New aid deal elusive as U.S, Israel defense chiefs meet in D.C.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter and his Israeli counterpart, Moshe Ya’alon, agreed at a Pentagon meeting to increase cooperation in the cyber domain, but did not announce agreement on a 10-year military aid package.
Carter “reaffirmed the United States’ unshakable commitment to the security of Israel and the importance of the U.S.-Israel defense relationship” during the March 14 lunch and bilateral meeting, the Pentagon press secretary, Peter Cook, said in a statement issued the same day.
The defense chiefs agreed to “increased cooperation in the cyber domain to enhance each nation’s cyber defense,” the statement said, and also “discussed a number of ways to further strengthen cooperation on a range of issues including regional security” as a follow-up to their October meeting in Washington.
The meeting ended without a formal announcement of a new 10-year military aid package to Israel. The package due to expire in 2018 averages $3 billion a year in assistance. Israel reportedly hopes to increase the annual amount to $5 billion, while Obama administration officials are said to be offering closer to $4 billion.
Members of the Obama administration’s national security team were in Israel in January for talks on the assistance package. U.S. officials reportedly have urged Israel to wrap up the negotiations on the aid package before Obama leaves office, suggesting it will not get a better deal with his successor. – jta
Jewish trans woman of color named senior White House LGBT liaison
Less than a year after becoming the first openly transgender person to serve in the White House, a Jewish woman of color has been promoted to serve as its senior liaison to the LGBT community.
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, a Honduras native who was raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, by Jewish parents, will serve as the White House’s “lead point of contact” for LGBT groups, BuzzFeed News reported Monday.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Freedman-Gurspan’s former employer, praised the appointment.
“Raffi’s skills and personality make her the exact right person for this important job,” Keislin told BuzzFeed.
Freedman-Gurspan, who is in her late 20s, was “a powerful leader for trans inclusion” in her Brookline synagogue, Temple Beth Zion, according to the Jewish LGBT advocacy group Keshet. She also was active in the Jewish Student Union as an undergraduate at St. Olaf College in Minneapolis.
Although Freedman-Gurspan was the first transgender White House staffer, another Jewish woman, Amanda Simpson, was the first transgender individual to hold a position in the executive branch. President Barack Obama appointed Simpson in 2010 to senior technical adviser in the Bureau of Industry and Security at the Department of Commerce. – jta
Arizona Legislature OKs anti-BDS bill
The Arizona state House of Representatives approved legislation that would bar state and local governments from doing business with companies that boycott Israel and its settlements.
On March 14, the bill passed the House by a vote of 42-16. The Arizona Senate passed the bill last week.
The House bill’s sponsor, Speaker David Gowan, told the Arizona Capital Times that the legislation is about standing with “our dear friend in the Middle East.”
Arizona becomes one of over 20 states in which bills targeting the BDS movement are under consideration or have passed. It is also among nine states where anti-BDS bills include language extending anti-boycott protection to settlements, a provision that has stirred controversy in the pro-Israel community, with some liberal groups favoring anti-BDS measures that extend protections strictly to Israel within its 1967 borders. A Florida bill passed last week also extends protections to settlements.
The legislation “exercises the state’s own right to choose the companies in which it will invest and with whom it will contract. Exercising such discretion with taxpayer funds is an important part of reinforcing economic interests, public policy and the basic ethical standards of government.
Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, must sign the bill for it to become law. – jta
U.S. textbook recalled over maps with anti-Israel bias
McGraw-Hill Education, a major U.S. textbook publisher, announced the recall and planned destruction of a political science book containing maps that are deemed inaccurate and anti-Israel.
The book, “Global Politics: Engaging a Complex World,” was taken off McGraw-Hill Education’s website and slated for recall and destruction in recent weeks following complaints about the maps, the news site insidehighered.com reported March 8.
The book features four maps of what is now Israel, Gaza and the West Bank and says that it shows “Palestinian loss of land” from 1946 to 2000, with which many historians and supporters of Israel strongly disagree. The critics of these maps argue that they distort key facts, such as Jewish ownership of land before Israel became a country in 1948. McGraw-Hill Education received complaints over the maps from advocates of Israel.
Catherine Mathis, a spokeswoman for McGraw-Hill Education, told the news site that an academic review of the book was ordered as soon as the complaints were received, the book will no longer be sold and all existing inventory will be destroyed. “We apologize and will refund payment to anyone who returns the book,” she said by email.
In October, MSNBC apologized for showing the maps, which the television network termed inaccurate following complaints. – jta
Boston-area Catholic school bans students from semifinals after anti-Semitic chants
A Boston-area Catholic school banned its students from attending a state semifinal basketball game in the wake of anti-Semitic chants made at a game against a predominantly Jewish public school.
Catholic Memorial School in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, announced in a statement hours before its March 14 game with Cambridge Rindge and Latin that its students would not be allowed to attend, the local CBS television affiliate reported. Catholic Memorial lost to Cambridge Rindge and Latin, 77-73.
On March 11, Catholic Memorial students shouted “You killed Jesus” during the division championship game against Newton North High School. The chants reportedly were in response to those about Catholic Memorial being an all-boys school, including “Where are your girls?” and “sausage-fest,” which conjured images of male anatomy.
Catholic Memorial’s president apologized for the chants in a statement a day after the game. Also, the school administration has launched steps “both immediate and long-term” to better educate students about intolerance, according to reports. The announcement came following meetings over the weekend, the CBS affiliate reported.
The Catholic Memorial students were reprimanded and each personally apologized to the principal and shook his hand. – jta