Pro-Israel News

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Bipartisan legislation, which has been a focus of AIPAC lobbying, will

strengthen defense, energy cooperation

BY REBECCA SHIMONI STOIL December 3, 2014, 1:59 pm

WASHINGTON — Congress was poised to give its final approval Wednesday

afternoon to a bill that supporters say will create a unique status for Israel and serve

as a framework for increased partnership in a number of key sectors, particularly

energy and defense. If all goes as expected, the longanticipated legislation will represent a

significant achievement for the proIsrael groups that pushed for its passage.

“This bipartisan measure will strengthen cooperation between our two countries on a wide range

of issues from defense to energy, ensure that Israel has the resources to defend herself in an

emergency, and affirm Israel’s ability to participate in the visa waiver program as long as she

meets existing requirements,” said Senator Barbara Boxer (DCA), who authored the Senate

version of the United StatesIsrael Strategic Partnership Act of 2014, along with Roy Blunt (RMO).

“This legislation sends a clear message that America’s bond with Israel remains unbreakable, and

I am proud that it passed the Senate unanimously,” she said.

Although the bill is most likely to be considered on Wednesday, there’s a chance that scheduling

uncertainties could push it to later in the week.

The bill, which has been a keystone of AIPAC lobbying since early 2013, issues a Sense of

Congress describing Israel as a “major strategic partner” of the United States, reflecting the

importance that Congress ascribes to the USIsrael relationship and giving name to the legislation

as a whole.

Following a summer in which the US and Israel tangled over weapons resupplies during and

immediately following Operation Protective Edge, the bill would permit an increase of $200 million

in the value of US weapons held in Israel, bringing the total to $1.8 billion. The stockpiles in Israel

are designed to allow the US quick resupply for its own needs in case of a major Mideast conflict,

but can also be used by Israel in the event of an emergency as long as Israel reimburses the US

for weapons used.

The bill also requires the president to take steps so that Israel may be included in the toptier

category of the Strategic Trade Authorization Exception. In 2011, the Commerce Department

created the exception, which allows 44 countries to qualify for some exceptions to arms export

licensing requirements. Israel is currently in the secondtier category, which provides a more

restricted list of licensefree goods.

Another section authorizes the president to carry out cooperation between the United States and

Israel across a range of policy areas, including energy, water, homeland security, agriculture, and

alternative fuel technologies. Although the bill does not detail what these sectors entail, it is meant

to serve as a framework for future legislation further defining the USIsrael relationship in those

fields.

A slightly more robust framework for cybersecurity cooperation is also delineated, with the bill

requiring the president to submit a report to Congress on the feasibility and advisability of

expanding USIsraeli cooperation on cyber issues, including sharing and advancing technologies

related to the prevention of cybercrimes. The president is also required to provide Congress with

an update on the implementation of a series of objectives to assist in the defense of Israel

that were enacted in 2012.

The administration will also be required to include additional information in the alreadymandatory

report about the potential impact on Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge from any proposed sale of

defense items that requires Congressional approval. The new, more extensive reporting would

require that for any defense item considered to be “major defense equipment” — including such

significant arms as F16 aircraft, tanks, armored personnel carriers, and antiarmor missile

systems — the administration must provide a detailed assessment of Israel’s ability to counter the

specific risks presented if it were to be transferred to Israel’s neighbors.

Perhaps the most hotly contested section of the bill was a statement of policy on the visa waiver

program, a section that passed through a number of permutations and changes before its final

version.

After much debate, the Senate took up the House’s version of the statement, which reads that “it

shall be the policy of the United States to include Israel in the list of countries that participate in the

visa waiver program when Israel satisfies, and as long as Israel continues to satisfy the

requirements for inclusion in the program.”

The amendment, sponsored by Boxer, was the only amendment added to the bill’s text when it

was received in the Senate by unanimous consent on September 18.

Preliminary action has already begun on turning the section on increased energy cooperation into

reality. The bill’s text recognizes energy cooperation between the US and Israel as being in the

strategic interest of the United States and encourages increased collaboration between the two

countries’ academic communities and governments.

