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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New hard-line defense minister said to join Israeli government, marking surprise turn to right
Avigdor Liberman speaking at a news conference in the Israeli parliament, May 18, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The unity government was about to form: Likud and Labor, right and left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Isaac Herzog.
Then, according to media reports, Netanyahu swung to the right and instead embraced an old partner: Avigdor Liberman, head of the hard-line nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party. Liberman, formerly the foreign minister, now will reportedly replace Moshe Yaalon as defense minister.
“If we receive a response on the issues we’ve discussed, there’s something to talk about,” Liberman said in a news conference Wednesday. “If it’s true that we’ve been offered the defense portfolio, a death penalty for terrorists, pension reform and more, as I’ve heard, that’s a serious offer we can discuss.”
The addition of Yisrael Beiteinu to the government would be a boon to Netanyahu, as well as a return to the ideologically coherent right-wing coalition he headed until 2013. Before Netanyahu and Liberman reportedly came to a tentative agreement Wednesday, Israel’s coalition held the narrowest of majorities — 61 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. The two-seat advantage meant, practically, that the coalition was beholden to the whims of each of its members.
From Russia Today
Ex-general says NATO-Russia nuclear war ‘possible within a year’
Published time: 18 May, 2016 12:28
© / AFP
NATO’s former deputy military chief in Europe says his book, a fictional story which describes a nuclear war with Russia over the Baltic nations taking place in 2017, is based on an “entirely plausible” scenario.
General Sir Richard Shirreff, from Britain, served at the second-highest NATO military office in Europe between 2011 and 2014. He says his experience acquired in the alliance of war-gaming future conflicts helped him model the narrative for the book.
According to his scenario, starting next year Russia would first occupy Ukraine to secure a land route to Crimea and then invade the three Baltic nations, all of which are members of NATO. The move, Shirreff argued, would be driven by the perception of NATO’s weakness and Russia’s opposition to what it sees as the alliance’s attempts to encircle it.
From Russia Today
Visa-free regime with Turkey may attract criminals or terrorists – European Commission report
Published time: 17 May, 2016 21:16
Demonstrators in Madrid rallying against the EU-Turkey migrants deal © Stringer / Sputnik
The proposed visa-free arrangement with Turkey being considered by the EU could result in terrorists and criminals traveling to Europe along with Turkish citizens, warns a report from the European Commission.
“It can be expected that, as soon as Turkish citizens will obtain visa-free entry to the EU, foreign nationals will start trying to obtain Turkish passports in order to pretend to be Turkish citizens and enter the EU visa free, or use the identities of Turkish citizens, or to obtain by fraud the Turkish citizenship,”the report says, as cited on Tuesday by the Telegraph, which saw the document.
From Russia Today
‘He called me to the toilet’: Leaked accounts of kids raped by employee at Turkish refugee camp
Published time: 17 May, 2016 07:07
© Umit Bektas / Reuters
Harrowing accounts by pre-teen victims of a rapist at Turkey’s Nizip refugee camp paint a picture of systematic abuse at the site designed to be a sanctuary. Amid the ongoing probe, neither reporters, nor opposition MPs are able to freely access the camp.
Sputnik agency has obtained an indictment of the 27-year old serial rapist who worked as a cleaner at the Nizip refugee camp in Antep, Turkey. The alleged perpetrator, who faces up to 230 years behind bars, is accused of sexually abusing some 30 children as young as eight years old from June to September 2015.
The indictment sheet contains the names of only eight boys, all of them from war-torn Syrian regions, who have been confirmed by the court as victims of the offender identified only as “E.E.”. Families of other underage victims decided not to proceed with charges, as they were afraid of being deported back to the conflict zone, according to Erik Acarer, a journalist with the BirGün newspaper, which first broke the story.
“E.E.” – a native of the southeastern Turkish district of Bozova in Şanlıurfa province – stands accused of “premeditated sexual abuse towards children, forcing minors to enter into sexual relations in a perverted form” for exchange of a slightly more than a US dollar on average. The court is expected to deliver its verdict on June 1.
From Russia Today
Bill Clinton angers Poland & Hungary by saying ‘US-freed’ countries ‘want Putin-like dictatorships’
Published time: 18 May, 2016 05:26
Leader of the Law and Justice party Jaroslaw Kaczynski (L) and Former U.S. President Bill Clinton. © Reuters
Former Polish PM and ruling party chair Jaroslaw Kaczynski slammed Bill Clinton for sharp remarks he made on the state of democracy in Poland, in which he claimed democracy had become “too much trouble” for it and Hungary.
From Russia Today
Saudi Arabia warns of ‘Plan B’ for Syria while US calls on all sides to work together
Published time: 18 May, 2016 01:13
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir. © Philippe Lopez / AFP
While the world powers that gathered in Vienna on Tuesday to discuss the Syrian peace process stressed that all parties to the conflict should make peace a priority, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister warned that time may be coming for “Plan B” in Syria.
“It was made clear that Bashar al-Assad has two choices – either he will be removed through political process or he will be removed by force,” Adel al-Jubeir told reporters after the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting co-chaired by Russia and the US.
“We believe we should have moved to a ‘Plan B’ a long time ago,” he said.
“If they do not respond to the entreaties of the international community… then we will have to see what else can be done.”
From Russia Today
Lavrov, Kerry: Syria meeting sees progress, agrees to turn truce into real ceasefire
Published time: 17 May, 2016 13:12
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (R) speaks next to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a news conference in Vienna, Austria, May 17, 2016 © Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry have stated that there is progress in Syria peace talks after a meeting in Vienna, also saying that the powers there agreed to turn the Syria truce into a real ceasefire.
