From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Arab-Israeli lawmaker calls out int’l community over Yarmouk massacre
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Arab-Israeli lawmaker Ahmed Tibi called the Islamic State takeover of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp “a crime against humanity.”
Tibi, a member of the Arab Joint List party, said the international community, and Arab countries specifically, bear responsibility for allowing the violence in Yarmouk to occur.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Islamic State took over about 90 percent of the camp in the last week.
“I feel anger and great sadness about what is happening in what is left of the camp,” he said. “There is a moral double standard. If other people were the victims, not Palestinians, it would be different.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Obama makes pitch for Iran deal, promises to stand by Israel
(JTA) — President Obama promised to defend Israel in making his most comprehensive case yet for a diplomatic resolution of the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.
In a lengthy interview Saturday with Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, Obama made his pitch for the framework accord reached Thursday in Switzerland to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for a gradual relaxing of sanctions.
Though he acknowledged the legitimacy of Israel’s concerns about Iran, noting its leaders’ denial of the Holocaust and repeated threats to eliminate the Jewish state, Obama reiterated his view that a negotiated agreement is the “best bet” to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Netanyahu goes on American TV to rip Iran nuclear deal
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the American airwaves to criticize the framework agreement between Iran and the world powers on Iran’s nuclear program.
Netanyahu appeared on Sunday morning news programs on ABC, NBC and CNN.
“The entire world celebrated the deal with North Korea. It deemed to be a great breakthrough; it would bring an end to North Korea’s nuclear program; you’d have inspectors. That would do the job. And of course everybody applauded it, but it turned out to be a very, very bad deal and you know where we are with North Korea,” Netanyahu told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I think the same thing would be true in the case of Iran, except that Iran is a great deal more dangerous than North Korea. It’s a militant Islamic power bent on regional domination — in fact, bent on world domination, as it openly says so. They just chanted ‘Death to America’ a few days ago on the streets of Tehran, the same streets where they’re rejoicing right now.
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From PressTV
Israel sentences Palestinian lawmaker to jail
Israel has sentenced a Palestinian lawmaker to four months in jail over charges of leading a terrorist organization, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says.
The society said Sunday that an Israeli court sentenced Khalida Jarrar, who is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), to so-called administrative detention.
Administrative detention is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for up to six months. The detention order can be renewed for indefinite periods of time.
Jarrar was arrested on April 2, when Israeli forces raided her home in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli army has told Palestinian media that the lawmaker was detained for leading a terrorist organization and encouraging terror activities.
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From PressTV
Israel nabs 6 Palestinians in West Bank
Israeli regime forces have nabbed six Palestinians including Hamas members during separate overnight operations in the occupied West Bank.
The arrests were made in early hours of Sunday when security forces stormed houses in the cities of Al-Khalil (Hebron), Tulkarm and Bethlehem.
Three members of Hamas resistance movement were among the detainees.
Citing security officials, the Jerusalem Post said that “all those arrested are currently undergoing investigation.”
On April 2, Israeli soldiers abducted Khalida Kan’an Muhammad Jarrar, a Palestinian lawmaker, after storming her house in the city of Ramallah and took her to an unknown location.
This came only days after Israeli forces stormed several villages in the occupied West Bank, kidnapping at least 21 Palestinians.
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From PressTV
Israeli prison guards attack Palestinian inmates
Israeli jail guards have raided part of a prison in southern Israel, beating dozens of Palestinian inmates and placing several in solitary confinement.
The guards broke into the sector two of Ramon prison on Friday, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) reported.
Israeli forces searched the sector, seized all electronic devices and moved all prisoners into another area of the jail, said Amjad al-Najjar, the PPS head in the occupied West bank city of al-Khalili (Hebron), adding that the situation remained “tense” there.
An Israeli prison spokeswoman also confirmed the searches, but rejected reports of putting prisoners into solitary confinement, claiming instead that the inmates may have been “separated from other prisoners.”
“We do this all the time – it’s prison,” she went on to say.
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From Ynet News
Iranians hail negotiators, celebrate announcement of deal
‘Thank you, Rouhani,’ Iranians shout after Iran, world powers reach framework nuclear agreement; but hardliners call deal ‘a disaster.’ Celebrations broke out in Tehran on Thursday night as a landmark framework agreement for a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers was announced. Videos posted on social media showed cars driving through the streets of Tehran with honking horns and passengers clapping.
