|
|
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
|
Rice: Force an option with Iran
The U.S. secretary of state met Wednesday with Jewish leaders to outline U.S. policy on Iran and Hamas.
“No options are off the table, no one is ready for a nuclear Iran, the Iranians must understand that,” Rice said, according to notes from three people attending the meeting. “The United States and this president do not have a credibility issue when it comes to the use of force.”
Iran announced this week that it began enriching uranium, a necessary step in the production of a nuclear bomb, although Iran insists its program is peaceful.
Iran is accelerating its nuclear program and cutting off nuclear inspectors in the wake of a decision this month by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
Military leader: Iran wants to destroy Israel
Iran seeks to destroy Israel, the new chief of Israeli military intelligence said.
In his inaugural briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin said Tuesday that within six months Iran could have the means to build a nuclear bomb. “Iran aims to destroy Israel,” Yadlin was quoted as telling lawmakers.
Along with developing medium-range Shihab missiles that could be armed with nuclear warheads, Iran wants to pincer Israel on the ground through its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, and Palestinian terrorist groups in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Yadlin said.
Israel backs U.S.-led efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program diplomatically but has refused to rule out a preemptive military strike as a last resort.
U.S.: Dismantle Hezbollah
The Bush administration used the anniversary of the assassination of a Lebanese leader to call on Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah.
“This is going to be a decision for the Lebanese government,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday, a year after Rafik Hariri, an anti-Syrian prime minister, was killed in a massive Beirut bomb blast. “How and in what manner they accomplish compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, which states very clearly that the Lebanese people, Lebanese government should dismantle all militias.”
The Lebanese “can’t have it both ways,” McCormack said. “Our view is that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, is classified as such by the U.S. government. There is one member of Hezbollah who is part of the Lebanese government. This gets to the larger point of how do societies deal with these groups.”
Hezbollah, backed by Syria, continues attacks on Israel five years after Israel withdrew to a U.N.-certified border.
Germany `stands with Israel’ on Iran
Germany’s foreign minister said his country would stand with Israel in dealing with Iran and would not rule out military cooperation.
“In Israel they know from the remarks I’ve made during the last few days that I, indeed we, stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel,” Franz Walter Steinmeyer said in an interview distributed Wednesday by the German embassy in Washington on the eve of a Middle East tour.
Steinmeyer said Germany could not accept an Iran with nuclear weapons and said negotiations to push the Islamic republic back from the brink were at an impasse. He refused to rule out German involvement in any military action against Iran.
Group backs funding cut for P.A.
Americans for Peace Now endorsed a congressional resolution recommending a ban on funding for a Hamas-controlled Palestinian Authority.
“So long as Hamas has the controlling stake in the Palestinian Legislative Council, sanctions on U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority represent an appropriate tool to pressure Hamas,” a statement from the group said. The non-binding resolution, replicating a Senate resolution passed unanimously earlier this month, comes before the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
It calls for an end to direct assistance to the Palestinian Authority so long as a group that calls for Israel’s destruction controls more than half the seats in the legislature.
The Reform movement also supports the measure.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee favors the measure, but is focusing on another binding bill that is much more far-reaching, with bans on assistance to a government with any Hamas affiliation at all. APN was a principal proponent of U.S. funding for the Palestinian Authority prior to the terrorist group’s landslide victory in legislative elections last month. Hamas is expected to assume power on Saturday.
http://www.jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 11:21 PM Permanent Link
 
0 Comments:
<< Home
|
| |