The bill allows for the authorization of a USIsrael Energy Center in the United States, engaging

academic institutions and the private sector to further dialogue, collaboration and academic

cooperation in energy innovation technology and technology transfer, among other things. Among

the center’s goals are to develop more robust academic cooperation in offshore energy

development, energy innovation technology and engineering, and water science.

The specific details of the center’s structure will be worked out by the US Department of Energy

and the Israeli Ministry of Energy and Water, with input from Israeli and American universities and

private sector entities.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

BY REUTERS 12/1/14 AT 6:23 PM | NewsWeek|

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, enmeshed in a cabinet crisis, said on Monday he would call an early national election unless rebellious ministers stopped attacking government policies.

His coalition, dominated by the right-wing, is split on a range of issues, including the 2015 budget, high living costs, policy towards the Palestinians and a Jewish nation-state bill that critics say discriminates against Israel's Arab minority

The divisions have prompted speculation that Netanyahu will bring forward an election that is not scheduled until 2017.

In public remarks to members of his Likud party, Netanyahu gave his strongest indication yet that an early ballot could be in the offing.

"I have not enjoyed the fulfillment of even the most fundamental obligation -- the loyalty and responsibility of ministers to the government in which they serve," he said.

"I demand these ministers stop their undermining, stop the attacks," Netanyahu added.

"I demand that they close ranks behind the proper policy for leading the nation, for its security, economy and lowering the cost of living, in every aspect. If they agree to do so, we can continue to work together. If they refuse, we will draw conclusions, and go to the voters."

Netanyahu was due to meet later on Monday and on Tuesday with two of his fiercest cabinet critics -- Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who has been sparring with the prime minister over the 2015 state budget, and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.

Livni has been highly critical of the Jewish nation-state legislation, which won cabinet approval over her objections a week ago, but has not yet been brought before parliament.

An opinion poll published by the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper on Sunday showed that although Netanyahu's popularity was declining, he was still very likely to win a fourth term as prime minister if an election were held today.

The poll showed Netanyahu's approval rating had slipped to 35 percent, compared with 42 percent at the end of the July-August war against Hamas Islamists in the Gaza Strip, but he still led the race against other potential contenders.

If an election were called, one casualty would likely be the 2015 state budget. Parliament last month gave initial approval to the 417 billion shekel ($107 billion) spending package.

If there is no agreement and final parliamentary approval by the end of this year, the original 2014 budget, which excludes mid-year increases, will be used to allocate spending next year.

The last parliamentary election was held in January 2013, with Netanyahu then taking two months to piece together a five-party coalition government.

Monday, December 1, 2014

By GREER FAY CASHMAN \11/30/2014 21:35 | The Jerusalem Post|

History was made on Sunday, November 30, when for the first time in the annals of the state, official recognition was given to Jewish refugees from Arab lands and Iran.

The event, hosted by President Reuven Rivlin at his official residence, was the continuum of legislation that was passed by the Knesset in June of this year designating November 30 as the national day of commemoration of the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab lands and Iran. The date was significant in that it commemorates the day after the anniversary of the November 29, 1947 United Nations resolution on the partition of Palestine, which led to an immediate flare up of anti-Zionist action and policy among Arab states, resulting in the killing, persecution, humiliation, oppression and expulsion of Jews, the sequestration of Jewish property and a war against the nascent State of Israel.

In 1948 close to a million Jews lived in Arab lands. Some were massacred in pogroms. Most fled or were expelled between 1948 and 1967. In 1948 there were 260,000 Jews in Morocco. Today there are less than 3,000. In the same time frame, the Jewish population of Algeria declined from 135,000 to zero, in Tunisia from 90,000 to a thousand, in Libya from 40,000 to zero, in Egypt from 75,000 to less than one hundred, in Iraq from 125,000 to zero, in Yemen from 45,000 to approximately 200, in Syria from 27,000 to 100, and in Lebanon from 10,000 in the 1950s to less than 100.

Although various attempts were made over the years by leaders of these communities in Israel and academics stemming from these communities to secure the same kind of recognition for the suffering of Jews in Arab lands as is accorded to the Jews of Europe, nothing of major substance was done until the bill proposed by MKs Shimon Ohayon of Yisrael Beiteinu and Nissim Zeev of Shas was placed on the national agenda.

