Headline News

Why Is Israel, One of the World’s Driest Countries, Now Overflowing With Drinking Water?

Israel now gets 55 percent of its domestic water from desalination, and that has helped to turn one of the world’s driest countries into the unlikeliest of water giants.

Published

10 years ago

August 23, 2016

Geoffrey Grider

israel-overflowing-with-drinking-water-desalination-reverse-osmosis-middle-east-drought

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

In 2008, Israel teetered on the edge of a water shortage catastrophe, today Israel has more water than it needs

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.” Isaiah 35:1,2 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Prophetically, the verses from Isaiah 35 will be fulfilled during the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem on the Throne of David. But even now, we continue to see God’s blessing on Israel above that of all the other nations around them. Tiny, little Israel holds an amazing amount of patents for technology, farming, and water purification.

Article written by Rowan Jacobsen

Ten miles south of Tel Aviv, I stand on a catwalk over two concrete reservoirs the size of football fields and watch water pour into them from a massive pipe emerging from the sand. The pipe is so large I could walk through it standing upright, were it not full of Mediterranean seawater pumped from an intake a mile offshore.

“Now, that’s a pump!” Edo Bar-Zeev shouts to me over the din of the motors, grinning with undisguised awe at the scene before us. The reservoirs beneath us contain several feet of sand through which the seawater filters before making its way to a vast metal hangar, where it is transformed into enough drinking water to supply 1.5 million people.

We are standing above the new Sorek desalination plant, the largest reverse-osmosis desal facility in the world, and we are staring at Israel’s salvation. Just a few years ago, in the depths of its worst drought in at least 900 years, Israel was running out of water. Now it has a surplus. That remarkable turnaround was accomplished through national campaigns to conserve and reuse Israel’s meager water resources, but the biggest impact came from a new wave of desalination plants.

Israel now gets 55 percent of its domestic water from desalination, and that has helped to turn one of the world’s driest countries into the unlikeliest of water giants.

Bar-Zeev, who recently joined Israel’s Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research after completing his postdoc work at Yale University, is an expert on biofouling, which has always been an Achilles’ heel of desalination and one of the reasons it has been considered a last resort. Desal works by pushing saltwater into membranes containing microscopic pores. The water gets through, while the larger salt molecules are left behind. But microorganisms in seawater quickly colonize the membranes and block the pores, and controlling them requires periodic costly and chemical-intensive cleaning. But Bar-Zeev and colleagues developed a chemical-free system using porous lava stone to capture the microorganisms before they reach the membranes. It’s just one of many breakthroughs in membrane technology that have made desalination much more efficient. Israel now gets 55 percent of its domestic water from desalination, and that has helped to turn one of the world’s driest countries into the unlikeliest of water giants.

Driven by necessity, Israel is learning to squeeze more out of a drop of water than any country on Earth, and much of that learning is happening at the Zuckerberg Institute, where researchers have pioneered new techniques in drip irrigation, water treatment and desalination. They have developed resilient well systems for African villages and biological digesters than can halve the water usage of most homes.

IDE’s Ashkelon Plant

The institute’s original mission was to improve life in Israel’s bone-dry Negev Desert, but the lessons look increasingly applicable to the entire Fertile Crescent. “The Middle East is drying up,” says Osnat Gillor, a professor at the Zuckerberg Institute who studies the use of recycled wastewater on crops. “The only country that isn’t suffering acute water stress is Israel.”

That water stress has been a major factor in the turmoil tearing apart the Middle East, but Bar-Zeev believes that Israel’s solutions can help its parched neighbors, too — and in the process, bring together old enemies in common cause.

Bar-Zeev acknowledges that water will likely be a source of conflict in the Middle East in the future. “But I believe water can be a bridge, through joint ventures,” he says. “And one of those ventures is desalination.”

Driven to desperation

In 2008, Israel teetered on the edge of catastrophe. A decade-long drought had scorched the Fertile Crescent, and Israel’s largest source of freshwater, the Sea of Galilee, had dropped to within inches of the “black line” at which irreversible salt infiltration would flood the lake and ruin it forever. Water restrictions were imposed, and many farmers lost a year’s crops.

