North America

NOVANEWS Actually the US had already approved the construction in Jerusalem Here's another Ha'aretznik's take on the Netanyahu/Biden spit, woops, I mean spat. This is from Gideon Levy: The scoundrel appeared in the midst of the smile- and hug-fest with the vice president of the United States and disrupted the celebration. Joe Biden's white-toothed smiles froze abruptly, the great friendship was about to disintegrate, and even the dinner with the prime minister and his wife was almost canceled, along with the entire "peace process." And all because of Yishai. Well, the interior minister does deserve our modest thanks. The move was perfect. The timing, which everyone is complaining about, was brilliant. It was exactly the time to call a spade a spade. As always, we need Yishai (and occasio...

NOVANEWS The following article effectively shows the grip of AIPAC on American politics and the rush toward a catastrophic war with Iran. Such a war would inevitably cause a huge spike in oil prices and unleash hatred and terrorism across the Mideast and the world. Oil at $200 dollars a barrel or more would absolutely crush the already vulnerable economy of the United States, Europe and the world. Even the highest intelligence echelon of the United States recently stated again that there is no evidence that Iran is pursuing a nuclear bomb. Zionist regime in 'Israel' is the one in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Iran is a signatory and allows inspections. Israel allows no inspections in this nations active nuclear, chemical and biological weapons development. As t...

      NOVANEWS Rami Khouri, Lebanese editor, speaking on NPR, and Michael Steinhardt, the funder of several neoconservative outlets, writing in the Wall Street Journal, say that the big issue is not borders, it’s refugees. I can’t get the Steinhardt because it’s behind a fire wall, but it begins, "settlements are no longer the real issue that separates Israel and the Palestinians. The real issue is refugees." And Khouri says: The land issue is not the point. The land issue is one element of a comprehensive piece that should not be made the only element, as your Israeli guest said, because the crux of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is over the refugeehood of the Palestinians from our side, the exile, displacement and refugeehood, and from the Israeli side, it’s the acceptance by the ...

NOVANEWS  Yossi Verter in today’s Ha’aretz relates some chilling words from the father of Prime Minster Netanyahu at a celebration for the the elder’s 100th birthday. One hopes that the Obama Administration knows what they are dealing with when it comes to the Israeli Prime Minister. Verter writes that a person who had attended the event remarked: "Knowing the relationship between Bibi and his father, knowing the influence the father has on the son, and after having heard the prime minister’s emotional words about his father’s ability to foresee the future – I felt as though I was listening to an operational order from Benzion. As though the die had already been cast, at least within the Netanyahu family." Under the title, "The father, the son and the threat," Verter reported on the speec...

NOVANEWS Take news from the Middle East in the last 24 hours. Despairing, infuriating and tragic. This: The Palestinians pulled out of a new round of indirect peace talks last night, even before they had begun, as a protest at Israel’s decision to announce approval for hundreds of new homes in a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem. The decision to pull out, announced in Cairo by Amr Moussa, head of the Arab League, represents a major setback to months of diplomacy by the US administration and comes after the US vice-president, Joe Biden, delivered an unusually strong rebuke to Israel. And this: Some 50,000 new housing units in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line are in various stages of planning and approval, planning officials told Haaretz. They said Jerusalem’s constructi...

NOVANEWS US approves settlement construction in East Jerusalem Haaretz Eldar's take on the Netanyahu Biden spat: The statement issued by Netanyahu's bureau said that in light of the ongoing dispute between Israel and the United States over construction in East Jerusalem, the plans for new housing in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood should not have been approved this particular week. It also said the premier had ordered Yishai to draft procedures that would prevent a recurrence. In other words, Yishai is welcome to submit more plans for Jewish construction in East Jerusalem next week, when U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will no longer be here. Based on Biden's reaction, it seems that he (and, presumably, his boss) has decided that it is better to leave with a few sour grapes than to quarrel ...

NOVANEWS USA aid to the Zionist regime  money, Somalia would have become a global power.

"Harvard professor Stephen M. Walt commented, “What if a prominent academic at Harvard declared that the United States had to make food scarcer for Hispanics so that they would have fewer children? Or what if someone at a prominent think tank noted that black Americans have higher crime rates than some other groups, and therefore it made good sense to put an end to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and other welfare programs, because that would discourage African Americans from reproducing and thus constitute an effective anti-crime program?” Had Mr. Kramer’s comments been directed at any other marginalized or minority groups—leaving aside the enormous challenge faced by Palestinians living in the impoverished enclosure of Gaza—we believe that the Weatherhead Center would not ...

NOVANEWS By John F. Bowman, Maryam Monalisa Gharavi, and Abdelnasser A. Rashid We address this op-ed to Beth Simmons (Director, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs), Jeffry Frieden and James Robinson (Acting Directors, WCIA), and Drew Faust (President, Harvard University). We write as gravely concerned students and student group leaders representing over 16 groups throughout Harvard University. Our entire constituency can be viewed online. We are disturbed by the racist and inhumane comments of Martin Kramer, Visiting Scholar at the National Security Studies Program at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. We have become even more alarmed that rather than taking a dissociating or even strictly neutral stance against such extremist and hateful statements, the Weatherhea...

NOVANEWS Seven Muslims Detained in Nevada for Praying Outside The Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a misconduct complaint against police officers in the Nevada city of Henderson after seven Muslim men were detained for praying in public. The men had stopped at a shopping center at sunset to pray in the parking lot. One of the men used his cell phone to videotape the police officer explaining why they were being detained. Muslim Man: “You, knowing that we’re just Muslims here praying…” Police Officer: “But I don’t know that.” Muslim Man: “Well, we are praying. You know there’s a Muslim prayer. Is that enough for you to say that it’s a suspicious activity?” Police Officer: “Well, that’s why I’m checking it out.” Muslim Man: “So you think it is?” Police Officer: “Do I think it...