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WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)-- Following are Middle East related excerpts from the press brieifing conducted on Monday by U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly:
QUESTION: Can you – are there any details yet on the Mitchell trip?
MR. KELLY: We have nothing to announce. Senator Mitchell is still planning to go out to the region the end of this week, and I expect – well, I hope at least in the next couple of days to be able to announce exactly what his itinerary will be.
QUESTION: Do you have any comment on the Iranian – on Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad’s invitation to representatives of the P-5+1 to come to Tehran for talks, although apparently not about their nuclear program?
MR. KELLY: Well, I mean, at this point, we’ve seen what you’ve seen, and that’s his comments to the press. And that’s all we have, so far, are his comments to the press. I read those comments in translation, and it was unclear to me whether he meant diplomatic representatives on the ground were welcome to come in and get the proposal when it’s ready, or if it was an invitation for people to come from the outside. And this is exactly why – or not – but it’s one of the reasons why we need to have these things done through officials channels in order to have clarity exactly what foreign leaders mean when they issue some kind of invitation.
And we’re still waiting, of course, for an answer to the P-5+1’s offer – invitation back in April. And in that offer, we said we’re willing to sit down in the P-5+1 context and discuss the concerns that we have, that the international community has, regarding the intentions of Iran and its nuclear program. And we don't have that answer yet.
QUESTION: Did you ask for a clarification of what he said, either via the Swiss protecting power or via your colleagues in the P-5+1?
MR. KELLY: I am not aware that we’ve asked that. As I say, what our stance is- is that we have made an offer. We’ve made it officially through the Office of the High Commissioner of the EU, Javier Solana. Last time we checked, nothing has arrived in response to that.
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QUESTION: Can you shed any light on these media reports, allegations that a Russian freighter that apparently was hijacked was actually carrying S-300 missiles for Iran?
MR. KELLY: No, I can’t shed any light on that. I haven’t seen that. I’ve seen some reports of speculation on what the ship may have been carrying, but I haven’t seen anything specific like that.
QUESTION: What was the speculation that you saw?
MR. KELLY: Well, I’m not going to speculate on the speculation. But yeah, there – I have seen the media reports, and beyond that, I have nothing to add really.
And I see your Russian colleague in the back has a question, probably related to the same question.
QUESTION: Not completely. In – previously, it was announced that Secretary Clinton will be going to Moscow very soon.
MR. KELLY: Uh-huh.
QUESTION: Any concrete days or plans?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. I don’t think that we have concrete dates ready to announce. But she does plan to go to co-chair the first meeting of the Binational Commission to discuss a number of issues of mutual interest. I think that’s going to happen sometime in mid-October, but I don’t think we have specific details.
QUESTION: The rumors about next weekend are incorrect?
MR. KELLY: Those are most certainly incorrect.
QUESTION: Okay.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. KELLY: Wait, wait, we’ll just go – take Michel, yeah. Settlements issue – I really don’t have anything to add on that. But, I mean, I think the President – not the President, but the White House was very clear on what our position is.
QUESTION: Because the Israeli defense minister has said that the decision of building new houses in the West Bank was a part of the discussion with the U.S. Are you aware of --
MR. KELLY: Yeah, I’m not aware of that. I wouldn’t comment on it anyway.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. KELLY: Thank you.
NJDC disavows former President Jimmy Carter's stand on Israel
WASHINGTON, DC – Ira N. Forman, CEO of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC), released the following statement:
President Jimmy Carter has a history of peddling a one-sided narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Regretfully he is at it againwith his September 6 op-ed in The Washington Post, “The Elders of the Middle East.”
Carter has a commendable record of post-presidential public service in developing such groups as Habitat for Humanity. Moreover, we agree with some of Carter’s foreign policy positions – such as the advisability of working toward a two state solution.
However, every administration – Democratic or Republican – since 1981 has been irked by this former president’s foreign policy freelancing.
Carter’s simplistic views of the conflict are dramatically different than the current administration’s. In Sunday’s analysis, the former president claims that the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict lies totally with Israeli actions. He makes no mention of Hamas, terrorism, or incitement to violence.
