Marissa Newman is The Times of Israel political correspondent.
The Times of Israel liveblogged Tuesday’s events as they unfolded.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah says that “Israel, the cancerous tumor, is to be wiped out.”
According to Al-Manar, Nasrallah says Israel is capitalizing on the unrest in the region to bolster ties with moderate Arab states.
“The Zionist entity is taking advantage of the events taking place in our region in a bid to normalize ties with several Arab states,” he says.
“Right now, there are some Arab countries that have taken Israel out of the circle of threats,” he adds, according to the Iranian Press TV. “This is something very dangerous.”
“We should activate and boost all forms of the resistance against the Israeli normalization,” he says.
Pledging support for the Palestinian cause, Nasrallah says “there is no rightful and legitimate cause like al-Quds and countering the Zionist enemy.”
Nasrallah laments that the Palestinian issue “is now out of the international and popular concerns, something which gave the enemy a historical chance in order to implement its scheme.”
This scheme “surpasses occupying Palestine. It is our duty to counter this scheme,” he says.
Nasrallah calls the recent clashes between police and Palestinian protesters on the Temple Mount “alarming.”
“The day in which we will pray in al-Quds [Jerusalem] is inevitably coming despite ordeals,” he says.
The lawyer of detained Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian says her client should be freed in the wake of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Iranian media reports.
Both the semi-official Fars and Tasnim news agencies quote Rezaian’s defense lawyer, Leila Ahsan, as saying Iran’s new penal code also meant the Iranian-American journalist should be freed. Ahsan does not elaborate, but new laws in Iran bar those on trial for charges other than murder from being in detention for more than a year before a verdict.
Rezaian, held for more than a year, reportedly faces up to 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted in his closed-door trial in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on charges that include espionage and distributing propaganda against the Islamic Republic.
Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American correspondent for The Washington Post, in Tehran, Iran, April 11, 2013. (AP/Vahid Salemi, File)
Ahsan, in her comment to the news agencies, says the deal on Iran’s contested nuclear program, reached July 14 in Vienna, means Rezaian should be freed.
“Regarding the circumstances of the Vienna deal, we have called for an acquittal for my client to be issued as soon as possible,” Ahsan reportedly tells Fars, without elaborating. She reiterates earlier comments that she expected the next hearing in Rezaian’s case to be the last before a verdict is announced.
— AP
Comedian Jon Stewart was invited to the White House to meet with Obama in 2011 and February 2014, Politico reports.
Three former Obama aides confirm the visits.
“The White House itself was quite interested in at least explaining its side of the story to Jon Stewart,” Austan Goolsbee says, “up to and including the president.”
Ex-aide David Axelrod calls Stewart a “useful prod.”
“I can’t say that because Jon Stewart was unhappy policy changed. But I can say that he had forceful arguments, they were arguments that we knew would be heard and deserved to be answered,” David Axelrod says.
Obama has appeared on “The Daily Show” seven times.
President Barack Obama, left, talks with Jon Stewart, host of “The Daily Show” during a taping on Tuesday, July 21, 2015, in New York. (AP/Evan Vucci)
American lawyer and writer Samuel Pisar, Holocaust survivor and former adviser to US President John F. Kennedy, has died in New York aged 86, a French Jewish group says.
Pisar was “one of the rare very well-known survivors, along with Elie Wiesel and Simone Veil,” says French Jewish community leader Roger Cukierman, who said he had lost “a friend.”
President Francois Hollande also pays tribute to Pisar, who was deported at the age of 13 to Majdanek, then Auschwitz and Dachau, where he was freed at 16.
“To ensure that the blood spilled became, in his words ‘blood of hope’, Samuel Pisar dedicated his life to the pressing task of passing down what he had experienced,” says Hollande.
After the war, he became a celebrated academic and international lawyer and in the 1960s served as a trade adviser to Kennedy.
The Polish-born Pisar died in New York on Monday, Cukierman says.
