Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Pollard paroled release set for Nov. 21, barring parole board objections
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Jonathan Pollard, the Israeli spy, is set to be released on parole on Nov. 21 unless the parole board objects, the U.S. Justice Department said.
A statement emailed to JTA on Saturday noted that Pollard, a U.S. Navy analyst, was arrested in 1985 and in 1987 sentenced to life for espionage.
“Under the laws in place at that time (and which are currently applicable to Pollard), a person with a life sentence is presumptively eligible for mandatory parole after 30 years unless the Parole Commission ‘determines that he has seriously or frequently violated institution rules or that there is a reasonable probability that he will commit any Federal, State, or local crime’,” it said. “Pollard is eligible for mandatory parole in November 2015.”
Nov. 21 marks 30 years since Pollard was first jailed and has for years been listed as his release date.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Illinois first state to divest pensions from companies that boycott Israel
Illinois on Thursday became the first U.S. state to divest its public pension funds from companies that boycott Israel.
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the historic legislation into law as Jewish community leaders and the consul general of Israel to the Midwest, Roey Gilad, looked on.
“We need to stand up to anti-Semitism whenever and wherever we see it,” Rauner said in a statement. “This historic legislation is an important first step in the fight against boycotts of Israel and I hope other states move quickly to follow our lead.”
The new law, modeled on existing Illinois legislation regarding Iran and Sudan, requires state pension systems to purge from their portfolios companies that directly boycott Israel and send warnings to fund managers when companies engaged in boycott activity are held indirectly inside larger portfolios.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
U.S. preparing to release Jonathan Pollard: Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Obama administration is preparing to release Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard in the next few months, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Pollard may be released in the next few weeks or by Nov. 21, the date he is officially eligible for parole under rules in place when he was sentenced to life in 1987, the Journal reported in an alert on Friday.
The White House referred JTA to the Department of Justice, which did not immediately comment. The campaign to release Pollard had no comment. Pollard, a former analyst for the U.S. Navy, was arrested in 1985.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Kerry says Israeli attack on Iran would be ‘enormous’ mistake
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A unilateral Israeli attack on Iran would be an “enormous mistake,” Secretary of State John Kerry said.
“That would be an enormous mistake, a huge mistake with grave consequences for Israel and for the region,” Kerry said Friday on NBC’s Today show.
Kerry said a unilateral strike would set back Iran’s nuclear program by at most three years, and would spur Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
“If they bombed them, sure, I presume Iran would then have a reason to say, ‘Well, this is why we need a bomb’,” he said.” And what Iran will decide to do is dig deeper because Israel does not have the ability, nor do we, to stop – unless we went to all-out war and literally annihilated Iran, which I don’t hear people talking about.”
Click here for the full story
From The Times of Israel
Turkey strikes IS in Syria, Kurdish militants in Iraq
Operation comes after week of deadly violence that authorities blame on the two organizations
July 25, 2015, 4:23 pm
Turkey’s military Saturday carried out a new wave of air and artillery strikes against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria and Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, in an escalating campaign Ankara says is aimed at rooting out terror.
The two-pronged operation against IS and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) — two groups who are themselves bitterly opposed — came after a week of deadly violence in Turkey the authorities blamed on both organizations.
The PKK blasted the air raids on its northern Iraq mountain stronghold, saying a fragile ceasefire that had been in place since 2013 with Ankara “no longer has any meaning.”
After raids overnight, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkish war planes were carrying out new daytime raids against IS in Syria and PKK in northern Iraq.
Meanwhile Turkish ground forces were pounding targets belonging to both groups with artillery, he added.
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’
July 24, 2015, 2:10 am
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.
From The Times of Israel
World Jewry ever more uneasy with Israel, major study finds
Most Diaspora Jews don’t believe current government is sincere in quest for peace; feel entitled to a say in country’s security policy, new JPPI research highlights
July 23, 2015, 3:55 pm
World Jewry is finding it increasingly difficult to support Israel due to its ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, leading many communities to shun discussing the Jewish state altogether, a new major study has found.
The trend is eroding the Diaspora’s support for the Jewish state, warns the report by the Jewish People Policy Institute think tank, to be formally published next week.
While most Jews sympathize with Israel’s needs to wage war in self-defense and believe that its army acts according to high moral standards, there is growing discomfort with some Israeli policies they believe unnecessarily perpetuate conflict,according to the 100-page report by the JPPI, which was made available to The Times of Israel.
Diaspora Jews are not convinced that Israel is doing enough to prevent military conflicts and are troubled by the number of civilian casualties they often produce, though they generally blame Israel’s enemies for the bloodshed. The accusation of the use of “disproportionate force” makes it difficult for these Jews to defend Israeli actions. Somewhat paradoxically, however, Jews in the Diaspora are disappointed that Israel doesn’t manage to end its wars with decisive victories.
“Many Jews doubt that Israel truly wishes to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians, and few believe it is making the necessary effort to achieve one,” according to the study’s author, Shmuel Rosner.
From The Times of Israel
Assad grants amnesty for army dodgers, deserters
Special decree allows those who fled or are hiding to turn themselves in within 2 months as military faces severe shortages
July 25, 2015, 4:47 pm
Syrian President Bashar Assad granted amnesty on Saturday for people in the war-torn country who have dodged military service or deserted, state news agency SANA reported.
According to SANA, Assad issued a decree “which grants a general amnesty to those who deserted and are still in or have fled Syria”.
The special decree is the second amnesty in just over a year. It stipulates that deserters who fled the country have two months to hand themselves in, while those still inside Syria have one month. There were no details given for draft dodgers.
The amnesty wipes away “the entire punishment for those who fled inside Syria, as explained in article 100 of the military penal code,” and “those who have fled the country (crossed the borders), as explained in article 101″.
The articles do not, however, refer to army members who joined the ranks of “the enemy,” or who used their weapons against orders.
From The Times of Israel
Senator to Kerry on Iran deal: ‘We’ve been fleeced’
In bitter Senate hearing, secretary derides idea of better deal as ‘fantasy… unicorn arrangement,’ denies promising ‘anytime, anywhere’ inspections
July 23, 2015, 7:49 pm
WASHINGTON — The United States never intended to dismantle Iran’s entire nuclear program and the nation’s top diplomat never promised “anytime, anywhere inspections,” Secretary of State John Kerry told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a hearing Thursday morning. Dismissing talk of a better deal to thwart Iran’s nuclear program as a “fantasy” involving “some sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran’s complete capitulation,” the secretary was met by several highly skeptical critics, one of whom told him Iran had “fleeced” the US in the negotiations.
After conducting hours of classified briefings Wednesday, Kerry was testifying together with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew in an effort to sell the controversial Iran deal signed 10 days ago to a dubious Congress.
Speaking in a contentious open-door session before the Senate committee, Kerry told senators that the US had never considered the initial demand for which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had advocated in the months leading up to the initial deal between the P5+1 group of world powers and Iran.
“It’s a question of how you dismantle their weapons program, not their whole program,” Kerry said.
“Nobody has ever talked about dismantling their whole program,” he asserted in his impassioned testimony, arguing that when dismantlement was the policy, Iran multiplied its nuclear program a hundredfold.
