Tuesday, December 09, 2014
US calls on UNRWA to ‘uphold neutrality’ after call to boycott ‘Post’
The State Department is calling on personnel at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to “uphold its stated policy of neutrality,” after its spokesman, Chris Gunness, called for a boycott of The Jerusalem Post last week.Jennifer Rubin: What is a U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees doing in D.C.?
“Our position on UNRWA and its important humanitarian role is very clear,” State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez told the Post. “It is imperative that all sides respect the humanitarian and development role of UNRWA. And we expect UNRWA personnel to uphold its stated policy of neutrality so that it can carry out its critical mandate.”
Gunness claimed impartiality in an article published by the Post last week, reacting with a series of tweets critical of the newspaper and its staff. The article was an op-ed, written by Palestinian human rights activist Bassam Eid.
One of those tweets called for a “boycott of JPost,” interpreted by the newspaper as a breach of its commitment to neutrality.
“We have been in touch with Chris Gunness, who has made clear that, in his tweets, he was not calling for a boycott against any media outlet but instead was making his objections to a single article that we all find problematic,” one UN spokesman said, responding to the incident.
The U.N. Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act of 2011 included provisions to deal with longstanding concerns about UNRWA’s use of anti-Israel textbooks, anti-Israel rhetoric, association with Hamas members and employment of some 31,000 “refugees” (“presenting a clear conflict of interest”).Palestinian sought to recruit Texas man to kill Obama last year, Israel Police say
But a new issue is taking center stage. As Right Turn reported:
"Early last year it set up a D.C. “liaison” office. With whom is it liaisoning? Mostly Congress, it turns out. U.S. law forbids the United Nations from lobbying Congress, but as we learned with Newt Gingrich “lobbying” or a “lobbyist” is in the eye of the beholder. UNRWA employs two full-time staffers in D.C., both of whom have loads of experience on Capitol Hill. Chris McGrath is a former aide for Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.); his boss, Matthew Reynolds, worked in legislative affairs for the State Department. I was assured no “lobbying” goes on, but they do meet virtually nonstop with lawmakers — appropriators are key — to answer questions about how taxpayer dollars are spent, why UNRWA’s work is important and how it makes sure money isn’t going to terrorists.
It seems American tax dollars are going, in part, to fund this office that in effect makes sure Congress doesn’t get fed up and cut off the money flow."
An unnamed Palestinian man sought to recruit a US citizen to assassinate Barack Obama when the US president visited Israel and the West Bank in March 2013, Israel police said on Tuesday.
The American, Adam Livix, was indicted in Tel Aviv on Tuesday on a separate matter, for charges that include an attempt to buy plastic explosives from Israeli soldiers with the apparent intention of harming Muslim holy sites.
Israel Police said that Livix, who lived in Hebron and Bethlehem in 2013, was asked at that time by a Palestinian operative if he could assassinate Obama with a sniper’s rifle during the president’s visit, but he refused to do so. No reference to this allegation was made in the charge sheet released Tuesday.
Livix, a Christian from Texas who pretended to be a Navy Seal, is wanted in the US for questioning regarding drug violations and has been in Israel Police custody since November 19, the police said.
The investigation of Livix in recent weeks was carried out in cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Ya'alon: West bank violence, fueled by Hamas, in decline
Addressing the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee ahead of the impending dissolution of the Knesset, the defense minister also leveled a warning against Syria, two days after Damascus accused Israel of carrying out airstrikes that reportedly targeted weapons slated for transfer to Hezbollah.Israeli stabbed in New York Chabad headquarters
Laying out Israel’s security threats, Ya’alon warned that calm in the West Bank could easily dissipate. He was speaking less than an hour after security forces said they thwarted a planned terror attack in a settlement near Jerusalem.
“Right now there is a certain decrease in terror and escalation in the West Bank, but there’s no guarantee it will last. There is major pressure from outside, primarily from Hamas, to heat up Judea and Samaria,” he said, using the biblical name for the West Bank.
“We continue to operate there in order to thwart the terror infrastructure, which is mostly operated from the outside, whether from the Gaza Strip or Turkey.”
The attacker, a black male later named as Calvin Peters, entered the Hasidic movement’s headquarters in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood and stabbed the 22-year-old several times in the upper body.Israeli Student Stabbed Inside Brooklyn Synagogue
The victim, an ultra-Orthodox Israeli named Levi Rosenblat, was lightly to moderately injured in the attack. The Yeshiva World News website reported that he was conscious and had spoken to a relative on the phone.
