From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jeb Bush: I turn to George W. for Israel advice
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jeb Bush said he was likeliest to take advice on Israel from his brother, former President George W. Bush.
“If you want to know who I listen to for advice, it’s him,” the former Florida governor and likely contender for the GOP presidential nod was quoted Thursday by the Washington Post as telling a group of potential campaign funders from the pro-Israel community.
Bush faced questions at the meeting Tuesday in New York City, organized by Paul Singer, about including on his team James Baker, the secretary of state under Bush’s father, President George H.W. Bush.
Baker had tense relations with the Israeli government at the time, led by the late Yitzhak Shamir, and more recently criticized the current Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for his policies toward the Palestinians.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Senate nearly unanimous in backing bill mandating Iran deal review
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that would require congressional review of any Iran nuclear deal.
The bill, which was approved Thursday in a 98-1 vote, requires a review of any deal between Iran and the major powers for at least 30 days before the president relieves sanction pressure on Iran.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and its ranking Democrat, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., worked to shape the bill into one that would have the support of Democrats and avoid a veto by President Barack Obama.
The final bill excised requirements that would have shaped the agreement and instead subjects the deal to an up or down vote after its congressional review.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
900 Jewish homes approved for eastern Jerusalem, settlements monitor reports
(JTA) — A Jerusalem committee approved the construction of 900 homes in a Jewish neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem, a watchdog group said.
The homes will be built in the haredi Orthodox neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo following the approval by the city’s district planning committee, according to Peace Now, which monitors settlement construction in eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank.
“The
The funding for the housing was approved in 2010 while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel in what the Obama administration viewed as a sign of disrespect toward Biden.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Who is Ayelet Shaked, Israel’s new justice minister?
Ayelet Shaked (pronounced ShahKED), Israel’s newly appointed justice minister and a member of the right-wing Jewish Home party, has quickly risen to prominence having served just two years in the Knesset. Here’s what you need to know about the 39-year-old (today’s her birthday) political celebrity.
She’s seen as a poster child for Jewish Home’s efforts to reach beyond its Orthodox base.
A secular Jew from north Tel Aviv, Shaked is often described as a symbol of the Jewish Home and larger settler movement’s effort to appeal to a wider group of voters, and to overcome stereotypes of settlers and their supporters as being religious, gun-toting fanatics. Although she herself travels on Shabbat, shesupports Orthodox bans on public transportation during the Sabbath. However, she also played a key role in passing a law (one that now is expected to be reversed as a result of the haredi Orthodox party United Torah Judaism joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition) ending military service exemptions for haredi Jews.
Before entering politics, she worked as a software engineer for Texas Instruments.
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From PressTV
New report sheds light on Israeli atrocities in West Bank
A Palestinian organization has published a new report shedding further light on the Israeli atrocities committed against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in April.
In the report, published on Thursday, the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan said that Israeli soldiers killed one teen and kidnapped 120 Palestinians in al-Quds (Jerusalem) in April.
According to the report, Israeli troops shot and killed 16-year-oil Ali Saeed Abu Ghannam on April 25 when he was trying to cross a military roadblock in the city.
“Israel held the body of the slain teen, and tried to place preconditions by attempting to force the family to pay a high fine, and limit the number of [the] Palestinian[s] who would participate in the funeral ceremony, but the family refused the Israeli demands,” the report said.
The information center, which is known as Silwanic, said that scores of Palestinians were also shot and injured by Israeli forces in April.
Israeli troops are seen as they arrest a Palestinian protester during a demonstration marking the Land Day near the Damascus Gate in al-Quds (Jerusalem), March 30, 2015. (© AFP)
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From PressTV
Israel new coalition against peace in region: Official
A senior Palestinian official says the new coalition government formed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be belligerent and work against peace in the region.
Israel’s newly-announced lineup “will be one of war which will be against peace and stability in our region,” top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said on Thursday.
“This government will set its sights on killing and reinforcing settlement activities” on occupied Palestinian land, said Erakat.
Erakat’s remarks came after Netanyahu formed a new coalition cabinet just before a final midnight deadline.
On Wednesday, Bibi announced a deal with the Jewish Home (Bayit Yehudi), a Zionist pro-settlement party.
The deal would give the Israeli premier the necessary 61 seats in the 120-member parliament to form the administration.
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From The Times of Israel
Anti-Israel firebrand Galloway loses seat in UK vote
MP who declared his town of Bradford ‘off limits’ to Israelis wins less than half the votes of his Labour rival
The most virulently anti-Israel member of Britain’s Parliament suffered a disaster in Britain’s election as he lost his seat on Friday — and was reported to police for breaking election rules. He said “racists” and “Zionists” would be celebrating his defeat.
The far-left politician nicknamed “Gorgeous George” Galloway is a firebrand campaigner known for his championing of pro-Palestinian issues — to the point of declaring his city of Bradford off limits to Israelis. He was for years an outspoken supporter of Syrian president Bashar Assad and a critic of Western military interventions in the Middle East.
