Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Senate blocks vote on Iran deal, giving Obama a major victory
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Senate Democrats blocked a vote on the Iran nuclear deal, effectively handing President Barack Obama a victory on his signature foreign policy initiative.
Senate Republicans could not advance a bill to kill the deal on Thursday afternoon, failing to garner the 60 votes necessary to end debate on the measure and bring it to a vote. Voting against the motion to end debate were 42 Democrats – one more than needed.
The vote, while procedural, provided the dramatic culmination of weeks of efforts by opponents of the sanctions relief for nuclear restrictions deal reached in July between Iran and six major powers to kill the deal.
Opposing the deal were Republicans in both chambers, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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From PressTV
UN adopts Palestine flag hoisting resolution
The United Nations has approved a resolution calling for the hoisting of the Palestinian flag at the world body’s headquarters in New York.
On Thursday, the UN General Assembly decided that the flags of the non-member observer states of Palestine and the Holy See “shall be raised at (UN) Headquarters and United Nations Offices following the flags of the member states.”
As many as 119 countries voted in favor of the resolution, eight voted against, and 45 abstained.
The draft resolution of the Palestinian proposal was submitted to the General Assembly on August 27.
The resolution requested UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take “the measures necessary” for the implementation of the decision. The UN has 20 days to carry out the decision.
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From PressTV
UN flying Palestine flag facilitates statehood: PM
The Palestinian prime minister hopes a yes vote in the United Nations General Assembly on raising the nation’s flag over the UN headquarters helps it obtain the long-anticipated status of a full member state.
Rami Hamdallah said Thursday that if the 193-nation UN adopts the draft resolution on Palestinian flag-raising later in the day, it would mark “a step on the road towards Palestine becoming a full member of the United Nations.”
Diplomats expect with almost certainty that the vote at 19.00 GMT will obtain a majority in the General Assembly despite fierce opposition from both Israel and the United States.
The yes vote would give the UN 20 days to raise the Palestinian flag in New York, where Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to pay a visit on September 30.
Hamdallah, who was speaking to reporters after a meeting with his French counterpart Manuel Valls in Paris, said that the Palestinian Authority has no plans to resume talks with Israel as the Tel Aviv regime is continuing to expand its settlements in the occupied West Bank.
“The most important thing is that settlement building must stop. All of the agreements that we have signed with Israel foresaw the end of settlement building, but in fact it is extending further and further…,” he said, adding, “We do not want to negotiate for the sake of it. If there are negotiations, we want them to have a framework,”
The negotiations fell apart in April last year after the US announced the failure of its diplomatic efforts in mediating the talks. That was followed by Israel’s brutal aggression against Gaza in summer which killed more than 2,300 people in the besieged enclave.
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From Russia Today
Radical Islamists recruit male youths in refugee camps in Germany
“Salafists are trying to talk with unaccompanied youths who have come to Germany without their families and who are in particular need of support and connections,” a spokesperson from the Bavarian internal security service (LfV) toldSüddeutsche Zeitung.
This has been reportedly happening not only at refugee camps, but also at Munich Central Station, where tens of thousands of refugees have arrived over the past week alone.
From Ynet News
US, Israel weeks away from co-production deal for missile shield
Jointly developed David’s Sling, designed to intercept latest generation of missiles, now believed to be operational next year. The United States and Israel are weeks away from reaching a draft agreement on a co-production of Israel’s air defense system called David’s Sling that the two countries jointly developed, the top US missile defense officer told lawmakers on Thursday.
US Navy Vice Admiral James Syring, director of the Missile Defense Agency, or MDA, said discussions and negotiations continued with Israel on the David’s Sling system, which passed a series of intercept tests in April and is expected to be operational next year.
David’s Sling test earlier this year (Photo: Israel Defense Ministry)
Known in Hebrew as Magic Wand, David’s Sling is being developed and manufactured jointly by Israel’s state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd and Raytheon Co, a top US arms maker.
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From The Times of Israel
US targets Hamas with sanctions for second time this week
Treasury freezes assets of people and company affiliated with Palestinian terror group, bans Americans from doing business with it342209
The Obama administration has targeted several officials in the Palestinian Hamas group with sanctions for the second time this week.
The Treasury Department’s action puts Hamas politician Saleh al-Aruri and two Saudi-based financial officers on its terrorism blacklist. Also added are the Saudi-based Asyaf International Holding Group and an Egyptian money exchange owner accused of transferring tens of millions of dollars for Hamas and its military wing in the Gaza Strip.
Any assets the men own in the US are now frozen, and Americans are banned from doing business with them.