A 9-inch (23-centimeter) knife, with a 4.5-inch (11.5-centimeter) blade, was recovered at the scene, police said.
The attacker, who appears in a video speaking English with a heavy accent, was shot by police who arrived at the scene, after he refused to put down his weapon.
He was evacuated to a hospital under arrest, and was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital, police told local New York media.
A witness told the New York Daily News that the suspect, who was reportedly a homeless man with a criminal record, entered the complex screaming: “I will kill the Jew, I want to kill the Jew.”
Watch: Shocking New Footage from Crown Heights Stabbing
New footage has emerged of the Crown Heights stabbing attack on Tuesday, showing an intense standoff between the stabber and the New York Police Department (NYPD).Two arrested outside settlement as possible attack thwarted
The stabber, an African-American man, is wearing dark pants, tennis shoes, a waste-length jacket and a knit cap. He is brandishing a knife and cannot seem to keep still.
The NYPD is shown demanding that the man drop the knife multiple times. Eventually, they are forced to shoot him.
The attacker - now named as 49 year-old Calvin Peters - eventually died from his wounds at Kings County Hospital.
Meanwhile, a 22 year-old from Beitar Illit studying in New York, named as Levi Rosenblat, is in serious to critical condition after being stabbed. The public has been asked to pray for Levi Yitzhak ben Raizel for his speedy recovery.
NYPD spokesman Adam Navarro told AFP Tuesday that the student was stabbed in the side of the face - not in the neck, as was previously reported shortly after the attack.
Two Palestinians, one of them armed with a knife, were detained by security forces as they approached a settlement south of Jerusalem on Tuesday.Soldiers at Checkpoint Nab PA Arab with Pistol and Knife
The men were apprehended near Tekoa, in the southern West Bank, by the settlement’s security coordinator and a group of IDF soldiers who were called to the scene.
During initial questioning the men confessed to planning an attack on the community, according to reports.
The Palestinians were identified as two Hebron-area residents who had been sought by Israeli security forces since Friday, after the army received information of a possible planned terror attack.
One of the detained men was identified as Hebronite Muhammad Abu Aysha, 34, a relative of Amer Abu Aysha, one of the two men who kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers in June, according to the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency.
The second man was named as Jabrin Muntaz, 17, from the town of Yatta outside Hebron.
Israeli soldiers at the Kalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem caught a Palestinian Authority Arab with a semi-automatic pistol, a knife and various mobile phones Tuesday morning.Don't Throw Stones at these Israelis
It was not clear if the suspect was planning to carry out a terrorist attack or theft.
He was carrying with him several mobile phones, other electronic equipment and tools.
Security officials are interrogating him.
Yes, It is a Battle Over Jerusalem
The Obama administration is wrong. The United States should be on the side of its peace-making ally, Israel, in its fight against the Palestinian terrorist assault on Jerusalem. Whether the victims are three Americans beheaded by ISIS or three Americans butchered in a Jerusalem synagogue, America and Israel are fighting the same enemy.US denies plans for sanctions over East Jerusalem building
The battle for Jerusalem is being fought--but it's not a fair fight. Palestinian terrorists use rocks, firebombs, cars, and axes. Palestinian leaders praise, protect, and finance them. Israel tries desperately to defend itself--but the Obama administration, with its relentless criticism, pressure, and moral equivalency, is in effect tying one of Israel's hands behind its back.
This is the moment for American Jewry to step forward. Not with gala dinners and business-as-usual speeches, but with focused, effective political action to send a message to the administration, and to mobilize Congress and the American public in support of Israel and Jerusalem.
This is the moment for American Jewry to rise to the challenge. Now--before the battle is lost.
The US State Department on Monday denied reports that it was considering imposing sanctions against Israel over new construction in East Jerusalem, calling the claims “unfounded and completely without merit.”Germany happily takes the helm of infamous anti-Jewish UN Human Rights Council
“I can set the record straight and be clear that reports that we might be contemplating sanctions against Israel are completely unfounded and without merit,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, according to the Blaze.
Last week, Republican congressmen demanded an explanation from the Obama administration regarding the “worrisome” reports of sanction plans.
The concerns apparently stemmed from a December 4 story in Haaretz that cited an anonymous Israeli official who said that the Obama administration was “examining taking action against the construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, rather than making do with issuing denunciatory statements.”
