Who ... or what ... is the antichrist? Evil alliance—or sinister individual? Some say his appearance is still in the future. Others say he appeared long ago in the days of ancient Rome. But the Bible indicates that he is alive today! Bible prophecies teach that this antichrist power will play a crucial role in the final events of earth’s history. Do you know who he is? Are you sure? You need to be, for you can’t understand last-day events until you understand this evil power. Be prepared for one of the most intriguing Study Guides yet!

This Study Guide is based on the book of Daniel chapter 7 and clearly and unmistakably identifies the antichrist. But it is only an introduction. Future lessons will reveal details of some of his activities that will have worldwide impact. What you discover today may displease or sadden you, but please remember that the prophecy of Daniel 7 comes from Jesus, who loves you. Pray for God’s guidance as you delve into this urgent subject. Be sure to read Daniel 7 before studying this lesson.

1. As chapter 7 begins, Daniel sees four beasts coming up out of the sea. In prophecy, what does a beast represent? What does the sea represent?

“The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth” (Daniel 7:23).
“The waters ... are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues” (Revelation 17:15).

Answer:   A beast represents a kingdom or nation. Water represents multitudes of people or large populations.

2. The four beasts of Daniel 7 represent four kingdoms (verses 17, 18). Babylon, the first kingdom (Daniel 2:38, 39), is represented as a lion in Daniel 7:4. (See also Jeremiah 4:7; 50:17, 43, 44.) What do the “eagle’s wings” mean? What do the “four winds” of verse 2 represent?

“The Lord will bring a nation against you ... as swift as the eagle flies” (Deuteronomy 28:49).
“Says the Lord of hosts: ... a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the farthest parts of the earth. And ... the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth” (Jeremiah 25:32, 33).

Answer:    The wings of eagles represent speed. (See also Jeremiah 4:13; Habakkuk 1:6–8.) Winds represent strife, commotion, and destruction. (See also Revelation 7:1–3.)

3. What kingdom does the bear represent (Daniel 7:5)? What do the three ribs in its mouth symbolize?

Answer:   Read Daniel 8. Notice that the beasts in chapter 8 parallel those in chapter 7. Daniel 8:20 specifically names Medo-Persia as the kingdom that precedes the male goat—that is, Greece—of verse 21. Medo-Persia is the second kingdom—the same power as the bear of Daniel 7. The empire was made up of two groups of people. The Medes came up first (represented in Daniel 7:5 by the bear raising up on one side), but the Persians eventually became stronger (represented in Daniel 8:3 by the ram’s second horn that grew “higher”). The three ribs represent the three principal powers conquered by Medo-Persia: Lydia, Babylon, and Egypt.

4. Greece, the third kingdom (Daniel 8:21), is represented by a leopard with four wings and four heads (Daniel 7:6). What do the wings represent? What do the four heads represent?

Answer:   The four wings (instead of two, as the lion had) represent the incredible speed with which Alexander conquered the region (Jeremiah 4:11–13). The four heads represent the four kingdoms into which the empire of Alexander the Great was divided when he died. The four generals who headed these areas were Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus.

5. The Roman Empire, the fourth kingdom, is represented by a powerful monster with iron teeth and 10 horns (Daniel 7:7). What do the horns represent?

Answer:    The 10 horns represent the 10 kings or kingdoms into which pagan Rome was eventually split (Daniel 7:24). (These 10 kingdoms are the same as the 10 toes of the image described in Daniel 2:41–44.) Roving barbarian tribes swept in upon the Roman Empire and carved out land niches for their people. Seven of those 10 tribes developed into the countries of modern Western Europe, while three were “uprooted” and destroyed. The next section will discuss those kingdoms that were rooted up.

Visigoths - Spain

Anglo-Saxons - England

Franks - France

Alemani - Germany

Burgundians - Switzerland

Lombards - Italy

Suevi - Portugal

Heruli - Rooted up

Ostrogoths - Rooted up

Vandals - Rooted up

6. In the Daniel 7 prophecy, what happens next?

“I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words” (Daniel 7:8).

Answer:   The “little horn” power appears next. We must identify it carefully because the biblical characteristics identify it as the antichrist of prophecy and history. There must be no mistake in making this identification.

