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Obama says there is no green light for Israel attack on Iran
MOSCOW (WJC)—U.S. President Barack Obama has issued an unusual clarification of his vice president's words, saying on CNN on Tuesday that his administration had "absolutely not" given its blessing for an Israeli attack on Iran. Obama said that although Israel had the right to defend itself, US officials had emphasized the need to avoid "major conflict in the Middle East."
Vice President Joe Biden earlier created a stir by suggesting the US would stand aside if Israel wanted to attack. "Israel can determine for itself – it's a sovereign nation – what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else," Biden had said on ABC television on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a military strike to thwart Iran's nuclear weapons capability remained on the table but could have grave and unpredictable consequences. "I worry a great deal about the response of a country that gets struck," said Mullen in an AP interview. "It is a really important place to not go, if we cannot go there in any way, shape or form."
As Ahmadinejad praises election
his opponents have rare meeting
TEHERAN (WJC) —In his first speech on national television since the presidential election on 12 June, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended the controversial ballot as the "freest" in the world, while accusing his domestic opponents of collaborating with Iran's international adversaries. Ahmadinejad said the contests were clean, fair and marked the start of a "new era."
"It was the most clean and free election in the world," he said, adding that, "no fault was discovered" during the recount. This election has doubled the dignity of the Iranian nation," he claimed. Ahmadinejad again blamed foreign powers for trying to sabotage the vote and criticized his reformist rivals for repeating remarks of Western countries. "Unfortunately, some people inside Iran collaborated with them," he said. "The result of their childish acts of interference in Iran's internal affairs is that the Iranian nation and government will enter the global stage several times more powerful," he said.
His speech came on the same day as Iran's three top reformist leaders demanded that the country's ruling clerics end the "security state" imposed after election and release those detained during post-electoral turmoil. After a meeting late Monday in Tehran, defeated presidential candidates Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mahdi Karroubi, as well as former president Mohammad Khatami, warned that suppressing protest could "radicalize" the opposition movement. The remarks appeared on Moussavi's official website. The meeting of the three men – the first of its kind by top leaders in the reform movement – appeared to be part of an attempt to resurrect the opposition after the police crackdown.
Polish government meets with Jewish representatives on restitution of Jewish property
WARSAW—Polish President Lech Kaczynski has recognized the importance of the issue of restitution of Jewish property confiscated during the Nazi and Communist eras in the country. At a meeting in Warsaw with a delegation from the European Jewish Congress (EJC), Kaczynski agreed to “hold another meeting of a more practical nature on the issue in November," EJC President Moshe Kantor said after what he described as "friendly and constructive discussions."
"We certainly recognize the complexity of the issue of restitution, but to date, unfortunately we have not seen measures taken by previous Polish governments to deal with private property restitution," Kantor declared.
He expressed the hope that the current administration "will take concrete measures that would enable the claimant and their heirs to fulfill their rights in the most just and efficient manner".
Kantor emphasized the need for the European Union to establish strong moral foundations of individual rights. "This issue of individual claims of Holocaust era assets is still an unresolved issue in several European countries, with Poland being one of the most significant."
The EJC delegation also met with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and the local Jewish community. Other topics discussed include initiatives aimed at fighting racism and anti-Semitism, and forging tolerance in Europe, EU-Israel relations and Holocaust education.
Formula One's Ecclestone apologizes for praising Hitler
LONDON—Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has said he regrets praising Adolf Hitler's ability to "get things done" in a newspaper interview. His comments which were denounced by World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder and the Central Council of Jews in Germany, among others. In reaction, Ecclestone wrote in the ‘The Times’ newspaper on Tuesday: "I unreservedly apologize for the remarks I made regarding Hitler in a recent interview. I am extremely distressed and embarrassed that these remarks have been used as suggesting that I support Hitler or Saddam Hussein. I would never support such people. I should never have been so foolish as to have been drawn into discussing these people but the fault was entirely mine, which I deeply regret."
Ecclestone revisited his remarks about Hitler in an attempt to clarify what he was trying to say. "During the 1930s Germany was facing an economic crisis but Hitler was able to rebuild the economy, building the autobahns and German industry," he said.
CVC, the private equity firm that controls Formula 1, said it was shocked by comments made by Ecclestone that apparently supported Adolf Hitler. "CVC was shocked at the comments made by Bernie Ecclestone on Saturday," the private equity firm said in a statement. "And we fully concur with the unreserved apology that was made by Mr. Ecclestone yesterday."
