Video footage showing a young Arab man retreating from Israeli officers who then shot him dead has sparked a fresh investigation amid large-scale protests.
From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Saban slams Obama’s Iran policy, advises bombing in worst case
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A top Democratic Party donor and backer of Hillary Rodham Clinton slammed President Obama’s Iran strategy and advised Israel to bomb the “living daylights” out of Iran if a nuclear deal with the major powers endangers Israel.
If Obama strikes a “bad deal” with Iran in nuclear talks under way and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assesses it as a deal that would put Israel at risk, “I would bomb the living daylights out of these sonsofbitches,” Haim Saban said Sunday at the first conference of the Israeli American Council, an advocacy group he is helping to fund.
Saban is an entertainment mogul who has for years been close to former President Bill Clinton and his wife who is now considering her own 2016 presidential run.
He said Obama made a mistake in helping to strike an interim agreement with Iran to roll back some sanctions in exchange for the rollback of some nuclear activity. The interim agreement led to the talks now taking place between Iran and the major powers, led by the United States, and has a deadline of Nov. 24.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
U.S. Supreme Court justices talk Jewish at G.A. opening
OXON HILL, Md. (JTA) – U.S. Supreme Court justices Stephen Breyer and Elana Kagan talked about their Jewish identities at the opening plenary of the 2014 General Assembly conference of the Jewish Federations of North America.
Speaking before a crowd of more than 2,000 at the conference center just outside Washington, Breyer said the most remarkable thing about there being three Jews among the nine Supreme Court justices is how unremarkable it is in America today.
Kagan, the other justice on the panel discussion moderated by NPR correspondent Nina Totenberg, said that her Jewish identity was the one thing that didn’t come up during her confirmation process.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Obama: ‘Still a big gap’ in negotiations with Iran
(JTA) — President Obama tamped down expectations about brokering a nuclear deal with Iran before the upcoming deadline.
“There’s still a big gap,” Obama told “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer on Sunday on the 60th anniversary broadcast of the CBS program. “We may not be able to get there.”
Nov. 24 is the deadline for a nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. American negotiators in recent weeks have sounded more optimistic about achieving an agreement.
Obama said there have been “significant negotiations.”
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Lindsey Graham: New Senate will push congressional review of Iran deal
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The incoming Republican majority in the Senate will advance a bill that would subject any Iran nuclear deal to congressional review, a top senator said.
“If there is a deal, if it is a good deal, I will go for it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Saturday at the inaugural conference in Washington of the Israeli American Council.
“If it is a bad deal, I will kill it,” said Graham, who as chairman of the foreign operations subcommittee of the incoming Senate’s Appropriations Committee will wield considerable power in foreign policy. He said his bill would be cosponsored with Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the incoming Foreign Relations Committee chairman.
The Obama administration, with the outgoing Democratic Senate majority, until now has managed to minimize Congress’ influence on the talks underway between Iran and the major world powers. Nov. 24 is the deadline for a nuclear deal, and American negotiators in recent weeks have sounded more optimistic about achieving an agreement.
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From PressTV
Amnesty official likens Israeli forces to ISIL
An Amnesty International official has likened Israeli forces to ISIL Takfiri terrorists, days after a report by the organization said Israel had committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
On Twitter, Kristyan Benedict, the group’s UK campaigns manager, compared Israeli forces to the terrorist group.
The tweet was in response to Israel’s harsh reaction to an Amnesty report, in which the rights organization slammed Israel for committing war crimes during its recent 50-day war on Gaza.
The report, which was published on November, 6, and was titled “Families under the Rubble: Israeli attacks on inhabited homes,” criticized the Israeli military for “callous indifference” to civilians in its airstrikes on the enclave and killing entire families.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Adelson and Saban Try To Out-Hawk Each Other
By Nathan Guttman
Haim Saban and Sheldon Adelson / Getty Images
What do you get when you put two of the largest pro-Israel donors — Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban — on one stage?
For participants at the Israeli American Council’s inaugural conference, this meeting of Jewish finance titans produced several historical insights about the roots of the Palestinian people (Adelson: they have none); a bit of advice on how to deal with Iran (Saban: “bomb the sons of bitches”); and some media criticism (Adelson: “I don’t like journalism” — especially not the Forward.)
Adelson and Saban, one a mega donor to the Republican Party, the other a top backer of the Clintons, may have their differences when it comes to U.S. politics. But on Israel, both engaged in one-upmanship, trying to outdo each other’s hawkishness.
