Dear Family & Friends,

Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day was yesterday. Please note that we had another victim of anti-Jewish hate & murder by ‘vehicular homicide’. Baruch Dayan Emet. I wrote about it yesterday but, Arlene Kushner is always so stirring in her writing about Shalom Yochai Sherki, 25 & Shira (bat Adel Ada) Klein, 20, being struck by an Arab from new Anata at a French Hill bus stop, standing with many others.

It’s Shabbat soon so just the Index today:

1.Moment of Silence

2.’West has not learned the lesson of the Holocaust

3.Netanyahu Warns ‘Bad Deal’ with Iran Repeats Appeasement to Hitler

4.a.Israeli man killed by Arab in possible ramming attack

4.b.Police Finally ‘Suspect’ Terror as Motive for Running over Pedestrians

4.c.Thousands Attend Funeral of Israeli Killed on Holocaust Remembrance Day

5.Swastika Drawn on Wall at Northwestern University: [My University!?]

6.EU Label on Israeli ‘Settlement’ Goods: A Yellow ‘Jude’ Badge

7.Supreme Court Judge Calls Anti-Israeli Boycotts ‘Political Terrorism’

8.High Court: State may punish anti-Israel boycotters

9.Jews to Replant Olive Trees Uprooted by Arabs, Despite Shemittah

10.Jews, come home by Dror Eydar

11.Sen. Graham: Senate committee vote a ‘black day for Tehran’

12.Obama’s white flag of surrender by Prof. Abraham Ben-Zvi

13.Putin Cites Progress in Iran Talks as Reason for S-300 Decision

14.Holocaust exhibition memorializes 1.5 million children

15.Arlene Kushner “Then and Now”

15.B.ARLENE KUSHNER “A Heartfelt Lament” April 17, 2015

16.Khamenei Redefines Iran’s Red Lines for Nuclear Talks Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall

1.Moment of Silence By: Photo of the Day The Jewish Press.com Published: April 16th, 2015

Throughout Israel, Israelis stand for a moment of silence on Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Photo Credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90

Flash90 photos by Miriam Alster, Danielle Shitrit, Yonatan Sindel and Hadas Parush.

Moment of Silence By: Photo of the Day

Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Yad Vashem ceremony: West is yielding in face of Iran’s aggressive actions • President Reuven Rivlin: Israel was not established as compensation for the Holocaust.

Yori Yalon, Nitzi Yaakov, Gideon Allon, Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom Staff and News Agencies

In a speech at the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the West has not learned the lesson of the Holocaust.

Comparing Nazi Germany with Iran, Netanyahu said, “Just as the Nazis aspired to crush civilization and to establish a ‘master race’ to replace it in controlling the world while annihilating the Jewish people, so too does Iran strive to gain control over the region, from which it would spread further, with the explicit intent of obliterating the Jewish state.”

The prime minister went on to say, “The determination and lessons that were acquired in blood seventy years ago are now dissipating, and the darkness and fog of denying reality are taking their place. The bad deal that is being made with Iran demonstrates that the historic lesson has not been internalized. The West is yielding in the face of Iran’s aggressive actions. Instead of demanding a significant dismantling of the nuclear program in Iran — a country that clearly states its plans to exterminate 6 million Jews here and elsewhere, to eradicate many countries and many regimes — the superpowers back down. They are leaving Iran with its nuclear capabilities, and even allowing it to expand them later on, regardless of Iran’s actions in the Middle East and around the world.

“As the civilized world is lulled into slumber on a bed of illusions, the rulers of Iran continue to encourage subversion and terrorism, and disseminate destruction and death. The superpowers turn a deaf ear to the crowds in Iran shouting: ‘Death to America; Death to Israel.’ They turn a blind eye to the scenes of execution of those who oppose the regime and the members of minority populations. And they hold their peace in the face of the massive arming of terrorist organizations. At the most, they make a halfhearted statement for the record.

“The bubble of this illusion is going to burst. Democratic governments made a critical mistake before World War II, and we are convinced — and I must say that many of our neighbors are too — that they are making a grave mistake now too. It is possible that this partnership with many of our neighbors, the partnership in identifying threats, is the foundation for the partnership in forging a better, safer and more peaceful future in our region. Meanwhile, we will not flinch. We will continue to insist on the truth, and we will do everything we can to open the eyes that have closed. I do not want to mislead anyone. We have tests ahead of us. We are in the midst of a great battle against the languor, the weakness, the denial of reality — we will stand in full force.”

President Reuven Rivlin also addressed the ceremony, telling Holocaust survivors in the crowd, “Brothers and sisters, Holocaust survivors. We stand before you with an oath and a promise.

Each and every one of us has a number on our arm. But at the same time and with the same breath, we remember that we did not come from Auschwitz and Auschwitz is not where we are going.

“Some mistakenly believe the [establishment of] the State of Israel was compensation for the Holocaust. But there is no mistaken belief more terrible than this. The [establishment of] the State of Israel was not compensation for the Holocaust. It was established out of a love and longing for an ancient homeland by virtue of a dream that came true, a dream that became a reality, not out of fear of annihilation nor hatred for the other.

