White House denies rejecting Obama-Netanyahu meeting
(JNS.org) Amid a reportedly increasing rift between the U.S. and Israel regarding how to deal with the Iranian nuclear threat, the White House denied reports that it declined a meeting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested with President Barack Obama.
According to a report in Haaretz, Netanyahu’s office reached out to the White House about a meeting when the prime minister is in the U.S. for two and a half days during the United Nations General Assembly in New York this month. While Netanyahu was willing to meet the president in Washington, DC, the White House reportedly rejected his proposition due to Obama’s schedule, the newspaper said.
“Contrary to reports in the press, there was never a request for Prime Minister Netanyahu to meet with President Obama in Washington, nor was a request for a meeting ever denied,” the White House said Tuesday night.
Reports of the White House declining the meeting came after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday raised the eyebrows of Israeli officials by saying the U.S. is “not setting deadlines” for Iran and still considers negotiations to be “by far the best approach” to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons. Additionally, Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey recently said he does not wish to be “complicit” in a potential Israeli strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The White House said in a statement that Obama spoke with Netanyahu for an hour Tuesday night regarding the Iranian threat. The two leaders “reaffirmed that they are united in their determination to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and agreed to continue their close consultations going forward,” according to the statement.
(JNS.org) The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) has put up a series of billboard advertisements reading “Obama…Oy Vey!!” in South Florida Jewish communities in an effort to sway voters in that critical swing state.
Placed in Florida’s Broward and Palm Beach counties, the billboards also ask “Had enough?” and feature the RJC’sMyBuyersRemorse.com website, which includes videos of Jewish voters who chose Barack Obama in 2008 and talk about how they regret their decision.
“There is a strong sense of buyer’s remorse among Jewish voters, who are disappointed and disillusioned with President Obama and the job he has done in the last 3 ½ years,” RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said in a statement Tuesday. “We’re helping those people give voice to their feelings.”
A new Investors Business Daily/Christian Science Monitor/TIPP poll shows Obama’s Jewish support at 59 percent, compared with 35 percent for Republican candidate Mitt Romney. By comparison, Gallup polls in June and July had 68 percent of Jewish voters choosing Obama.
Israeli population approaches 8 million for Rosh Hashanah
Among the Jewish state’s 7,933,200 residents are 5,978,600 Jews, representing 75.4 percent of the total, and 1,636,600 Arabs, representing 20.5 percent.
While Israel’s Jewish population grew at a rate of 1.8 percent in the secular 2011 calendar year, the Arab population grew by 2.5 percent, according to Globes.
Israel absorbed 16,892 new immigrants in 2011, 1.5 percent more than it did in 2010. In the summer of 2012, an Aug. 14 Nefesh B’Nefesh flight brought 351 North American olim to Israel, including a record 127 to serve in the Israel Defense Forces.
Muslim clerics continue to blame Jews, Israel and U.S. for 9/11 attacks
(JNS.org) As the world commemorated the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, academics and clerics around the Arab world continue to put forth conspiracy theories blaming Israel and Jews for the attacks.
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), a Yemenite researcher and academic named Majed Al-Mitri recently said on Arabic television that 9/11 was planned “by the U.S. and by the Jews in a clandestine manner” in order to target “Islam and the Muslims.” Nearly 3,000 Americans were killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
“The U.S. is conducting the greatest distortion campaign in its history,” said a second Yemenite academic, Yaha Al-Kateb, calling the attack as “the alleged 9/11 operation by the so-called Al-Qaeda.” He also stated that “the U.S. and Israel had prior knowledge” of the attack.
“The truth is that the fountain of terrorism and its roots are the people who, Allah said, ‘strive to spread corruption in the land.’ These are the people who, because of their corruption, their aggression, their disobedience and their transgressions, were transformed by Allah into apes and pigs,” yet another cleric, Muhsen Al-Shami, said.
Tennis player, former pilot wins Israel’s first gold medal at 2012 Paralympics
(JNS.org) Israeli tennis player Noam Gershony won a gold medal at the London Paralympics on Sept 8, marking the Jewish state’s seventh medal of this year’s competition and its first gold. Israel’s last Paralympics gold came in 2004 in Athens.
The Israeli defeated American David Wagner—considered to be the world’s top wheelchair tennis player—6-1, 6-3.
Gershony, 29, began playing wheelchair tennis only 18 months ago. Previously an Israeli Air Force helicopter pilot, he was injured in the Second Lebanon War. “It was a miracle I survived,” he told Yedioth Ahronoth. “That moment I decided I won’t waste my life and will try to do my best in the area I love. But I never imagined I would get to the Paralympics and pick up a gold medal. Hearing Hatikvah play and seeing the Israeli flag fly high—I can’t describe this feeling.”
Watch video footage of Gershony’s medal ceremony on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmbjEG9K5io&feature=player_embedded#
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Preceding provided by JNS.org and reprinted with permission