Netanyahu’s new cabinet takes shape
(JNS.org) After a coalition agreement for the next Israeli government was apparently reached between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yesh Atid Party head Yair Lapid, and Habayit Hayehudi party head Naftal Bennet, Netanyahu’s cabinet is taking shape, Israel Hayom reported.
According to Israeli law, the prime minister, defense minister, foreign minister, justice minister, public security minister and finance minister must be members of the diplomatic-security cabinet. Judging by the near-final coalition agreements, these positions will be manned by Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon (defense), Tzipi Livni (justice), Yitzhak Aharonovitch (public security), and Yair Lapid (finance). They will be joined by Bennet. This means that the cabinet could comprise only six members, as opposed to the 15-member cabinet in Netanyahu’s last government.
The coalition agreement was signed Friday by Bennet and was also set to be signed by Lapid after Bennet, Netanyahu’s former adviser, had held up the finalization of the agreement Thursday because neither he nor Lapid had been granted the title of “deputy prime minister,” Haaretz reported.
Habayit Hayehudi officials claim the Likud-Beytenu negotiations team had promised Bennet that title, but Likud-Beytenu said no such promise was made.
Bennet in the new government is heading a “ministerial committee for cost of living, economic centralization and increasing competitiveness,” according to Haaretz, while Yesh Atid will lead a “joint Knesset committee on the universal Israel Defense Forces draft.”
Obama says no plans to release Pollard, defends relationship with Netanyahu
(JNS.org) Amid a public push in Israel for convicted spy Jonathan Pollard’s release, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Israeli television Thursday that he had no immediate plans to grant Pollard clemency.
Obama said on Channel 2 News that Pollard, who is serving 28th year in federal prison as the only person in American history to receive a life sentence for spying for a U.S. ally, committed “a very serious crime.” The president said his “first obligation is to observe the law” in this case and “ensure it is applied consistently.”
“Lots of prisoners would like to be released early,” Obama said.
Leading up to Obama’s visit, Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli and other Israeli celebrities signed a petition for his release that has garnered more than 155,000 supporters. Yityish Aynaw, the first Ethiopian Miss Israel, said she would ask for Pollard’s release when she meets Obama, and former CIA James Woolsey told Israel Hayom that there is “is no reasonable argument in favor of keeping [Pollard] in prison for so much longer than what is usually prescribed for spies that worked for friendly countries.”
The president in the TV interview addressed his reportedly tense relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the leaders have “a terrific, businesslike relationship” that is “blunt” at times. The two leaders “get stuff done” despite their differences, Obama said.
One major area of disagreement between Obama and Netanyahu has been the setting of a “red line” that, if crossed, would prompt U.S. military action against Iran over its nuclear program. Obama has thus far resisted Netanyahu’s calls for a red line, calling those calls “noise” in an interview with the CBS program “60 Minutes” last year.
On Thursday, Obama told Channel 2 News that “it would take over a year or so for Iran to actually develop a nuclear weapon, but obviously we don’t want to cut it too close.”
“So when I’m consulting with Bibi as I have over the last several years on this issue, my message to him will be the same as before: ‘If we can resolve it diplomatically that is a more lasting solution. But if not, I continue to keep all options on the table,’” Obama said.
Syria prepared to use chemical weapons, says Israel’s military intelligence chief
(JNS.org) Israel’s military intelligence chief said Syria is prepared to use chemical weapons against advancing rebel forces, the Associated Press reported.
Speaking at the Herzliya Security Conference, Israeli Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is making advanced preparations to use chemical weapons, but has not yet ordered their deployment.
Israel, along with many in the international community, are concerned that Syria could use its vast arsenal of chemical and biological weapons against rebels or civilians.
Recently, a U.S. intelligence official warned against Syria’s use of chemical weapons as its government becomes “increasingly beleaguered” amid continued gains by rebels.
“The opposition is gaining in strength; it is gaining territory… at the same time, the regime is experiencing shortages in manpower and logistics,” said James R. Clapper, director of national intelligence, in a statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
Israel is also concerned that the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah may gain access to Syria’s arsenal. In January, Israeli jets reportedly struck a Syrian military convoy containing advanced anti-aircraft missiles that were headed for Lebanon.
Palestinian stone throwing critically injures Jewish family
(JNS.org) Palestinian stone throwing at a road near the Jewish community of Ariel in Judea and Samaria led to a car crash that critically injured a 3-year-old girl and moderately injured her mother and her two other daughters, ages 4 and 6.
The crash happened as a result of a truck that veered off course and hit the mother’s car due to the Palestinians hurling stones at cars on the road, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
The IDF and police are searching the area for the Palestinian stone hurlers.
“This is a terror attack like any other,” a senior IDF source told Channel 10 news in a report cited by the Times of Israel.
“The rocks were thrown by Palestinians from one of the nearby villages. We have seen a 50 percent upsurge in rock throwing incidents since the announcement of [U.S. President Barack] Obama’s visit to the country,” the source added.
Iran missiles tested as ZOA praises Obama for U.S. ambassador walkout
(JNS.org) Iran has recently tested short-range missiles, including similar missiles to the ones the terrorist group Hamas fired at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem last fall during the Israel-Gaza conflict, the Associated Press reported, citing Iran’s Fars news agency.
The missiles fired were of the Nazeat-10 and Fajr-5 varieties, according to the report. Fajr-5 missiles were also the type of rockets fired by Hamas at Israel in November. They have a range of 45 miles, and the Nazeat-10 missiles have a range of about 62 miles.
Iran has admitted to supplying Hamas with the technology to produce such weapons. On March 7, ambassadors from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Canada walked out of a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after the Iranian ambassador, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, accused Israel of having “a dark record of genocide.”
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein praised the Obama administration for the walkout. “It is not a small matter when any country, let alone a rogue state like Iran, describes a fellow democracy and ally of the U.S. as guilty of ‘genocide,’” he said in a statement.
“Genocide is a most heinous crime and one that carries major legal consequences… When Iran uses this language, it is used as its warrant for aggression against Israel and as justification for treating it as a pariah,” Klein said.
“The charge of genocide is doubly vicious coming from the Iranian ambassador, because the regime he represents has…expressed the intention to commit genocide by calling for Israel to be wiped from the page of history. It is also a regime seeking to acquire the nuclear weaponry that would make obliterating Israel a practical possibility. We commend U.S. Ambassador McManus for walking out of this meeting,” he added.
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