With age normally comes wisdom and an understanding that rarely does truth lie on one side only. This concept seems lost on the “Elder” Carter.
Obama names Bloom as senior counselor for manufacturing
WASHINGTON, DC (Press Release) – President Obama announced on Tuesday that Ron Bloom will serve as the Administration’s Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy.
Working closely with the National Economic Council, Bloom will provide leadership on policy development and strategic planning for the President’s agenda to revitalize the manufacturing sector. He will work with departments and agencies across the administration – including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, Energy, and Labor – to integrate existing programs and develop new initiatives affecting the manufacturing sector.
Bloom will retain his role as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury assigned to the President’s Task Force on the Automotive Industry.
President Obama is committed to a next-generation manufacturing agenda by partnering with the private sector to spur innovation, invest in the skills of American workers, and help our manufacturers prosper in the global marketplace by promoting exports.
President Obama said, "Last week we learned that our manufacturing sector expanded for the first time in 18 months and had the highest monthly output in two years. It’s a sign that we’re on the right track to economic recovery, but that we still have a long way to go. That’s why I’ve asked Ron Bloom to help coordinate my Administration’s manufacturing policy. Distinguished by his extraordinary service on the Auto Task Force and his extensive experience with both business and labor, Ron has the knowledge and experience necessary to lead the way in creating the good-paying manufacturing jobs of the future. We must do more to harness the power of American ingenuity and productivity so that we can put people back to work and unleash our full economic potential."
Ron Bloom said, "A strong manufacturing sector is a cornerstone of American competitiveness and a critical part of President Obama’s economic strategy. As we meet the challenges of globalization and technological change, it is vital to have a concerted effort across the Administration to support an innovative, vibrant manufacturing sector."
Lieberman offers bill to prepare for biological attacks by terrorists
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)- As the nation prepares to mark the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent anthrax attacks, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (Independent, Connecticut), and Ranking Member Susan Collins (Republican, Maine) Tuesday introduced legislation to prevent and prepare for terrorist attacks from biological weapons and other weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
The Weapons of Mass Destruction Prevention and Preparedness Act of 2009 responds to a statement by the Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell in December 2008 and the findings of a Congressionally-mandated WMD commission that a WMD terrorist attack is more likely than not to occur by 2013 and that a biological attack is more likely than a nuclear attack.
"The approaching eighth anniversary of the 9/11 and anthrax attacks reminds us that we cannot let our guard down against the constant threat of terrorists intent on doing us harm," Lieberman said. "This legislation provides a comprehensive framework for protecting the United States from weapons of mass destruction and biological attacks, in particular, which the experts say is more likely than a nuclear attack.
"Our bill would strengthen security at labs using the most dangerous pathogens, improve our capabilities to assess the threat of terrorists acquiring WMD, ensure that citizens get critical safety information, and develop a means for quickly delivering life-saving drugs to areas that have been attacked.
"We dare not bury our heads in the sand and ignore the very real risks we face from a terrorist WMD attack. This legislation would help prevent such an attack and better prepare the nation to respond should one occur."
"As the Commission noted in its comprehensive report, terrorists have been active since the attacks of September 11, 2001. America must not become complacent. Terrorists haven't given up; they haven't gone away. Our enemies remain fixed on their avowed goal of committing mass murder," said Collins. "Nuclear proliferation and advances in biotechnology could give terrorists new means to wreak death and destruction around the world. That is why the Commission's report is a call to action. And this legislation answers that call by proposing aggressive, urgent steps that will help safeguard our nation, particularly against the threat of biological attacks."
The Lieberman/Collins legislation implements the recommendations of the Commission for the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, and would improve biosecurity by identifying the most dangerous pathogens and then requiring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop security standards for laboratories that handle those pathogens, including risk assessments, personnel reliability programs, and physical security.
The bill also would improve U.S. prevention against and preparedness for an attack in an effort to minimize casualties and prevent mass destruction.