“We won’t bow our heads in the face of threats. We won’t bow our heads in the face of shameful declarations calling for the extermination of the Jewish people. We are alert, but we are not afraid.”

At a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in Tel Yitzhak on Wednesday night, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said, in reference to Iran, “Seventy years later, a few thousand kilometers from here there is a bloodthirsty country oozing with hate that calls even now, openly and without fear, to wipe Israel off the map. Seventy years later, the world is allowing [the Iranian] regime to enter the front door of the family of nations, instead of learning from the past and condemning it and its ways.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Netanyahu met in Jerusalem with 85-year old Holocaust survivor Avraham Niederhoper, originally from Romania. When Niederhoper was 11, he was taken on a freight train to Moldova and from there to the Shargorod ghetto in Ukraine. Niederhoper told Netanyahu that after surviving the Holocaust, he walked back to Romania. Upon coming to Israel, Niederhoper worked at the Construction Ministry as an engineer and a construction supervisor.

At the end of their meeting, Netanyahu presented Niederhoper with a copy of Rabbi Phil Chernofsky’s book “And Every Single One Was Someone,” in which the word “Jew” is written 6 million times.

Netanyahu said, “There is only one word in this book — Jew, repeated 6 million times. I keep it here to remember, not only to remember, but to prevent. What they did to you, they want to do to us. Today it is possible to fight; then it was not.”

Six million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their collaborators in the Holocaust, wiping out a third of world Jewry. Today, there are fewer than 200,000 elderly survivors in Israel.

Holocaust Remembrance Day is one of the most solemn on Israel’s calendar. Restaurants, cafes and places of entertainment are shut down, and radio and TV programming are dedicated almost exclusively to documentaries about the Holocaust, interviews with survivors and somber music.

On Thursday morning, Israel came to a standstill as sirens wailed for two minutes. Pedestrians stopped in their tracks, and cars and buses halted on the streets while drivers and passengers stood with their heads bowed.

Wednesday night’s ceremony at Yad Vashem included six survivors who lit six symbolic torches to commemorate the 6 million dead.

One of those was Shela Altaraz, the youngest of four children from Macedonia, whose whole family perished in the Holocaust.

During the war, she briefly found sanctuary in a Muslim village before falling ill with typhus and taken to a hospital. Eventually, she was put in a concentration camp where she was the only child. She would wake up screaming from nightmares but never uttered a word, earning the nickname “The Mute.”

“I’m angry at the world for not understanding and denying what happened and I am angry at myself for staying alive when so many others didn’t,” she told The Associated Press.3 “I still live those days as if they were today but I’m proud that I live in a country where they cannot chase us anymore.”

‘West has not learned the lesson of the Holocaust

Shalom Yohai Sharki succumbs to injuries Thursday morning after being hit by a car that drove into a bus stop on Wednesday night in Jerusalem • A woman remains in hospital in very serious condition • Police investigating possible terror motive.

Efrat Forsher and Israel Hayom Staff

An Israeli man died and a woman was seriously injured after being hit by a car at a bus stop where they were standing on Wednesday night at the French Hill junction in Jerusalem.

The man who died was identified as Shalom Yohai Sharki. He and the woman were evacuated to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center, where Sharki died on Thursday morning.

The car was driven by an Arab man, who was lightly injured. He was taken into custody for questioning.

Police are investigating the possibility of the incident being a terrorist attack, following a series of recent ramming attacks in Jerusalem.

Israeli man killed by Arab in possible ramming attack

Some four years after state passes anti-boycott law, justices rule that protecting the well-being of the state trumps the right to boycott and does not infringe on free speech • Law makes the call for the boycott of Israel a civil offense.

Edna Adato

The Knesset did not trample constitutional rights when it legislated a bill aimed at punishing those who call for a boycott of Israel, the High Court of Justice said on Wednesday.

An extended panel of nine justices said the law, known as the Law for the Prevention of Boycotts Targeting Israel, passed constitutional muster, noting that the state has the right to defend itself against those who want to forcefully undermine its very foundation. The court said that it was possible to reconcile freedom of speech with certain restrictions on boycotts, so long as these were designed to protect the state from a real threat to its wellbeing, noting that the punitive measures mentioned in law were within reason.

The 2011 law, sponsored by then-Coalition Chairman Zeev Elkin (Likud), says that the government may seek damages from anyone who actively promotes an economic, cultural or academic boycott of Israel or any other entity because of its affiliation with Israel. This applies to boycott campaigns that target produce from Judea and Samaria. The law allows the finance minister to prevent those who promote such boycott or take part in it from submitting bids for various projects and to deny them state funding and other benefits.

During the court hearings, the state said the bill would help safeguard Israel’s stature on the world stage and protect its foreign relations.

Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel had petitioned the High Court of Justice shortly after the law’s enactment, saying it imposed a “price tag” on legitimate political views and undermines the public discourse on the most controversial issues in Israeli society.

“The High Court refused to do the obvious thing — protect free speech,” the organizations said following Wednesday’s decision. Despite siding overwhelmingly with the state, the court did strike down one provision which allowed the court to award damages on boycott-related offenses even without proof of wrongful conduct. The judges said this was an excessive measure.

