Israel’s U.N. envoy blasts ‘pure anti-Semitism’ of Palestinian foreign minister
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on Tuesday called on all nations of the world to deny entry to Israeli settlers, comments that Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon described as “pure anti-Semitism.”
“The international community must not deal directly or indirectly with the occupation system,” Maliki told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Maliki said that all nations of the world “must not allow the entry of illegal settlers.” He then called on the international community to “boycott the settlements and the products of settlements and threaten to impose economic sanctions on the occupying entity.” Maliki also urged the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, saying the resolution should be based on “the international community’s consensus on the illegal nature [of the settlements].”
Israel’s Danon harshly condemned Maliki’s statements, calling them “pure anti-Semitism reminiscent of darker times.”
“The international community must denounce the Palestinian foreign minister’s remarks and unequivocally condemn all manifestations of anti-Semitism,” Danon said.
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Israeli defense minister says Syria using chemical weapons during cease-fire
(JNS.org) Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon accused the Syrian government of using chemicals weapons against civilians, including during the current cease-fire.
“The Syrians used military grade chemical weapons and lately have been using materials, chlorine, against civilians, including in these very days, after the supposed cease-fire, dropping barrels of chlorine on civilians,” Ya’alon said during a speech at a conference near Tel Aviv, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Despite agreeing in 2013 to dismantle and hand over its chemical weapons stockpile, reports have indicated that the Syrian government has repeatedly used chlorine barrel bombs against its opponents. While chlorine use is banned by the International Chemical Weapons Convention treaty, it was exempt from the 2013 agreement because of its industrial uses, such as for water purification.
In an attempt to end the five-year-old Syrian civil war, the United States and Russia brokered a cease-fire that took effect on Feb. 27. But opposition groups have accused the Syrian government of violating the cease-fire, an allegation that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has denied.
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IDF begins receiving first deliveries of David’s Sling missile defense system
(JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has started receiving the first deliveries of the new American-Israeli-developed David’s Sling missile defense system.
According to the IDF, the delivery process will take place gradually in a number of stages during the next few weeks. The Israeli Air Force will also test the performance of all the system’s components.
“David’s Sling will allow Israel to more effectively defend against the wide range of current and future threats to its civilians. It will provide an additional layer of protection against short- and medium-range missiles and rockets, particularly against precision strikes,” the IDF said in a statement.
The advanced interceptor is part of Israel’s four-tiered air defense arsenal, which also includes the Iron Dome system for intercepting and destroying short-range rockets and artillery shells, the Arrow 2 short- and medium-range ballistic missile interceptor, and the Arrow 3 long-range missile defense system. Arrow 3 is now entering the final stage of its development.
David’s Sling is being developed and manufactured as a joint venture of Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency contractor Raytheon.
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EU approves $274 million aid package for Palestinians
(JNS.org) The European Union (EU) announced Tuesday that it has approved a new $274.1 million aid package for the Palestinians.
According to the EU, $184 million will be given directly to the Palestinian Authority (PA) for delivering health and education services, helping poor families, and providing financial assistance to hospitals in eastern Jerusalem. The other $89 million will be given to theUnited Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“The European Union renews its concrete commitment to the Palestinians,” the EU’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said in a statement. “Through this package, the EU supports the daily lives of Palestinians in the fields of education and health, protecting the poorest families and also providing the Palestinian refugees with access to essential services. These are tangible steps on the ground that can improve the lives of Palestinian people.”
But Mogherini also called on Palestinians institutions to “become more transparent, more accountable, and more democratic.”
While the EU’s announcement referred to the PA as “Palestine,” it also noted that “this designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the [EU] Member States on this issue.”
Over the past few years, a number of EU member nations have passed symbolic resolutions calling on their governments to recognize Palestinian statehood. Sweden is the only EU member state to officially recognize Palestinian statehood on the government level.
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Iranian nuclear chief: Israel not a threat because it’s not a state
(JNS.org) Iran’s nuclear chief said that Israel does not pose a threat to the Islamic Republic because it is not a state.
“We essentially do not see [Israel] as a state, therefore it’s not a threat to Iran,” the London-based news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as saying in an interview published Monday.
Salehi was responding to a question about whether or not he thinks an Israeli-Iranian war could arise as a result of last year’s nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, an agreement that Israel staunchly opposes. Salehi was a major player in the nuclear negotiations that brought about the deal, which lifted about $150 billion in global sanctions on Iran.
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German university cancels BDS movement event
(JNS.org) Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), one of Germany’s largest universities, on Monday announced that it has cancelled an anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement lecture that was scheduled for this month.
“The university management cancelled the event taking place in RUB’s rooms,” the university wrote to the Jerusalem Post via Twitter on Monday. The university also posted a cancellation notice on its website.
Salah Al-Khawaja, a member of the executive committee of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, was scheduled to speak about “Palestinian civil resistance against the Israeli occupation power and settler politics as well as the Stop the Wall and BDS campaigns.”
RUB’s cancellation notice stated that organizers of the anti-Israel event had “rented a room for March 18 in the [university’s] Blue Square. The Ruhr University Bochum distances itself from content of the announcement [for the BDS talk]. The event is cancelled because of these reasons and will not take place in the Blue Square.”
RUB is one of the five largest academic institutions in Germany, with more than 44,000 students enrolled in 2015.
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62% of Americans sympathize with Israel over Palestinians, survey says
(JNS.org) A strong majority of Americans continue to sympathize with Israel over the Palestinians, according to a Gallup poll released Monday.
In Gallup’s annual World Affairs survey, 62 percent of American respondents said their sympathies lie with Israel, versus only 15 percent with the Palestinians. A steady pro-Israel trend has been evident in the last 15 years of Gallup surveys on the subject, the polling agency said.
Among all major demographic and political groups of Americans, Israel is favored over the Palestinians. Support for Israel is particularly high among Protestant Christians at 72 percent and Republicans at 79 percent. But the propensity to side with Israel over the Palestinians drops significantly among Democrats (53 percent) and nonreligious Americans (41 percent).
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