From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Joe Biden to AIPAC: Israeli, Palestinian apathy ‘incredibly disappointing’
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israelis and Palestinians must revive their will for peace, Vice President Joe Biden told AIPAC in a speech that earned thunderous applause for emotional expressions of affection for Israel and scattered boos for criticism of settlements.
Biden’s speech Sunday night to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual conference will be his last as a public official to the Israel lobby, and the cheers he earned throughout reflect his status as the Obama administration official most loved by the pro-Israel community.
“There is a lack of political will among Israelis and Palestinians to move forward,” Biden said he concluded from his talks with both sides during his trip to Israel earlier this month. “And that’s incredibly disappointing.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Illinois becomes first state to list companies banned for business due to BDS
WASHINGTON (JTA) — An Illinois state agency named 11 companies barred from doing business with the state for boycotting Israel or its settlements, the first such designation by an official U.S. body.
A number of the entities on the list approved Friday by the Illinois Investment Policy board have pulled money from Israeli businesses that operate in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, but have not boycotted Israel within its 1967 lines. At least two of the entities have said their disinvestment from Israel in recent years was based on commercial, not political, calculations.
The Illinois law passed last year explicitly bars dealing with companies that boycott Israeli operations in territories controlled by Israel.
“Today’s actions were truly historic and will lead the way for the dozens of other states following Illinois’ lead,” a senior official in the administration of Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican who championed the bipartisan legislation, told JTA on Friday.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
AIPAC’s first woman president in a decade to stress diversity
WASHINGTON (JTA) — AIPAC’s first woman president in a decade said making the pro-Israel lobby more diverse will be a priority.
Lillian Pinkus, from Dallas, will assume the post during the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual policy conference in Washington, D.C., from Sunday through Tuesday.
Pinkus, a child of Holocaust survivors, will be the first woman to lead the lobby since 2006, when Bernice Manocherian ended her presidency. Manocherian was preceded by Amy Friedkin, whose 2002-04 presidency was the first time a woman led the group. Terms run two years, and ex-presidents generally continue as chairs of the national AIPAC board for another two years.
This week’s conference will emphasize diversity, with a corridor lined with poster-size photos of black, Hispanic and Christian AIPAC members.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
ADL redirecting $56,000 in Trump donations to anti-bias programs
(JTA) — The Anti-Defamation League has redirected $56,000 in donations from Donald Trump — his total contributions over the past decade — to fund new anti-bias and anti-bullying education programs.
The announcement in a statement released Sunday came a day before Trump, the front-runner in the Republican presidential race, is scheduled to address the largest gathering of American supporters of Israel at the AIPAC annual policy conference in Washington, D.C.
“These undoubtedly were sincere gifts,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO. “But in light of the recent campaign, we have decided to redirect the total amount of funds that he contributed to ADL over the years specifically into anti-bias education programs that address exactly the kind of stereotyping and scapegoating that have been injected into this political season.”
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From PressTV
Hezbollah emerged stronger after Syria involvement: Official
Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah emerged stronger after getting involved in the fight against Takfiri terrorists on the Syrian soil, a senior official with the group says.
“Hezbollah today is in its best status… [and] it only got stronger after intervening in Syria,” Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, the head of Hezbollah’s executive council, said Saturday.
During past few years, Hezbollah resistance fighters have been helping the Syrian army in their battles against Takfiri terror groups, particularly those operating in the areas near the Lebanese border.
The resistance group says its military role in Syria is aimed at preventing the spillover of the Syria crisis into Lebanon.
Saudi crimes ‘stain on humanity’
Elsewhere in his remarks, Qaouk slammed the Saudi regime for its ongoing campaign against Yemen, the poorest nation in the Arab world.
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From Russia Today
Kurdish crackdown: Is Turkey at war with its minority?
Published time: 20 Mar, 2016 05:33
Turkish soldiers patrol in Sur district © Sertac Kayar / Reuters
The Kurdish people have become a key element in the Middle-Eastern turmoil, viewed as allies by the US and Iraq and enemies by key US regional ally Turkey. One of the world’s largest ethnic groups without a state, they have a long and turbulent history.
Who are the Kurds?