Meanwhile, Günther Oettinger, govenor of the southern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, canceled a meeting with Ecclestone on the sidelines of the Nürburgring Grand Prix next weekend because of Ecclestone’s comments about Hitler.
Haifa researcher suspects that
1st and 2nd languages stored
in different parts of the brain
HAIFA, Israel (Press Release)—A new study carried out at the University of Haifa sheds light on how first and second languages are represented in the brain of a bilingual person. A unique single case study that was tested by Dr. Raphiq Ibrahim of the Department of Learning Disabilities and published in the Behavioral and Brain Functions journal, showed that first and second languages are represented in different places in the brain.
The question of how different languages are represented in the human brain is still unclear and, moreover, it is not certain how languages of different and similar linguistic structures are represented. Many studies have found evidence that all the languages that we acquire in the course of our life are represented in one area of the brain. However, other studies have found evidence that a second language is dissociated from the representation of a mother tongue.
According to Dr. Ibrahim, there are various ways of clarifying this question, but the best way to examine the brain's representation of two languages is by assessing the effects of brain damage on a mother tongue and on the second language of the bilingual individual. "The examination of such cases carries much significance, since it is rare that we can find people who fluently speak two languages and who have sustained brain damage that has selectively affected one of the languages. Moreover, most of the evidence in this field is derived from clinical observations of brain damage in English- and Indo-European-speaking patients, and few studies have been carried out on individuals who speak other languages, especially Semitic languages such as Hebrew and Arabic, until the present study," he added.
The present case examined a 41-year-old bilingual patient whose mother tongue is Arabic and who had fluent command of Hebrew as a second language, at a level close to that of his mother tongue. The individual is a university graduate who passed entrance exams in Hebrew and used the language frequently in his professional life. He suffered damage to the brain that was expressed in a language disorder (aphasia) that remained after completing a course of rehabilitation. During rehabilitation, a higher level of improvement in use of the Arabic language was recorded, and less for the use of Hebrew. After rehabilitation, the patient's language skills were put through various standardized tests that examined a range of levels language skills in the two languages, alongside other cognitive tests. Most of the tests revealed that damage to the patient's Hebrew skills were significantly more severe than the damage to his Arabic skills.
According to Dr. Ibrahim, even if this selective impairment of the patient's linguistic capabilities does not constitute sufficient evidence to develop a structural model to represent languages in the brain, this case does constitute an important step in this direction, particularly considering that it deals with unique languages that have not yet been studied and which are phonetically, morphologically and syntactically similar.
Strawberries, border crossings, and computers among joint Palestinian-Israeli projects
TEL AVIV (Press Release)—Initial implementation has commenced for the Peres Center for Peace's newest agricultural initiative, “Strawberry Fields for Peace.”
The cross-border, peacebuilding project is geared towards
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providing capacity building support and advanced training to Palestinian and Israeli agriculturalists for the purpose of enhancing local strawberry production and international export.
Under the auspices of “Strawberry Fields for Peace,” the establishment of a 20-Dunam, demonstrative strawberry farm will take place in the Tulkarem area of the West Bank. The farm will serve as a center for research and development, where best practice methods of crop growth and production are carried out. “Strawberry Fields for Peace” is supported by the Flemish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Center also announced that as a part of the Tourism4Peace Project, the Business and Economics Department of the Peres Center has recently published a broad survey, focusing on the five major tourist crossings of Israel with its neighbors – the Jordan River, Allenby Bridge and Arava-Rabin Border Crossings with Jordan, the Taba Border Crossing with Egypt, and the Bethlehem Crossing with the Palestinian Authority.
The survey includes an in-depth analysis of the aforementioned crossings, with concrete recommendations for improving their capacities, and the level of services they provide to individual tourists and groups. Established in 2004 by the Peres Center in cooperation with the Israel Hotel Managers Association and senior Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian representatives from the tourism industry, the "Tourism4Peace Forum" promotes regional cooperation in the tourism field.
Elsewhere, three hundred Israeli and Palestinian youth and educators participated in a day of joint activities that marked the end of the school year for the "Peace Computer Center” project. Throughout the academic year, the youth met once a week in their respective communities to participate in specialized, cross-border, digital dialogues and activities. Additionally, they had occasion to meet their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts from the website interactions in person; however, the end of the year event marked the first time that all of the member communities (6 Jewish-Israeli, 2 Arab-Israeli, and 6 Palestinian) assembled and celebrated together since commencing participation in the project.
