From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Report: Khamenei hospitalized in serious condition
(JTA) — Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly has been hospitalized with late-stage cancer.
Unofficial reports have emerged that Khamenei, 75, has stage-four prostate cancer and two years left to live, according to the Jerusalem Post. Khamenei reportedly has had the cancer for a decade, but doctors discovered during a surgery in September 2014 that the cancer had spread.
In Iran, the public has not been officially informed of Khamenei’s illness. The ayatollah holds absolute authority over Iran, including the final say on an accord being negotiated between the United States, world powers and Iran over its nuclear program.
Khamenei became supreme leader in 1989 following the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led Iran’s 1979 revolution. It is not clear who would succeed Khamenei should he step down or die.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Cars torched and building vandalized in alleged ‘price tag’ attack
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Two cars were torched and a building was vandalized in a Palestinian West Bank village near Ramallah.
The graffiti on the building read “Death to Arabs” in Hebrew. Residents of the village, al-Mughayir, said Thursday that the incident was a “price tag” attack committed by Israeli settlers, according to the Times of Israel.
Perpetrated by right-wing Israeli extremists in response to perceived anti-settlement policies, price tag attacks have occurred in Arab villages and neighborhoods throughout the West Bank and Israel. Israeli officials have vowed to fight the attacks.
Israeli police will enter al-Mughayir to investigate the incident.
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From PressTV
Israeli siege dashes Gazans’ hope for future: UN
The United Nations’ humanitarian office has criticized the persisting siege imposed on the Gaza Strip by Israel, saying the blockade has shattered the hopes of Gazans for a “prosperous future.”
“Longstanding restrictions on the movement of people and goods to and from Gaza have undermined the living conditions of 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza,” The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest report on Gaza, which was released on Thursday.
The Gaza Strip has been under a crippling Israeli siege since 2007. The blockade has led to an economic and humanitarian crisis in the densely-populated enclave.
“These restrictions have reduced access to livelihoods, essential services and housing, disrupted family life, and undermined the people’s hopes for a secure and prosperous future,” the UN office said.
The report further shed light on how the misery is deteriorated by the restrictions Egypt has imposed in the Rafah border crossing (seen below).
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From The Times of Israel
BBC reporter under fire for saying Netanyahu ‘played Holocaust card’
Jeremy Bowen rebuts as ‘untrue and offensive’ criticism that his comments had anti-Semitic undertones
March 5, 2015, 4:28 pm
A BBC reporter vehemently denied accusations Thursday that a tweet he composed a day earlier regarding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s US Congress speech had anti-Semitic undertones.
Jeremy Bowen, who covered the Israeli leader’s controversial address on Iran in Washington, tweeted that the leader had mentioned Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, then added that Netanyahu had once again played “the Holocaust card.”
The tweet was immediately slammed by Jewish groups and social media users across the board.
“Mr Bowen’s idea is that when an Israeli leader mentions the Holocaust he is being tricksy, manipulative, acting in bad faith, ‘playing a card’ to get narrow advantage in contemporary politics, not really expressing a genuine thought about the Holocaust itself or a genuine fear about a second, nuclear, Holocaust,” Alan Johnson wrote on the Jewish Chronicle website.
#NetanyahuSpeech He acknowledges Elie Wiesel in audience. Once again Netanyahu plays the holocaust card. don’t repeat mistakes of the past
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
PLO votes to cut security cooperation with Israel
(JTA) — The central council of the Palestine Liberation Organization has decided to end all of its security cooperation with Israel.
In a statement issued Thursday, the PLO explained that the decision was made in response to “Israel’s systematic and ongoing non-compliance with its obligations under signed agreements, including its daily military raids throughout the State of Palestine, attacks against our civilians and properties.”
It is not clear whether PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas will confirm the move, which is the latest in a series of escalatory actions by Israel and the Palestinians. Sources told the Guardian that Abbas supports the decision.
Since the Oslo Accord in 1993, the Palestinian Authority and Israel have shared intelligence information in order to prevent violence. Israeli troops coordinate with Abbas’ forces in the West Bank.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Iran FM: Iran “has saved Jews three times in its history”
(JTA) — In an extensive interview, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused Israel of supporting terrorism, said Iran does not want to produce a nuclear weapon and praised his country for protecting Jews.