A file picture taken on October 2, 2012 shows Polish-born American lawyer, author, and Holocaust survivor Samuel Pisar and his wife Judith looking on at Paris city hall. (AFP PHOTO / JACQUES DEMARTHON)
— AFP
A majority (52%) of Americans want Congress to reject the Iran nuclear deal, while 44 percent say lawmakers should uphold it, according to a CNN/ORC poll on Tuesday.
Among Republicans, 66% want to see Congress torpedo the deal, while 61% of Democrats want Congress to back it. Some 55% of independents want it to be shot down by Congress.
Most adults over 35 are opposed to the deal (56%), while citizens between 18-34 were more likely to say Congress ought to approve the deal (53%). College graduates were more likely to urge Congressional support for the deal (53%) than those with no formal higher education (37%).
Still, Obama’s approval ratings remain relatively high at 49%, the poll finds.
The survey, conducted July 22-25, interviewed 1,017 adults, including 898 registered voters. The margin of error stands at 3 percent.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon defends the decision to demolish illegally built structures in Beit El.
“I have acted, and currently act, in support of the settlement in Judea and Samaria, including in Beit El, and the majority of the peaceful people there know that,” Ya’alon says. “But those who think I will violate the law are wrong. I will not allow lawlessness.”
Israeli security forces scuffle with settlers who had barricaded themselves in an attempt to prevent the demolition of illegally constructed buildings, at the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the West Bank town of Ramallah, on July 28, 2015 (Nati Shohat/FLASH90)
Israeli envoy to the US Ron Dermer says Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s Holocaust analogy is “inappropriate.”
Huckabee had said the Iran deal is “marching the Israelis to the door of the oven.”
Dermer, in response, rejects the characterization.
“These are not words that I would use or that I think are appropriate,” Dermer tells USA Today.
The Israeli envoy says he doesn’t question Obama’s sincerity with regard to the Iran deal, only whether the agreement will effectively prevent Tehran from building an atomic bomb.
“Look, we have a very serious disagreement with the administration on a very serious issue,” Dermer says. “But what I don’t doubt is the sincerity of the president or his team when they say they believe this deal not only makes America safe but makes Israel safe. Where we disagree is the judgment of actually what this deal is going to do.”
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer (photo credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90)
Syrian troops and Kurdish fighters ousted the Islamic State group from the northeastern city of Hasakeh on Tuesday after more than a month of fighting, a monitoring group says.
IS “was expelled by the army from Zuhur, the last district in which it was present in Hasakeh, and its fighters have been pushed to the southern outskirts of the city,” says Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Adel Rahman.
Control of Hasakeh is divided between Kurdish fighters and government troops, and both have battled to push IS out of the city since the jihadists entered last month.
— AFP
A member of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fires towards Islamic State (IS) group jihadists on the southern outskirts of the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh on July 20, 2015.(AFP PHOTO / DELIL SOULEIMAN)
More than 2,000 Jewish athletes gather in Berlin for the European Maccabi Games, being held for the first time in Germany, at a site built by the Nazis for the 1936 Olympics.
In a nod to the past, organizers of the 14th edition of the games are holding a Holocaust memorial service ahead of the opening ceremony later in the day, and many youth athletes were to visit the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp just outside the city.
Organizers have said it was a difficult decision to host the games in Berlin, but that it should be seen as a sign of reconciliation 70 years after the end of World War II.
In a note of greeting, Chancellor Angela Merkel writes that “in view of the past, Germany may truly be thankful for the restored diversity of Jewish life in our country and for the renewed trust of the guests from abroad.”
German President Joachim Gauck, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder and others are expected to address the crowd at the opening ceremony.
In this June 6, 2015, file photo the Olympic Rings are silhouetted outside the Olympic stadium in Berlin ahead of the Champions League final soccer match between Juventus Turin and FC Barcelona. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, file)
— AP
About 100 Palestinian teachers depart the impoverished Gaza Strip for potential teaching positions in Qatar.