Court upholds Ave Maria ban at public school graduation
SEATTLE (Press Releases)—A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that officials at an Everett, Wash., school district were within their rights to omit religious music from a graduation ceremony.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case siding with the school district, hailed the ruling.
“This is a good decision,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “Public schools serve students from diverse backgrounds, so it’s vitally important that commencement ceremonies be inclusive.
“Graduation is an important event, and all students and their families should feel welcome,” Lynn continued. “Public school administrators are right to ensure that the program doesn’t appear to favor one religion over others. Hymns are appropriate for church, but not public school graduations.”
A spokesperson for the Rutherford Institute, which sought to keep the playing of “Ave Maria” in graduation ceremonies, said they would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"This case is a perfect example of the extremes to which school officials will go in their efforts to sanitize our nation's public schools of anything even remotely related to religion," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "Schools cannot ban performances and restrict students' right to free expression whenever those forms of expression might have some minimal connection to religion."
The dispute began in 2006 when students at Everett School District No. 2 sought to perform an instrumental version of “Ave Maria,” (Latin for “Hail Mary”) during graduation ceremonies.
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School officials, mindful of a controversy that had erupted the year before over religious music at graduation, removed the song from the program and replaced it with a non-religious piece.
The senior members proposed to perform Biebl's piece instrumentally; no lyrics or words would be sung or said, nor did the senior members intend that any lyrics would be printed in ceremony programs or otherwise distributed to members of the audience. However, despite the absence of lyrics, the superintendent of Everett School District No. 2 refused to allow the ensemble to perform "Ave Maria" at their graduation ceremony, allegedly because she believed the piece to be religious in nature.
The ensemble was then instructed to select a piece for graduation that was entirely secular in nature. Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute filed suit against the school district in June 2006 on behalf of Kathryn Nurre, a member of the high school woodwind ensemble, asserting that her free-speech and equal-protection rights had been violated.
The 9th U.S. District Court of Appeals disagreed, ruling in Nurre v. Whitehead that school officials have the right to ensure that a public ceremony like graduation does not have religious overtones.
“[T]he District’s action in keeping all musical performances at graduation ‘entirely secular’ in nature was reasonable in light of the circumstances surrounding a high school graduation, and therefore it did not violate Nurre’s right to free speech,” the court held.
Chavez cuts oil deal with Ahmadinejad; slams Israel
MASHHAD, Iran (WJC)—Venezuela is to supply Tehran with 20,000 barrels of petrol a day, President Hugo Chávez said at the end of a two-day visit to Iran. "Venezuela has agreed to export 20,000 barrels of petrol daily to Iran from October in a deal worth 800 million dollars," Chavez told reporters in the city of Mashhad. He gave no indication of the duration of the agreement. "This amount will be deposited in a fund established in Iran and will be used to finance purchase of machinery and technology from Iran," Chavez added. "It was also agreed that both sides will within the next 30 days inject 100 million dollars in the joint Iran-Venezuela bank," he said. Chávez visited Mashhad, Iran's holiest city, in the company of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Because of a lack of domestic refining capacity, oil-rich Iran is dependent on petrol imports to meet about 40 per cent of domestic consumption.
Earlier, Chávez had lashed out against Israel at a joint news conference in Damascus with Syrian President Assad. “Israel has become a country that annihilates people and is hostile to peace. I believe it is a fateful battle. It is either now or never in order to liberate the world from imperialism and change the world from a unipolar into a multi-polar world,” the Venezuelan president said.
During his visit to Iran, Chávez also declared that Iran had the right to peaceful use of nuclear energy. Ahmadinejad said on Monday that Iran would neither halt uranium enrichment nor negotiate over its nuclear rights but was ready to sit and talk with world powers over "global challenges." He added that his government would present a package of proposals to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany but rejected any deadline for talks. The group of six nations is currently discussing further sanctions against Iran, including a possible cut of fuel supplies to the Islamic republic, if Tehran continues to stonewall over the nuclear program.