Their counterparts in Syria fared much worse. As the drought intensified and the water table plunged, Syria’s farmers chased it, drilling wells 100, 200, then 500 meters (300, 700, then 1,600 feet) down in a literal race to the bottom. Eventually, the wells ran dry and Syria’s farmland collapsed in an epic dust storm. More than a million farmers joined massive shantytowns on the outskirts of Aleppo, Homs, Damascus and other cities in a futile attempt to find work and purpose.

And that, according to the authors of “Climate Change in the Fertile Crescent and Implications of the Recent Syrian Drought,” a 2015 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was the tinder that burned Syria to the ground. “The rapidly growing urban peripheries of Syria,” they wrote, “marked by illegal settlements, overcrowding, poor infrastructure, unemployment, and crime, were neglected by the Assad government and became the heart of the developing unrest.”

Similar stories are playing out across the Middle East, where drought and agricultural collapse have produced a lost generation with no prospects and simmering resentments. Iran, Iraq and Jordan all face water catastrophes. Water is driving the entire region to desperate acts.

More water than needs

Except Israel. Amazingly, Israel has more water than it needs. The turnaround started in 2007, when low-flow toilets and showerheads were installed nationwide and the national water authority built innovative water treatment systems that recapture 86 percent of the water that goes down the drain and use it for irrigation — vastly more than the second-most-efficient country in the world, Spain, which recycles 19 percent.

But even with those measures, Israel still needed about 1.9 billion cubic meters (2.5 billion cubic yards) of freshwater per year and was getting just 1.4 billion cubic meters (1.8 billion cubic yards) from natural sources. That 500-million-cubic-meter (650-million-cubic-yard) shortfall was why the Sea of Galilee was draining like an unplugged tub and why the country was about to lose its farms.

The country faces a previously unfathomable question: What to do with its extra water?

Enter desalination. The Ashkelon plant, in 2005, provided 127 million cubic meters (166 million cubic yards) of water. Hadera, in 2009, put out another 140 million cubic meters (183 million cubic yards). And now Sorek, 150 million cubic meters (196 million cubic yards). All told, desal plants can provide some 600 million cubic meters (785 million cubic yards) of water a year, and more are on the way.

The Sea of Galilee is fuller. Israel’s farms are thriving. And the country faces a previously unfathomable question: What to do with its extra water?

Water diplomacy

Inside Sorek, 50,000 membranes enclosed in vertical white cylinders, each 4 feet high and 16 inches wide, are whirring like jet engines. The whole thing feels like a throbbing spaceship about to blast off. The cylinders contain sheets of plastic membranes wrapped around a central pipe, and the membranes are stippled with pores less than a hundredth the diameter of a human hair. Water shoots into the cylinders at a pressure of 70 atmospheres and is pushed through the membranes, while the remaining brine is returned to the sea.

Desalination used to be an expensive energy hog, but the kind of advanced technologies being employed at Sorek have been a game changer. Water produced by desalination costs just a third of what it did in the 1990s. Sorek can produce a thousand liters of drinking water for 58 cents. Israeli households pay about US$30 a month for their water — similar to households in most US cities, and far less than Las Vegas (US$47) or Los Angeles (US$58).

The International Desalination Association claims that 300 million people get water from desalination, and that number is quickly rising. IDE, the Israeli company that built Ashkelon, Hadera and Sorek, recently finished the Carlsbad desalination plant in Southern California, a close cousin of its Israel plants, and it has many more in the works. Worldwide, the equivalent of six additional Sorek plants are coming online every year. The desalination era is here.

What excites Bar-Zeev the most is the opportunity for water diplomacy. Israel supplies the West Bank with water, as required by the 1995 Oslo II Accords, but the Palestinians still receive far less than they need. Water has been entangled with other negotiations in the ill-fated peace process, but now that more is at hand, many observers see the opportunity to depoliticize it. Bar-Zeev has ambitious plans for a Water Knows No Boundaries conference in 2018, which will bring together water scientists from Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza for a meeting of the minds.

Even more ambitious is the US$900 million Red Sea–Dead Sea Canal, a joint venture between Israel and Jordan to build a large desalination plant on the Red Sea, where they share a border, and divide the water among Israelis, Jordanians and the Palestinians. The brine discharge from the plant will be piped 100 miles north through Jordan to replenish the Dead Sea, which has been dropping a meter per year since the two countries began diverting the only river that feeds it in the 1960s. By 2020, these old foes will be drinking from the same tap.

