From The Times of Israel
Boehner ‘a bit shocked’ by report Israel spied on Iran talks
‘Baffled’ house speaker insists ‘no information revealed to me whatsoever,’ after US officials say leaked details were back-channeled to legislators
The top Republican in Congress said Tuesday he was “shocked” by a report that Israel spied on Iranian nuclear talks but insisted he did not know whether information was shared with US lawmakers.
The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday that in addition to Israelis spying on the highly-sensitive negotiations between Tehran and world powers, details were back-channeled to US legislators in an effort to sabotage the deal intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program.
“Frankly I was a bit shocked, because, there was no information revealed to me whatsoever,” said House Speaker John Boehner, who will visit Israel in coming weeks following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election victory.
On the apparent leaking of details to unnamed members of Congress, Boehner said, “I’m not aware of that at all.”
Many Republicans are opposed to any accord that would not outright eliminate Iran’s entire nuclear program, rather than merely freeze or contain it.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israeli officials deny report that Israel spied on U.S.-Iran talks
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Israeli officials denied a report that Israel spied on closed-door talks held between the United States and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program.
Israel provided the inside information to Republican members of Congress in order to turn them against the deal, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday night in a story that appeared the next day in the newspaper’s print edition. The story cited anonymous “current and former U.S. officials.”
“It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S. legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy,” a senior U.S. official told the newspaper, indicating that it was not so much the alleged spying that angered the White House but the meddling in its relations with Congress.
The White House discovered that Israel was collecting information when U.S. intelligence agencies spying on Israel intercepted communications among Israeli officials that included details of the confidential talks, U.S. officials told the newspaper.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jeb Bush disagrees with James Baker’s critique of Israel, Netanyahu
(JTA) — Jeb Bush said he disagrees with critical comments on Israel made by former Secretary of State James Baker, his unofficial foreign policy adviser.
Baker, a close friend of the Bush family, said at the liberal group J Street’s conference on Monday night that he was “disappointed” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attitude toward a two-state solution.
“Frankly, I have been disappointed with the lack of progress regarding a lasting peace — and I have been for some time,” Baker said. He also said that when it comes to pushing for a two-state solution, Netanyahu’s “actions have not matched his rhetoric.”
In response, a spokeswoman for Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2016, said in an email on Tuesday, “While [Bush] respects Secretary Baker, he disagrees with the sentiments he expressed last night and opposes J Street’s advocacy.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
House establishes bipartisan task force to combat anti-Semitism
WASHINGTON (JTA) – A bipartisan task force to combat anti-Semitism around the world was established by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The task force launched Tuesday is designed to educate Congress about anti-Semitism, which its members referred to as “the 21st century face of this age-old bigotry.”
Congress members will share ideas with the executive branch, foreign leaders and other organizations on combating anti-Semitism. It also will promote Holocaust remembrance through teaching tolerance and confronting hate.
“Jewish populations are facing increased levels of hatred, frequently under the guise of political differences or other alibis, but in reality it is solely because of their faith,” task force co-chairs Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Kay Granger (R-Tex.), Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) said in a statement.
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From PressTV
Israel, settlers grabbing Palestine land: UK minister
The Israeli regime with the assistance of a “radical” settler group has been grabbing Palestinian land under the pretext of providing protection for historic archaeological sites, a British minister says.
“We are aware of the link between the Elad (settler) group and the Israel Antiquities Authority. We are concerned that this link has led to Israel Antiquities Authority’s support of radical settler activities in and around the Old City under the guise of tourism and protection of Jewish history,” UK Foreign Office Minister Baroness Anelay said.
The settler group is infamous for colonizing Palestinian land by driving Palestinian residents out of their dwellings.
“Such actions not only aggravate mounting pressures in East Jerusalem but serve to increase tension around the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif and further complicate future attempts to negotiate a political resolution on the city,” the British minister added.
According to reports, the extremist settler group has previously paid the Israeli Antiquities Authority to dig deep trenches near Palestinian homes and mosques in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
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From Russia Today
Poroshenko fires oligarch governor amid oil company standoff
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree relieving Dnepropetrovsk Governor Igor Kolomoysky from his post, the president’s website said. The resignation came after a meeting between the two, amid the ongoing standoff around oil giant Ukrnafta.
According to the presidential website, Kolomoysky decided to hand in his resignation, which the president accepted.
“We need to ensure peace, stability and tranquility. Dnepropetrovsk region should remain a bastion of Ukraine in the east,” Poroshenko said while commenting on his decision. Meanwhile, Valentin Reznichenko was named acting governor of the eastern region.
The seemingly peaceful resolution came in stark contrast with statements voiced earlier by Kolomoysky’s deputy, Gennady Korban, who on Tuesday said that “Kiev is occupied by thieves, and these thieves must go and free the way for honest people” and accused Poroshenko’s government of “lying” about decentralization of power in the country and success in the so-called anti-terror operation in the east.
