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Thursday, September 21, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Bush: Clock ticking on Iran
Time is of the essence in stopping Iran’s presumed nuclear weapons program, President Bush said.
Bush was asked Wednesday on CNN whether he agreed with projections by Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, that Iran could have the knowledge necessary to build a nuclear bomb within months.
“If I were the Israeli foreign minister, I’d be deeply concerned about somebody in my neighborhood whose stated objective was the destruction of my country, and the desire of that country to end up with the capacity to do so,” he said. “And so I can understand her concerns. I’m not going to discuss with you our intelligence on this subject, but time’s of the essence, in my judgment.”
Assad warns of war
Syria’s president warned of possible war against Israel.
The Lebanese newspaper A-Safir on Thursday quoted Bashar Assad as telling a visiting delegation from Beirut that Israel could attack Syria as part of an effort to shore up domestic self-confidence after the war on Hezbollah.
There is no known basis for his comments.
“If Syria is attacked, we will fight back, stand firm and not yield,” Assad was quoted as saying. Israel has lambasted Damascus for supporting the Lebanese militia but has been at pains to make clear it does not seek to open a second front with Syria.
Closure for Rosh Hashanah
Israel’s defense minister ordered the West Bank sealed off over Rosh Hashanah.
The closure ordered by Amir Peretz came amid intelligence warnings of potential terrorist attacks over the weekend. The measure is expected to be reimposed during the rest of the High Holidays.
Democrats: Don’t rule out force with Iran
Two Ohio Democrats running for Congress say force must be an option in dealing with Iran’s nuclear threat.
The responses offered by U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, running for a U.S. Senate seat, and Zack Space, running for an open U.S. House of Representatives seat, to questions in a conference call Thursday with Jewish media suggest that national Democrats will not differ from the Bush administration on this issue in the midterm campaign season.
Senior administration officials, most recently John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, have suggested that force could be an option in confronting Iran over its uranium enrichment, which U.N. inspectors believe is part of a weapons program.
But Brown said the war in Iraq had diminished the credibility of the U.S. threat.
O.U. opposes Jesus in military prayers
The Orthodox Union strongly opposes legislation that would allow military chaplains to mention Jesus in prayers.
“When a prayer is called for in a setting where attendance may not be voluntary,” the O.U. said in a letter Thursday to armed services committees in both houses, “chaplains should pray in a more inclusive manner.” The language, inserted into the Defense Appropriations bill by the “prayer caucus” of conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, would allow chaplains to pray “according to the dictates of the chaplain’s own conscience, except as limited by military necessity, with any such limitation being imposed in the least restrictive manner feasible.”
A broad roster of Jewish groups oppose the legislation, but the O.U.’s opposition stands out because the group usually is aligned with the “prayer caucus” on Church-State issues.
“We do not believe that the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause requires that religion be banned from the public square or government functions,” the union noted in its letter. Differences between Senate Republicans, who also oppose the language, and their House counterparts are holding up defense appropriations.
Pro-Palestinian mural nixed at California college
A mural honoring late Palestinian activist and Columbia University professor Edward Said will not go up at San Francisco State University.
University President Robert Corrigan announced his decision this week.
The mural, intended for the outside of the student center, was approved by the center’s governing board in July.
Of particular concern, says Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council, was the mural’s depiction of the Palestinian cartoon figure Handala.
Handala is seen holding a key, symbolizing a Palestinian “right of return” to Israel, and brandishing a sword, items Kahn says “promote violent resistance.”
The school’s General Union of Palestinian Students, which raised money for the mural, states on its Web site that Handala is holding “a pen in the shape of a sword” to represent Said, who “used his pen to struggle for peace and justice.”
New settlement homes planned
Israel plans to build 164 new homes in three West Bank settlements.
The Israel Lands Administration issued construction offers Thursday for 88 additional housing units in Ariel, 56 for Alfei Menashe and 20 for Karnei Shomron.
The move could upset the United States and European Union given Israel’s obligation under the “road map” peace plan to freeze settlement expansion.
The three settlements cited are located in blocs that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said would be annexed to Israel under any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
http://www.jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 10:50 PM Permanent Link
 
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