Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
With 34th senator, Obama gets enough votes to sustain Iran deal
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Sen. Barbara Mikulski said she will support the Iran nuclear deal, effectively ensuring that the agreement will survive attempts in Congress to overturn it.
Mikulski, D-Md., who issued her statement Wednesday morning, becomes the 34th senator to back the agreement reached in mid-July between Iran and the six world powers led by the United States. Her support denies opponents the necessary 67 votes they would require to override President Barack Obama’s pledged veto of any vote to kill the agreement.
“No deal is perfect, especially one negotiated with the Iranian regime,” Mikulski said in a 1,500-word statement enumerating the difficult choices she faced – a length and anguished tone typical of many of the statements in favor of the deal published by Democratic lawmakers.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
What America will offer Israel after the nuclear deal
WASHINGTON (JTA) – The moment the Iran nuclear deal becomes law, as seems increasingly likely given growing congressional support for the agreement, the focus of the U.S.-Israel conversation will shift to the question of what’s next.
What more will Washington do to mitigate the Iranian threat and reassure Israel and other regional allies?
For starters, President Barack Obama seems ready to offer an array of security enhancements. Among them are accelerating and increasing defense assistance to Israel over the next decade; increasing the U.S. military presence in the Middle East; stepping up the enforcement of non-nuclear related Iran sanctions; enhancing U.S. interdiction against disruptive Iranian activity in the region; and increasing cooperation on missile defense.
There also will be an emphasis on keeping any of the tens of billions of dollars to which Iran will gain unfettered access through the sanctions relief from reaching Iran’s proxies.
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From PressTV
Israel arrests parents of Palestinian boy beaten by soldier in West Bank
Israeli forces have arrested the parents of 12-year-old Mohamed al-Tamimi, who was rescued by his family after being beaten by an Israeli soldier last week.
“The Israeli army arrested Basil and his wife, Nariman, as they tried to cross an army checkpoint at the entrance of Nabi Saleh village north of Ramallah,” Bassam al-Tamimi, a Palestinian activist, told Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.
On Friday, during a peaceful anti-occupation demonstration held by a group of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh near Ramallah, Israeli armed forces attacked the protesters and arrested some of them.
One of the regime’s soldiers cornered the Palestinian boy, placed him in a headlock, beat him brutally and held him at gunpoint despite his broken arm, trying to arrest him. His unarmed family, including his mother and sister, surrounded the soldier to help Mohamed and finally managed to free him.
Since the beginning of 2011, Tel Aviv’s destruction of Palestinian homes has left more than 4,600 Palestinians homeless.
More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
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From PressTV
Gaza Strip may become uninhabitable by 2020: UN report
A small strip of land next to the Mediterranean Sea, which has been ravaged by war and years of a crippling economic blockade may become uninhabitable by the next five year. The United Nations says there is no way to “reverse the ongoing de-development and impoverishment,” unless Israel’s grueling blockade on the Gaza Strip is lifted.
In the summer of 2007, Tel Aviv imposed its blockade on the tiny coastal sliver, which has one of the highest population densities in the world and is home to over 1.8 million Palestinians. The import of everything apart from basic humanitarian goods has been banned as has the exporting of goods.
Israel’s devastating summer war in 2014 and two other military operations over the last six years have caused economic losses close to three times the size of Gaza’s gross domestic product. The latest onslaught claimed the lives of over 2,200 Palestinians and left over half a million more displaced. It also severely damaged more than 20,000 homes, 148 schools, 15 hospitals, and 45 clinics. At least 247 factories and 300 commercial centers were rendered inoperable or totally destroyed in the attack.
The coastal sliver’s socio-economic conditions have also reached their lowest since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967. Unemployment has sky-rocketed by around 44 percent, and 72 percent of all homes in Gaza are dealing with food insecurity. Based on figures released in May, some 860,000 people required UN food distribution to survive while in 2000 the recorded number was only 72,000.
“Gaza could become uninhabitable by 2020 if current economic trends persist,” the United Nations development agency said in its annual report on Tuesday.