7. Does the Bible give clear points identifying antichrist?

Yes. God’s Word gives us nine characteristics of the antichrist in Daniel 7 so we can be certain of his identity. And even though some might find these truths painful, we must be honest enough to accept them as His revealed will. Now let’s discover these nine points.

Answer:  
A. The little horn would come “up among them”—that is, from among the 10 horns that were the kingdoms of Western Europe (Daniel 7:8). So it would be a little kingdom somewhere in Western Europe.

B. It would have a man at its head who could speak for it (Daniel 7:8).

C. It would pluck out or uproot three kingdoms (Daniel 7:8).

D. It would be different from the other 10 kingdoms (Daniel 7:24).

E. It would make war with and persecute the saints (Daniel 7:21, 25).

F. It would emerge from the pagan Roman Empire—the fourth kingdom (Daniel 7:7, 8).

G. God’s people (the saints) would “be given into his hand” for “a time and times and half a time” (Daniel 7:25).

H. It would “speak great words against” or blaspheme God (Daniel 7:25 KJV). In Revelation 13:5, the Bible says the same power speaks “great things and blasphemies.”

I. It would “intend to change times and law” (Daniel 7:25).

Don’t forget—all these identification points come directly from the Bible. They are not some human opinion or speculation. Historians could tell you quickly what power is being described, because these points fit only one power—the papacy. But in order to be certain, let us carefully examine all nine points one by one. There must be no room left for doubt.

8. Does the papacy fit these points?

Answer:   Yes—it fits every point. Let’s take a closer look.

A. It came up among the 10 kingdoms of Western Europe. 
The geographical location of the papal power is in Rome, Italy—in the heart of Western Europe.

B. It would have a man at its head who speaks for it.
The papacy meets this identifying mark because it does have one man at the head—the pope—who speaks for it.

C. Three kingdoms were plucked up to make way for the rise of the papacy.
The emperors of Western Europe were largely Catholic and supported the papacy. Three Arian kingdoms, however, did not—the Vandals, Heruli, and Ostrogoths. So the Catholic emperors decided they must be subdued or destroyed. Here is how theologian and historian Dr. Mervyn Maxwell describes the results in volume 1, page 129, of his book God Cares: “The Catholic emperor Zeno (474–491) arranged a treaty with the Ostrogoths in 487, which resulted in the eradication of the kingdom of the Arian Heruls in 493. And the Catholic emperor Justinian (527–565) exterminated the Arian Vandals in 534 and significantly broke the power of the Arian Ostrogoths in 538. Thus were Daniel’s three horns—the Heruls, the Vandals, and the Ostrogoths—‘plucked up by the roots.’ ” It is not difficult to recognize that the papacy fits this point.

D. It would be different from the other kingdoms.
The papacy clearly fits this description, as it came on the scene as a religious power and was different from the secular nature of the other 10 kingdoms.

E. It would make war with and persecute the saints.
That the church did persecute is a well-known fact, and the papacy admits doing so. Historians believe the church destroyed at least 50 million lives over matters of religious conviction. We quote here from two sources:

1. “That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history.” 1

2. In The History of the Inquisition of Spain, D. Ivan Antonio Llorente provides these figures from the Spanish Inquisition alone: “31,912 persons were condemned and perished in the flames,” and 241,450 were “condemned to severe “penances.”

Words of Care and Concern
Lest anyone should think that we are attacking fellow Christians by identifying the little horn power, please keep in mind that the prophecy is aimed at a system and not individuals. There are sincere, devout Christians in all churches, including the Catholic faith. Daniel 7 is simply a message of judgment and correction upon a large religious institution that compromised with paganism, as many other churches have also done.

Prophecy Reveals Faults of All Faiths
Other prophecies point out the faults of the Protestant and Jewish faiths. God has true people in all religions. His true people (no matter what their faith) will always humbly accept the correction of the Lord and will not shut their ears and hearts against Him. We should be thankful that God’s Word speaks with impartial honesty on every subject.

