Netanyahu lobbies against Iran deal in webcast with 10,000 Jewish leaders
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told North American Jewish leaders on Tuesday that the alternative to the Iran nuclear deal is “still no deal or a better deal—not war,” and that the “claim Israel wants war is not only wrong—it is outrageous.”
“We in Israel don’t want war. We want peace. Because it’s we who are on the front lines. We face Iran’s terror on three borders. Israelis are going to be the ones who pay the highest price if there’s war and if Iran gets the bomb,” Netanyahu said in a webcast organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Federations of North America.
About 10,000 people participated in the webcast.
“This is a very dangerous deal, and it threatens all of us,” said Netanyahu. “The more people know about the deal, the more the deal’s supporters try to stifle serious debate. They do so with false claims and efforts to delegitimize criticism.”
The agreement “gives Iran two paths to a bomb: Iran can get to a bomb by keeping the deal or Iran can get to the deal by violating the deal,” he said.
If Iran abides by the deal, explained the prime minister, “in a decade or so the main restrictions on Iran’s vast nuclear program will expire. Breakout time will be practically zero, just a few days. … The deal does make it harder for Iran to produce one or two nuclear weapons in the short term, but it does so at a terrible price—by keeping the deal, Iran can get within a decade or so not just to one bomb, but to many bombs.”
Regarding the prospect of Iran violating the deal, Netanyahu said, “There’s good reason to think Iran will do so. I’ve heard the claim that the deal blocks Iran’s covert path to the bomb. But no matter how good your intelligence is, no one can credibly make such a claim. How can you block what you don’t know?”
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Israel set to launch designer store in Hong Kong
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Israel is set to launch a designer store in Hong Kong to showcase its best and brightest designers. The store will have two goals: to promote the “Made in Israel” brand and to help young fashion designers break into the Far East market.
The Israeli Economy and Trade Ministry is expected to select 20 designers by early next week and send them by October to the PMQ design hub—the leading of its kind in Hong Kong.
Three million visitors from Japan, China, and South Korea passed through the PMQ complex last year alone. According to Elad Goz, the Economy and Trade Ministry’s commercial attaché to Hong Kong, one of the objectives is to encourage consumers from the Far East to purchase Israeli designs online.
The PMQ complex, comprising two seven-story buildings, was the original campus of the Central School, Queen’s College, formed in 1862. It was remade as a creative hub for local design talents, and in April 2014 the building was opened to the public. The complex hosts design studios, shops, offices for creative enterprises, and places for organizing exhibits.
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Israeli researchers at Tel Aviv U. discover trigger of deadly melanoma cancer
(JNS.org) Israeli researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) have identified the trigger that transforms melanoma from harmless non-invasive cells to an invasive killer which accounts for nearly all skin cancer deaths. This will allow scientists to catch the cancer early enough to save more lives.
The discovery was first published in the Molecular Cell journal. The Israeli effort was led by Dr. Carmit Levy of the Department of Human Genetics and Biochemistry at TAU’s Sackler School of Medicine, with the collaboration of researchers from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Sheba Medical Center, Institut Gustave Roussy, and Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Levy said the research team had to first gain a deeper understanding of the structure and function of normal skin. Melanoma is a cancer that originates in the epidermis— the outermost layer of skin, where it is relatively harmless. But it will eventually invade the lower layer of skin called the dermis, and will then invade the bloodstream and spread throughout the body.
“Normal skin cells are not supposed to ‘travel,'” said Levy. “We found that when melanoma is situated at the top layer, a trigger sends it down to the dermis and then further down to invade blood vessels. If we could stop it at the top layer, block it from invading the bloodstream, we could stop the progression of the cancer.”
According to the researchers, when melanoma cells come into contact with the remote epidermal layer, that triggers the activation of “notch signaling” that causes changes in the melanoma cells to become an invasive and possibly lethal agent.
“Now that we know the triggers of melanoma transformation and the kind of signaling that leads to that transformation, we know what to block,” Levy said. “The trick was to solve the mystery, and we did. There are many drugs in existence that can block the notch signaling responsible for that transformation. Maybe, in the future, people will be able to rub some substance on their skin as a prevention measure.”
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Resolution to disapprove Iran nuclear deal introduced in U.S. House
(JNS.org) A resolution to disapprove the Iran nuclear deal was introduced on Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives, signaling an aggressive push by Congressional Republicans to nix the agreement.
H.J.Res.64—introduced by U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee—seeks to prevent the implementation of the nuclear deal under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which was passed last May.
According to Royce, the nuclear deal “falls well short” of a verifiable, enforceable, and accountable agreement that gives “Iran permanent sanctions relief, but in exchange only temporarily restrains Iran’s nuclear program.”
“I do not relish in introducing this consequential legislation,” Royce said. “But the consequences for global security from this agreement are too great. This deal gives up too much, too fast, to a terrorist state—making the world less safe, less secure, and less stable.”
Congress is currently in the midst of a 60-day period during which it is able to review the Iran deal. Virtually all Republicans in the House and Senate have come out against the deal. But President Barack Obama has vowed to veto any Congressional effort to disapprove the agreement. It remains unclear if there is enough Democratic opposition to the deal for a two-thirds majority in both chambers, which is what it would take to override a presidential veto.
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Kanye West to perform in Israel in September
(JNS.org) Rapper Kanye West will perform in Israel on Sept. 30 in Ramat Gan’s stadium, with tickets reportedly costing between 199 and 650 shekels (about $52-172).
This will not be West’s first visit to Israel. Three months ago, he visited the Jewish state with his wife, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, and their daughter North, who was baptized at an Armenian church in Jerusalem.
The producers who have organized West’s upcoming performance are the same ones behind the recent performance in Israel by Chris Brown as well as the upcoming show by Mariah Carey. They say that West’s decision to perform in Israel was influenced by his earlier visit, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
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On Temple Mount, Muslims attack Christian man for waving Israeli flag
(JNS.org) Palestinians assaulted a Christian French tourist for waving an Israeli flag on the Temple Mount near the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday.
Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Sumra said that the 35-year-old Christian man took out the flag from his bag and raised it, after which point he was attacked by four Muslim men. He sustained light head injuries, the Jerusalem Post reported.
While the four assailants were later detained, it is unclear if they will face any charges. Meanwhile, the victim was also detained and questioned, and he could also face charges because the Islamic Waqf Religious Trust, which oversees non-Muslim visitation to the Temple Mount, considers any expression of Israeli nationalism a form of “incitement.”
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Study: New York, Boston, Miami are most-Jewish cities per capita in U.S.
(JNS.org) A new study by the Public Religion Research Institute shows that New York City, Boston, and Miami are the three most-Jewish cities per capita in the U.S.
Eight percent of New York City residents are Jewish, followed by 6 percent of Boston residents and 5 percent of Miami residents. The northeastern U.S. boasts the most-Jewish residents of any region, at 4 percent. The states of New York and New Jersey have the most Jewish residents per capita—6 percent of each state’s population.
In terms of other faiths, the survey showed that Catholic Christianity is the top religious group in 15 of of the major U.S. metropolitan areas. Evangelical Protestantism is the top religious group in six major metro areas. Those who are religiously unaffiliated are the top “religious” group in 10 major metro areas.
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