Two buses with banners praising Qatar and its emir drop off the teachers Tuesday afternoon at the Gaza side of the border crossing with Israel. From there they travel to Jordan and Qatar.
The teachers are the first class of those applying for jobs in Qatar since the oil-rich Gulf emirate launched its new Palestinian employment program. Qatar recently launched a series of initiatives in Gaza, building a hospital, repaving roads and funding construction of a large housing project that will accommodate 1,000 families.
According to the World Bank, Hamas-run Gaza has the highest unemployment rate in the world at 43 percent.
— AP
Three people are detained for questioning in Beit El, as clashes between settlers and police resume, the Ynet news website reports.
In Beit El, Education Minister Naftali Bennett says “the answer to terror is settlements, not cowardice.”
Israeli security forces stand opposite a Jewish settler amid the demolition of illegally constructed buildings, at the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the West Bank town of Ramallah, on July 28, 2015 (Nati Shohat/FLASH90)
The Obama administration’s vigorous effort to sell the Iran nuclear deal to Congress continues — this time in the House where three Cabinet secretaries will face tough questioning on Tuesday from skeptical Democrats and Republicans.
Secretary of State John Kerry, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew’s testimony before the committee will be a reprise of the threesome’s appearance last week before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
— AP
Secretary of State John Kerry, center, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, seated second from left, and Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew, seated left, arrive to testify at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Thursday, July 23, 2015, to review the Iran nuclear agreement. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
A 14-year-old Palestinian refugee who became famous after she broke out in tears when German chancellor Angela Merkel told her that not all refugees can stay in Germany doesn’t really plan to stay in her adopted homeland.
Reem Sahwil, who was born in a refugee camp in Lebanon and currently lives in the Eastern German city of Rostock, doesn’t consider Germany her home, she tells German daily Die Welt. “No, Palestine is my home,” she says. She’s never been there, Sahwil tells the paper, “but one day I will live there.”
When she speaks about “Palestine,” she means “everything,” she says. What about Israel? “My hope is that one day it won’t be there anymore, but only Palestine.”
— Raphael Ahren
Palestinian teen Reem Sawhil talks to German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a televised debate in Rostock, Germany on July 16, 2015. (screenshot: YouTube)
In Beit El, Bennett makes a speech in support of the residents from the roof of a grocery store.
“Residents of Beit El, I love you,” says Bennett, according to Ynet. “During the night, something reckless, radical, and redundant happened here, an act that does not fit the spirit of the government that we are a part of. We will not take part. Early this morning I spoke to the prime minister. I demanded that the government of Israel send an official notice to the High Court that it opposes the house demolitions.”
Britain’s minister for Middle Eastern affairs Tobias Ellwood condemns Israeli approval for construction of 1,065 housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“The UK is deeply concerned by reports that planning for 1,065 settlement units is being advanced, including possible retrospective approval of buildings built without permits or on private Palestinian land,” Ellwood says in a statement.
“The UK’s position on Israeli settlements is clear: they are illegal under international law and undermine the prospects for a two-state solution. We call on the Israeli Government to discard these plans and refrain from such steps. Every settlement announcement has a negative impact on prospects for peace and a negotiated solution.”
UK Minister Tobias Ellwood on June 24, 2009. (Youtube Screenshot)
At least nineteen people died in a fire that gutted an Egyptian furniture factory north of Cairo Tuesday, health and security officials say.
Twenty-two more people suffer from burns and smoke inhalation in the blaze caused by a gas cylinder explosion in the Al-Helw factory on the outskirts of the capital.
— AFP
Officials say Iran wants its own officials to take soil samples at a site where it is alleged to have worked on a nuclear weapon, and the UN agency probing the suspicions may agree provided it is allowed to monitor the process.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is investigating suspected Iranian nuclear weapons research and development as part of a deal reached earlier this month between Iran and six world powers.
