The Biden Administration is considering doing away with nearly all of the most stringent Trump-era sanctions imposed on Iran in a bid to get the Islamic Republic to return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear accord, current and former US officials say.
As indirect talks continue this week in Vienna to explore the possibility of reviving the nuclear deal, American officials have reportedly become increasingly expansive about what they might be prepared to offer Tehran, which has been driving a hard line on sanctions relief, demanding that all US penalties be removed.
When former US President Donald Trump reimposed sanctions after withdrawing from the deal in 2018, he not only penalized Iran’s nuclear program but also added penalties in response to Tehran’s support for global terrorism.
If the US does not lift at least some of these sanctions, Iran says it will not agree to halt its nuclear activities as mandated by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
In related news, the US Senate confirmed Colin Kahl as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. The nomination survived a fierce challenge from opponents who targeted Kahl for his role in shaping the JCPOA. Kahl was given the green light by a 49-45 vote that broke along party lines.
The United States has come out against the allegation leveled by Human Rights Watch (HRW) that Israel is committing “apartheid” against the Palestinians. “It is not the view of this administration that Israel’s actions constitute apartheid,” a US State Department spokesperson said.
However, US President Joe Biden’s State Department also said that it would not “offer public evaluations of reports by outside groups” — a shift from Donald Trump’s administration, which condemned groups that criticized the Jewish state.
HRW’s new report published this week said that the Jewish state had an “overarching” policy to “maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians.”
The country has denounced the New York-based group and accused Human Right Watch of having an anti-Israel agenda. “The purpose of this false report is in no way related to human rights, but to the continuing attempt to undermine the right to exist of the State of Israel as a nation state of the Jewish people,” said Michael Bitton, Israel’s Minister of Strategic and Civil Affairs.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin thanked his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a letter for backing changes to existing laws after a top court ruled that a Jewish woman’s murderer was not criminally responsible due to having been under the influence of marijuana.
“I appreciate your ethical and legal position and your determination to introduce an amendment to the criminal code. Your quick and clear response sends a clear message to the family of the victim and to France as a whole that law as it currently stands is deficient, and that deficiency has allowed a despicable murderer to evade justice and punishment,” Rivlin wrote to Macron.
“The facts of the case are accepted,” Rivlin continued. “Dr. Sarah Halimi was a victim of a despicable murder by a cruel murderer because she was Jewish, and everything must be done to send a clear message that there is not, and there won’t be, any tolerance of sick and despicable antisemitism and attacks on Jews because of their ethnicity and religion.”
On April 14, France’s highest court ruled that Kobili Traore, a 31-year-old Muslim man, was not criminally liable for his actions on April 7, 2017, when he attacked Halimi, his 65-year-old Jewish neighbor, while screaming “Allahu Akhbar” and then threw her out of her third-floor window.
Washington’s National Cathedral, known for its role during presidential inaugurations and other days of national import, is honoring Nobel Peace Laureate and Holocaust survivor and renowned author Elie Wiesel with a bust, making him the first Jew to be so venerated.
There are also depictions of Jewish prophets, including Noah, Joab, Isaiah and Jeremiah, on the cathedral’s stained glass windows.
Wiesel’s bust joins other luminaries on the Human Rights Porch, visible as one enters the cathedral, which is also a popular tourist destination.
The cathedral is not just a Christian shrine, but a tribute to those who loom large in the American consciousness. “It’s important for us that whenever people come into the cathedral, that they see not only in the iconography reflected, you know, saints and other parts of the Christian faith, but they also see folks throughout the 20th century who stand as examples in our country,” the cathedral’s dean, Rev. Randy Hollerith, said.
While the cathedral belongs to the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, rabbis and imams routinely take part in services that take place the day after presidential inaugurations.
The formal dedication of Elie Wiesel’s bust will take place in the fall of 2021.
Recommended Reading
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The Iranian Trap (Hussein Aboubakr Mansour and Sarah N. Stern, Jewish News Syndicate)
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Hamas’ Goal is a Temple Mount Cleansed of Jews (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom)
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British Marine Archeologist Claims to Find Evidence of King Solomon’s Maritime Empire (Algemeiner)
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The Holiday Lag B’Omer Is All the Rage in Israel — Here’s How to Celebrate It (Rabbi Robyn Frisch, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