The report added that Israel’s blockade has “ravaged the already debilitated infrastructure of Gaza, shattered its productive base, left no time for meaningful reconstruction or economic recovery and impoverished the Palestinian population in Gaza.”
“It inflicted large-scale destruction on Gaza’s local economy, productive assets and infrastructure, and affected numerous industrial, agricultural, commercial and residential facilities either directly or indirectly through debilitated infrastructure and acute shortages of inputs, water, electricity and fuel,” it noted.
“Short of ending the blockade, donor aid… will not reverse the ongoing de-development and impoverishment of Gaza,” it said.
From Ynet News
Obama clinches support needed to approve Iran deal
President secures ability to uphold veto as Sen. Barbara Mikulski announces she will vote in favor of nuclear deal.
US President Barack Obama secured a landmark foreign policy victory on Wednesday over ferocious opposition from Republicans and the government of Israel when Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski became the 34th vote in favor of the Iran nuclear deal.
Mikulski’s backing gives supporters the margin they need to uphold an expected Obama veto of a congressional resolution of disapproval that Republicans hope to pass later this month. And it spells failure for opponents of the international agreement who sought to foil it by turning Congress against it.
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From The Times of Israel
Kerry to outline US assurances to Israel, Gulf to lawmakers
Move comes as White House nears the vote tally it needs to push Iran nuclear deal through Congress
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry will send a letter to all members of Congress on Wednesday outlining US security commitments to Israel and the Gulf Arab states in light of the Iran nuclear deal.
State Department officials said Tuesday the letter would be sent shortly before Kerry delivers what is being billed as a major policy speech on the Iran agreement in Philadelphia. The officials said the speech, a week before Congress returns to work, will focus on how the deal makes the US and its allies safer.
Kerry will also attack what the officials said is a “mythology” of false claims about what the deal will do. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to preview the speech by name.
Supporters of the Iran nuclear deal are on the cusp of clinching the necessary US Senate votes to keep the contested agreement alive and hand President Barack Obama a major foreign policy victory, in spite of furious opposition.
Democratic Sens. Bob Casey and Chris Coons on Tuesday became the 32nd and 33rd senators to announce support for the deal, just one shy of the 34 votes needed to uphold an Obama veto of Republican legislation aimed at blocking the agreement.
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From The Times of Israel
Bush-Trump feud intensifies in GOP primary
In risky new campaign strategy, Jeb Bush lashes the real estate mogul for purported Democratic leanings
MIAMI (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush escalated his feud with Donald Trump on Tuesday, betting big he can re-energize his stalled campaign by challenging the billionaire businessman head on.
It’s a risky strategy for the former Florida governor, still considered the GOP front-runner by many party officials, but a move his advisers suggest is necessary to reverse Trump’s unlikely ascension to the top of the 2016 presidential class.
Bush intensified his criticism of the former reality television star on multiple fronts, first releasing a Web video featuring clips of Trump himself promoting traditionally liberal positions in old interviews. “You’d be shocked if I said that in many cases I probably identify more as a Democrat,” Trump says in the video produced and promoted by the Bush campaign titled “Liberal Things That Trump Says.”
In a subsequent Fox News interview, Bush charged that “Trump is more a Democrat than a Republican.” Speaking to reporters in English and Spanish in Miami later in the day, Bush said: “He attacks me every day. He personalizes everything. If you’re not totally in agreement with him, you’re an idiot, you’re stupid, you have low energy, blah, blah, blah. That’s what he does.”
The Bush campaign reports that Tuesday’s political assault was not an isolated incident, but part of a broader strategy to engage Trump more directly. While the two have traded jabs before, the approach marks a shift for Bush, who previously preferred to ignore Trump’s bombast altogether.
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From The Times of Israel
Hungary bars migrants from trains; smugglers wait in wings
Germany’s Merkel warns EU’s longstanding commitment to passport-free travel is under threat
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary stunned migrants and European partners Tuesday by blocking asylum-seekers from its westbound trains, a move that raised new challenges for the EU’s passport-free travel zone and could drive many into the reckless hands of cross-border smugglers.
