News Archives - Page 34 of 48

Senators Introduce Bipartisan Anti-BDS Bill

hzJanuary 18, 2017January 18, 2017News

JTA

BDS supporters protesting in New York, Oct. 2015

Two senators introduced a bill providing protection from lawsuits to state and local governments passing anti-BDS legislation.

On Tuesday, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., introduced the Combating BDS Act, which would increase legal protection for state and local governments that ban, limit or divest from companies “engaged in commerce-related or investment-related BDS activity targeting Israel.”

hzJanuary 18, 2017News

Algemeiner

Benny Fischer, President, European Union of Jewish Students

By virtue of being Jewish, students across Europe are automatically branded as pro-Israel and harassed by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists, the head of a university umbrella organization told The Algemeiner.

Benny Fischer, president of the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS), said that even those Jews who do not wish to be involved politically are “specifically and repeatedly targeted for what happens in the Middle East and dragged into talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, whether they want to or not.”

hzJanuary 18, 2017News

Times of Israel

A policeman was killed Wednesday in a suspected car-ramming attack during clashes over home demolitions in the long-contested Bedouin town of Umm al-Hiran, police said. The driver was shot and killed by security forces at the scene.

Police identified the slain officer as 1st Sgt. Erez Levi, 34, from Yavneh, saying he was “murdered in a car-ramming attack.”

hzJanuary 17, 2017News

Times of Israel

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (L)

Palestinian and European officials on Monday slammed the UK’s apparent readiness to defy international consensus and stand up for Israel, accusing London of aligning with Jerusalem to garner favor with the incoming Trump administration.

“We were expecting the United Kingdom, in particular, to play an effective role in the international system that rejects the Israeli occupation and its settlement enterprise,” Palestine Liberation Organization Secretary-General Saeb Erekat said in a statement released Monday evening, mere hours after Britain blocked a French effort to have the European Union endorse a peace conference it held Sunday.

hzJanuary 15, 2017January 15, 2017News

Times of Israel

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, center

Dramatically breaking ranks with participants from 70 other countries, the United Kingdom criticized Sunday’s Middle East peace conference in Paris, arguing that it might harden Palestinian negotiating positions and refusing to sign a joint statement issued after the summit that called for a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A Foreign Office spokesman said London had “particular reservations” about the Paris meeting taking place without Israeli or Palestinian representatives, especially since a new US administration is being sworn in later this week.

Indeed, the spokesman’s statement noted that the confab took place against Israel’s expressed wishes and “just days before the transition to a new American president when the US will be the ultimate guarantor of any agreement.”

At Paris Meeting, Major Powers to Warn Trump Over Middle East Peace

hzJanuary 14, 2017News

Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump

Major powers will send a message to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday that a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians is the only way forward, and warn that his plan to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem could derail peace efforts.

Some 70 countries, including key European and Arab states as well as the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, are due in Paris for a meeting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected as “futile” and “rigged”. Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians will be represented.

hzJanuary 11, 2017News

Algemeiner

Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State nominee.

The anti-settlement resolution approved by the UN Security Council last month was “not helpful” and “undermines” the chances of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks being renewed, Rex Tillerson — President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state nominee — said at a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

“Israel is, has always been and remains our most important ally in the region,” the former Exxon Mobil CEO said. Tillerson took aim at outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry, calling his recent speech in which he assailed Israeli settlement construction “quite troubling.”

hzJanuary 11, 2017January 11, 2017News

Times of israel

An explosion as terrorists attack an Egyptian police checkpoint

An Israeli defense official on Wednesday confirmed that the country has developed a new policy in recent years to allow Egypt to quickly beef up its forces in the volatile Sinai Peninsula as part of a shared struggle against Islamic terrorists.

The official spoke days after Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said there are about 25,000 Egyptian troops operating in Sinai. It was the first time an Egyptian leader has commented on the number of troops battling terrorists there.

hzJanuary 9, 2017January 10, 2017News

Algemeiner

US President Barack Obama

The news that the US and five other world powers have approved a Russian shipment of 116 metric tons of natural uranium to Iran is “only likely to spark a greater backlash” by the new Congress and President-elect Donald Trump against the July 2015 nuclear agreement, a top official with an anti-deal advocacy group told The Algemeiner on Monday.

“No part of the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] obligates the P5+1 to gift the Iranian regime tons of natural uranium, which can be further enriched to build bombs,” United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) Executive Director Matan Shamir said. “This is one more reckless unilateral concession that the Obama administration should forgo, particularly amid reports that Iran has been close to exhausting its domestic deposits.”

hzJanuary 9, 2017January 10, 2017News

Times of Israel

Uranium Conversion Facility at Isfahan

Iran is to receive a huge shipment of natural uranium from Russia to compensate it for exporting tons of reactor coolant, diplomats say, in a move approved by the outgoing US administration and other governments seeking to keep Tehran committed to a landmark nuclear pact.

Two senior diplomats said the transfer recently agreed by the US and five other world powers that negotiated the nuclear deal with Iran foresees delivery of 116 metric tons (nearly 130 tons) of natural uranium. UN Security Council approval is needed but a formality, considering five of those powers are permanent Security Council members, they said.

Senators Introduce Bipartisan Anti-BDS Bill

Head of Umbrella Group: European Jewish Students Automatically Branded Pro-Israel, Harassed by BDS Activists

Clashes Ensue after Cop, His Alleged Attacker Killed in Negev

Britain Denounced for Defending Israel in International Forums

UK Refuses to Sign Paris Declaration, Warns Summit May Harden Palestinian Positions

At Paris Meeting, Major Powers to Warn Trump Over Middle East Peace

Trump Secretary of State Pick Tillerson Slams Anti-Israel Security Council Resolution, Vows to Make Fight Against BDS a Priority

Israeli Official Confirms Strong Cooperation with Egypt in Sinai

Nuclear Watchdog Group: Approval of Russian Shipment of Natural Uranium to Iran is ‘Reckless Unilateral Concession’ by Outgoing Obama Administration

With US Consent, Russia to Give Iran huge Shipment of Natural Uranium