Pro-Israel News

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Leaders speak on phone as president’s UN ambassador tells

Republicans White House objects to new sanctions on Tehran

BY AP January 13, 2015, 3:04 am

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama spoke by phone with Israeli Prime

Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday night, telling him he opposed the Palestinians’

move to join the International Criminal Court to pursue warcrimes charges against

Israel. Obama also spoke of American efforts to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons.

The White House said Obama told Netanyahu that the Palestinian Authority wasn’t yet a state and

wasn’t eligible to join the court. Obama said the Palestinians’ application to the court wasn’t

constructive and undermined trust with Israel.

The US is reviewing its aid package to the Palestinians because of their bid to join the court.

Palestine was accepted as an observer state by the 122 countries that are members of the

International Criminal Court in December. Its ratification of the Rome Statute that established the

ICC in late December has been accepted at the United Nations, and the state of Palestine will

become the 123rd member of the international war crimes tribunal on April 1. The United States is

not a member of the ICC, so its views on Palestinian statehood have no bearing on the court.

The White House said Obama also told Netanyahu the US was working toward a nuclear deal that

prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu has repeatedly warned such a deal could

undercut Israel’s security.

The nuclear talks resume this week in Switzerland.

Obama’s UN ambassador strongly objected Monday to any new US sanctions push on Iran,

saying the administration wouldn’t compromise with the Republicanled Congress.

Samantha Power said the proposed penalties on Tehran, as championed by Republican and

some Democratic lawmakers, would “almost certainly end” nuclear talks between Iran and world

powers. And she said the legislation would weaken existing sanctions on Iran by undermining

international cooperation.

While the sentiments weren’t new for the Obama administration, Power’s remarks were

noteworthy for the forum where they were delivered. She was speaking at an event in Louisville,

Kentucky, hosted by Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s new majority leader.

While Power sought to stress common goals between the administration and Congress — from

fighting Ebola and confronting terrorists to ending Burma’s dictatorship — she drew lines on the

issue of Iran and Cuba.

“Imposing new sanctions now will almost certainly end a negotiations process that has not only

frozen the advance of Iran’s nuclear program, but that could lead us to an understanding that

would give us confidence in its exclusively peaceful nature,” Power said.

“Iran would be able to blame the US for sabotaging the negotiations and causing the collapse of

the process, and we would lose the chance to peacefully resolve a major national security

challenge,” Power said.

And, she argued, a new package of nuclearrelated trade, oil or financial restrictions on Tehran

would “likely weaken the sanctions pressure on Iran, by undermining crucial international support.”

In the Senate, nearly all Republicans and several Democrats have voiced support for toughening

the economic pressure on Iran in a bid to squeeze its negotiators into making more concessions

in nuclear talks. Support from the Republicandominated House is a given.

The US and its partners are hoping to seal a deal with Iran by July that would provide the country

longterm relief from international sanctions in exchange for stricter limits on its nuclear activity.

Iran says its program is solely designed for peaceful nuclear energy and medical research

purposes. The US and many governments in the world suspect Iran of maintaining a covert

interest in producing nuclear weapons.

The Senate is likely to take up the issue in February.

Aides say the legislation being drafted by Sen. Mark Kirk, a Republican, and Sen. Bob Menendez,

a Democrat, has significantly softened language from a bill the pair drafted a year ago. The last

effort would have compelled an increase in sanctions unless Iran ended all uranium enrichment

activity. That is no longer a binding condition, said aides who weren’t authorized to speak publicly

on the bill while it was still being worked on and demanded anonymity.

Power also defended the administration’s outreach to Cuba, confirming that the communist

government has released 53 political prisoners it promised to free last month when the two

countries vowed to reestablish diplomatic ties. She said differences with Cuba hawks on that

effort were an issue of tactics, not overall objectives, and said

Monday, January 12, 2015

BY AFP AND TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF January 12, 2015, 12:47 pm | The Times of Israel|

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday visited the kosher supermarket in eastern Paris where four Jews were killed by an Islamist gunman who stormed the store last week, warning that attacks could grow worse.