On the far end of the Sorek plant, Bar-Zeev and I get to share a tap as well. Branching off from the main line where the Sorek water enters the Israeli grid is a simple spigot, a paper cup dispenser beside it. I open the tap and drink cup after cup of what was the Mediterranean Sea 40 minutes ago. It tastes cold, clear and miraculous.

The contrasts couldn’t be starker. A few miles from here, water disappeared and civilization crumbled. Here, a galvanized civilization created water from nothingness. As Bar-Zeev and I drink deep, and the climate sizzles, I wonder which of these stories will be the exception, and which the rule. source

Headline News

Trump Declares That The War In Iran Is ‘Already Won’ But A Classified Report By The National Intelligence Council Says This Is Only Just The Beginning

Published

1 day ago

March 8, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

The National Intelligence Council found that even a large-scale assault on Iran launched by the United States would be unlikely to oust the Islamic republic’s entrenched military and clerical establishment

When you open your Bible, read it, and believe what you read in the context where you find it, you come to some rock-solid conclusions almost immediately. First, you begin to understand that a hundred Hitlers could not wipe the Jews from off the face of the Earth, and that Israel as an ethnically-identifiable nation will exist past the end of the Church Age. The second thing you realize is that Iran, also called Persia and Elam, is fully-functioning as an enemy of Israel during this time as a Muslim Caliphate. Be honest, what does that tell you about the current war?

“Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?” Luke 14:31 (KJB)

On paper, Iran is no match for the might and power of the United States, we all know that. And on paper, Iran is not really a match against Israel, either. But battles and wars are not fought on paper, they are fought on the battlefield. The God of The Book concerns Himself with the affairs of nations as Daniel tells us, and He doubly concerns Himself with the affairs of nations that are spoken of by the prophets in the Scripture of truth. The US Department of War will not determine the outcome of this fight, neither will NATO or the United Nations Security Council. What you are watching unfold right now are the pieces of the end times chessboard being moved and put into position by God for the coming Checkmate.

THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND FROM THE BIBLE WHO WILL WIN THE WAR WITH IRAN, CLICK TO ORDER!!

Intel report warns large-scale war ‘unlikely’ to oust Iran’s regime

FROM THE WASHINGTON POST: A classified report by the National Intelligence Council found that even a large-scale assault on Iran launched by the United States would be unlikely to oust the Islamic republic’s entrenched military and clerical establishment, a sobering assessment as the Trump administration raises the specter of an extended military campaign that officials say has “only just begun.” The findings, confirmed to The Washington Post by three people familiar with the report’s contents, raise doubts about President Donald Trump’s declared plan to “clean out” Iran’s leadership structure and install a ruler of his choosing.

The report, completed about a week before the United States and Israel initiated the war on Feb. 28, outlined succession scenarios stemming from either a narrowly tailored campaign against Iran’s leaders or a broader assault against its leadership and government institutions, the people familiar with its findings said. In both cases, the intelligence concluded that Iran’s clerical and military establishment would respond to the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by following protocols designed to preserve continuity of power, these people said.

Iran has been dealing heavy fire, and they are receiving heavy fire. How long can this thing last? Trump thinks it’s already over, I do not. Comment below on how long you think it will or can go. pic.twitter.com/w7bcJc6pAr

— Now The End Begins (@NowTheEndBegins) March 8, 2026

The prospect of Iran’s fragmented opposition taking control of the country was described as “unlikely,” said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a classified report. The National Intelligence Council, or NIC, is composed of veteran analysts who produce classified assessments meant to represent the collective wisdom of Washington’s 18 intelligence agencies. The CIA referred questions to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which declined to comment. The White House did not say if the president was briefed on this assessment before approving the military operation, which has quickly expanded east to include submarine warfare in the Indian Ocean and west to counter-missile showdowns near NATO member Turkey.

“President Trump and the administration have clearly outlined their goals with regard to Operation Epic Fury: destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles and production capacity, demolish their navy, end their ability to arm proxies, and prevent them from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement. “The Iranian regime is being absolutely crushed.”