The intention behind the bill said Ohayon on Sunday night, was to ensure that the stories of what happened to Jews in and from Arab lands and Iran should be part of the school curriculum, because most Israeli children are entirely ignorant of these chapters in the diverse aspects of Jewish heritage. Just as they learn about the history and fate of the Jews of Europe, they should also learn the history of the Jews of the region, he said. He placed great significance on national recognition, saying that this would lead to international acknowledgement so that Jews who left everything they owned behind, could be compensated. There were no words to describe his excitement that this day had come said Ohayon, but he was simultaneously pained that the Tel Aviv Cinematheque had chosen at this time to show films of the Arab Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948, while overlooking documentaries and feature films about the suffering of Jews from Arab lands and Iran. He related the story of a woman who had told him that her son, a university student, knows all about Nakba, but not about the travails endured by his grandfather before he came to Israel.

Zeev, the Jerusalem born son of Iraqi parents concurred with Ohayon and emphasized how important it was for the world to know about the tragedy that befell so many hundreds of thousands of people. Of the Jewish refugees from Arab lands and Iran, 650,000 came to Israel, he said, and the rest went mostly to Europe and America.

But before they became refugees, they and their forebears made great contributions to Jewish culture and to the cultures and economies of their host countries, and these must be acknowledged, he said

Meir Kahlon, chairman of the joint Associations of Jews from Arab Lands and Iran, noted that the world has long been talking about Arab refugees, but has ignored Jewish refugees from Arab lands. He also reminded those present that the Holocaust was not solely a European tragedy, but had spread to this part of the world. His mother had been killed in the Holocaust in Libya when he was only five months old.

Rivlin, who is a seventh generation Jerusalemite, does not know what it means to be expelled from one’s homeland, said Kahlon. Like Ohayon and Zeev, he questioned the lacuna in the Israeli curricula. As refugees, the Jews from Arab lands and Iran understand the plight of Palestinian refugees and will not allow their problems to be swept under the carpet said Kahlon, adding that the Palestinians must understand that this land also belongs to the Jews who yearned for it during centuries of exile. In this context, he quoted from Psalm 137: “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept as we remembered Zion…”

He recommended that the compensation initiative for both sides proposed by former US President Bill Clinton be adopted and that a fund be set up to compensate and rehabilitate all the Palestinians living in refugee camps and all the Jews and their heirs who had been displaced from Arab lands and Iran. “We don’t seek war with anyone. We hold out our hand in peace,” he said.

Moderator Yossi Alfi, who is known for his marathon story telling festivals in which personalities from every immigrant group in Israel have the opportunity to share their stories with live audiences, radio listeners and television viewers, declared: “We are all excited today. It is indeed a holiday for us and others celebrating elsewhere. This day in Jerusalem is an important date in the story of the exodus of Jews from Arab Lands and Iran.”

Alfi, born in Basra Iraq, came to Israel in 1949 as a 3 year old refugee without his parents. Now, at age 69, he said he still feels the weight of what was left behind.

All the speakers expressed appreciation to Minister of Pensioners Affairs Uri Orbach whose Ministry took upon itself all the arrangements for the commemoration. Orbach was not present in protest at what he interpreted as the denial of freedom of speech to singer Amir Benayoun, who had initially been scheduled to sing at the event, but who had been dropped from the program due to a racist song that he had written and posted on his Facebook. Benayoun was replaced by Boaz Sharabi and Orbach was represented by his ministry’s director general Gilad Semama, who is the son of a Moroccan mother and a Tunisian father.

November 30 signifies not only the expulsion he said, but also the right to reparations. “It is also a day of love for Israel and for Zionism.”

Despite all that happened to them, these Jews who were expelled did not allow themselves to become dispirited, he said. “They did not forget where they came from, but they knew where they were going. Hardships not withstanding, they were able to maintain the heritage of a glorious past.”

Admitting that Jews from Arab lands and Iran had been subjected to a great injustice, and whose story had been pushed to the sidelines of the Zionist narrative, Rivlin commented that the designation of November 30 as a national day came too late and on too small a scale to impact on public consciousness, but declared that it was nevertheless important to correct this injustice “which should not be underestimated.”

