WORLD | Tensions over Trump deepen fractures among American Jews

In this Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu give a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington. The debate among American Jews over President Donald Trump has become as raucous as the first weeks of the Trump administration itself, hardening divisions between liberal and conservative Jews that have been growing for years. AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

NEW YORK — The early weeks of the Trump administration have widened divides between liberal and conservative Jews, setting off quarrels over anti-Semitism, Israel and the Holocaust.

Well before the 2016 election, discussion over Israel had become so barbed among Jews that Jewish groups began organizing civility training so relationships and holidays wouldn't be ruined. But those disputes have erupted with a new intensity since Donald Trump won the presidency.

They were on display most prominently this week, during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's first visit to the Trump White House and a pair of news conferences during which the president would not directly address questions about anti-Semitism. On Thursday, in one of the most remarkable moments of a riotous back-and-forth with reporters, Trump shut down a Hasidic reporter from an Orthodox magazine who had taken pains to preface his question by saying he knew Trump wasn't anti-Jewish.
Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish civil rights group that has been highly critical of Trump, called the president's response "mind-boggling."

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But Mort Klein, president of the hawkish Zionist Organization of America, who has championed Trump as a great ally of Israel, said Trump must have been frustrated by the "relentless and outrageous allegations" of anti-Semitism against him and his White House strategist Steve Bannon. "If there was a hint of anti-Semitism, I would be at their throat," Klein said.

American Jews have been especially on edge because of a surge of anti-Semitic harassment over the course of the presidential campaign and continuing this year. Last month, Jewish community centers and other institutions in 27 states and Canada received what is being investigated as a coordinated series of telephone bomb threats over a period of days, according to the Secure Community Network, formed by Jewish organizations to protect their institutions.

Many Jewish groups and others had seen animus in the White House statement last month on International Holocaust Remembrance Day that did not mention Jews. The president's aides defended the statement as "inclusive" of all who were killed by the Nazis.

At a news conference with Netanyahu last Wednesday, Trump opened by calling Israel a symbol of "survival in the face of genocide." But when an Israeli reporter asked Trump about the rise in anti-Semitic harassment during the campaign and since his election, he responded by touting his Electoral College total and promising "peace in this country." Netanyahu then took up the question, saying he had known the president, his family and some of his aides for many years and "there is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state than President Donald Trump. I think we should put that to rest."

The response rankled some American Jews. Alana Newhouse, editor-in-chief of Tablet, the online Jewish magazine, addressed the prime minister: "I won't tell you what to be afraid of in your country, and you don't tell me what I should fear in mine."

The next day, a confirmation hearing was held for David Friedman, the combative attorney Trump chose as U.S. envoy to Israel. Friedman, who has deep ties to the Israeli settler movement, had said the Anti-Defamation League sounded like "morons" for accusing Trump of anti-Semitism, and he had called supporters of the dovish pro-Israel lobby J Street "worse than kapos," a reference to Jews who helped the Nazis imprison fellow Jews during the Holocaust.

At the hearing, Friedman apologized for using inflammatory language in the past, and said he regretted not expressing his views of J Street in a more respectful manner. Greenblatt said he had spoken with Friedman about his remarks regarding the ADL and had accepted his apology.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the liberal Union for Reform Judaism, the largest American Jewish movement, said he met for 90 minutes with Friedman at the nominee's request, "He simply wanted to have a conversation directly," Jacobs said in a phone interview. "He knows how offensive it was."
On Friday, Reform Jewish leaders announced they opposed Friedman's nomination, the first time the movement had ever opposed a president's choice for the position. The ZOA's Klein, meanwhile, said Friedman has "the potential to be the greatest U.S. ambassador to Israel ever."

Jewish issues came to the fore again in a remarkable way during Trump's question-and-answer session on Thursday.

The reporter from the Brooklyn-based Orthodox Ami Magazine, Jake Turx, sporting curly sidelocks and a skullcap embroidered with his Twitter handle, rose to ask his question. While Hillary Clinton won 71 percent of the Jewish vote, Orthodox Jews who backed Trump have taken comfort in his support for Israel, his many Jewish friends and advisers, and especially his Orthodox Jewish daughter, Ivanka, who converted, and her husband and close presidential aide Jared Kushner. Turx opened his question to Trump by noting the president was a "zayde" — which is Yiddish for grandfather — then started to ask about the increased reports of anti-Jewish harassment and hate crimes.

But Trump quickly interrupted, saying "not a fair question," and when Turx tried to continue, said "quiet, quiet, quiet ... I find it repulsive. I hate even the question."

