Don’t expect Abbas to sign anything

So far, the Palestinian negotiating tactic has been to get concessions, then cut off talks and 'start where we left off.'

By Shlomo Avineri for Haaretz

As prime minister, Ehud Olmert met 36 (or was it 37?) times with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and couldn’t reach an agreement with him. But that didn’t stop him from saying in a recent interview on Channel 2 that he’s certain Abbas is a partner for an accord.

Olmert was prepared to go further than any other Israeli leader in meeting the Palestinians’ demands, including on the issues of Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and territorial exchanges; he offered to evacuate 70,000 settlers as well as make a humanitarian gesture allowing 5,000 Palestinian refugees (or their descendants) to return. This underscored his belief in the need for Israel to make a painful compromise, and given his own political past, his courage and determination was especially admirable.

But what came out of all that? When Olmert proposed in dozens of meetings that Abbas sign a document containing the Israeli concessions, he refused. Olmert explains this by saying that Abbas did not say either yes or no. This is patently ridiculous: By refusing to sign, Abbas clearly said no.

Evidently, Abbas was not ready to commit to anything, but he was able to get Olmert to consent to far-reaching concessions, and then halted the negotiations. The upshot is that when the negotiations resume, the Palestinian side will insist that they must begin “where they left off” – with the starting point being the Israeli positions as set forward in Olmert’s generous proposal, with no concession having been made by the other side.

Am I misinterpreting things? This is exactly what happened in 1995 in Yossi Beilin’s talks with Abbas. Then, too, the talks led to extensive Israeli concessions; then, too, the Israeli side sought to put things down on paper and fashion a final accord – and then, too, Mahmoud Abbas refused to sign. There was never any Beilin-Abbas Agreement. There was only a paper laying out Israeli concessions.

At Camp David, then-U.S. President Bill Clinton became fed up with this method and, as he ran out of patience, told Yasser Arafat that so far he had rejected every offer. Perhaps you have a proposal of your own, Clinton suggested to Arafat. But no such Palestinian proposal was ever placed on the table.

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Two Israelis arrested in Iran arms sales case

Avihai Weinstein and Eli Cohen have been investigated multiple times for allegedly violating sanctions

By Ilan Ben Zion for The Times of Israel
Two arms dealers were arrested on suspicion of selling military aircraft parts to Iran, Channel 2 reported.

Avihai Weinstein and Eli Cohen were said to be under investigation by the Israel Police and the Defense Ministry’s security investigation arm. The police would not confirm the report to The Times of Israel, but said the matter was familiar to them butcould not comment further because it was under investigation by foreign law enforcement agencies.

Earlier this week, Greek officials, working together with the American Homeland Security Investigations agency, uncovered two shipments of spare parts for F-4 Phantom jets in December 2012 and again in April 2013, the Ekathimerini daily reported over the weekend.

Weinstein and Cohen have both been investigated multiple times for allegedly trying to sell and ship military equipment to the Islamic Republic in violation of international sanctions. The two had previously tried to ship the arms to Iran via intermediary states such as the United States, Germany, Thailand and Portugal, Channel 2 reported. According to the report, Cohen has been investigated six times on such charges in the past 12 years.

According to a Haaretz report from 2004, Cohen and Weinstein were suspected of attempting to sell Hawk missiles and radar systems used in Phantoms. Two years earlier they attempted to sell parts for Israeli-made armored personnel carriers, but were never indicted.

Their company, R.S.P. Rebuilt Spare Parts, was not available for comment at the time of publication.

Orthodox couples opt for illegal halachic weddings

Dissatisfied by old school patriarchy, many modern religious couples are marrying outside the Israeli rabbinate

By Amanda Borschel-Dan for Times of Israel

It was a back-alley religious wedding. The bride, in her 30s, an Orthodox Russian-immigrant divorcée. The groom, a 40-something native Israeli. The wedding hall, a dingy, cramped three-room Jerusalem apartment.

They were married by an Orthodox rabbi, accompanied by a sliver of the groom’s large Yemenite family and a few friends. Blessings were recited under the huppah and, as in Yemenite custom, ash was sprinkled to symbolize the destruction of the Temple. A glass was broken. Burekas, Israeli salads and pita followed in the first of the couple’s traditional Sheva Brachot meals.

