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MR. KELLY: Yeah, we can – I’ll find out.
QUESTION: Did you just misspeak when you said, “We sent in our embassy to the Minister of Foreign Affairs?” You meant the ambassador, I assume?
QUESTION: Or the chargé.
QUESTION: The chargé – the Chargé d'Affaires?
MR. KELLY: The chargé. I think the ambassador is not in town.
QUESTION: Chargé.
MR. KELLY: Chargé, yeah. Sorry, I did misspeak.
QUESTION: Just – what – is there any demonstrable difference in your relationship with Libya and the U.S. relationship with Libya today from last week or two weeks ago?
MR. KELLY: You know, Matt, I can’t point to something in particular, no.
QUESTION: So nothing has been – no meetings have been canceled, no –
MR. KELLY: Not that I’m aware of. I don’t think we’ve had any meetings scheduled to cancel.
QUESTION: Is the Secretary going to meet with the foreign minister at UNGA?
MR. KELLY: It’s too early for me to say.
QUESTION: Well, do you think that what’s happened will have an effect on whether she decides to meet with him?
MR. KELLY: Well, I mean, that meeting, if it takes place, will be over a month from now – not over a month – about a month from now.
QUESTION: Well, but haven’t they – but if you’ve seen, like the hero’s welcome that you asked them not to give, they’ve already given it. So I mean, I’m asking if what’s happened thus far has had an effect.
MR. KELLY: Well, we’ll see. We haven’t scheduled any meeting with the Libyan foreign minister, and we’ll make our decisions on whether or not to have such a meeting based on what happens in the next month.
QUESTION: Well, what about what’s happened in the last 72 hours?
MR. KELLY: Like I say, we have not scheduled anything. I don’t know what the decision is.
**
QUESTION: Also on the weekend, there was a harsh response from Iran to Argentina related to the minister of defense that the Argentinean justice is requesting for the bombing of the AMIA institution. And Iran said that Argentina was interfering in their internal affairs.
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: Is there any position of the U.S. on these, or you are following on this --
MR. KELLY: Yeah. I think that – I mean, we discussed this on Friday a little bit. And what I said was if – I mean, they are aware of these reports that he’s wanted by Interpol. I think that there’s a process that has to play out here, that – I mean, this man hasn’t become a minister. He has to go through parliament and get confirmed. And I think we’ll reserve comment on him, in particular, until after this whole process plays out.
QUESTION: Do not know yourself if he’s wanted by Interpol?
MR. KELLY: I –
QUESTION: I mean, not personally, you, but, I mean, doesn’t the U.S. Government know if he’s --
MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, I believe he is. But yeah, he is, but –
QUESTION: So what – but what difference does it make if he is – takes up his position or not? I mean, don’t you want him to – if he is wanted, to be arrested and tried?
MR. KELLY: Well, he hasn’t taken up his position.
QUESTION: Well, what difference does it – once he takes up a position, he’ll have immunity, at least in Iran. And I mean, what difference does it make whether he has actually got the job or not? If he’s a private citizen running around in Iran, but still wanted by Interpol, then you don’t really care that much? It’s only if he becomes a government official that’s it’s a problem?
MR. KELLY: Well, we’ll deal with the situation when it arises. But right now, we’re just deferring comment.
QUESTION: Just a quick one on something completely different, regarding the America’s Cup. Apparently, Oracle, the company, has voiced some concern about the choice of – I think it’s Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates as the venue. Does the State Department share – I guess there’s some concerns that it’s close to Iran, whatever, there could be security concerns for American citizens. Has State taken a position on that, or --
MR. KELLY: I’m not aware that we have taken a position on it. I mean, we have close cooperation with United Arab Emirates. And I’m not sure that we’ve had any kind of concern – safety concerns regarding it. I saw the press report. We would be, of course, more than happy to talk about these concerns with both the organizers and with the Government of United Arab Emirates. But beyond that, I don’t have anything else I can say.