As the war enters its second week, Trump continues to demand Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER,” as he put it in a Truth Social post, and has suggested he should have a role in picking the country’s next leader.

Trump told journalists that the younger Khamenei is “incompetent” and a “lightweight,” and that he doesn’t want Iranian leaders who will simply “rebuild” the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile infrastructure.

“We want them to have a good leader. We have some people who I think would do a good job,” he told NBC News.

Iran’s Parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, rejected the notion that Trump will play any role in appointing Iran’s next leader. “The fate of dear Iran, which is more precious than life, will be determined solely by the proud Iranian nation, not by Jeffrey Epstein’s gang,” Ghalibaf said on X, referring to the late sex offender who was close friends with Trump for several years before they had a falling out.

Current and former U.S. officials say they see little sign, at least so far, of a mass popular uprising in Iran or of significant fissures within the government or security forces that will result in a new regime. Iran’s security forces killed thousands of protesters during demonstrations in January fueled by the country’s abysmal economy. The guidance from Trump to the Iranian people has been to shelter in place until the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign concludes.

With Iran’s clerical and military establishment still in control, experts say Trump’s ability to dictate political outcomes is limited.

“Bending the knee to Trump would go against everything they stand for,” said Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “The upper echelons of the clerical establishment are ideological, and so their modus operandi is to resist American imperialism.”

Trump could play kingmaker if the regime were to crumble, but the NIC report does not view the establishment’s hold on power as brittle. “There’s no other force within Iran that can confront the remaining power that the regime has,” said Maloney, of the Brookings Institution. “Even if they’re not able to project that power very effectively against their neighbors, they can certainly dominate inside the country.” READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Headline News

In A Stunning Twist, Donald Trump’s Department Of War Turns To Ukraine For Help With Combatting The Relentless Swarms Of Iranian Drone Attacks

Published

2 days ago

March 7, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

The Trump administration, which has expressed frequent exasperation with all that has been asked of it by Ukraine, had an urgent request of its own this week.

Today the war with Iran started by Trump’s Department of War is officially one week old, and there are some interesting things to note at this point in the operations. First, President Trump has declared that today “Iran will be hit very hard! Under serious consideration for complete destruction and certain death, because of Iran’s bad behavior, are areas and groups of people that were not considered for targeting up until this moment in time.” Second, and rather amazingly, the Department of War has reached out to Ukraine for help with fighting off Iranian drone attacks. Wha….??? How on Earth did we get to that point in only 7 days? Yikes.

“For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” Revelation 17:17 (KJB)

The key to understanding the things that Trump says is that 50% of whatever he says or posts is not true, 25% of it is gross exaggeration, and somewhere in the remaining 25% if you’re willing to put the work in, you’ll find the actual truth of what’s he’s talking about. Remember last summer when Zelensky was invited to the White House only to be attacked and roundly mocked and humiliated by Trump and Vance? Now the ‘Lethalitymaxxing’ Department of War needs Zelensky’s help? You know what that tells me? That Trump has launched America into a war that we are not prepared for, and that in only 7 days, the whole thing is already starting to unravel. But as unpleasant and unpalatable as that thought may be, it pales in comparison to Islamic terror attacks restarting on American soil. That’s what you need to mentally prepare yourself for. It only gets worse from here.

Unprepared for Iranian drones, U.S. and partners seek Ukraine’s help

FROM THE WASHINGTON POST: With swarms of Iranian drones breaching U.S. air defense systems and striking targets across the Middle East, Ukraine — which has spent years confronting nearly identical attacks — was asked to come to the aid of the United States and its partners.

“We received a request from the United States for specific support in protection,” against Iran’s drone systems, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday on X. Ukrainian advisers and systems would shortly be on their way to the Persian Gulf region, Zelensky said, because “Ukraine helps partners who help ensure our security.”

