Tag Archive for UN

| September 20, 2013
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Despite U.S. warning Islamic states to single Israel out at UN nuclear meeting

 

If resolution put forth by Muslim states expressing their concerns over ‘Israeli nuclear capabilities’ is adopted, the IAEA would seek Israel’s membership in a global anti-nuclear weapons treaty.

By Reuters 

Arab states will push ahead with a bid to single out Israel for criticism over its assumed atomic arsenal at this week’s UN nuclear agency meeting, despite Western pressure to refrain, a senior representative said on Friday.

Arab League summit - AP

The Arab countries foreign ministers summit at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2013. – Photo: AP

Frustrated over the indefinite postponement last year of an international conference on banning atomic arms in the region, Arab states have proposed a non-binding resolution expressing concern about “Israeli nuclear capabilities.” Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| September 18, 2013
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Moscow reports it has proof rebels behind Damascus chemical attack

New York Times reports the UN investigation indicated Assad’s elite forces were behind the sarin attack that left more than 1,400 people dead.

By , DPA and Reuters

 

A senior Russian official Wednesday said that Syria had handed over new evidence showing that rebels had used chemical weapons in a deadly attack near Damascus last month.

Members of the UN investigation team take samples from the ground in the Damascus countryside

Members of the UN investigation team take samples from the ground in the Damascus countryside of Zamalka, Syria. – Photo: AP

 

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said details provided by the Syrian government would bolster claims supported by Moscow that President Bashar Assad was not responsible for the August 21 attack, which the United States says killed more than 1,400 people. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| September 11, 2013
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UN debates resolution for dismantling Syrian chemical arms

Russia’s Security Council proposal would put Syria’s chemical weapons under int’l control & end the Washington-Moscow stalemate over Damascus’ deadly  poison gas attack on August 21.

By
 

Beirut – A French official says tense negotiations have begun on a proposed United Nations resolution that would put Syria‘s chemical weapons under international control and end a diplomatic stalemate over a deadly August 21 poison gas attack.

Demonstrating in support of U.S. strike on Syria.

Syrian-Americans rallying in favor of proposed U.S. military action outside U.S. Capitol in Washington. – Photo: Reuters

The official close to the French president, who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations remained sensitive, said Russia objected not only to making the resolution militarily enforceable, but also to blaming chemical attack on the Syrian government and demanding that those responsible be taken before an international criminal court.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| September 10, 2013
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China supports Russian plan placing Syria’s chemical weapons under int’l control

 

China announces support for Russian plan, so France is drafting a UN resolution for Syrian chemical weapons to be place under international control.

By REUTERS

 

 
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France would propose a United Nations Security Council resolution setting out conditions for Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control and accept that they will be dismantled, a plan that could avert planned US military strikes in response to the country’s suspected use of its arsenal on civilians.
Syrian civilians take part in a candlelight vigil in solidarity with Syrian civilians killed.

Syrian civilians take part in a candlelight vigil in solidarity with Syrian civilians killed. – Photo: REUTERS

US President Barack Obama has argued that Syrian President Bashar Assad, fighting to continue his family’s four-decade rule, apparently used chemical weapons against its own population in an attack on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| September 9, 2013
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Damascus accepts Russia’s suggestion of relinquishing control of its chemical weapons

Syria welcomed Russia’s foreign minister’s suggestion to surrender Assad’s chemical arsenal to int’l control, a move Moscow believes can avert a U.S. airstrike on Syria.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said on Monday that his country welcomed Moscow’s proposal to relinquish control over its chemical arsenals, a move Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said could avert a U.S. strike.

Syria chemical attack

Members of the UN investigation team take soil samples in the Damascus countryside of Ain Terma, Syria, Aug. 28, 2013. – Photo: AP

“The Syrian Arab Republic welcomes the Russian initiative, which is motivated by the Russian leadership’s concern for the life of our citizens and the security of our country,” Moallem told reporters in Moscow, according to the Interfax news agency.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| September 4, 2013
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Russian President Vladimir Putin warns Obama: Do not attack Syria without UN approval

After comparing recent evidence of Syrian chemical weapons use, to faulty U.S. intel on Iraq in 2003, the Russian president threatens to supply advanced air-defense systems to Assad and elsewhere if America strikes without accepted int’l approval.

By

 

 

President Vladimir Putin warned the West against taking one-sided action in Syria but also said Russia “doesn’t exclude” supporting a UN resolution on punitive military strikes if it is proved that Damascus used poison gas on its own people.

Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin – Photo: AP

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press and Russia’s state Channel 1 television, Putin said Moscow has provided some components of the S-300 air defense missile system to Syria but has frozen further shipments. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , , , ,
| August 29, 2013
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UN Chief Urges US & UK: Postpone Attack

UN Secretary-General Ban tells US & UK to delay strike on Syrian targets & give inspectors more time to investigate.

Syria takes advantage of ‘advanced warning’ to evacuate top military posts & prepare for attack.

By Maayana Miskin

 

 

The United States and Britain have come under pressure to delay military intervention in Syria, with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urging both countries to hold fire.

UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon – AFP file

Speaking at a press conference at The Hague, Ban called to give UN inspectors more time to examine the scene of the chemical weapons attack near Damascus last week. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , , ,
| August 23, 2013
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Residential Areas in Galilee Sustain Hits Despite Iron Dome

 

The IDF’s Iron Dome battery deployed in northern Israel  intercepted one rocket launched at a northern Israeli city, but failed to intercept 2 other rockets that hit 2 other Galilee communities.

IAF has launched an investigation into these misses.

By Ahiya Raved

 

 

The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted a rocket for the first time along the Israeli-Lebanese border Thursday, but apparently, out of the four rockets that were launched from Tyre, Lebanon, two managed to hit residential areas.