Arriving to the cries of “Bibi, Bibi” — his nickname — and under massive security protection, Netanyahu paid tribute to victims at the site, and was accompanied by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman.

Speaking to the press there, Netanyahu called on European leaders to support Israel in its own fight against terror, likely a reference to European criticism of Israel regarding its conflict with the Palestinians.

“A direct line leads between the attacks of extremist Islam around the world to the attack that took place here at a kosher supermarket in the heart of Paris,” he said. “I expect all of the leaders, with whom we marched in the streets of Paris yesterday, to fight terrorism wherever it is, also when it is directed against Israel and Jews.”

The prime minister also warned that the terror threat would grow.

““The terror strikes that we have experienced here will grow to dimensions people do not yet understand, and this is why I hope Europe will unite, I hope it will wake up in time,” he said. “Israel supports Europe in its fight against terrorism and it’s time Europe supported Israel in the same fight.”

Referencing his attendance at a march a day earlier, where he was one of dozens of world leaders who rallied along with millions others, Netanyahu defended his move to shoulder himself into the first row of leaders, alongside French president Fancois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“Insofar as it depends on me, I will always see to it that Israel marches in the first row of nations vis-à-vis its security and its future,” he said.

In a visit with French Jewish leaders before his tour of the site of the attack, Netanyahu said he hoped the Paris terror attacks would lend European support to Israeli efforts to combat terror.

“If the world does not unite now against terrorism, the blows that terrorism has struck here will increase in a magnitude that can scarcely be conceived; therefore, I hope that Europe will unite. I hope that it will also take action,” Netanyahu said.

“Israel supports Europe in the struggle against terrorism and the time has come for Europe to support Israel in the exact same struggle,” he said.

The prime minister also described his address at the Paris synagogue on Sunday evening as “emotional,” and “a moment of genuine Jewish solidarity.”

“The visit to Paris was also a moment of general solidarity with humanity,” Netanyahu added.

Netanyahu arrived in Paris for Sunday’s mass rally in commemoration of the 17 victims of the Paris terror attacks at the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine and HyperCacher market, as well as the shooting death of a policewoman. Netanyahu later gave an address in Hebrew at the Grand Synagogue in Paris where he thanked France for its “very firm position” against anti-Semitism.

“Our common enemy is radical, extremist Islam — not normal Islam,” Netanyahu said in an address at the Grand Synagogue in Paris, after briefly joining other world leaders in a mammoth march against extremism through the capital that drew up to 1.6 million people.

Netanyahu called on Europe and the rest of the world to support Israel’s fight against terror.

“Israel is today at Europe’s side, but I would like Europe to be on Israel’s side too,” Netanyahu said.

“Those who killed and massacred Jews in a synagogue recently in Israel and those who killed Jews and journalists in Paris are part of the same global terror movement,” he added, referring to a deadly November attack at a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof.

“We must condemn them in the same way, we must fight them in the same way.”

The prime minister asserted that the danger imposed by global terror had the potential of deteriorating into a serious threat to all humankind if radicals were to achieve nuclear capabilities. He then demanded of world powers to thwart Iranian nuclear aspirations.

“We cannot let Iran achieve nuclear capabilities,” he said. “Israel stands with Europe, and Europe must stand with Israel [on this issue].”

Netanyahu went on to once again extend an invitation to French Jews to emigrate to Israel, just a day after he said the Jewish state was their home.

“Jews have the right to live wherever they want,” the prime minister said. “But Jews these days have an opportunity that did not exist in the past, to live freely in the only Jewish state, the State of Israel.”

“Any Jew who chooses to come to Israel will be greeted with open arms and an open heart, it is not a foreign nation, and hopefully they and you will one day come to Israel,” he said.

“Am Israel chai! Am Israel chai!,” Netanyahu concluded. The crowd loudly repeated his final remarks. Some could be heard chanting Netanyahu’s name.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Netanyahu and Barkat send condolences; foreign minister urges

tougher stance on northern branch of the Islamic Movement

BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF January 8, 2015, 2:26 pm | The Times of Israel|

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman issued a scathing broadside against a radical Islamic

preacher in Israel in the wake of the deadly terror attack on the offices of the Charlie

Hebdo satirical magazine in Paris.

