Israel lobbied against death penalty for Nelson Mandela, new documents show
(JNS.org) Newly declassified documents reveal that the Israeli Foreign Ministry, under the leadership of future prime minister Golda Meir, in 1964 convinced Jewish philosopher Martin Buber and Israeli author Haim Hazaz to send a letter asking the South African apartheid government not to seek the death penalty against Nelson Mandela and other African National Congress (ANC) members in their trial.
“Talk to them. Listen to them. They have something to say. You will not silence their voices by hanging them. … From the land of Israel, we ask you to assert your faith in the nobility of man, whatever the color of his skin. And if you ‘do unto others’ in accordance with this faith, the future is yours, and theirs—and the world’s,” Buber and Hazaz wrote, according to documents released Sunday by the Israel State Archives, Israel Hayom reported.
Mandela, who died Dec. 5, had been indicted for sabotage and conspiracy. He was sentenced to life in prison, but earned his freedom in 1990 and became South African president in 1994.
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IDF general sees no possibility of army’s withdrawal from Jordan Valley
(JNS.org) Against the backdrop of a U.S. security plan which includes the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Jordan Valley as part of a permanent peace deal with the Palestinians, Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon—head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Central Command—met Sunday with the heads of the Yesha Council, which represents communities in Judea and Samaria, and attempted to allay their concerns about the plan.
Alon referred to the rumored U.S. plan as “an unhatched egg,” and told the group the IDF intends to maintain its presence in the Jordan Valley, Israel Hayom reported. He also said the Israeli military has been able to convince the American envoys—including recently retired Marine Corps Gen. John Allen, the author of the U.S. plan—of its position.
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Israel has ‘license’ to act without U.S. on Iran, Mike Huckabee says
(JNS.org) Now that the U.S. and other P5+1 powers made an interim nuclear deal with Iran without involving Israel, the Jewish state is free to act as it sees fit on the Iranian issue without consulting America, former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee told JNS.org.
“I think now [the Israelis] have really a license to act without having to be scolded for not having consulted the U.S. for their plans,” Huckabee said.
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Obama opposes Israel’s request for Iran nuclear deal to halt all enrichment
(JNS.org) President Barack Obama said he believes Iran can still have a peaceful nuclear program with “modest enrichment,” while rejecting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s requests for a complete stop to enrichment.
“You’ll hear arguments, including potentially from the [Israeli] prime minister, that we can’t accept any enrichment on Iranian soil. Period. Full stop. End of conversation,” Obama said in an address at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in Washington, DC.
Obama said of Netanyahu’s approach, “We have to be more realistic.”
“There are times where I, as president of the United States, am going to have different tactical perspectives than the prime minister of Israel—and that is understandable, because Israel cannot contract out its security,” Obama said.
But when addressing the Saban forum on Sunday via video feed, Netanyahu attempted to downplay his differences with Obama.
“I want you to know we can have different perspectives… Most of the time and on most things, if not the major things, we see eye to eye because we share common values, because we’re anchored in deeply democratic societies,” Netanyahu said.
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Germany selling Israel guided missile destroyers as part of billion-euro defense pact
(JNS.org) Germany has reportedly agreed to sell Israel two advanced guided missile navy destroyers as part of a 1 billion euro ($1.3 billion) defense pact between the countries.
According to the German daily Bild, Yossi Cohen, the head of the Israeli Prime Minister’s National Security Council, visited Berlin last week to finalize the deal. A German government spokesman confirmed the visit, but did not describe the nature of the trip.
Israel will apparently use the torpedo-equipped destroyers to protect its vast offshore natural gas fields.
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Israeli Christian leader’s son allegedly attacked over pro-IDF stance
(JNS.org) The son of Father Gabriel Nadaf, a Greek Orthodox priest who is a leading advocate of Christian enlistment in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), was attacked Dec 6. Father Nadaf said his pro-IDF stance motivated the attack on his son.
According to reports, Nadaf’s 17-year-old son was walking down a street when a 21-year-old political activist from a group that opposes Arab conscription hurled verbal insults at him and struck him with a stick. Nadaf’s son was briefly hospitalized.
“The Arab [Knesset] parties have been inciting against me ever since I started calling on Christians to join the military or participate in other forms of national service. The incitement turned from verbal threats to severe physical violence,” Father Nadaf said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and vowed to protect anyone seeking to defend Israel.
“This is highly disturbing; I heard that there were physical attacks by extremists on Christians, Christian Arabs who want to enlist in the IDF and who want to be part of the State of Israel… this will not stand; I will not tolerate this,” Netanyahu said of the attack on Sunday, Israel Hayom reported.
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OECD lauds Israel’s economic growth
(JNS.org) The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Thursday praised Israel’s economic growth in 2013 and predicted that its economy will continue to grow in 2014 and 2015 at a rate that exceeds growth projections for the OECD’s other 33 member nations.
“Israel’s output growth remains relatively strong, unemployment is at historically low levels, its high-tech sector continues to attract international admiration, and new off-shore gas fields have come on stream,” the OECD said in the executive summary of its 2013 Israel Economic Survey.
The report projected that Israel’s economy would grow by 3.7 percent in 2013. Growth projections for 2014 and 2015 were pegged at 3.4 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.
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Israeli-Palestinian conflict talks won’t lead to deal, 87.5% of Israelis say in poll
(JNS.org) A vast majority of Israeli Jews—87.5 percent—believe the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations will not lead to a peace agreement, according to a new Israel Hayom poll that coincided with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s latest visit to the region.
The poll, conducted by New Wave Research, found that only 6 percent of Israeli Jews think the negotiations will lead to a deal. The respondents were a random pool of 500 Jewish Hebrew-speaking Israelis over the age of 18.
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Preceding provided by JNS.org