Prophetic Time:
Time = 1 year
Times = 2 years
½ time = ½ year

F. It would emerge from the fourth kingdom of iron—the pagan Roman Empire.
We quote two authorities on this point:

1. “The mighty Catholic Church was little more than the Roman Empire baptized. ... The very capital of the old Roman Empire became the capital of the Christian empire. The office of Pontifex Maximus was continued in that of the pope.” 2

2. “Whatever Roman elements the barbarians and Arians left ... [came] under the protection of the Bishop of Rome, who was the chief person there after the emperor’s disappearance. ... The Roman church ... pushed itself into the place of the Roman World-Empire, of which it is the actual continuation.” 3

G. God’s people (the saints) would “be given into his hand” for “a time and times and half a time.”
Several things need clarification here:

1. A time is a year, times is two years, and half a time is half of a year. The Amplified Bible translates it: “Three and one-half years.” 4

2. This same time period is mentioned seven times in the books of Daniel and Revelation (Daniel 7:25; 12:7; Revelation 11:2, 3; 12:6, 14; 13:5): three times as a “time, times, and half a time”; twice as 42 months; and twice as 1,260 days. Based on the 30-day calendar used by the Jews, these time periods are all the same amount of time: 3½ years = 42 months = 1,260 days.

3. One prophetic day equals one literal year (Ezekiel 4:6; Numbers 14:34).

4. Thus, the little horn (antichrist) was to have power over the saints for 1,260 prophetic days; that is, 1,260 literal years.

5. The rule of the papacy began in ad 538, when the last of the three opposing Arian kingdoms was uprooted. Its rule continued until 1798 when Napoleon’s general, Berthier, took the pope captive with hopes of destroying both Pope Pius VI and the political power of the papacy. This period of time is an exact fulfillment of the 1,260-year prophecy. The blow was a deadly wound for the papacy, but that wound began to heal and continues healing today.

6. This same period of persecution is mentioned in Matthew 24:21 as the worst period of persecution God’s people experience. Verse 22 tells us it was so devastating that not one soul would have survived if God had not shortened it. But God did shorten it. The persecution ended long before the pope was taken captive in 1798. It is plain to see that this point, likewise, fits the papacy.

H. It would speak "pompous words" of blasphemy "against [God]." 

Blasphemy has two definitions in Scripture:

1. Claiming to forgive sins (Luke 5:21).

2. Claiming to be God (John 10:33).

Does this point fit the papacy? Yes. Let’s first look at the evidence for it claiming to forgive sins, taken directly from its own literature: “Does the Priest truly forgive the sins, or does he only declare that they are remitted? The Priest does really and truly forgive the sins in virtue of the power given to him by Christ.”5 The papacy further undermines Jesus by setting up a system of confession to an earthly priest, thus bypassing Jesus, our High Priest (Hebrews 3:1; 8:1, 2) and only Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). Next, consider the evidence for it claiming to be God: “We [the popes] hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.”6 Here is more evidence: “The pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ, Himself, hidden under the veil of flesh.”7

I. It would "intend to change times and law." In a future Study Guide, we will deal with the “times” of this point. It is a major topic and needs separate consideration. But what about changing “law”? The Amplified Bible translates “law” as “the law.” The reference is to changing God’s law. Of course, no one can really change it, but has the papacy attempted to do so? The answer is yes. In its catechisms, the papacy has omitted the second commandment against veneration of images and has shortened the fourth commandment from 94 words to eight and divided the tenth commandment into two commandments. (Check this for yourself. Compare the Ten Commandments in any Catholic catechism with God's list of the commandments in Exodus 20:2-17.)

There is no doubt that the little horn power (the antichrist) of Daniel 7 is the papacy. No other organization fits all nine points. And, incidentally, this is not a new teaching. Every Protestant Reformer, without exception, spoke of the papacy as antichrist.8

9. Wasn’t Daniel told to seal up his book “until the time of the end” (Daniel 12:4)? When will Daniel’s prophecies be opened to our understanding?

Answer:   In Daniel 12:4, the prophet was told to seal the book till the “time of the end.” In verse 6 an angelic voice asked, “How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?” Verse 7 says, “It shall be for a time, times, and half a time.” The angel assured Daniel that the section of the book dealing with end-time prophecies would be opened after the end of the 1,260-year period of papal control, which was, as we learned earlier in this Study Guide, 1798. So the time of the end began in the year 1798. As we have seen, the book of Daniel contains crucial messages from heaven for us today. We must understand it.

10. Many Christians today have been misinformed regarding the antichrist. To believe an untruth about the antichrist could cause a person to be deceived. What should a person do when new Bible teachings are encountered?

