From Russia Today
Netanyahu’s campaign video: Liberals to let ISIS into Israel
Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants are advancing in Syria and Iraq, prompting not only international efforts to stop them, but also spreading fear through media with countless reports on executions of homosexuals, as well as those who smoke or use mobile phones.
In a controversial move, Netanyahu’s Likud party has decided to capitalize on those fears ahead of the Knesset elections set for March 17.
From The Times of Israel
Liberman calls for ‘war on Islamic terror’
In wake of Copenhagen attacks, foreign minister says Israel, Jews are canaries in the terror coal mine
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said Sunday morning that the ongoing terror incidents in Copenhagen over the weekend prove the need for “a truly uncompromising war against Islamic terror and its causes.”
A shooting at a free speech event featuring an artist who had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad and a second shooting hours later outside a synagogue left two dead and five police officers wounded in Copenhagen, stirring fears that another terror spree was under way in a European capital a month after 17 people were killed in Paris attacks.
Police couldn’t say whether the shootings at a cultural center Saturday afternoon and in front of the synagogue early Sunday were connected, but didn’t rule it out. In both shootings, the gunman got away.
The Jews, Liberman said, were the canary in the coalmine.
“The string of terror incidents in Copenhagen, at the synagogue and at the free speech event, prove what we have been saying for years, that Israel and the Jews are the first to experience this terror because they are the front line in the terror war against the West and the entire free world,” the foreign minister insisted.
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From The Independent
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Boehner: I kept Netanyahu speech secret to stop White House from interfering
WASHINGTON (JTA) — John Boehner, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said he kept the White House out of the loop when he invited Benjamin Netanyahu to speak to Congress because he did not want it to interfere.
“I wanted to make sure that there was no interference,” Rep. Boehner (R-Ohio), said Sunday in an interview with Chris Wallace on the Fox News Channel.
The White House and congressional Democrats have complained that Boehner and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer did not consult with the White House or Democrats before organizing a speech to Congress to take place March 3.
Boehner said he wanted Netanyahu to speak in part because he wants him to rebut Obama’s claims that nuclear talks underway between Iran and the major powers are constructive.
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From Russia Today
‘Observed in general’: France, Germany, Kiev & rebels agree truce holding
The ceasefire in eastern Ukraine was being generally observed despite local incidents, which were quickly resolved, said France and Germany’s joint statement, issued by the Elysees Palace on Sunday. The statement was published after President Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel held a telephone conversation with President Vladimir Putin and President Petro Poroshenko.
The Normandy Four leaders are also set to continue talks Monday, according to Ukraine’s presidential website.
From The Times of Israel
Argentine officials rally behind president after indictment
Interior and transportation minister dismiss allegations that Cristina Kirchner covered up Iran’s role in 1994 bombing
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Members of Argentina’s government rallied behind President Cristina Kirchner on Saturday, tossing aside allegations she protected Iranian suspects in an investigation into a 1994 bombing.
“It’s utter nonsense,” Interior and Transportation minister Florencio Randazzo said of the allegations.
An indictment filed Friday against Kirchner endorsed the claim made by investigating prosecutor Alberto Nisman before he was found dead on the eve of a congressional hearing.
Nisman was leading an investigation into the bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association which killed 85 people.
He had alleged Kirchner protected high-ranking Iranian officials from prosecution in the bombing probe.
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From The Times of Israel
Argentina’s government accuses courts of ‘judicial coup’
After president charged with cover-up in Jewish center bombing, her confidants call prosecutors liars bent on destabilizing democracy
The cabinet chief of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said Friday the courts were trying to stage a “judicial coup” by accusing the embattled leader of a cover-up scandal, and lashed out at prosecutors’ plans to hold a march next Wednesday to mark one month since the mysterious death of the top investigator in the case.
The prosecutor who inherited the high-profile case against Kirchner on Friday reaffirmed the accusations, formally renewing the investigation into whether the president helped Iranian officials cover up their alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center.
Prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita’s decision to go forward with the case was significant because it sets the stage for a close examination of the investigation that prosecutor Alberto Nisman was building before he was found dead on January 18. The next day, Nisman was scheduled to elaborate his accusations to Congress.
Nisman accused Kirchner, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and others in her administration of brokering the cover-up in exchange for favorable deals on oil and other goods from Iran. Kirchner and Timerman have strongly denied the accusations, and Iran has repeatedly denied involvement in the bombing, which killed 85 people.
In his statement released Friday afternoon, Pollicita recounted Nisman’s accusations without providing analysis of them. He concluded that an investigation was necessary to “achieve a degree of understanding to prove or disprove the factual and dogmatic extremes expressed in the preceding paragraphs.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
In Israel, Huckabee supports Netanyahu visit, opposes Iran talks
JERUSALEM (JTA) — On a visit to Israel, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee voiced support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s impending address to Congress.
Huckabee, a likely 2016 Reublican candidate for president, also dismissed the prospects of ongoing American negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. To prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, he said, America should place heavy sanctions on Iran while maintaining the threat of a military strike.
“Make it very clear [Iran is] not going to have a nuclear weapon, whether it’s economic sanctions or military action, everything is on the table,” Huckabee told reporters Sunday in Jerusalem. “To negotiate with someone who cannot negotiate with good faith is like trusting the snake. But the snake is sitll going to bite you when it can.”
Huckabee said Netanyahu should “absolutely” address a joint session of Congress next month on the Iranian program, a speech many have criticized as damaging to the U.S.-Israel relationship. Huckabee said Netanyahu can alert Congress to the nuclear program’s threats, adding that Israel has broad bipartisan support in Congress despite some Democrats’ criticizing the speech.
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From The Times of Israel
US to stop updating Israel on Iran nuclear talks — TV report
Washington’s chief negotiator reportedly says information is being used for political ends; Israel, State Department deny claims
The US has stopped updating Israel on progress in talks with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, Channel 2 reported Sunday. The report was quickly denied in Israel and the US.
According to the TV report, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice has cut off contact with Israeli National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen on the talks. It also quoted chief US negotiator Wendy Sherman as saying that she will no longer keep Israel informed of the attack.
The channel characterized the move as revenge for Netanyahu’s planned speech to Congress next month, which has raised the ire of the Obama administration.
But a senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel that the report is false.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there were meetings between Israeli and US officials on the issue in Munich last week, documents were exchanged and more meetings have been planned. The official said Cohen is going to Washington for a visit as planned in the coming days.
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From The Times of Israel
Left-wing NGOs warn settler group’s video could incite to violence
Animated clip by Samaria Settlers’ Committee employs anti-Semitic tropes; Netanyahu comes out against ad
Left-wing Israeli organizations are calling for the Attorney General to investigate a Jewish settler organization under Israel’s anti-incitement law for a video it shared on social media.
The Samaria Settlers’ Committee, an organization headed by veteran settler leader and Gush Emunim founder Benny Katzover, uploaded the two-minute-long animated clip to YouTube on Saturday. Its critics accuse it of being anti-Semitic and an incitement to violence against the leaders, members and supporters of left-wing organizations.
The video, which has been viewed close to 30,000 times in less than a day, is indeed replete with anti-Semitic tropes and makes clear allusions to the Nazis.
