U.S. and Israel strike new energy agreement
(JNS.org) U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and his Israeli counterpart, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, signed a new joint energy deal in Jerusalem on Monday.
The agreement expands areas of U.S.-Israel cooperation to include fuels and fuel alternatives, natural gas, smart grid technologies, desalination and water treatment, and the physical and cyber-defense of energy and water installations.
The deal was born from the understanding that developing advanced technologies in the fields of energy and water, for the purpose of creating secure methods of delivery while protecting the environment and making energy more efficient, is of utmost importance to both countries.
Steinitz, who accompanied Moniz on a tour of Masada in southern Israel on Monday, said, “The new agreement that was signed today is further proof of the countries’ close relationship. I am convinced that cooperation in the energy field will grow in the coming years.”
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U.N. partially backtracks on decision to censor Israeli exhibit
(JNS.org) United Nations representatives partially backtracked from an attempt to censor posters on Zionism, Jerusalem, and Israeli Arabs that are part of an Israeli exhibition which opened at U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday, deciding to allow the Zionism-themed poster to be shown as planned.
The Israeli U.N. delegation and the Israel education group StandWithUs conceived the exhibit and received approval to move ahead with it, but when the project was unveiled, three out of 13 parts of the exhibit—displays about Zionism, Jerusalem, and Israeli Arabs—were rejected on the grounds that they were “inappropriate.”
The Jerusalem poster states that “the Jewish people are indigenous to Israel and have maintained a continuous presence in the land since 1,000 [BCE]. Jerusalem has been the center and focus of Jewish life and religion for more than three millennia and is holy to Christians and Muslims as well.”
The display on Israeli Arabs explains that they are “the largest minority in Israel, making up 20 percent of Israel’s population” and describes them as “equal citizens under the law.”
The third display defines Zionism as “the liberation movement of the Jewish people, who sought to overcome 1,900 years of oppression and regain self-determination in their indigenous homeland.”
Before the U.N. ultimately allowed the Zionism poster, Israel’s Danon had told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “By rejecting content about Zionism, the U.N. is questioning the very existence of the State of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people. The U.N. must reverse this outrageous decision and apologize to the Jewish people.”
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Haym Salomon Center report puts Rockefeller Brothers Fund under legal microscope
(JNS.org) An op-ed by Haym Salomon Center (HSC) fellow Ziva Dahl in the March 27 online and print editions of the New York Daily News has caught the attention of the influential Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, which in recent years has scored legal victories for victims of North Korean and Iranian terrorism. Dahl exposed the anti-Israel activities of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF).
“We were surprised and shocked to read in the NY Daily News about the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s support for so many organizations involved in the anti-Semitic boycott movement. It’s hard to understand how the children of such a distinguished father could allow their foundation’s name to be involved in such racist and discriminatory activities,” said Shurat HaDin founder Nitsana Darshan-Leitner. “The groups that the RBF supports are engaged in a discriminatory campaign that singles out Israelis based upon their national origin and religion. The RBF should be ashamed to be affiliated with these gangs of racists and we will not hesitate to take legal action against the groups and their funders if they actually do try to carry out any boycotts or divestment programs. BDS is not protected speech; it is Jew hatred plain and simple.”
In a March 30 letter to RBF President Stephen Heintz, Shurat HaDin cites the HSC report and puts RBF on notice concerning its support of “anti-Semitic” organizations.
“The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement’s efforts constitute unlawful discrimination on the basis of national origin, race, and religion under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (‘Anti-Racism Convention’) and numerous U.S. federal and state statutes, including New York law. Funding organizations that promote BDS raises serious legal issues for RBF. Accordingly, we strongly advise you to consider whether RBF should continue to provide financial backing to these hate groups who promote BDS against Israel and Israeli companies, individuals, and products,” states the letter.
The HSC investigation found that RBF funds groups such as the Middle East Policy Network and Zochrot, both of whom openly advocate for the end of the Jewish state. Jewish Voice for Peace and the American Friends Service Committee, leading forces in the BDS movement against Israel, also receive RBF funding.