Fourteen years ago, this couple decided to marry outside the Israeli Chief Rabbinate for a variety of personal and pragmatic reasons: She’d had a hard time with her halachic divorce through the rabbinate; he preferred living off the grid. And the couple didn’t have much money to spare on the relatively hefty registration fee.

“I feel free having married without the rabbinate,” the bride told The Times of Israel recently. “I decided that, whether we split or not, this will be my final wedding,” she said. She added that she is unconcerned about possible halachic problems, including hypothetically becoming an aguna — an anchored woman — if the marriage dissolves, and is sure their two daughters cannot be considered mamzerim (bastards).

This couple is hardly alone in choosing to marry outside the auspices of the rabbinate. Reform/Conservative Jews, the disenfranchised secular, and some 400,000 Israelis who are Jewish enough to be citizens, but not considered halachically Jewish to marry through the rabbinate, often marry abroad or in independent, unrecognized ceremonies.

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Jewish Ice Dancer Charlie White Wins First-Ever Olympic Gold Medal for U.S.

Spins to Sochi Win With Partner Meryl Davis

by Reuters from The Jewish Daily Forward

Sochi, Russia — A sultry performance that lasted four spellbinding minutes, but was 17 years in the making, propelled Meryl Davis and Charlie White to become the first Americans to win the Olympic ice dance title at the Sochi Games on Monday.

In a showdown with rivals and Canadian training partners Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the American couple proved a cut above the rest by winning with a world record total of 195.52.

An adventure that began rather tentatively in 1997 when a nine-year-old Davis was left blushing and tongue-tied after being told to gaze deeply into her eight-year-old partner’s eyes, ended on Monday with the duo exchanging looks of joy.

“We’re so excited, we’re kind of in shock a little. I’m not sure what we’re feeling,” a beaming Davis told reporters after improving on their silver medal from four years ago.

“It kind of all came together for us and we’re so pleased to be here. We’re kind of in disbelief.”

White, who is Jewish, added: “To come away with a gold medal is amazing… And 17 years of hard work was justified.”

From the moment the Americans stepped on the ice, with Davis wearing a sequined purple halter neck dress and White in an embroidered velvet jacket, the crowd waited with bated breath to see which side of the International Boundary the gold medal would end up in.

The Americans were soon showing why they have been unbeatable for 22 months.

They flew around the ice at a frantic pace, seamlessly weaving dazzling lifts and synchronised twizzles into their dramatic performance of Scheherazade - the story of a sultan’s wife whose enchanting tales stopped her husband’s bizarre habit of marrying a new wife every day and beheading the previous one.

When White held aloft Davis in the splits as he spun around rapidly, the crowd cheered.

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Global Stories: Interactive Map of IDF Soldiers from Across the World

Since 1948, young men and women have made their way to Israel from the four corners of the globe to join the IDF. From every continent they have come, driven by a sense of purpose, a love of the country and an inner need to answer the call to protect the State of Israel.
Click on the map below to read their stories. The blue pins are in English, the red pins in French, the yellow pins in Spanish, and the green pins in Russian. Drag the map around to explore!

Who needs Valentine's Day when you've got a Jewish mother

By Abigail Radnor, for The JC.com

Valentine’s Day is nothing short of a mishegas for shmereldiks (excuse me while I sell that one to Hallmark and make my millions). I don’t really know anyone who enjoys this marketing ploy of a Yom Tov, even those in smugly contented relationships.

Of course no singleton gets kicks out of a day designed to underscore exactly how single they are. Although it arguably has less of a potent effect on our tribe. Technically, as Jews we shouldn’t be making too much of a fuss celebrating a Christian saint, but then if we start getting technical over what Jews are supposed to be doing we’d be here for a while and I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the kind of article you were after — if you were tempted to read on after my opening line.

The real reason Valentine’s Day is a touch null and void for Jewish singletons is because they do not need a national holiday to scrutinise the cracks in their love lives.
That’s what Jewish mothers are for.

I always assumed my own Jewish mother was pretty atypical when it came to these things. She seemed to exude a detached calmness on all matters related to my relationships, possibly because such matters often erred on the side of the ridiculous. That was until her friend’s daughter got engaged and suddenly, she flipped.