The healing process, he said, begins with acknowledging the mistakes that were made, and for this reason he was proud as president of the state to host the inaugural November 30 commemoration. When his own ancestors came to the country from Lithuania in 1809, there were already immigrants from Yemen living here as well as Spanish families with ancient traditions. After the creation of the state when the refugees began arriving, their suffering was not taken into account and they were sent far away from the corridors of power to peripheral communities such as Dimona, Afikim, Beit She'an and Hatzor Haglilit where they developed cities out of nothing to be protective buffer zones for Israel’s borders, said Rivlin. It took a long time before these immigrants could give voice to their frustrations. Rivlin cited a list of writers and entertainment artists who paved the way for others to make their stories and their feelings known.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a statement noting that November 30 was not a random date, but had been chosen for its historic significance.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

‘All citizens should enjoy equal rights,’ says State Department

spokesman; ADL calls planned legislation ‘unnecessary’

BY LAZAR BERMAN November 24, 2014, 11:16 pm | The Times of Israel|

The State Department said Monday that the US expects that Israel “continue [its]

commitment to democratic principles,” as debate over Israel’s controversial nationstate

bill continued.

In a Monday press briefing, State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said, “The United States

position, which is unchanged, has been clear for years – and the President and the Secretary [of

State] have also reiterated it – is that Israel is a Jewish and democratic state in which all citizens

should enjoy equal rights.”

The nationstate bill, which has seen multiple drafts but awaits the drafting of a final government

proposal expected to be presented in the Knesset next week, would enshrine in a constitutional

Basic Law Israel’s identity as a Jewish state.

Meanwhile, the AntiDefamation League’s Abraham Foxman said in a statement that the debate

over Israel’s Jewish and democratic character “undermined the settled nature of this essential

element of Israel’s national identity. Attempts to further codify this concept in the Basic Laws are

wellmeaning but unnecessary. It is troubling that some have sought to use the political process to

promote an extreme agenda which could be viewed as an attempt to subsume Israel’s democratic

character in favor of its Jewish one.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday afternoon that he was determined to pass the

bill, even if he does not have the backing of his entire cabinet.

“It is important to exhaust the channels of dialogue, and I am ready to give this dialogue a chance,”

he said during the weekly Likud faction meeting. “I am determined to pass this bill with or without

agreement. It is very important for securing the future of the nation of Israel, in the Land of Israel,

in the State of Israel.

“The principles that I am advancing give expression to Israel being the national Jewish state, and

only that, while protecting rights.”

Asked if elections are in the offing after coalition parties Hatnua and Yesh Atid expressed

opposition to the proposal this week, Netanyahu said laconically, “Time will tell.”

Coalition leaders decided on Monday to delay a preliminary vote on two drafts of the proposed bill

by one week, as some ministers vowed to continue to oppose the measure even if it meant their

jobs — and the future of the coalition.

Yisrael Beytenu MK Robert Ilatov initially proposed the weeklong delay, which was backed by the

Jewish Home party at a meeting of coalition leaders in the Knesset Monday.

The decision came just hours after Justice Minister Tzipi Livni reiterated her intention to fight the

bill, and challenged the prime minister to decide whether he was willing to break up his coalition

over the measure.

“This bill will not pass because we are not ready and I am not prepared to be a fig leaf for

something so problematic,” Livni told the Ynet news site on Monday. “And if it goes [to a vote, as

had originally been scheduled] on Wednesday, I will not let it pass and will not compromise

regarding its wording.

“The prime minister will have to decide whether he will fire ministers in his government and topple

his coalition over their opposition to a law that goes against a Jewish and democratic Israel,” she

said. “If he wants elections over this, no problem.”

The bills originally slated for the Wednesday vote will not become law, as the cabinet voted on

Sunday to incorporate them into a future government bill after they pass the preliminary vote. In

essence, the different versions were slated to receive the Knesset’s initial nod, and then be

replaced by an agreedupon government version drafted by the prime minister and Attorney

General Yehudah Weinstein.