The gathering took place in Neve-Shalom "Wahat al-Salam" and included fun and engaging activities for the enjoyment of the youth such as juggling, drumming, and free time to play in the swimming pool. The participants were very excited at the prospect of getting together as a group, and took pleasure in the fun personal encounters with their ‘virtual’ friends. The youth played guitar and sang together, spoke openly with one another, discussed the “Peace Computer Center” project, and exchanged thoughts and ideas about life in different communities throughout the region. The “Peace Computer Center” project aims to establish computer classrooms in disadvantaged Palestinian and Israeli communities, in order to connect the youth through innovative computer programs launched from these newly established computer classrooms.
Some of the comments received from the Israeli and Palestinian teachers:
Palestinian partner: “It was a very good step to meet with all the students. Really, it is a fantastic experience and it gives the youth a push to continue; they were very happy. We felt that the students were very warm and respectful of one another. We hope to do it again.”
Israeli Partner: “I cannot put into words the feelings our end-of-project gathering made us experience…If this is what real hope feels like, it was worth the effort. There was a congenial atmosphere and we all had a great time. I believe both the children and I will cherish the memories of this special year. Special people will make a more optimistic future for us all. My students are leaving for high school with a unique experience. Thank you all for whom you are and the things you fight for. Looking forward to working with you again.”
Are you hearing that you should be worried about President Obama's commitment to Israel's security? I'm not worried - and here are a few quotes from prominent pro-Israel Americans and Israelis who aren't worried either. Read them below.
“Dividing the land into two states is in Israeli interests. My ideology is not connected to the Palestinians. I don’t think that I’m doing them a favor. My ultimate goal is the nature of the State of Israel as a Jewish state.”
-- Former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, May 5, 2009.
“We have to do our very best to reassure Israel, to demonstrate our commitment to Israel's security, that the bonds we have are unshakeable and durable. But we do have a view about Israel's security. We see historical, demographic, political, technological trends that are very troubling as to Israel's future… And for the Palestinians, let's not forget: They must end incitement against Israel. They must demonstrate an ability to provide security.”
-- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, June 7, 2009.
“This includes so many of what now would be your vision for the future, Mr. President. A sense of security for Israel, a sense of security for its neighbors, to bring peace in that place. The time must come. It's enough -- enough to go to cemeteries, enough to weep for oceans. It's enough. There must come a moment -- a moment of bringing people together.”
-- Author Elie Wiesel, June 5, 2009.
"Getting tough on settlement expansion should not be confused with undercutting Israel's security."
-- Harvard Law Professor and “The Case for Israel” Author Alan Dershowitz, July 3, 2009.
“The issue of freezing settlements remains critical, of course … we urge the Obama Administration to continue its active engagement. Whether the policies we prescribe to advance America’s interests, and to support the peace process we believe is indispensible to Israel’s long term security and wellbeing, concur with those of this Israeli government or not, we stand in abiding solidarity with the people and the state of Israel at this challenging time.”
-- Union of Reform Judaism President Rabbi Eric Yoffie, June 15, 2009.
“The American government should not heed the attempts by the vocal hawkish minority of American Jews to prevent the Obama administration from rescuing Israel from such a fate, and it should also block moves by a right-wing Israeli coalition government to put a spoke in the wheel of the two-state solution.”
-- Former Chief of Staff to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak Gilead Sher, April 1, 2009.
“Many American Jews see the settlements… as the vanguard of binationalism, which is to say, an ostensibly Zionist movement that is anti-Zionist in effect. But liberal American Jews not only see the colonization of the West Bank as a demographic threat to Israel; they see it as a moral threat as well, a moral threat to Israel, and a moral threat to the previously mainstream understanding that justice is on Israel's side.”
-- The Atlantic Columnist Jeffrey Goldberg, June 18, 2009.
“No less a hawk than Ariel Sharon came to realize that Israel cannot survive as a Jewish state and a democracy without ceding enough land to create a self-governing Palestinian state.”
-- The Jewish Daily Forward Editorial, May 20, 2009.
“I had a camp counselor when I was in sixth grade who was Jewish-American but who had spent time in Israel, and during the course of this two-week camp he shared with me the idea of returning to a homeland and what that meant for people who had suffered from the Holocaust, and he talked about the idea of preserving a culture when a people had been uprooted with the view of eventually returning home. There was something so powerful and compelling for me, maybe because I was a kid who never entirely felt like he was rooted. That was part of my upbringing, to be traveling and always having a sense of values and culture but wanting a place… And then that mixed with a great affinity for the idea of social justice that was embodied in the early Zionist movement and the kibbutz, and the notion that not only do you find a place but you also have this opportunity to start over and to repair the breaches of the past. I found this very appealing.”
-- President Barack Obama, May 12, 2008.
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