“We pledged our support for transforming the cessation of hostilities into a comprehensive ceasefire. We are committed to use our influence, to use the parties to [push for] cessation in order to ensure compliance,” Kerry said.
Lavrov stressed “that we’ve made progress in all directions of our work, namely the cessation of hostilities, the expansion of the humanitarian assistance and the political process.”
Kerry also announced that the ISSG sees progress in the situation, stating, however, that specific actions should be taken to make real changes.
“We moved the ball forward. [But] to make all of this more than words on a page, some determined actions will have to be taken to make it happen. No one can be remotely satisfied with the situation in Syria,” Kerry said.
From Russia Today
Armenia & Azerbaijan vow not to resort to arms in Nagorno-Karabakh
Published time: 17 May, 2016 02:21
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L), Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan (2nd L), U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (C) and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan (R) attend a meeting in Vienna, Austria, May 16, 2016. © Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan supported the ceasefire in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, promising to seek a non-military resolution to the heated conflict in a statement issued by the OSCE following a Minsk group meeting in Vienna on Monday.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonne performs for Montreal fans via video link
MONTREAL (JTA) — After being barred from entering Canada, the controversial French comic Dieudonne M’bala M’bala presented a show in Montreal via video link.
Some 600 fans paid $40 a ticket to see Dieudonne on a big screen in a reception hall on Monday.
The comic has been convicted multiple times in France and Belgium for hate speech, anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and defending terrorism. His latest conviction was May 10 in France for using material that included accusations of Jewish involvement in the slave trade and deriding the Holocaust.
That was the same day the Canadian Border Services Agency informed him he could not enter Canada and must return to France.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
In pro-Israel victory, Methodists accept reccomendation to withdraw from BDS coalition
BDS supporters protesting in New York, October 2015. (BDS Facebook page)
(JTA) — Just days after rejecting four resolutions calling for divestment from companies that profit from Israel’s control of the West Bank, the United Methodist Church recommended withdrawing from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
By a non-binding vote of 478-318 at its general conference in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday, the church accepted a petition requesting its withdrawal from the group, Religion News Service reported. It was not clear if the church would act on the recommendation.
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a national coalition that “works to end U.S. support for Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem,” according to its website.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
House passes bill protecting circumcision, ritual slaughter as religious freedoms
An infant being carried before his circumcision at an Orthodox synagogue in Berlin in 2013. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A bill unanimously approved by the U.S. House of Representatives would extend religious protections to advocates of circumcision and ritual slaughter as well as atheists, addressing what its sponsors describe as an increase in religious persecution in recent years.
The bill, passed Monday, would broaden the definition of “violations of religious freedom” in the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to include the persecution of advocates of male circumcision or ritual animal slaughter. Atheists would become a new protected class.
The measure, which moves to the Senate for consideration, was named for retired Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., a longtime champion of human rights who authored the 1998 law.
“The world is experiencing an unprecedented crisis of international religious freedom, a crisis that continues to create millions of victims; a crisis that undermines liberty, prosperity and peace; a crisis that poses a direct challenge to the U.S. interests in the Middle East, Russia, China and sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere,” Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who authored the bill, said in a statement.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israel’s opposition leader Isaac Herzog freezes unity government talks
Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog speaking at the Israeli party’s convention In Tel Aviv, Nov. 8, 2015. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The opposition leader in Israel said he has frozen talks about joining the government coalition.
Isaac Herzog, who heads the left-wing Zionist Union party, said Wednesday he would halt the talks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set up a meeting with Avigdor Liberman, head of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party.
Netanyahu and Liberman met late Wednesday afternoon. Following the meeting, Netanyahu told his Cabinet ministers that he had offered Liberman’s party the Defense Ministry and the Immigrant Absorption Ministry in an expanded coalition.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Itzhak Perlman cancels North Carolina concert over transgender bathroom law
Itzhak Perlman appearing on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” at Rockefeller Center in New York City, Feb. 25, 2011. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Itzhak Perlman, the acclaimed Israel-born violinist, has canceled a concert with the North Carolina Symphony over the state’s controversial transgender bathroom law.
Perlman announced Tuesday that he would cancel the concert, 24 hours before he was due to perform in the state capital, Raleigh.
“As my fans know, I have spent a lifetime advocating against discrimination towards those with physical disabilities and have been a vocal advocate for treating all people equally,” he wrote. “As such, after great consideration, I have decided to cancel my May 18th concert in North Carolina with the North Carolina Symphony as a stand against House Bill 2. As Attorney General Loretta Lynch recently stated, HB2 ‘is about a great deal more than just bathrooms. [It] is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens.’ I couldn’t agree more and will look forward to returning to North Carolina when this discriminatory law is repealed.”
From Russia Today
‘State must be secular, single-religion states end badly’ – Pope Francis to French Catholic paper
Published time: 17 May, 2016 06:10
Pope Francis. © Alessandro Bianchi / Reuters
Pope Francis believes that a healthy secularism paired with a strong law that grants above all a religious freedom is the key to a successful and peaceful state, while states tied to a single religion don’t have a future.
“Confessional states end badly…I believe that secularism accompanied by a strong law which guarantees religious freedom provides a framework for moving forward,” the Pontiff said in an interview with Guillaume Goubert, director of French Roman Catholic newspaper La Croix.
Addressing increasing worries of Christians that Islam is becoming ever more widespread in Europe, Pope Francis says that everyone has a right to exercise the religion he or she chooses, and a secular state as opposed to a single-religion one can grant this opportunity.
“We are all equal, as sons of God or [creations] of our personal dignity. But everyone should have the freedom to exercise their own faith. If a Muslim woman wants to wear a hijab, she should be able to. Similarly so, if a Catholic wants to wear a cross. We must have an opportunity to profess our faith not on the sidelines of the [national] culture but within it,” Francis said.
