From Russia Today
‘We should have blown up Donetsk regional administration’ – Ukraine’s Interior Minister
Blowing up administrative buildings captured by rebels in eastern Ukraine one year ago could have saved thousands of lives in the military conflict that followed, Ukraine’s interior minister told a TV channel.
“Should have blown Donetsk administration to pieces [after it was captured by protesters]. There’d be 50 dead terrorists, but we wouldn’t have 5,000 deaths in the Donetsk region. Likewise should have been done with the Security Service headquarters in Lugansk (also captured by the rebels), but were we ready for this?” Minister Arsen Avakov told 1+1 TV channel, as cited by RIA Novosti.
Avakov said that this statement is bad for him, as he is on the wanted list in Russia.
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From The Times of Israel
Court clears Argentina president in Iran ‘cover-up’
Federal judges uphold decision to reject Nisman’s accusation that president, senior ministers protected Tehran from AMIA prosecution
March 27, 2015, 1:30 am
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — An Argentine appeals court on Thursday upheld the decision to dismiss a case against President Cristina Kirchner on accusations that she shielded Iranian officials from prosecution over a 1994 Jewish center bombing.
In a 2-1 decision, the court rejected an appeal from prosecutors who sought to revive the case against Kirchner being brought by their late colleague Alberto Nisman before he mysteriously died on the eve of congressional hearings where he was due to present his explosive allegations.
“The federal appeals chamber ratifies the decision by Judge Daniel Rafecas to reject prosecutor Nisman’s accusation,” said a Justice Ministry statement.
Nisman had accused Iran of ordering the bombing at the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association, a long-unsolved attack that killed 85 people, the deadliest in Argentina’s history.
He alleged Iranian officials ordered the bombing via Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a claim the government in Tehran denies.
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From The Times of Israel
US lawmakers eye extra cash for Israeli missile defense
Peter Roskam and Grace Meng request $41.4 million for Iron Dome, $286.9 million for David’s Sling and $146 million for the Arrow
March 25, 2015, 11:23 pm
Two House members have requested additional funding for joint United States and Israel missile defense systems.
Reps. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), co-chair of the House Republican Israel Caucus, and Rep. Grace Meng (D- N.Y.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, requested $41.4 million for the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, $286.9 million for the David’s Sling weapons system and $146 million for the Arrow weapons system.
“These programs are essential to the safety and security of our ally Israel,” Roskam and Meng wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
“Our requested funding levels for the upcoming year seek to address the evolving threats posed by Israeli adversaries, including Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran – all of which are developing more advanced, short-, medium- and long-range rocket and missile capabilities.”
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
The Case Against ‘Jews Only!’
Why Jewish Summer Camp Shouldn’t Bar Non-Jews
Then, in early March, a news story appeared about a non-Jewish boy who had attended Solelim’s feeder camp, but was recently told he couldn’t enroll at Solelim for this coming summer because he wasn’t Jewish. A social media campaign supporting him started to build, the camp responded with a statement, and then the boy and his dad went on TV to plead their case.
The summers I was 14 and 15, I spent six weeks at Solelim. Back then it was a fairly desolate campsite outside the nickel-mining town of Sudbury, Ontario, six hours north of Toronto. I met one of my best friends there, and had some of the most formative experiences of my life (both positive and negative — long stories, all of them). So I feel a personal investment in the camp’s decisions.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Is Ted Cruz Leading in ‘Sheldon Adelson Primary’?
By Josh Nathan-Kazis
Shmuley Boteach may have just dropped a major clue in one of the biggest mysteries of the 2016 Republican primary: Who does Sheldon Adelson like?
In an email yesterday, Boteach’s charity, This World Values Network, announced that Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz would be a guest of honor at its May 28 gala. Also being honored? Sheldon Adelson… and Newt Gingrich.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Reid endorses Schumer for minority leader
(JTA) — Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) endorsed Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to succeed him as minority leader.
Reid, who announced Friday he would not seek reelection to the Senate, made the endorsement in an interview Friday with the Washington Post.
“I think Schumer should be able to succeed me,” Reid told the Post.
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From PressTV
Israel committed war crimes in Gaza war: Rights group
A nongovernmental federation for human rights organizations says Israel perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity during its devastating military onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip last summer.
In a report entitled “Trapped and Punished: The Gaza Civilian Population under Operation Protective Edge” published on Friday, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) pointed to examples of indiscriminate and direct attacks against civilians and civilian objects, disproportionate use of force as well as deliberate attacks targeting medical services during the Israeli war on Gaza.
The report further made a reference to Israel’s “refusal of access to humanitarian relief, the targeting of residential areas, operational healthcare facilities and transport, and life-sustaining civilian infrastructure” among the regime’s violations of international law.
“Most of people we met with, all of whom have lived through previous attacks on Gaza, told us that the summer offensive in 2014 was the worst they had seen. Bombs fell entirely indiscriminately, on men, women and children alike,” said Gaelle Dusepulchre, one of the members of the FIDH delegation that recently visited the Gaza strip.
The Paris-based FIDH has presented the report to the International Criminal Court (ICC), where the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority is planning to lodge its first case aginst the Tel Aviv regime’s crimes.
