From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein accused of sexual assault
NEW YORK (JTA) — Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been accused of sexually assaulting a young woman in a Manhattan movie theater.
New York police questioned Weinstein, 63, over the weekend after a 22-year-old Italian woman said he had touched her breasts and genitals during a Friday night screening at the Tribeca Film Center, the New York Daily News reported.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has not yet decided whether or not to file charges, according to the Daily News.
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From PressTV
Human rights body submits report of Israeli war crimes to ICC
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has submitted a detailed report to the International Criminal Court (ICC) slamming Israel for war crimes and crimes against humanity during its devastating military onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip last summer.
The report by the Paris-based rights body was presented just days before Palestine is to be officially ratified as an ICC member.
The ICC prosecutor opened a file on the Israeli atrocities in Gaza at the request of Palestinians in January.
In the report, entitled “Trapped and Punished: The Gaza Civilian Population under Operation Protective Edge” and published on Friday, the FIDH pointed to the examples of indiscriminate and direct attacks against civilians and civilian objects, the disproportionate use of force as well as deliberate attacks targeting medical services during the Israeli war on Gaza, which was codenamed by the Israeli regime as “Operation Protective Edge.”
The nongovernmental rights body, which was the first organization that gained access to the Gaza Strip following a ceasefire in August last year, also presents testimonies collected from victims of the 50-day Israeli war on the coastal enclave.
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From PressTV
Palestinian factions censure Abbas’ call for ‘Gaza attack’
Palestinian resistance movements have strongly condemned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for what has been perceived as a call for the Arab states to take military action against the Gaza-based Hamas.
“These statements only serve Israel and target the Palestinian resistance. Israel wants to isolate Gaza from Muslims and Arab nations. Such remarks seem to serve that purpose. We also believe that these statements are to create hostilities among Muslims, Arabs alike, and undermine the Palestinian resistance,” Dawood Shebab, a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, told Press TV as thousands of protesters marched in Gaza City on Sunday to express disgust over Abbas’ “unpatriotic and hurtful” comments.
The protesters also said the 80-year-old, Ramallah-based Abu Mazen no longer represents the Palestinian nation.
Meanwhile, Hamas termed Abbas’ call for military action as another conspiracy against the Gaza Strip.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish House Dems call on Obama to cool rhetoric against Netanyahu
(JTA) — Some Jewish House Democrats called on President Barack Obama to tamp down the rhetoric against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
The Congress members issued the demand last week at a meeting with deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, Politico reported Sunday. The meeting was the latest in a series of regular briefings that Rhodes has been holding with Jewish members of Congress about the Iran nuclear negotiations.
Among the lawmakers at the meeting were Reps. Ted Deutch and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida; Jerry Nadler and Nita Lowey of New York; Adam Schiff and Brad Sherman of California; Jan Schakowsky of Illinois; and Sander Levin of Michigan.
Rhodes declined comment to Politico on the meeting but reportedly left agreeing to relay the lawmakers’ message on the rhetoric.
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From Russia Today
US dodges accusation of killing Iranian advisers in Iraq
The US has indicated no involvement after accusations from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which said an American drone strike killed two of its military advisers helping the Iraqi forces fight against the radical Islamist organization Islamic State.
The Revolutionary Guards said its people were killed in March 23, just after the US-led coalition started delivering airstrikes near Tikrit, where Iraqi forces are trying to take the city from the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS.
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From The Times of Israel
Obama to dial back Israel critique after Jewish Dems push back — report
Lawmakers in closed-door meeting say hard to support nuclear deal when it seems White House is stabbing Israel in the back, Politico reveals
Jewish Democratic lawmakers are reportedly calling on the White House to tone down its critique of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing the Obama administration of unfairly distributing blame for the impasse in peace efforts.
A dozen House Democrats met with deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes last week, according to Politico, where he was told President Barack Obama was seen as casting the blame for a lack of a diplomatic process with the Palestinians on Israel alone and offering no criticism of the Palestinians’ conduct.
At the same time, a White House official indicated that Washington was satisfied it had conveyed its message in disparaging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s disavowal of the two-state solution, and would cool its criticism of Israeli policies until a new coalition was formed, according to the Politicoreport.
Still, the official maintained the administration was waiting for Netanyahu to back up his support for the two-state solution with practical efforts to restart peace talks, saying “the next move is theirs.”
‘You want us to go out and say the administration’s got Israel’s back. How are you going to get us to say that, when our constituents believe that the administration is stabbing Israel in the back?’
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
‘The Daily Show’ chooses Jon Stewart’s successor
NEW YORK (JTA) – Trevor Noah, a biracial comedian from South Africa, will succeed Jon Stewart as host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central.
Noah, 31, joined the show as recently as September, and has had only three appearances on the program, according to The New York Times. In one, Noah lampooned the dearth of attention that the Western world devotes to Africa, particularly the misdeeds of the Nigerian Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram.
Stewart, 52, announced last month that he’d be retiring this year from “The Daily Show,” which he has hosted since 1999 and has become a cultural touchstone in some ways more influential in U.S. politics than serious-minded evening news programs. Stewart, who was born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz and is from New Jersey, often references his Jewish background on the show.
The winner of several Emmy and Peabody awards during Stewart’s tenure, “The Daily Show” also has become a launching ground for myriad successful comedians, including Steve Carell, star of the groundbreaking NBC comedy “The Office”; Stephen Colbert, who is slated to take over CBS’s “Late Show” from David Letterman; John Oliver, host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”; and Larry Wilmore, host of “The Nightly Show” on Comedy Central.
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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 The Times of Israel
Congress’s Black Caucus firmly against Netanyahu, Newsweek says
Sources say prime minister has lost support of influential group following anti-Arab election day comments, rift with Obama
African-American lawmakers from the US Congressional Black Caucus are said to be livid with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his election day remark about Arab voters, with a number of aides on Capitol Hill telling Newsweek Friday that he’s lost their support.
Early on the afternoon of election day, March 17, Netanyahu took to the Internet to rally right-wing supporters to the polls, insisting that Arabs were “voting in droves” and that foreign-funded NGOs were busing them to the polls. The comment prompted outrage at home and abroad, and resonated particularly poorly with a US racial minority that has faced a history of institutional discrimination. Netanyahu subsequently apologized for the remark.
Hostility to Netanyahu from the Black Caucus could undermine efforts to build bipartisan support among members of Congress to vote on key legislation blocking the imminent nuclear deal with Iran, which is backed by President Barack Obama and bitterly opposed by Netanyahu.
“The Congressional Black Caucus is gone,” a Democratic aide told Newsweek, speaking of the group’s support for Israel under Netanyahu.
Relations between Netanyahu and Obama are widely perceived as very poor, and they were aggravated by his decision to speak to Congress on March 3 against the Iran deal.
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