QUESTION: I have one more on Libya, if you don’t mind. Colonel Qadhafi is supposed to be coming to the UNGA and pitching a tent in Englewood, New Jersey at the home of a Libyan diplomat, which is just, like, miles from some of the bombers – some of the bombing victims’ families. Do you have any position on whether that’s appropriate?
MR. KELLY: Well – whether it’s appropriate. I think what I can say about this, Elise, is that there’s a couple of factors here. Of course, we as the host of the United Nations, have certain obligations regarding transit to and from UN headquarters of leaders attending UN meetings. So there’s that issue. There – I do know that we have been talking to the UN about this issue. We’ve been talking to New York City authorities about the issue of where Mr. Qadhafi is going to stay. But no decisions have been made and –
QUESTION: Well, allegedly, he’s made the decision to stay in Englewood, New Jersey, pitching his tent there because he can’t do it in Central Park.
MR. KELLY: Yeah, well --
QUESTION: And when you say that you have obligations about transiting to and from headquarters, does that mean that that’s an inconvenience for you or –
MR. KELLY: No, no, no. I’m just saying that there’s a number of governing authorities here. Of course, we have – there are local government concerns about these kinds of issues. There are – but there’s also international agreements that we have. I’m just giving you, sort of, general background. I – no decision has been made about where anybody is going to pitch a tent.
QUESTION: Well, do you think it’s advisable for him to kind of pitch his Bedouin tent in the middle of an area where many bombing victims’ families are living?
MR. KELLY: I would urge any foreign leader to be sensitive to the concerns of victims of the most horrific terrorist attack before for September 11th affecting American citizens.
QUESTION: But I mean, particularly Qadhafi, you don’t think that that’s kind of poking an eye – another poke in the eye of – these victims’ families that have already been victimized by this bomber’s release?
MR. KELLY: Well, let’s – yeah. Before we pronounce on this, let’s see where this ends up because as I say, it’s still in the discussion stage.
QUESTION: Well, what do you make of Qadhafi’s track record in the last couple days on heeding your urgings to be sensitive to the victims of this horrific attack? How does he stand on the Ian Kelly scale?
MR. KELLY: (Laughter.) I’m going to decline to comment on that.
NEWARK, New Jersey (Press Release) -- Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (Democrat, New Jersey) today called for the U.S. Department of State to place restrictions on any visa issued to Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi limiting his travel during September’s United Nations General Assembly meeting. The Senator’s request was made in response to news reports speculating that Col. Qaddafi plans to reside during the visit at a Libyan government-owned mansion in Englewood, New Jersey.
"I ask that travel restrictions be placed on any visa issued to Colonel Qaddafi limiting him to travel only in the United Nations Headquarters District," Lautenberg wrote in a letter to Secretary Hillary Clinton. "Given recent events, I believe the State Department should ensure that Colonel Qaddafi’s entry into the United States is for official U.N. business only and does not allow him to travel freely. I was particularly concerned by news reports indicating that Colonel Qaddafi plans to stay in New Jersey, where the families of many Pan Am 103 victims reside."
Last week Sen. Lautenberg condemned the release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, and the celebratory response he received when returning to Libya.
Conference of Presidents urges Sweden to distance itself from 'blood libel' on Palestinian organs
NEW YORK (Press release)—Leaders of the Conference of Presidents sharply criticized the refusal of Swedish officials to repudiate and condemn the outrageous lies and blatant distortions in the articles in the Aftonbladet newspaper alleging Israel "harvests" Palestinian organs.
"To hide behind the sacred freedoms - freedom of speech, freedom of thepress - is to defile and denigrate them. We do not call for agovernmental apology but a clear condemnation refuting these baseless allegations. History has taught that such inciting charges, regardless of how far fetched, resonate with some with disastrous consequences. The government of Sweden, by its silence, let alone its public refusal to
distance itself, appears not only to tolerate but to associate with thecharges and their implications. We do not believe - we do not want to believe - that this could be true. We urge the Swedish government to speak out immediately and clearly against this hateful and groundless allegation. In our history, too often we have seen the bloodshed caused by such "blood libels." The difference is that in the Middle Ages they
affected defined areas and then gradually spread. This article has been read around the world and will find adherents where extremists have created a fertile climate for anti-Semitism. We appreciate the criticism expressed by Swedish Ambassador to Israel Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier against the Aftonbladet and its editor, Jan Helin, as did other Swedish
papers, but it is essential that Sweden's leaders be heard. We urge them to act quickly to avert the damage. Regrets later will ring hollow,"said Chairman Alan Solow and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein.