Iran denies any weapons work but has agreed to give the IAEA access to the Parchin site, where detonator experiments were allegedly conducted.
Two officials say that if the IAEA concedes sample-taking to Iran, it will demand stringent oversight. They demanded anonymity because their information is confidential.
Analysis of the samples would be carried out by the IAEA.
— AP
2004 satellite image of the military complex at Parchin, Iran. (AP/DigitalGlobe-Institute for Science and International Security)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Iran poses a “formidable” threat to Europe, accusing its proxy Hezbollah of operating cells across the continent.
Just last month, a member of the Lebanese Shiite terror group was jailed in Cyprus for plotting attacks on Israeli targets on the Mediterranean island.
Netanyahu, on an official visit to Nicosia, says “Iran and Hezbollah organize a terrorist network that covers over 30 countries on five continents, including just about every country in Europe.”
Netanyahu says Israel and Cyprus are faced with the dual dangers of Iran and the extremist attacks perpetrated by the Islamic State group, which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria.
“ISIS obviously endangers European societies, Western societies, African societies, the whole world,” the premier says, using an alternative acronym for IS.
“These are two formidable dangers. They are expressed in many weapons, in many attacks, but the most prevalent one that concerns Cyprus and Europe is of course the terrorism that emanates from these areas,” he adds.
— AFP
Iran’s foreign minister says “high-level” talks will soon be launched with the European Union following a nuclear agreement reached with world powers earlier this month.
Mohammad Javad Zarif says that the talks “in the near future” will focus on energy, environmental and human rights issues, as well as “extremism, terrorism and sectarianism” in the Middle East.
Zarif speaks after meeting with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during a press conference, July 15, 2015. (AFP/ATTA KENARE)
He calls on the United States to implement the nuclear deal in order to “remove the mistrust of the Iranian people,” and says Tehran would follow through on its commitments.
— AP
Ed Royce, Republican of California and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, opens the hearing on the Iranian nuclear deal with a critique of its terms.
Royce slams the deal for its sanctions relief, failure to dismantle its nuclear technology, and limited inspections.
“Instead of us considering a verifiable, enforceable, and accountable agreement, we are being asked to consider an agreement that gives Iran permanent sanctions relief for temporary nuclear restrictions. Should Iran be given this special deal?” asks Royce.
“First, Iran is not required to dismantle key bomb making technology. Does that make the world safer? Second, it is permitted a vast enrichment capacity, reversing decades of bipartisan nonproliferation policy. Does that make the region more stable? And third, Iran is allowed to continue its research and development to gain an industrial scale nuclear program once this agreement begins to expire in as little as ten years. Ten years. That’s a flash in time, and then Iranian obligations start unwinding. Does this make the world more secure?” says Royce.
Royce says the international inspections, which can take up to 24 days, are a “far cry from ‘anytime, anywhere’ inspections.”
“We appreciate President Obama’s effort to secure the most intrusive inspections in history – but it came up short,” he says.
“While the administration has professed absolute knowledge about Iran’s program, it is a fact that we have been surprised by most every major nuclear development in Iran’s history. And Iran has cheated on every agreement they’ve signed.”
Royce says that if the deal goes through, Iran will get a “cash bonanza” — a phrase used by Netanyahu to describe the benefits Tehran will reap — “a boost to its international standing, and a lighted path toward nuclear weapons.”
Royce urges continued US sanctions on Iran.
Ed Royce, US Congressman (R-California, 1993-present) (Wikimedia Commons)
US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, says he’s there to clear up “misinterpretations” and “public distortions,” on the deal.
He says conclusions have been drawn that “don’t match reality,” and he is “happy” to clarify.
He says that the deal is “forever.”
“Bottom line, if Iran fails to comply with the terms of the agreement… we will quickly know it and we will be able to respond accordingly with every option available to us today,” he says.
He says there is “no sunset” to verification of Iran’s nuclear activity.