Galloway lost his seat to a candidate of the center-left Labour Party.
A stony-faced Galloway glowered from under a trilby hat as Labour rival Naz Shah won by 19,977 votes to his 8,557 in the northern English constituency of Bradford West.
“There will be others who are already celebrating: the venal, the vile, the racists and the Zionists will all be celebrating,” Galloway said in his defeat speech. “The hyena can bounce on the lion’s grave but it can never be a lion and in any case, I’m not in my grave. As a matter of fact I’m going off now to plan the next campaign.”
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From The Times of Israel
Turkey, Saudi in pact to help anti-Assad rebels
US concerned over new alliance providing finaicial and logistical support aimed at toppling Syrian president
ISTANBUL — Casting aside US concerns about aiding extremist groups, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have converged on an aggressive new strategy to bring down Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The two countries — one a democracy, the other a conservative kingdom — have for years been at odds over how to deal with Assad, their common enemy. But mutual frustration with what they consider American indecision has brought the two together in a strategic alliance that is driving recent rebel gains in northern Syria, and has helped strengthen a new coalition of anti-Assad insurgents, Turkish officials say.
That is provoking concern in the United States, which does not want rebel groups, including the al-Qaida linked Nusra Front, uniting to topple Assad. The Obama administration worries that the revived rebel alliance could potentially put a more dangerous radical Islamist regime in Assad’s place, just as the US is focused on bringing down the Islamic State group. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issues, said the administration is concerned that the new alliance is helping Nusra gain territory in Syria.
The coordination between Turkey and Saudi Arabia reflects renewed urgency and impatience with the Obama administration’s policy in the region. Saudi Arabia previously kept its distance and funding from some anti-Assad Islamist groups at Washington’s urging, according to Turkish officials. Saudi Arabia and Turkey also differed about the role of the international Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, in the Syrian opposition. Turkey supports the group, while the Saudi monarchy considers it a threat to its rule at home; that has translated into differences on the ground — until recently.Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in (al-Quds) Jerusalem on April 22, 2015.
“The key is that the Saudis are no longer working against the opposition,” a Turkish official said. He and other officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Rubio demands investigation into Nisman’s death
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA) — U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio introduced a Senate resolution calling for a “transparent and internationally backed” investigation into the death of Argentine special prosecutor Alberto Nisman.
Rubio, R-Fla., who is a candidate for the Republican presidential race, introduced the resolution on Tuesday for consideration by the Foreign Relations Committee. The resolution noted that Nisman accused Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her government of covering up Iran’s role in the deadly 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires. Nisman’s complaint was dismissed last month on its last appeal.
It also mentions a Nisman investigation into Iranian agents in Latin America that also threaten the United States.
In 2007, a Guyanese man, Abdul Kadir, plotted to blow up John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and was, according to Nisman, “the most important Iranian agent in Guyana,” Rubio wrote in the bill.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Settlers group moves members into contested eastern Jerusalem building
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A right-wing organization working to settle Jews in eastern Jerusalem took over a building in the Silwan neighborhood.
A group of members from Ateret Kohanim moved into the building overnight Wednesday.
The Palestinian family reportedly living in the building reportedly was not home. A Jerusalem court in recent years has ordered the family to vacate the building.
A former Yemenite synagogue from the early 20th century, the building is adjacent to another Jewish-owned building known as Beit Dvash and near Beit Yonatan, a six-story building put up several years ago by Ateret Kohanim.
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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in (al-Quds) Jerusalem on April 22, 2015.From PressTV
Gaza war ordnance injures two Palestinian kids
At least two Palestinians children have sustained injuries in an incident during which an explosive device that had been left unexploded from the latest Israeli military aggression against the Gaza Strip went off in the besieged coastal enclave.
Palestinian medical sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the victims were injured when the ordnance exploded on Wednesday as they were playing in the al-Shujaya residential neighborhood of eastern Gaza City, which witnessed heavy Israeli bombardment last summer.
More than 7,000 unexploded bombs were left throughout the Gaza Strip following last year’s 50-day military attacks against the impoverished Palestinian territory.
A newly released study showed that the use of explosive artillery by Israeli forces in the 2014 war on Gaza increased by over 530 percent compared to the Israeli regime’s military offensive on the coastal enclave six years earlier.
The report, released by the British NGO Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), showed that Israeli forces increased their firing of high explosive artillery by 533 percent during the war on Gaza in 2014 compared to the military aggression in 2008-2009.
In this file photo, a Palestinian girl stands on the edge of a destroyed house where her family returned to live in the al-Shujaya neighborhood of Gaza City. (© AP)
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From Russia Today
ISIS supporters claim attack on Hamas base in Gaza Strip
The group, calling itself ‘Supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL),’ said in an online statement that it fired mortar rounds at a base used by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas’ armed wing) in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, on Friday.