“These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

Answer:   When a new Bible teaching is encountered, the only safe procedure is to compare it carefully with Scripture to see if it is in harmony with God’s Word

11. Are you willing to follow where Jesus leads, even though it might be painful? Concluding Remarks Many momentous prophecies from the Bible books of Daniel and Revelation will be featured in upcoming Amazing Facts Study Guides. God has given these prophecies to: A. Reveal earth’s closing events. B. Identify the participants in the final phase of the battle between Jesus and Satan. C. Clearly reveal Satan’s sinister plans to ensnare and destroy us all. D. Present the security and love of the judgment; God’s saints will be vindicated! E. Uplift Jesus—His salvation, love, power, mercy, and justice Major Participants Will Appear Repeatedly Key participants in the closing war between Jesus and Satan will appear repeatedly in these prophecies. These include: Jesus, Satan, the United States, the papacy, Protestantism, and Spiritism. Jesus repeats and expands His messages from the prophets to make certain His warnings of love and protection come through with clarity and certainty. Answer:    THOUGHT QUESTIONS 1. I always thought the antichrist is a person, not an organization. Am I wrong? This Study Guide has presented evidence that the antichrist is an organization—the papacy. The words “eyes of a man” in Daniel 7:8, however, do point to a leader. Revelation 13:18 speaks of a man with a number being involved. In Daniel 8, Greece is represented by a goat and its leader, Alexander the Great, is symbolized by a horn. The same is true of antichrist. The organization is the papacy. The pope in office is its representative. The prophecy of Daniel 7 is not saying that popes are evil and that Catholics are not Christians. There are many warm, loving Catholic Christians. The system, however, is called antichrist because it has attempted to usurp Jesus’ authority and attempted to change His law. 2. Do you think it is wise for Christians to pass laws enforcing Christianity? No. The Bible is clear that all should have freedom to choose the direction they wish to go in matters of conscience (Joshua 24:15)—even if they choose to deny God. The Creator permitted Adam and Eve to choose to disobey even though it hurt both them and Him. Forced worship is not acceptable to God. Forced worship is the devil’s way. God’s way is loving persuasion. History shows that virtually every time the church passed laws to enforce its beliefs, persecution and murder of others resulted. This is a lesson we can learn from the history of the little horn during the Middle Ages. 3. Perhaps I have misunderstood, but my concept has always been that antichrist would be an evil being who openly opposed God. Is this concept incorrect? We usually consider the word “anti” to mean “against.” It can also mean “in the place of” or “instead of.” Antichrist is guilty of assuming the prerogatives of God. It claims: A. Its priests can forgive sins—which only God can do (Luke 5:21). B. To have changed God’s law by dropping out the second commandment (against worshiping images) and splitting the tenth into two parts. God’s law cannot be changed (Matthew 5:18). C. That the pope is God on earth. Satan's Original Plan Satan’s original plan was to assume God’s position and authority. His aim was to oust God and rule in His place. (See Study Guide 2.) When Satan was ejected from heaven, his aim did not change but rather intensified. Through the centuries he has endeavored, using various human agencies, to discredit God and take over His position. Antichrist Appears to Be Spiritual Satan aims to replace God in these last days by deceiving people into following the antichrist, who appears spiritual and holy. The main purpose of the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation is to expose Satan’s traps and strategies and lead people to anchor in Jesus and His Word for safety. Antichrist Will Deceive Many Most people will follow the antichrist (Revelation 13:3) thinking they are following Christ. Only the elect will be safe (Matthew 24:23, 24). They will be secure because they test every spiritual teaching and leader by Scripture (Isaiah 8:20). Religious deception is everywhere. We cannot be too careful. 4. Doesn’t the Bible say in 1 John 2:18–22 that there are many antichrists? Yes. There have been many antichrists down through history who have worked against the kingdom of God. However, there is only one entity that specifically fulfills all the prophesied characteristics of the antichrist. In Daniel chapters 7 and 8 and in Revelation chapter 13, you will find at least 10 identifying traits of the antichrist. These 10 identifying marks are all fulfilled in only one entity—the papacy. 5. In prophecy, does the symbol “beast” mean “beastly” characteristics? Not at all. God uses the symbolism of a beast to signify a ruler, nation, government, or kingdom. It is His way of depicting governments in prophecy. We do this ourselves to some degree: We have depicted Russia as a bear, the United States as an eagle, etc. The symbol “beast” is not a demeaning, disrespectful term. It is synonymous with “animal” or “creature.” Even Christ is portrayed as a lamb by John the Baptist (John 1:29) and the apostle John (Revelation 5:6, 9, 12, 13). The term “beast” is utilized by God to give us a message about nations and leaders—good and evil. QUIZ QUESTIONS 1. Which four world kingdoms are represented by beast symbols in Daniel chapter 7? (4) _____   Sweden. _____   Egypt. _____   Greece. _____   China. _____   Medo-Persia. _____   Japan. _____   Babylon. _____   Iraq. _____   Rome. 2. In Bible prophecy, a beast represents a (1) _____   Computer. _____   Kingdom or nation. _____   Creature or alien. 3. The 10 horns on the monster beast represent (1) _____   Ten years. _____   Ten special cities. _____   Angels. _____   Riches. _____   The kingdoms into which pagan Rome eventually split. 4. How many tribes or nations were "rooted up" by the little horn power? (1) _____   Eight. _____   One. _____   Six. _____   Three. 