Kurds originate from a diverse collection of nomadic tribes that lived in western Iran. They crystalized as an ethnic group sometime in the 11th or 12th centuries, but did not put substantial effort into creating a sovereign nation until the late 19th century, instead living as more or less in autonomous principalities.
The Ottoman Empire had the biggest influence on the Kurdish lands and controlled them for a greater part of the time period since 16th century and right until its collapse. Persians had a significant impact of Kurds as well. In modern era the historically Kurdish lands are divided between Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria, where Kurds comprise 10 to 20 percent of the respective countries’ populations. Large Kurdish diaspora live in Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Lebanon, Israel, Germany, France, the UK, Canada and the US. The number of Kurds worldwide is estimated at over 30 million.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Second Oxford Labour club officer resigns with charges of anti-Semitism, bias
(JTA) – A second officer of Oxford University’s Labour Club has resigned after leveling discrimination charges.
The club’s disabilities officer, Brahma Mohanty, stepped down after claiming the club forced members to “subscribe to a radical ideology of division and isolation,” the London-based Telegraph newspaper reported Friday.
Last month, Alex Chalmers resigned as co-chair following claims that his colleagues “have some kind of problem with Jews.” Chalmers, who is not Jewish, said at the time he was leaving the “poisonous” club after it endorsed Israel Apartheid Week — a string of activities against Israel that takes place annually in several dozen cities and especially on campuses.
Mohanty said in his resignation letter, according to the Telegraph: “I have personally experienced in recent weeks and meetings that this does not appear to be an ethos shared amongst the OULC body in light of the passing of the Israeli Apartheid Week motion and the more recent motion which essentially ‘purges’ the OULC membership and forces members to subscribe to a radical ideology of division and isolation.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Athens mayor signs declaration against anti-Semitism
ATHENS, Greece (JTA) — The mayor of Athens signed a declaration against anti-Semitism, joining 60 other European mayors to have inked the American Jewish Committee’s initiative.
“I chose to sign because it is my conviction that the first value in civilized society is human dignity,” said Mayor Giorgos Kaminis at a ceremony with a nine-member visiting AJC delegation in the Greek capital.
Along with the European mayors, the AJC’s Mayors United Against Anti-Semitism campaign has garnered signatures from over 300 U.S. mayors.
Athens has seen several anti-Semitic incidents in the last year, including the vandalism of the city’s Jewish cemetery and Holocaust memorials.
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From Russia Today
‘No worries, they were Russians’: Latvian police officer under fire over Flydubai crash ‘joke’
Published time: 21 Mar, 2016 00:09
Latvian police officer © Ints Kalnins / Reuters
Police in Riga have rushed to apologize and are looking into a case of unacceptable behavior after one officer wrote on his Facebook page that he saw nothing tragic about the Flydubai Boeing 737 crash, as most of its passengers had been Russians.
“There’s nothing to worry about, the majority of them were Russian citizens,” the officer, Janis Brusevics, wrote on a Facebook post that has since been removed.
A reaction to the outrageous comment was quick to follow, with the head of Riga Municipal Police making a statement on Sunday, promising that the case would be looked into and the offender punished accordingly.
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From Russia Today
Anyone who says Turkey is European country wants EU’s death – Sarkozy
Published time: 20 Mar, 2016 23:40
Nicolas Sarkozy, head of France’s Les Republicains political party and former French President © Jacky Naegelen / Reuters
Ankara has no place in the European Union: Both historically and economically speaking, Turkey is less European a country than Russia, ex-president and head of France’s main opposition party Nicolas Sarkozy stated in an exclusive interview with the iTele channel. TrendsEU refugee & migrant influx, Turkey crackdown on Kurds
“Turkey is in Asia Minor. I’m sorry to say it, Turkey is a great country, a great civilization, but it is a bridge between Asia and Europe,” the head of center-right party The Republicans stated in the interview published on Saturday.
“Turkey has no place in Europe. I have always adhered to this position, it is based on common sense. This doesn’t mean that I have anything against the Turks. We need them, they are our allies in NATO. But if we begin to explain it – that Turkey is in Europe – European school students will have to be told that the European border lies in Syria. Where’s common sense?” Sarkozy asked.
The former French leader said he is against Ankara joining the EU not only because it is too far from Europe by definition, but over the government’s treatment of journalists and Kurds just as well.
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