“If there is an important lesson that we learn from the terror attack,” Liberman said in a statement

Thursday, “it is that extremist groups, which are distinguishable from terror organizations only by

semantics and legal minutiae, must be dealt with preemptively. Those who tolerate such

movements and organizations in the end pay for this [tolerance] with the blood of many innocents

and with a threat to the very democracy that allowed them to function. Therefore, we must not

dally any longer or allow the continued activities of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement

headed by Sheikh Raed Salah.”

Salah, a firebrand Muslim preacher, antiZionist and former mayor of the Israeli Arab city of Umm

alFahm, served a twoyear prison term after a conviction for funneling funds to Hamas. The

Islamic Movement’s northern branch, led by Salah, has long claimed that Israel was secretly

working to destroy the Muslim shrines on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

“This movement is an inseparable link in the chain that includes the terror organizations of Hamas,

Islamic Jihad, alQaeda and Islamic State, and over the years its members, led time and again by

Sheikh Salah, have demonstrated that they support terror and identify with it,” Liberman

maintained on Thursday.

“The northern branch of the Islamic Movement under Salah espouses the exact same values

as the perpetrators of the massacre in Paris, and the same intolerance to any criticism or speech

that does not fit their extremist values. They constitute a threat to Israeli democracy and to the

lives of Israel’s citizens.”

Liberman vowed to “continue to work to push them outside the bounds of the law, and will do so

with clear and unambiguous legislation that won’t be cancellable through legal sophistry.”

Israeli leaders sent messages of condolence and support following the killing spree by two

suspected Islamist brothers in the offices of Charlie Hebdo.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat called his Parisian counterpart, Anne Hidalgo, on Thursday morning

and said, “The residents of Jerusalem understand and share in your pain.”

He added, “We must make sure that terror does not pay. The terrorists must be brought to justice

and everyone must understand that the savage attack in Paris was not an isolated event but part

of an international campaign of terror.”

As in terrorstricken Jerusalem, the key to overcoming terror is resilience on the part of Paris’s

residents, Barkat said.

“The support of the mayor of Jerusalem and the people of Jerusalem is very important to us,”

Hidalgo responded, according to a statement from the Jerusalem municipality. “I will share this

important message of support with the members of Paris’ City Council and with all of the residents

of Paris.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu roundly condemned the attack after meeting Thursday

morning in Jerusalem with Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende.

“Yesterday’s murderous attack on free expression clearly demonstrates the disdain of radical

Islam for the values we hold dear,” the prime minister said.

“We cherish freedom and tolerance; they worship tyranny and terror. And through this terror they

seek to impose a new dark age on humanity. We express profound sympathies to the government

of France, the people of France. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims and our

wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured,” Netanyahu said.

The shooters, he added, “are part of a global movement and this necessitates a global response. I

believe that with the strength of our resolve and the unity of our action, we can defeat this threat to

our common civilization. And what the battle against terror requires is courage, clarity and

consistency. Israel is being attacked by the very same forces that attack Europe. Israel stands

with Europe. Europe must stand with Israel.”

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem decided to immediately send back to Paris the Israeli

ambassador to France, Yossi Gal, who spent the last few days in Israel attending a conference of

Israeli envoys to Europe.

“Upon his return, Ambassador Gal [will meet] with the leaders of the French government, with the

leaders of the Jewish community and will express Israel’s condolences [over] the despicable

attack in Paris,” ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement.

The Paris attack also set off a ruckus between Hatnua leader Tzipi Livni and Jewish Home

chairman Naftali Bennett.

In comments Wednesday in response to the Paris attack, Livni called it “an attack on all the

nations of the free world, including Israel. You don’t talk with or appease terror. You fight an

uncompromising total war against it – here, in France or anywhere else in the world.”

Speaking at a gathering of students at the College of Management in Rishon Lezion, she insisted

that Israel faced diplomatic isolation because the Netanyahuled government failed to advance

peace with the Palestinians.

