Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
U.S. Jews much likelier to back Iran deal than non-Jews – poll
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A poll showed American Jews are much likelier than non-Jews to back the Iran nuclear deal.
The Los Angeles Jewish Journal poll published Thursday shows 49 percent of American Jews support the deal and 31 percent oppose it. Among all Americans, 28 percent support the deal and 24 percent oppose it.
Similarly, 53 percent of Jewish Americans polled want Congress to allow the deal to go ahead, while 35 percent want Congress to stop the deal. Among all Americans, the numbers are 41 percent wanting Congress to allow the deal and 38 percent supporting Congress should it kill the deal.
Congress has two months to consider whether to exercise its power to disapprove of the sanctions relief for nuclear restrictions deal reached July 14 between Iran and the major powers, including the United States.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Study finds growing criticism of Israel among Diaspora Jewry
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Diaspora Jewry is increasingly critical of Israel and young Diaspora Jews are growing more alienated from the Jewish state, a new study found.
The study, released this week by the Jewish People Policy Institute, an influential think tank based in Jerusalem, comes a year after Israel’s war in Gaza. Titled “Jewish Values and Israel’s Use of Force in Armed Conflict: Perspectives from World Jewry,” the report looks at how non-Israeli Jews view Israeli military actions and how Diaspora Jews should respond.
Diaspora Jews tend to support and understand the military actions, the study found, but also “doubt that Israel truly wishes to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians.” The study added that “few believe it is making the necessary effort to achieve one,” particularly among younger Jews.
Israel’s military actions affect them, Diaspora Jews said, whether exposing them to physical attacks or changing their interactions with non-Jews. The study said that many Jews feel uncomfortable with being forced to serve as “ambassadors” for Israel.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New to Republican race, John Kasich espouses wisdom of Torah
Political columnist Matt Bai recently got an old-fashioned Jewish guilt trip for skipping synagogue, and not from his rabbi or his Jewish mother, but from an evangelical Christian politician angling for the White House.
Ohio Governor John Kasich, who this week officially joined the jam-packed race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, is an ardent Protestant. But when he sat down with Bai in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, he went with a JDate-style icebreaker: “Do you go to synagogue?”
Bai, who spent years covering politics for the New York Times Magazine before moving to Yahoo News, admitted in a recent feature on Kasich that the question made him feel “oddly shamed.” And Kasich didn’t stop at asking about Bai’s shul attendance.
“Do you read the Torah?” the governor pressed. “Maybe you should. Do you realize how much wisdom there is for life?”
From The Times of Israel
Kerry raps Menendez for exposing ‘classified’ clause of Iran deal
Head of Senate Foreign Relations Committee accuses Kerry of allowing ‘state sponsor of terror to develop sophisticated nuclear program’
The Times of Israel liveblogged Thursday’s events as they unfolded.
Carter makes surprise stop in Baghdad
US Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrives unannounced in Baghdad during his post-Iran deal mission to the region, in his first visit since taking office.
Carter is expected to hear the latest on the Iraqi army’s plan to recapture the key city of Ramadi from the Islamic State, but is unlikely to announce any major change in US strategy or increase in US troop levels.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israeli Arabs’ access to Gaza to be limited
(JTA) — Access to the Gaza Strip for Israeli Arabs will be limited because of safety concerns, an Israeli general said.
Yoav Poli Mordechai, the Israel Defense Forces coordinator of government activities in the Palestinian territories, announced the new policy Thursday, Army Radio reported, quoting him as saying that “Hamas may use the link to Gaza that some Arab Israelis have” to further its goals.
He noted that one of two Israelis believed to be in Hamas captivity is an Arab from a Bedouin community.
“There is fear for the lives of those who enter” the Gaza Strip, Mordechai said.
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From PressTV
500,000 Palestinian children may miss school this year: UN
The United Nations has warned that some 500,000 Palestinian children may be kept out of school due to limited funding from donor countries.
Schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) will not be able to reopen in the autumn due to a shortage of USD 100 million unless the international community donates the amount to the UN agency, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov said on Thursday.
He added that the donors’ contribution could avert a “serious risk” by allowing “UNRWA schools, which educate 500,000 children throughout the Middle East,” to open.
Lack of the funding “will have grave implications for Palestine refugee children in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, and for the stability and security of a region already in turmoil,” Mladenov told the UN Security Council.
According to UNRWA, over 1.5 million Palestinians – almost a third of the registered Palestinian refugees – live in 58 recognized refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.
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From PressTV
Israeli forces clash with Palestinian mourners
Thousands of Palestinian mourners have clashed with Israeli forces at a mass funeral held for a Palestinian man killed by the Tel Aviv regime troops in the occupied West Bank.
According to Palestinian media sources, Falah Abu Mariya, 53, was shot three times in the chest during a raid on his home in Beit Ummar, located eleven kilometers (6.8 miles) northwest of the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron) on Thursday morning.
Later in the day, thousands of Palestinian mourners took part in a funeral procession for Mariya. The victim’s body was carried by the mourners through the troubled region, with the participants calling for the “avenging” of his death.
The Palestinians chanted anti-Israeli slogans and called on the international community to break its silence on Israel’s acts of violence against Palestinians across the occupied lands.
The mourners said they were out in the streets to show solidarity with their fellow citizens who are being killed by the Israeli forces nearly on daily basis.
