Half the U.S. Senate now supports new Iran sanctions bill
(JNS.org) Support among U.S. Senators for a new Iran sanctions bill has doubled since it was first proposed in December, rising to support by half the Senate.
A total of 50 U.S. Senators from across party lines now support the Nuclear Weapons Free Iran Act of 2013 introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the Jerusalem Post reported.
The bill says that Congress must certify Iran’s compliance to the interim nuclear deal every 30 days, and includes “prospective sanctions” that expand economic and financial restrictions on Iran’s energy and banking sections if Iran violates the deal. It also includes language requiring strong American action if Israel launches a pre-emptive strike on the Iran nuclear program.
However, at a press conference in December, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the bill could undermine diplomatic efforts underway with Iran and hinted that Obama would veto the bill if it landed on his desk.
“Passing new sanctions legislation now will undermine our efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution,” Carney said.
*
Report: Kerry proposes return of 80,000 Palestinian refugees to Israel
(JNS.org) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has proposed to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas the return of 80,000 Palestinian refugees to Israel as part of a comprehensive peace deal, a Palestinian official told China’s Xinhua News Agency.
“Kerry’s proposal on the return of refugees is the same proposal offered by former U.S. President Bill Clinton during Camp David peace talks held in the United States in 2000,” the official said.
However, the official added that Abbas wants to increase the number to 200,000 Palestinians returning to Israel.
As a result of the 1948 War of Independence and subsequent Arab-Israeli Wars, several million Palestinians and their descendants live in surrounding Arab countries. These Arab countries have refused to integrate the refugees, where they are often lack basic human rights.
As part of previous peace negotiations, Israel has discussed allowing a small number to return. However, Israel is concerned about the demographic and economic consequences and has called for a more comprehensive solution to the issue that also addresses compensation for Jewish refugees as well.
*
Report: Food prices 25% higher in Israel than in EU
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Food prices in Israel are 25 percent higher than in European Union nations, a new report by the Knesset Information and Research Center said.
The information presented to a Knesset subcommittee on food prices, suggests that over the past eight years, food prices in Israel have increased by 16%, compared to an average 1.8% increase among other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development members.
The price hike in Israel is twice as high as in Turkey, where prices rose by 8% over the same period of time and it is four times higher than the 4% hike noted in Belgium. Food prices in Israel are 32% higher than prices in France.
The report further warned of a possible 200% increase in produce prices, citing a shortage in fruits and vegetables due to extreme weather conditions and the beginning of shmita (the agricultural sabbatical year).
The subcommittee is currently preparing a bill meant to cut food prices. The bill aims to promote competition in the food and beverages industries, which are highly centralized.
*
French cities ban comedian Dieudonné over Nazi-style ‘quenelle’ salute
(JNS.org) Major French cities are banning controversial comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, who has been accused of anti-Semitism in connection with his Nazi-style “quenelle” salute.
The mayors of Marseille, Tours, and Bordeaux banned Dieudonné, who is currently on tour, from performing in their cities, Reutersreported.
The quenelle, described as a “reverse Nazi salute,” was made popular by Dieudonné, who ran for the European Parliament under the “anti-Zionist” party list in 2009. The French government is also considering banning Dieudonné.
“The [quenelle] gesture has gained popularity amongst young people, and reunites extremists from the Islamist camp, the extreme right, and left as well as revolutionaries with one common objective: the fight against the ‘Tel-Aviv-Washington axis’ as well as Jewish power and Zionism,” Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Paris office, recently told JNS.org.
*
University of Haifa faculty members protest decision not to honor Prof. Robert Aumann
(JNS.org) More than 100 faculty members at the University of Haifa issued a formal protest against the school’s decision not to grant an honorary doctorate to Professor Robert Aumann, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics in 2005, because his political beliefs do not align with the university’s values.
Aumann has previously remarked that “the most sensible solution” to the Israeli-Arab conflict is “a Jewish state and an Arab state, where the Jewish state is settled by Jews and the Arab state is settled by Arabs.” He also said that Jerusalem “needs to remain Jewish,” Israel National News reported.
A source involved in the school’s decision said that awarding Aumann an honorary doctorate “involves addressing the world he represents, and this does not express the value system of the University of Haifa,” Haaretz reported.
A statement by the university’s faculty members protesting the decision said that “we the undersigned, members of the academic faculty of the University of Haifa representing all positions on the political spectrum, agree that the disqualification of Prof. Yisrael Aumann as a candidate for receiving an honorary doctorate from the University is embarrassing and has done enormous damage to the university’s image and public standing.”
Steven Plaut, an economics professor at the University of Haifa, recently told JNS.org that the school has a “long series” of politicized decisions.
“The [University of Haifa] law school had earlier prohibited the singing of the national anthem Hatikvah at its graduation ceremonies… The university also continues to allow the anti-Semitic ‘Alef List’ chat list to operate under university auspices and through the university computer… In the past the University of Haifa employed [anti-Zionist historian] Ilan Pappe and granted him tenure,” Plaut said.
*
Preceding provided by JNS.org