El Baredei denies withholding details of Iran's nuclear capacity
VIENNA (WJC)—The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed El Baradei, has denied French and Israeli accusations that he deliberately withheld information about the progress of Iran’s nuclear program. He told the IAEA board of governors: "These allegations are politically motivated and totally baseless."
Jerusalem and Paris had said El Baradei’s latest report on Iran omitted evidence that the agency had been given about a covert Iranian weaponization plan. A French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman insisted Paris had proof that key information was left out of the report. "France attended a technical briefing at the agency. All of this information was not reflected in the report," she said.
El Baradei also said that talks with Iran had reached “a stalemate.” He urged Tehran to "substantially re-engage" with the UN body. He referred to an inquiry into weaponization which Iran has blocked, Tehran’s refusal to suspend enrichment as demanded by the UN Security Council, and its failure to adopt an IAEA protocol permitting inspections away from declared nuclear sites.
The outgoing IAEA director-general also criticized Syria's lack of cooperation regarding a nuclear facility that was allegedly bombed by Israel in September 2007. El Baradei said Damascus had yet to demonstrate the required cooperation to enable the agency to determine the source of the uranium particles found at the site.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said US allies among the Arab countries in the Middle East should strengthen their military capabilities in order to deter Iran from building nuclear weapons.
Iran denounces U.S. opposition to terrorist suspect defense minister
TEHRAN (WJC)—The regime in Tehran lashed out against Washington's stand over the appointment of a terror suspect as new Iranian defense minister. Ahmad Vahidi, who is wanted by the Argentinean judiciary in connection with a 1994 bombing against the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires, was approved as President Ahmadinejad’s choice for the defense portfolio by the Iranian parliament last week. The Obama administration called the appointment of Vahidi a "step backward" for Iran.
On Sunday, Tehran hit back at the United States. "This attitude shows that America does not believe in democracy in other countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi was quoted by media as saying. "We deplore America's stand in this case, and we think America had better not fall into the deceptive trap of global Zionism which spearheads terrorism. We advise the US government to respect Iran and the choice of its parliamentarians and correct its position."
Ghashghavi also dismissed Argentina's protests. "Argentine officials can make any claims they like, but for the past 15 years they have been unable to present one valid and convincing reason for Iranian involvement" in the attack.” At the time of the terrorist attack, Vahidi was a commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Jewish culture celebrated throughout Europe
PUGLIA, Italy (WJC)—Twenty 20 countries marked the tenth edition of the European Day of Jewish Culture, dedicated to the rich Jewish heritage in Europe. In Italy, fifty-nine cities and towns opened their synagogues, community centers and other Jewish sites to the public. Visitors could enjoy shows, concerts, art exhibitions, conferences and many other unique events related to the thousand-year-old Jewish tradition in the country. Trani, a town in the southern province of Puglia where a small Jewish community still exists 500 years after the expulsion of Jews from the Spanish Kingdom of Naples, was chosen to be the main Italian site for the European Day.
The Turkish Jewish community hosted an iftar (fast-breaking dinner during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan) as part of events held on the occasion of the European Day of Jewish Culture. The organization of Bulgarian Jews "Shalom" marked the day by holding an ‘open doors’ event at the Jewish Community Center in downtown Sofia, just days ahead of the 100th anniversary of the consecration of the capital’s main synagogue.
The European Day of Jewish Culture, which was initiated by B’nai B’rith in 1996, brings together an estimated 150,000-200,000 people across Europe every year for concerts, performances, exhibitions and conferences. This year, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine took part.
Hungary's PM denounces rise in extremism at synagogue's 150th
BUDAPEST (WJC)—At the 150th anniversary celebration at Budapest’s Great Synagogue, Hungary’s Gordon Bajnai has called on this citizens to fight against rising anti-Semitism in the country. He said it was “sad” that the synagogue had to be protected by police 24 hours a day, and he warned of a repeat of the Holocaust years out of “stupidity, cynicism or eagerness for power.” Hungary had to "quarantine" the political ideas of neo-Nazism and "socially isolate" its advocates who would like to bring back the horrors of the Holocaust today, the Socialist prime minister said. He also praised the consistent contribution of the Hungarian Jews to society.