When negotiations began, Iran had enough enriched uranium for 10-12 bombs, he says.
If we reject deal, this is what we go back to, he says.
Kerry reiterates that there’s no alternative “unicorn” deal to the one reached between Iran and world powers.
“Let me underscore – the alternative to the deal we’ve reached isn’t a better deal – some sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran’s complete capitulation. That’s a fantasy – plain and simple,” says Kerry. “The choice we face is between a deal that will ensure Iran’s nuclear program is limited, rigorously scrutinized, and wholly peaceful – or no deal at all.”
He says dismantlement didn’t happen under Bush.
And he says “no one is counting the two years that Iran has complied with the interim nuclear deal.”
If the deal is shot down, Iran will proceed full speed ahead with enrichment, and the other world powers won’t walk away with the US, Kerry warns.
“If we walk away from what was agreed in Vienna, we will be walking away from every one of the restrictions we have negotiated, and giving Iran the green light to double the pace of its uranium enrichment, proceed full speed ahead with a heavy water reactor, install new and more efficient centrifuges, and do it all without the unprecedented inspection and transparency measures we’ve secured,” he says. “If we walk away, our partners will not walk away with us. Instead, they’ll walk away from the tough multilateral sanctions regime they helped us to put in place.”
If the US walks away, Iran will “push the program ahead potentially forcing military conflict,” says Kerry.
Kerry addresses criticism that the deal is only a temporary measure.
“And to those who are thinking about opposing the deal because of what might happen in year 15 or 16 – I ask you to simply focus on this, if we walk away, year 15 starts tomorrow,” he says. “What is the alternative?”
He says it’s “nonsense” to suggest the deal legitimizes Iran’s nuclear program.
“If they try to evade that obligation, we will know it,” he says, adding that US and IAEA has abilities to monitor Iran.
“If we walk away from the deal and then use military force” the UN and world powers won’t be behind us, Kerry says.
“I understand the fear. I understand the concerns our friends in Israel have,” says Kerry. “We do not lose any option in 20 years, 5 years, that we have available to us today.”
Secretary Ernest Moniz takes the stand at the hearing.
“The JCPOA prevents Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, provides strong verification measures that give us ample time to respond if Iran chooses to violate its terms, and takes none of our options off the table,” says Moniz.
He says he is “very confident the technical underpinnings are solid.”
Verification “is forever stronger than it would be without the agreement,” says Moniz.
“Much has been made about a 24 day process for ensuring that IAEA inspectors can get access to undeclared nuclear sites. In fact, the IAEA can request access to any suspicious location with 24 hours’ notice under the Additional Protocol, which Iran will implement under this deal,” says Moniz.
“The JCPOA goes beyond that baseline, recognizing that disputes could arise regarding IAEA access to sensitive facilities, and provides a crucial new tool for resolving such disputes within a short period of time so that the IAEA gets the access it needs in a timely fashion — within 24 days.”
Blocking the “covert path,” will, however, always rely on US intelligence, not the IAEA, he says.
“The big gamble would be in turning away from the agreement, rather than implementing the agreement,” he says.
Iran’s economy is 20 percent smaller now thanks to international sanctions, says Jacob Lew, secretary of the Treasury.
If Iran violates its commitments we will be able “promptly snap back” sanctions, and the US “has the ability to force” the reinstatement of the international sanctions, he says.
“The United States will also maintain powerful sanctions targeting Iran’s support for terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and its sponsors in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Quds Force; its destabilizing support to the Houthis in Yemen; its backing of Assad’s brutal regime; its missile program; and its human rights abuses at home. Just this week, Treasury sanctioned several Hezbollah leaders, building on designations last month that targeted the group’s front companies and facilitators. We will not be providing any sanctions relief to any of these lines of activity and will not be delisting from sanctions the IRGC, the Quds Force, or any of their subsidiaries or senior officials.”
He says he understands the concerns but believes the deal is the best option.