Rallies throughout U.S. set to mark Gilad Shalit's 23rd birthday
NEW YORK (Press Release)—Federations and other Jewsih community organizations across the North America, working through Jewish Agency for Israel emissaries in their communities, are planning nearly a dozen local events this week to mark the birthday of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was abducted by Hamas in Gaza over three years ago. On Friday, August 28, Shalit will turn 23 years old.
Events will include formal declarations on the municipal and state level calling to free Gilad Shalit, appearances by local elected officials, artists and Israeli diplomats. Participants at the events will be asked to sign post cards to the Red Cross asking that Shalit receive the full rights of an abducted soldier under international law and that the Red Cross work for the soldier’s release. A similar online petition is being launched on the Jewish Agency website, at www.jewishagency.org and on www.facebook.com/jewishagency.
The Jewish Agency will distribute in communities copies of the Hebrew book, When the Shark and the Fish First Met, a short children’s story Shalit wrote about peace in Middle East when he was a boy. Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky will appear in a video calling for action to release Shalit. At many of the events, a documentary film, Gilad Shalit: 2 years in captivity which was produced in Israel last year and documents Shalit’s abduction and captivity, will be screened.
Events are being held at communities, including:
- · Minneapolis, MN, Wednesday, Aug 26 – a community-wide event with a mayoral proclamation of solidarity with Shalit, attended by officials, including Congressman Keith Ellison.
- · Teaneck, NJ, Sunday, August 30 – a community event which will include presentation of a joint resolution from the New Jersey State Assembly and Senate calling for Shalit’s release.
- · Tucson, AZ, Thursday August 27 – a community event during which the City of Tucson will grant honorary citizenship to Gilad Shalit.
- · Columbus, OH, Sunday, August 30 – a community event, including a musical tribute, in which the City of Columbus will grant honorary citizenship to Gilad Shalit
- · Denver, CO, Friday, April 21 – a community event with Israel’s Deputy Consul from the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles.
- · Tulsa, OK, Friday-Saturday August 28-9 – Special prayer services at synagogues in the city, and a special focus in Jewish schools on Shalit.
- · San Francisco, CA, Saturday, August 29 – The Jewish Film Festival will screen the documentary on Shalit, and Bay-area synagogues will mark birthday with special prayer.
- · Phoenix, AZ – exhibit on the captivity of Shalit at community center; educational activity in summer camps, schools
- · Miami, FL, – a solidarity day was held earlier this month during which 1,000 children released balloons to symbolize Shalit’s hoped-for release; North Dade Jewish day schools will hold a solidarity rally at the beginning of September.
Huckabee statements in
Israel music to ZOA ears
NEW YORK—The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has praised former Arkansas governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee for his opposition to a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza and for supporting the right of Jews to live in those territories. Huckabee, who is regarded as a potential Republican presidential candidate for 2012, said on a visit to Ma’ale Adumim, with 40,000 people, the largest Jewish city in the territories, that “If they want you to leave, where exactly do they expect you to go?! And if the Americans realize that you are not leaving, then why should your growth and job-creation and the like be stopped? You should remain and simply stop growing?!” Huckabee also expressed in general terms support for Israel’s right to build and grow in Judea and Samaria (Hillel Fendel, ‘Huckbee supports growth in Maale Adumim,’ Israel National News, August 18, 2009).
Addressing a group of foreign reporters in Jerusalem, Huckabee said, “The question is should the Palestinians have a place to call their own? Yes, I have no problem with that. Should it be in the middle of the Jewish homeland? That's what I think has to be honestly assessed as virtually unrealistic.” Huckabee also praised Israel for giving Muslims access to Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock - also the site of the ancient Jewish temples – even though the presence of a mosque there, as he put it, “could be considered an affront.” He added, “Israel is a place where they're going to allow other cultures and religions, but don't ask the Jewish people whose homeland it is to completely yield over their ability to live within the context of their country” (Josiah Ryan and Herb Keinon, ‘Huckabee: 2-state solution “unrealistic”’ Jerusalem Post, August 18, 2009).