High Court: State may punish anti-Israel boycotters

Jews, come home by Dror Eydar

Passage of Corker-Menendez bill dominates headlines in the American media • U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says he is confident U.S. President Barack Obama will be able to get Congress to approve any deal with Iran. By Boaz Bismuth and News Agencies

Barack Obama yields to Congress, round one: Most of the media outlets in the U.S. agreed on Wednesday that the American president bent to the will of Congress on the issue of Iran. “President yields, allows Congress say on Iran deal” said The New York Times following the vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.

In what was seen as a setback for Obama, the U.S. president agreed on Tuesday that Congress should have the power to review any deal with Iran, giving in to pressure from Republicans and some in his own party over the barbed issue.

The role for the Republican-controlled Congress injects a new element of uncertainty into the delicate final stages of negotiations between major powers and Iran aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Generally speaking, the Iranian issue has dominated the headlines in the American media, pointing to the fact that the Iranian threat has managed to drive a wedge between Obama and the Democrats on Capitol Hill. The bigger story of course is how elected officials from opposite sides of the aisle succeeded in reaching an agreement and forcing the White House to zigzag.

Under the legislation that was passed unanimously by the committee and is expected to pass the full Senate and then the House of Representatives, Obama will not be able to lift economic sanctions from Iran for 30 days, if and when a deal is signed. During that time, Congress will review the deal and ultimately vote on whether or not to approve it. Should Congress decide to not to approve the deal, the president will have 12 days to respond with a veto, which will Congress will be able to override with a two thirds majority in each chamber.

In the Senate on Wednesday, I was told that Obama knows that he does not have the support of enough lawmakers to be convinced that his veto would stand, and that is why he has agreed to compromise with the Foreign Relations Committee. “If the administration couldn’t even convince 34 Senators from both parties that it is worthwhile to go forward with this deal, then it is truly a bad deal,” said Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware.

Incidentally, even if Congress decides to approve the deal, a separate vote will be held before any sanctions are lifted.

A young senator from Arkansas, a Republican by the name of Tom Cotton, saw Tuesday’s vote as a significant achievement, considering the fact that until very recently Obama still demanded that Congress refrain from interfering in his negotiations with Iran, and that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spent two days trying to convince lawmakers to abandon the bill.

Kerry himself said Wednesday that he was confident that Obama would be able to get Congress to approve the deal with Iran. “Looming large is the challenge of finishing the negotiations with Iran over the course of the next two and a half months,” Kerry said after arriving in Germany for a Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting in the northern city of Luebeck.

“Yesterday there was a compromise reached in Washington regarding congressional input. We are confident about our ability for the president to negotiate an agreement and to do so with the ability to make the world safer. And again, every partner here has been absolutely critical to our ability to be able to get where we are today,” he added.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal asserted Wednesday that “accepting the Senate compromise could spare Mr. Obama from the embarrassment of the Senate overriding a veto of the bill.”

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Israel Hayom on Wednesday that the Foreign Relations Committee vote was an enormous achievement for anyone who is wary of a bad deal with Iran and that it was a “black day for Tehran.” The White House, for its part, argued that the new formulation of the bill actually serves to assuage the administration’s fears that Congress would torpedo the deal.

Sen. Graham: Senate committee vote a ‘black day for Tehran

Obama’s white flag of surrender by Prof. Abraham Ben-Zvi

On eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yad Vashem launches new exhibition, giving expression to lives of 1.5 million children killed in Holocaust • Exhibition curator Yehudit Inbar: Despite their grim reality children still played, wrote and drew pictures.

Reuters and Israel Hayom staff

The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum opened an exhibition in Jerusalem on Wednesday, the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, to remember 1.5 million children, out of 6 million Jews, who were killed by Nazis in World War II.

The exhibition, “Children in the Holocaust: Stars Without a Heaven,” depicts a “forest” of “trees” exhibiting personal stories of children, through childhood themes of friendship, playtime and family.

Visitors walk through the exhibition that begins with displays illustrating the world of children before the Holocaust and during wartime.

“Children are in any given society the most vulnerable part of the society. On the one hand they are naive, they are unprotected, they need the world of the adults to protect them. But on the other hand they symbolize hope, the future. And those children have been murdered and we are asking ourselves — did their murders affect, destroys the hope? Destroys the future? And the answer is no,” said the museum chairman, Avner Shalev. “Their expressions are very naive, very direct and they can tell the story in a very creative deal without the filters that we as adults put about any way of expression. And this the strength of the world of the children,” he added.

Many children were forced to become the breadwinners to struggle for survival during the Holocaust, but despite the grim reality they lived in, children still played, wrote and drew pictures, said exhibition curator Yehudit Inbar.

One of the personal stories on display is that of Marta Goren from then Poland, now western Ukraine. Marta was only eight years old when her parents were rounded up with another 200 Jews and brought to the “black forest” near Czortków where they were shot and buried in mass graves.