On Sunday, cabinet ministers approved a twopage document containing 14 principles that a

future government bill will be based on. While guaranteeing Israel’s democratic character, the bill,

a softened version of the other proposals, would reserve the right of national selfdetermination

within the boundaries of the state of Israel to Jews alone.

Monday, November 24, 2014

By GIL HOFFMAN, LAHAV HARKOV \11/24/2014 16:14 | The Jerusalem Post|

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that he would continue to advance the "Jewish state bill" while maintaining the rights of all Israel's citizens.

The vote has caused a crisis within Netanyahu's coalition, with Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni vowing not to vote in favor of the bill despite the cabinet's approval of the measure on Sunday.

Earlier on Monday, a Knesset vote on the bill, which had been scheduled for Wednesday, was delayed until next week.

Speaking at a Likud faction meeting, the prime minister said that it was important to advance the bill, which aims to cement the Jewish nature of the state in law, even if he does not have the agreement of everyone in his coalition.

He added, however, that he would enable there to be dialogue in order to reach a compromise on the bill.

During the heated discussion of the bill in the cabinet on Sunday, Livni said to Netanyahu: “The elephant in the room is that you want us” – Hatnua and Yesh Atid – “to vote against this so you can fire us.”

If a minister votes against government policy, it is akin to him or her resigning, and the prime minister can fire him or her.

The three proposed versions of Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People – which were authorized by the coalition with 15 in favor and six opposed – declare Israel to be the site of self-determination exclusively for the Jewish people. Netanyahu’s version avoids some of the more controversial sections of the two similar private member bills, such as the status of Arabic or settlement construction.

“Jewish state bill” drafts by coalition chairman Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) and by MKs Yariv Levin (Likud), Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) and Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beytenu) had been scheduled to go to a preliminary vote in the Knesset Wednesday, until the agreement was reached to delay the vote. Then, the bills will go to a Knesset committee, where they will be combined in accordance with Netanyahu’s draft.

All three versions of the bill reinforce “Hatikva” as the national anthem, the state symbols, use of the Hebrew calendar and the Law of Return, and call to grant freedom of access to holy places and protect them.

Friday, November 21, 2014

By JTA \

11/21/2014 02:43 | The Jerusalem Post|

Congressional appropriators pen letter to Palestinian Authority president warning him that aid predicated on PA commitment to countering incitement of violence against Israelis.

WASHINGTON Top congressional appropriators told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that Congress “remains committed” to conditions for continued funding of the PA, including controlling incitement.

“This aid is predicated on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to countering terrorism and pursuing a comprehensive peace with Israel,” said the letter sent Thursday signed by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), the chairman of the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the committee and Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), the chairwoman of its foreign operations subcommittee.

“US law also clearly stipulates that the Palestinian Authority must act to counter the incitement of violence against Israelis in order to continue receiving US assistance,” the letter said, adding: “We remain resolute in our commitment to these conditions.”

The United States grants the Palestinian Authority about $500 million in assistance annually.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Abbas of stoking tensions in Jerusalem in recent weeks that have resulted in a number of fatal terrorist attacks, including this weeks attack on a synagogue which killed five people.

“The use of degrading images in Fatah or PA produced media as well as inflammatory language used by you and other Palestinian leaders undermine the objectives of our support and threaten to further destabilize an already highly volatile situation,” the letter from the lawmakers said.

Abbas condemned this week’s synagogue murders but has also accused Israel of “declaring war” for temporarily shutting down the Temple Mount, a site holy to Jews and Muslims.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Security Council finally speaks up on synagogue terror; Prosor says it ‘breaks silence on Palestinian violence only after Israelis slaughtered’

BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF AND AP November 20, 2014, 2:11 am | The Times of Israel|

UNITED NATIONS — The UN Security Council condemned “in the strongest terms” the “despicable” terrorist attack at a Jerusalem synagogue that killed four worshipers and a police officer Tuesday.

“The members of the Security Council expressed their condolences to the families of all those who have died and sympathy to those injured and to the Israeli people,” the statement read.

Wednesday’s statement also urged all sides to work immediately to restore calm as tensions rise between Israelis and Palestinians.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor said in response that it was “disappointing that only once Israelis are slaughtered at prayer, the Security Council remembers to break its silence on Palestinian violence.”

