From The Times of Israel
Bernie Sanders: Israel has a right to US protection
‘I lived in Israel, I have family in Israel,’ Democratic contender tells ‘Meet the Press’
May 31, 2016, 1:22 am
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said Israel has a right to be protected by the United States.
Sanders, who has spoken out in favor of Palestinian interests as well as Israel’s right to exist in security, made the assertion Sunday during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I am 100 percent pro-Israel in the sense of Israel’s right to exist,” Sanders said. “I lived in Israel, I have family in Israel, Israel has the right to live not only in peace and security, but to know that their very existence will be protected by the United States government.”
Last week, Sanders appointed three Israel critics, including Cornel West, who supports boycotts against Israel, to help draft the Democratic Party platform ahead of the convention in Philadelphia.
On “Meet the Press,” Sanders said the United States “has got to respect the needs of the Palestinian people. They cannot be pushed aside.” Asked whether he wanted the party platform to say the Palestinians were occupied, Sanders said conditions were premature for determining the language, but added: “We’ve got some good people on our platform-writing committee.”
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From PressTV
Turkey warns EU it will abandon refugee deal if no visa-free travel
Turkey has threatened to quit a deal with the European Union (EU) to stem the flow of refugees if its citizens are not granted visa-free travel to the 28-nation bloc.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a group of journalists at the southern holiday resort of Antalya on Monday that it was “impossible” for Ankara to meet Brussels’ demands in exchange for visa-free travel to the Schengen zone.
“We have told them ‘we are not threatening you’ but there’s a reality. We have signed two deals with you (the EU) and both are interlinked,” the minister said, stressing, “This is not a threat but what is required from an agreement.”
Cavusoglu also went on to say that Turkey will not change its anti-terror laws as one of the 72 conditions demanded by the EU before the visa exemption is approved.
“Which definition are you talking about? Each country in Europe has different terror definitions,” the minister said, noting, “In such a circumstance, it is impossible to change terror laws.”
Building on a recent threat by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the top Turkish diplomat said Ankara would use “administrative” measures to block the deal if needed.
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From Ynet News
Avigdor Lieberman sworn in as defense minister
Yisrael Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman to be sworn into the government on Monday night as drawn out negotiations come to a close. Deal made possible by Naftali Bennett’s acceptance of a compromise
Avigdor Lieberman was officially sworn in as Israeli Defense Minister in a Knesset ceremony on Monday evening.
The swearing in comes as a part of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s broadening of the coalition government. Government ministers approved Avigdor Lieberman’s nomination as defense minister in a meeting earlier Monday morning. In addition, the government will be welcoming party member Sofa Landver to take up the minister of absorption portfolio.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Donald Trump: Debating trailing Bernie Sanders would be ‘inappropriate’
(JTA) — Donald Trump said he would not debate Bernie Sanders because it would be “inappropriate” in light of Sanders trailing Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary fight.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, addressed the possibility of debating the Vermont senator on Friday in a statement, CNN reported.
“Based on the fact that the Democratic nominating process is totally rigged and crooked Hillary Clinton and [Debbie] Wasserman Schultz will not allow Bernie Sanders to win, and now that I am the presumptive Republican nominee, it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second-place finisher,” Trump said in a statement, referring also to the head of the Democratic National Committee.
Trump also said news networks “are not proving to be too generous to charitable causes,” which he previously had said would be a goal of debating Sanders.
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From Russia Today
Kurdish forces equipped with T-55 tanks launch ISIS offensive (VIDEO)
Published time: 30 May, 2016 15:50
© / Ruptly
Kurdish Peshmerga and Zeravani forces have been taking part in a major offensive against Islamic State near the city of Mosul in Iraq. A column of T-55 tanks could be seen moving towards the front line as they look to recapture a series of villages. TrendsIraq carnage, Islamic State
The military convoy was advancing towards the Khazir front, near Iraq’s second city of Mosul, which has been one of Islamic State’s (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) strongholds. The plan is to capture 10 abandoned Kurdish villages, which belonged to the Kakei and Shabak Kurdish minorities.
Around 5,000 Peshmerga and Zeravani special forces are taking part in the offensive, which started on Sunday, Kurdish media group Rudaw reported. The soldiers plan to split into eastern and western battle groups before carrying out the offensive.
They have plenty of military hardware at their disposal, with numerous T-55 tanks, as well as modernized Humvees and American M1117 Armored Security Vehicles to use in their campaign against the terrorist organization.
The liberation of Mosul has been a strategic goal of all the groups fighting IS, with the city being held by the terror group since June 2014.
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From Russia Today
Go forth & multiply: Turkey President Erdogan warns Muslims against using birth control
Published time: 30 May, 2016 13:55
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan © Murad Sezer / Reuters
Devout Muslim families ought to thrive without considering population planning and birth control, says Turkey’s president. Recep Tayyip Erdogan is known for previously equating birth control to treason and harshly opposing gender equality.