“It’s not enough to speak confidently about security. You have to know how to rally the world to

support the defense interests of Israel – this Netanyahu does not know how to do…. The fact that

the Palestinians are taking unilateral steps at the United Nations and are taking the IDF to the

[International Criminal] Court in the Hague flows from their understanding that Netanyahu is weak

in the world, that he can be defeated there,” said Livni.

Her comments were condemned by Bennett, who was next to address the gathering.

“Today there was a horrible attack in France in which a group of Muslims armed with rifles carried

out a killing spree in Paris because of a cartoon that purportedly insulted Islam…. Livni stood here

earlier and spoke about occupation, diplomatic isolation. So I ask: Why don’t you get on a plane to

Paris to [help them] solve their problems? Maybe you’ll manage the negotiations, offer them a

diplomatic horizon, because that’s the solution.”

Bennett compared Israel’s struggle with Hamas and Hezbollah to the wave of attacks by Islamist

terrorists in France.

“What do they want? A piece of land?” he asked of Hezbollah. “No. They don’t want us here. We

have to wake up and understand this.”

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Washington weighing possible sanctions if PA follows through with

international tribunal bid

BY STUART WINER January 8, 2015, 1:39 pm

Updated: January 8, 2015, 2:05 pm | The Times of Israel|

The spokesperson for the US State Department said Wednesday that the Obama

administration does not consider the Palestinians eligible to join the International Criminal

Court, as Palestine is not a sovereign state.

In a press briefing, Jen Psaki clarified the Washington’s position on Palestinian moves for

membership in the ICC.

“The United States does not believe that the state of Palestine qualifies as a sovereign state and

does not recognize it as such and does not believe that it is eligible to accede to the Rome

Statute,” Psaki said. She noted that there are “legal aspects” to the issue that needed to be looked

at.

The Palestinian Authority began filing paperwork at the United Nations to join the ICC last month,

and UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon accepted the request earlier on Wednesday.

UN approval could now allow the ICC to open cases as of April 1 on serious crimes the

Palestinians allege were committed in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

But Psaki emphasized that even according to the UN itself, Ban’s stamp of approval was

bureaucratic and not an indication as to whether or not the Palestinians have the right to join the

court.

“The UN spokesperson issued a statement you may have seen earlier today making clear that the

steps taken in fulfilling the secretarygeneral’s role as depository for the ICC Rome Statute are

purely administrative,” Paski said. “So they are therefore not a judgment on eligibility; they’re

accepting the documents.”

Paski said that a bill proposed by Republican Sen. Rand Paul that would freeze aid to the

Palestinians if they continue to pursue ICC membership was also being weighed.

“I’m not going to speak to proposed legislation,” she said. “There’s no question that we will be

complying with all laws as it relates to our assistance, of course. So we’re consulting with

Congress; we’re looking at the law. I don’t have any other analysis at this point in time about what

the impact will be.”

While Palestinian membership in the court doesn’t automatically incur US punishment, existing law

says any Palestinian case against Israel at the court would trigger an immediate cutoff of US

financial support. Paul’s bill would ban assistance until Palestine stops its move to become a

member of the court.

Should Paul’s bill go through, US Secretary of State John Kerry could still apply a waiver to

continue aid to the Palestinians, an option Psaki said the State Department was reviewing.

“Our lawyers are still looking at what the implications are,” she said. “I think it’s unlikely we’ll have

analysis on it right now. It’s something we’re looking closely at and we’re consulting with

Congress on.”

No matter what, Palestinian membership at the ICC was unlikely to go through without a response

in the form of a change in US policy on aid.

“There could be implications,” Psaki conceded but remained tightlipped on what those measures

would entail.

Other Palestinian applications to join various UN bodies did not, she said, contribute to the peace

efforts.

“You know our view on their desire to not only become a state, which we certainly support, but

their interest or efforts to accede to UN organizations, which we feel, of course, is

counterproductive to the stated goal of achieving peace in the region.”

The ICC bid followed the Palestinians’ failure to win a UN Security Council majority for a resolution

imposing a threeyear time limit for a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre1967 lines in the West Bank

and Jerusalem.

Psaki said that despite the recent developments that have been driving a wedge between Israel

and the Palestinians, Kerry is still interested in resuscitating peace talks between the two sides.

The last round of talks fell apart in April 2014.

