Israel applies to new China-led global investment bank
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signed a letter of application to join the new China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Israel seeks to join roughly 40 countries, including several Western and Asian allies such as the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore Korea, Switzerland and Denmark, as founding members of the bank. The U.S. and Japan have not applied for membership.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that the country’s application to the bank highlights the importance of Israel “joining major Asian organizations on the continent.”
“Israel’s membership in the bank will open opportunities for integration of Israeli companies in various infrastructure projects, which will be financed by the bank,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The AIIB was established by Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2014 as part of an effort to raise China’s international influence. The U.S. has expressed concern over the Chinese-led bank and initially was opposed to its allies joining the bank, citing concerns over sufficient standards of governance and other safeguards. However, the U.S. eventually dropped opposition after several of its allies said they were joining.
The AIIB has said it will cooperate with other major global financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank.
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Iran negotiations continue for second day past deadline
(JNS.org) Representatives of the P5+1 powers and Iran are continuing to negotiate the details of a potential nuclear deal, two days after the original March 31 deadline for an interim deal.
“Iranians want all six U.N. Security Council resolutions to be terminated. The P5+1 have other ideas about whether or not that’s a good idea. And then on research and development, Iran would like to increase the amount of research and development that it carries out on different technical aspects of its nuclear program over the duration of any deal that is signed. And the P5+1 would like to freeze as much of Iran’s nuclear program as possible over the duration of any deals,” Marashi told Israel Hayom.
Meanwhile, the head of the Israel Defense Forces Planning Directorate Maj. Gen. Nimrod Sheffer warned of the perils of the nuclear deal currently being negotiated between Iran and key world powers.
“The agreement, the way it is coming together at this time, will not be good for Israel. If ultimately an agreement is in fact signed, we will have to ask ourselves, ‘Okay, what are we going to do with this?’ If someone builds a bomb and at the same time declares that Israel has no right to exist, we have to think about how to respond,” he said.
“Right now we have no partner in our efforts to prevent Iran’s nuclear ambitions. You asked me what Israel would do if it had to do something about it, and my answer is that Israel would do whatever is right for Israel,” he added.
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IDF soldier stabbed by Palestinian subdues attacker
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier serving as a paratrooper was lightly hurt on Thursday when he was stabbed by a Palestinian trying to cross a border fence in Samaria. After he subdued his attacker, the wounded soldier was evacuated to the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
An initial investigation indicated that a paratrooper unit was dispatched to the scene upon receiving reports of six Palestinians trying to cross the border fence. When they arrived, one of the Palestinians charged at the commander of the unit with a knife, lightly wounding him in the head and the extremities.
The assailant and the remaining five Palestinians were arrested and taken into custody.
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Netanyahu and Boehner: Israel-US relationship is solid
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner, currently on a visit to Israel, has issued a joint statement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praising Israel-U.S. relations as “rock solid.”
“In this violent and unstable region where states are imploding and fanaticism is exploding one thing remains rock solid — our friendship, our alliance, our partnership,” Netanyahu said.
“It makes both our countries stronger, it makes both our countries safer and it’s the anchor for our shared hopes for peace and stability in this region,” he added.
Boehner replied, saying, “Our two countries cooperate on many different levels, and while we may have political disagreements from time to time, the bonds between our two nations are strong, and they’re going to continue to be strong.”
Before meeting Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Boehner toured army bases in southern Israel. Israeli commanders in the field took the opportunity to take photographs with Boehner before he boarded a helicopter to Jerusalem to meet the prime minister and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
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Israel’s David’s Sling missile defense system successfully tested
(JNS.org) Israel announced Wednesday that its new U.S.-supported missile defense system, dubbed David’s Sling, has successfully passed several trials on the way to a final test.
On top of the currently operational Iron Dome system, David’s Sling will protect Israel from short and medium-range rockets. It has thus far passed four trial runs in various scenarios at a testing site in central Israel. In the most recent test, the system identified a missile launch and notified the firing center, which then struck the targeted missile.
Yair Ramati, head of the Homa Directorate at the Israeli Defense Ministry, said David’s Sling will primarily serve as extra protection against any missiles launched at northern Israel, such as those from the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah. But the system will not be limited to the north.
“Using David’s Sling we can protect wide swaths of the State of Israel, regardless of where the Iron Dome batteries are deployed, allowing it to keep defending from the threat of (short-range) rockets as part of a synchronized system,” Ramati said, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
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Chaim Topol of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ to receive Israel Prize for lifetime achievement
(JNS.org) The Israeli Education Ministry announced Monday that actor Chaim Topol, who played Tevye in the musical Fiddler on the Roof both on stage and in the iconic film adaptation, will be awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement.
Topol had won a Golden Globe award in 1972 for his performance as Tevye, and he was nominated for an Academy Award. In addition to his most famous role, Topol also acted in other films, including the 1981 James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only.
In Israel, Topol had served in the Nahal singing troupe of the IDF and is a founder of the Haifa Theater. His most famous Israeli film role was in the 1964 film Sallah Shabati, which was the first Israeli film nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign movie.
Topol spoke to Haaretz in the wake of the announcement, telling that newspaper that “as they say in English, better than a slap in the face.” But he expressed “mixed feeling because I have been hearing for five years about people who I think really deserve to win this prize and they haven’t been given it.”
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Israeli envoy to Sweden celebrates Assyrian Christian New Year
(JNS.org) Israeli Ambassador to Sweden Isaac Bachman celebrated the Assyrian Christian New Year with the Scandinavian country’s large Assyrian diaspora community amid the ongoing persecution the community faces in Iraq and Syria.
“Assyrian brothers and sisters, it is a tremendous honor for me as a representative of the Jewish state of Israel to be able to address you all on this great day—the ancient and glorious Assyrian new year celebration of Akitu,” said Bachman.
“Indeed the Assyrians and Jewish people are no strangers to one another. For almost 3,000 years, the sons of Ashur and Israel lived side by side in Assyria, the land of two rivers,” Bachman said, in reference to the Assyrian homeland in modern Iraq, which was also home one to a large and historic Jewish community until their expulsion in the mid-20th century by the Iraqi government.
Like the exiled Iraqi Jewish community before them, Assyrian Christians have come under an intense assault. Islamic State terrorists have expelled hundreds of thousands of Assyrians and other minority groups from their homes in northern Iraq and Syria amid a campaign to wipe the minority groups off the map.
Assyrian Christian groups recently spearheaded an effort asking that U.N. missions from various countries call on the U.N. Security Council to issue a resolution against Islamic State’s persecution of minorities and to take tangible steps to save those vulnerable groups.
The Assyrian people consider themselves to be direct descendants of the numerous ancient Mesopotamian civilizations such as the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. Today, the Assyrians are based in northern Iraq’s Nineveh plains regions and in areas in northern Syria and Turkey, where they have fought to preserve the customs, culture, and languages of the area’s past, despite facing numerous waves of persecution, mass killings, and expulsions since the invasion of Islam in the 7th century CE.
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Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.
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