Barak: Iran slows nuclear weapons development by 8 months
(JNS.org) Perhaps the cartoon worked?
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel’s Channel 2 Nov. 8 that Iran has slowed its nuclear weapons development by about eight months through the diversion of some enriched uranium from military to civilian use.
Back in September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provided the United Nations General Assembly with a cartoonish diagram of a bomb, drawing a red line across where he thinks Iran’s nuclear program would be beyond the point of no return—sometime in the spring or summer of 2013. Now that timetable might be extended, according to Barak’s comments.
The defense minister’s remarks “appeared to be based” on an International Atomic Energy Agency report from August, the Associated Press reported.
Netanyahu calls re-election ‘vote of confidence’ in Obama’s leadership
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Barack Obama in a phone conversation that his re-election was “a vote of confidence” in his leadership, according to a Nov. 8 statement from the prime minister.
Netanyahu had previously said he would “continue to work with President Obama in order to assure the interests that are vital to the security of the citizens of Israel, noting that the “strategic alliance between Israel and the U.S.” is “stronger than ever.”
But not all Israeli officials have struck a congratulatory tone regarding Obama’s win—World Likud Chair Danny Danon said “Israel must not cave in to Obama’s demands; his re-election attests to the fact that the responsibility of furthering Israel’s interests lies with Israel and Israel alone.”
Jonathan Tobin, senior online editor of Commentary magazine, told JNS.org on election night that Obama’s win would mean “probably four years of ongoing tension with the government of Israel.” However, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren said the relationship between Obama and Netanyahu “is completely fine.”
Amid deadly conflict, Assad vows to ‘live and die in Syria’
(JNS.org) It appears that there is no end in sight for the deadly Syrian conflict, as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad rejected suggestions that he step down. In an interview in English with Russia’s RT television, Assad vowed to “live and die in Syria.”
“I am not a puppet and the West did not manufacture me in order that I leave to the West or any other country.”
He added, “I am Syrian, I am Syrian-made, and I must live and die in Syria.”
Recent estimates by activists have more than 36,000 dead in Syria since the conflict began in early 2011.
Iranians fire on American drone
(JNS.org) Iranians fired on an American drone flying over international waters in the Persian Gulf three times in a bold and unprecedented move, according to the Pentagon.
U.S. defense officials said they believe the shots fired were not warning shots, but that they were looking to shoot the drone down. The U.S. later warned the Iranians through diplomatic channels that they will continue drone flights.
“The United States has communicated to the Iranians that we will continue to conduct surveillance flights over international waters over the Arabian Gulf consistent with longstanding practice and our commitment to the security of the region,” said Pentagon spokesman George Little, Reuters reported.
News of the attack by Iranians comes following reports that the U.S. and Iran may engage in direct talks following the U.S. elections. Both governments denied those report.
Last year, a CIA drone reportedly crashed in Iran, sparking a huge international incident between the countries.
Israel aids victims of both Sandy and Ghana shopping center collapse
(JNS.org) Just days after Israel Flying Aid, an Israeli global humanitarian organization, distributed supplies of gas, food, batteries and generators to Hurricane Sandy victims, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Homefront Command delegation departed for Ghana to assist search-and-rescue efforts following the collapse of a multi-story shopping center in the city of Accra that killed at least four people and trapped dozens.
Israel Flying Aid used donations from Israelis living in the US, and chains such as Panera Bread and Dunkin Donuts, to distribute food to hurricane victims on the south shore of Long Island, the Nassau County Police, the Freeport Fire Department and the Red Cross Shelter at the Nassau Community College. They also fed people waiting in long lines to get gas, currently in short supply in the affected areas. “As Israelis, we know how to react to such disasters,” said Flying Aid North American Operations Manager Moti Kahana, according to the Israel News Agency.
Now, the Homefront Command delegation has departed for Ghana Wednesday night. The delegation includes seven search-and-rescue personnel and two doctors, and was created in coordination with the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Ghanaian government.
Magen David Adom (Israel’s national emergency medical service) is prepared to send more aid if necessary.In the past, according to Israel Hayom, Israel has dispatched aid delegations to numerous disaster zones around the globe, including to Haiti in 2010 following the earthquake that devastated that country and to Japan in 2011 after the earthquake and tsunami there.
Peres inaugurates Moscow Jewish museum
(JNS.org) Israeli President Shimon Peres inaugurated the Jewish Museum of Tolerance in Moscow on Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Peres, Lavrov, Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar and Rabbi Alexander Boroda, chief of the local Chabad House, all gave speeches at the event. “At this emotional moment I can see generations of my people before my very eyes and I carry them with me. My parents were born in Russia. In my home we spoke Yiddish, Hebrew and Russian,” the Israeli president said, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.
Sponsored by the World Zionist Congress and American businessman Ronald Lauder, the museum cost about $60 million. The idea for its construction was initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the museum is composed of 4,500 square meters (48,450 square feet), outlining the history of Jews around the world and in the Soviet Union. There is also a section for children.
“The diplomatic, economic and scientific ties have been strengthened with unique cultural relations between us. Russian culture flows through Israel’s veins and Jewish culture is intertwined in Russia’s culture,” Peres said.
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