Sanctions point-man Adam Szubin said Thursday the department was “committed to exposing and weakening Hamas, its supporters and its terrorist agenda.”
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
French Jewish groups form task force on refugee relief
(JTA) — French Jewish groups, including Western Europe’s largest charity for Jews, signed a declaration of principles for coordinated efforts to provide relief for Syrian refugees.
The declaration, initiated by French Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia and published Thursday, states each of the six co-signatory groups will “act to accompany the refugees, each according to its competences and abilities and with its traditional partners,” but “especially in administrative and medical matters.”
In recent weeks, tens of thousands of migrants, including refugees, have entered the European Union, where a strong public reaction has followed the publication of images of the migrants’ plight and the loss of life among refugees who drowned or suffocated while trying to make it across the border.
Many are refugees from the civil war in Syria. Others come from unstable or impoverished countries in the Middle East and Africa.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NYT: ‘Jew’ column in chart listing lawmakers opposing Iran deal ‘unnecessary’
(JTA) — The New York Times corrected and removed parts of an infographic that highlights the Jewishness or Jewish ties of U.S. lawmakers who oppose the Iran nuclear deal.
The chart, posted Thursday, originally included a column with the heading “Jewish?”
Those indicated to be Jewish were highlighted in yellow, while others were not.
Following critical reports on the chart by JTA and other publications, on Friday the Times removed the column in question.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
AJC shows U.S. Jews split on Iran deal, back Clinton more than other candidates
WASHINGTON (JTA) — An American Jewish Committee poll found U.S. Jews virtually split on the Iran nuclear deal and showed Hillary Rodham Clinton well ahead of the pack among preferred presidential candidates.
The annual AJC poll published Friday showed 50.6 percent of respondents approved of the sanctions relief for nuclear restrictions deal reached in July between Iran and six major powers, and 47.2 percent disagreed with it.
That’s a virtual tie, based on the 4.7 percent margin of error. The poll of 1,035 Jews was conducted by GfK between Aug. 7 and Aug. 22. Recent general population polling has showed support for the deal plummeting to the 20s.
Asked about presidential candidates, 39.7 percent of respondents listed Clinton as their first choice, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, who is vying with Clinton for the presidential nod, came in as a second choice, with 17.8 percent. Among Republicans, billionaire Donald Trump was in the lead, with 10.2 percent, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, with 8.7 percent.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Does Iran deal rift mean Jews will go GOP in 2016?
One conspiracy theory making the rounds is that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s various Iran-related confrontations with President Barack Obama are part of a Sheldon Adelson-plot to turn American Jews into Republican Party voters in 2016.
Even if one rejects this theory out of hand, the question still stands: Will Obama’s championing of the Iran deal trigger a significant realignment, with Jews jumping to the GOP in 2016?
The answer is maybe — but probably not, judging from the latest annual Jewish survey from the American Jewish Committee. (Before jumping in, keep in mind the survey’s margin for error is 4.7% — more than some of the shifts discussed.)
Let’s start with Obama and the Iran deal. The survey would seem to give Jewish GOPers reason for optimism.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Why the N.Y. Times was wrong to link Jewishness, Iran deal opposition
The chart, posted Thursday, originally included a column with the heading “Jewish?” “Yeses” were highlighted in yellow (yellow!), while “noes” were not.
Another column showed the estimated Jewish populations in the lawmakers’ districts. Districts with a ratio above the United States average of 2.2 percent Jewish also got the yellow treatment.
In the introduction to the chart, titled “Lawmakers against the Iran deal,” the Times quickly dispensed with the germane fact that more Jewish lawmakers than not back the deal.
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From Russia Today
Islamic State using chemical weapons in Iraq & Syria – report
An anonymous US official cited by the BBC believes Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL) has formed a group to produce toxic chemicals such as mustard and chlorine gas (mustard agent, dichloroethyl sulfide, HD blister agent).
“They’re using mustard. We know they are,” BBC cited an unnamed US official as saying, adding that the use of chemical warfare by ISIS has been registered on several occasions.
“We’ve seen them use it on at least four separate occasions on both sides of the border – both in Iraq and Syria,” the official was quoted as saying.
From The Times of Israel
‘Mama Merkel’ cheered by Syrians at refugee center
Germany expected to welcome 800,000 asylum seekers in 2015 — four times as many as 2014, and the EU’s lion’s share
BERLIN (AFP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel won a hero’s welcome as she visited a Berlin migrant center on Thursday, with Syrians cheering and taking selfies as Germany threw open its doors to thousands of refugees.
“We are so happy Mrs. Merkel came to see us today,” said a joyful Ramadan Salah, a 35-year-old Syrian Kurdish refugee the migrant refugee center in western Berlin.