After getting elected as the Human Rights Council president for 2015 German Ambassador to the United Nations Joachim Rücker praised the notoriously anti-Israel Council for "having a serious impact on the world stage". He also said that "Israel should be treated like any other state". Except that Germany is part of the problem.Palestinians become observers at ICC meeting
In 2014 the Council passed 6 resolutions slandering Israel and Germany supported 4 of them, while abstaining on another 2.
Germany for example voted in favor of the following:
"[T]he Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan are illegal and an obstacle to peace and economic and social development" (Resolution 25/28. "Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan", March 28, 2014)
"[T]he construction of the wall by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, along with measures previously taken, severely impedes the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination" (Resolution 25/27. "Right of the Palestinian people to self-determination", March 28, 2014)
The Palestinians have become observers at the summit meeting of the 122 countries that are members of the International Criminal Court, a move they say is a step toward joining the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal.“I Will Take You Down With Me:” Abbas Threatens International Criminal Court Action Against Israel
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to seek membership in the ICC in order to press charges against Israel for alleged war crimes.
The Palestinian UN ambassador, Riyad Mansour, said Monday his government is moving in that direction “but that’s another step in that process.”
The Palestinians’ official recognition as an observer came in a procedural move at the opening session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute that established the ICC.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to haul Israel before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the event that a resolution supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state independent of negotiations with Israel fails to pass through the UN Security Council.PreOccupied Territory: Peace Dove Charged In Coo Attempt (satire)
“If they want to take me down, I will take them along with me,” Abbas said, referring to a recent lawsuit filed against him at the ICC by Shurat HaDin, an Israeli legal advocacy organization.
Shurat HaDin’s suit charges that, as the leader of the nationalist Fatah faction, Abbas is personally responsible for rockets fired at Israel by Fatah terrorists over the summer, when Israel went to war with the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip.
Though neither Israel nor the PA are members of the ICC, and therefore do not fall under its jurisdiction, Shurat HaDin claims that Abbas is a Jordanian citizen and can therefore be prosecuted.
“Jordan is a current member of the ICC. The ICC is empowered to exercise its jurisdiction over all acts committed by the citizen of a member, wherever those acts are committed,” Shurat HaDin said in its announcement of the lawsuit last month. (h/t Bob Knot)
A pigeon famous for carrying an olive sprig as a symbol of a serene world has been arrested and charged with an attempted coo, sources close to the investigation reported today.High Court Judges Blast Zoabi in Appeal over Knesset Distancing
The bird was allegedly detained as it engaged in fowl play, said the police, egging on left-wing elements to worm their way into sensitive positions and raise a flap to enable unfeathered access to the seats of power. The dove has so far denied any wrongdoing, and fledged to fight the charges and prove his innocence.dove“My client insists these charges will never fly,” said the bird’s attorney, Guano Hitchcock. “We will not nest until we bring these accusations down,” he pronounced. “It’s aviary difficult challenge, but we’re up to it.”
A panel of High Court judges are to decide Tuesday morning a motion filed by MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) against the Knesset Ethics Committee's decision to bar her from Knesset plenum and committee sessions for six months. The fact that the Knesset has been dissolved does not seem to have affected the proceedings.Bennett on MSNBC: If Someone Shot at You, You'd Shoot Back
The judges have not mollycoddled Zoabi in the session. Judge Hanan Meltzer noted that there is “no precedent in the entire world for a statement by a member of parliament that calls for a siege on his own country," like Zoabi did in one of the statements that led to her distancing.
Regarding Zoabi's refusal to call the murderer-abductors of three yeshiva boys terrorists, Judge Esther Hayut said: “I fail to understand how a person who defines herself as being opposed to violence can justify and understand people who kidnap children who are on their way home. This is a black sign. What is a person who kidnaps a child on the way from school and murders him in the car in cold blood? Is there another definition for him except 'terrorist'?”
Bennett was asked if Israel had made “a mistake” by ignoring warnings that civilians were in the schools, and replied, “I think the big mistake was by Hamas, who placed in the UN camps, in hospitals, in schools - it placed missile launchers and shot missiles into Israel. And then we shot back and yes there was, unfortunately, a lot of death, but it’s Hamas who’s butchering its own people by placing a missile launcher.”Hamas Delegation in Iran to Normalize Relations
“Imagine if you walk on the streets of New York and someone is standing behind his kids and shooting at your kids. You’ll shoot back,” Bennett told the interviewer. “He’s killing his own kids. Hamas was killing their own children by doing that. It’s very unfortunate, but Israel will always defend itself.”
