From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Donald Trump praises Israel’s racial profiling, calls for same in US
Donald Trump waving after a news conference at the Trump Tower in New York, May 31, 2016. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested that the United States use racial profiling like Israel to prevent mass attacks like the one in Orlando.
“Well I think profiling is something that we’re going to have to start thinking about as a country,” Trump told the CBS news show “Face the Nation” on Sunday in a telephone interview. “Other countries do it, you look at Israel and you look at others, they do it and they do it successfully. And I hate the concept of profiling, but we have to start using common sense and we have to use our heads.
“It’s not the worst thing to do,” he added.
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From Russia Today
Washington won’t map areas of Syria controlled by US-backed opposition – Russian MoD
Published time: 19 Jun, 2016 09:55
© Bassam Khabieh / Reuters
Washington still refuses to provide Moscow with the coordinates of areas controlled by US-backed Syrian opposition, Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that Russian and US military have discussed the prevention of incidents during military operations.
The conference via videolink between Russian and US military officials took place on Saturday, Defense Ministry’s spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
According to him, earlier US side claimed that Russia targeted areas held by Syrian opposition on June 16 in southern Syria despite Washington’s earlier requests.
The Russian Defense Ministry clarified that the object targeted by Russian military was located nearly 300 km from the territories claimed by US as areas controlled by the Syrian opposition which had joined the ceasefire.
The Russian Air Force “acted within agreed procedures, warning members of the US-led coalition beforehand about the chosen ground targets,” Konashenkov said.
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From Russia Today
One of biggest protests in 2 decades: Over 50,000 Okinawans gather for anti-US military rally
Published time: 19 Jun, 2016 09:31
Protesters raise placards reading “Anger was over the limit” during a rally against the U.S. military presence on the island and a series of crimes and other incidents involving U.S. soldiers and base workers © Kyodo / Reuters
The Japanese island of Okinawa sees one of the biggest demonstrations in two decades, involving at least 50,000 people who protest against heavy US military presence after a local woman was murdered by an ex-Marine and a string of other incidents.
The rally, which organizers said numbered more than 65,000 – including Governor Takeshi Onaga and officials from opposition parties – has taken place in Okinawa’s capital Naha located in close proximity to US air bases Kadena and Futenma. Simultaneous solidarity protest took place outside the national parliament in Tokyo.
The demonstrators were protesting against heavy US military presence and grave crimes repeatedly committed by servicemen against the residents. In the most recent case that resonated amongst the locals, a 20-year-old woman has been murdered by an ex-Marine employed as civil worker at the US military base.
The rally ended with signing a petition, demanding that Japan and US governments offer apologies to the family of the murdered 20-year-old woman, and also to all Okinawans.
Okinawa hosts several major US military bases that occupy nearly one fifth of the island’s territory and accommodate about 50,000 U.S. nationals, including 30,000 military personnel, Reuters reports. The bases have long been blamed for noise and air pollution, but they are also seen by many locals as uneasy legacy of post-WWII American military occupation.
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From Russia Today
Islam stands above German law for half Turkish Germans – survey
Published time: 17 Jun, 2016 06:10
Men pray during Friday prayer service at the Abu Bakr mosque of the Islamic Islamic Community Cologne in the Zollstock suburb of Cologne © Wolfgang Rattay / Reuters
Almost half the ethnic Turks living in Germany consider following Islamic teaching more important than abiding by the law, a new survey claims. They also view Islam as the “only true religion†with about one in five justifying violence if it is provoked by the West.
The study by the University of Münster titled “Integration and Religion from the viewpoint of the Turkish Germans in Germany” outline some deep divisions within the German society as 47 percent of ethnic Turks living in the country said that following religious dogmas was “more important” to them than obeying “the laws of the land in which I live,” particularly if the two were incompatible. Moreover, 32 percent from those questioned said they yearn to live in the society of the times of the Prophet Mohammed.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israeli NGO presses British voters to approve Brexit
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli nongovernmental organization that advocates for the settlements is pressing British voters to vote to leave the European Union.