Photo: AFP
From The Times of Israel
Obama: Weakened Israel would be ‘failure’ for my presidency
In NY Times interview, president promises to stand by Israel if it is attacked, says it’s ‘personally difficult’ to have his commitment doubted
US President Barack Obama said it would be a “moral” failure for his administration if Israel was weakened as a result of his policies. “I would consider it a failure on my part, a fundamental failure of my presidency, if on my watch or as a consequence of work that I’ve done, Israel was rendered more vulnerable,” Obama said in an interview conducted Saturday and published Sunday with veteran New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman.
He said he would consider it “not just a strategic failure, I think that would be a moral failure,” adding that no disagreements between Israel and the United States could break the two countries’ bond.
Obama also said that accusations that his administration is not doing all it can to ensure Israel’s security have made recent months a “hard period” for him personally.
“It has been personally difficult for me to hear… expressions that somehow… this administration has not done everything it could to look out for Israel’s interest — and the suggestion that when we have very serious policy differences, that that’s not in the context of a deep and abiding friendship and concern and understanding of the threats that the Jewish people have faced historically and continue to face,” he said.
The president appeared to be dampening rising criticism — in the wake of last week’s controversial framework nuclear deal with Iran, and his comments after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election victory — to the effect that he doesn’t take Israeli security concerns seriously, and that personal animus toward Netanyahu has been driving some policies.
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From The Times of Israel
US senator says Congress has ‘rightful role’ in any Iran deal
Bob Corker says many ‘red flags’ exist in current framework deal, as April 14 vote on bill mandating review of final accord looms
Republican Senator Bob Corker (Tennessee) said he was moving ahead with a bill that would give Congress mandatory review of a nuclear deal with Iran, reiterating his stance that the legislative body should play a “rightful role” in any agreement to curb Tehran’s atomic program.
Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is the coauthor, together with Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, which would require any final agreement with Iran to be submitted to Congress for a 60-day review period before congressionally mandated sanctions on Iran could be waived or suspended by the president.
Although the bipartisan bill has major Congressional support, President Barack Obama has vowed to veto any bill deemed threatening to nuclear negotiations. Congress could override the president’s veto, however they would need a staggering 2/3 majority to do so.
The bill is due to be voted on on April 14, when Congress returns from recess.
Corker told Fox News Sunday that the bill was several votes shy of veto-proof passage.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
State Department rejects demand that Iran recognize Israel in nuclear deal
(JTA) — The U.S. State Department rejected a demand by Israel’s Cabinet that a final nuclear deal with Iran include “a clear and unambiguous Iranian recognition” of Israel’s right to exist.
“This is an agreement that is only about the nuclear issue,” said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf on Friday night. “We have purposefully kept that separate from every other issue. That issue is complicated enough to deal with on its own.”
She added: “This is an agreement that doesn’t deal with any other issues, nor should it, and that’s what we’re focused on.”
Harf pointed out that the United States has worked to combat other issues on which Iran has a poor record, for example sanctioning Iran for its human rights record and for its support of terrorism.
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From PressTV
Abbas threatens to take frozen tax money case to ICC
Palestinian Authority (PA) chief, Mahmoud Abbas, has threatened to resort to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the Israeli regime’s refusal to entirely release hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues owed to the PA.
Abbas’ announcement on Sunday came after Tel Aviv froze the monthly transfer of tax money it collects on behalf of the PA as a punitive measure after Palestine started efforts to join the ICC in early January.
“Now we have a new file to take to the ICC, first there was the [summer] war in Gaza, then there was the settlements and now the Palestinian leadership is considering presenting this issue to the court in due time,” Abbas said in a speech, adding, “They said they were going to send the money and in the end they did, but a third of it was deducted – why?”
Abbas said the Israeli regime must fully pay back its debt to the Palestinian administration.
“We will not take the money until we get all of it: either you give us the full amount or we go to the ICC,” said Abbas.
Under international pressure, the Israeli regime on Friday released the monthly funds of nearly USD 127 million in customs duties, which account for two-thirds of PA’s annual budget, excluding foreign aid.