“Iran’s ties to terror groups are exactly why we need” to ensure Iran doesn’t obtain nuclear weapons, he says, calling that a “nightmare scenario.”
“President Rouhani was elected on a platform of economic revitalization and faces a political imperative to meet those unfulfilled promises,” says Lew.
He says the US will “aggressively” handle Iranian attempts to fund Hezbollah and other terror groups.
“Backing away from this deal, on the notion that it would be feasible and preferable to escalate the economic pressure and somehow obtain a capitulation — would be a mistake. Even if one believed that continuing sanctions pressure was a better course than resolving the threat of Iran’s nuclear program, that choice is not available,” he says.
He says it’s “impractical” and “unrealistic” to demand a capitulation.
Kerry says Iran had “a very legitimate argument” about sanctions relief.
The UN resolution says “if Iran comes to the table and negotiates, all the sanctions will be lifted,” Kerry says.
He says that Iran did more than negotiate — it signed a deal.
“We don’t feel we lost anything in that, Mr. Chairman,” he says, citing missile restrictions and continued arms embargo.
Kerry says the Iranian Revolutionary Guards is opposed to the deal.
“The IRGC opposes this agreement, so they’re not sitting there thinking they’re getting the whole world,” says Kerry.
“They see themselves as losing the cover of the nuclear umbrella they hoped to have, for their nefarious activities,” says Kerry.
Regarding the 15-year deadline, Kerry details the various measures that Iran is forced to keep up “forever.”
“Under the additional protocol… please focus on what happens. There’s not some sudden break off after 15 years,” he says. IAEA safeguards go on forever, he says.
“There’s a confusion here between the dismantling of the nuclear weapons program and the nuclear program,” says Kerry.
This administration and the Bush administration never aimed to do the latter, Kerry says.
Kerry says Iran will have to provide access to military sites.
“If they don’t provide it, they will be in material breach of the deal and the sanctions will be snapped back,” says Kerry.
He says the recent comments by Iranian officials indicating they will not allow military inspections is part of their efforts to take “care of a domestic constituency in the way they know how.”
“What they say is not as important as what they do,” says Kerry.
Kerry says there will be “appropriate” access to the Parchin site, in accordance with the IAEA agreement with Iran — which is confidential.
Kerry cannot say whether or not the administration would comply with the law if Congress overrides a presidential veto of a vote of disapproval on the Iran nuclear deal.
Rep. Brad Sherman asks the secretary if, despite the administration’s hopes that Congress will not vote for a resolution of disapproval on the deal, Congress does so – would the administration uphold the law that would kick into place.
Kerry did not respond that he would uphold the terms of the law, saying instead that he would have to consult with President Barack Obama before he could answer the question. Kerry’s answer was brief, partially due to the stringent time limits of the committee hearing.
The current law blocks the president’s ability to suspend sanctions against Iran in the event that Congress supports a resolution of disapproval on the nuclear deal reached earlier this month. Obama has said he will use his veto to override the resolution of disapproval, but if a 2/3 majority is reached in the vote of disapproval, the president is not allowed to issue a veto.
— Rebecca Shimoni Stoil
ToI’s Ilan Ben Zion reports from the Maccabi games in Berlin, which kick off with a Holocaust memorial.
German justice minister: "for much too long… Real victims (of Nazism) were forgotten." "This has finally changed." pic.twitter.com/j9C09vl6TR
— Ilån Bεn Zıon (@IlanBenZion) July 28, 2015
#pt "today Jewish life is once again flourishing in Germany." #emg2015
— Ilån Bεn Zıon (@IlanBenZion) July 28, 2015
Jewish sportsmen weren't allowed in '36 olympics. Today Jewish athletes face the Nazi-built stadium at #emg2015 pic.twitter.com/eFrLc5aRZK
— Ilån Bεn Zıon (@IlanBenZion) July 28, 2015
At Nazi-built olympiastadion in #berlin, an #idf officer at a memorial ceremony before opening of #emg2015 pic.twitter.com/6sTJzwdcZW
— Ilån Bεn Zıon (@IlanBenZion) July 28, 2015
Most interesting fact from opening day of #emg2015 in Berlin: 1/3 of 300 volunteers helping games happen r not Jewish. Hope 2 interview some
— Ilån Bεn Zıon (@IlanBenZion) July 27, 2015
Iran’s foreign minister moves to dismiss concerns Tuesday that his country’s nuclear deal with major powers could hit difficulties, saying he had “no concern or worry” about its implementation.