On putting down the phone after showering her friend with the mandatory mazel tovs she turned to me and said somewhat aggressively: “That third date better go well.” (It didn’t.) Now that I am in a relationship she has taken to texting me pictures of baby clothes. To which I reply: “Get a job.”
Jewish 20-somethings (and 30-somethings, who have it worse) can entertain themselves for hours swapping war stories of interfering Jewish mothers, fathers, grandparents (when I remarked to my Grandma that I couldn’t believe I was turning 28 last May, her reply “and what are you going to do about it?” stumped me. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t enquiring as to my party plans that involved Jager bombs and dancing on tables because we just don’t have those kinds of chats.)
But recently I have had something of a revelation. At my work Christmas do, sandwiched between two non-Jewish colleagues and pretending to handle my alcohol, I realised they were bemoaning the exact same afflictions as my Jewish friends — relatives driving them mad about their love lives.
One of their mothers has essentially given up all hope for her (she’s 32) and another detailed how every February 15 her grandmother would call her with one question… “Well?” There was another friend whose mother insisted on taking her new boyfriend on a tour of the house when he first came to meet the family and as they reached the end of the landing gestured: “And this is where the nursery will be.”
This was marvellous, I thought. I felt like running through the streets waving an interfaith flag proclaiming: “It’s not just the Jews, it’s not just the Jews!”

And the more I investigated the domestic Gentile world (hard-hitting journalism that often involved me asking my friends “so does your mum drive you mental too?”) the more harassment was revealed.
One mentioned her friend, Alice, 32, who made a birthday cake for her niece and said to her mum: “I hope someone will do this for me one day,” to which her mother replied: “What are you talking about? You’re nearly 40, you’re clearly never giving me grandchildren!”

Another, who has been with her boyfriend for five years, only just 27, complains of being constantly asked when they will settle down. A celebrity journalist, she says: “Even bloody Anna Friel ticked me off when I interviewed her — ‘How long have you been together? Five years? Well, it’s about time he proposed’. I mean...pot, kettle!” (I’ll leave you to Google the ins and outs of Anna Friel’s love life in your own time.)
So dear Semitic singletons, as you may feel the urge to punch anyone carrying flowers, anything heart-shaped or vaguely cuddly in the face this weekend, cheer yourself with the thought that you are not alone. There are interfering mothers everywhere.

PS love you Mum x

Olympic medal wins for figure skating trio

From JewishNews.co.uk

Jewish athletes were this week celebrating winning medals at the Sochi Winter Olympics, helping America and Canada to silver and bronze success.

American figure skaters Jason Brown and Charlie White were part of a team of eight who saw Team USA win bronze, while Dylan Moscovitch won silver with the Canadian national team in the same event.

Delighted with his win, Brown said: “I don’t even know where to begin. The team event was absolutely incredible! From start to finish, the excitement just continued to build and I am so honoured to be a part of this team, and to have represented team USA in the first ever figure skating team event! I’m so proud of my teammates and the performances they put out!

“I’ve looked up to these seven athletes for years. They’ve been huge inspirations to me, so standing on that medal stand tonight, alongside them was truly special, it’s a moment I will never forget and sharing it with these seven unbelievable athletes was beyond a dream come true. We will always be Olympic bronze medallists together, as a team!”

Just as ecstatic with the win, White said: “What an amazing and historic moment! So lucky to be part of a team that showed courage, fortitude, and a lot of great skating! We worked really hard to earn that Olympic medal – something that will be uniting us together as family for the rest of our lives.”

Other American Jewish athletes who are in action include skier Jared Goldberg, cross-country skier Noah Hoffman and figure skater Simon Shnapir.

Israeli athletes haven’t though been as successful. And with the country still in search of their first Winter Olympics medal, short track speed skater Vladislav Bykanov came agonisingly close to qualifying for the semi-finals of the 1,500m event, missing out by 0.8 seconds. Israel’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony will though compete in the 1,000m race later on Thursday, and the 500m race on Tuesday.

Figure skaters Evgeni Krasnopolski and Andrea Davidovich did qualify for their medal race, after finishing in 15th place – out of 20 – in the short program of the event. Speaking after qualifying, Krasnopolski said: “It’s a fantastic feeling. We were very tense all day and really nervous up to the last moment. In technical terms we could have been better here and there, but the bottom line is that we reached the final and that was our main aim.” However, competing in the free skating on Wednesday afternoon, they finished the pairs’ figure skating competition in 15th place, recording a result of 94.35 in the free skate portion of the event to end with a total score of 147.73 points.

Skier Virgile Vandeput will also be in action next week when he takes part in the giant slalom next Thursday, and the slalom on 22 February.