On the polices of the Obama administration towards Israel, Huckabee said, “We are all – both Republicans and Democrats – surprised at the new policies he has instituted, much harsher than previous administrations, and very different than his own campaign promises when he visited Israel. We simply do not know where he will end up.” On the Obama Administration’s demand that Jews be banned from moving to Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, Huckabee said, “No American would tolerate the government telling some citizens that they can’t live in certain areas because they’re the wrong color or the wrong religion … I can only imagine what an American would say if someone suggested that Baptists wouldn’t be allowed to live in some neighborhoods, while Catholics would be banned in others” (Hillel Fendel, ‘Huckbee supports growth in Maale Adumim,’ Israel National News, August 18, 2009).
Earlier statements of support for Israel by Huckabee:
- · Huckabee, on a 2008 visit to Israel, said, that if he were an Israeli father tucking his children into bed at night, he would want to know that the country's borders were well defended. How could that father sleep well “knowing that not that many feet away someone has a rocket pointed at him?”Huckabee recalled his own fears as a child growing up at the height of the Cold War with communist Cuba only 90 miles from U.S. soil so he could only imagine how much more worse it would feel to have a dangerous country only 90 feet away. Huckabee said his stance on Israel stemmed from common sense and not religious belief (Tovah Lazaroff, 'Huckabee: Israel shouldn't swap land,' Jerusalem Post, August 20, 2008).
- · “There are many, many places where a homeland for the Palestinians could in fact take place that would be consistent with their roots … But there is only one place on earth where the Jewish people could have a homeland that is consistent with their roots … [Emphasizing that the international community agreed to recognize clear, definitive boundaries of a Jewish homeland in Israel as early as 1919, Huckabee added] We have a moral obligation to the Jewish people to honor the commitment that has been made through decades and decades of understanding that there is going to be a homeland for the Jewish people" (Yishai Fleisher and Elana Eden, 'Huckabee: "There is Only One Place for a Jewish Homeland,"' Israel National News, August 19, 2008).
ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “We both applaud and appreciate Mike Huckabee’s opposite to a Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. We also applaud and appreciate his stalwart support for the right of Jews to live in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem and his corresponding principled opposition to the essentially racist demand that Jews, because they are Jews, be prohibited from moving into Jewish communities there. He understands only too well that the demand to stop Jews moving there would lead to the stifling of these communities, which pose no impediment to peace if Palestinians are truly ready for it. If 1.2 million Arabs can live among 6 million Jews in Israel, then 300,000 Jews can certainly live among 1.5 million Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria.
“Instead of the commonplace false even-handedness and false equivalence between Israel and the PA, which confuses the American public as to the fact that the Palestinians and the wider Arab world still unfortunately pursue Israel's elimination, Mr. Huckabee makes it clear that Israel is not obliged to tear itself to pieces in order to create a Palestinian state.
“Instead of repeating the conventional wisdom about how such a state would supposedly help bring peace and security, many American Jewish organizations could take a leaf out of Governor Huckabee’s book and stand up for truth and for Israel.”
Specter seeks hearings into VA's 'end of life' patient counseling
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) -- U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (Democrat, Pennsylvania) wrote Senator Daniel Akaka, Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, urging him to hold a hearing when the Senate returns to session to examine the Veterans Administration’s role in end of life counseling. The request is in response to a 52 page document made available by the Veterans Administration concerning end-of-life care for Veterans.
“There is an issue as to whether the VA document inappropriately pressures disabled veterans who forgo critical care by subtly urging them on end-of-life decisions,” Senator Specter wrote. “I believe it would be helpful for our Senate Veterans Affairs Committee to hold a hearing on this document and the issues raised therein to determine what range of counseling is appropriate for the Veterans Administration on this issue.”
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