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From The Times of Israel
Russia hosts Syria talks but key opposition absent
After US-Iran deal, not much progress expected as bloody conflict drags on
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Talks on ending the Syrian civil war open in Moscow on Monday, but with key opposition figures absent, little progress is expected on resolving the shifting conflict.
Instead, the discussions are expected to focus on humanitarian issues and serve as a way for Russia, a main backer of the Syrian regime, to build its profile as a potential mediator in the conflict.
“It will be the first meeting after the US-Iranian (nuclear) deal, and (US Secretary of State) John Kerry declined to rule out talking to President Bashar al-Assad,” said Karim Bitar of the Paris-based Institute for International and Strategic Studies.
“Given that context, one might have hoped for progress, but all indications are that there won’t be any,” he told AFP.
“No political breakthrough can be expected.
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From The Times of Israel
White House: Iran would never agree to give up nuclear program
Security official Ben Rhodes indicates Netanyahu’s demands for final deal are unrealistic
The White House said Sunday that no deal could be reached that would see Iran dismantling its nuclear program, pushing back against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public criticism of the framework agreement, in which he called for an arrangement that would sharply curtail Tehran’s nuclear activities.
“Obviously that’s the preferable solution,” Ben Rhodes, the US deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told CNN. “But the fact is Iran was never going to agree to a deal in which they got rid of their entire nuclear infrastructure.”
Netanyahu warned the same day that the political framework for the nuclear deal reached Thursday in Switzerland would keep Tehran’s vast nuclear program in place, and that its inter-continental ballistic missile system (ICBM) — an issue not addressed in the deal — was more of a threat to the US than to Israel.
Speaking to CNN as part of a US media blitz, the Israeli prime minister said the deal will not roll back Iran’s nuclear program. The deal “keeps Iran’s vast nuclear infrastructure in place, not a single centrifuge destroyed, not a single nuclear facility shut down, including the underground facilities that they built illicitly. Thousands of centrifuges will keep spinning, enriching uranium, that’s a very bad deal.”
“They’re getting a free path to the bomb,” he said.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
White House Seder included Ashkenazic, Sephardic traditions
(JTA) — Moroccan haroset balls, savory holiday brisket and carrot souffle were on the menu at the annual White House Seder.
The guests finished the meal with raspberry ganache marjolaine, and triple layer chocolate macaroon cake, according to the White House.
The guest list for Friday night’s seder was not made public. It is the seventh time that President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have hosted a White House Seder.
Susan Barocas, a Washington-based filmmaker and foodie, served as guest chef for the meal, alongside White House chef Cris Comerford, according to the White House, to create the meal that incorporated both Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions and which included dishes prepared by family members of several of the Seder’s attendees.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
What biblical villain is Obama most like (besides Haman, of course)?
UPDATE: On Wednesday, in an interview with JTA, Riskin took back his statement comparing Obama to Haman and said, “Let me make it very clear: Haman is not, God forbid, President Obama. Haman is Iran.”
In his seven years as president, Barack Obama has had plenty of unflattering comparisons thrown his way.
Detractors of the Democrat have likened him to such notorious figures as Nixon, Hitler and Machiavelli. There are even a series of conspiracy theory videos on YouTube claiming that Obama is not just likeOsama bin Laden but actually is bin Laden.
Over the weekend Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the chief rabbi of the West Bank settlement Efrat, added to the list in a speech he gave in Jerusalem, comparing Obama to Haman, the arch-villain of the Purim story whose genocidal plots are thwarted. Fleshing out the analogy, Riskin added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is Mordechai, one of the story’s heroes.
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From Russia Today
Ukraine’s neo-Nazi leader becomes top military adviser, legalizes fighters
“Colonel General Viktor Muzhenko, Chief of General Staff, and Dmytro Yarosh agreed the format of cooperation between ‘Pravy Sector’ [Right Sector] and the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Ukraine’s defense ministry said in a statement.
The appointment apparently comes after successful negotiations took place between the so-called Ukrainian Volunteer Corps (DUK Right Sector) and Ukraine’s top military command regarding possible options of incorporating the armed gangs inside the defense ministry’s structure of command.