“She is like a mother to us, she has helped many refugees,” he said.
“It’s a dream come true for me to take my picture with Mrs Merkel.”
As thousands continue to flee bloodshed in Syria, Iraq and beyond, Germany is expected to welcome 800,000 asylum-seekers this year, four times the number in 2014 and far more than any other European country.
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From The Times of Israel
Most Israeli Jews say Iran deal ‘existential threat’
Majority backs Netanyahu’s assessment of agreement, including almost half of Israeli Arabs, poll finds
Nearly three-quarters of Jewish-Israelis agree with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that the Iran nuclear deal poses an “existential threat” to the Jewish state.
According to The Peace Index, a poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University on August 30-31 by telephone, 73 percent of Jewish-Israelis share Netanyahu’s views on the Iran nuclear deal, which eases sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear program, and 78% believe Iran will not uphold its obligations under the deal.
Arab-Israelis had mixed views on the deal, with 35 percent believing Iran will not uphold its commitments, 30 percent saying it would fulfill its commitments and 34 percent saying they did not know. In addition, 45 percent of Arab-Israelis disagreed that the Iran deal posed an existential threat.
Almost half of Jewish-Israelis polled thought Netanyahu’s efforts to fight the nuclear deal, negotiated between Iran and six world powers, including the United States, would damage US-Israel relations, while 37 percent said it would not affect relations.
The survey found sharp differences in opinion between the Jewish-Israeli population at large and members of the left-wing Meretz party, 90 percent of whom said the Iran deal is not an existential threat.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Chabad Russia’s competitors open massive new synagogue east of Moscow
MOSCOW (JTA) — Rabbis from across the former Soviet Union and Israel gathered in the city of Saratov 450 miles southeast of Moscow to celebrate the opening of one of Russia’s largest synagogues.
The opening ceremony on Sept. 6 of the new synagogue in Saratov came at the end of nine years of construction, according to the Russian Jewish Congress, which oversaw and initiated the project in Saratov.
Built in the Moorish style, the new building’s ceiling is 50 feet tall, making it roughly the same height as the Great Choral Synagogue of St. Petersburg, which is the country’s largest, according to newsru.com.
“Together with the building, a community was built,” Yuri Kanner, the congress’ president, said at the opening ceremony before hundreds of Jews and non-Jews. “Today there are no vacant seats in this synagogue.”
From Ynet News
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Christian donations buy holiday gift vouchers for 14,000 IDF soldiers
(JTA) — Some 14,000 Israeli soldiers who are either living apart from their families or are in need of special assistance will receive a cash gift from Christian donors ahead of Rosh Hashanah.
The money, part of the Gift Cards program of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, is to be handed out ahead of the Jewish new year, which is celebrated next week, to 9,600 “lone soldiers” — Israel Defense Forces personnel, many of them new immigrants, who either have no family in Israel or are not in contact with their families.
Some 9,600 lone soldiers are to receive $125 each from the $1.5 million allocated to the program, which the fellowship runs in partnership with the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces and the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel’s Soldiers, the Fellowship said in a statement Thursday.
Anther 4,500 soldiers from families in need, who are not lone soldiers and therefore do not meet the criteria for vouchers, will receive $65 apiece to help them “make ends meet this holiday season,” the fellowship’s statement read.
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From The Times of Israel
Netanyahu in UK says he is ready for peace talks right now
Prime minister meets with his counterpart David Cameron, warns Middle East is crumbling under Islamic extremism
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday told his UK counterpart that he is ready for peace talks with the Palestinians, without preconditions, and he is ready to start talking immediately.
At a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron at the British leader’s office on Downing Street, Netanyahu also said he blamed the deteriorating situation in the Middle East on a clash between extremist elements of Sunni and Shia Islam being driven by the Islamic State and Iran.
“I want to say here in 10 Downing Street, and reaffirm again, that I am ready to resume direct negotiations with the Palestinians with no conditions whatsoever to enter negotiations, and I’m willing to do so immediately,” Netanyahu said.
Later in the day he met with British lawmakers and told them that he’s “willing right now, without any preconditions, any preconditions whatsoever, to sit down with President Abbas and negotiate this peace.”
“I’m willing to go to Ramallah, yes, a nightmare for my security people. I often do that when I stop at falafel stands. They’re going to have to deal with it. Okay? Or President Abbas can come to Jerusalem, or for God’s sake, we can take up some of these suggestions for retreats in Sicily or fjords in Norway. Whatever. Anytime, anywhere, now, without preconditions.”
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