“Now, after the international community has understood that the Palestinians have crossed all red lines, and in order to stop the bloodshed, [the world] must stop awarding Palestinians prizes and stop supporting unilateral actions [like recognizing a Palestinian state],” Prosor said.

Palestinian terrorists Uday and Ghassa Abu Jamal, cousins from East Jerusalem’s Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, on Tuesday burst into a crowded synagogue in Har Nof during morning prayers with meat cleavers and gunfire, killing four people and critically wounding a police officer who later died of his injuries, in a brutal attack that lasted several minutes.

Earlier Wednesday, thousands including Israeli President Reuven Rivlin attended the funeral of Zidan Saif, the Druze policeman who succumbed to his wounds late Tuesday night after a gunfight with the two terrorists at the synagogue. Saif, 30, was the first officer on the scene of the attack in Har Nof.

On Tuesday, hours after the deadly attack, Rabbis Aryeh Kupinsky, 40, Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, and Kalman Levine, 50, were laid to rest. The three were buried at the Har Hamenuhot cemetery in a joint funeral.

Rabbi Moshe Twersky, 59, was buried earlier in the day.

Last week, Prosor issued a scathing critique Security Council’s silence following multiple terror attacks against Israelis over the past month.

“Every day Israelis are coming under attack. Every day the crowds of violent Palestinian rioters grow larger,” Prosor wrote in a letter to the UN body. “And yet, this institution has not uttered a word to denounce attacks against Israelis. Ignoring incitement and terrorism is similar to supporting terrorism.”

The letter came last Monday, November 10, 2014, on the same day that two people died in separate terror attacks. IDF soldier Almog Shiloni, 20, of Modi’in died of his wounds following hours of attempts to stabilize his condition after a Palestinian terrorist stabbed him in Tel Aviv. Hours later, Dalia Lemkus, 26, was killed in a separate terror attack near the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut. She was run over and then stabbed in the neck and died at the scene.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle blame Fatah leadership for creating fertile ground for Jerusalem attack

BY REBECCA SHIMONI STOIL November 19, 2014, 5:41 amThe Times of Israel |

WASHINGTON — In a town rife with partisanship, Republicans and Democrats alike flocked to condemn Tuesday’s terror attack in a Jerusalem synagogue. Several prominent members of both the House and Senate called out the Palestinian Authority leadership — and specifically Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — for creating a fertile environment for the deadly assault which left four worshipers and one police officer dead.

The Republican Jewish Coalition offered its condolences to the victims and prayers for peace “to all Israelis confronting the scourge of vicious terrorism.” RJC National Chairman David Flaum called in a statement for “American policy-makers to offer appropriate support and solidarity at this solemn moment.”

The group complimented Secretary of State John Kerry, who quickly issued an unequivocal condemnation of the attack. They raised an eyebrow at incitement in recent weeks by Palestinian leaders and placed “a heavy measure of responsibility for this horror on a Palestinian leadership that has tacitly and explicitly encouraged terrorist violence.”

“We urge members of the Obama administration to adhere to this standard of moral clarity in all their statements and actions during the difficult days ahead,” Flaum concluded.

The National Jewish Democratic Council also issued a statement condemning the attack, and noting that “the attack, taking place as it did so far from the neighborhood in which the terrorists lived, represents a premeditation that was encouraged by incitement from within their community.”

Without specifically mentioning any actors, the NJDC called on “all people and nations to repudiate these actions and to isolate anyone responsible for encouraging violence against innocent civilians.”

Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle echoed and reinforced Kerry’s critique of the Palestinian Authority leadership for failing to stem the increasing tide of violence, and some members of both parties explicitly put blame for inflammatory statements on the shoulders of Abbas.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) complained via Twitter that “the murder of four rabbis in Israel was caused by Hamas, Mr [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas, & the Palestinian Authority’s reckless incitement of Palestinians.”

In a message personally signed for additional impact, Schumer called on Abbas to “take immediate action to de-escalate the dangerous polarization.”

Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, condemned the attack, describing it as “yet another example of the Palestinian Authority’s campaign of incitement to violence against Israelis and Jews.” Royce called on the Palestinian authority to “officially and publicly — in English, Hebrew, and Arabic — condemn this attack, and reject its perpetrators. Every PA-condoned attack leads Palestinians further down the path of despair.”

Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) echoed similar sentiments, describing the attack as “heinous” and asserting that “Palestinian leadership can and must do more to end terrorist attacks perpetrated against innocent Israelis.”

Boozeman emphasized that he will “continue to support Israel’s right to defend its citizens.”

Speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives hours after the attack, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) placed blame for the attack on “the supreme leader of Iran” who she accused of encouraging Palestinians to launch attacks against Israelis.

“This is another example of Iran’s dangerous meddling in order to attack our US interests and Israel,” Ros-Lehtinen complained. The Florida representative renewed calls first heard after the formation of a Palestinian unity government this spring to cut off all US funding for the Palestinian Authority.

The unity government was formed together with Hamas, although there are no Hamas representatives who hold ministerial positions in the current administration.

Likely Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued a lengthy statement following the attack, in which he wrote that the four worshippers killed were “not victims of a senseless tragedy, they were deliberately targeted in a carefully-planned attack.”

“The Palestinian terrorists, incubated in a culture of violence and hate, were intent on killing Jews and they singled out men of deep religious faith who would not be armed to ensure maximum casualties. Their despicable actions have been hailed as ‘heroic’ by Palestinian groups such as Hamas and Fatah that are actively inciting these attacks,” he complained.

Cruz called on the US to issue an “unequivocal statement of solidarity, a recognition that America is not a disinterested bystander in this battle.” Like Ros-Lehtinen, Cruz framed the Tuesday attack as part of a common struggle “against the terrorists who have declared war on both our nations.”

For a number of members of Congress, the attack landed closer to home when the three US-born victims had ties to their districts. Kansan Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-KS) noted that Rabbi Kalman Levine was a graduate of the Kansas City-area Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, and that Rabbi Moshe Twersky was the uncle of a faculty member at the same Jewish school.

Twersky’s son, Rafael, is a rabbi in Lakewood, NJ – a fact noted by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“To have disorder and terror interrupt the calm of morning prayers is deplorable and sickening to the core. No words of comfort can provide solace to the four bereaved families who have lost loved ones, all of whom were rabbis,” wrote Menendez Tuesday. “I stand alongside the Twersky family and Lakewood community during this period of mourning.”

Menendez, like many others, called for a “forceful response from President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority.” The senior senator from New Jersey said that Abbas’s “words of condemnation are welcome, but must be followed up by a sincere demonstration of leadership” and advised him to “use every tool at his disposal to deescalate this worsening situation in Jerusalem and guide the Palestinian people to reject violence and promote peace.”

“Tensions are understandably running very high today in Jerusalem and I urge all parties to refrain from further acts of violence,” Menendez concluded. “Too many innocent lives have been lost and too much blood has been spilled during these recent months and it must end.”

Congressional calls against alleged Palestinian incitement were echoed by an AIPAC policy memo released Tuesday, in which the pro-Israel organization noted that terror attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank were “on the rise” and noting that Tuesday’s attack “followed months in which Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian leaders used vitriolic language to inflame tensions, especially over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.”

AIPAC noted the ambivalent PA response, pointing out that “while Abbas issued a statement condemning the attack, he also demanded an “end to invasions of al-Aqsa Mosque” and that fellow Fatah leader Tawfiq Tirawi, a Fatah Central Committee member, justified the attack as “a reaction to the recent crimes of the occupation.”

The AIPAC memo documented a serious of speeches by Abbas denying Jewish legitimacy in Jerusalem, while also listing a series of steps that it says Israel took to try to de-escalate rising tensions.

Along with calling for strong PA statements against terror and incitement, the AIPAC memo pointedly noted that US law predicates funding for the PA on evidence that it is “acting to counter incitement of violence against Israelis and is supporting activities aimed at promoting peace, coexistence, and security cooperation with Israel.”