The push for Brexit, or a British exit from the EU, is meant to punish Britain for its move toward a pro-Palestinian stand, Meir Deutsch, director of policy and government relations for Regavim, told The Times of Israel. The campaign targets dual British-Israeli citizens planning to vote Thursday on the Brexit referendum.
Regavim’s pro-Brexit campaign includes a parody video of a masked Palestinian Hamas terrorist from Gaza calling on British citizens to remain in the European Union because it supports the Palestinians. The video explains that the European Union is a major funder of Palestinian infrastructure in the West Bank.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Former Israeli prime minister: Netanyahu enabling ‘budding fascism’
Ehud Barak speaking at a launch event for the Reporty app in Tel Aviv, March 16, 2016. (Flash90)
(JTA) — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is encouraging “budding fascism.â€
“A fanatic nucleus of extremist ideology has taken over Likud by using loopholes in the primaries constitution, purging Likud’s leadership of all those who cherished democracy over populism or some fleeting achievement,†Barak, who served as defense minister under Netanyahu until 2013, said Thursday at the Herzliya Conference.
Netanyahu was responsible for this perceived development, Barak said, whether he it allowed it to happen out of weakness or as a “late manifestation†of his own core beliefs.
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From Russia Today
Italy’s eurosceptic party scoring big win in Rome mayoral election – polls
Published time: 19 Jun, 2016 23:13
Virginia Raggi, 5-Star Movement candidate for Rome’s mayor, casts her vote at the polling station in Rome, Italy June 19, 2016 © Remo Casilli / Reuters
Italy’s eurosceptic anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) is leading in mayoral elections in Rome and Turin, exit polls showed on Sunday. A win would be a massive blow to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s center-left Democratic Party (PD).
M5S candidate Virginia Raggi, a popular 37-year-old lawyer, looks likely to win Rome’s run-off round, taking around 62-66 percent of the vote, according to pollster EMG. Meanwhile, her opponent, the center-left’s Roberto Giachetti, is projected to receive only 34-38 percent of the vote.
Raggi ran on a platform focused on fighting corruption and cronyism.
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From Russia Today
‘We hold no grudge’ & Putin’s other Friday SPIEF highlights on key intl issues
Published time: 18 Jun, 2016 04:00
© Maksim Blinov / Sputnik
It definitely wasn’t casual Friday for President Putin, who spoke for hours at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on the hottest topics on the global agenda, including Russia’s relations with the EU and Washington.
READ MORE: Putin on ban of Russian athletes from Rio Olympics: ‘I think we can find a solution’
When asked about his opinion of the candidates for US president, Putin explained his attitude towards “probably the only superpower,” as the president called it. “America is a great state… We accept it, and we want to and are ready to work with the United States,” he said, adding that no matter who is elected as America’s next leader, Russia will work with him or her. Yet, the Russian President hinted that Donald Trump’s foreign agenda might be more preferable to Moscow, “Mr. Trump has stated that he is ready to restore full format Russia-US relations… We all welcome it.”
© Sergei Savostyanov / TASS
While saying that such a powerful state could be of benefit to the world, including Russia, Putin noted that the problem with the US is its tendency to interfere in the affairs of other countries.
“We need [the US]. But we don’t need them constantly interfering in our affairs, telling us how to live, and hindering Europe in building relations with us,” he said.
The economic sanctions that Moscow introduced as a response to the West imposing restrictions on Russia after the coup in Kiev have not affected America in any way, but they have done harm to Europe.
“[Sanctions] have zero effect [on US], but Americans tell their partners to endure them,” Putin said, adding that he doesn’t understand why the EU has to suffer.
