Goldstone v. Dore Gold debate covered live on internet, Nov. 5

On Thursday, Richard Goldstone ( Chair of the Goldstone Gaza War Report, deemed biased by the U.S.) and Dore Gold will be appearing together at Brandeis.  ( Gold is a former Israeli UN Ambassador to the UN)

 "The Challenge of the UN Gaza  Report"       Thursday, Nov. 5   4 pm Iowa time

                                                                                                                                                                          

The forum -- the first, and possibly only, occasion when Goldstone and a senior Israeli figure will publicly discuss the report – will be presented live on the Brandeis University web site at http://www.brandeis.edu/streaming. Film of the forum will be archived on the Brandeis web site after the event.

Please help inform others.

 

Israel's leadership on the U.S. - Israel relationship

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: September 23, 2009 On CNN

"Let me tell you something about President Obama, because I think this should be fully appreciated. He stood before the entire Muslim world. I don't know if a billion people heard him, but hundreds of millions of people in Muslim countries heard him. And he said: 'The bond between America and Israel is unshakeable. We are absolutely committed to Israel's security.'"

"Israel has a terrific friend in America and the American people, and I want the American people to know that they have a terrific friend in Israel. In the Middle East, you don't have that many friends, but we're definitely right at the top of the list."

“I think that President Obama’s commitment to Israel has been expressed very loud, very clearly by him. And I think this reflects the underlying friendship between our two countries. It’s very strong.”

The Jerusalem Post on September 23, 2009

“[In President Obama's U.N. speech ]I found many things that were very good for us. First of all, he said, ‘Let’s return to peace talks without preconditions,” and that’s what I’ve been saying for the last six months.”

“I was happy that just like yesterday [in the tripartite meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas], that was the central message.”

Netanyahu also said that in the General Assembly speech, the US president had “expressed his resolute support for a Jewish state, [for Israel] as the country for the Jewish people.”

“I think that’s the core of the conflict, or more precisely, the core of the solution to the conflict. I was happy to hear this in front of the world, the Arab world and the Palestinian people.”


Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren - October 21, 2009 to the National Jewish Democratic Council

On President Obama:

“This is a president who has gone to Cairo, has made a speech in which for the first time in history, an American leader introduced the idea of Israel’s legitimacy to the heart of the Arab World. And I think it’s very important. ... Read our lips: we are very grateful for this. We are cognizant of the contributions that the president has made for Israel’s security and legitimacy.”

On Iran:

“That has been our unwavering policy. ...We support President Obama in his outreach to the Iranians.”

“The Obama administration is cooperating with us and communicating with us with incredible clarity on all of these issues with an immense amount of cooperation and understanding. I can report unequivocally on this.”

On the Goldstone Commission’s Report:

“The administration came out with a statement against Goldstone that was from our perspective just perfect – condemned it as a travesty of justice, upheld Israel’s right not just to defend itself, but to investigate itself during its own military operations.”

“We know that the United States and the Obama administration stands foursquare beside us in this fight against the Goldstone Commission.”

On Maintaining Israel’s “Qualitative Military Edge (QME)”:

“We found that our ‘QME’ has been eroded. Several months ago, we came to the Obama administration and said, ‘Listen, we have a problem here.’ And the administration’s reaction was immediate: we are going to address this issue, we are going to make sure that we maintain your ‘QME,’ and now we have opened up an entire dialogue [on this issue].... It was just so warm and immediate, that response.”

“We are developing missile defense systems together with the United States. The very high ranking State Department official who deals with this issue told me the other day our relations are excellent, but excellent is not good enough for us; we want better than excellent. And right now, as we sit here today, there is a joint maneuver between the United States armed forces and the IDF – ‘Juniper Cobra.’ There are a thousand American servicemen and women today in Israel or off Israel’s coast practicing these systems with us and trying them out. What greater embodiment of the US-Israel strategic relationship.”

On Turkey’s Withdrawal from Joint Military Exercises with the United States and Israel:

“Within 24 hours that Turkey made that announcement, the Obama administration said it wasn’t going to participate in those maneuvers either. It was very, very helpful for us.”


Israeli President Shimon Peres: October 8, 2009

During a meeting with US envoy George Mitchell, Peres said Israel has “full faith in Obama’s policies….”

