Netanyahu to Obama in Israel: Diplomacy and sanctions have not stopped Iran
(JNS.org) President Barack Obama in Israel dismissed a U.S. policy of containment for the Iranian nuclear threat and echoed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that the Jewish state has the right to “defend itself, by itself” during a joint press conference with the prime minister on Wednesday.
Obama said a nuclear-armed Iran “would be a threat to the region, a threat to the world and potentially an existential threat to Israel,” and that he and Netanyahu “agree on our goal.”
“We do not have a policy of containment when it comes to a nuclear Iran,” Obama said, according to Israel Hayom. “Our policy is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
Yet, the differences between Obama and Netanyahu on Iran remained apparent on Wednesday. The Obama administration has so far resisted the prime minister’s calls to set a “red line,” a point that, if crossed by Iran’s nuclear program, would prompt U.S. military action against the Islamic Republic.
“We prefer to resolve this diplomatically, and there is still time to do so,” Obama said.
Netanyahu expressed his appreciation for the fact that Obama has “acted to thwart this [Iranian] threat, both through determined diplomacy and strong sanctions that are getting stronger yet,” but noted that those efforts have not changed Iran’s behavior.
“Notwithstanding our joint efforts and your great success in mobilizing the international community, diplomacy and sanctions so far have not stopped Iran’s nuclear program,” Netanyahu said.
“And as you know, my view is that in order to stop Iran’s nuclear programs peacefully, diplomacy and sanctions must be augmented by a clear and credible threat of military action,” the prime minister added.
Netanyahu thanked Obama for affirming Israel’s right to defend itself by itself, saying, “That is why I know that you appreciate that Israel never ceded the right to defend ourselves to others, even to the greatest of our friends, and Israel has no better friend than the United States of America.”
Obama called the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “a really hard problem that has been lingering for over six decades.” When asked “What went wrong?” after his first-term promise to not let the Palestinian issue slip to his second term, Obama explained, “What I said was, I was not going to wait to start on the issue until my second term because I thought it was too important. And that’s exactly what I did. I am absolutely sure that there are a host of things that I could have done that would have been more deft and, you know, would have created better optics. But ultimately, this is a really hard problem.”
Israeli Homefront Defense Minister Gilad Erdan said Obama “came to Israel with an entirely different approach, apparently based on the lessons of his first term.”
Israel attacked by Gaza rockets during Obama visit
(JNS.org) Four Gaza rockets were fired at Israel on Thursday, with two of them landing in the often rocket-battered city of Sderot, during the second day of U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to the Jewish state, Reuters reported.
One of the rockets exploded in the courtyard of a home in Sderot, a city Obama had specifically mentioned during a news conference on Wednesday in Jerusalem. He visited Sderot in 2008 as a presidential candidate.
“I’ve stood in Sderot, and met with children who simply want to grow up free from fear,” Obama said Wednesday. “And flying in today, I saw again how Israel’s security can be measured in mere miles and minutes.”
The Sderot resident whose home was hit by a rocket, Yossi Haziza, told Israeli Army Radio, “We will get through this. I only hope that Obama sees what the people here are going through.
A Hamas-Israel truce last November had ended an eight-day conflict between the two parties that saw about 1,500 rockets launched on Israel from Gaza, prompting a response by the Israel Defense Forces dubbed Operation Pillar of Defense. Gaza rockets during that conflict fell in the vicinity of Tel Aviv for the first time since the 1990s Gulf War and in the vicinity of Jerusalem for the first time ever.
A research team in the Health Sciences Faculty at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) recently released a study that revealed a significant correlation between pregnancy stress and miscarriage among women in Sderot. Of the 1,132 pregnancies examined in Sderot, only seven of the women had never heard a rocket-warning siren.
David Trimble, Nobel Laureate and UK Lords member, admonishes UN Israel report
(JNS.org) Nobel Peace Laureate and British House of Lords member David Trimble spoke on behalf of Swiss human rights group UN Watch at a UN Human Rights Council debate Monday in response to the most recent Human Rights Council report on Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria.
“I am a firm believer in a two-state solution, which will require difficult compromises,” he said. But he added, “by urging the removal of all settlers living beyond the green line, the report is inconsistent with Security Council Resolution 242… It could lead to the utterly grotesque consequence that the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem should be returned to the desolate condition that existed between 1948 and 1967. The Report’s conclusions address one of the issues in a high handed and one-sided manner… It amounts to a unilateral measure of the sort opposed by the international community.”
“Negotiations can only be by the Israelis and the Palestinians. Others at best can play a helpful role,” Trimble added. “But outside bodies purporting to make authoritative pronouncements on major issues over the heads of the parties can only undermine and subvert the peace process. This report abandons principles established in the Clinton Camp David talks, and applied in the Road Map and the Olmert-Abbas talks. The United Nations and its human rights bodies should all be working with others to advance the cause of peace, not to hinder it.”
Limmud FSU survey: Most Russian Jews don’t feel they fully belong in U.S.
(JNS.org) Limmud FSU, a Jewish learning organization working internationally, has released the results of a survey on the views of Russian-speaking Jews living in North America, showing that 63 percent of respondents believe Benjamin Netanyahu makes the best prime minister for Israel. Additionally, only 22 percent of respondents had expressed a desire for President Barack Obama to win the 2012 U.S. presidential election.
More than 200 Limmud FSU members between the ages of 21 and 35 in the U.S. and Canada took the survey. Sixty percent were females, 40 percent were males, and 20 percent were married. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents said they don’t yet feel they fully belong to the American Jewish community. Thirty-eight percent said they prefer to live in Israel and more than 97 percent have visited the Jewish state. Only 2 percent of the respondents expressed a desire to return to the countries of the Former Soviet Union.
“The survey shows very clearly the deep connection that they young Russian Jewish community members have to the state of Israel and their Russian Jewish identity. However, the majority of them still don’t feel integrated enough into the major American Jewish community,” said Limmud FSU Co-Founder Sandy Cahn.
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Jewish delegation receives special nod at Pope Francis installation
(JNS.org) The Jewish delegation to the installation ceremony of Pope Francis on Tuesday was the only non-Christian group to receive a special mention.
Pope Francis opened his speech by saying he was speaking “with the permission of the diplomatic corps, the Jews who are with us and all the rest,” the Jerusalem Post reported.
Many in the Jewish community hope Pope Francis will continue the strong legacy of his predecessors, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, in strengthening Catholic-Jewish relations.
“This reference to the Jews appears as a continuation of the warm ties forged between the Vatican and the Jewish people during the tenure of Pope John Paul II, who said that God never broke His covenant with the Jews,” said Israeli Chief Rabbinate spokesman Ziv Maor, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Representatives from over 132 nations, including dozens of heads of state, attended the ceremony. Leaders of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Jain faiths were also in attendance, the Washington Post reported.
Following the installation, Jewish leaders met with Pope Francis during a private audience with the pontiff on Wednesday.
“Today, at the private audience, we were greeted with special warmth,” said Rabbi David Rosen, the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) International Director of Interreligious Affair, in a statement.
“It’s encouraging that the Jewish people, including our organization, already have ties to the new pope,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said in a statement. “I think this bodes well for the future as we continue to advance the interreligious dialogue between the two communities.”
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