BDS movement will fail, Netanyahu says at AIPAC
(JNS.org) The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel will fail, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference.
“Beyond our traditional trading partners, countries throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America, these countries are flocking to Israel” wanting Israeli technology, Netanyahu said.
“The BDS boycott movement is not going to stop that, any more than the Arab movement could stop Israel from becoming a global technological power,” he said. “They are going to fail.”
“Israel’s best economic days are ahead of it, mark my words,” Netanyahu added.
On the Iran nuclear program, Netanyahu said the “soothing words” of Iranian leaders don’t “square with Iran’s aggressive actions,” such as building a heavy water reactor, which has no purpose in a peaceful nuclear program, or building intercontinental ballistic missiles, whose only purpose is to carry nuclear warheads.
Iran must be prevented not just from having a nuclear weapon, but also from having the capacity to make one, said Netanyahu.
Only more pressure on Iran “will get them to abandon their nuclear weapons program,” Netanyahu said.
Peace with the Palestinians, meanwhile, would open up the possibility of establishing formal ties between Israel and many Arab countries, and the combination of Israeli innovation and gulf entrepreneurship “can catapult the entire region forward,” Netanyahu said.
The prime minister called on the Palestinians to “stop denying history” and for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to “recognize the Jewish state, and in doing so, you would be telling your people, the Palestinians, that while we might have a territorial dispute, the right of the Jewish people to a state of their own is beyond dispute.”
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Canada officially recognizes plight and status of Jewish Mideast refugees
(JNS.org) The Canadian government has officially recognized a report by a parliamentary committee that recognized the plight and status of Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.
According to the report, issued by Canadian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, the committee “learned of the discrimination and hardship faced by Jewish people living in the Middle East and North Africa in the twentieth century,” after hearing expert testimony from Jewish refugees and Jewish organizations.
The report added, “The experiences of these Jewish refugees to be recognized; their narrative has to date been largely missing from international discussions” and that without recognition “the history of the region will be incomplete.”
“We commend the Government for accepting the Foreign Affairs Committee’s recommendation. Today’s decision brings Canada one step closer to recognizing the otherwise forgotten persecution of Jewish minorities across the Middle East,” the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Canada’s main umbrella group of Jewish organizations that helped organize the testimony of refugees, said in a statement.
Under the leadership of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada has become one of Israel’s staunchest allies. In January, Harper visited Israel and spoke at the Israeli Knesset.
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Sen. Menendez: International community ‘seems to want any deal’ with Iran
(JNS.org) On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said he supports a diplomatic process with Iran, but that he is troubled that the international community “seems to want any deal more than it wants a good deal.”
“When it comes to Iran, I have stood with you and have stood against so many in my own party,” Menendez—chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and coauthor of the Menendez-Kirk Iran Sanctions Bill (S. 1881)—told delegates at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference.
Menendez said it is clear that “only intense punishing economic pressure influences Iranian leaders,” and that pressure on Iran should only be relieved “in exchange for verifiable concessions” towards the dismantling of Iran’s illicit nuclear program.
New sanctions, explained the senator, could take a year to become effective.
“If negotiations fail, or if Iran breaks the deal, we may not have time to pass new sanctions,” he said. “New sanctions are not a spigot that can be turned on and off, as suggested.”
Iran’s strategy “is to use these negotiations to mothball its nuclear infrastructure program just long enough to undo the international sanctions regime,” Menendez said.
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Abbas: Only Israeli construction freeze, more released prisoners can extend talks
(JNS.org) Meretz Party Chairwoman Zehava Gal-On met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Monday to discuss the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations.
Abbas threatened to halt negotiations if the U.S.-drafted framework agreement, expected to be revealed this month, does not satisfy the Palestinian demands. “If the framework agreement does not provide solutions to the core issues, I will not extend negotiations. I will lay my keys on the table and turn to international organizations,” Abbas said, Israel Hayom reported.
“The only chance we have to extend talks is if Netanyahu declares a settlement construction freeze and another wave of Palestinian prisoners is released, this time with women, children and administrative prisoners,” he said.
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18 Israelis on Forbes list of billionaires
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Forbes Magazine released its annual list of billionaires on Monday, with 18 Israelis among the 1,645-person list.