Sitting with her husband at her home in the Israeli city of Rehovot, the 80-year-old Holocaust survivor says she was deeply moved to learn about the exhibition and her personal contribution.

“I think the exhibition commemorating children in the Holocaust — those who were privileged to survive it like me, and those who were not — is a very unique idea and I was deeply moved when I heard they chose to commemorate my story. Because my story is not only mine, my story is also my mother’s, my Polish family’s and my story represents many children who lived to see the liberation,” Goren told Reuters.

Goren’s “tree” at the exhibition depicts a photo of her as a child and a replica of a chain with a religious medal with the Madonna and Jesus given to her by her Christian nanny Mrs. Czaplinska. Goren wears the original necklace.

When Goren was eight her mother smuggled her with false papers and identity to a Polish family friend, Joseph Szulc. During the Warsaw uprising Marta and her nanny Mrs. Czaplinska were sent to a concentration camp where she says Czaplinska protected her and saved her life.

She returned to Warsaw after the war but refused to reunite with her grandfather and other family members as she says she was torn between her Jewish and Christian identities. Despite her refusal she was sent to her grandfather’s house but then joined a Jewish children home, with whom she immigrated to Israel.

Goren says the exhibition took her back to a grim and alienated childhood.

“When I looked [at the exhibits] I was speechless because I thought [this is only] a tree and then I realized that since I parted from my mother at the age of eight, I was mostly wandering in an alienated, strange world, with unfamiliar family, in a big city, with children who I did not know, and also did not know how to play with since I have never played before and never went to school, and [I did not know] how to escape this labyrinth, and all the lies I have surrounded myself with,” she said.

The Szulc family and Mrs. Czaplinska were both honored as Righteous Among the Nations after the war.

Holocaust exhibition memorializes 1.5 million children

15.Arlene Kushner “Then and Now” April 16, 2016

Today was Yom HaShoah VeHaGevurah – Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and Heroism. (For there were not only Jewish victims, there were also Jewish heroes.)

Here in Jerusalem, in the wee small hours last night, there was the most incredible prolonged, downpour – the likes of which I have never before experienced. I would like to think that perhaps the Heavens were crying for us.

Credit: Mrsbongle

I cannot permit this day to end without a posting, but will touch upon various subjects only briefly:

Last night at the Holocaust Memorial, Yad VaShem, the official annual ceremony marking the day was held. Every year, there are six survivors selected to light six torches.

 Credit: TouristIsrael

Each of the six tells his or her story. Each story tears the heart. I want to share the video of one such story here – the story of Shela Altaraz. Watch the enormous emotion with which she relates her experiences, which are over 70 years old. The pain never goes away:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/194122#.VS_XpJuJjIV

We may not turn away from this. It is our task to hear her story, absorbing its import and its power.

President Ruby Rivlin spoke at the official ceremony last night.

 Credit: ShalomLife

The core – the ikar – of his message merits attention (emphasis added):

“We cannot let the pogroms, the bellowing smoke of the crematoria blind us or blur our abilities to recognize our past, our identity, our heritage – which is stronger than those who wish to destroy us.”

While the Holocaust is “our lowest point,” we Jews must remember that our journey did not begin in the concentration camps, but in the Land of Israel, and “it is here that [we] have always strived to return.

“The State of Israel is not compensation for the Holocaust.” It was established “out of a love and longing for our ancient homeland by virtue of a dream that came true, a dream that became a reality. Not out of fear of extinction or hatred for the other….

”The horrors of the past and the threats of the present will not dictate our lives nor shape the lives of our children.”

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Rivlin-Israel-is-not-compensation-for-the-Holocaust-398254

Prime Minister Netanyahu also spoke during the ceremonies.

Credit: KosherPages

As we would expect, he addressed the threat of Iran and other evil regimes.

The lesson of the Holocaust, he said, was that there is “no room to be weak when faced with tyrannical regimes.” (Emphasis added) The world is “comatose” and delusional” where Iran is concerned. “Appeasement towards these regimes increases their aggressiveness.”

Earlier in the day, he related, he had been told by a survivor that it was his job “to prevent another Holocaust.”

Let it be so! For the world has learned nothing. Truly nothing. And so evil abounds. Not just in Iran, but with Isis, and Hamas, and in Muslim enclaves in certain parts of Europe. Yet the world turns away from the stark realities, and does business with evil.

We reserve the right to defend ourselves against a nuclear Iran, Netanyahu said: “Even if we are forced to stand alone against Iran, we will not fear. In every circumstance we will preserve our right and ability to defend ourselves.”

Yes! Preserve our right and ability to defend ourselves. But it becomes time, I think, to USE that ability.

Three days ago, Russian president, Vladimir Putin announced that he would approve delivery to Iran of the long-range surface-to-air S-300 missile defense system. A contract signed in 2007 to deliver the missiles was frozen in 2010 by Dmitry Medvedev, then president of Russia, in response to pressure brought to bear on him.

And why was Putin now removing the ban on delivery? Because Iran “has shown a great degree of flexibility and a desire to reach compromise.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/16/putin-long-range-air-defence-missile-iran-russia-sanctions

Heaven help us.

