Jeb Bush to Israeli newspaper: U.S. approach to Iran nuclear talks ‘inexplicable’
(JNS.org) Former Florida governor and expected Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said in an interview with Israel Hayom published Friday that the Obama administration’s approach in the ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran is “inexplicable.”
“It is inexplicable to me,” Bush said. “The administration started with a clear objective of not allowing the Iranians to have nuclear weapons and now we’re lowering that threshold to the point where the objective is to regulate their creation. I think that is very dangerous—it creates clear instability in the region, it’s an existential threat to Israel, and given the missile capabilities that Iran is developing, it creates significant risk to the rest of the world as well.”
“Nothing in these negotiations deals with the proxy wars that Iran is fighting and Iran’s influence is now significant in four capitals outside of Tehran,” he added. “With a nuclear weapon, their efforts to destabilize the region would be even greater. So it makes no sense to me, to be honest.”
Bush said the Obama administration is “making a mistake to disparage” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of his March 3 speech to Congress on the Iranian nuclear threat. National Security Advisor Susan Rice called the speech “destructive” to U.S.-Israel ties.
“[Netanyahu] has every right to speak to Congress about the direct threats that a bad deal with Iran would bring to the United States, to the world, and of course, to Israel,” said Bush. It is “completely inappropriate” that the Obama administration is “putting daylight” between the U.S. and Israel, he said.
Asked if he is running for president, Bush responded, “I’m seriously considering the possibility of running. There is no decision yet—that will be later on.”
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Argentine judge dismisses Iran cover-up case against President Kirchner
(JNS.org) An Argentine federal judge has dismissed a complaint against President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner over her alleged cover-up of Iran’s involvement in the 1994 Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish center bombing, a probe launched by late prosecutor Alberto Nisman.
In his 62-page ruling, Judge Daniel Rafecas said that the “evidence gathered far from meets the minimal standard,” Reuters reported.
The complaint against Kirchner was filed by state prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita, based on evidence collected by Nisman.
A report by Nisman revealed that he had accused Kirchner of secretly negotiating with Iran to avoid punishments for those behind the 1994 bombing of the AMIA center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people and injured 300. In 2013, Nisman, who was investigating the bombing after Iran and Argentina reached a widely criticized deal to establish a joint “truth commission” to investigate the attack, released an indictment blaming Iran and Hezbollah for the attack.
But in January, just days before Nisman was scheduled to testify on his findings, he was discovered dead in his apartment’s bathroom with a handgun lying next to his body. Authorities are continuing to investigate the cause of his death.
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White House sending Susan Rice and Samantha Power to AIPAC conference
(JNS.org) The White House will be sending National Security Advisor Susan Rice and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power to address the March 1-3 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference.
According to White House officials, Rice and Power will highlight the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship and America’s commitment to Israel’s security, the Associated Press reported. But the officials will also make President Barack Obama’s case for the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Iran and world powers, talks that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frequently criticized.
Sending Rice and Power continues the downward trend in the stature of Obama administration representatives at the AIPAC conference in recent years. President Barack Obama spoke at the conference in 2011 and 2012, but has not appeared there ever since. Vice President Joe Biden addressed the AIPAC gathering in 2013, and last year, the highest-ranking White House representatives were Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew.
Earlier this week, in an interview with Charlie Rose of PBS, Rice called Netanyahu’s planned speech to a joint session of Congress on March 3 “destructive of the fabric of the relationship” between the U.S. and Israel. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio), who invited Netanyahu to speak to Congress, said he “couldn’t disagree more” with Rice’s comments.
“The American people and both parties in Congress have always stood with Israel and nothing, and no one, could get in the way,” Boehner said. “What is destructive in my view is making a bad deal that paves the way for a nuclear Iran. That’s destructive.”
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Liberty University student government disavows anti-Israel BDS legislation
(JNS.org) The student government at Virginia’s Liberty University on Tuesday passed an amendment to its constitution that forbids legislation supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.
The amendment to the constitution declared that Liberty’s student government “will not entertain BDS legislation targeted at the Israeli state, or its people, or legislation of similar intent.”
Liberty University senior Chelsea Andrews—a pro-Israel student activist with CUFI on Campus, the school’s division of the Christian Zionist organization Christians United for Israel—led the effort to pass the anti-BDS amendment.
“At Liberty University we stand with Israel, because as Christians, as Americans, and as individuals focused on freedom and human rights, there is no alternative,” Andrews said after the amendment passed. “I hope that other students will see what LU has done and follow suit. Across the country we’ve seen BDS repeatedly rear its ugly head. That stops now.”
The move to disavow the BDS movement at Liberty University, a predominately Evangelical Christian school, stands in contrast with some recently passed Israel divestment resolutions in other student governments, particularly in California.
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Israel and Jordan sign ‘historic’ agreement to replenish Dead Sea
(JNS.org) The governments of Israel and Jordan have signed a major agreement to build a desalination plant near the Jordanian tourist resort of Akaba, with the goal of working together to replenish the Dead Sea.
Through the “Red-Dead” agreement, water that remains highly salty after going through the desalination process will be transferred to the Dead Sea, whose water is known for its saltiness.
Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom visited Jordan on Thursday for an official ceremony that marked the signing of the Israel-Jordan agreement.
“This is a historic agreement,” Shalom said, the Times of Israelreported. “Today we realize the vision of Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl, the visionary of the state, who already at the end of the 19th century understood the need to revive the Dead Sea. This is the most important and significant agreement since the peace treaty was signed with Jordan [in 1994].”
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Survey: Israelis pay Palestinian workers double wages of PA and Gaza employers
(JNS.org) A European Union-funded survey conducted by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) between October and December of 2014 shows that Palestinians working in Israeli-controlled territory earn more than double the wages of Palestinians working in Palestinian Authority (PA)-controlled areas of the West Bank.
In Israeli-controlled areas, the average daily wage for Palestinians was 194.2 shekels, while in PA-controlled areas the the average daily wage was only 91.4 shekels. Meanwhile, the average wage in Hamas-controlled Gaza was 66.1 shekels a day.
Last September, the PA’s official daily newspaper went as far congratulating Israeli employers for their positive gestures toward Palestinian employees, Palestinian Media Watch reported.
“Whenever Palestinian workers have the opportunity to work for Israeli employers, they are quick to quit their jobs with their Palestinian employers—for reasons having to do with salaries and other rights,” the PA’s Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper stated on Sept. 21, 2014.
“The [Israeli] work conditions are very good, and include transportation, medical insurance and pensions. These things do not exist with Palestinian employers,” the newspaper added.
About 105,200 Palestinians were employed by Israelis by the end of 2014. Among that group, 20,200 are working beyond the 1949 armistice line (Green Line). About a quarter (26.5 percent) of Palestinians in the workforce were unemployed at that time.
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