When discussing a possible nuclear deal with Iran, which is now being negotiated between Iran and several international powers, both expressed skepticism. Adelson said that if the deal does not satisfy Israel, then putting himself in the shoes of Israel’s prime minister, he “would not just talk. I would take action.”
But Saban went further. “A stick and a carrot, yes — but I think that we showed too many carrots and a very small stick,” he said of the Obama administration negotiators.
And what would he do if he were Benjamin Netanyahu facing an unsatisfactory deal? “I would act,” the Los Angeles-based media magnate said. “I would bomb the daylight out of these sons of bitches.”
From PressTV
Reports say five “nuclear engineers” have been assassinated by unknown assailants near a research center in the north part of the Syrian capital.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack was carried out on Sunday near the Barzeh neighborhood of Damascus.
It says all of them were shot dead when their bus was ambushed on the way to the research center.
Syrian officials have made no comments on the incident.
In a similar incident in July last year, six people working at the same center were killed in a mortar attack carried out by anti-government militants.
From PressTV
Fatah cancels Arafat death anniversary ceremony
“We were informed by the security and political wings of Hamas that they were unable to guarantee the safety of the festival,” Gaza-based Fatah spokesman Fayez Abu Eita said on Sunday, adding, “Faced with the danger posed to the public, we were obliged to announce its cancellation.”
The decision was made after a series of explosions targeted cars and houses belonging to senior members of the Fatah movement on Friday. There was no report of casualties following the attacks.
“Gaza security services asked the workers who were fixing the stage at al-Katiba square in Gaza City to stop working and leave,” said Zakariyya al-Agha, a senior Fatah leader, in a statement.
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From PressTV
Palestinians clash with Israeli troops over young Palestinian’s death
A protest was staged in the village of Kafr Kanna on Sunday to censure the fatal shooting of the 22-year-old Palestinian man, identified as Khair al-Din Hamdan, for allegedly attacking an Israeli police car with a knife.
Residents of the village set tires on fire, and scattered rocks on the roads. An unknown person also threw a Molotov cocktail, causing a fire in the area.
Scuffles broke out between Palestinian stone throwers and the police force stationed nearby. Israeli military forces then fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Venezuela to give 1,000 Palestinians free university education
(JTA) — At least 1,000 Palestinians will receive a free university education in Venezuela.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday welcomed 119 Palestinian students who will be trained in the field of medicine through the new Yasser Arafat Scholarship Program.
“We will train at least 1,000 doctors, quickly, now,” Maduro said in an address to the students in Caracas, the South American nation’s capital. “It is a hard goal but we can’t fail on this, we have no excuses.”
Maduro also announced the expansion of the program to engineering, architecture “and every field of knowledge.”
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From the Jewish Telegrapic Agency
Austria’s national railway opens exhibit about its Holocaust complicity
BRUSSELS (JTA) — Austria’s national railway company opened an exhibition at the European Parliament about the firm’s complicity in the Holocaust.
Titled “The Suppressed Years,” the exhibition opened last week at a ceremony attended by members of the European Parliament, European Jewish Congress staff and Austrian Federal Railways executives, including the firm’s CEO, Christian Kern.
“When we first discussed bringing this exhibition here, some from our marketing team feared it would hurt the brand,” Kern said. “But we need our brand to be clean. And showing what happened in the Holocaust is necessary for that.”
The exhibition features a confined space the size of a cattle wagon of the sort that was used in transporting tens of thousands of Austrian Jews and other groups persecuted by the Nazi regime in Austria to concentration and death camps across Europe.
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From PressTV
Anti-Iran stance not to benefit PG Arabs: Oman FM
The top Omani diplomat told the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that relations between Iran and certain members the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council ([P]GCC) “contain some tension because of the disparity in views on regional issues.”
It is not in the interest of the Persian Gulf Arab states to adopt a hostile stance in their relations with the Islamic Republic, said Bin Abdullah, warning that such behavior will have “huge negative repercussions.”
Bin Abdullah also called on the Persian Gulf littoral states to settle their differences with Iran through negotiations.
“We do not believe that we need any form of conflict, we trust in dialogue when it comes to our foreign relations. Dialogue is needed when there are differences of opinion, and that is why this dialogue is ongoing,” the minister said.
He also dismissed allegations that his country is playing a mediation role between Riyadh and Tehran.
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