83 U.S. senators sign letter articulating ‘core principles’ for final Iran nuclear deal
(JNS.org) A new letter to President Barack Obama signed by 83 of 100 U.S. senators outlines “core principles” that the senators believe must be part of a final deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
The senators wrote that any agreement “must dismantle Iran’s nuclear weapons program and prevent it from ever having a uranium or plutonium path to a nuclear bomb.” Iran “has no inherent right to enrichment under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” and also has “no reason to have an enrichment facility like Fordow,” which is located underground, they wrote.
A nuclear deal should force Iran to give up its heavy water reactor at Arak, and make the country “fully explain the questionable activities in which it engaged at Parchin and other facilities,” according to the senators.
“We believe Iran must fully resolve concerns addressed in United Nations Security Council resolutions, including any military dimensions of its nuclear program,” stated the letter.
The legislators added that Iran must submit its nuclear program “to a long-term and intrusive inspection and verification regime,” and that the Islamic Republic cannot be allowed to circumvent sanctions during the current negotiations period.
Reacting to the letter, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee said it “applauds this overwhelming demonstration by the U.S. Senate of its determination to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability.”
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Facebook names new CEO in Israel
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Facebook announced Monday that it has appointed Adi Soffer-Teeni as the company’s CEO in Israel.
The current executive chairman of the grammar and spell-checking program Ginger Software, Soffer-Teeni will head Facebook’s commercial operations in Israel and help clients and agencies develop their marketing strategies at the social network. She will focus on building up the company’s team at its Ramat Gan offices, and will work closely with Facebook’s Israeli team in Dublin.
“I am very excited to join Facebook and lead the company’s development in Israel. Millions of people in Israel use our services daily, connect with one another and share what’s important to them,” said Soffer-Teeni, 42.
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Israeli Navy and Palestinians exchange gunfire on Gaza coast
(JNS.org) Israeli naval forces exchanged gunfire with Palestinians in Gaza on Monday after the navy prevented a boat from leaving for Egypt, Israel Hayom reported.
The Israeli Navy detected a small boat attempting to make its way to Egypt and forced it back to Gaza. Following protocol, the soldiers opened fire at the boat. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that the target was hit.
Palestinians then opened fire at the IDF force from the beach. Soldiers fired back at the origin of the gunfire. There were no reports of casualties on the Israeli or Palestinian sides.
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Crimea votes to join Russia days after attack on Kiev rabbi
(JNS.org) Results of the Crimea referendum held Sunday show that 95.7 percent of the voters in the Ukrainian peninsula support annexation of the area by Russia. The vote comes in the wake of an ongoing campaign by Russia to brand the new government of Ukraine as fascist, ultra-nationalist, and anti-Semitic.
Last week, a Kiev rabbi who runs the Ukrainian branch of the Jewish relief organization Hatzalah was attacked in a possible anti-Semitic incident. Rabbi Hillel Cohen was stabbed by two men who also shouted anti-Semitic slurs before leaving in a vehicle, Ukrainian police said.
Despite the vote in Crimea, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) said its operations there are continuing to run.
“JDC is in constant contact with its staff on the ground in Crimea, and across the Ukraine, and will continue its work providing life-saving care for the Jews it serves, as it has done for the last 100 years,” JDC Former Soviet Union Director Ofer Glanz told JNS.org.
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Missing Malaysia Airlines flight spurs Israel to tighten aviation security
(JNS.org) After the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Israel has decided to tighten security standards for any flights that enter its territory.
Since current suspicions on the fate of the missing Malaysian plane center heavily on a potential hijacking, Israeli security and aviation officials decided to require all foreign airlines approaching the Jewish state to identify themselves much earlier than what was previously required, Israel’s Channel 2 reported. The officials also came up with other new security regulations that remain classified, according to Reuters.
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Former Lebanese president: Mideast Christian exodus ‘approaching biblical proportions’
(JNS.org) Former Lebanese President Amine Gemayel warned that the Middle East is experiencing a “crisis of religious pluralism” driven by the “rise of religious extremists” against religious and ethnic minorities in the region.
Gemayel, a Maronite Christian who served as president from 1982-1988 after taking over for his brother Bashir, who was assassinated during the bloody Lebanese Civil War—said at a speech sponsored by Christian Solidarity International that Middle East Christians are fleeing the region “in an exodus approaching biblical proportions.”
Specifically, Gemayel highlighted “church burnings, physical assaults and killings” in Egypt, “an onslaught of murder” in Iraq, and “a bloody-minded reign of terror” from “ultra-radical Islamists in regions of Syria where they have imposed their rule.”
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Israel and Ghana explore agricultural and hi-tech partnership
(JNS.org) Israeli officials and agricultural companies attended an Israeli-Ghanaian agricultural conference in Accra aimed at exploring trade and investment opportunity in the agricultural sector in Ghana and future collaboration between the two nations.
“Israel is a tiny country although a lot of people talk about it in the newspapers and on television. There are no raw materials, no gold, no diamonds, not even water, and the only means of survival for us was to develop something different, and the difference was the hi-tech industry,” said Yair Shamir, Israeli Minister of Agricultural and Rural Development, GhanaWeb reported.
Once the largest contributor to the country’s GDP, Ghana’s agricultural sector has been surpassed by oil production and manufacturing sectors. But as a resource-rich country with strong GDP growth, Israel believes it can help Ghana become self-sufficient in food production and help those living in poverty in the countryside.
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Obama presses Abbas on Mideast peace at White House meeting
(JNS.org) U.S. President Barack Obama pressed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to end a standoff with Israel on the ongoing peace negotiations before a U.S.-imposed April deadline.
“We’re going to have to take some tough political decisions and risks if we’re to move it forward,” Obama said Monday at a White House meeting with Abbas. “My hope is that we can continue to see progress in the coming days and weeks.”
Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have stalled recently over the Palestinians’ refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, one of Netanyahu’s top demands. At the White House, Abbas said that the Palestinians have recognized Israel’s legitimacy since 1988 and that in 1993 “we recognized the state of Israel.”
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