From The Times of Israel
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Bernie Sanders told his followers that the priority now was defeating Donald Trump and the bigotry he said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee represented. He pledged to work with Hillary Clinton to make sure that happens, although he did not yet withdraw from the race for the Democratic presidential nod.
“The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly,†Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont, said in an address live-streamed Thursday evening to his followers marking the end of the primaries campaign. “And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time.â€
Sanders, the first Jewish candidate to win major party nominating contests, noted his differences with Clinton on some issues, but, in a shift, emphasized that the greater threat was Trump, the real estate magnate whose securing of the Republican nomination has roiled the presidential race with accusations that his campaign is undergirded by bigotry.
“After centuries of racism, sexism and discrimination of all forms in our country we do not need a major party candidate who makes bigotry the cornerstone of his campaign,†he said. “We cannot have a president who insults Mexicans and Latinos, Muslims, women and African-Americans. We cannot have a president who, in the midst of so much income and wealth inequality, wants to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the very rich. We cannot have a president who, despite all of the scientific evidence, believes that climate change is a hoax.â€
From PressTV
Russia, US agree to coordinate military operations in Syria
Russia says it has reached an agreement with the US to improve coordination between their military operations in Syria where they are backing opposing sides.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov also rejected on Sunday the Pentagon’s accusations that it had deliberately targeted US-backed militants in Syria.
He said Russia is pushing the US to help produce a shared map of the positions of fighting forces to avoid incidents.
The Pentagon said on Saturday it had questioned Moscow over Russian airstrikes conducted against US-backed militants last week.
Konashenkov dismissed the allegation, saying the Russian military had warned the US in advance about the planned strike, but the Pentagon had failed to provide coordinates.
The Russian military, he said, had proposed months ago to share information about locations of various forces involved in military action in Syria but the Pentagon hasn’t been forthcoming.
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From PressTV
US plans to keep special forces in Yemen: Report
The US reportedly plans to extend its military presence in Yemen by keeping a force of special operations advisers in the war-torn country.
The force, deployed at the request of the Emirati government around the port city of Mukalla back in April, would remain in Yemen for the foreseeable future, The Washington Post reported.
The force, which consists of about a dozen personnel, would help troops from the UAE fight militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the paper cited unnamed US officials as saying.
In March, forces loyal to former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Emirati troops overran the city of Mukalla after AQAP militants left the seaport in southeast Yemen.
Early in May, the US military deployed more than 200 US Marines in the port city, which is located in the central province of Hadramout.
Yemen’s southern coast is now under the control of US troops, who are deployed to the region under the pretext of battling AQAP.
The deployment of US troops comes more than a year after the withdrawal of the forces from Yemen.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Ex-London mayor Ken Livingstone says he may have Jewish roots
Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, at a summit in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. (Flickr Commons)
(JTA) — Former London mayor Ken Livingstone, who was recently suspended from the Labour Party for saying that Adolf Hitler supported Zionism, said he may have Jewish roots.
Livingstone told the London-based Jewish Chronicle newspaper that his maternal grandmother had what he was told was a Jewish last name.
He also said the late Jewish Labour lawmaker Geville Janner used to drive him home from Parliament at night.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israel’s added $18.6M for settlements spurs talk of apartheid from Palestinians
A still from “The Settlers,” which premiered Jan. 22 at the Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy photo)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Cabinet approved an additional $18.6 million for West Bank settlements to help defray the costs of their “unique security situation,” spurring one Palestinian leader to say Israel “openly supports apartheid.”
On Sunday at its weekly meeting, the government approved a budgetary supplement that includes stipends for local councils in the West Bank and aid to improve security at public buildings. There are also allocations for small businesses, to develop tourism and for youth programming.
The assistance plan “involves the work of many ministries on behalf of the residents there,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
How Israel stays a ‘well-regulated militia’ with so many guns around
Soldiers attending the funeral of Alon Albert Govberg, who was killed in a terror attack in Jerusalem, Oct. 14, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Dirty, hot and exhausted Israeli soldiers waiting for their bus home from the army base tend, understandably, to be in a hurry to get on board.
But when I was living in Israel during the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising, soldiers didn’t jostle to be first in line. Rather, the most coveted position was second.
That’s because the bus driver had the right – under rules issued by the army and made clear to each armed soldier before she or he left the base – to order any soldier to sit in the front seat and remain alert. And the first one to get on board was the obvious choice.
If you’d just finished three weeks of training with rare interruptions for sleep and were looking forward to a snooze on the long trip home, this was definitely a downer. But it was necessitated by the rash of Palestinian terrorist attacks on bus drivers at the time.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
In Israel, Huckabee defends Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric
Mike Huckabee speaking at a cornerstone dedication ceremony for a new Jewish settlement in eastern Jerusalem, Jan. 31, 2011. (Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)
(JTA) — During a visit to Israel, Mike Huckabee, an ex-governor of Arkansas and former candidate in the U.S. Republican presidential primaries, defended the anti-Muslim rhetoric of presumptive nominee Donald Trump, whom Huckabee said would make a “great president†for the Jewish state.
“It’s not racist. I think a lot of people are acting like what Donald Trump is saying is so unbelievable,†Huckabee told Israel’s Army Radio Thursday in reference to the Republican presidential candidate’s call in December for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States. “Actually, what he’s saying is what every country on earth does right now.â€
“Not all Muslims are terrorists, but virtually all the terrorists who are doing the kind of murders we’re seeing in America are Muslims,†Huckabee said.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Chelsea Clinton and Jewish husband welcome son
(JTA) — Chelsea Clinton gave birth to her second child with Jewish husband Marc Mezvinsky.
She announced the birth of their son on Saturday in a post on Twitter.
“Marc and I are overwhelmed with gratitude and love as we celebrate the birth of our son, Aidan Clinton Mezvinsky,” the post said.
Marc and I are overwhelmed with gratitude and love as we celebrate the birth of our son, Aidan Clinton Mezvinsky.
From Russia Today
Putin: Russia ready to lift sanctions first, if certain that EU will follow suit
Published time: 17 Jun, 2016 17:19
Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi (L) and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at the 2016 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, St. Petersburg, Russia, June 17, 2016. © Mikhail Metzel / TASS
Russia could lift the sanctions it has imposed on the EU, but to make such a concession, it would need to be certain that reciprocal measures would follow and that it wouldn’t be “once again deceived†by its Western partners, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday, Putin announced that Moscow might lift the sanctions that were put in place as a counter-measure to anti-Russia restrictions.
“We must be sure that these unilateral measures taken by Russia will be followed by reciprocal steps, which won’t be – as one famous classic has said – a one step forward, two steps back,” he added, referring to a well-known phrase coined by Vladimir Lenin.
Putin was speaking at a press-conference following his talks with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
The Italian PM, in turn, has announced that he will urge his European colleagues in the 28-member bloc to thoroughly discuss their next move with regard to anti-Russia sanctions.
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From The Times of Israel
Suspected killer of British MP had history with US neo-Nazi group
Thomas Mair, 52, said to have ties with extremist organization National Alliance; police searching for motive
June 17, 2016, 11:39 pm
The man whom authorities believe killed British lawmaker Jo Cox Thursday is said to have a history of involvement with an American neo-Nazi organization.
The New York Times reported Friday that hate group watchdog the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the suspect, who has been identified by neighbors and family members as Thomas Mair, 52, in 1999 purchased $620 worth of materials from a publishing imprint of then-leading neo-Nazi group the National Alliance.
Cox, 41, was shot and stabbed several times on the street in the northern English town of Birstall on Thursday. A member of Labour, she was a vocal advocate for Britain remaining in the European Union and openly criticized her party’s leadership for not doing enough to fight anti-Semitism within the party.
She was the first sitting member of Parliament to be killed since 1990, according to the Times.
