From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Arab-Israeli lawmaker, ex-diplomats slam Liberman’s call for beheading Arabs
(JTA) — An Arab-Israeli Knesset member called Israel’s foreign minister “Jewish Islamic State” after Avigdor Liberman said that Arab citizens who betray the country should be beheaded.
Ahmad Tibi, the head of the Arab Movement for Change (Ta’al) party, on Monday responded to remarks made the previous day by Liberman in Herzliya, The Jerusalem Post reported. Tibi has served in the Knesset since 1999.
Liberman, who chairs the Yisrael Beiteinu party, said in his speech, “Whoever is with us should get everything. Whoever is against us, there’s nothing else to do. We have to lift up an axe and remove his head, otherwise we won’t survive here.”
The foreign minister also said that Umm al-Fahm, a large Arab town in the Galilee, should be part of a future Palestinian state and not Israel.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Nuclear pact could end with Obama’s term, 47 GOP senators tell Iran
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Any nuclear agreement signed with President Barack Obama could end when he leaves office, a letter to Iran’s leaders signed by 47 Republican senators threatened.
The letter, first obtained by Bloomberg View, explains that without congressional approval, any agreement concerning Iran’s nuclear capabilities is “nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.”
The March 9 letter, initiated by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.), also was signed by potential presidential candidates Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).
“President Obama will leave office in January 2017, while most of us will remain in office well beyond then – perhaps decades,” the letter states. It points out that the Senate must ratify any treaty negotiated by the president by a two-thirds vote, part of an abbreviated lesson in the U.S. Constitutional system provided in the letter.
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From PressTV
Israel not to cede occupied land to Palestinians: Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Tel Aviv will not give away any occupied land to Palestinians, rejecting the idea of Palestinian statehood.
In a Sunday statement released by his right-wing Likud party, Netanyahu said that a speech he gave in 2009, endorsing a Palestinian statehood as a solution to decades of conflict, was now “irrelevant.”
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that [in light of] the situation that has arisen in the Middle East, any evacuated territory would fall into the hands of Islamic extremism and terror organizations supported by Iran. Therefore, there will be no concessions or withdrawals; they are simply irrelevant,” the statement read.
Later on Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said in response that the prime minister made no comment to that effect.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has made clear for years that given the current conditions in the Middle East, any territory that is given will be seized by radical Islam just like what happened [in] Gaza and in southern Lebanon,” Netanyahu’s office said.
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From PressTV
Israel destroys Palestinian house in West Bank
Israeli forces have razed to the ground a Palestinian house in a village in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli forces destroyed the house, which belonged to Palestinian Judge Kifah Abd al-Rahim Sholi, in the village of al-Jarushiyya in Tulkarem Governorate on Monday, Ma’an news agency reported.
According to local sources, the Israeli forces raided the village and destroyed the two-story building under the pretext that the house had been constructed without an Israeli permit.
“Security forces carried out the demolition of an illegal building which was constructed without the necessary permits,” Ma’an news agency quoted a statement by the Israeli Civil Administration as saying.
Over 560 Palestinian homes have been destroyed in the occupied West Bank so far this year.
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From PressTV
PA arrests dozens of Hamas members in West Bank
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has arrested 60 members of the resistance movement Hamas in a move that points to deteriorating relations between the two Palestinian factions.
A source from Hamas’ office in the West Bank told AFP on Monday that the PA security officials had arrested scores of Hamas members in the territory.
“We received information that 60 members of Hamas were arrested throughout the West Bank,” the anonymous source said without giving more details.
A source close to the PA, however, said 40 Hamas members had been arrested. Other reports suggest that the overall number of Hamas members arrested in the West Bank over the past weeks has exceeded 100.
The Palestinian Ma’an news agency, which is close to the PA, said the arrests began on Sunday with students and academics linked to the resistance group being detained. The report did not give more details on the exact number of people arrested.
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From PressTV
Iron Dome missile system cannot protect Israelis: Cmdr.
An Israeli military commander says the regime’s US-funded Iron Dome anti-missile system cannot fully protect Israelis living in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“We will thwart much rocket fire and will be effective in many areas, but we won’t know how to fully protect … Israel. It won’t happen. We will be harmed, but without Iron Dome we would be harmed even more,” Israel’s Air Force Commander Major General Amir Eshel said in an interview published in the March issue of the air force’s magazine.
The Israeli public’s expectation that the Iron Dome will provide a complete protection for them is unrealistic, Eshel added.
The Iron Dome is a short-range missile system designed to intercept rockets and artillery shells fired from a range of between four and 70 kilometers (2.5 to 43 miles).
It was established with the financial support of the United States and became operational in 2011.
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From Russia Today
Prime suspect says Nemtsov killed over ‘negative comments on Muslims’ – report
Zaur Dadaev, who had reportedly confessed involvement in Nemtsov’s murder, said he organized the crime in revenge for the opposition leader’s “negative comments on Muslims and Islam,” according to Rosbalt’s source in law enforcement.
Dadaev is one of five suspects arrested in connection with the politician’s assassination. The judge Natalia Mushnikova said on Sunday that Dadaev confessed his involvement in the crime to the investigators. The accused didn’t comment on this during the court session.
The Rosbalt news agency claims its source in the law enforcement knows exactly what Dadaev said during interrogation.
In January 2015, the suspect allegedly “learnt that Boris Nemtsov more than once allowed himself negative comments on Muslims living in Russia, prophet Mohammed and Islam,” according to the news agency.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Report by U.N. panel probing Gaza war crimes postponed for 3 months
(JTA) — The U.N. panel investigating possible war crimes during last summer’s Gaza conflict has received a three-month extension to present its report.
The report of the Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict was due to be published this month but was postponed to June, according to the United Nations. The panel had asked for the postponement.