5. The little horn power, or Antichrist, represents (1) _____   One of Babylon's generals. _____   An evil ruler from the days of old pagan Rome. _____   An evil power that will arise after the second coming of Jesus. _____   Atheism. _____   The papacy. 6. Check the true statements about the little horn (Antichrist) power from the list below: (3) _____   It came from Egypt. _____   It would persecute God's people. _____   It arose immediately after Babylon fell. _____   It speaks great words against God. _____   It attempted to change God's law. 7. In prophecy, "time, times, and a half time" is symbolic of (1) _____   Three and one-half literal days. _____   42 years. _____   1,260 literal years. 8. When did "the time of the end" begin? (1) _____   A.D. 31 _____   A.D. 1991 _____   A.D. 588 _____   A.D. 1798 9. Antichrist is an organization, rather than a person. (1) _____   Yes. _____   No. 10. Antichrist exists today. (1) _____   Yes. _____   No. 11. God approves of enforcing true worship by law. (1) _____   Yes. _____   No. 12. General Berthier's capture of the pope only wounded the papacy. Its deadly wound began to heal and continues healing today. (1) _____   Yes. _____   No. 13. What item from the list below is essential for the spiritual safety of God's people in these end-time days? (1) _____   Learn to preach. _____   Pray much in public. _____   Test every religious teaching by the Bible. 14. Are you willing to follow where Jesus leads, even though it may be painful? (1) _____   Yes. _____   No. Related Product The Beast: Who Will Worship It? (PB) Click Here » Other Languages 敌基督者是谁？ (Chinese) Wer ist der Antichrist? (German) Ki az Antikrisztus? (Hungarian) Кој е антихристот? (Macedonian) എതിർക്രിസ്തു ആരാണ്? (Malayalam) Hvem er antikrist? (Norwegian) Cine este Anticristul? (Romanian) ¿Quién es el Anticristo? (Spanish) Vem är Antikrist? (Swedish) Contact Us Prayer Request  |  Bible Question Name: Email: Prayer Request: Related Video An Overview of Revelation: Apocalypse Synopsis, Pt. 7 Bowing to the Beast Marked for Death Revelation: the Bride, the Beast & Babylon The Church and The State Related Audio Explain Revelation 20:14 which combines death and hell? How does the mark of the beast relate to buying and selling? Is the Antichrist on earth now? The Beast, Pt. 1 The Beast, Pt. 2 Related Print The Beast, The Dragon and The Woman The Mark of Cain The Scarlet Woman Who is the Antichrist? Who Will Sing the Song? The 144000 of Revelation 14 Comments NOTE: If you have a Bible question for Pastor Doug Batchelor or the Amazing Facts Bible answer team, please submit it by clicking here. Due to staff size, we are unable to answer Bible questions posted in the comments. To ensure a Christian environment, all comments are strictly moderated. Be patient! We strive to approve comments the day they are made, but please allow at least 24 hours for your comment to appear. Comments made on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday may not appear until the following Monday. Un-Christlike comments—name calling, profanity, harassment, ridicule, etc.— will be automatically deleted and the user permanently banned. Comments containing URLs outside the family of Amazing Facts websites and email addresses will be deleted. Comments off topic to the article or video may be deleted. Please note: Approved comments do not constitute an endorsement by the ministry of Amazing Facts or Pastor Doug Batchelor. 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**BONUS** 30 Brutal Truths about Virgo
Sometimes, Virgos don’t try giving further explanation because they know they are right and don’t feel the need to prove it.
Virgos keep to themselves frequently because their words cut like knives.
If a Virgo has to repeat something more than 2 times, she becomes irritated.
Will turn everything upside down in order to discover what they want.
Instead of suffocating someone with their problems, they chose to behave like everything is all right.
A Virgo native doesn’t stand irresponsible individuals.
When a Virgo loves you, he/she truly feels that way. You will receive the entire package.
It’s not in their nature to manipulate. Maybe they will lecture you a bit, but taking advantage of someone isn’t their style.
A Virgo will get upset for everything, so be careful as to what comes out of your mouth.
Despite their realism, they dream of love stories like those in romantic novels.
Virgos know a lot of things and are right in 99% of the cases. They will contradict with you until you leave them the last word.
If a Virgo native seems distant, it is because it tries to clarify things in his subconscious, before proceeding to the next move.
The worst feeling they can have is helplessness.
A Virgo will question everything out of place.
A Virgo native will always try and find alternative things of doing things, what they could have done and what should change. The native will be filled with doubt.
Nobody can keep a secret better than a Virgo native.
Virgos wish for partners who are full of passion and romance, but also best friends.
It is possible to think that Virgos are evil, but that is just their nature. They will criticize you out of love, not hatred.
Arguing with a Virgo is like getting arrested. Everything you say and do can and will be used against you.
Virgos feel better when offering rather than receiving. Your happiness also makes them happy.
Virgos will feel irritated if forced to work in a day in which they don’t want to do so. If that’s the case, then probably there is a good reason behind it.
Virgo natives can’t stand procrastinators.
Once they find true love, they will be loyal for their entire life.
Have problems expressing their thoughts coherently because there are too many of them.
When you feel everything is falling apart around you, call a Virgo native. They always come up with a solution.
Virgos know they cannot change the people around them, so they prefer changing their reactions to other people’s hatred.
Virgos are difficult to understand, and this aspect helps and irritated them equally.
A Virgo never settles for less, knowing how much he/she deserves. It will also make a lot of compromises for the significant other, if said person is worth the effort.
Virgos worry a lot, although they know it’s not necessary.
They see things exactly as they are and not how others would like them to be.

