Sen. Dianne Feinstein talking with reporters in the Capitol building, June 5, 2018. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Eight states, scattered across the continental United States, held what added up to the biggest primaries day this season.
The Wednesday snapshot for Jewish voters: Jewish incumbents appear safe for the most part, and the fretting about a far-right incursion into Republican precincts is overstated — but not entirely put to rest.
Jewish incumbents probably will stay that way
California has a “jungle primary”: The two top vote-getters on Tuesday go head to head in November, whatever their party. Democrats survived “lock-outs” — races where the abundance of Democrats vying for the nomination might have handed the two top spots to Republicans. Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Russian troops to stay in Syria as long as needed: Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow has no immediate plans for withdrawing troops from Syria, stressing that his country’s military forces would remain in the war-ravaged Arab country as long as it is in Russia’s interests.
“As for the presence of our soldiers in Syria, there are two sites where they are stationed at. One is the port of Tartus, and the other is Hmeimim airbase. It is worth mentioning that these are Russian deployment sites rather than bases. We are not building facilities for long-term plans there so we will be able to promptly withdraw our military personnel if need be,” Putin said during an annual televised phone-in with the Russian public on Thursday.
He stressed that Russian troopers were in Syria at the request of the Damascus government, and in full compliance with international law.
“Our military is there to ensure Russia’s interests in an important region of the world. They will remain there as long as Moscow finds it reasonable in accordance with its international commitments,” Putin pointed out.
The Russian president went on to say that Syrian government forces were now in control of more than 90 percent of the country’s territory.
“Large-scale combat operations, especially those involving Russian armed forces, have come to an end. There is no need for them anymore. Peace settlement is on the agenda. This is what we are now working on,” Putin commented. Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Netanyahu says Syria ‘no longer immune’ from Israel’s attacks
Thu Jun 7, 2018 01:57PM
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks during a meeting with the French economy minister and entrepreneurs (not seen) at the French Economy Ministry in Paris, France, on June 6, 2018. (Photo by AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is “no longer immune” from attacks carried out by the occupying regime, a month after Tel Aviv conducted a large-scale air raid against military targets in southern Syria.
“If he fires at us, we will destroy his forces,” Netanyahu said at an event organized by the Policy Exchange think tank during a visit to London on Thursday, adding that Damascus had to “understand” that Tel Aviv would not tolerate what it called “the Iranian military entrenchment” against the Israeli regime inside the Arab country.
“The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well …, I think it’s something that he should consider very seriously,” the Israeli premier further said.
Israel has repeatedly claimed that Iran has set up purported military bases and infrastructure in southern Syria for attacks against the occupying regime.
However, Iran has time and again stressed that it has no such bases in the Arab country and that its assistance to the militancy-infested Syria has so far been through offering military advisory support to the Syrian army at the official request of the Damascus government and in an attempt to enable the country’s troops to speed up their gains on various fronts against terror outfits.
Netanyahu’s Thursday comments actually echoed his previous allegations late last month when he threatened that Tel Aviv would hit what it called Iranian targets “anywhere in Syria.”
German Jewish leader slams US ambassador for praising European conservatives
(JTA) — A leader of Jews in Germany criticized the United States ambassador to that country for speaking positively about conservative politicians on the continent.
Charlotte Knobloch, the head of the Jewish community of Munich and a former leader of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, wrote in an op-ed for Haaretz published Thursday that by praising European conservatives in an interview, Ambassador Richard Allen Grenell “exacerbates the situation” of growing popularity for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD.
Grenell praised European conservatives in an interview published this week on Breitbart London, the Europe branch of the alt-right’s news site of choice. Grenell did not mention AfD in the interview.
Grenell said the election of Donald Trump in 2016 as U.S. president has galvanized a “resurgence” of conservative policies and politicians in Europe that are “empowered” by his election. Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
A NJ college professor shares conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic tropes. Is that protected speech?
William Paterson University is located in Wayne, N.J. (William Paterson University)
TEANECK, N.J. (The Jewish Standard via JTA) — A sociology professor at William Paterson University of New Jersey in Wayne has been recorded on video espousing a series of anti-Semitic beliefs about Jews. They include the ideas that Ashkenazi Jews are not genetically related to the ancient Israelites; that 175,000 German Jews found safe harbor in the German army during the Holocaust; and that Judaism has degenerated from a universal religion, with roots in ancient Egypt, to a racist religion.