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Reuters corrects photo caption on fatal Palestinian stabbing after CAMERA outreach
(JNS.org) Reuters on Monday issued a correction and refiled a photo caption about a Palestinian terrorist stabbing attack, following outreach from the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) media watchdog group.
On March 31, the family home of late Palestinian terrorist Ihab Maswadeh—who carried out a stabbing attack in Hebron last December—was partially demolished by Israeli forces. The original photo caption published by Reuters on the home demolition claimed that Maswadeh was “shot dead by Israeli troops after he attempted to stab an Israeli soldier last December.”
CAMERA reached out to Reuters and noted, “First, Maswadeh not only ‘attempted’ to stab an Israeli. He actually succeeded, striking his victim several times in the upper body and inflicting fatal wounds. The victim, Genadi Kaufman, died of his wounds three weeks later.”
Additionally, Kaufman was not an “Israeli soldier,” but a gardener working near the Cave of the Patriarchs at the time.
Reuters eventually issued a correction and refiled its caption, stating, “REFILE – CLARIFYING REFERENCE TO THE STABBING ATTACK A relative of Palestinian Ihab Maswadeh (seen in the poster), who fatally stabbed an Israeli man last December, inspects the damage after the Israeli forces partially demolished Maswadeh’s house in the West Bank city of Hebron March 31, 2016.”
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House Speaker Paul Ryan says U.S.-Israel alliance ‘more important than ever’
(JNS.org) Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), while visiting Israel on Monday, said the U.S.-Israel alliance is “more important than ever.”
Ryan said that during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the leaders discussed United Nations resolutions “and any problems they propose.” Past reports have suggested that President Barack Obama, who is in his final year in office, may attempt to pass a U.N. Security Council resolution on the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. France, another permanent member of the Security Council, might present its own resolution on the peace process.
Ryan also met with his counterpart, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, and emphasized that he chose Israel as his first trip abroad as House speaker.
“I wanted to come to Israel first to emphasize how important the U.S.’s commitment to Israel and strong friendship with Israel is to us,” Ryan said.
The House speaker was joined in Israel by U.S. Reps. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee; Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; and Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats.
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Egyptians accuse Catholic soccer star Lionel Messi of being ‘Jewish,’ ‘Zionist’
(JNS.org) Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi, who is Catholic, was called “Jewish” and “Zionist” after he offered to donate a pair of soccer shoes to charity while appearing on Egyptian TV.
Messi was interviewed on “Yes I Am Famous,” a show broadcast on the Egyptian network MBC Masr, and said he would like to donate his shoes to charity. Appearing on another television program, Said Hasasein, a member of the Egyptian parliament, rejected Messi’s donation because of the stigma attached to shoes in Egypt’s society.
“You don’t know that the nail of a baby Egyptian is worth more than your shoes? Keep your shoes to yourself or sell them to Israel,” said Hasasein.
Egyptian Football Federation spokesman Azmi Mogahed later said he knows Messi that is “Jewish” and “donates to Israel and visited the Wailing Wall and whatever…we don’t need his shoe and Egypt’s poor don’t need help from someone with Jewish or Zionist citizenship.”
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Swastika sprayed on AEPi fraternity party house at Brandeis University
(JNS.org) Students at Massachusetts-based Brandeis University reported finding a swastika drawn on a house where the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) was hosting a party on Friday night.
Lisa M. Lynch, the university’s interim president, wrote in an email to students on Saturday that “crude graffiti involving a swastika [was] outlined in condensation on a window at a house where several Brandeis students live off-campus, and where an unofficial event hosted by a Jewish group was being held.”
Lynch called the spraying of the graffiti a “heinous act” that violated the university’s values and went against its “Jewish heritage.” During its founding era, Brandeis—a Jewish-sponsored nonsectarian school—was known for embracing Jewish students when mainstream American universities had quotas for accepting Jews.
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