Mohammad Javad Zarif’s remarks comes during a joint news conference with visiting EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini aimed at ensuring that the historic agreement swiftly takes effect.
Zarif gives a timeline of “60 to 70 days” for the deal to be settled, following talks with Mogherini about measures that are needed.
“Iran will continue to cooperate with the IAEA,” he says, referring to the UN nuclear watchdog.
“I hope the EU and United States will continue to implement their commitments,” he adds.
Asked about accusations made in some of Iran’s conservative media that the agreement breaks supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s “red lines” for the talks, Zarif moves to allay such claims.
“Iran has stuck to its obligations and Iran is going to do the same when it comes to implementing the deal,” he says, acknowledging that “some people in Iran have some doubts about some countries, particularly the US, to implement seriously and precisely.”
But he adds: “I have no concern or worry that the deal will be implemented. I know very well that it is going to be implemented.”
— AFP
A 93-year-old Holocaust survivor receives a standing ovation at the Maccabi games opening ceremony.
Earlier, Germany’s justice minister vows to fight anti-Semitism.
"Great, happy occasion" 2 be at Berlin maccabi games, 93y/o holocaust survivor margot friedlander says, to standing O pic.twitter.com/uIGE43Upvr
— Ilån Bεn Zıon (@IlanBenZion) July 28, 2015
#pt " we need to fight antisemitism with the utmost resolve" ; "zero tolerance"for antisemitism in Germany, justice minister says
— Ilån Bεn Zıon (@IlanBenZion) July 28, 2015
#pt re Jewish high jumper Gretel Bergmann: 'Hitler robbed her of Olympic victory, but now there's a street names after her in Berlin'
— Ilån Bεn Zıon (@IlanBenZion) July 28, 2015
#pt "today Jewish life is once again flourishing in Germany." #emg2015
— Ilån Bεn Zıon (@IlanBenZion) July 28, 2015
The longest-serving Jewish Democrat in Congress comes out in support of the Iran deal.
“Israel’s security has and always will be of critical importance to me and our country,” says Representative Sander M. Levin, according to The New York Times. “I believe that Israel, the region, and the world are far more secure if Iran does not move toward possession of a nuclear weapon. I believe the agreement is the best way to achieve that. In my view, the only anchors in public life are to dig deeply into the facts and consult.”
Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina reads out an op-ed by ToI’s David Horovitz at the House hearing on the Iran nuclear deal.
Addressing Kerry, Moniz and Lew, Wilson urges them to address the questions raised in “16 reasons nuke deal is an Iranian victory and a Western catastrophe.” (Starts at 1:51:10)
The state lodges an appeal with the High Court against the demolition of illegal structures in Beit El, Channel 2 reports.
Hundreds of protesters and police remain gathered at the settlement.
Clashes in Beit El between protesters and cops turn violent, with some demonstrators hurling rocks at troops. No policemen are reported injured.
A dumpster is set on fire at the site.
בית אל: עימותים אלימים בין המשטרה למפגינים (צילום: יוסי סבטו) https://t.co/4wy6zw0ppo
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) July 28, 2015
A Canadian couple convicted of plotting to bomb the British Columbia legislature wanted to infiltrate a synagogue and kill “small Jews” to save the children from going to hell, according to court documents.