How the Idea of Return Has Shaped the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict for 70 Years

On the afternoon of May 14, 1948, hours before Britain’s Royal Navy flotilla would sail from Haifa harbor, marking the end of Britain’s mandatory rule over Palestine, leaders of the local Jewish community hastily assembled at the Tel Aviv Museum to hear the head of the Zionist leadership, David Ben-Gurion, declare, “The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. …We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish State … the State of Israel.” Palestine was then in the midst of a civil war. The U.N. had decided, six months earlier, to partition the land into an Arab and a Jewish state. The Jews of Palestine accepted the plan, which gave them a majority of the land despite their making up less than a third of its inhabitants. The Arabs rejected it.

But the Jews were better organized and better armed. By May 14, they had expelled or encouraged the flight of some three hundred thousand Palestinians. The war that followed ended in 1949 with Israel expanding its boundaries to 78 percent of what had been Palestine. Within that territory, eighty percent of the Arab population had been exiled and Jews now made up a majority. To preserve it, Israel prevented the non-Jewish refugees from returning, in defiance of the U.N.’s call to allow them to come home.

Both Jewish nationalism and Palestinian nationalism came to be defined by the idea of return. Israel, which was founded on the principle that Jews had a 2,000-year-old connection to the land and a right to return to it, established unlimited immigration for any Jew in the world—regardless of national origin or links to the territory. At the same time, Israel denied return to Palestinians who had been exiled from homes they inhabited in their own lifetimes.

The return of refugees from the 1948 war became the central issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It remains a crucial sticking point today. This spring, Palestinian organizers launched the “Great March of Return,” a series of protests near the Gaza-Israel border demanding that Palestinian refugees and their descendents be allowed to return to what is now Israel.

