Iran ‘handing out torches to pyromaniacs’ on all fronts, IDF chief says
(JNS.org) For Israel, there is “no front where Iran is not involved, handing out torches to pyromaniacs, with munitions and rockets,” Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz told reporters during a tour of the Golan Heights on Sunday.
Commenting on the nuclear negotiations that world powers are conducting with Iran, Gantz said “a nuclear Iran is dangerous for the world, the region, and Israel—in that order.”
“I hope that international pressure on Iran will continue in a way that keeps Iran from renewing its military nuclear program,” he said.
Gantz said the ongoing transfer of weapons from Syria to Lebanon was “not a good thing,” adding that things “could happen” from time to time, a possible reference to Israeli military action to prevent such transfers.
In Gaza, “Hamas and the other [terrorist] organizations are continually building up their strength,” Gantz said.
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U.S.-Israel differences on Iran nuclear program persist ahead of Netanyahu visit
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Iranian nuclear issue is expected to top the agenda during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming early March meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House.
Netanyahu is angry about recent developments following the nuclear negotiations between world powers and Iran, including the U.S. dropping its demand that Iran halt uranium enrichment and send already-enriched uranium out of the country.
During meetings with Israeli officials over the weekend, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, the head of the U.S. delegation in the talks with Iran, said Iran would be able to continue uranium enrichment, as long as it agrees to do so under supervision.
Sherman said the U.S. and Israel have the same goal—preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon—but that there are “legitimate” differences of opinion over the path to achieve that goal.
“I view with concern [the] fact that Iran believes that it will realize its plan to be a nuclear threshold state, with an enrichment capacity that it thinks cannot be touched, with the ability to develop both nuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles, which it is continuing to work on unhindered,” Netanyahu said at his cabinet meeting Sunday.
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Jonathan Pollard’s release urged by hundreds of demonstrators in Tel Aviv
(JNS.org) Hundreds of people demonstrated on Sunday evening outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, calling on the U.S. to release imprisoned Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.
The demonstrators held signs reading “Free Pollard” and “29 years, that’s enough.” A number of Knesset members took part in the demonstration, including Moshe Feiglin and Tzachi Hanegbi (both Likud), Shuli Mualem-Rafaeli (Habayit Hayehudi), and Nachman Shai (Labor).
“We are appealing to the Americans and telling them, ‘Enough,’” Shai said. “It’s been almost 30 years. This man has paid everything he owes to American society and American law. Let him go.”
Pollard’s wife Esther said, “Today, after 30 years, there is no one in the world who doesn’t know that the life sentence Jonathan is serving is completely out of proportion and unfair.” Pollard, the only person in U.S. history to receive a life sentence for spying for an American ally.
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Jewish groups provide emergency assistance to Ukrainian Jews
(JNS.org) Jewish organizations have set up emergency assistance for Ukraine’s roughly 200,000-member Jewish community amid ongoing political unrest there.
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) said that it is providing immediate assistance in areas of Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, to ensure that elderly Jews and people with disabilities receive essential supplies at home. JDC staff and volunteers have been providing food packages and medical supplies to these homebound individuals.
Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, said immediate assistance for Ukrainian Jews would come from the Emergency Assistance Fund for Jewish Communities, established after the 2012 terror attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse, France. Additionally, the Jewish Agency is launching a fundraising campaign to boost the Ukrainian Jewish community’s security.
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American Studies Association president-elect hosting anti-Israel event at NYU
(JNS.org) The American Studies Program at New York University (NYU), with the support of American Studies Association (ASA) President-Elect Professor Lisa Duggan, is set to hold a three-day anti-Israel conference.
The Feb. 28-March 1 event, titled “Circuits of Influence: U.S., Israel, and Palestine,” comes “following an unprecedented wave of public dialogue in response to the American Studies Association’s recent endorsement of a boycott of Israeli academic institutions,” according to an event flyer.
The ASA voted to boycott Israeli academic institutions last December. Since then, about 200 universities have condemned the move.
Duggan, who teaches in NYU’s department of social and cultural analysis, in a Facebook post describes the event as a “kick ass” conference that will feature speakers solely from the anti-Israel perspective, such as Students for Justice in Palestine and the Jewish Voice for Peace.