The richest Israeli on the list is shipping mogul Eyal Ofer, in 191st place, with a net worth of $7 billion. Investor Shari Arison with $4.7 billion, mining tycoons Beny Steinmetz with $4.1 billion and Dan Gertler with $2.5 billion, and Playtech founder Teddy Sagi with $2.5 billion are among the other Israelis on the list.
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Kerry at AIPAC seeks to allay skepticism on Iranian and Israeli-Palestinian fronts
(JNS.org) Addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference on Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry sought to allay skepticism on the nuclear negotiations with Iran and the U.S.-brokered Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations.
Noting that there is a “healthy debate” on the effectiveness of the nuclear talks and that “we welcome that,” Kerry said American diplomacy with Iran “is guided by a simple bottom line: no deal is better than a bad deal.”s
“The truth is, it is strong diplomacy that has actually made this moment [of getting Iran to negotiate] possible, and we need to give it the space to work,” he said.
Kerry said the interim Iran deal has “not changed one piece of the sanctions architecture, and yet we are able to negotiate.”
“This is not a process that is about trusting Tehran,” he said. “This is about testing Tehran. And you can be sure that if Iran fails this test, American will not fail Israel. That I promise.”
On the Israeli-Palestinian talks, Kerry said he knows “there are many doubters here” about the suitability of Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas as a peace partner for Israel. Kerry, however, believes Abbas “has demonstrated he wants to be a partner for peace” and has “been genuinely committed against violence.”
Kerry vowed that any peace agreement would “guarantee Israel’s identity as a Jewish homeland,” and said that ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “means ending the [Palestinian] incitement.”
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Sen. Chuck Schumer: Those who warn Israel of boycotts ‘have it all wrong’
(JNS.org) Without mentioning Secretary of State John Kerry by name, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) apparently took a shot at comments on boycotts of Israel that Kerry made last month in Germany.
Those with “even with the best of intentions” who warn Israel that it will face increased boycotts if it does not reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians “have it all wrong,” Schumer said at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference.
“Those quote unquote friends [of Israel] should be condemning the boycotts in any possible way, weakening them,” Schumer said.
In February at the Munich Security Conference, Kerry said in connection with the outcome of Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations, “There are talks of boycotts [of Israel] and other kinds of things. Are we all going to be better with all of that?” President Barack Obama, asked if he agreed with Kerry’s assessment on boycotts and if the current talks present the “last chance” for peace, said in comments published Sunday by Bloomberg View that Kerry “has been simply stating what observers inside of Israel and outside of Israel recognize, which is that with each successive year, the window is closing for a peace deal that both the Israelis can accept and the Palestinians can accept.”
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Netanyahu to Obama: Palestinians holding back Israeli-Palestinian conflict talks
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, said the Palestinians are holding back the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations.
“It’s about time the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state—we have only been there for 4,000 years,” Netanyahu said, Haaretz reported. “Twenty years of peace process were marked by many Israeli steps for peace but we got suicide bombers and rockets in return… The people of Israel expect me to stand strong against pressure and for the security of Israel.”
“Israel has been doing its part [in the peace process] and I regret to say the Palestinians haven’t,” he added.
Obama said “tough decisions” would need to be made because the original timeframe for the peace talks is drawing to a close.
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British PM David Cameron to address Israeli Knesset on March 12
(JNS.org) British Prime Minister David Cameron will address the Israeli Knesset on March 12 as part of an upcoming trip to the region.
Cameron was originally scheduled to visit Israel in mid-February, but had to postpone due to massive flooding in the U.K. This will be Cameron’s first trip to Israel since being elected prime minister in 2010.
“I welcome the arrival of the head of such an important country as the United Kingdom to address the Knesset and I believe the visit will contribute to the friendship between the U.K. and Israel and relations between our two countries,” Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said.
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Christian group provides $2 million in emergency relief for Ukrainian Jews
(JNS.org) The Chicago-based International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) announced a $2 million emergency relief package for the Jewish community of Ukraine amid the political upheaval there.
In an open letter posted on the IFCJ website, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the organization’s founder, said the relief package would fund security and emergency assistance to Jewish institutions across the region.
“Today, I ask you to pray that some measure of peace and stability will return to Ukraine, and that our efforts to provide the Jewish community with safety and security will be successful,” Eckstein said.
Founded in 1983, the IFCJ promotes understanding between Jews and Christians. The group has raised more than a billion dollars, mostly from Christian donors, for Jewish immigration, social programs in Israel, and aid for struggling Jewish communities
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