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From PressTV
Israel sentences Palestinian to 15.5 years in prison
An Israeli court has handed down a 15.5-year prison term to a Palestinian man for defending the Gaza Strip during the Tel Aviv regime’s 50-day military offensive against the blockaded sliver last summer.
According to reports on Tuesday, the Beersheba district court convicted 24-year-old Mohammed Abu Zaraj for allegedly trying to attack the Israeli soldiers last year.
Zaraj, a member of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, was detained on July 27, 2014 after he and a number of other Palestinian fighters “set explosive charges” on the way of an Israeli military convoy during the Gaza war, the court said.
“When [Israeli] soldiers neared the spot, they laid down heavy fire at the accused and members of the squad, which prevented (them)… setting off the charges or returning fire,” the court claimed.
Israel unleashed aerial attacks on Gaza in July 2014 and later expanded its military campaign with a ground invasion of the Palestinian coastal enclave.
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From The Times of Israel
Dermer dines with freshman Democrats
Looking to reduce tensions, Israeli ambassador joins Rep. Steve Israel to host lawmakers at official residence
WASHINGTON — Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer dined with a group of freshman Democrats from the House of Representatives Monday evening, seeking to quiet the acrimony between some Democrats and the Embassy in Washington following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress early this month.
House sources confirmed to the Times of Israel that the dinner, first reported by CNN, was taking place. They said that the invitation was extended only to Democratic freshman. Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), who brokered the evening get-together at the ambassador’s residence, has spoken out in recent days that there is no contradiction between being a pro-Israel Jew and a Democrat.
Speaking on CNN Sunday, Rep. Israel criticized those who “reduce the relationship between Israel and the United States to a political football.”
Israel was one of the Democratic legislators who escorted Netanyahu to the House floor as he prepared to deliver the speech that spurred this round of acrimony. Some Democrats joined the Obama administration in criticizing Netanyahu for accepting the invitation brokered between Dermer and Speaker of the House John Boehner to speak before both houses of Congress. Netanyahu’s speech challenged the administration’s position in talks with Iran, noted that he had previously publicly disagreed with the Obama administration over a number of Israel-related concerns.
During his CNN interview, he said, “Everybody needs to take a deep breath and step back.”
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
Can Israeli American Council Grow Without Kow-Towing to Big Donors Like Sheldon Adelson?
Awash in Cash, Group Insists Its No Straw Man
By Nathan Guttman
When leaders of the Israeli American Council described the new community center they intend to build for Israeli expats in the San Fernando Valley, and the $10 million price tag that comes with it, hands were raised from the audience that gathered in Los Angeles on March 9 at the Beverly Hills Hilton. A $3.6 million pledge was announced, then came a matching pledge of another $3.6, and within minutes the entire project was covered. But the fundraising fête was not done until the group’s key backers, Sheldon Adelson and his Israeli-born wife, Miriam Adelson, added their own pledge: $12 million — an increase from their $10 million gift to the IAC last year.
Jewish organizations, most of them older and more established than the IAC, can only envy such a fundraising night, which ended with $23.5 million in the coffers of an 8-year-old organization set up to serve as a communal voice for Israelis living in America.
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From Ynet News
Ukrainian Jews fleeing war arrive in Israel in time for Passover
110 Ukrainian Jews arrive in Israel for holidays, majority are refugees who fled fighting in eastern Ukraine. With one week to go before Passover, 110 new Ukrainian immigrants landed in Israel on Tuesday morning.
The majority of newcomers are refugees who fled the fighting zones in the eastern part of the Ukraine including the husband of a woman killed by a direct rock hit that slammed into their house in early February.
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
The Anti-Semitism Surge That Isn’t
Editorial
From this, Trinity sent out a press release trumpeting the findings — a “high rate of anti-Semitism” the headline declared. Religion News Services termed it “the new anti-Semitism.” The Connecticut Jewish Ledger said the survey indicated “an alarming trend.”
Then The New York Times weighed in, claiming that “reports of anti-Israeli or anti-Jewish sentiment have been on the rise across the country in recent years, especially directed at younger Jews, researchers said.” Other news outlets echoed this frightful narrative, and you could feel it earn legitimacy, fanned not only by those with a vested interest in scaring us but also because it fed a deeper anxiety. Is the violence against European Jews making its way to our shores? Are extraordinary measures needed to keep Jewish college students safe?
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From the Jewish Daily Forward
At Jew-Centric J Street, Arabs Ask the Best Questions
By Lisa Goldman
For the Jews who attended this year’s J Street Conference, the event was an expression of community, idealism and ideology. In a way, it was about how Israel was all about us, the Jews. It was about our values and our identity, which have been so inextricably intertwined with the state of Israel since 1967. And about how the re-election of Netanyahu, for a fourth term in office, was a turning point for liberal American Jews.
Even the panels that included Palestinians, whether they were citizens of Israel or from the occupied territories, were less about Palestinian rights and more about how realizing their rights would affect the Jews’ status in Israel.