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Efforts to promote ‘Israel as Jewish state’ bill underway
(JNS.org) Former Israeli Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser is currently promoting a bill intended to legally anchor the notion of “Israel as a Jewish state” as one of the country’s Basic Laws, which serve in lieu of a constitution.
The Kohelet Policy Forum, whose mission statement is “to secure the future of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish People,” held a conference on the issue Sunday, according to Israel Hayom. Five ministers from the governing coalition were invited to speak, including Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett, Education Minister Shay Piron, and Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver.
“At a time when Israel is trying to get the Palestinians to recognize Israel as the Jewish state, we should practice what we preach and do the same,” Hauser said.
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Report: Congress may condition Palestinian Authority aid on curbing incitement
(JNS.org) The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee is considering freezing aid to the Palestinian Authority unless its continued incitement against Israel is curtailed, according to a report Saturday on Israel’s Channel 2.
Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz reportedly met with members of Congress to express his appreciation for the initiative.
“Maybe now, when there is international recognition and a monetary threat on the aid, the incitement will lessen,” Steinitz said.
Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, told JNS.org, “How can the U.S. justify funding a PA regime that glorifies murderers—using American money? How can the U.S. justify giving money to a regime that demonizes Jews as descendants of monkeys and pigs? Conditioning funding on the end of hatred is the ethical thing to do. And hopefully the PA will get the message that they have to choose between being a terror-promoting entity ostracized by the U.S. and the Western countries, like Hamas, or a sincere peace partner.”
America’s current funding of the PA “has enabled them to continue promoting hate and terror and still be seen as a peace partner, even though the two are inherently contradictory,” added Marcus.
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Ukrainian Jews urged to leave Kiev as president ousted by parliament
(JNS.org) In the wake of escalated clashes between Ukrainian protesters and government forces, the Ukrainian Parliament voted Saturday to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from office and hold a new election on May 25.
On Friday, Ukrainian Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman asked Kiev Jews to leave the city—and if possible, the country—due to fears that Jews might be targeted in the ongoing chaos. Some Jewish shops have reportedly been vandalized.
“I told my congregation to leave the city center or the city all together and if possible the country too… I don’t want to tempt fate… but there are constant warnings concerning intentions to attack Jewish institutions,” Azman told Maariv.
Protesters first flooded Kiev’s Independence Square in November 2013 to protest Yanukovych’s decision to freeze plans to join a free trade agreement with the European Union. Instead, Yanukovych indicated an intention to join the Eurasian Customs Union, an economic union envisioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin that is viewed as a precursor to a wider Eurasian Union of Eastern European countries and the Caucausus.
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2,000 people march to urge Israeli control of Jordan Valley in any peace deal
(JNS.org) About 2,000 people—including Israeli Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar (Likud), Coalition Chairman MK Yariv Levin (Likud), and Habayit Hayehudi MK Orit Struck—took part in a march in the Jordan Valley on Friday, calling on Israel to hold onto the area in any peace agreement with the Palestinians.
The eight-kilometer march in the northern part of the Jordan Valley ended at Brosh Habika, where former Israel Defense forces colonel Sraya Ofer was killed by Arab terrorists last October.
“We are here with a simple and clear message—the Jordan Valley is Israeli,” Sa’ar said. “It is impossible to think that the border will not be in the valley. The alternative, that the border will be next to Kfar Saba and Netanya, is completely inconceivable.”
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Palestinian Official: PLO could recognize Israel as Jewish state
(JNS.org) Prominent Palestinian official Nabil Amro, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Central Committee, said there is a possibility that the Palestinian leadership would recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Such recognition is one of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s key demands during negotiations.
“If that was one of the main obstacles in U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts, then the active and determined Kerry has to overcome it without embarrassing Abbas or weakening any possible agreement between Palestinians and Israelis,” Amro told Ma’an News Agency, adding that such recognition would have to be put to a referendum.
But other Palestinian officials such as Hanan Ashrawi, another member of the PLO, recently expressed clear opposition to the demand, saying they already recognized Israel’s right to exist during the 1990s.
“The Jewishness of the state of Israel… this is a new addition,” Ashrawi said.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org