“We will multiply our descendants. They talk about population planning, birth control. No Muslim family can have such an approach,” Reuters cited Erdogan as saying in a live-broadcast speech in Istanbul on Monday. “Nobody can interfere in God’s work. The first duty here belongs to mothers.”
On the International Women’s Day, March 8, the president said he believes that “a woman is above all else a mother,” stressing that women cannot be freed “by destroying the notion of family,” in a speech full of quotes from Koran on the virtues of motherhood.
A couple of days later, Turkey’s first lady praised the often-criticized harem of the Ottoman Empire as “a school for preparing women for life.”
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From The Times of Israel
Rouhani: Iran at turning point after defeating ‘Zionist plots’
Iranian president says visits by trade delegations on the rise now that Western sanctions have been lifted
May 30, 2016, 7:28 pm
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Monday that Iran is at a “historic turning point” after overcoming the sanctions on its nuclear program, which he partly attributed to “Zionism.”
“We lie at a historic turning point after passing through the plots of the Zionism and the arrogance which had put us under sanctions,” Rouhani said, according to the state-run Press TV.
He also said that post-sanctions Tehran was “intent on opening the road of exports to the world countries.” The first step, he said, was “for the government to open the doors that were shut in the past.”
Rouhani told his audience in Urumieh, in northwest Iran, there was a marked rise in visits by foreign trade delegations since the sanctions were lifted, and agreements had been reached for the first investments.
Still, Rouhani acknowledged that changes would take time, addressing critics who point out that little profit has been made since the lifting of the sanctions. He also denounced the previous government, which allowed the West to impose sanctions.
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From PressTV
Muslims don’t understand contraception: Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has courted new controversy by speaking against contraception and urging women to ensure the country’s population growth.
“I will say it clearly… We need to increase the number of our descendants… And in this respect the first duty belongs to mothers,” Erdogan said during a speech in Istanbul on Monday.
“People talk about birth control, about family planning. No Muslim family can understand and accept that,” the Turkish president stated.
Erdogan’s remarks are the latest in a series of statements on procreation and curtailing abortion practices that have provoked controversy among his critics.
In a speech marking the International Women’s Day on March, he said, “I know there will be some who will be annoyed, but for me a woman is above all a mother,” adding, “You cannot free women by destroying the notion of family.”
“One [child] means loneliness, two means rivalry, three means balance and four means abundance,” he had earlier said, urging women to have four children.
In 2014, he declared engagement in birth control efforts “treason” against the country, because such policies could risk “drying up” a whole generation.
‘Nonsensical, medieval statement’
Erdogan’s Monday statement was criticized by the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), with its deputy parliamentary leader, Ozgur Ozel, saying the president was “talking nonsense”.
“It is not up to the president, or other persons, to discuss decisions that should be made based on scientific criteria by scientists or decisions that relate to women’s bodies,” Ozel said.
A women’s civil liberties advocacy group, the Platform to Stop Violence Against Women, also censured the Turkish president’s remarks as “medieval”.
“You cannot usurp our right to contraception, nor our other rights with your declarations that come out of the Middle Ages,” the group said in a statement on Twitter, adding, “We will protect our rights.”
Erdogan and his wife Emine have five grandchildren from two of their children. His elder daughter, Esra, and her husband, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, have three children, while Erdogan’s third child, Necmettin Bilal, and his wife, Reyyan Uzuner, have two children. The president’s eldest son, Ahmet Burak, has no children despite being married since 2001. His younger daughter, Sumeyye, married defense industrialist Selcuk Bayraktar earlier this month.
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From PressTV
Turkey proposes special operation with US in Syria
Turkey has proposed to join the United States in a special operation in Syria only if Kurdish fighters are excluded from the offensive.
“If we join forces, they (the Americans) have their own special forces and we have our special forces,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters.
“The subject we are discussing with the Americans is the closure of the Manbij pocket as soon as possible,” he said, referring to a backdoor border route used by Daesh terrorists to transport militants into and out of Syria.
However, Cavusoglu stressed the exclusion of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), also known as the YPG, from the operation as a condition for such action.
“We say okay, a second front should be opened but not with the PYD,” he said.
Turkey stands accused of supporting the militants that are fighting against the government in Syria by, among other things, allowing them safe passage into the Arab country via Turkish territory.
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From Russia Today
Czech veteran moons US convoy in anti-Nato protest (VIDEO)
Published time: 30 May, 2016 15:37
© Parlamentní Listy / YouTube
A Czech veteran opposed to the “aggressive missions” of the US in Europe has decided to take a stand against the major drills across central and Eastern Europe by launching a semi-naked protest.