The internal Jewish debate will likely rage on in the coming weeks as Trump's policies on Israel, refugees and immigration take shape.

At Friedman's hearing, three young Jews who belong to the activist group IfNotNow, which opposes Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, stood up to interrupt the proceedings. They shook groggers, or noisemakers, used on the holiday of Purim to drown out the names of enemies of the Jewish people.

NATION | PH, Russia defense accord seen

President Duterte welcomes Russian Federation Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev to the presidential guest house in Davao City the other night. Patrushev, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, heads a 50-member delegation on a three-day visit to the city

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DAVAO CITY, Philippines – President Duterte may officially get his wish for stronger defense and trade ties with Moscow when he visits Russia in May.

National Security Council chairman Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the Philippines and Russia are in the process of finalizing details of agreements on government-to-government cooperation in the fields of security and intelligence, defense and military, law enforcement, terrorism and transnational crime, anti-illegal drugs work plan and maritime law enforcement.

“We are still in the process of crafting these agreements and these will be signed when the President visits Russia soon,” said Esperon, who was among the officials who met with Nikolai Patrushev, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin and secretary of the National Security Council of Russia. The Russian official arrived here on Thursday for a three-day visit.

Duterte received Patrushev and his party at a dinner last night at the Marco Polo Hotel Davao following their initial meeting at the Malacañang in the South guest house in Barangay Panacan.

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Esperon said Russia is also expected to help the country fight the terror group IS, mainly in terms of intelligence sharing.

The country is also considering acquiring weapons, frigates and other equipment from Russia for the police and the armed forces.

But he stressed the Philippines’ expanding its ties with Russia won’t affect existing military cooperation with the US.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella stressed Duterte’s “decision to pivot to Russia forms part of his independent foreign policy.” 

“We seek new or enhanced partnerships based on equality. This new alliance will not exclude other relationships. The United States will remain an ally,” the presidential spokesman added.

“The President sought closer ties with Russia and yesterday’s (Thursday’s) meeting between President Duterte and the Security Council of the Russian Federation where government-to-government cooperation in the fields of security, intelligence, terrorism, crime and law enforcement were discussed is a concrete example of the improving ties between the two nations,” he added. – Christina Mendez

REGION | New road open for public use in Sultan Kudarat

The newly-concreted Banubo-Mulaog artery in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao was opened to public use on Friday. Philstar/John Unson

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines – There is new concrete road connecting two agricultural areas in Sultan Kudarat town that will now give Moro peasants access to markets all the time.

Municipal officials, Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and his public works secretary, engineer Don Loong, on Friday opened to public use the newly-concreted Banubo-Mulaog Road in Sultan Kudarat.

The historic Sultan Kudarat town, located in the first district of Maguindanao, is a bastion of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The MILF has many members in the municipality that rely mainly on farming as source of income. The group’s main enclave, Camp Darapanan, is located in northwest of Sultan Kudarat.

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The P13.2-million road was constructed by the municipal government of Sultan Kudarat using a grant from ARMM’s yearly infrastructure subsidy.

The project was implemented by the office of Sultan Kudarat Mayor Shameem Mastura via a memorandum of agreement with the Hataman administration, subject to state accounting laws.

More than 2,000 farmers, many of them members of the MILF, stand to benefit from the convenient connectivity now of their farms in Barangays Banubo and Mulaog to places where they sell their harvests.

The newly-concreted road was virtually impassable during the rainy days while yet a dirt artery, causing farmers heavy losses due to constraints in transporting their farm products to trading centers on time.

Hataman said the newly-concreted road will be extended within the year to Barangay Sinditan in the same municipality.

Documents from state auditors and the Department of Public Works and Highways-ARMM indicated that the Hataman administration implemented 22.3 kilometers of road projects in Sultan Kudarat alone from 2012 to 2016.

Sultan Kudarat is one of the 11 towns in the first district of Maguindanao.

The regional government has earmarked P150 million more for the concreting of 12.7 kilometers of farm-to-market roads in the same municipality this year.

WORLD | Syria and monitoring group blast Turkey over civilian deaths

The U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, right, and Turkey's Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar talk during a meeting in Incirlik Airbase in Adana, Turkey, Friday, Feb. 17, 2017. Turkey's military says the Turkish and U.S. chiefs of staff have "confirmed" the need to fight terror groups in Syria and Iraq, including the Islamic State group and Kurdish militants. (Turkish Military, Pool Photo via AP)

BEIRUT — The Syrian government and an opposition monitoring group condemned yesterday what they called Turkey's "crimes" against the Syrian people in the northern town of al-Bab that is controlled by the Islamic State group, as a top Turkish military official said most of the town is under control of allied Syrian opposition fighters.

