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Netanyahu Rejoices Palestinian Failure to Oust Israel from FIFA

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed on Friday the “failure” of the Palestinian authority to suspend Israel’s FIFA membership during Friday’s Congress, stressing that the only way to achieve peace would be through negotiations.

“Our international effort has proven itself and led to the failure of the Palestinian authority attempt to oust us from FIFA,” Netanyahu said in a statement, extending thanks to all parties that partook in the international efforts, and the Israeli delegation in Switzerland led by Ofer Eini, chairman of the Israel soccer association, or IFA.

“The state of Israel is interested in a peace that will ensure security for its citizens but this will not be achieved through coercion and distorting the truth. The only way to achieve peace is to begin negotiations between the sides,” the Israeli prime minister added.

The Palestinian soccer association, or PFA, had previously planned to propose a vote during Friday’s meeting on the possible suspension of the Israel soccer association, as Israel has refused to ban five teams from illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories that play in the Israeli Premier League.

However, the Palestinian delegation withdrew its request to put the suspension to a vote, as PFA president Jibril Rajoub explained that he had agreed with his colleagues’ counsel to avoid bad blood in the governing body, but added that he would not give up on the cause to oblige Israel to respect FIFA regulations.

While the FIFA Congress did not vote on Israel’s FIFA status, it did approve the creation of a mechanism to verify if Israel poses obstacles to Palestinian soccer, while it will also devote time to the issue of teams from illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories that play in the Israeli Premier League.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin also congratulated Eini on the Palestinian’s failure to achieve the suspension.

“In sport, victory is only achieved on the pitch. The result at FIFA demonstrates that such attempts to harm Israel have failed and will always fail,” Rivlin said.

Three Dutch Deputies Banned from Entering Russia

BRUSSELS – Russia decided to ban three Dutch deputies from entering the country, the Dutch Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.

The three parliamentarians were included on a list of European Union citizens who are forbidden from traveling to the Russian federation.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told ANP news agency that the Russian blacklist, which was delivered to the Dutch embassy in Moscow in Thursday, has no basis in international law, and lacks transparency.

The Netherlands understood the travel ban as retaliation to EU sanctions imposed on Russia after it annexed Crimea and its continued involvement with the conflict in eastern Ukraine, according to the online edition of the Dutch AD newspaper.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry has informed the three deputies of Russia’s decision.

Argentine President Receives another Threat from Islamic State

BUENOS AIRES – Argentine police and prosecutors are investigating a threatening email sent to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez allegedly from jihadist group Islamic State, Clarin reported Sunday.

The message, received on April 26, also mentions Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and Argentine Police Chief Roman Di Santo, according to official sources cited by the daily.

“Satan KFK (Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner), Roman Di Santo, and now Bachelet in place of Alberto Nisman, are our targets in countries that clash with our aims. Di Santo has been in danger on two occasions, though he has yet to pay the highest price,” says the main paragraph of the email.

During an official visit to the Vatican in September last year, Fernandez revealed she had received threatening messages from the Islamic State, allegedly because of her friendship with Pope Francis and Argentina’s recognition of both Israel and Palestine.

Subsequent local media reports said intelligence agencies were investigating a Tunisian businessman for his contacts with the Islamic State.

However, Fernandez denied the veracity of these reports and asked media to refrain from playing up the issue of threats against her.

IS bombs second Saudi Shiite mosque, killing 3

An Islamic State jihadist killed three people Friday when he blew himself up in a car outside a Shiite mosque in Saudi Arabia, the second such attack in a week.
The bombing, again coinciding with weekly Friday prayers, took place in the oil-rich Eastern Province where most of the predominantly Sunni kingdom’s Shiites live.

It killed three people and wounded four, the interior ministry said.
The suicide bomber -- disguised in women’s clothing -- detonated his device at the entrance to the mosque, said the official Saudi Press Agency, citing a ministry spokesman.
'Authorities have managed to foil a terrorist crime targeting people performing the Friday prayers at Al-Anoud mosque in Dammam,' the provincial capital, he said.
The bomber 'detonated the explosive belt he was wearing at the mosque entrance as security officials were on their way to inspect him', he said, citing preliminary results of the investigation.
The explosion happened just as the attacker’s vehicle stopped at a car park near the mosque, the spokesman said.
Friday’s blast came exactly seven days after the jihadist group sent a suicide bomber into another Shiite mosque in Eastern Province, an attack which cost 21 lives.
After the May 22 attack, residents had set up security committees to search those entering mosques during prayers, witnesses said.

UN Nuke agency report: Iran probe essentially stalled

Amid nuclear negociations between the six world powers and the Iranian regime, the U.N. atomic agency on Friday reported that work on a key element — an assessment of allegations that Tehran worked on atomic arms — remains essentially stalled, The Associated Press reported from Vienna.

The report from the International Atomic Energy Agency also reiterated that more cooperation is needed by Tehran for full clarity on its present activities.
Without it, the IAEA said it cannot "conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities."

Diplomats in Vienna view Iran's reluctance to open up to investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency as a sign of its reluctance to cooperate fully until punitive sanctions imposed on it are lifted as part of any settlement with the powers, Reuters reported.

The IAEA is focused on 12 activities that point to clerical regime’s attempts to make nuclear weapons, including activities related to work on the development on a nuclear payload for missiles.

The IAEA relaunched its probe two years ago by asking for information on less sensitive work related to nuclear arms that may have been carried out by Tehran, with hopes of moving to larger issues later.

Since August, "Iran has yet to propose any new practical measures" to bring the investigation forward, said the report.

The IAEA report, issued to the agency's 35-nation board and the U.N. Security Council, said it remains "concerned about the possible existence in Iran of undisclosed nuclear-related activities involving military-related organizations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for missiles."

"Iran is required to cooperate fully with the Agency on all outstanding issues."

The Vienna-based IAEA also said it remained vital that Iran respond to the agency's questions on and access to the Parchin military base, where Western officials suspect Tehran conducted explosives tests relevant to nuclear bombs.

"The (IAEA) remains ready to accelerate the resolution of all outstanding issues under the Framework for Cooperation. This can be realised by increased cooperation by Iran and by the timely provision of access to all relevant information, documentation, sites, material and personnel in Iran as requested by the agency," the report said.

A tentative agreement was reached between the Iranian regime, the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China on April 2.

But pivotal issues remain unresolved, including the pace of easing Western sanctions and the extent of monitoring and verification measures to ensure Tehran honours any agreement.

The Iranian regime has ruled out any nuclear inspector access to its military bases, a position rejected by the Western powers.

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IS Executes 20 Men in Palmyra’s Roman Amphitheater

BEIRUT – Islamic State on Wednesday executed 20 accused supporters of the Bashar Assad government in the Roman amphitheater of Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The men were shot in front of a crowd of residents, the observatory said, citing sources in the area.

Wednesday’s killings brought to 237 the number of people executed by IS since May 16 in the course of an offensive in the eastern part of the central Syrian province of Homs, according to data from the observatory, which is based in Britain.

That figure includes 67 civilians – 14 of them children – who were accused of collaborating with the regime and hiding pro-government fighters in their homes.

Syrian authorities said IS has beheaded at least 400 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, in Palmyra since seizing control of the city on May 20.

Palmyra, an oasis in the Syrian desert, was a leading cultural center in the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. and later became an important stop for Silk Road caravans.

Prior to the start of Syria’s civil war, in March 2011, the Palmyra ruins were one of the country’s foremost tourist attractions. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has designated the ruins as a World Heritage Site.