Budapest's famous Dohany Street Synagogue, the largest such building in Europe and a landmark in the Hungarian capital’s townscape, opened on 6 September 1859. The building served during the Holocaust as the community center of the Budapest Ghetto, where some 17,000 people died of hunger, disease and murder. Today, the shul is a symbol of Jewish revival throughout central and eastern Europe.
Scientists find phosphorylation process key to memory formation
HAIFA (Press Release)— A new study that was carried out at the University of Haifa has identified another component in the chain of actions that take place in the neurons in the process of forming memories. This discovery joins a line of findings from previous studies that together provide a better understanding of the most complex processes in nature – the process of memory formation and storage in the human brain. The new study has been published in the prestigious Journal of Neuroscience.
The human brain is continuously inundated with sensory information on the world: new sounds, tastes, sights and smells and the formation of memory to these inputs is ultimately vital for animal survival. Very little of this information becomes short-term memory. And only a small part of the information that becomes short-term memory ultimately becomes long-term and stabilized memory. Earlier studies that were carried out at the Molecular Mechanisms of Learning and Memory laboratory headed by Prof. Kobi Rosenblum at the University of Haifa found that the an elevation in the expression of the protein PSD-95 is necessary for the formation of long-term memory. The present study aimed to find out whether another molecular process – the addition of a phosphor molecule to the NMDA receptor protein (phosphorylation) – is necessary too.
Earlier studies have proven that changes in the NMDA receptor can adjust the neuronal network in the brain, and that during a learning process this receptor undergoes increased phosphorylation. Until now, it had not been proved that the increase in phosphorylation of the NMDA is necessary for the process and that the process would not occur without it.
In order to prove this, the scientists - headed by Prof. Rosenblum, Head of the Department of Neurobiology and Ethology at the University of Haifa, and Dr. Liza Barki-Harrington, along with Dr. Alina Elkobi and research student Tali Tzabary - chose to focus on the formation of new taste memory in rats as a model for sensory memory. According to the researchers, examining taste-learning processes has advantages in this type of research, since it enables tracking when the process begins, what its specific location is in the brain and the molecular processes that occur during the process.
The first stage of the study aimed to verify the findings of the previous studies and showed that the new taste learning does indeed involve a process of increased phosphorylation in the NMDA receptors in the area specific to learning taste in the brain. In order to do so, mature rats were trained to drink water at set times and after a few days some were given saccharine-sweetened water. The saccharine has no caloric value and therefore has no metabolic impact on the body and cannot affect the body's processes. As expected, the rats that received the newly sweet-tasting water and that began a process of learning, showed an increase in phosphorylation in comparison to those rats that continued drinking regular water.
The second stage of the study was aimed at showing that the phosphorylation process is essential. For this, the scientists injected a new group of rats with a substance that inhibits phosphorylation of the NMDA in the area of taste learning in the brain when drinking the saccharine. Tests that were carried out afterwards showed that these rats were not able to learn the new taste, which proves that the phosphorylation process is necessary for learning taste. The researchers found that obstruction of the process brings about a change in the location of the receptor in relation to the NMDA and thereby is likely to be responsible for inhibiting the formation of long-term memory.
"Our goal is to identify piece after piece of the complex puzzle that is the formation of long-term memory. Once we know how to describe the chain of actions that take place in the brain, we may be able to know where and how to interfere," Dr. Barki-Harrington said.
"The glutamate neural synapses – via the receptors of the NMDA – and dophamin, play a central role in a number of neural pathologies, including processes of addiction and of schizophrenia. There is good reason to assume that one afflicted with schizophrenia has a sub- or over-functioning of this system, and its loss of balance is one of the causes of the illness. A better understanding of this balance - or loss of balance - in the normal processes will enable future discovery of new objectives for developing medications, which we hope will improve patients' lives significantly," Prof. Rosenblum stated.
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