Turkish troops and allied opposition fighters have been on the offensive in al-Bab for weeks trying to take it from IS, a grueling battle that has killed hundreds of people so far. On Feb. 7, the Turkish offensive on the town intensified in an attempt to capture it from the extremists but the push has been slow because of fierce resistance from IS fighters.

The battle has been difficult for Turkish troops who have lost some 65 soldiers since they entered Syria in August, most of them in al-Bab, which has been under attack since mid-November.

Turkish forces have been deployed in Syria since August with the aim of clearing a border patch of IS militants and Syrian Kurdish fighters that Ankara considers related to its own Kurdish insurgency.

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Turkish shelling and airstrikes have killed 45 people in al-Bab since Wednesday. It said the dead include 14 women and 18 children.

"The crimes committed against civilians in the city of al-Bab are continuing after the killers of civilians have permitted shedding the blood of Syrians," the Observatory said. It said that since the operation against al-Bab and nearby villages began on Nov. 13, some 430 civilians have been killed in the area.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry on yesterday condemned what it called Turkey's violations of Syria's sovereignty. The condemnation was expressed in letters addressed to the UN secretary-general and president of the UN Security Council.

The IS-linked Aamaq news agency released a video said to be taken in al-Bab showing men, boys and infants being treated for severe wounds inside a clinic.

The video shows a child crying while lying on a hospital bed with a severe wound after his left arm was cut from under the shoulder. Another child had a severe stomach wound that killed him. A third infant had the upper part of his skull blown off removing the top of the child's head. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting of the events.

The violence in al-Bab came as Turkey's military said the Turkish and US military chiefs of staff have "confirmed" the need to fight terror groups in Syria and Iraq, including the Islamic State group and Kurdish militants.

A military statement said US Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford met with his Turkish counterpart, Gen. Hulusi Akar, on yesterday at Incirlik air base, which is home to warplanes of the US-led coalition that is battling the extremist group. Turkey also carries out airstrikes against Kurdish militants' bases in northern Iraq.

The military statement said Akar told Dunford that Turkey and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters had "to a great extent" taken control of the IS-held Syrian town of al Bab.

It made no reference to a possible joint operation to retake the IS stronghold of Raqqa, which Turkey's defense minister said would be discussed.

The Observatory said IS fighters are still in "full control" of al-Bab.

As the fighting in al-Bab area intensified, the Russian military said that its strategic bombers have struck IS positions to the east. The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Tu-95 bombers that flew from their base in Russia launched long-range cruise missiles yesterday at the IS facilities near the group's main stronghold of Raqqa.

It added that the missiles successfully hit the IS training camps and a control facility of one of the militant units. The ministry said fighter jets from a Russian air base in Syria escorted the bombers.

NATION | DENR chief: I'm not anti-mining

Environment Secretary Gina Lopez yesterday responded to the threats of mining firms affected by her closure order against mines that destroy mountains and watersheds, saying she will keep her stand as “the quality of life” is more important. King Rodriguez/Presidential Photo

MANILA, Philippines - Environment Secretary Gina Lopez yesterday responded to the threats of mining firms affected by her closure order against mines that destroy mountains and watersheds, saying she will keep her stand as “the quality of life” is more important.

She also clarified that she is not anti-mining, she has followed due process and she is willing to work with mining companies that passed the audit.

Lopez’s statement came after some mining firms said they are looking at possible graft charges against Lopez for the alleged lack of due process in her order to close 28 operations and cancel 75 mining contracts.

The mining sector also claimed Lopez’s order would result in massive job loss, and warned that it could affect her confirmation at the Commission on Appointments (CA).

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But Lopez said she does not just stop at issuing closure orders for erring mining firms because the Department of Environment (DENR) has a plan of investing in a “green economy” and help poor people to be productive.

She also explained why the DENR cancelled 75 contracts.

“With regards the recent cancellation of the 75 Mineral Production Sharing Agreements, we first issued show cause orders for the companies to explain why their MPSA should not be cancelled on a watershed, which is critical for the welfare of the people. If you don’t reply, then we take action. If you reply, then we will investigate,” she said.

Lopez maintained that she is just doing her job and vowed to stand by her decision.

“I’ll do my duty. I really feel there should be no mining in watersheds. The quality of life of the people is more important than the money they make. I’ll keep my stand. Let them do what they want to do,” she said in response to the reports that mining firms are set to block her confirmation at the CA.