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

US secretary of state calls Netanyahu to offer condolences, blames Palestinian ‘days of rage’ ; UN official calls terror attack abhorrent

BY AP, AFP AND TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF November 18, 2014, 11:10 am | The Times of Israel|

US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned a Jerusalem terror attack that left four people dead Tuesday morning, calling on Palestinian leaders to halt incitement.

Kerry telephoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to offer condolences following the gruesome killing spree by Palestinian assailants at a Jerusalem synagogue, while other world leaders also expressed horror at the attack.

Kerry, in London for talks on Iran and the Middle East, called the assault an “act of pure terror and senseless brutality” and called on the Palestinian leadership to condemn it “in the most powerful terms.”

Police said two attackers from East Jerusalem entered the synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood shortly after 7 a.m. and began attacking worshipers at morning prayers with a gun, a meat cleaver, and an ax. Both terrorists were killed by police.

Kerry blamed the attack on Palestinian calls for “days of rage” and said Palestinian leaders must take serious steps to refrain from such incitement.

Netanyahu told Kerry that “this is a direct result of [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's] incitement. This is a despicable murder in a holy place.”

Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders earlier pointed the finger at Abbas and the Palestinian leadership for the attacks.

The European Union’s envoy to Israel Lars Faaborg Andersen wrote on Twitter that he was “horrified by and utterly condemn the despicable terror attack on worshipers in Jlm synagogue that left 4 dead and 4 badly injured.”

The United Nation’s special envoy to the region, Robert Serry, said in a statement he “abhorred the attack this morning on a synagogue in West Jerusalem. There can be no justification whatsoever for these deliberate killings, which he strongly condemns.”

He called on all sides to work to calm tensions in the region.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was in Israel on Sunday, lamented the attack, saying he hoped it would serve as “a loud wake-up call” that the current situation could quickly spiral out of control.

“That houses of worship are becoming scenes for deadly attack on innocent believers is a terrible crossing of a line in an already extremely tense situation,” he said in Kiev.

“I was in Jerusalem only a few days ago and could feel how tense the atmosphere there is,” Steimeier added. “What has now happened is a tragedy. I hope that this is now also a loud wake-up call. The tensions can quickly lead to a violent outburst. Mixing the many unresolved issues in this region with ‘religious confrontation’ gives this already serious conflict another dangerous dimension.”

Officials from Sweden, which recently officially recognized Palestine as a state, condemned the attack and called for an end to the violence.

Palestinian terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad hailed the attack, saying it was in reaction to the death of a Palestinian bus driver. An Israeli autopsy had established Monday that the driver committed suicide, a finding rejected by his family.

“Hamas calls for more operations like it,” a spokesman for the group said in a statement.

Monday, November 17, 2014

BY AFP November 16, 2014, 5:46 pm | The Times of Israel|

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support Sunday for the US fight against Islamic State militants, but cautioned against any softening toward Iran.

“We want them both to lose. The last thing we want is to have any one of them get weapons of mass destruction,” Netanyahu said in an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation.

His comments came shortly after IS claimed the beheading of another Western hostage, US aid worker Peter Kassig, along with that of 18 men described as Syrian soldiers.

In an undated video, a masked black-clad jihadist seen standing above a severed head says: “This is Peter Edward Kassig, a US citizen of your country.”

Netanyahu expressed support for US President Barack Obama’s leadership of a coalition against IS and said, “We’re with all the American people who understand the savagery that we’re all up against.”

IS “has to be defeated and it can be defeated,” he said.

But Netanyahu portrayed the situation as a “global conflict” against militant Islam, not just Sunni-based IS and al-Qaeda but also Shiite Iran-backed Hezbollah.

“We want them both to lose,” he said, insisting: “Iran is not your ally. Iran is not your friend. Iran is your enemy.”

The United States and other Western powers have been negotiating with Iran to limit its nuclear program, with a November 24 deadline for a deal fast approaching.

Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s opposition to any agreement that leaves Iran with a residual capacity to enrich uranium, and urged tougher sanctions on Tehran as an alternative to a deal.

“The alternative to a bad deal is not war. The alternative to a bad deal are more sanctions, tougher sanctions, that will make Iran dismantle its capacity to make nuclear bombs,” he said.