In the aftermath of 1948, the displaced Palestinians constituted the national movement’s core constituency and main political leaders. Through armed resistance, Palestinian factions sought to liberate their homeland and obtain the return that refugees in other conflicts were routinely allowed, and that was guaranteed under international law. Israel met that resistance with violence of its own, killing thousands of refugees as they tried to sneak home under cover of darkness in the years following the war.

For eighteen years after the 1948 war, the conflict was frozen. Israel was too strong to give up territory or permit return to stateless refugees, and the Palestinians were too weak to obtain it. The great powers paid lip service to their right to return but did little to help bring it about. Then, in 1967, the paradigm changed. In the June war of that year, Israel conquered Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, as well as Gaza, Sinai, and the Golan Heights. Post-1967, Palestinian refugees became an addendum to the international community’s new priority, which was to achieve peace between Israel and its neighbors through the return of lands Israel took in 1967.

Over the two decades following that war, the Palestinian leadership and the Arab states moved toward a pragmatic accommodation with the reality that Israel could not be defeated. Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979. The Arab states proposed a plan for peace with Israel in 1982. In 1988, the Palestinian national movement formally relinquished the goal of liberating all of Palestine, accepting the idea of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, in just the 22 percent of the Palestinian homeland that Israel had conquered in 1967: Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the rest of the West Bank.

But it took another couple of decades and considerable bloodshed before Israel and the U.S. came around to the idea of giving Palestinians their own independent state. During the second intifada, the violent 2000-2005 uprising against Israel’s occupation, Israel, the United States, and the U.N. Security Council all formally endorsed the notion of Palestinian statehood. Then, as the intifada death toll mounted, Israel decided to withdraw its settlers and army from Gaza, maintaining control of the territory from outside, and made plans for further withdrawals in the West Bank. The Gaza retreat took place in 2005. But by then, the uprising had ended, its participants killed, jailed, or sapped of the will to continue to resist. And with quiet restored, the Israelis had little incentive to leave the West Bank.

Belief in the possibility of a two-state outcome has been dwindling ever since. Jewish settlements in the West Bank steadily expand, as do the highways, electricity, water, sewage, and communications infrastructure that seamlessly connect them to Israel. Privately, diplomats whisper that they no longer think two states is possible. But they don’t yet have a plausible alternative to promote. So they keep repeating empty phrases they no longer believe in — there is “growing urgency” to “reverse negative developments” and “establish a political horizon” through the “resumption of a meaningful peace process,” because “a negotiated two-state outcome is the only way to achieve an enduring peace”—hoping that a new paradigm will emerge.

For the Palestinians, the two-state solution was never an ideal. It was a pragmatic accommodation with Zionism, the ideology at the root of Israel’s claim to the land and its refusal to allow non-Jewish refugees to return. The idea of partitioning Palestine into two states along the pre-1967 borders was an attempt to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by pretending its main area of dispute was the occupation that began in 1967.

But the true heart of the conflict had always resided in 1948. Now, as the two-state outcome itself has come to be seen as impractical, the rationale for pragmatism has been further undermined. Growing numbers of Palestinians, especially among the youth, have started to return to the original ideals of the national movement.

In Gaza, on May 14, the eve of the national day of mourning for the Palestinian catastrophe, or nakba, of 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinians plan to take part in what has been named The Great March of Return. Over two-thirds of Gazans are refugees and descendants of refugees from towns and villages in Israel. Their aim is to cross the Gaza fence and implement the return to their lands that Israel and the international community have denied them.

Seventy years after Israel’s declaration of independence, the conflict appears to be returning to its roots. The Israeli government is demanding that Palestinians recognize the right of Jews to their own state in historic Palestine. The Palestinians are demanding the right to return home. The two goals cannot be reconciled. And the passing of time has done little to quell the yearning for them.

“Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin can openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life . . . But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life: I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin?”