Speaking to NBC News’ Ann Curry Wednesday, Zarif said the current Israeli regime “should be annihilated” but insisted that Iran harbors no ill will toward Jews.
He accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of having “butchered innocent chidren in Gaza” and called Israel “a threat to regional peace.” Zarif claimed that Israel harbors and supports members of the Jabhat al-Nusra Front, a Syrian Islamist terror group.
The hourlong interview came one day after Netanyahu addressed a joint session of the United States Congress, criticizing a possible accord among the U.S., world powers and Iran on the Iranian nuclear program.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
In first, NYC schools to close for Muslim holidays
NEW YORK (JTA) — New York will become the first major city to close its public schools for Muslim holidays.
Schools will be shuttered for the Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha holidays, which rotate around the secular calendar because they are pegged to the Muslim non-leap lunar calendar. Several other smaller municipalities already close their schools for those holy days, including Cambridge, Mass.; Dearborn, Mich.; and Paterson, N.J., but no major metropolis does, according to The New York Times.
A 2008 study by Columbia University found that about 10 percent of students in New York City’s schools are Muslim, the newspaper reported.
The announcement fulfills a campaign pledge by New York City’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, who called it a “matter of simple fairness.” The announcement came on Wednesday.
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From Russia Today
ISIS taking advantage of Syrian conflict, opposition & govt should cease fire – UN envoy tells RT
Published time: March 06, 2015 04:14
It would be far more easy to address the issue of ISIS in Syria if the opposition and the government negotiated a ceasefire, the UN envoy Staffan de Mistura told RT, emphasizing that the mediators’ role is to help Syrian people find a Syrian solution.
RT: Do you think it would be easier to solve the conflict if the Syrian people were to deal with the situation by themselves? In fact we now have so many players and so many negotiators, is that getting in the way of solving the situation or is it helpful?
Staffan de Mistura: It is clear. We are stating it and the Syrian people are asking for it that ultimately the solution for this conflict needs to be found by the Syrian people. They are very proud people, very strong-minded people – [this is] all their history. To help them to reach that… in fact the goal of the UN mediator is to facilitate the environment so that the people can talk to each other, Syrian people.
From Ynet News
Rebbe: Gays deserve no rights, just like murderers
Grand Rabbi Mayer Alter Horowitz, leader of Boston Hasidic dynasty’s Har Nof branch, says religious homosexuals have two options: To suppress their sexual desires or marry a woman. A prominent American Hasidic rabbi says the LGBT community is not entitled to equal rights, just like it would be unthinkable for murderers to unite and demand rights regarding their violent tendencies.
Grand Rabbi Mayer Alter Horowitz, the Rebbe of the Har Nof branch of the Boston Hasidic dynasty, made the comment during a rare press conference at his Jerusalem home, in which he declared that Eli Yishai’s Yachad–Ha’am Itanu party can be considered an ultra-Orthodox party and should receive the votes of members of the haredi sector who feel misrepresented by Shas and United Torah Judaism.
The Rebbe ruled that haredim must not vote for the Bayit Yehudi party due to its part in the IDF draft law, which imposes criminal sanctions on certain yeshiva students who don’t serve in the army, and because it is in favor of granting civil rights to same-sex couples.
From The Times of Israel
US seeks UN action against Syria chlorine attacks
Draft Security Council resolution calls for sanctions, possible armed force in event of future non-compliance
March 5, 2015, 4:35 am
The United States is pushing the UN Security Council to threaten tough measures against the Syrian regime over its alleged use of chlorine in attacks, according to a draft resolution circulated to members on Wednesday.
The text obtained by AFP states that the Security Council “decides in the event of future non-compliance… to impose measures under chapter 7″ of the UN charter, which provides for sanctions and possibly military force.
The draft resolution submitted to the 15 council members “condemns in the strongest terms any use of any toxic chemical, such as chlorine, as a weapon in the Syrian Arab Republic.”
The US move at the United Nations followed a report by the OPCW chemical watchdog in January that concluded “with a high degree of confidence” that chlorine gas had been used in attacks on three villages in Syria last year.
At least 13 people died in the attacks that were carried out from April to August, according to the report by the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
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