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Friday, January 13, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Bush: Iranian bomb could destroy Israel
Allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons would bring it closer to its objective of destroying Israel, President Bush said.
“I want to remind you that the current president of Iran has announced that the destruction of Israel is an important part of their agenda, and that’s unacceptable,” Bush said Friday after his first meeting with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor. “And the development of a nuclear weapon, it seems like to me, would make them a step closer to achieving that objective.”
The European Union and the United States now agree that Iran should be referred to the U.N. Security Council for its failure to cooperate with nuclear inspectors, and European and American diplomats are to meet next week with their Chinese and Russian counterparts to achieve a consensus on what to do. Bush and Merkel stopped short of saying the Security Council should impose sanctions, but said Iran’s current refusal to allow full inspections is unacceptable.
Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, but Western nations believe it is close to developing a nuclear bomb.
RJC postpones controversial program
The Republican Jewish Coalition postponed a controversial program that included a writer who has called Ariel Sharon “vile.”
The RJC postponed the Washington program Thursday because of a “scheduling conflict,” Executive Director Matt Brooks said, not because of criticism it received for inviting Christopher Hitchens, who has called Zionism a “false messiah for the Jews.” “By having someone on a panel on a debate does not mean the RJC endorses anything that person has said in the past,” Brooks said.
Hitchens was to appear with several panelists at a Washington synagogue next week to discuss the United Nations’ Oil for Food program. Brooks said Hitchens has been an outspoken critic of the United Nations, and has been rethinking his views on Israel.
Strategic talks held
Israeli and U.S. defense officials held a new round of strategic talks.
The 38th meeting of the Joint Political Military Group was held Wednesday in Tel Aviv in what Israeli officials called “a warm and friendly atmosphere.” The sides discussed a range of topics including global and regional challenges and maintaining Israel’s regional military edge.
Attending on behalf of the United States were John Hillen, assistant secretary of state, and Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense. The Israeli side was headed by Jacob Toren, director-general of the Defense Ministry.
Immigrants prefer non-religious status
More than half of recent Russian-speaking immigrants to Israel say they have no religion, government data shows.
According to Interior Ministry listings published Thursday by Ha’aretz, 55 percent of immigrants from the former Soviet Union since 2003 have asked to be described as “having no religion” on their Israeli identity cards. Just under half declared themselves Jewish, while around 1 percent to 2 percent professed a different religion.
Bolton confronts Annan on Palestine
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations reportedly asked Secretary General Kofi Annan to explain why he posed in front of a map that leaves out Israel.
The New York Sun reported Friday that John Bolton wrote to Annan asking him why he attended a U.N. event, “The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,” that featured the map. “Given that we now have a world leader pursuing nuclear weapons who is calling for the State of Israel to be wiped off the map, the issue has even greater salience,” the Sun quoted Bolton’s Jan. 3 letter as saying.
Annan’s speech at the Nov. 29 event noted that Palestinian terrorism against Israelis was an obstacle to Palestinian progress. Bolton wants funding to be cut to the U.N. groups that organized the event, which are solely devoted to promoting the Palestinian cause.
http://jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 10:27 PM Permanent Link
 
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