George Mitchell's Mission Impossible - Efraim Inbar

American diplomacy can hardly make a dent in the schism within Palestinian society that is the main stumbling block for progress in peace-making. As long as Islamist Hamas has a powerful grip on the Palestinian ethos and Palestinian aspirations, and as long as its ruthless rule over Gaza continues, Palestinian politics are hostage to the extremists and are unable to move toward an historic compromise with the Jewish-Zionist national movement. Palestinian society, be it in the West Bank or Gaza, is not entertaining reconciliation with the Jews. The shaheed (martyr) is still the role model in the Palestinian media and education system. The writer is professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University and director of the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies. (BESA-Bar-Ilan University)

From: www.dailyalert.org

Iran fails to accept UN uranium enrichment plan

Published: 10.23.09,

State TV says Iran wants to buy nuclear fuel it needs for a research reactor rather than accept a UN-drafted plan to ship much of its uranium to Russia for further enrichment.


Friday's report quotes an unnamed source close to Iran's negotiating team as saying Tehran is waiting for a response to its proposal to buy nuclear fuel for the reactor, which is used to make radioactive medical isotopes. (AP)

Iran lawmaker rejects nuke deal to ship uranium

Oct 22, 9:48 AM (ET)

By NASSER KARIMI


TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's deputy parliament speaker on Thursday dismissed an internationally backed draft plan to have Tehran ship its uranium abroad for enrichment, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The remarks by Mohammad Reza Bahonar were the first reaction in Tehran on the proposal, presented Wednesday after three days of talks between Iran and world powers in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

The plan is seen by international community as a way to curb Iran's ability to build a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran is expected to decide by Friday on whether to approve the plan that calls for shipping Iran's uranium to Russia for enrichment to a level that renders it suitable as nuclear fuel for energy production - not for nuclear weapons.

"The United States demanded Iran ship uranium abroad, in return for getting fuel back," Bahonar said, according to IRNA. "But Iran does not accept this."

Iran's parliament will not vote on the draft plan and Bahonar does not speak for the government, which is to decide on the matter.

But it's unclear if his comments could reflect high-level resistance to the deal or the opinions of some influential politicians in Iran.

There has been no response so far to the offer from Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, or President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The proposal may meet resistance by some Iranian leaders because it weakens Iran's control over its stockpiles of nuclear fuel and could be perceived as a concession to the United States, which took part in the Vienna talks with France and Russia.

Under the Vienna-brokered draft, Iran is required to send 1.2 tons of low-enriched uranium to Russia in one batch by the end of this year, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Thursday.

After further enrichment in Russia, the uranium will be converted into fuel rods that would be returned to Iran. Valero said France would be the one making that conversion.

"France is an active party to this accord," Valero said, stressing that Paris is still a player in the proposal despite Iranian criticism of any French role in the plan earlier this week.

Valero, in an on-line briefing, also said the proposal drafted in Vienna allows Iran to pursue production of radio-isotopes for medical purposes, "while constituting a useful gesture that could contribute to reducing tensions over the nuclear issue."

He gave no further details.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the draft agreement was "a very positive step."

Over the past days, both Iran's head of atomic energy department Ali Akbar Salehi and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki reiterated that Iran would not give up its rigts to uranium enrichment.

That suggests Iran plans to keep its enrichment facilities active, an assurance against the fears that the fuel supply from abroad could be cut off.

Salehi said Tuesday in an interview with a local newspaper said that Iran was willing to get fuel from abroad and that further enrichment has no economic feasibility for Iran. "It has an economic aspect. For us purchasing enriched uranium is easier than its enrichment" domestically, he said.

Iran needs only 660 pounds (300 kilograms) of 20 percent-enriched uranium for its Tehran plant in 30 years. The plant has been producing radioisotopes for medical purposes over the past decades.

Iran has already arranged its facilities to produce fuel for its planned nuclear power plant at a 3.5 percent enrichment rate. The plant, built by Russia, is scheduled to begin operations before the end of the year.

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US to UN: recognize Israel's legitimacy

Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice: "[U.N.] Member states must
once and for all replace anti-Israeli vitriol with recognition of
Israel's legitimacy and right to exist in peace and security."

Feds: Boston terror suspect planned to kill officials, attack mall


Investigators have charged a man with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and other crimes, the acting U.S. attorney for Massachusetts said Wednesday.

Another terrorist attack on U.S. soil foiled.