From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Biden: U.S. will go to war to keep Iran from going nuclear
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Vice President Joe Biden said the United States was willing to go to war to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
War was “unpredictable,” Biden said Thursday evening addressing the 30th anniversary dinner of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, but “if required, it will happen. It is a risk that we may yet have to take should Iran rush to a bomb.”
Biden’s warning was the bluntest ever threat from any administration of war against Iran should it pursue a nuclear weapon. The George W. Bush administration introduced the locution “all options are on the table,” and that has remained until now the favored formulation.
“The finest military in history remains at the ready,” Biden said. “Don’t underestimate my friend Barack Obama. He has a spine of steel and he is willing to do what it takes to keep our allies safe.”
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From The Times of Israel
British PM offers defense of Israeli attacks in Gaza
One week before UK election, Cameron tells Jewish paper ‘it’s important to speak out’ for Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’
April 29, 2015, 1:14 pm
Just over a week before his country’s general election, Britain’s Conservative leader Prime Minister David Cameron came out firmly in support of “standing by Israel and Israel’s right to defend itself.”
In an interview with the British Jewish newspaper The Jewish Chronicle, Cameron contrasted Hamas rocket fire with Israeli strikes against Gaza in last summer’s war between the two sides.
“Obviously we regret the loss of life wherever it takes place, but I do think there’s an important difference – as Prime Minister Netanyahu put it: Israel uses its weapons to defend its people and Hamas uses its people to defend its weapons,” Cameron said in the interview, which is due to be published in full on Thursday.
“What I’ve seen is the attacks that take place on Israel and the indiscriminate nature of them. As PM, putting yourself in the shoes of the Israeli people, who want peace but have to put up with these indiscriminate attacks — that reinforces to me the importance of standing by Israel and Israel’s right to defend itself,” Cameron said.
“I feel very strongly that this equivalence that sometimes people try to draw when these attacks take place is so completely wrong and unfair. Because Israel is trying defend against indiscriminate attacks, while trying to stop the attackers – and there’s such a difference between that and the nature of the indiscriminate attacks that Israel receives. I feel that very clearly. I’ve seen it very clearly as prime minister and I think it’s important to speak out about it,” he said.
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From The Times of Israel
U. of Illinois slammed for withdrawing job offer over anti-Jewish tweets
American Association of University Professors says rescinding the appointment of Steven Salaita is violation of academic freedom
May 1, 2015, 3:48 am
The University of Illinois violated the principles of academic freedom and tenure in rescinding the appointment of Steven Salaita over anti-Semitic tweets, a professors’ association found.
The American Association of University Professors released a report this week with its findings. It will vote next month on whether to censure the university at its annual meeting, the Daily Illini student newspaper reported.
The university’s trustees voted in September to reject the faculty recommendation that Salaita be appointed to a tenured position with the American Indian studies program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The vote followed the recommendation of the university’s president and chancellor, who had announced previously that they would not submit Salaita’s appointment to the board before changing course and asking for a vote to reject.
According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, the board’s action in rejecting a faculty appointment was rare and possibly unprecedented.
The university had announced over the summer that Salaita would be joining the faculty. Chancellor Phyllis Wise revoked the appointment after being made aware of tweets by Salaita attacking Israel and its U.S. supporters in harsh language.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker won’t take press on first Israel trip
(JTA) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will not be accompanied by members of the press on his first political trip to Israel.
The trip to Israel “will be a listening tour,” AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Walker’s Our American Revival PAC, told Buzzfeed last week. “It’ll happen mid-May and we won’t be having any press join.”
Walker does not have much foreign policy experience, and the trip is seen as a way to improve his international policy credentials before an expected run for president as a Republican candidate in 2016.
“He is interested in hearing firsthand Israel’s concerns about the future of our alliance and identifying ways to restore the ruptured bonds between our two countries,” Strong said. “He is very concerned about the rise of Iran, the spread of radical Islamic terrorism, and the turmoil in Syria and Iraq, and is interested in understanding the views of the Israelis on how we confront these shared challenges.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Ethiopian-Israelis riot in Jerusalem over attacks by police
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Ethiopian-Israeli protesters clashed with police during demonstrations throughout Jerusalem over two attacks against Ethiopian-Israelis by Israeli law enforcement.
On Thursday afternoon, some 1,000 protesters blocked roads and the Jerusalem Light Rail, and threw rocks and bottles at police sent to quell the rioting. At least three police officers and eight demonstrators have been injured.