“Those who would want to see the (audit) report, they can come to the office and see it. I even have the files, which we gave the mining companies. The whole process took seven months. I followed due process,” she added.

Lopez also said mining firms that failed the audit can appeal her decision before the Office of the President.

“These firms should not be operating unless they appeal the decision. The closure becomes final when the President says it is,” she added.

President Duterte said he chose to appoint Lopez as she shares his stand on responsible mining and environment conservation.

Lopez also said that the DENR can help mining firms in putting to good use their Social Development and Management Program (SDMP) for it to become beneficial to a wider sector.

SDMP is a comprehensive five-year plan of the contractor/permit holder/lessee authorized to conduct actual mining and milling operations towards the sustained improvement in the living standards of the host and neighboring communities by creating responsible, self-reliant and resource-based communities capable of developing, implementing and managing community development programs in a manner consistent with the principle of people empowerment.

“There is an SDMP fund. But instead of giving it to the host community only, the money – with the help of the DENR, the mining company and stakeholders – can be used in such a way that the area becomes productive,” Lopez said.

“With my expertise and background on development, we can replicate the projects I’ve helped implement before, wherein with a start-up fund of P1 million, we were able to make it grow and target communities are now earning P30 million a year,” she added.

Leftist lawmakers yesterday expressed support for the decision Lopez to close mines that destroy mountains and watersheds and pollute rivers. – With Jess Diaz

WORLD | In China, a sense of betrayal after the assassination of Kim Jong Nam

© Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pictured on a South Korean news show about the assassination of his half brother. If North Korea was involved, it would be embarassing for China. - via The Washiington Post

BEIJING — China’s Foreign Ministry has been at its stonewalling, noncommittal best this week after news of the dramatic assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the half brother of North Korea’s leader, repeating the mantra that it has “noticed relevant media reports and is closely following developments.”

But behind the scenes, there is a sense of shock and dismay in Beijing, officials and experts say: If, indeed, Kim Jong Nam was assassinated on the orders of the North Korean leader, it would be seen as an affront to the country that has afforded him protection for many years.

“China’s inner circle of government is highly nervous about this,” said Wang Weimin, a professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University in Shanghai.

“Kim Jong Nam’s assassination makes China more aware of how unpredictable and cruel the current North Korean regime is, as well as Kim Jong Un’s willingness to abandon China and sell it for his own benefit at any second.”

Kim Jong Nam had lived for over a decade in Beijing and Macau, apparently with wives and children in both places, and had a reputation as something of a playboy who liked to visit casinos. Chinese experts said he had received 24-hour protection — and monitoring — from China’s security services, as well as financial assistance when he needed it.

Yet despite his status as the eldest son of Kim Jong Il, he had shown no obvious political ambitions. Fudan University’s Wang said Chinese authorities realized long ago he lacked leadership potential, and did not pin huge hopes on him. Nevertheless, he was a guest of their country, who would probably have provided valuable intelligence in the past.

The assassination has come at an uncomfortable time for China, just days after North Korea conducted a missile test and when the new Trump administration has been asking China to do more to rein in its troublesome neighbor and ally.

China responded to that missile test by asking the United States not to escalate the situation, but instead to start a dialogue with Pyongyang.

Then, on Monday, Kim Jong Nam was apparently poisoned in an attack by two women at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. It was a reminder, according to Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, of the North Korean regime’s true nature: “a cruel and ultimately capricious dictatorship that cannot be trusted on anything.” 

While China’s official Communist Party mouthpieces, the People’s Daily newspaper and Xinhua news agency, have confined themselves to bland news reports on the incident, the nationalist Global Times tabloid, given a freer rein, has been more forthright, reflecting views shared by some officials and ordinary citizens.

Speculation sharply points at Pyongyang’s hand in the murder, in-house commentator Shan Renping wrote Thursday: If that is confirmed, China would join the international community in condemning it.

“Regardless of how intense a country's political struggle might be, there is no doubt that it should never rely on assassination methods as means for its advancement,” he wrote. “Human civilization is now in the 21st century, and such a savage and outdated political device should be cast into the museums of history.”

China’s critics, however, accuse the country of reaching across borders to kidnap its own dissidents.

Relations between Beijing and Pyongyang have deteriorated significantly in recent years. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un have never met and are believed to share mutual disdain, experts say.

In a sign that China’s patience might be running out, it rejected a shipment of coal from North Korea on Monday, a day after the ballistic missile test, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.