No fewer than three United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools were found, during the course of Israel’s 50-day Operation Protective Edge, to be serving for storage of rockets for the terrorist organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
After the first finding of rockets at an UNRWA school, it was reported that rather than destroying the rockets, UNRWA workers called Hamas to come remove them to use in their terror war on Israeli civilians.
A delegation from the terrorist organization Hamas which controls Gaza arrived on Monday for talks with Iranian officials on repairing ties between the two, local media reported.Jordan Charges Top Brotherhood Member Over Comments on UAE
Tasnim news agency said the team was led by Hamas political bureau member Mohammed Nasr and included Osama Hamdan, who is in charge of international relations. Iran has been a key source of funds and weapons for Hamas.
The visit is aimed at clearing the way for a "mission" by Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal to Iran, Amir Mousavi, the head of Tehran's Center of Strategic Research, said on the website of the Hamas-linked daily Al-Ressalah.
Zaki Bani Arshid, deputy leader of the Jordanian branch of the Brotherhood, was arrested last month after saying on social media the UAE's rulers lacked popular legitimacy and served Israel's interests by playing a leading role in a crackdown on political Islam.Interpol Arrest Call Highlights Muslim Brotherhood Kingpin's History of Praising Hitler, Suicide Bombers
The arrest of Bani Arshid, initially held for 15 days pending investigation over charges which carry a minimum prison term of three years, is the first such detention of a senior opposition politician in Jordan in recent years.
Some politicians said privately the arrest was made under pressure from the Gulf state.
News of his being charged comes one day after a newspaper reported that Israel provided Jordan with information regarding a secret military organization within the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, whose goal was to purchase weapons and then smuggle them into the Palestinian Authority.
The security sources revealed that 31 members of the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood have been detained in recent days on terrorism-related charges.
Interpol (The International Criminal Police Organization) has requested the arrest of the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and global Sunni Islamist diaspora, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, whose radical past includes praising suicide bombers against innocents as martyrs and describing Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as Allah’s gift to the world.Report: Al Qaeda Branch in Syria Claims Use of UN Vehicle in Suicide Attack
Interpol is charging the terror Sheikh with agreement, incitement, and assistance to commit premeditated murder, facilitating a prison escape, arson, vandalism, and theft.
Qaradawi has been known to espouse horrifically anti-Semitic sentiments, often praising figures such as Adolf Hitler and his Holocaust of 6-million Jews. “he managed to put them [Jews] in their place,” Qaradawi once said of Hitler’s genocidal campaign, while suggesting that “Allah” brought Hitler to life for the sole purpose of “punishing them for their corruption.”
The Al-Nusrah Front, the main al-Qeada affiliate in Syria, has released photos that it claims shows a United Nations armored vehicle being used to carry out a suicide car bomb attack against the Bashar Assad regime, reports The Long War Journal.Russian Hypocrisy Over Syria
According to the report, the pictures were released Dec. 7 on the official Twitter account of Al-Nusrah’s southern Syria operations.
“The photos show Al-Nusrah fighters operating the South African-made Mamba armored personnel carrier, as well as the vehicle being driven to its destination by a fighter named Abu Khattab al Muhajir ("the Emigrant”),” reports the Journal. “The last photo shows a massive explosion as the vehicle detonates on regime positions in the city of Sheikh Miskeen in Daraa province.”
It is likely that the jihadists took UN vehicles when they captured the Quneitra border crossing with the Israeli-held Golan Heights in late August and kidnapped 43 UN peacekeepers who were ultimately set free, reports the Journal.
Nevertheless, Israel’s most recent air raid in Syria targeting weapons bound for Hezbollah has upset the Russians. In its letter to Ban Ki-moon on Dec. 8, Russia, denouncing Israeli “aggression,” issued “an appeal to prevent the recurrence of such attacks in the future.”U.S. Accuses Iran of Secretly Breaching U.N. Nuclear Sanctions
And in a statement published on the website of the Russian foreign ministry, a spokesman said, “The use of force is unacceptable in interstate relations and deserves disapproval. It is important to prevent additional risks of further destabilization of the extremely tense situation in Syria and in the Middle East as a whole.”
Really.
Does Israel have an alternative to military force when Syria blatantly delivers missiles to Hezbollah? What is Russia doing about it? Nothing. Nothing whatsoever. What does Russia realistically expect Israel to do when two of its arch enemies, Syria and Hezbollah, are colluding to undermine its security?
In the meantime, Russia should reflect on its outlandish chutzpah, particularly in light of its aggressive actions in Crimea and in the eastern corner of Ukraine. Russia admittedly has paramount interests in both places. But since when is it permissible for Russia to interfere in sovereign Ukraine’s internal affairs by means of thinly-disguised proxies or, worse still, through invasions by stealth?
