(JNS.org) Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, addressing the Republica National Convention on Aug. 30, said “every American is less secure today because [Obama] has failed to slow Iran’s nuclear threat,” slamming a current White House approach that maintains there is still time for diplomacy and sanctions to work in its dealings with the Islamic Republic.
“In [Obama’s] first TV interview as president, he said we should talk to Iran,” Romney said on the same day the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in a new report, revealed that Iran has doubled its uranium enrichment capacity at its underground facility in Fordow. “We’re still talking, and Iran’s centrifuges are still spinning,” Romney charged.
Obama has said the U.S. position is that “all options are on the table” to prevent a nuclear Iran, while critics question whether his administration would seriously consider a military option.
While the Democratic incumbent has also said America “will always have Israel’s back,” Romney said at the convention that Obama has “thrown allies like Israel under the bus.”
“I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed,” Romney said. “But his promises gave way to disappointment and division.”
Two Stone Age figurines uncovered near Jerusalem
(JNS.org) An archaeological dig in Tel Motza near Jerusalem has uncovered two figurines dating from the Stone Age, Israel Hayom reported.
The figurines, a ram and a wild bovine, are around 9,500 years old and may have been used as good-luck charms for hunting. The find was made during excavations being carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority ahead of the widening of Highway 1, the main road linking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
According to Dr. Hamoudi Khalaily, one of the directors of the dig, the figurines are from a time in which the transition from nomadism to sedentary life was beginning.
“The archaeological evidence from [the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B time period], particularly the artistic objects such as the figurines that were discovered at Tel Motza, teaches us about the religious life, the worship and the beliefs of Neolithic society,” Dr. Khalaily said.
Israeli swimmer wins bronze at Paralympic Games
(JNS.org) Israeli swimmer Inbal Pizaro won a bronze medal Aug. 30 in the 50-meter freestyle race at the London Paralympic Games, clocking in at 37.89 seconds. It marks the sixth medal in Pizaro’s career—she won two medals in the Athens Paralympic Games in 2004 and another three in Beijing in 2008.
The Paralympics opened Aug. 29 with nearly 4,300 athletes from 166 countries competing in 20 different events. Israel sent 25 athletes as part of its delegation to the games, according to Israel Hayom. With the bronze, Pizaro enabled Israel’s Paralympic team to eclipse the Jewish state’s Olympic team, which failed to medal this year for first time since the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Since the inaugural Paralympics in Rome in 1960, the Israeli delegation has now won 365 medals, including 122 gold.
Many of Israel’s athletes were disabled serving in the IDF. Before departing for the games, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the athletes and praised their determination, saying: “What you do does not compare to the efforts of other athletes, which are very great. What you are called upon to do is in a different sphere. What you demand of yourselves, nobody demands of you. You demand of yourselves and achieve things physically and, first and foremost, mentally.”
Iran doubles enrichment capacity, Dempsey says U.S. won’t comply with Israeli strike
(JNS.org) According to the quarterly report issued by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iran has doubled its uranium enrichment capacity at its underground facility in Fordow.
Fordow, 130 kilometers from Tehran, is the location where many in the West suspect that Iran is secretly carrying out its nuclear program. The IAEA report states that the number of centrifuges at Fordow increased to 2,140 from 1,064 in May, but adds that the new centrifuges are not operational yet.
Meanwhile, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey on Aug. 30, commenting on the possibility of an Israel military strike on Iran, said “I don’t want to be complicit if they (Israel) choose to do it.”
Dempsey, speaking to reporters in London, said the “international coalition” applying pressure on Iran “could be undone if [Iran] was attacked prematurely.”
In its report, the IAEA also expressed concerns about Parchin, another military site south of Tehran that it wants to inspect for evidence of past nuclear weapons development.
“Since 2002, the Agency has become increasingly concerned about the possible existence in Iran of undisclosed nuclear related activities involving military related organizations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile,” IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano wrote in the report.
After failed 2011 bid, Abbas won’t apply for Palestinian statehood recognition at UN
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki said that PA President Mahmoud Abbas has decided not to formally apply for statehood recognition at the United Nations General Assembly session in September, according to Israeli media reports.
Instead, Malki said, Abbas will informally appeal for recognition in his General Assembly speech.
Last year, Abbas caused an international uproar and drew condemnation from the U.S., Israel and some European states over a unilateral bid to have the UN admit Palestine (West Bank and Gaza) as a member state. Ultimately, Abbas’s initiative failed, as he was unable to garner the necessary votes in the UN Security Council.
The PA leaders concession this year “shows just how thoroughly Israel’s supposedly incompetent government defeated [the PA] in 2011,” JNS.org columnist Jonathan Tobin wrote for Commentary.
Abbas’s move “may also signify a belief on [the Palestinians’] part that they would do better to keep quiet until President Obama is safely re-elected rather than cause trouble that would only worsen their situation during the fall campaign,” Tobin added.
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Preceding reprinted with permission from JNS.org report