“I think the secretary will never give up on the prospect of looking for an opportunity for the parties

to make the necessary decisions to return to negotiations and ultimately come to an agreement on

a twostate solution,” she said. “Obviously, that needs to be up to the parties. There’s no

questions there’s tensions between them at this point in time, to put it mildly. But he remains

engaged with the Israelis and we remain closely engaged with the Palestinians as well, and I

expect that will continue through the course of the coming months.”

Psaki also noted that the US was aware of Israeli reports that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal had

been booted out of Qatar, but said they were not yet confirmed.

“I’m not going to speculate on it,” she said. “I don’t have any confirmation about it. Our view on

Hamas is very clear.”

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

By REUTERS

01/07/2015 13:18 | The Jerusalem Post|

Black-hooded gunmen shot dead at least 12 people at the Paris offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, a publication firebombed in the past after publishing cartoons lampooning Muslim leaders and the Prophet Mohammad, police said.

The attackers were reported to have said, "We have avenged the Prophet," as they entered the building shooting.

President Francois Hollande headed to the scene of the attack and the government said it was raising France's security level to the highest notch.

"This is a terrorist attack, there is no doubt about it," Hollande told reporters.

Another 10 people were injured in the incident and police union official Rocco Contento described the scene inside the offices as "carnage."

"About a half an hour ago two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs (rifles)," witness Benoit Bringer told the TV station. "A few minutes later we heard lots of shots," he said, adding that the men were then seen fleeing the building.

France is already on high alert after calls last year from Islamist militants to attack its citizens and interests in reprisal for French military strikes on Islamist strongholds in the Middle East and Africa.

British Prime Minister David Cameron described the attack as sickening.

Late last year, a man shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") injured 13 by ramming a vehicle into a crowd in the eastern city of Dijon. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said at the time France had "never before faced such a high threat linked to terrorism."

A firebomb attack gutted the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, a publication that has always courted controversy with satirical attacks on political and religious leaders, in November 2011 after it put an image of the Prophet Mohammad on its cover.

The last tweet on Charlie Hebdo's account mocked Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, which has taken control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

NGO seeks to prosecute three PA heads, pushes for their arrests,

following Abbas’s move to join International Criminal Court

BY AVI LEWIS January 5, 2015, 5:09 pm| The Times of Isreal|

Israeli legal group Shurat HaDin, the Israel Law Center, filed lawsuits on Monday at the

International Criminal Court (ICC) against three Palestinian Authority leaders for alleged war

crimes, terrorism and human rights offenses, following PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s

move last week to join the court and seek to prosecute Israel.

Indictments were brought against PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, Abbas’s deputy; minister

Jibril Rajoub; and PA intelligence chief Majed Faraj, all of whom belong to Abbas’s Fatah party.

The NGO is also pursuing existing litigation filed against Abbas last November, as well as a case

against Gazabased terror group Hamas and its leader Khaled Mashaal, filed at the ICC on

September 2014.

According to Shurat HaDin, during the 2014 IsraelGaza conflict “Fatah openly boasted in

Facebook pages and other media channels that it launched projectiles that caused the injury and

death of Israeli civilians — a war crime under international law.”

The NGO pressed The Hague to issue international arrest warrants for the three pending litigation.

Shurat HaDin’s chairwoman and founder, attorney Nitsana DarshanLeitner, said that the

organization will make it as difficult as possible for Palestinian leaders at the ICC, and that they

must be held accountable for crimes committed under their supervision.

“Abbas and his friends in terror organizations believe that the courts can be used as a weapon

against Israel, while at the same time, the Palestinian leadership carries out crimes with utter

impunity against their own people and against Israeli civilians,” DarshanLeitner said.

The case brought against Faraj and Hamdallah details widespread torture and killings of

Palestinian residents who reside in areas under PA control, according to a statement released by

the group.

“Faraj and Hamdallah, as commanders in the Palestinian security services, are directly

responsible for widespread human rights violations committed [in the West Bank] against regular

Palestinians by units under their authority,” the statement read.

According to the indictment, Rajoub, too, was fully aware of the violations it listed and should be

held “accountable for the actions committed under his auspices by his subordinates in the

organization,” the statement read.