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From The Times of Israel
A Protestant candidate’s Jewish guilt trip
New to Republican race, Ohio Governor John Kasich espouses wisdom of Torah, urges synagogue attendance
JTA — Political columnist Matt Bai recently got an old-fashioned Jewish guilt trip for skipping synagogue, and not from his rabbi or his Jewish mother, but from an evangelical Christian politician angling for the White House.
Ohio Governor John Kasich, who this week officially joined the jam-packed race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, is an ardent Protestant. But when he sat down with Bai in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, he went with a JDate-style icebreaker: “Do you go to synagogue?”
Bai, who spent years covering politics for the New York Times Magazine before moving to Yahoo News, admitted in a recent feature on Kasich that the question made him feel “oddly shamed.” And Kasich didn’t stop at asking about Bai’s shul attendance.
“Do you read the Torah?” the governor pressed. “Maybe you should. Do you realize how much wisdom there is for life?”
On paper, Kasich is a near-perfect Republican presidential candidate, Bai noted. The son of a mailman, he was elected to Congress when he was 30 and went on to become the chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee, where he helped balance budgets in the 1990s.
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From The Times of Israel
Prospects for two-state solution ‘fading away,’ says UN envoy
Nikolay Mladenov tells Security Council that sides are further apart than ever, blames Palestinian disunity, Israeli settlements
A top UN envoy to the Middle East urged a restart to the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, but ultimately blamed the Jewish state for “damaging the prospects for peace” through settlement construction in the West Bank.
The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nikolay Mladenov, warned the UN Security Council Thursday that if a Palestinian state isn’t established soon, the risk of “political escalation” may increase.
“Given the region’s massive transformation, it is imperative — perhaps more than ever before — that a permanent settlement be found, based on the concept of two states,” said the freshman envoy, who was appointed to his post in February.
Mladenov noted that support for a Palestinian state coexisting peacefully with Israel “is fading away.” He said the elusive two-state solution is threatened by Israel’s occupation and settlement construction, along with violence, security problems and lack of Palestinian unity.
“Now is the time to act decisively to reverse the growing perception that the two-state solution is on life-support, slowly dying a death by a thousand cuts,” he said.
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From The Times of Israel
White House labels rally against Iran deal ‘pro-war’
Republican senator says sanctions relief will make US a ‘leading state sponsor of radical Islamic terrorists’
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s spokesman has referred to a Washington demonstration against the Iran nuclear deal as a “pro-war rally.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican presidential candidate, said at the rally that if economic sanctions on Iran are lifted under the deal, the Obama administration would become the “leading state sponsor and financier of radical Islamic terrorists.”
White House press secretary Josh Earnest was asked about the demonstration and said he was aware Cruz had planned “to hold a pro-war rally” outside the White House.
Earnest was asked whether he thought all opponents of the deal were “pro-war.” He replied: “They can explain for themselves.”
He said Cruz was among Republican candidates who have suggested as president they would be ready to launch an immediate military strike on Iran.
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From The Times of Israel
Hollande asks Rouhani to help resolve Mideast crises
Amid growing Western contacts with Tehran, French president discusses nuke deal implementation with Iranian counterpart
PARIS – French President Francois Hollande conferred with Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani Thursday on “conditions for implementing” the Iran nuclear accord, Hollande’s office said.
The two leaders also agreed to “step up bilateral cooperation in this new context,” the presidency said in a statement.
Hollande “expressed the wish for Iran to contribute positively to the resolution of crises in the Middle East,” it added.
Rouhani meanwhile tweeted that “President Francois Hollande welcomes #IranDeal and Iran’s constructive role in the negotiations, which is fostering peace in the region.”
In phone call now, #French President @fhollande welcomed #IranDeal & Iran’s constructive role in negotiations, leading to peace in region
From The Times of Israel
A war-torn Israel directly affects Diaspora Jewry, so where’s its voice?
The 2015 JPPI Diaspora dialogue report finds 69% of world Jewry want a say in Israeli security policy. But while Israelis are open to a symbolic role, 63% wouldn’t support a Diaspora-based MK
July 23, 2015, 11:16 pmA year ago as rockets rained down on Israel from the Negev to Tel Aviv, and Israeli Defense Forces were a week into the ground incursion into Gaza, worldwide anti-Israel protests and toxic Twitter feeds were also ablaze.
While Israel ended Operation Protective Edge on August 26, 2014, its battles continue to be fought in the Diaspora — on campuses, in the media, and in the streets. And with anti-Semitism increasingly assuming the guise of anti-Zionism, overt support for the Jewish state is often met with verbal, and even physical, violence.
Israel’s policies clearly affect worldwide Jewry. But should the state ask for — and weigh — Diaspora Jews’ opinions when making existential decisions?
According to a new Jewish People Policy Institute report pre-released to The Times of Israel ahead of its publication next week, an overwhelming 69 percent of surveyed Diaspora Jews state that Israel should take world Jewry’s voices into consideration.
The respondents’ motives were varied, with 38% in favor of Israel considering Diaspora views because of “the impact that confrontation might have” on their lives. Another 20% said Israel should listen to the Diaspora if it wants world Jewry’s continued support. And 11% said Israel should weigh Diaspora positions because “all Jews are partners.”
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