Benny Koval, 18, of Fair Lawn, recorded the videos. Koval, a freshman, was enrolled in Clyde Magarelli’s course, Sociology 1020, “Social Problems.”
It is not the first time Magarelli has stirred controversy in the classroom.
Last year, another student complained to the department head and filed a formal complaint with the school. Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Columbia University alums call for professor to be suspended over anti-Zionist Facebook posts
NEW YORK (JTA) — A group of alumni of Columbia University are calling for the suspension of a professor over two Facebook posts they say are anti-Semitic.
Hamid Dabashi, a Columbia professor who teaches Iranian studies and comparative literature, wrote two Facebook posts on May 8 harshly criticizing Israel and Zionists. In one, he calls Israel a “key actor” in “every dirty treacherous ugly and pernicious act happening in the world.” He also criticizes “diehard Fifth Column Zionists working against the best interests of Americans.”
In another post about Iran flagged by the alumni group, Dabashi wrote, “These laughing hyenas — the Zionists the Saudis and the US neocons are f**** with the wrong country.”
The alumni group is the Columbia chapter of Alums for Campus Fairness, an affiliate of the Israel advocacy organization StandWithUs. In an open letter sent last week to Columbia President Lee Bollinger and the university board of trustees, the group wrote that Dabashi’s statements reflect “common anti-Semitic canards.” Click here for the full story
From PressTV
Giuliani in Israel: Kim got ‘on his knees, begged’ for Trump meeting
Wed Jun 6, 2018 08:20PM
In this AFP file photo taken on July 18, 2016, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani addresses delegates on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un got “on his hands and knees and begged” for a meeting with US President Donald Trump, suggesting a similar policy towards Palestinians.
Trump abruptly called off the meeting with a letter last month, leading to such reaction from Kim, Giuliani suggested at a conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal initially reported.
“Well, Kim Jong Un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in,” he said.
Trump and Kim are scheduled to meet on June 12 in Singapore.
Giuliani, who is an attorney for the president, recommended the Trump administration to adopt the same approach with Palestinians.
“They also said they were going to go to nuclear war with us, they were going to defeat us in a nuclear war,” Giuliani said. “We said we’re not going to have a summit under those circumstances.” Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Spain’s third-largest city votes to boycott Israel
(JTA) — Following a major Spanish city’s vote to boycott Israel, the leader of Spain’s third-largest party called the Jewish state a “criminal country” during an interview aired by a public television broadcaster.
Pablo Iglesias Turrión, leader of the Podemos far-left party, made the comment in an interview earlier this week on RTVE.
“We need to act more firmly on an illegal country like Israel,” said Iglesias Turrión, whose party in 2015 won 20 percent of the votes in the general election just one year after its creation.
Last week, a motion promoted by a local fraction of Podemos on the City Council of Valencia, Spain’s third-largest city, was passed declaring a boycott of Israel and Valencia a “Israeli apartheid-free zone.” Click here for the full story
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Bernie Sanders, focusing on foreign policy, blasts Israel on Gaza
Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a MoveOn.org rally in Reading, Pa., Dec. 3, 2017. (Lisa Lake/Getty Images for MoveOn.org)
(JTA) — In his historic 2016 run for president, Bernie Sanders was faulted for not having much of a foreign policy beyond reminding folks that his rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, had favored the Iraq War.
A key stumble in that campaign was a wide-ranging interview with the Daily News editorial board prior to the New York primary. The Daily News, then owned by Mort Zuckerman, wanted to hurt Sanders, and all it had to do was run the transcript in its entirety. Sanders was diffident, vague and not sure of his facts. He made a major error when he vastly overstated the number of Palestinians killed in the 2014 Hamas-Israel war, which got the Jewish candidate dinged by Jewish organizations.
The Independent senator from Vermont, 76, is considering another presidential run in 2020, and this time he’s making foreign policy a focus. Among issues where he has taken a lead: blasting President Donald Trump for pulling out of the Iran deal, calling for an end to support for Saudi Arabia in its bombing raids on Yemen — and offering tough criticism of Israel for how it’s responding to Palestinian protesters attempting to breach the fence with the Gaza Strip.
Sanders’ surprisingly effective challenge to Clinton as the flag bearer for the party’s left — he was the first Jewish candidate of a major party to win state primaries — and his focus on Israel is likely to spur more Israel-related debate within the party as the election approaches. Click here for the full story
