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Comments (0)The U.S. Senate passed a comprehensive Iran sanctions bill.
The bill passed by voice vote Thursday evening hews closely to a companion bill passed last month in the U.S. House of Representatives; White House requests to roll back some of the harsher provisions were unheeded.
The bills target Iran’s energy sector, singling out for sanctions any entity—individual, company or even country—that deals in refined petroleum with Iran, a major oil producer, but with a refining sector in disarray.
The Obama administration has preferred to emphasize multilateral sanctions targeting Iran’s leadership coupled with diplomatic outreach. Both bills must now be reconciled and the final version is likely be signed by Obama, despite his reservations.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which led lobbying for the bills, urged swift passage and signing.
“Iran’s possession of nuclear weapons capability would be a devastating blow to America’s national security interests,” spokesman Josh Block said. “The U.S. and our allies must impose biting diplomatic and economic pressure to try and peaceably prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and avoid confronting more distressing alternatives.
The bills allow Obama waivers for national security reasons. Obama’s predecessors have exercised such waivers with earlier sanctions bills.
J.D. Salinger, Reclusive Author and Grandson of Rabbi, Dies
J.D. Salinger, author of “Catcher in the Rye,” recluse and grandson of a rabbi, has died at 91.
Salinger, whose signature novel became an American classic and remains required reading at high schools and colleges across the United States, reportedly died of natural causes Wednesday at his home in New Hampshire after more than five decades of reclusiveness.
Despite his disappearance from the public stage—some would say because of it—Salinger has remained an object of fascination and enigma in the world of American letters.
The author was born in New York in 1919 to an assimilated Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother of Irish descent. Salinger’s father, Sol, was the son of a rabbi. He worked as an importer of ham and tried to get his son into the business, according to The New York Times, but the younger Salinger instead became a writer.
He sold short stories to several magazines, and reportedly continued writing even while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. Serving with the Counter Intelligence Corps of the 4th Infantry Division, Salinger was charged with interviewing Nazi deserters, according to the Times. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
In 1951, Salinger published “Catcher in the Rye,” whose irreverent, straight-talking protagonist, Holden Caulfield, became a model type for American writers. To date, the book has sold an estimated 65 million copies.
It became embroiled in controversy over what critics deemed its vulgar language, along with sexual references, blasphemy and low morals, and often was censored.
The growing literary acclaim that surrounded Salinger after the book’s publication unnerved him, and in 1953 he left the New York literary world for a cabin in New Hampshire. Though he continued publishing for a time, Salinger became a recluse and eventually disappeared from the literary world.
His death was announced by his literary agency. Salinger apparently had broken his hip last May but was in good health until several weeks ago, when his health suddenly deteriorated.
Obama: Netanyahu Held Back by Gov’t on Peace Moves
President Obama said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being held back by his coalition in trying to make peace moves.
Obama, speaking at a town hall meeting Thursday in Tampa, Fla., was asked why his administration continues to support Israel and Egypt despite their “human rights violations against the occupied Palestinian people.”
Obama started his answer be describing Israel as “one of our strongest allies” and a “vibrant democracy” and said “we will never waver from ensuring Israel’s security and helping them secure themselves in what is a very hostile region.”
However, he said attention must be paid to “the plight of the Palestinians” and that “Israel has to acknowledge legitimate grievances and interests of the Palestinians.” Of both Israel and the Palestinians, Obama said the politics are “difficult.”
“The Israel government came in based on the support of a lot of folks who don’t want to make a lot of concessions,” he said. “I think Prime Minister Netanyahu is actually making some effort to try to move a little bit further than his coalition wants him to go.”
While Netanyahu’s government has acceded to some internal pressure to add housing in parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, he has also frozen building in other areas.
The Palestinian Authority does not want to return to talks without a total freeze on settlement building.
Obama also said that Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority “genuinely wants peace, has to deal with Hamas, an organization that has not recognized Israel and has not disavowed violence.”
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Ron Kampeas is JTA’s Washington bureau chief.
Jewish Groups Praise Limbaugh
Jewish groups praised Rush Limbaugh for his “outspoken support for Israel” after his controversial remarks on Jews and the banking industry.
“There has been controversy recently over statements made by radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh about Jewish voting patterns, political ties and the recent Massachusetts election. We are deeply dismayed by the unfounded criticism of the talk show commentator’s observations,” read a statement issued Wednesday by several Jewish organizations, including American Friends of Likud, the news monitoring group CAMERA, Emunah of America, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, National Council of Young Israel, Religious Zionists of America and Z-Street.
“While one may agree or disagree with Mr. Limbaugh’s views on many subjects, his outspoken support for Israel has been eloquent, informed and undeniable. Moreover, in commentary on the Jewish people, he has been nothing short of a philo-Semite. We are grateful for his strong and singular voice on these issues,” concluded the statement.
During a Jan. 20 broadcast following Republican Scott Brown’s upset victory in the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, Limbaugh wondered if Jews—nearly 80 percent of whom backed Barack Obama in 2008—were having second thoughts about the president.
“There are a lot of people, when you say banker, people think Jewish. People who have prejudice, people who have, you know—what’s the best way to say—a little prejudice about them,” Limbaugh said, according to the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters. “To some people, ‘banker’ is code word for Jewish; and guess who Obama is assaulting? He’s assaulting bankers. He’s assaulting money people. And a lot of those people on Wall Street are Jewish. So I wonder if there’s—if there’s starting to be some buyer’s remorse there.”
Limbaugh’s remarks were criticized by the Anti-Defamation League last week, which called them “offensive and inappropriate.”