Russia has no business lecturing Israel on how to conduct itself in the face of Syrian and Hezbollah aggression. Israel should do whatever is necessary to protect itself against its next-door enemies.
The United States has privately accused Iran of going on an international shopping spree to acquire components for a heavy-water reactor that American officials have long feared could be used in the production of nuclear weapons-grade plutonium.Speculation Concerning Israeli Pre-Emptive Strike on Iranian Nuclear Facilities Emerges as U.S. Privately Accuses Tehran of ‘Cheating’
A U.S. delegation informed a U.N. Security Council panel of experts monitoring Iranian sanctions in recent months that Iranian procurement agents have been increasing their efforts to illicitly obtain equipment for the IR-40 research reactor at the Arak nuclear complex.
The American allegations, which have never before been reported, come more than a year after the Iranian government pledged as part of an interim agreement with the United States and other big powers to scale back Iran’s most controversial nuclear-related activities, including the enrichment of high-grade uranium, in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. They stand in stark contrast to recent remarks by Secretary of State John Kerry, who has repeatedly credited Tehran with abiding by the terms of the November 2013 pact, which bound Tehran to suspend some of its work at Arak. “Iran has held up its end of the bargain,” Kerry said last month in Vienna as he announced a seven-month extension of the timetable for big-power talks.
Israeli website NRG says that in the event that current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wins the next parliamentary elections in March 2015, he will face the “difficult dilemma” of whether to strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, one month before the next deadline for an agreement.Experts: Engagement with Iran Based on “Largely Incorrect” Assumptions
NRG emphasizes that the decision will be a fraught one, especially as military action is highly unlikely to gain the support of the Obama Administration, which regards a deal with Iran as vital to its political legacy. However, many Arab states, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are deeply unhappy with the American-led negotiations, as they too regard the weaponization of Iran’s nuclear program as an existential threat.
The NRG piece also quoted former leading Mossad official Haim Tomer as saying that the period leading up to July is the best time to increase sanctions on Iran, and not to reduce them. “The sanctions are being very effective, especially because of the drop in oil prices, and the economic collapse of Iran will force Iran to give up her dream,” Tomer said.
The talk of possible Israeli action – last seriously considered in 2011, before the current round of negotiations began – coincides with the revelation published in Foreign Policy by journalist Colum Lynch that Washington has “privately accused Iran of going on an international shopping spree to acquire components for a heavy-water reactor that American officials have long feared could be used in the production of nuclear weapons-grade plutonium.”
The premise of the Obama administration’s approach to negotiations with Iran is flawed, according to an op-ed published Friday in The Washington Post. The op-ed was written by Eric Edelman, a former undersecretary of defense during the George W. Bush administration; Dennis Ross, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama; and Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at the Council for Foreign Relations.SecDef Nominee: Iranian Nukes “Most Significant Strategic Threat” to U.S.
While the authors acknowledge that economic sanctions have impacted Iran, they also note that sanctions haven’t forced Iran to cease being “a revolutionary state that rarely makes judicious economic decisions,” which fears “integration into the global economy.” But the authors point to a more basic mistake:
The fraudulent 2009 presidential election was a watershed event in Iran’s history, as it transformed the Islamic Republic from a government of factions into just another Middle Eastern dictatorship. The forces of reform were purged from the body politic, leaving behind only like-minded mullahs. While many in the West still view Iran as a country of quarrelling factions and competing personalities, the Iranians themselves talk of nezam — the system. This is not to suggest that there are no disagreements among key actors, but the system has forged a consensus on core issues such as repressing dissent and preserving the essential trajectory of the nuclear program.
President Barack Obama on Friday nominated former Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to the Pentagon’s top post, replacing Chuck Hagel, who stepped down from the position last month. Carter, who served as assistant secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton, is perceived to be particularly strong on nuclear non-proliferation issues – Politico on Tuesday described him as a “leading member of a clique of defense intellectuals long concerned with the possibility of a nuclear terrorist attack” and suggested he “could be more consequential when it comes to Obama’s plans for dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.”Iran: We Will Get The Bomb
Two months before President Obama’s 2008 election, Carter argued, in a paper coauthored with diplomatic heavyweights including former Special Middle East Coordinator Dennis Ross and Nonproliferation Policy Education Center Executive Director Henry Sokolski, that “Iran’s nuclear development may pose the most significant strategic threat to the United States during the next Administration.” The Times of Israel covered Carter’s nomination, noting that he was a “vocal proponent of stronger action to stymie nuclear proliferation.” Carter had visited the Jewish state in 2013, and was quoted as telling a group of Israeli soldiers that “protecting America means protecting Israel, and that’s why we’re here in the first place.”
