It’s one of those head-in-hands, stomach churning moments, akin to when a lover finally shuts the door. You’re left in shock, beliefs awry. Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition of the extremes is about to pass into law an unprecedented loyalty oath - aimed at non-Jews only. New, non-Jewish citizens will have to swear allegiance to the “Jewish and democratic” state of Israel.
This is wrong on so many levels. Just for starters, the Jews of Europe were hounded through history and their loyalty questioned because they could not, in good faith, swear allegiance to Christian monarchies and states. Next, it corrupts all the principles of liberal democracy, tolerance and minority rights.
Israel's 'loyalty oath' sets a vile precedent
US to fund sale of F-35 jets to Israel
Tel Aviv's Defense Ministry Director General Udi Shani signed the agreement, worth nearly $3 billion, during a ceremony in New York on Thursday, Israeli daily Haaretz reports, noting that "the entire deal will be funded by the American military."
According to the deal, Israel will receive the attack aircrafts between 2015 and 2017, at a price of $96 million per plane, together with simulators and spare parts, with a total price tag of $2.75 billion. The deal also grants the Israeli regime the option of ordering 75 more jets.
Two Israeli troops guilty of using human shield in Gaza
An Israeli military court has convicted two Israeli soldiers for using a Palestinian child as a human shield during an offensive in Gaza in 2009. The soldiers were found guilty of reckless endangerment and conduct unbecoming for forcing the nine-year-old boy to check suspected booby-traps.
It is reportedly the first such conviction in Israel - where the use of civilians as human shields is banned. The sentencing will be decided at a later date, the court said.
Citing Israeli settlement-building, Palestinians rule out talks
The Palestinian leadership on Saturday ruled out a resumption of peace talks without a halt to Israeli settlement building in the West Bank, backing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a dispute that has imperiled recently renewed negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded by appealing to Abbas to continue the negotiations. "The way to achieve an historic peace agreement between our two nations is to sit around the negotiating table, seriously and continuously, and not to leave it, because that is the place to resolve our disagreements,'' he said in a statement.
U.S. apologizes for Guatemala STD experiments
U.S. government medical researchers intentionally infected hundreds of people in Guatemala, including institutionalized mental patients, with gonorrhea and syphilis without their knowledge or permission more than 60 years ago.
Many of those infected were encouraged to pass the infection onto others as part of the study.
About one third of those who were infected never got adequate treatment.
Israeli FM Tells UN: Peace Only Possible Through Expulsion of Arabs
From the attempted delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip to the call for Israel to join the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, the number of things officials have warned against on the grounds of “hindering peace talks” has been staggering. This did not appear to expend to Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s office, however, as he delivered a speech at the United Nations calling for the mass expulsion of Arabs from Israel.
Palestinians give US mission a week to save peace talks as settlement building resumes
A fresh US-led diplomatic effort was under way yesterday to rescue Israeli-Palestinian negotiations as construction resumed in some Jewish West Bank settlements after Israel's decision to end a 10-month moratorium on building.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas effectively gave US mediators at least a week to resolve the crisis by confirming that he would hold a series of consultations, culminating in an Arab League meeting called for next Monday, before deciding whether to pull out of the negotiations.
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