'Choose life'. 'Choose life' was a well meaning slogan from a 1980's anti-drug campaign and we used to add things to it, so I might say for example, choose... designer lingerie, in the vain hope of kicking some life back into a dead relationship. Choose handbags, choose high-heeled shoes, cashmere and silk, to make yourself feel what passes for happy. Choose an iPhone made in China by a woman who jumped out of a window and stick it in the pocket of your jacket fresh from a South-Asian Firetrap. Choose Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and a thousand others ways to spew your bile across people you've never met. Choose updating your profile, tell the world what you had for breakfast and hope that someone, somewhere cares. Choose looking up old flames, desperate to believe that you don't look as bad as they do. Choose live-blogging, from your first wank 'til your last breath; human interaction reduced to nothing more than data. Choose ten things you never knew about celebrities who've had surgery. Choose screaming about abortion. Choose rape jokes, slut-shaming, revenge porn and an endless tide of depressing misogyny. Choose 9/11 never happened, and if it did, it was the Jews. Choose a zero-hour contract and a two-hour journey to work. And choose the same for your kids, only worse, and maybe tell yourself that it's better that they never happened. And then sit back and smother the pain with an unknown dose of an unknown drug made in somebody's fucking kitchen. Choose unfulfilled promise and wishing you'd done it all differently. Choose never learning from your own mistakes. Choose watching history repeat itself. Choose the slow reconciliation towards what you can get, rather than what you always hoped for. Settle for less and keep a brave face on it. Choose disappointment and choose losing the ones you love, then as they fall from view, a piece of you dies with them until you can see that one day in the future, piece by piece, they will all be gone and there'll be nothing left of you to call alive or dead. Choose your future, Veronika. Choose life.

trump voters

“What happened to your values? What happened to good manners and and monogamy? You’re my word is my bond people. These guys lie just to stay in practice,” he said. “You’re all about an honest day’s work. Trump watches TV until noon. You’re frugal. They spend like identity thieves who got hold of your PIN number.”

“You’re stoic. Trump’s a whiny little bitch,”

“You did not like it that the country was ‘taken over’ by liberals and feminists and elites, whatever. So you were feeling vulnerable and disrespected. So you brought in some muscle from the East Coast for protection. And now you’re married to the mob.”

“Cause that’s what this administration is: a protection racket. That’s what freaked out Comey about Trump. He had served Democrats and Republicans. He never worked for Childish Gambino. He couldn’t believe it when Trump said to him, ‘I hope you can let this go’ like the health inspector just found a finger in the linguini.”

“People call this presidency a reality show. It’s more like a Scorsese movie,”

When Trump was accused of sexual harassment during the campaign, he brought in Bill Clinton’s accusers to sit in the gallery at the debate, “just like Michael Corleone brought Frank Pentangeli’s brother into court.”

Trump has surround himself with “disposable lawyers and idiot members of his own family.”

“Who is his worst enemy? The FBI.”

“Where does his money come from? He’s in construction.”

“He’s so much like a Don his name is literally Don.”

“What part of this isn’t mob-like?”

“They’re using a legitimate front business, in this case the White House, to enrich the family. He’s got a consigliere who says things like ‘Men are disposable, but a fine woman like Ivanka’ – who’s writing this dialogue, Mario Puzo?”

Trump had a personal Luca Brasi-like bodyguard. “He’s got the Jew bookkeeper,”

“He’s got the up-and-coming good earner, Scaramucci, who’s cut from the same cloth as the Don: rayon.”

He’s even got the fat guy from New Jersey, who he keeps around to make him look thin.

“And Joe Pesci was the campaign manager,”

“Oh and, of course, Fredo. Who they send to handle little things, like peace in the Middle East,”

Last week on Fox News Channel, Giuliani said “Michael Cohen did his job: he made it go way.”

he is an egomaniac and a blowhard. But I did not realize until this year, he’s a cheap hood all along, a common thug,”

“Maybe that’s OK with you. Maybe you said to yourself, ‘this business we’ve chosen’,”

This is why star trek devolved into another American action wank, because a country that can't wrap it's head around socialist democracy, and assumes everything must either be owned by those who "earn" it (capitalism), or annexed by the state who is run by a dictator (communism, as it's always ended up), can't fathom combined social responsibility and security with moderate personal wealth.
If you can't wrap your head around metric and why it's better you can't conceive of anything other than "American freedom, fuck yeah".
Yes I went there.
I blame a single nation for a global obsession with personal wealth.
Welcome to the new world.
Come-on you can't tell me they aren't used to it by now