“It’s now time for ICC to move from a mere preliminary examination of the conflict to a full investigation. The Prosecutor must go to the field in order to appreciate the magnitude of the crimes committed,” said Shawan Jabbarin, the FIDH vice president, adding, “Palestinian have been waiting for justice for far too long.”
Israel started its latest war on the Gaza Strip in early July last year. The offensive ended on August 26, 2014, with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in Israel’s 50-day onslaught. Over 11,100 others – including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people – were also injured.
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From Russia Today
Gulf coalition launches airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen LIVE UPDATES
Saudi Arabia and its allies have launched airstrikes in Yemen against rebel Shiite Houthi forces gaining more ground. The mainly Gulf coalition, which also includes the US, is trying to help embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
From Ynet News
US city allows use of Palestinian-Hitler bus ad
Philadelphia’s transit system won’t appeal order to accept bus ads paid by pro-Israel group carrying tagline ‘Jew Hatred: It’s in the Quran’.
Philadelphia’s transit system says it won’t appeal a federal judge’s order that it must accept provocative ads that include a 1941 photograph of Adolf Hitler with a former Palestinian leader.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said Thursday a pro-Israel group requested advertising space before an agency policy change allowing it to reject offensive ads.
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From The Times of Israel
New Google CFO Ruth Porat’s family a mirror of American Jewry
Physicist father Dan Porat, who saw Hitler enter Austria, fought in Israel’s War of Independence, but moved the family abroad in fear of their safety
March 25, 2015, 9:50 pm
JTA — To the business press, the symbolism of Ruth Porat’s move from her position as chief financial officer of Morgan Stanley to her newly announced perch as Google’s CFO of the future couldn’t be more obvious — it represents a shift in power from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. And there’s no question that it’s a big deal when one of the most powerful women in finance decides that the grass — or at least the money — is greener on the other side of the country.
But Porat’s career leap to the Mountain View, Calif., tech giant, starting May 26, also means that she is moving back home to the Bay Area, where she grew up. And a brief look at her family history reveals that the forces that led them to end up in northern California were nothing less than the defining events of 20th century Jewish history: the Holocaust and the founding of the State of Israel.
Porat’s father, Dan, was born in 1922 in what is now Ukraine, and he later moved with his family to a shtetl in the Carpathian Mountains and then to Vienna, which is where they lived when the Anschluss of 1938 brought the Nazis to power. In a written memoir archived by the Center for Jewish History, Dan Porat recalls going to watch Hitler ride triumphantly into the Austrian capital. Thanks to his strong grasp of Hebrew learned at cheder, he was able to escape to a kibbutz in British Mandate Palestine; the rest of his family was killed in the Holocaust. Dan Porat volunteered to fight in the British army.
Meanwhile, Ruth Porat’s mother, Frieda, was born during her family’s voyage to Palestine and grew up there. She and Dan married in 1946, and he fought in Israel’s War of Independence. In 1954 they moved to England, where Ruth was born, so Dan could pursue his graduate studies in physics. Unwilling to live in England as a non-citizen, and fearing that Israel was too dangerous for his family, Dan obtained a joint appointment at Harvard and MIT and moved the family to Boston when Ruth was two.
However, the climate did not agree with Frieda.
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From The Independent
From The Times of Israel
Israel to release frozen Palestinian tax funds
Jerusalem unfreezes millions for PA in move that signals attempt to ease heightened tensions in region
March 27, 2015, 6:28 pm
Israel will release to the Palestinian Authority tax funds it collects on its behalf and which it withheld as punishment for the PA’s move to join the International Criminal Court, the Prime Minister’s Office said Friday.
“Tax revenues that have been accumulated through February will be transferred, after payments for services to the Palestinian population have been deducted, including electricity, water and hospital bills,” a statement said.
Israel froze the transfer on January 2, after the Palestinians moved to join the ICC, where they would be able to sue Israeli officials.
The decision comes 10 days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reelected and subsequently chosen to form the next government.
According to the statement, the decision to release the funds was based on “humanitarian concerns and in overall consideration of Israel’s interests at this time,” among other factors.
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From The Times of Israel
Hillary embracing Obama, quiet on Israel, ahead of likely 2016 campaign
Clinton hasn’t commented on strife between president and Netanyahu, and backed White House over criticism of Republican senators who wrote to Tehran
March 26, 2015, 1:38 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rather than keeping him at arm’s length, Hillary Rodham Clinton is endorsing many of the policies of US President Barack Obama.
Clinton had been expected to look for some ways to separate herself from the president to avoid the impression that having her in the White House would amount to a third Obama term. But as she prepares for another presidential campaign, Clinton has aligned herself with Obama far more often than not.
On Monday, a few hours after meeting Obama at the White House, Clinton tweeted a list of accomplishments of the president’s health care law on its fifth anniversary. “Repeal those things? Embrace them!” she declared, posting an old photo of herself extending her arms to hug Obama at the White House.
The tactics carry risk with an electorate that often seeks change after one party runs the White House for eight years. Republicans are already warning voters that Clinton would merely cement Obama’s most unpopular policies and continue in his vein.