Fudan University’s Wang said China recently received intelligence indicating that some people in North Korean leadership circles have been suggesting sacrificing ties with China and trying to establish closer links with the United States, Japan and South Korea.

“The idea that China cannot be trusted and can only be used, that Japan has been the deadly enemy for hundreds of years but China has been the old enemy for thousands of years — that mentality still prevails in their internal party meetings and was inherited from Kim Jong Un’s grandfather,” he said.

In that context, the assassination of Kim Jong Nam could be a signal of the regime’s unhappiness with Beijing for supporting United Nations sanctions and of a desire to distance itself from China, he said.

Other experts say it is more likely that Kim Jong Nam was killed by the Southeast Asian underworld, or that — if Pyongyang was responsible — it had more to do with the regime’s internal dynamics and paranoia than a desire to send a signal to the world.

Nevertheless, as commentator Ding Gang wrote in the Global Times, the development has not made the task of reining in North Korea’s nuclear program any easier — and that’s not good news for China.

“North Korea’s nuclear facilities and missile bases are located near China’s border,” he wrote. “Once the situation in the Korean Peninsula spirals out of control, the facilities will be primary targets or the final fortress of North Korea's defense. Either way, the effects on China will be severe.”

The murder of Kim Jong Nam, he warned, could reinforce destabilizing calls for tougher action to force “regime change” in Pyongyang.

“People in the U.S., Japan and South Korea will more likely opt for hard-line approaches, which will trigger nuclear security problems,” he wrote. “We had better prepare for a nuclear emergency in North Korea rather than wasting our time discussing who is behind the assassination.”

Congcong Zhang and Jin Xin contributed to this report.

WORLD | Venezuela shuts off CNN in Spanish after criticizing story

FILE - In this Feb. 6, 2017 file photo, Venezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia. Venezuela suspended CNN in Spanish on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, shutting off the news channel a few hours after officials angrily criticized a report saying government workers engaged in selling fraudulent passports. Rodriguez said President Nicolas Maduro's government had requested that authorities take action against CNN in Spanish because of the "damage" it caused Venezuela. AP/Pavel Golovkin, File

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's government pulled CNN in Spanish from the nation's airwaves on Wednesday, shutting off the news channel after officials angrily criticized a report alleging the country's diplomats sold passports to members of a Middle East terror group.

The National Telecommunications Commission announced it initiated sanctions because of news stories that it considered "direct aggressions" that "threaten the peace and democratic stability" of Venezuela, the agency said in a news release.

The move comes as the new U.S. administration seems to be trying to further isolate Venezuela's embattled socialist President Nicolas Maduro. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump called on Maduro to release jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, saying he should be let "out of prison immediately."

Trump tweeted the message along with a photo from the Oval Office of him with Lopez's wife, Lilian Tintori, as well as Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Marco Rubio.

The meeting followed the Trump administration's decision this week to sanction Vice President Tareck El Aissami, blacklisting him as a major international drug trafficker. The CNN report also singled out El Aissami as being partly responsible for illegal passport sales from his days as interior minister, when he oversaw the agency that issues travel documents.

Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said Wednesday that the CNN report and the sanctions were intimately linked and part of a foreign media-backed conspiracy to remove Maduro. The previous night, she delivered a letter to the acting head of the U.S. Embassy in Caracas formally protesting the sanctions.

Maduro criticized CNN on Wednesday night, calling it an "instrument of war in the hands of real mafias." He also urged Trump to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Obama administration, which also called for Lopez's release although never went so far as to invite Maduro's opponents to the White House.

"Mr. President Trump: Open your eyes and ears and don't let yourself go down the wrong path," Maduro said on state TV before news of Trump's surprise meeting with Tintori set off a buzz on social media in Venezuela.

The suspension of CNN in Spanish followed a steady stream of criticism aimed by Venezuelan officials at CNN since the investigative report was aired Feb. 6. CNN's story was based on a whistleblower's allegations that Venezuelan officials had been selling passports from the country's embassy in Iraq to people of Middle Eastern origin, including a few members of Hezbollah.

In a statement, CNN said that it stood by its reporting and that the government's decision denied Venezuelans access to the network's news and information. It said it would continue airing content on YouTube and its website.

"At CNN en Espanol we believe in the vital role that freedom of press plays in a healthy democracy," the company said.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists issued an alert Monday accusing Venezuela of taking an "increasingly hostile stance" toward foreign reporters, including barring several from entering the country.

"We call on the government of President Maduro to put an end to this systemic practice of obstructing news coverage and to stop interfering with the work of the press," said Carlos Lauria, the group's senior program coordinator for the Americas.