Hungary’s right-wing nationalist government defended its U-turn — just days after it started permitting migrants on the trains without any coherent immigration controls at all — as necessary to send a get-tough signal. Cabinet ministers told lawmakers that the nation, struggling to cope with more than 150,000 arrivals this year, was determined to seal its borders to unwelcome travelers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Human rights activists criticized the action as futile and reckless, given that eastern European gangs have mobilized fleets of vehicles for illegally transporting migrants to Austria, Germany and elsewhere — but at steep prices and in often dangerous conditions. They warned that blocking public transportation would increase risks of a repeat of last week’s tragedy when the bodies of 71 people, apparently suffocated, were found in the back of an abandoned truck near Vienna, Austria.
“There is no logic behind what Hungary is doing: Yesterday they let migrants use the trains, and today they do not,” Gabor Gyulai, refugee program coordinator for a Budapest-based rights group called the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, told The Associated Press. “By not allowing them to move onward into Europe in a regular manner by buying a ticket, it’s a certainty that this new policy will push them into the hands of smugglers. It is a terrible outcome.”
Confusion reigned at Budapest’s central Keleti train station as migrants arrived with tickets in hand, often costing 200 euros ($225) each or more, intending to take the morning service to Vienna and the southern German city of Munich. Barring their way were lines of maroon-capped Hungarian police, some of them in body armor.
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From The Times of Israel
Sanders insists he’d use military force if need be
Democratic presidential candidate, who voted against Iraq war, says deploying army should be ‘last resort’
WASHINGTON (AP) — International rivals would be mistaken to assume he wouldn’t be prepared to use military force if that’s what circumstances required, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said in an interview that aired on Sunday.
The Vermont senator who is the leading challenger to front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton says the United States should have the strongest military in the world. The US should be prepared to act when it or its allies are threatened or in response to genocide.
“Yes, there are times when you have to use force. No question about it,” Sanders said. “But that should be a last resort.”
During his nearly 25 years in Congress, Sanders’ record on authorizing military force is mixed. He voted to send troops to Afghanistan after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. But he voted against going to war with Iraq in 1991 and again in 2003.
Sanders comments came during an interview that aired on ABC’s “This Week.” His campaign has focused on the economy and gained momentum, drawing the largest crowds of any candidate to his rallies. Clinton served as secretary of state for about four years. Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, was asked why national security and foreign policy are missing from his campaign’s website.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
For aliyah promoters, Ukraine’s troubles provide a boost
TBILISI, Georgia (JTA) — Until April of last year, Julia Podinovskaya felt like she had a pretty good handle on where her life was going.
Born to a middle-class Jewish family in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, Podinovskaya, who is in her 20s, was volunteering with the local Jewish community while preparing to finish her bachelor’s degree in education at a local university.
Moving to Israel, or anywhere else, was not on her mind.
“Everything was planned,” she said in an interview at a Jewish summer camp near Tbilisi, the capital city of this republic. “On my father’s birthday, I already knew what I would give him the following year.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Biden to speak at Florida JCC, Atlanta synagogue on same day
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Vice President Joe Biden will speak at a South Florida JCC on the same day he speaks at an Atlanta synagogue.
Biden will speak Thursday morning at the David Posnack Jewish Community Center in Davie. That evening, he will speak on “Challenges Facing the U.S. and the World in the 21st Century” at Ahavath Achim Synagogue, the synagogue said in a statement.
The Obama administration is aggressively courting U.S. Jews to back the sanctions relief for nuclear restrictions deal reached in July between Iran and six major powers, as Congress considers whether to accept or reject the deal.
Biden has also been reported to be considering a presidential run.
From PressTV
Israel relocates Palestinian hunger strikers to different jail
The Israeli regime has transferred to a different prison at least six Palestinian inmates who have been staging a hunger strike over their detention.
According to reports on Tuesday, five of the relocated prisoners were held under solitary confinement in the Negev prison. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Center identified the five as Nidal Abu Aker, Shadi Maali, Ghassan Zawahreh, Badr al-Ruzza and Munir Abu Sharar.