UN troops in Shavei Zion (Photo: Adham Muhammad)

UN troops in Shavei Zion – Photo: Adham Muhammad

Seeing as the Iron Dome battery intercepted only one Katiusha, the IAF is investigating how two other managed to reach Israel – one in Kibbutz Gesher HaZiv in the Western Galilee and the other in Moshav Shavei Zion in the Western Galilee. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
| August 22, 2013
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UN probes Israeli response to rockets, but not Syria chemical attack on civilians

 

UN hypocrisy is always reaching new heights. This time the UNSC declined to investigate claims of a Syrian chemical weapons massacre.

By Ryan Jones

 

The United Nations on Wednesday again revealed its true colors when it stopped short of ordering an official probe into charges that the Syrian government had killed hundreds of its own citizens in a chemical weapons attack.

United Nations Security Council - Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

United Nations Security Council – Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

 

That decision was especially interesting to Israelis, who are still irked by the UN’s massive and widely-publicized probe into the Gaza War that began in late 2009 after Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorists escalated missile attacks against southern Israel. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , , ,
| August 20, 2013
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Ban Ki-moon: Backsteps, Now saying no discrimination against Israel at UN

 

Now in New York, the Secretary-general denies saying this to students in Israel: “Unfortunately because of the conflict, Israel has been weighed down by criticism and suffered from bias – sometimes even discrimination,”

Not very Diplomatic.

By MAYA SHWAYDER
 

 

NEW YORK – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon denied on Monday there is any bias in the UN against Israel.

Ban (center) with the students in Jerusalem Photo: Reuters

Ban (center) with the students in Jerusalem – Photo: Reuters

At a press “encounter” at the UN Headquarters in New York, a reporter for Israel Radio pressed Ban about his comments last Friday while meeting with students at the UN headquarters in Jerusalem.

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Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| August 17, 2013
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United Nations Sec-Gen admits bias against Israel at United Nations

 

Speaking at a meeting with students in Jerusalem, the UN chief Ban Ki-moon admitted that the Jewish state is discriminated against due to Mideast conflict.

By, Omri Efraim

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with students at the UN headquarters in Jerusalem on Friday afternoon, and admitted that his organization was biased against Israel.

Ban (center) with the students in Jerusalem Photo: Reuters

Ban (center) with the students in Jerusalem – Photo: Reuters

Responding to a student who said Israelis felt their country was discriminated against in the international organization, Ban confirmed that there was a biased attitude towards the Israeli people and Israeli government, stressing that it was “an unfortunate situation.” Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| August 14, 2013
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UN rights chief urges Hamas to cancel prisoner executions in Gaza

 

Pillay “deeply concerned” after Hamas declares that men sentenced to death are to be executed as planned after Ramadan.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
 

 

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Wednesday urged Hamas in the Gaza Strip not to carry out planned executions.

Hamas forces executes Majdi Mikkawi [file]

Hamas forces executes Majdi Mikkawi [file] – Photo: REUTERS/Stringer

In a statement, Pillay expressed deep concern “at the possibility that executions might be carried out over the course of the next weeks in Gaza and urgently appeal to the de facto authorities there not to implement any death sentences.”

The attorney general in Gaza made several announcements during Ramadan that after the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, which have just ended, executions of people sentenced to death would take place. Continue Reading »

Category: Mid-East News | Tags: , ,
| July 26, 2013
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UN human rights chief slams Bedouin reorganization bill

 

UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights criticizes Prawer Bill, claims Israeli ‘gov’t must respect rights of its Bedouin communities, including recognition of Bedouin claims of land ownership. 

By the Associated Press

The UN human rights chief on Thursday criticized Israel’s plan to demolish dozens of Bedouin villages and move up to 40,000 Arab residents to Israeli-built communities.

מאהל בדואי מזרחית לרהט (ארכיון) (צילום: באדיבות Lowshot)

An unrecognized Bedouin village – Photo: Lowsho

High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the Prawer Bill working its way through the Knesset would wipe out legitimate land claims for the Bedouins in the Negev. Her office said the bill, introduced Wednesday, could pass by the end of July. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , ,
| July 24, 2013
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Israel’s secret ‘Power’ at the United Nations

 

 

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach said “that, based on her comments and her unabashed display of emotional attachment to the security of the Jewish people…they would never again question her commitment to Israel’s security.”

By Connie Fieraru

 

Samantha Power is set to be the next US ambassador to the UN following overwhelming approval during her Senate Foreign Relations Committee appearance on Tuesday. Power made special note of her intention to defend Israel in the world body and work to secure a seat for the Jewish state on the Security Council by 2018.

Israel's new 'Power' at the UN

Power & Obama – Israel Today

After her approval by all but two of the 18-member Senate committee, Power is expected to easily win confirmation from the rest of the Senate. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: ,
| July 24, 2013
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Nothing new at the UN, Palestinians charge Israel with war-crimes

Despite resumed talks between Israel & Palestinians, at UN Security Council debate, Palestinian rep charges Israel commits war crimes, continues to build settlements and confiscates their land.

Israeli ambassador criticized the EU ban.

By Yitzhak Benhorin

 

While the Americans are trying to close out the invitations of the Israeli and Palestinian representatives to direct talks in Washington, in New York the two sides are continuing to go head-to-head. Palestinian representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, stated Tuesday that Israel was committing “war crimes” against his people.

Ron Prosor – Photo: Shahar Azran

At the monthly meeting of the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, Mansour said that Israel continues to build in the West Bank, confiscating land, clearing land, removing residents from their land, and supporting extremists who commit “terror” against Palestinians in the West Bank. Continue Reading »

Category: Israel News | Tags: , , ,
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