Martin Zapletal, a member of a group of Czech and Slovakian soldiers opposed to Nato, described the US soldiers as “aggressors, killers and occupiers” as Dragoon Ride II paraded through the country over the weekend.
He then removed his trousers and mooned the army while some of the crowd cheered him on.
Zapletal breaks away though and again moons the oncoming army tanks while giving them the middle finger, before being removed by police for a second time.
První VIDEO Čecha, který ukázal holý zadek na konvoj USA pic.twitter.com/PJazRsrvN2
— ParlamentníListy.cz (@parlamentky_cz) May 30, 2016
“It is an expression of my political opinion,” he told the site. “It is a form of peaceful protest.”
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From Russia Today
Greek protesters burn NATO & EU flags at Crete military base (VIDEO)
Published time: 30 May, 2016 01:10
© Ruptly
Greek left wing protesters have held a major rally outside the NATO base in Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete, demanding the expulsion of the “imperialist” alliance which they claim “violates” the “sovereignty” of the country.
Amid heavy police presence, the protesters, led by Greek MP and Communist Party member Manolis Syntychakis, burned EU and NATO flags in front of the cameras. Holding protest banners and chanting anti- NATO slogans, the crowd delivered a letter bearing a list of demands to Air Force Colonel Ioannis Gerolimos, commander of the Hellenic Air Force base.
“We are here and we call upon citizens to fight and close the foreign bases and disengage our country from any form of US and NATO [participation],” said the chairman of the All Workers Military Front (PAME), Joanna Kourpa.
The Hellenic Air Force Base, home to Greek Air Force’s 115th Combat Wing, located east of the city of Hania, is also used by the United States Naval Support Activity (NSA). In addition it houses NATO Missile Firing Installation.
In February, a seven-ship flotilla was ordered to the Aegean to carry out reconnaissance patrols to help the coastguard of Greece and Turkey stem out the immigrant flow.
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From The Times of Israel
JTA — News flash: The most famous Jewish rapper on earth has a crush on one of the most famous Jewish comedians on earth.
As explained on “Late Night with Seth Myers” Thursday night, Drake recently posted a photo of Sarah Silverman from her “Saturday Night Live” days on Instagram with the caption “WCE” — internet lingo that stands for “woman crush everyday.”
Drake, who has a Jewish mother and attended a Jewish day school, snapped the Silverman photo at “SNL” headquarters in New York while hosting the show a few weeks ago.
When host Seth Myers brought up the Instagram post, Silverman’s response was typically self-deprecating, even though she admitted she was excited to hear the news in 16 different texts from young comedians who she says call her “mom.”
“I mean listen, he’s half-Jewish, I’m sure he has a Jewish mother fantasy situation,” Silverman quipped.
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From The Times of Israel
GOP uniting under banner: ‘Never Hillary’
Republicans’ deep disdain for the likely Democratic nominee helps Donald Trump pile up endorsements
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s best ally in winning over skeptical Republicans is turning out to be Hillary Clinton.
Having overcome a multimillion-dollar “Never Trump” campaign aimed at blocking him from the Republican nomination, he’s now benefiting from a wave of GOP donors, party leaders, voters and conservative groups that are uniting under a new banner: “Never Hillary.”
“Nothing unites Republicans better than a Clinton,” says Scott Reed, a political strategist for the US Chamber of Commerce who has advised previous GOP campaigns. While Reed says there remain “many unknowns” about Trump, he adds that “the knowns about Hillary are very powerful motivators to Republicans.”
Thanks to Republicans’ deep disdain for the likely Democratic nominee, Trump is piling up those kinds of lukewarm GOP endorsements.
In this May 24, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Albuquerque, N.M. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
From The Times of Israel
A third of Americans say it’s legitimate to boycott Israel
New poll ahead of anti-divestment conference finds the majority, however, sees the BDS movement as modern anti-Semitism
One-third of Americans think the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement presents a legitimate strategy against Israel, while nearly two-thirds see it as anti-Semitic, a new poll found.
Details of some of the findings from a survey by Ipsos were published by Channel 2 on Monday, a day ahead of a United Nations conference about BDS against Israel.
The poll, which sampled 1,100 people across the US, found 33 percent believe boycotting Israel is legitimate. A similar survey in Britain found 40% see divestment as a legitimate measure.
On the other hand, nearly two-thirds (62%) in the US, and 50% in the UK, felt that BDS movement is anti-Semitism in a modern guise.
The conference is to be hosted by Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon in cooperation with the World Jewish Congress, the Zionist Organization of America, Keren Hayesod, the American Center for Law and Justice, the Anti-Defamation League, Israel Bonds, StandWithUs, B’nai B’rith International, Hillel, and other organizations.
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