The ICC can prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes

committed since July 1, 2002, when the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, came into

force.

“The PA and Hamas have to understand that the International Criminal Court is a doubleedged

sword,” DarshanLeitner said. “Years of murder, acts of terrorism and incitement will now be

brought before prosecutors for investigation.”

On Saturday Israel froze NIS 500 million ($127 million) in Palestinian tax revenues collected on

Ramallah’s behalf, in response to the ICC membership request.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Palestinians leaders were the ones who should be

prosecuted in the ICC over their unification with rival faction Hamas.

“It is the Palestinian Authority leaders – who have allied with the war criminals of Hamas – who

must be called to account,” he said. “IDF soldiers will continue to protect the State of Israel with

determination and strength, and just as they are protecting us we will protect them, with the same

determination and strength.”

On Thursday, Abbas asked the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for war crimes

allegedly committed during the 50day war with Hamas and other Gaza terror groups last summer.

Israel lost 66 soldiers and seven civilians in the monthlong conflict, while the Palestinian death toll

surpassed 2,100, according to Hamas officials in Gaza. Israel said half of the Gaza dead were

gunmen and blamed Hamas for civilian deaths because it operated from residential areas, placing

Gazans in harm’s way.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

A video being widely circulated in Palestinian social media networks teaches jihadists how to stab a Jewish person in a manner that ensures their speedy death.

The video is reportedly being circulated by a group calling themselves the “resisters of occupation in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem,” according to a Jewish Press report.

The video shows two men, a “teacher” and a “victim”, dressed in a Keffiyeh headscarf–garb which was popularized by the first Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. The teacher then demonstrates how to casually walk up to someone and stab them in an efficient and deadly manner.

The demonstration emphasizes that in order to inflict maximum damage, the knife should be twisted after stabbing the Jewish person.

The video comes as 2014 has seen an exponential increase in Arab stabbing attacks against Israeli Jews.

In November, two Palestinian terrorists stabbed to death four Rabbis who were praying peacefully in their Jerusalem synagogue. The Palestinians, who were armed with axes, left an additional eight wounded in the jihadi onslaught. Hamas, the terror group which controls the Gaza Strip, supported the jihadist’s actions. A Hamas spokesman threatened at the time, “There will be more revolution in Jerusalem, and more uprising.”

Palestinian media entities have created other platforms to call for aggression against Jews.

In October, a video game was released called “The Liberation of Palestine,” which encouraged gamers to “liberate Palestine” through any means necessary. The game preferred users to choose armed resistance over diplomacy. A developer of the game said regarding the controversial tactic: “The language of weapons is the most effective with the Israelis.”

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Jerusalem and DC have signed but not ratified pact, with US citing

possible constraints on arms sales to IDF

BY AFP December 23, 2014, 1:33 pm | The Times of Israel|

UNITED NATIONS — A treaty laying down international rules for the $85 billion dollar

global arms trade goes into force on Wednesday with campaigners vowing to make

sure it is strictly implemented.

The United States — by far the world’s largest arms producer and exporter — has signed the

treaty, but has yet to ratify it.

Israel joined the pact last week, but has not yet ratified it.

Lawmakers in the US balked at cottoning to the treaty, arguing that it could impair Washington’s

ability to sell arms to Israel, among other reasons.

Fifty senators, including all 45 Senate Republicans, listed a number of reasons for their opposition

to the treaty in a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry in October.

“The State Department has acknowledged that the treaty includes language that could hinder the

United States from fulfilling its strategic, legal and moral commitments to provide arms to key allies

such as the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the State of Israel,” they wrote.

Other key exporters such as France, Britain and Germany have ratified the charter and pledged to

adhere to its strict criteria aimed at cutting off weapons supplies to human rights violators

worldwide.

A total of 130 countries have signed the treaty and 60 have ratified it.

“For too long, arms and ammunition have been traded with few questions asked about whose lives

they will destroy,” said Anna Macdonald, director of the Control Arms coalition of nongovernmental

organizations.

“The new Arms Trade Treaty which enters into force this week will bring that to an end.”