The center went on to say that the prisoners had begun their hunger strike on August 18 to protest their detention without trial.
Kayid Fawzi Abu al-Rish is another Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 27 days now. He was held in isolation in the Megiddo jail.
It is not known yet to which Israeli prison the striking prisoners have been moved.
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From PressTV
Israeli forces demolish Bedouin buildings in West Bank
Israeli forces have demolished at least 25 structures, including several homes, belonging to Palestinian Bedouins in the occupied West Bank, making several families homeless.
On Monday, Israeli forces stormed the al-Khdeirat Bedouin community outside the village of Jaba’, near al-Quds (Jerusalem), and destroyed the structures which serve 11 families, the Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem said.
The rights group said the destruction has displaced some 100 people, including about 70 minors.
Every year, hundreds of Bedouin homes are razed to the ground as part of Israel’s settlement expansion projects.
In mid-August, Israeli forces demolished more than 40 Palestinian homes in the occupied Palestinian territories, displacing 54 people, including 33 children, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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From Russia Today
Netanyahu wants to resume ‘direct’ talks with Palestinians ‘immediately’
“I have no precondition to reach negotiations, I’m willing to drive to Ramallah or anyplace else now in order to run direct negotiations,” Netanyahu said.
The PM is equally determined to proceed to the two-state solution and is all in favor of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside Israel, according to the statement.
It comes just as Israel has protested against the Palestinian Authority’s bid to fly its flag at UN headquarters.
The Israeli authorities called the bid “another cynical misuse of the UN by the Palestinian Authority.”
From Russia Today
New sanctions: US targets scores of Russian, Chinese, Syrian firms over Iran
According to the list, due to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday and currently available on its website, such prominent Russian companies as Instrument Design Bureau (KBP), Rosoboronexport (ROE) and Russian Aircraft Corporation (RAC) MiG fall under the punitive measures, just to name a few.
The US has imposed a number of sanctions on Russia since August 2014 over the conflict in eastern Ukraine and Crimean reunification, accusing Moscow of being a protagonist and participant in the ongoing hostilities.
Russia has repeatedly denied Western allegations of any involvement in its southern neighbor’s internal affairs whatsoever. It responded with counter-measures, banning imports from the EU, US and others. In June, Moscow extended its embargo on food imports from Western countries until August 2016 due to the prolonged anti-Russia sanctions.
From The Times of Israel
Shots fired from Syria kill Turkish soldier
Attack comes from Islamic State-controlled area as Ankara steps up its strikes on jihadist forces across border
ANKARA, Turkey — The military says a Turkish soldier was killed from shots fired from Islamic State-controlled area across the border in Syria. A second soldier is reported missing.
The military said the incident occurred Tuesday at a border post near the town of Kilis. The soldier disappeared following a clash between the soldiers and the assailants.
On Saturday, Turkey announced that its fighter jets carried out their first airstrikes as part of the US-led coalition against IS, attacking extremist targets deemed to be a threat to Turkey.
Turkey agreed to take on a more active role against the radical group in July following a suicide bombing, blamed on IS, which killed 33 people near the Turkish-Syrian border and an attack on Turkish troops guarding the border, which killed one soldier.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
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Happy New Year! But first, here’s a look back at the old one, in quiz form.
There were, of course, lots of Jewish doings, some kosher, some not so much, in 5775 (a palindrome!). Good luck remembering the meaty, the mighty and the mishigas.
And welcome to JTA’s new Jews in the News Quiz! Remember: If you get them all right, something’s probably wrong.

From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jews in the News Quiz: Rosh Hashanah edition
Happy New Year! But first, here’s a look back at the old one, in quiz form.
There were, of course, lots of Jewish doings, some kosher, some not so much, in 5775 (a palindrome!). Good luck remembering the meaty, the mighty and the mishigas.
And welcome to JTA’s new Jews in the News Quiz! Remember: If you get them all right, something’s probably wrong.
