(JNS.org) In its final advertisement before the Nov. 6 election including the testimony of Jews who regret previously supporting President Barack Obama, the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) features Jerusalem resident Bryna Franklin, former chair of Democrats Abroad Israel, who says “that special relationship does not exist” anymore between the U.S. and Israel.
“The relationship changed almost immediately when President Obama became elected,” Franklin says on the ad running in the swing states of Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada. “He went to Egypt, he didn’t come to Israel.”
Franklin, 80, “has been an active and committed Democrat her whole life,” RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks noted in a statement.
“But this year, like many other Jewish Democrats, she is calling on her fellow Jews across America to support Mitt Romney,” Brooks said.
The ad can be viewed at http://is.gd/PjUMG3
Barak: At last minute, Iran avoided crossing nuclear threshold
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that Iran almost crossed the nuclear weapons threshold during the past summer, but at the last moment decided to divert its enriched uranium for civilian use instead.
In an interview with British daily The Telegraph published on Wednesday, Barak said that had Iran decided to use the uranium for military purposes, Israel’s “moment of truth” would have arrived, referring to Israel’s stated intention to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons even if it had to use military force to do so.
According to Barak, diplomatic efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program will ultimately fail and Israel and its allies will have to decide whether to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities “next year.” Barak told The Telegraph, “To tell you the truth, out of long experience of the Middle East, I am extremely skeptical about the chances that it [sanctions] will lead the ayatollahs to sit together at any point in the foreseeable future and decide to give up their intention to go in the footsteps of Pakistan and North Korea and turn into a military nuclear power.”
Jacob Vogelman, 23, and Jessie Streich-Kest, 24, had been raised in synagogues in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn—Vogelman attending Congregation Beth Elohim (Reform), and Streich-Kest attending Kolot Chayeinu (progressive)—reported the Forward, which identified Vogelman and Streich-Kest as a couple.
Vogelman and Streich-Kest were found dead in Brooklyn’s Ditmas Park neighborhood. Streich-Kest was a teacher at Bushwick High School for Social Justice, and Vogelman was studying at Brooklyn College.
“Jessie loved life and was deeply devoted to social justice,” Kest family spokesman Jonathan Westin said in an email statement, according to the Observer.
Jewish Federation umbrella opens relief fund for Hurricane Sandy
(JNS.org) The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) umbrella announced Oct. 30 that it has opened its Hurricane Relief Fund for donations towards recovery and rebuilding from the devastation Hurricane Sandy caused on the East coast.
Donations can be made at www.jfeds.org/SandyRelief.
At least 38 U.S. deaths have been blamed on Sandy, which made landfall in New Jersey on Monday, the Associated Press reported. The storm left millions without power or mass transit, and forced scores of organizations—including Jewish institutions such as JFNA—to close their offices.
“The Jewish community and the Federation Movement send our support and prayers to those affected by the hurricane, and we will stand beside them during the recovery and rebuilding,” JFNA said in a press release.
IDF commander: Hezbollah also hurting from Iran sanctions
(JNS.org) A top military official from Israel’s northern command believes that international sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program are forcing its leaders to curtail aid to proxy terrorist groups like Hezbollah.
“Sanctions have hurt the amount of aid Hezbollah receives from Iran,” the IDF official said, without providing evidence to back up his claims, according to Israel Hayom.
However, the official said that aid still remained a “significant amount,” estimating it at hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Despite the cutbacks, Hezbollah still remains a powerful threat. Israeli officials estimate that its militia possesses more than 40,000 rockets and missiles that are capable of hitting anywhere in Israel.
The official also told reporters that Israel remained concerned with Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal possibly getting into the hands of terrorist groups. Although he stated that “there are no signs now” that the chemical weapons are being moved.
European NGOs want relabeling of ‘Made in Israel’ products
(JNS.org) A report produced by a group of 22 European non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urges the European Union (EU) to consider relabeling products made in Jewish communities in the West Bank to no longer carry the “Made in Israel” label, the Associated Press reported.
Many of the 22 NGOs involved in the report—including aid, development and church groups from nine EU countries—are generally unknown outside of Europe, leading some to the conclusion that this is a publicity stunt as part of the larger anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
“The report contains many inexactitudes and self-contradictions, and its bottom line is not to clarify the situation but to push forward a political case,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor.
“This objective would have been much better served had the NGOs bothered to take into account all relevant facts and circumstances rather than cherry-pick those that serve their little political PR stunt,” Palmor added.
The EU does not recognize Jewish communities beyond the 1949 “Green Line” and considers them an impediment to peace. Currently, the UK requires food produced in these Jewish communities to be labeled as “produce of the West Bank” and allows retailers to go further and label products as either “Israeli settlement produce” or “Palestinian produce.” Denmark also put in similar restrictions this year.
The report also urged the EU to consider further restrictions including a complete ban on Jewish products from beyond the Green Line, even though the report recognized the difficulties in differentiating between those goods and those produced in Israel proper.
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