“The commissioners have indicated their desire for more time in order to assess the information that they have collected – much of which has only been received in recent weeks,” a commission spokeswoman said. “These are complex issues – weighing the facts and considering the legal questions that arise is something that should not be rushed under any circumstances.”
The delay comes in part because of the resignation last month of the former head of the commission, William Schabas, after Israel provided evidence to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva that he had authored a seven-page legal opinion on behalf of the PLO for which he was paid.
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From Russia Today
Over 100 US armored vehicles roll into Latvia, NATO flexes muscles in Europe (VIDEO)
Latvia has confirmed more than 120 armored units, including tanks, have been delivered by the US. According to the Latvian Ministry of Defense, these include M1A2 Abrams tanks and M2A3 Bradley armored vehicles.
The move to deploy yet more tanks and armored vehicles was welcomed by Latvian Minister of Defense Raymond Vejonis.“The presence of our allies (US and NATO) in Latvia is a confirmation of solidarity and security in the region,” Vejonis said in a statement on Twitter.
The tanks were delivered to Latvia via Riga Freeport after being offloaded from the carrier ship Liberty Promise on Monday. US Army General John O’Conner who witnessed the tanks arriving on Latvian soil said, “Freedom must be fought for, freedom must be defended,” as reported by the US Embassy Riga Twitter feed.
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From Ynet News
Iran dismisses GOP letter while Obama says it aligns them with Iran hardliners
Obama slams Republicans senators for penning letter to Iranian leadership, saying next administration could nullify deal ‘in single swop of a pen’; while Iran dismisses it as propaganda.
US President Barack Obama responded to a letter sent by Republican senators to the Iranian leadership, saying calling it “somewhat ironic”, saying “it’s an unusual coalition” to see US Republicans talking directly to Iranian hard-liners.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday dismissed as of “no legal value” a letter from 47 US senators warning that any nuclear deal will require Congressional approval.
Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (Photo: AP)
In an open letter to the Islamic republic, the 47 Republicans, including Senate leaders and several potential 2016 presidential candidates, reminded Iranian leaders that President Barack Obama is in office only until January 2017, and a successor could scrap the agreement if Congress has not approved it.
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From The Times of Israel
US offers $5 million reward for return of US Jew missing in Iran
On eighth anniversary of Robert Levinson’s disappearance from Kish Island, reportedly on CIA operation, Kerry calls for his return
US Secretary of State John Kerry marked the eighth year since the disappearance in Iran of Jewish-American Robert Levinson with a plea for his safe return.
Kerry in a statement issued Monday called on the government of Iran to “work cooperatively with us on the investigation into his disappearance so we can ensure his safe return.”
Levinson, 67, of Coral Springs, Florida, disappeared from Kish Island. The statement said Levinson is one of the longest-held American citizens in history and that he has “spent more than 2,900 days separated from those who love him.”
His family acknowledged in the last couple of years that Levinson, a father of seven, had been working for the CIA in a rogue operation at the time of his disappearance. Levinson is a private detective and former FBI agent. For years it had been reported that he was working as a private investigator when he disappeared.
“We remain committed to the safe return of Mr. Levinson to his family and appreciate the support and assistance from our international partners,” Kerry said in the statement. “We remain concerned about Mr. Levinson’s health given his age and the length of his disappearance.”
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From The Times of Israel
Tibi says Liberman is ‘the Jewish Islamic State’
Police should probe Yisrael Beytenu for party head’s talk of ‘beheading’ Arab Israelis, Joint Arab List candidate says
MK Ahmad Tibi (Joint Arab List) called Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman “the Jewish Islamic State” Monday. Tibi was responding to comments by Liberman, who said that Israel needs to “raise an axe and take off the head” of Israeli Arabs who oppose the state.
Earlier, Zionist Union co-leader Tzipi Livni said her party’s worldview diverged significantly from that of Likud and that the chances for a unity government were thus slim.
Earlier Monday, experts from the UN nuclear watchdog held talks in Tehran in their investigation into decade-old allegations of possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
U.S. Senator Ben Cardin Named Anti-Semitism Watchdog for OSCE
Warns About ‘Pervasiveness of Prejudice’ Shown by Paris and Copenhagen Attacks
Cardin (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the senior Democratic senator on the U.S. Helsinki Commission, was tapped on Monday for the newly created position, which aims to raise awareness about prejudice and discrimination, including anti-Semitism and race-based intolerance.
“No longer content to simmer below the surface, the recent heinous attacks in Paris and Copenhagen have demonstrated the severity and pervasiveness of anti-Semitism and prejudice in the world today,” Cardin said in a statement, adding, “I have long fought to shine a spotlight on such activity and supported efforts to address the root causes fueling hate crimes and other forms of discrimination.”
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Why Bibi Nixed Two-State Solution
By J.J. Goldberg
Netanyahu and the Likud issued a series of statements variously calling the purported document either a fake or a genuine American draft that Netanyahu’s adviser had helped to draft, even though the prime minister flatly rejected its contents. In a final effort to distance himself from the concessions, he announced on Sunday that he no longer endorsed Palestinian statehood.
While Netanyahu was trying to distance himself from that document, however, Israel’s Channel 10 Television on Sunday evening reported on yet another document offering similarly sweeping concessions in Netanyahu’s name. This second document was a letter reportedly given to Quartet negotiator Tony Blair by Netanyahu’s then-adviser Ron Dermer, currently Israeli ambassador in Washington, expressing willingness to accept the “consensus of the international community” and withdraw from all the territories Israel captured in 1967, with some land swaps. Channel 10 investigative reporter Raviv Drucker reported the Dermer letter but gave no indication of its date. (Dermer has denied offering any withdrawals.)