Police notes presented in British Columbia’s Supreme Court in Vancouver this week recounted Amanda Korody’s husband, John Nuttall, telling an undercover officer that his wife thought she would be doing Jewish children a favor by sending them to paradise, since she believed “grown-up Jews” go to “eternal hell” when they die, the Victoria Times-Colonist reports.
Earlier this year, Nuttall and Korody were found guilty of plotting to detonate homemade pressure-cooker bombs at the British Columbia legislature during crowded Canada Day celebrations two years ago. The couple, self-described Muslim converts, are back in court trying to have the verdict vacated due to police misconduct.
“I asked Nuttall how he thinks he will have access to Jewish kids and he said [he and his wife] were both white and could pass for Jewish,” read the note from an undercover officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, dated March 2013.
“They will be regulars in the synagogue. They will gain the trust of everybody. And once they have everything they will get enough guns and ammo to go ahead with their mission.”
— JTA
Channel 2 reports that the lawyer for American-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard was told he would be freed on November 20.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked confirmed this in a tweet.
Jonathan Pollard (photo credit: YouTube screenshot)
Anne Pollard, the ex-wife of the US-Israeli spy, tells Channel 2 that her ex-husband’s release would be “a miracle.”
It’s “absolutely unbelievable,” she says. “If it’s true, I’m very, very happy. It’s unbelievable.”
She says she heard the news from the media report.
Anne Pollard, July 25, 2015 (Channel 2 screenshot)
Iran’s state TV’s broadcast of Secretary of State John Kerry’s testimony before Congress on the nuclear agreement is simultaneously translated into Farsi and a news bar highlighting specific remarks.
It’s the second time state TV has broadcast Kerry’s testimony this week, marking a further departure from Iran’s longtime policy of not broadcasting remarks by US officials. State TV has carried two speeches by President Barack Obama on the nuclear deal.
The decision to broadcast parts of the hearing is seen as part of the government’s efforts to familiarize Iranians with the decision-making process in the United States. The two countries have not had diplomatic relations for more than three decades and are fiercely divided on a host of regional issues.
— AP
Under the terms of his release, Pollard won’t be allowed to visit Israel for five years, Channel 10 reports.
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein says “he hopes the news that came tonight from the US on Jonathan Pollard’s expected release will come true.”
“I had the honor of being the first minister who visited him in prison,” says Edelstein, who himself was a prisoner in the former Soviet Union.
“Jonathan, our brother, we’re waiting for you in Israel!” he says.
Knesset Speaker MK Yuli Edelstein, Jerusalem. June 9, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Pollard’s lawyers are asking President Barack Obama to grant the US-Israeli spy an earlier release than November 20, and to allow him to move to Israel, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“We respectfully urge the president to exercise his clemency power in this manner,’’ the lawyers say.
Pollard thanks his supporters in the US and Israel.
“Mr. Pollard would like to thank the many thousands of well-wishers in the US, in Israel and throughout the world, who provided grass-roots support by attending rallies, sending letters, making phone calls to elected officials and saying prayers for his welfare. He is deeply appreciative of every gesture, large or small,” his lawyers say.
Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid welcomes the Pollard release but says it “brings justice too late.”
“It would have been better if Pollard, after years of suffering in an American prison, would have been released earlier,” he says. “We praise today’s decision. The entire Jewish people is waiting to see him come home.”
Chairman of Yesh Atid Yair Lapid, speaks during a faction meeting at the Knesset, on July 13, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Pollard’s lawyers say the decision to free Pollard was unanimous, and is not related to any other developments in the Middle East.
“The decision to grant parole was made unanimously by the three members of the (US) Parole Commission, who make their decisions independently of any other US government agency,” the lawyers say in a statement. “The decision is not connected to recent developments in the Middle East.”
— AFP contributed
Kerry denies Pollard’s November release is a bid to appease Israel over the Iran nuclear deal.
“I haven’t even had a conversation about it. No, not at all,” Kerry says, according to Reuters.
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