Muslims.”

    According to Turkey, the Middle East region “will never forget and will never forgive this hypocritical behavior” by the UAE.”

    President Donald Trump had said on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank, which the Palestinians see as their future State.

    The deal was reached despite the region’s rejection of the US-led peace plan.

    But Turkish Foreign Ministry said the UAE had no authority to negotiate with Israel on matters pertaining to Palestinians, or “to make concessions on matters vital to Palestine.

    The agreement would make the UAE the first Gulf Arab state — and the third Arab country, after Egypt and Jordan — to have full diplomatic ties with Israel.

    According to the Palestinian Government, the deal amounts to “treason”, and called on other Arab states and Muslim countries to reject the move.

    But Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, supported the UAE position, stating that it stands by its “position that only a negotiated two-state solution can bring lasting peace to the Middle East.

    “Together with our European partners and the region we have campaigned intensively in past months against annexation and for the resumption of direct negotiations,” Mr. Heiko said.

    China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijianalso, said the country welcomes “any measure that helps in easing tensions between Middle Eastern countries and promotes regional peace and stability.”