Exact dates for delivery are still under discussion, according to Reuters.

The missiles would not render an Israeli attack on Iran impossible, but would make it more difficult.

There was a certain amount of hoopla about the unanimous vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee calling for advancement of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, sponsored by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN). The bill would grant Congress the ability to review the deal currently being crafted by the Obama administration and Iran.

A step in the right direction, certainly, but there still is room for considerable unease. At the last minute, seeing the prospect of a vote large enough to over-ride a veto, Obama declared that he would cooperate and not veto. This is encouraging, of course – as it suggests a shift in the dynamic. (And yes, I do believe Netanyahu’s Congressional talk had an influence on the situation.) But in order to secure Democratic support, there were compromises made. WSJ reviewed the situation with a somewhat jaundiced eye, and, as Arnold Ahlert wrote in FrontPage, “It remains to be seen whether lawmakers, including those in Obama’s own party, will hold the president accountable for his reckless deal-making…”

I will be returning soon to consider this and related Iran issues in a great deal more detail.

According to a report by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, anti-Semitism rose almost 40% in 2014, over the level of incidents in the previous year.

Said Center president, Dr. Moshe Kantor, “Many streets in our European cities have become hunting grounds for Jews, and some Jews are now forced to avoid community institutions and synagogues as a result. Some are choosing to leave the continent, many are afraid to walk the streets, and even more are retreating behind high walls and barbed wire. This has become the new reality of Jewish life in Europe.”

http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Violent-anti-Semitism-surged-forty-percent-in-2014-study-finds-398165

This is very sobering indeed.

After a review appropriate for Yom HaShoah, I would like to end on a more upbeat note:

Elbit Systems, an Israel defense company, has announced that it has developed a new system based on sensors that will accurately detect tunnel building. It is to be installed along the entire border with Gaza, and what a relief this will be for the Israeli residents near that border.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4647664,00.html

“Scientists working in the Technion laboratory of Israeli Nobel Prize winner Professor Aaron Ciechanover have discovered that high concentrations of the chemical KPC1 and protein p50 suppress malignant growth and protect healthy cells.”

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/breakthrough-in-cancer-research-300064078.html

“Israeli scientists have come up with a new method to grow grapes all year round, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development recently announced. The agronomists successfully grew an existing variety of seedless grape known as Early Sweet during winter months.”

http://www.israel21c.org/news/israeli-scientists-develop-all-season-grapes/

Five years after the horrendous earthquake in Haiti, there is still an Israeli presence there:

“IsraAID runs a medical facility, an agriculture program, a youth empowerment center and a gender violence prevention program for Haitian women.”

http://www.israel21c.org/headlines/five-years-post-quake-israel-is-still-helping-haiti-heal/

You see? There is so much good stuff. We must remain resolute and strong, so that we can continue to utilize our skills and expertise in a thousand ways. To be a blessing to the world (if the world knows it or not).

© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.

If it is reproduced and emphasis is added, the fact that it has been added must be noted.

See my website at www.arlenefromisrael.info Contact Arlene at akushner18@gmail.com

15.B.ARLENE KUSHNER “A Heartfelt Lament” April 17, 2015

Courtesy Family

His name was Shalom Yohai Sherki, and he was 25. On Wednesday night, he was standing at a bus stop in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem, and a car rammed into him and the woman standing next to him.

Credit: MDA

Both were rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

On Thursday morning, he succumbed to his head wounds; his brother later expressed gratitude that he held on until the family was able to say goodbye.

Again? We cried at this news. Is there no end?

Shalom worked as a counselor to teenage students. I did not know him personally, but am close to people who did. I am told that he was much loved by his students and that he was a wonderful person. Always with a smile on his face. Somehow it is the special ones who die.

~~~~~~~~~~

The driver of the car that ran into these young people? An Arab – from a village near Jerusalem. Police are indicating that they believe this was a terror attack (an attack with “nationalist” motives, is how they say it). We knew, as soon as we heard what had happened. The Arab will be interrogated by the Shin Bet.

The funeral, attended by thousands, was held in Jerusalem late yesterday.

Credit: Hillel Maeir, Tazpit News Agency

~~~~~~~~~

This happened on Yom Hashoah. Likely not a coincidence, as this would have played into the timing of the Arab who drove the car.

More painful, to lose someone else as we are mourning the six million lost.

~~~~~~~~~~

I am frequently in absolute awe of the strength of the families losing loved ones to terrorists, and so was it the case yesterday. This sort of strength is a reflection of religious faith. Shalom’s father is Rabbi Uri Sherki. At the funeral, Rabbi Sherki, noting that his son saved the woman standing next to him by moving quickly to push her aside, said:

“Go dear son, it is not difficult because your noble soul is ascending straight to the King of Peace.

“…It’s not by chance that you were separated from us on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Our family didn’t wander for two thousand years and return to Israel to be murdered but to be planted… We need to be strong, both in our private work and in the work of the government, which will know how to appropriately plant the people of Israel in its land.”

~~~~~~~~~~

The woman who was next to Shalom is Shira Klein, 20, currently in serious but stable condition in the hospital.