Iran has no intention of reaching a settlement over its illicit nuclear program, the Islamic Republic’s senior strategist revealed last week on his blog.Top Iranian Official: Obama Begs to Meet Rouhani
Instead, the regime has adopted a policy of “elongation” with the 5+1 nations in which it strings along the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany as it develops nuclear weapons, wrote Alireza Forghani.
Forghani is a senior analyst and strategy specialist in the supreme leader’s camp and closely aligned with Mehdi Taeb, who heads the regime’s Ammar Strategic Base, a radical think thank, and thus speaks with the blessing of the Islamic regime.
“Elongation” is Iran’s sole doctrine, Forghani wrote, in which the Geneva negotiations between the P5+1 and Iran were “never supposed to be brought to a successful conclusion … whether positive or negative.” Those talks began in 2006 and have been extended several times as one deadline after another failed to produce a comprehensive agreement. The two sides agreed on Nov. 24 to yet another deadline extension, this time to June 30, 2015.
Forghani warned that soon he will promote the slogan “Nuclear weapon is our definite right,” and that there will be people in the streets demanding a nuclear-armed Iran. He also promised the destruction of Israel, which he claimed “is exactly what Almighty God wants.”
The head of the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei insists that US President Barack Obama is chasing after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, according to footage provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
"When you see the American president knocking on every door just to meet our president for a few minutes, this is no trivial matter," Mohammad Golpayegani stated in an IRINN (Iranian news channel) broadcast. "Some people lurk in the UN corridor just to get the chance to shake (Obama's) hand, and he does not deign to even do that."
"Yet he sends mediators and goes to such efforts (in order to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani)," he continued. "This demonstrates our strength."
Iran Charges Washington Post Reporter Held For 137 Days
Rezaian and his wife, fellow journalist Yeganeh Salehi, who writes for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) paper The National, were arrested in a surprise raid on July 22, 2014.Ottoman language classes to be introduced ‘whatever they say,’ vows Erdoğan
Iran confirmed the arrests some three days later, after Tehran General Prosecuter Gholamhossein Esmaili said, "the security forces have the whole country under surveillance and control the activities of enemies. They will not permit our country to become a land where our enemies and their agents carry out their activities."
He refused to specify why the couple had been arrested.
Salehi was released on October 6, but Rezaian remained - and his family has taken Tehran to task over the arrest.
His family released a statement on Sunday saying that they are "deeply saddened to confirm that, after being held in solitary confinement without charge for 137 days, Jason Rezaian was charged with unknown crimes by the government of Iran."
"In its ongoing disregard of Iran's own laws, the Iranian judiciary has continued to deny Jason access to legal representation, denied his request for bail, and prevented access to review of his case file," the statement added.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has waded into the heated debate over the possible inclusion of Ottoman language classes in the high school curriculum, vowing that the classes will be introduced “no matter what they say.”Christians cry foul after seized Bibles stamped with warning
“There are those who don’t want Ottoman [language] to be learned and taught. This is a very big danger,” Erdoğan said on Dec. 8, delivering a speech at “5th Religion Council” hosted by the Directorate General of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) in Ankara.
“Whether they want it or not, Ottoman [language] will be learned and taught in this country,” he pledged.
According to decisions taken by Turkey’s National Education Council, which closed its annual meeting over the weekend, Ottoman language classes will be compulsory for imam-hatip religious vocational high schools and elective for other high schools.
In March 2011, 5,000 copies of the Alkitab were stamped and serialised by the Home Ministry, which held the consignment worth RM70,000 for two years after seizing them at the Kuching Port on March 20, 2009.
In expressing dismay at the Home Ministry's stamping of serial numbers on the 5,000 copies of the Alkitab, the BSM had then issued a statement saying that the Bibles could no longer be sold but would instead be preserved "as a heritage" for Malaysian Christians.
The sources did not want to be named ahead of the official statement from the BSM which handles the importation and distribution of Malay Bibles throughout Malaysia.
One of them confirmed that a photograph being shared on Facebook was indeed of the stamp which stated the warning in red letters.
In English, it reads: "Strictly for non-Muslims usage only and shall not be published or used in any part of the state of Selangor pursuant to section 9 (1) Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Amongst Muslims) Enactment 1988".
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