The protests over alleged police brutality and racism were sparked by the two beatings this week of Ethiopian-Israelis, both captured on video. On Wednesday, inspectors from the Population and Immigration Authority beat a Beersheba man who they mistook for an African migrant. On Sunday, police officers beat a soldier who was wearing his uniform.
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From Ynet News
‘Quenelle’ performed in middle of French Parliament
Anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonné posts picture of two young men performing inverted Nazi salute during tour of National Assembly. ‘Bravo, thank you for your support! You are everywhere,’ he writes. The“quenelle,” the inverted Nazi salute, reached the French Parliament this week when two young men posed for a picture while performing the anti-Semitic gesture, apparently during a tour of the National Assembly.
Their picture was posted on the Facebook page of controversial French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, who praised and congratulated them.
French Parliament Member Meyer Habib responded to the incident by sending an urgent letter to National Assembly President Claude Bartolone, demanding that the two men be found and prosecuted.
From Ynet News
Belarus leader raps Jewish governor for not taking Jews ‘under control’
President Lukashenko calls out Minsk governor Shapiro in national speech, praises Jewish population for resistance to Nazi occupation: ‘They don’t like to get their hands dirty or fight, but they did get their hands dirty with us!’ Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko criticized on Wednesday a Jewish regional governor in Belarus for not taking the country’s Jewish population “under control” as he had ordered.
In a state-of-the-nation address, Lukashenko expressed annoyance that a popular online publication, which has a Jewish director, had criticized his decree imposing a tax on people who worked fewer than 183 days a year.
From The Times of Israel
Plan for US-Israel anti-tunnel R&D project clears first House hurdle
Congressional committee okays amendment for an Iron Dome-style joint program designed to combat terror tunnels
April 30, 2015, 1:22 am
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of Congress members unanimously approved adding an amendment authorizing research and development of an anti-tunneling defense system for Israel’s protection to the year’s most important defense legislation Wednesday.
The amendment combined language from two pre-existing bills – one sponsored by Rep. Gwen Graham (D-FL) and the other by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) – into a bipartisan amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual must-pass bill that specifies the Defense Department’s budget and expenditures.
The amendment was added to the NDAA by a unanimous voice vote, during a marathon session of the House Armed Service Committee, and will likely remain as part of the bill that will come before the full House of Representatives for a floor vote. The NDAA is considered must-pass legislation, as it secures funding for American national defense, including long-term big-ticket projects and procurements as well as funding the day-to-day operations of the world’s most expensive military.
According to its sponsors, the Lamborn-Graham amendment will authorize R&D of an anti-tunneling defense system to protect Israel from terror attacks, such as those incursions by Gazan terrorists which terrified southern Israeli communities in the summer of 2014. Israeli residents along the northern border with Lebanon have also repeatedly expressed concerns that Hezbollah was currently tunneling entries to Israeli villages in order to launch major terror attacks.
Tunnels were used to launch the 2006 Hamas raid that led to the kidnapping of St.-Sgt. Gilad Shalit, as well as the kidnapping of the body of Lt. Hadar Goldin’s during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge in Rafah. Last summer alone, the Israel Defense Forces discovered 32 tunnels, 14 of which crossed into Israel.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Sen. Bernie Sanders makes run for president official
(JTA) — Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont made it official: He will run for president as a Democrat.
An Independent who calls himself a “Democratic Socialist,” Sanders made the announcement Thursday morning in an email to supporters. He had confirmed the run a day earlier in an interview with The Associated Press.
Sanders, who is Jewish, joined the U.S. Senate in 2007. Prior to that he had served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991.
“Throughout his career, Sen. Sanders has fiercely fought for progressive values – values that characterize the vast majority of Jewish Americans. We are particularly pleased to see a strong Jewish progressive leader entering the race in what should be a moment of pride for all Jewish Americans,” the National Jewish Democratic Council said in a statement.
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From Russia Today
Ukraine takes steps to replace Russian news channels with ‘tasteful erotica’
Cash-strapped Ukraine is considering issuing licenses to several adult broadcasters to make up the financial shortfall resulting from the ban on Russian television channels.
“We’ve received applications from several erotica channels. I am emphasizing, these are erotica – not hardcore porn. We are evaluating these applications,”said Yuri Artemenko, the head of the national broadcasting council, according to RBC Ukraine, a financial news channel.
“We understand that in the difficult conditions of doing business since the banning of Russian broadcasters, these are an additional means of survival, particularly for cable providers.”
Artemenko said that cable companies and broadband providers have composed a “voluntary memorandum” to avoid broadcasting “content that could be harmful to the development of minors.”
“The transmissions on these channels will be encoded all day, apart from midnight to 4 am, when children should be asleep,” Artemenko told the media in Kiev.
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