I learned this morning that Shira and Shalom were due to become engaged. Brings tears to the eyes. Again, again.

Her family is asking for prayers for her complete recovery: Shira bat Adel Ada.

~~~~~~~~~~

I could not go into Shabbat without posting this. Dear God, may there be no more Jews who die ONLY because they are Jews. As you pray for Shira’s recovery, pray for this, as well, please.

We say Baruch Dayan HaEmet: Blessed is the Righteous Judge.

With wishes for a Shabbat Shalom to all.Top of Form

§ On April 9, 2015, Iran’s top leaders, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, took firm positions on new red lines for the ongoing nuclear negotiations: immediate removal of the sanctions as soon as the agreement takes effect; opposition to special monitoring and inspections of Iran’s military sites and missile program; and non-intervention in Iran’s ongoing assistance to “resistance” organizations around the world.

§ Khamenei’s remarks were was intended to counter the public-relations campaign of President Obama who portrayed the West’s achievements both to Middle Eastern public opinion and in the United States itself. Whereas Iran’s opening positions are rigid, the West, in the latest talks, has already shown how far it is willing to go for a signature on an agreement.

§ Khamenei has already stated that Iran’s involvement in the region, including its assistance to “resistance” elements, is not part of the negotiations, and Iran is not required to put them on the agenda. Such words reflect Iran’s growing confidence as its regional and international status improves, and its defiant conduct will likely put it on a collision course with the countries in the region.

§ The IRGC commander’s support for the agreement on the one hand, and on the other, the opposition of some conservative Majlis members who are associated with Ahmadinejad, may indicate disagreement within the conservative camp and possibly within the IRGC.

Rouhani’s address to the ninth National Nuclear Technology Day, Tehran, April 9, 2015

Different Interpretations of the Deal within Iran

On April 9, 2015, Iran’s religious-military leadership marked National Nuclear Technology Day, where Iran’s nuclear achievements were revealed. Iran’s top leaders, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani, took staunch positions on new red lines for the ongoing negotiations and the final agreement: immediate removal of the sanctions as soon as the agreement takes effect, without connection to other issues; opposition to special monitoring and inspections of Iran’s military sites and missile program; and non-intervention in its ongoing assistance to “resistance” organizations in various parts of the world.

In Iran’s domestic arena, divergent interpretations of the Lausanne Agreement have emerged between the different leaders. These concern the price Iran paid and, particularly, its stance on the signing of a final agreement. These controversies, along with the public attention given them, constitute a significant part of Iran’s negotiating strategy that aims to give the West an impression of domestic wrangling over the terms of the agreement (several Majlis members have indeed pointed out that the Majlis must approve the final agreement). But the wrangling also reflects genuine disagreements between the different domestic power centers, particularly between the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Foreign Ministry, and possibly also within the IRGC itself and between some of the IRGC and Khamenei.

“The United States Has Recognized Iran’s Regional, International, and Nuclear Status”

Along with U.S. President Barack Obama’s efforts to market the nuclear agreement in the United States, the Iranian Supreme Leader, president, and negotiating team, headed by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, have likewise been describing the agreement’s contents and achievements to the Majlis, to the conservative elements (including those within the IRGC), and to the Iranian people.

In a special address on National Nuclear Technology Day, Rouhani paid homage to the nuclear scientists killed in a string of assassinations and highlighted “Iran’s victory over the great military and economic superpower of the world,” which, he said, has recognized the regime along with Iran’s regional, international, and nuclear status. He proclaimed: “Did we want more than that…we made clear that we do not submit to power…we proved this [now] as we did during the eight years of war with Iraq…the world has begun to dignify the Iranian nation.”

Rouhani also asserted, “Iran will not sign any agreement except one that immediately cancels all of the economic sanctions on the first day of the agreement’s implementation.” He added that, as the “heroic” negotiation team had made clear, Iran would not give up its nuclear technology to attain peace. “[The enrichment facility] at Natanz will continue its activity. [In addition] over a thousand centrifuges exist and will continue to be installed at Fordow. [Likewise] we will have a heavy-water reactor at Arak to produce medicines and medical equipment.”¹ Rouhani stated further that Iran would continue its research and development activity, utilizing the potential of its scientists and thinkers in line with its national interests, and declared the inauguration of the domestic “virtual fuel complex, which serves as a testing facility for [nuclear] power reactors and other products.”²

Khamenei: “No Agreement Has Been Signed”

Khamenei spoke of the Lausanne Agreement for the first time and asserted that “everything is in the details.” Throwing cold water on those who rushed to extol the agreement, he said, “The premature praise that was heaped on me and on others [Rouhani and the negotiating team] is meaningless…. What has been done so far does not ensure, either in principle or in terms of the content that the talks will culminate in an agreement.” He also remarked, “The side one cannot trust at all [the P5+1] may be seeking to constrain Iran through the fine points of the agreement [i.e., its technical aspects].”