“It is now finally against international law to put weapons into the hands of human rights abusers

and dictators,” she said.

Campaigners, however, say much work lies ahead to implement the treaty, with a first meeting of

the states parties to the treaty to be held around September next year.

Decisions will have to be made about the financing mechanisms for the pact and setting up a

secretariat to oversee its implementation.

Amnesty International noted that five of the top 10 arms exporters — France, Germany, Italy,

Spain and Britain – have ratified the ATT. China and Russia have yet to sign on.

The first major arms accord since the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the ATT

covers international transfers of everything from tanks to combat aircraft to missiles, as well as

small arms.

The treaty compels countries to set up national controls on arms exports. States must assess

whether a weapon could be used to circumvent an international embargo, be used for genocide

and war crimes or be used by terrorists and organized crime.

“If robustly implemented, this treaty has the potential to save many lives and offer much needed

protection to vulnerable civilians around the world,” said Macdonald.

Monday, December 22, 2014

President says that despite Netanyahu’s criticism, Jerusalem aware that

Tehran has frozen progress for duration of talks

BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF December 22, 2014, 6:07 pm

Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticism of Washington’s handling of

negotiations with Iran, Israeli intelligence acknowledges that Tehran has made no

advancements during the past year and a half of talks, US President Barack Obama

said Sunday.

Netanyahu has frequently voiced his criticism of what he sees as overly accommodating

agreements being negotiated between world powers and Iran, both before last year’s interim

accords were announced and afterwards. The Israeli prime minister has repeatedly taken to the

world stage to warn about the threat posed by a potentially nuclear armed Iran.

Speaking in an interview with CNN’s Candy Crowley, the president defended his diplomacyfocused

foreign policy, saying that “where we can solve problems diplomatically, we should do

so.” Obama said the Americanled effort to reach a negotiated solution to defusing Iran’s nuclear

program was an example of a successful diplomatic campaign.

“You look at an example like Iran, over the last year and a half, since we began negotiations with

them, that’s probably the first year and a half in which Iran has not advanced its nuclear program

in the last decade,” Obama told the news outlet.

The American leader said Iran’s halted progress was “not just verified by the United Nations and

the… IAEA and ourselves,” but that “even critics of our policy like the Netanyahu government in

Israel, their intelligence folks have acknowledged that, in fact, Iran has not made progress.”

Obama’s remarks were supported by a confidential IAEA report leaked last week which said Iran

is honoring the interim nuclear agreement reached last year with the P5+1 world powers.

The document, obtained by Reuters on Friday, showed that Tehran was not enriching uranium

above a fivepercent concentration, and that it has not made “any further advances” at two

enrichment facilities and a heavy water reactor which was under construction.

Iran and world powers failed to reach a deal by the November deadline and agreed to extend

nuclear talks until July 1, 2015. A final agreement aims to ensure Tehran won’t be able to develop

nuclear weapons under the guise of its civilian activities, and would lift international sanctions that

have crippled Iran’s economy.

Iran denies that it is seeking a nuclear weapon and insists its nuclear activities are for solely

peaceful purposes. But UN inspectors, European, American and Israeli leaders have said Iran

has concealed large parts of its nuclear program, and believe it is intended to develop a nuclear

bomb.

Friday, December 19, 2014

By TOVAH LAZAROFF, KHALED ABU TOAMEH, HERB KEINON, MAYA SHWAYDER

12/18/2014 21:06 | The Jerusalem Post|

Day after Jordan submits draft to United Nations Security Council, US says won't show support for it.

The United States would not support a new Palestinian-proposed UN Security Council draft resolution, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Thursday.

"It is not something we would support," Psaki told reporters.

Jordan formally submitted to the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday a draft resolution calling for peace between Israel and the Palestinians within one year and an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank by the end of 2017.

The Palestinian-drafted resolution was formally submitted to the 15-member council, which means it could be put to a vote as soon as 24 hours later, but it does not guarantee it will happen. Some drafts formally submitted have never been voted.

Diplomats say negotiations on the text could take days or weeks. Jordan's UN envoy Dina Kawar said she hoped the council could reach a unanimous decision on the resolution.