We received a request from the United States for specific support in protection against “shaheds” in the Middle East region. I gave instructions to provide the necessary means and ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists who can guarantee the required security. Ukraine helps…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 5, 2026

It was a rare moment for Zelensky to be in position of lending assistance — however small in scale — a year after he was pilloried in an Oval Office visit with President Donald Trump for pleading for U.S. support with “no cards” to play of his own and for not showing sufficient gratitude. More broadly, however, the U.S. request has focused attention on why the United States and its gulf allies have seemed poorly prepared for retaliatory drone strikes by an adversary that has spent much of the past four years stockpiling lethal “Shahed” drones by the thousands, as well as whether U.S. and other military leaders had absorbed the lessons of Russia’s war in Ukraine, including incursions into NATO airspace.

“If you are planning a war against Iran — the original purveyor of Shahed drones — and you are surprised that Shaheds are numerous and difficult to intercept you haven’t been paying attention,” said Dara Massicot, a defense and security analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“There is a multiyear disconnect between the Ukrainian combat experience and institutionalizing its lessons in the U.S. military,” Massicot said. As a result, she said, the United States and its allies are “reaching out to Ukraine in a time of crisis.”
A U.S. official acknowledged a U.S. request but said it was unclear whether it was before or during the current operation.

“Contact was made on how to work together and benefit from their experience,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive communications. The White House declined to provide further details and referred to Trump’s comments to Reuters on Thursday. The president said the U.S. would accept assistance from any country when asked about Zelensky’s comments. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Headline News

Iran Posts An Apocalyptic And Cryptic Message On Social Media Showing Tel Aviv Being Targeted By A Nuclear Missile In Retaliation For Attack By Israel

Published

3 days ago

March 6, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

Is Iran getting ready to launch a nuclear missile on Tel Aviv in retaliation for Israel’s attack on Tehran?

Iran’s latest social media post showing a missile obliterating Tel Aviv is not just another piece of propaganda—it is a chilling glimpse into the mindset of a regime that openly dreams of wiping Israel off the map. When a nation posts imagery of a nuclear-style strike against a civilian city, it is sending a message that goes far beyond rhetoric. It is psychological warfare, intimidation, and a declaration that they see the destruction of Israel not as a tragedy, but as a victory.

“And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD.” Jeremiah 49:38 (KJB)

Iranian officials have repeatedly warned that if war escalates they will strike “the heart of Tel Aviv,” a threat that has been echoed in propaganda banners and social media messaging tied to the regime. In the current conflict, Iran has already launched missile barrages toward Israeli cities after strikes on Iranian territory, pushing the Middle East closer to a direct regional war than at any point in decades. The Middle East stands right now on the brink of a war that no one but Trump and Hegseth wants but likely can’t be stopped if things continue to escalate much further.

Iran threatens to nuke Israel with chilling image showing missile obliterating Tel Aviv

FROM THE UK EXPRESS: Iran has shared a chilling image of a nuclear missile striking an Israeli city, which appears to be Tel Aviv. In a post on X, the account previously belonging to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that “Khorramshahr is ahead”, in reference to the ballistic missile named after the Iranian city.

The Zionist regime has made a big mistake, and its consequences will make the regime desperate, by God’s grace. pic.twitter.com/vBVMXIYjaf

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) March 6, 2026

Included in the post was also a striking image of the missile being developed underground, fired from a mobile launcher, and hitting what appears to be the Israeli city. In another post, the account promised consequences, “by God’s grace”, for “the Zionist regime”.

It said: “The Zionist regime has made a big mistake, and its consequences will make the regime desperate, by God’s grace.”

The city depicted in the image appears to be Tel Aviv, with an Israeli flag and coastal skyline visible. This comes after Tehran launched an overnight attack of cluster bombs targeting Tel Aviv, which were seen in shocking videos flying through the air before crashing into the ground. Huge blazes erupt as they smash into their targets, with witnesses watching on and filming the explosions. The cluster bombs open up as they zero in on their targets, sending around twenty smaller munitions flying out in a radius of roughly five miles. Each of the smaller missiles carries around 2.5kg of explosives, potentially causing huge damage.

Israel also inflicted the worst night of bombing on Tehran since the war began last weekend, launching a “broad-scale wave of strikes” aimed at wiping out the Islamic regime. The intense bombardment on Friday morning saw explosions ringing out across the city, and plumes of smoke and fire lighting up the sky. Residents said their homes shook and they were left without internet and power, plunging them into darkness. A man in his 30s told the BBC: “The house was shaking for five minutes straight. Last night was the worst night.” READ MORE