If people in the West, Khamenei continued, were wondering why he had not yet taken a position on the talks’ outcome, it was because “there is no need to take a position since the negotiating team itself says that nothing binding has been reached between the sides…what position am I supposed to take…nothing has happened.” Khamenei also said that he concurs with the U.S. assertion that “No agreement is better than a bad agreement,” or, as he put it, “The non-signing of an agreement is more honorable than signing an agreement that compromises the interests and the dignity of your country.” The Supreme Leader said he was not responsible for the details, as claimed in the West, and that the negotiating team has his full trust. Nevertheless, he was very disturbed “by the deception, the lies, and the betrayal” that typify the other side; as an example he cited the “fact sheet” the White House issued, “most of which is full of lies.”³

Khamenei asserted that if, with Allah’s help, the negotiating team were to succeed in reaching an agreement, “all the sanctions must be removed on that very day. If they [the West] drag their feet about lifting the sanctions and link it to other processes, why should we continue the negotiations? We negotiate with the aim of removing the sanctions; linking the sanctions to other issues is completely unacceptable.”

Khamenei stressed that he had warned the negotiating team not to enable the West to enter military areas and facilities (such as the Parchin base): “The military leadership of Iran must not permit the entry by foreigners into Iran’s military facilities under pretexts of monitoring or special monitoring [i.e., surprise inspections and invasive monitoring] and other pretexts, or to stop the advancement of Iran’s defensive capabilities [i.e., the issue of the missile and rocket industry, and especially the long-range ballistic missiles that Iran is building].”

Khamenei further emphasized that the issue of Iran’s support for resistance organizations in various regions must not be put on the agenda. The talks with the United States, he said, “focus solely on the nuclear issue and not on any other issue…. If the United States behaves appropriately during these talks, there may be room for optimism about talks with it on other issues as well.”⁴

Khamenei on Twitter

Zarif in the Conservatives’ Sights

Foreign Minister Zarif, who led the negotiating team, was criticized by ultra conservative elements in Iran. He was even depicted in some cartoons as unconditionally capitulating to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.⁵ Zarif, who appears in the cartoon prostrate on the deck, says, “It looks like it’s now win-win.” More scathing yet is the illustration that shows Zarif standing behind Kerry, who is sawing the tree of the Iranian nuclear program’s achievements and, apparently, offending the memory of the nuclear scientists who were assassinated on Iran’s way to becoming a threshold nuclear state.

On April 7, Zarif and members of his negotiating team presented the framework agreement to the Majlis. Some of the parliamentarians criticized the concessions, as they called them, and Iran’s crossing of red lines during the talks. Previously, the foreign minister had given far-ranging interviews to the Iranian media in which he detailed Iran’s achievements in the negotiations. Students from Tehran University students and religious seminaries demonstrated opposite the Majlis and presented 30 questions to the foreign minister on the crossing of red lines during the Lausanne talks and the ambiguity of the joint declaration.

Zarif and the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) presented the main points of the agreement to the Majlis chairman and the members of its National Security and Foreign Policy Committee. Heated arguments erupted between Zarif and some ultraconservative Majlis members, particularly concerning the clauses on future enrichment at the Fordow site in the Qom area and at the main site in Natanz. These parliamentarians, led by Javad Karimi-Ghodousi (one of former President Ahmadinejad’s staunch supporters) reviled Zarif for breaching Khamenei’s directives. According to one version of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran will not conduct enrichment at Fordow, only research. Hassan Shariatmadari, editor of the newspaper Kayhan, which is considered Khamenei’s mouthpiece, also criticized the agreement and wrote that Iran “gave a saddled horse and received a torn bridle.” He called on the government not to exaggerate when describing its achievements in the agreement that are unrealistic, according to him, and to be open to the criticisms for the sake of the national interest.⁶

Waiting for the Iranian Version of the Fact Sheet

Several members of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee who were present at Zarif’s briefing said he had told them that in the coming days he would issue the Iranian version of the fact sheet on the agreement signed in Lausanne. They said this was his most important statement during the briefing, “so that those issues that have stirred serious concern among the Iranians will be revised and released in this fact sheet.” Iran is taking this step to confront what it calls “lies” in the U.S. version of the document, which, in Iran’s view, was aimed at reassuring the U.S. allies in the region.⁷ Zarif revealed that the leader “”told us to prepare our own version of the Lausanne joint statement.”⁸

The accounts of the briefing also claimed that the Iranian negotiating team had made clear that Iran would not permit, in the context of the monitoring process, the placement of online cameras in its nuclear facilities that would give live transmission of Iran’s activity within them, so as to avoid endangering the lives of the nuclear scientists. According to the Mehr News Agency, Zarif said during the closed door meeting, “Iran will not fulfill any of its undertakings until the Security Council issues a resolution [on removing the sanctions] under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.”⁹

Majlis member Gholamali Jafarzadeh, who was present at the meeting, said the chairman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran stated that Iran’s achievements in the field of nuclear energy are what pushed the world powers to the negotiating table. Javad Karimi Qoddousi, another committee member and critic of the agreement, quoted the AEOI chairman as saying that Iran had injected UF6 into the latest generation of centrifuges, the IR8, immediately after the final signing of the agreement with the world powers.¹⁰

