From PressTV
Palestinian killed in blast near Gaza airport
A young Palestinian man has been killed and his brother critically wounded in a blast near the Gaza Strip’s abandoned airport, the besieged sliver’s Health Ministry says.
“Naji Khaled Abu Sabla, 21, was killed and his brother, Akram, 18, seriously wounded in the face and stomach when an unidentified device blew up in the area of the airport” in southern Gaza, ministry spokesman, Ashraf al-Qudra, said on Saturday.
According to local security sources, police suspect that the device was left behind by the Israelis in the zone, where they “make regular incursions.”
Israel bombed the radar station and control tower of the airport in Gaza in 2001, forcing it to close down.
From Russia Today
Egyptian court declares Hamas a terrorist group
“The court ruled that Hamas should be included as a terrorist organization,” Samir Sabry, a lawyer involved in the case, told Reuters.
The decision follows an Egyptian court’s ban on the Izza-Din al-Qassam Brigades, an armed wing of Hamas, in January. Authorities accused the group of smuggling weapons into the country to provide assistance to Islamists fighting against the current government.
They also alleged Hamas’ armed wing had planned and carried out terrorist attacks in Egypt, including a shooting in Sinai on January 29, in which 33 people were killed.
Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
Israel asks US for additional $300mn for missile defense – report
Published time: March 01, 2015 04:32
Israel reportedly bypassed the White House and asked the US Congress for an extra $317 million to be added to President Barack Obama’s budget for the next fiscal year in order to fund Israeli missile defense programs, Bloomberg reported.
The requested funds would be in addition to the $158 million already proposed by the Pentagon for Israel’s security needs for the fiscal year that will begin on October 1. The new allocation will allegedly finance the ‘David’s Sling’ and ‘Arrow-3’ programs – designed to intercept medium- to long-range missiles – as well as provide an anti-ballistic missile system.
According to Bloomberg’s report on Friday, the director of Israel’s missile defense organization Yair Ramati “visited lawmakers and aides to the congressional defense committees on February 2 and 3 to outline the case for more money and thank them for past assistance.”
Ramati completely bypassed the White House and the Pentagon. The report links the move to the tense relationship between the Obama administration and the Israeli government ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on March 3, which is likely to stress that the White House is pursuing a“bad deal” by negotiating to curb Iran’s nuclear program.
READ MORE: ‘Cherry-picked leaks’: US accuses Israel of distorting Iran nuclear talks details
Click here for the full story
From Ynet News
Argentine judge says no evidence government tried to derail bombing probe
In interview, Judge Daniel Rafecas says evidence suggests the government ‘exhausted all possibilities’ to enable investigation into bombing of AMIA Jewish community center in 1994. There is no evidence that President Cristina Fernandez tried to whitewash Iran’s purported involvement in a deadly 1994 bombing, an Argentine judge told Reuters in an interview on Thursday after dismissing the case.
On the contrary, the evidence suggested “the government exhausted all possibilities to enable the investigation into the AMIA (Jewish community center) attack to advance”, said Judge Daniel Rafecas, who showed Reuters copies of the evidence.
Judge Daniel Rafecas (Photo: AFP)
Rafecas on Thursday discontinued the case brought by prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found dead in mysterious circumstances in January the day before he was to appear in Congress to discuss his criminal complaint.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Rubio slams Obama’s ‘lack of support for Israel’
Prominent Republican contender says president gives Iran’s leader more respect than he does Netanyahu
February 28, 2015, 3:46 am
OXON HILL, Maryland (AP) — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio criticized President Barack Obama’s foreign policy for not being sufficiently supportive of Israel. The Obama administration and its allies are in negotiations with Iran to curb Tehran’s nuclear program, an effort that Rubio said was destined to fail.
“It is a foreign policy that treats the ayatollah of Iran with more respect than the prime minister of Israel,” Rubio, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, said.
At the conference, the Republican Party’s leading presidential contenders on Friday promised conservative activists they would pursue aggressive military action to prevent the spread of global terrorism, including a renewed use of ground forces in the Middle East.
Rubio said the US must “put together a coalition of armed forces from regional governments to confront them on the ground, with US special operations support, and then provide logistical support, intelligence support and the most devastating air support possible.”
As war-weary critics in both parties watched with skepticism, one Republican White House prospect after another attacked President Barack Obama’s foreign policy as far too timid as they courted thousands of conservative activists gathered in suburban Washington.
Click here for the full story
From Russia Today
Anti-govt vs. anti-racism: Thousands gather for rival rallies in Rome (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Published time: February 28, 2015 21:28
Thousands of supporters of the right-wing Northern League party flooded the streets of Rome on Saturday, slamming the government of Matteo Renzi. A rival rally took place at the same time, with organizers calling the League’s views “racist.”
Speaking at the Northern League’s rally, party leader Matteo Salvini accused the government of blindly fulfilling orders given in Brussels. The protest was held at Piazza del Popolo.
“The problem isn’t Renzi; Renzi is a pawn, Renzi is a dumb slave at the disposal of some nameless person who wants to control all our lives from Brussels,” Salvini said.
The rally was held under the slogan ‘Renzi a casa’ (“Renzi go home”). According to Salvini, it is ordinary people who suffer from the current government’s policies and the ones of the European Union. The politician especially stressed the situation surrounding Italian truck drivers who have lost their jobs.
Click here for the full story
From Ynet News
German police increase security of Jewish institutes
Police in Germany’s Bremen heighten security citing possible Islamist threat, arrest one at local Muslim culture center.
Police in the German city of Bremen warned Saturday of a potential danger from Islamic extremists there and stepped up security measures and said they had increased their presence in the city centre and stepped up protection of the Jewish community.
Officials received indications of an elevated risk from violent Islamic extremists on Friday evening, police in the northwestern city said in a statement. They gave no further details of the nature of the potential threat.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Jeb Bush says Obama’s foreign policies ‘catastrophic’
In interview with Israel Hayom, former governor blames Washington for rift in relations with Israel and backs Netanyahu speech
February 27, 2015, 11:20 am
Former Florida governor Jeb Bush called US President Barack Obama’s foreign policy “catastrophic” on Friday and said Washington was wrong to clash with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his planned speech to Congress next week, in an interview with daily newspaper Israel Hayom.
In the interview, published only in Hebrew, the Republican politician — considering a run for the presidency in 2016 — placed the blame for the sorry state of relations between Washington and Jerusalem squarely on the Obama administration.
“President Obama’s foreign policy is a catastrophe,” he said. “There aren’t many places in the world you can point to and say — things have gotten better since Obama’s been in power.
“He believes removal of American influence from the rest of the world will make the world a better place and encourage peace. But history has shown that lack of American involvement creates instability and serious problems.”
Bush, one of the most prominent Republicans contemplating a run for the White House, lamented that America’s enemies no longer feared it, while its allies could no longer rely on it. He pointed to the nuclear negotiations with Iran as well as the burgeoning conflict with Israel over those talks as an example of this.
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Poles say Oscar-winning ‘Ida’ misrepresents Jewish persecution
Some local viewers call film anti-Polish as it does not note that Poland was under Nazi rule during war, or that some Poles helped Jews
February 27, 2015, 4:56 am
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Oscar-winning Polish film “Ida” has found an enthusiastic reception worldwide. But in Poland it has provoked a debate over whether the film is anti-Polish.
Controversy was perhaps inevitable given that the film by Polish-British director Pawel Pawlikowski explores the fraught interaction among Poland’s Jews, Catholics and communists during and after the Holocaust, a history that still has not been fully processed.
The film tells the story of a young orphaned woman, Ida, who is on the verge of taking vows to be a nun in the early 1960s when she discovers that she is Jewish and that her parents were murdered by a Polish peasant during World War II.
To be sure, many Poles are celebrating the film’s exceptional success, with the president and many Polish cultural figures hailing its recent Oscar win for best foreign language film as a sign that Poland’s rich tradition of cinematography is enjoying a renaissance.
But some Poles are offended that the film contains no Germans or any hint that wartime Poland was under the occupation of Nazi Germany, which was murdering Jews on a massive scale across Europe. They also find it troubling that Polish anti-Semitism is laid bare while no mention is made of the Poles who, at enormous risk, helped Jews.
Click here for the full story
From The Independent
From Russia Today
Opposition leader Nemtsov’s murder caught on CCTV camera (VIDEO)
The camera captured a wide shot of Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, near the Kremlin, where the crime took place. The quality of the footage is only good enough to distinguish the cars on the bridge and the figures of people moving along it.
According to the video, the politician was gunned down at 23:31 Moscow time by a killer who was allegedly waiting for him on the stairs of the bridge.
From The Times of Israel
New film depicts Jewish students’ growing insecurity on campus
While calling for Jewish pride and Israel advocacy, documentary portrays North American universities as anti-Semitic battlefields
February 27, 2015, 2:37 pm
NEW YORK — Sarah Abonyi no longer feels free to express her ideas in the classroom. The University of New Mexico student worries about grade reprisals from professors who she said routinely denounce Israel during their courses.
“As a student the power dynamics are there. I feel powerless in a sense and very intimidated that these figures of authority and academic knowledge are basically invalidating everything I support,” she said.
Abonyi is one of several students featured in “Crossing the Line 2: The New Face of Anti-Semitism,” a new documentary film about the rise of anti-Israel activity and anti-Semitic rhetoric on North American college campuses.
“There is no longer a separation between fair criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism,” said the film’s producer Rabbi Raphael Shore, founder and CEO of Jerusalem U.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Daily Forward
Tom Schweich, Suicidal Candidate, Got $200K From Republican Jewish Donor Sam Fox
Missouri Candidate Killed Self Amid ‘Whisper Campaign’
The Missouri politician who committed suicide amid rumors that he was Jewish received at least $200,000 in political contributions in the past two years from a leading Jewish Republican donor.
Tom Schweich, Missouri’s Republican state auditor and gubernatorial candidate, died in an apparent suicide at his home on Thursday. Schweich had arranged a meeting with journalists to discuss what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports was his belief that Republican rivals were spreading rumors that he was Jewish.
Schweich himself was a churchgoing Episcopalian. But his grandfather was Jewish.
Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Daily Forward
My Memories of Leonard Nimoy, Yiddish-Speaking Vulcan
By Masha Leon
I first met Leonard Nimoy — a.k.a. Spock from the hit TV series “Star Trek,” who died today at 83 on February 27, 2015 — when as a celebrity at the 1973 American Booksellers Convention in Anaheim, California. He stopped by my publishing company’s exhibit booth.
A distant Litvak cousin of my mother’s from Grodno Gubernie (Byten-Slonim) in what is now Belarus, he became a friend and would later be showcased in several of my columns.
Dear Masha:
Thank you so much or your letter and columns. It means a lot to me to find myself in print in my Zeide’s favorite paper!
Click here for the full story