Witnesses told AFP they heard explosions close to Khan Yunis.
READ MORE: US senators suggest ‘fancy memes’ to ‘blow ISIS out of the water’
It follows an attack earlier this week, which targeted Hamas’ security headquarters in Gaza. That assault took place after radical Islamists issued a threatening message, calling for the release of prisoners.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Miliband out as Conservatives win in Britain
(JTA) — Ed Miliband, the first Jewish leader of Britain’s Labour Party, is resigning as British Prime Minister David Cameron definitively won reelection.
Cameron’s Conservative Party had by midday Friday secured 331 of the 650 seats in the British Parliament, media reported. Cameron fell short of a majority in the last parliament and led a coalition with Liberal Democrats.
The surprisingly strong showing scuttled Miliband’s ambitions of becoming his country’s first Jewish prime minister.
“I will never give up on fighting for the Britain that I believe in,” he said at his party’s headquarters on Friday, the BBC reported.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
At JTS, Cardinal Dolan says Catholic-Jewish relations are strong
NEW YORK (JTA) — A half-century ago this year, the Catholic Church issued a landmark document that decried anti-Semitism and asserted that Jews could not be blamed for killing Jesus. The effect: Long-fraught relations between Catholics and Jews were dramatically improved.
To mark 50 years since the detente, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan came to the Jewish Theological Seminary on Wednesday to discuss how relations between the two faiths have evolved in recent decades. Specifically, Dolan credited Pope John Paul II, who led the Catholic Church between 1978 and 2005, with deepening the bond between Catholics and Jews.
The conciliatory 1965 document known as Nostra Aetate — Latin for “in our time” — “inspired John Paul II not just to tolerate Jews, not just to have theological discussions with them … not just to meet with them … but to invite them into a providential, emergent partnership,” Dolan said at the event, which was organized by the Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue at JTS.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
‘Maus’ author slams Pamela Geller group, lauds Charlie Hebdo
(JTA) — Art Spiegelman, the cartoonist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning “Maus” graphic novel about the Holocaust, called the group that sponsored a contest in Texas for cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad a “racist organization.”
Two gunmen fired at participants in the suburban Dallas cartoon contest on Sunday, but police killed the assailants. The Islamic State, or ISIS, claimed responsibility for the attack.
In an interview with Time about an award given by the PEN writers’ group to France’s Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine — in defiance of protests by some PEN members — Spiegelman said this week that the American Freedom Defense Initiative is “exactly the nightmare version that the writers who were protesting the PEN award thought Charlie was.” The New York-based blogger Pamela Geller founded and leads the initiative.
Geller, Spiegelman said, “is intentionally trying to start a war of culture with Islam by saying that all Muslims are terrorists under the surface, and we’re going to prove it.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Al Jazeera America replaces CEO amid accusations of workplace anti-Semitism
(JTA) — Al Jazeera America replaced its chief executive officer in the wake of a lawsuit by a former employee alleging that he was the victim of workplace anti-Semitism.
Ehab Al Shihabi, who has headed the news network since it began operations in 2013, was replaced on Wednesday by Al Anstey, the former managing director of Al Jazeera America.
In his $15 million lawsuit filed last week, Matthew Luke claims that he was fired after complaining about the conduct of his boss, Osman Mahmud. Luke alleges that Mahmud made derogatory comments about Israel, women and the United States.
Al Shihabi wrote in an email to Al Jazeera staff on Wednesday announcing Anstey’s new position that he would remain at Al Jazeera America as chief operating officer, The Wall Street Journal reported. The newspaper quoted an unnamed senior source at the network as saying that Al Shihabi’s departure from Al Jazeera America was “imminent.”
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From The Times of Israel
Drake names club for Jewish grandparents
Exclusive ‘post-game destination’ located at Toronto sports arena
Drake fans know him as the teen heartthrob from “Degrassi: The Next Generation” and the wildly successful rapper credited with introducing the term “YOLO” into youth culture. However, not all are aware that he is also a devoted grandson to his Jewish maternal grandparents, Evelyn and Rueben Sher.
Now the writing is literally on the wall when it comes to Drake’s love for his bubbe and and zaide. The singer has just opened a members-only club named for his grandparents at the Air Canada Center, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors.
The Sher Club, a 370-square-meter space, will be open during all games played at the arena. According to the club’s designer, Ferris Rafauli, it was designed for the “ultimate sports fanatics” like Drake, and is the “ultimate pre- and post-game destination.”
Drake (whose full name is Aubrey Drake Graham) was especially close with his bubbe. He “shared a deep bond with his mother’s mom,” according to a piece published by MTV when Sher died in 2012. In fact, Drake has honored his grandmother by including lyrics either about her or addressing her in a number of his songs.
In “Look What You’ve Done,” he included a recording he made of his grandmother speaking to him from the nursing home in which she lived at the end of her life.
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