Surprising Support

Support for the agreement, surprisingly, came from IRGC commander Mohammad-Ali Jafari, who censured the agreement’s critics and claimed the ongoing criticism could hinder the “diplomatic jihad.” Jafari, who expressed support for the foreign minister and the president, emphasized that, as Zarif and his team had declared, Iran’s red lines include maintaining its nuclear fuel enrichment cycle, continuing the relevant research and development, and the removal of the sanctions. Jafari said that the United States had failed in its attempt to impose its will on Iran and alter its behavior, and actually it was Iran that had imposed its will on the United States. Iran had induced Washington to replace the policy of “all options on the table” with “a diplomatic channel for solving the nuclear issue.”

Jafari added that the United States’ insincerity and doubtful credibility when it came to upholding its commitments, along with its distorted interpretation of the joint declaration, posed difficulties for the continued diplomatic endeavor. Nevertheless, Iran would keep adhering to its red lines (as Khamenei had defined them): a complete fuel cycle and the lifting of all of the sanctions.¹¹ In this vein Mohammad-Reza Naqdi, commander of the Basij (the volunteer arm of the IRGC), called the United States “a liar that cannot be trusted.”¹²

Similarly, Hamidreza Moqaddamfar, adviser to the IRGC commander, portrayed the agreement as an achievement and underlined Iran’s right to keep enriching uranium and retain all of its nuclear facilities. He stressed that the United States’ retreat from its red lines had been achieved through Khamenei’s guidance of the negotiating team, along with the firm stance of the team and the Iranian people. Another reason for the recognition of Iran’s nuclear rights, he added, is Iran’s “considerable spiritual influence” in the region and in the international sphere. He remarked that one source of concern regarding the lifting of the sanctions is U.S. and/or Israeli access to information on the Iranian nuclear program, to be attained by stealth through the IAEA’s inspectors.¹³

What Comes Next?

Khamenei’s clarification that “nothing has been signed yet” poured cold water on the joy displayed in some sectors in Iran. It also implied criticism of the negotiating team and the president, who praised the Iranian achievements before any signing of a final agreement. Khamenei’s remarks were intended to apprise the negotiating team of Iran’s new red lines for the subsequent negotiations and to counter the public-relations campaign of President Obama, who portrayed the West’s achievements both to Middle Eastern public opinion and in the United States itself.

Apparently the statement “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” will continue to characterize the upcoming, more difficult stages of the talks. These will include precisely those sensitive matters that, according to Khamenei in his response to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), must be included on the negotiating table. Whereas Iran’s opening positions are rigid, the West, in the latest talks, has already shown how far it is willing to go for a signature on an agreement.

The window of time remaining before the June 30, 2015 date set for reaching a final agreement, which may also be extended, will see both open and covert struggles in both capitals – Tehran and Washington – and between the West and Iran as well. Iran will keep hewing to Khamenei’s new red lines concerning the final results of the agreement and its implications for Iran.

The major changes in the Middle East since the “Arab Spring” or “Islamic Awakening,” as Iran calls it, will also ultimately influence the final outcomes of the negotiations. Khamenei has already stated regarding his new red lines that Iran’s involvement in the region, including its assistance to “resistance” elements, is not part of the negotiations, and Iran is not required to put them on the agenda. Such words reflect Iran’s growing confidence as its regional and international status improves (as evidenced by the revival of its S-300 advanced SA missile deal with Russia) , and its defiant conduct will likely put it on a collision course with countries in the region, and ultimately with the United States itself.

The trigger could be Yemen, where the fighting between Iran and the Houthis on the one side, and the Arab coalition on the other, is escalating. During the months of negotiation over a final agreement, Iran’s domestic debate is also likely to continue. Although this debate is authentic, it is also part of Iran’s negotiating tactics of projecting domestic disagreements over the “concessions” that it made during the talks on a framework agreement.

The IRGC commander’s support for the agreement on the one hand, and, on the other, the opposition of some conservative Majlis members who are associated with Ahmadinejad and of the previous chairman of the negotiating team, Said Jalili, and of Kayhan editor Shariatmadari who is close to Khamenei and serves as his representative in the newspaper, may indicate disagreements within the conservative camp and possibly within the IRGC.

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Notes

1 http://www.president.ir/fa/85967

2 http://www.president.ir/en/85973

3 https://twitter.com/khamenei_ir

4 http://farsi.khamenei.ir/news-content?id=29404

5 http://www.aryanews.com/News.aspx?code=20150405112510703&svc=24

6 http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13940116001288

7 http://www.tasnimnews.com/english/Home/Single/703591

8 http://en.mehrnews.com/detail/News/106653

9 Mehr News Agency, April 7, 2015

10 http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940118000331

11 http://tnews.ir/news/913C39686101.html

12 http://tinyurl.com/ISNA94011704656

13 http://www.tasnimnews.com/english/Home/Single/702514

About IDF Lt.-Col. (ret.) Michael (Mickey) Segall, an expert on strategic issues with a focus on Iran, terrorism, and the Middle East, is a senior analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and at Foresight Prudence.

Khamenei Redefines Iran’s Red Lines for Nuclear Talks Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall