From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Hillary Clinton: US has ‘moral obligation’ to support Israel
Hillary Clinton at a campaign event in Hartford, Conn., April 21, 2016. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg)
(JTA) — Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said the United States has a “moral obligation” to support Israel and that “making Donald Trump commander-in-chief would be a historic mistake.”
In a San Diego speech focused on foreign policy and national security, Clinton said Thursday that the Jewish state’s security “is non-negotiable,” according to several media outlets.
Clinton also said that Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, is “temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett threatens to quit Israeli gov’t to stop Palestinian state
Naftali Bennett speaking at a conference in Jerusalem, Nov. 18, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
(JTA) — Naftali Bennett, head of the pro-settler Jewish Home party and Israel’s education minister, doubled down on his opposition to a Palestinian state, saying he is prepared to bring down the government in order to prevent one.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2, sections of which aired Thursday, Bennett said his party is the only one committed to opposing a Palestinian state, and that as long as his party is in the governing coalition, “a Palestinian state will not be established … and Jerusalem will not be divided.”
“If we are talking about a return to the 1967 lines and the division of Jerusalem, I won’t just resign from the government, I’ll topple it,” he added, referring to Israel’s borders before the Six-Day War.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
What Donald Trump has and hasn’t said about anti-Semitism
Donald Trump waving after a news conference at Trump Tower in New York, May 31, 2016. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) – Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is facing growing accusations that his campaign is countenancing anti-Semitism – if not encouraging it outright.
Trump’s foreign policy slogan, “America First,” echoes the World War II-era noninterventionist movement championed by a notorious anti-Semite. During the height of the primary campaign, Trump delayed disavowing the support of white supremacist David Duke. And the candidate has failed to condemn the recent anti-Semitic vitriol directed by supporters against journalists who have written critically of Trump, including New York Times reporter Jonathan Weisman and GQ writer Julia Ioffe.
In his defense, Trump and his supporters cite the fact that his daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren are Jewish (Ivanka Trump underwent an Orthodox conversion before she married Jared Kushner in 2009), that Trump was the grand marshal of the 2004 Salute to Israel Parade and that he has many Jewish friends.
“He’s not Hitler,” Melania Trump said of her husband in an interview last month after being told the comedian Louis C.K. compared the candidate to the Nazi leader.
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From Russia Today
Baghdad’s envoy demands Turkish troops out as Iraqi forces vow to free Fallujah ‘in a week’
Published time: 3 Jun, 2016 07:29
© Sertac Kayar / Reuters
Baghdad has sent an envoy to Ankara to discuss withdrawing Turkish troops from Iraq, the country’s ambassador to the US, Lukman Faily, told Sputnik. It coincides with report that Iraqi troops are planning to free Fallujah from Islamic State “within a week.”
“We have recently had our ambassador, new ambassador, sent to Ankara about last week, so we have given another sign to Turkey that we are serious about discussions and dialogue,” Ambassador Faily said.
The move comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the Turkish troops’ presence in Iraq as unacceptable.
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From Russia Today
Inter-ethnic brawl between 150 refugees at Samos camp in Greece leads to blaze and arrests
Published time: 3 Jun, 2016 06:54
© / Ruptly
The Greek island of Samos has seen inter-ethnic clashes between groups of migrants break out at a detention camp, resulting in 25 arrests and six people injured, police said. The scuffles involved Afghan, Syrian and Pakistani migrants.
The camp on the Aegean Sea island currently contains 1,100 people, including families with children.
According to local police speaking to Kathimerini newspaper, clashes have broken out on Samos between rival ethnic groups. Two barracks were set on fire, leading to the police getting involved, followed by firefighters.
The people taken to the hospital at Samos were “a precaution,” police told AFP.
“We’re surprised because the atmosphere here is usually quite calm,” said Dimitris Vouros, of the charity Metatarsi, who works at the camp.
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From Russia Today
3 Syrians planned major ISIS suicide attacks in central Duesseldorf
Published time: 2 Jun, 2016 16:32
© Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
Three Syrians who planned a series of suicide attacks for Islamic State in the German city of Duesseldorf have been arrested, prosecutors have stated. The plot was uncovered after a fourth member of the group alerted French police. TrendsGlobal terrorism, Islamic State
The chilling details that emerged showed that two of the attackers wanted to detonate suicide vests in central Duesseldorf while the other members would look to kill as many people in the vicinity with a combination of explosives and gunfire.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Comparing Israel to Nazis is anti-Semitic, 31 Western states declare
An Iranian woman attending the international cartoon contest on the Holocaust in Tehran, Aug, 14, 2006. (Behrouz Mehri/Getty Images)
(JTA) — An intergovernmental body devoted to commemorating the Holocaust adopted a definition of anti-Semitism that includes some hate speech against Israel.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, or IHRA, adopted the definition on May 26, according to a statement posted earlier this week on its website. The organization was launched in 1998 and has 31 member states, all of them Western nations, and 11 observer countries.
“Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” reads the newly adopted text, which the IHRA called a “non-legally binding working definition.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Palestinian woman killed in alleged stabbing attack against Israeli troops
(JTA) — Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian woman who tried to stab a soldier in the West Bank, the Israeli military said.
The Israel Defense Forces said the incident took place at a checkpoint near the Palestinian village of Anabta, 25 miles north of Jerusalem, Army Radio reported Thursday. The soldiers felt the woman posed an immediate threat, the IDF said.
A report on the incident by the Palestinian Maan news agency did not name the woman.
Approximately 200 Palestinians and more than 20 Israelis have been killed since the beginning of a wave of attacks and rioting by Palestinians in September. The violence has been steadily declining since January, dropping from 620 attacks in October to 115 in April — the first month in half a year with no fatalities among victims of terrorist attacks.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish groups hail advance of Massachusetts bill protecting transgender rights
BOSTON (JTA) — Jewish groups in Massachusetts are hailing the passage of a bill by the state’s House of Representatives that will extend the anti-discrimination protections for transgender people in public accommodations.
The controversial measure, approved Wednesday by a vote of 116-32, allows people to use facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. Public accommodations include places such as malls, restaurants and libraries.
An amendment by opponents that would have specifically excluded religious institutions such as churches and synagogues was defeated.
The bill had the backing of several Jewish groups, including the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston; Keshet, a Boston-based national organization for LGBTQ inclusion in Jewish life; the New England regional office of the Anti Defamation League, and the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Donald Trump reportedly considering Israel trip ahead of Republican convention
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking to guests during a campaign rally at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton, Wisconsin, March 30, 2016. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Donald Trump is said to be planning a visit to Israel ahead of the Republican convention in July to shore up support among Jewish voters.
Four sources connected to the Trump campaign told New York magazine that the party’s presumptive presidential nominee is considering a trip in the next six weeks, though a campaign spokesperson denied the report.
Casino magnate and Republican mega donor Sheldon Adelson is reportedly helping to organize the trip with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Speculation of the visit comes in the wake of reports earlier this week that Adelson is in talks to set up a pro-Trump super PAC.
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From Russia Today
Outrage as French govt reveals plan to teach Arabic in primary schools
Published time: 3 Jun, 2016 02:02
French Education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem. © Eric Feferberg / AFP
France’s Education minister, Najat Vallaud Belkacem, has found herself on the firing line since revealing a plan to teach Arabic to primary school kids as young as six. Belkacem has suggested including Arabic among the language choices for French pupils.
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From Ynet News
Annual Pride Parade kicks off in Tel Aviv
The 2016 Pride events will highlight women in the LGBT community; the day’s first event will be held in Gan Meir Park at 10am, followed by the parade itself at 12pm; after marching through Tel Aviv’s major streets, participants will celebrate at Charles Clore Park. Tens of thousands of people are expected to participate in Tel Aviv’s Pride Parade on Friday, with weather promising to be sunny and hot.
This year’s parade will highlight women in the LGBT community. One of them is Amy Orbach, a 17-year-old transgender woman, who will march at the parade in her new identity for the first time. “I’m coming to the Pride Parade in my new look as a woman and after having bought a dress in the women’s department. I feel safe, strong, and proud of myself,” she told Ynet.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Anti-Semitic reaction to article about ‘The Jews’ film forces French paper to disable comments
Director Yvan Attal, right, with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Dany Boon during the filming of “The Jews” in Paris. (Courtesy of Wild Bunch Productions)
(JTA) — A well-known French magazine was forced to close the online comment section of an article about a new film about anti-Semitism because it was inundated with anti-Semitic statements.
Fifteen minutes after the article about “The Jews” was published Monday on the website of the weekly Marianne, “a flood of hysterical comments” appeared under the text, the author of the article, Martine Gozlan, wrote in an Op-Ed about the decision to shut down the comments.
The comments were “not only polemical or hostile: Those comment are welcome,” she wrote, “but bare naked hate, crass nonsense, ignorance made of a patchwork of rumors and conspiracy theories.” She added that “the taboo words ‘Israel’ and ‘Jews’ regularly provoke such reactions.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
UK Labour head Jeremy Corbyn slams Israel in newly released letters
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn speaking after a ‘Stop Trident’ march though central London, Feb. 27, 2016. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
(JTA) — In letters sent to the foreign minister, the head of Britain’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, called for sanctions against Israel and described some of the Jewish state’s politicians as “criminals” who should be banned from Britain.
Corbyn’s anti-Israel letters, written while he was a Parliament member but before he was elected party chief, were obtained by the UK’s Jewish News through a Freedom of Information request. In an article published Wednesday, the Jewish News reported that Corbyn also said Israel treats Palestinians “with disdain” and that its “victimization of the people of East Jerusalem is an abomination.”
Corbyn already is under fire from British Jewish leaders who have voiced concerns that he is not doing enough to address anti-Semitism among party members.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
At 25, he’s trying to take down a New Jersey political ‘machine’ and become the youngest person in Congress
Alex Law left his job as an IBM consultant over a year ago to run for a House seat against a formidable incumbent. (Courtesy of the Law campaign)
(JTA) — Alex Law is not your typical Jewish 25-year-old Bernie Sanders supporter. Instead of simply posting tweets with the hashtag #feelthebern or attending campaign rallies, the Collingswood, New Jersey, resident is running to be Sanders’ colleague in Congress.
The aptly named Law, who if elected would become the youngest person in Congress — barring the election of the slightly younger Jewish candidate Erin Schrode in California — has drawn attention to the race for the House of Representatives seat in New Jersey’s 1st Congressional District, in the southern end of the state. He left his job as an IBM consultant over a year ago to take on incumbent Donald Norcross, brother of New Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross. Since then, his attacks on what he terms the Norcross corrupt political “machine” — it has been described as the most dominant political network in the state — have left enough of an impression to garner an endorsement from the Philadelphia Inquirer ahead of the June 7 primary.
Law spoke to JTA between campaign events about his thoughts on a two-state solution, his Jewish deli food preferences and why he doesn’t think his age matters in the upcoming primary election.
JTA: Were you always interested in getting into politics? Or was there something about the opportunity presented by what you’ve called the corruption in this specific race that drew you in?
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From Russia Today
Self-defense seminar in high demand in Okinawa after US base employee detained as murder suspect
Published time: 2 Jun, 2016 20:43
File photo. © Issei Kato / Reuters
An annual self-defense seminar in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture, which is home to a US military base, has been reportedly packed “fivefold” by local women this year. Attendees say they are in fear following the murder of a young local woman.
Some 150 women came to a seminar hosted by a police station in the city of Uruma this week, the Japan Times reported.
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