Netanyahu apologizes to U.S. lawmaker for praising Fidel Castro

-

Israel - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to a Republican congresswoman two weeks ago for having praised Fidel Castro after the former Cuban leader made positive remarks about Israel.


In a September interview with The Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg, Castro defended Israel and Jews and criticized Iran, leading to praise from Netanyahu and a friendly letter from President Shimon Peres.

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, a legislator since 1989 and the most senior Republican woman in the U.S. House, is incoming chairwoman of the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee. Representing Florida's 18th Congressional District - which includes part of Miami-Dade County, with its large Cuban-immigrant community - she is known in Washington for her hard line against the Cuban regime as well as her unflinching support for Israel.

Ros-Lehtinen was born in Havana, and as a girl came to Florida, where her father continued the anti-Castro campaign among Cuban expatriates. Over the past few years she has sponsored several legislative measures against the island's Communist regime and has gone as far as to call for Castro's assassination.

On hearing about Netanyahu's praise for Castro's remarks, Ros-Lehtinen contacted several Israeli officials asking them to urge the prime minister to retract his comments. On his visit to the U.S. two weeks ago, the prime minister called the lawmaker by phone and apologized.

The prime minister's bureau said Tuesday that Netanyahu's remarks "referred only to a specific article," adding, "the prime minister made clear he hasn't changed his position on a number of other things Castro said over the years, including over the past year, on the State of Israel."

The website Politico reported Tuesday that Ros-Lehtinen said she had told Netanyahu, "I just said look, this guy has been an enemy of Israel, just because he said something that a normal person would say - after 50 years of anti-Israel incitement, it's one phrase from an old guy who doesn't even know where he's standing."

Haaretz

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Huge Japan Quake Cracked Open Seafloor

-
The March 2011 megaquake off the coast of Japan opened up fissures as wide as 6 feet (3 meters) in the seafloor, a new study finds. The fissures now scar the seafloor where peaceful clam beds once lay, according to Takeshi Tsuji, a researcher at Kyoto University in Japan . Along with seismic studies, the fissures, revealed by manned submersible vehicles that investigated the seafloor after the quake, show how the crust around the quake's epicenter expanded and cracked.
Read more

Index for a million documents on Polish Jewry to go online

-
Researchers of Polish Jewry are set to gain online access to more than 1 million new documents following an agreement signed by the Polish State Archives. Under the agreement signed last week, Jewish Records Indexing-Poland will receive indices to the documents from the Polish archives authority and place them on the website of the online database within one year, a JRI-Poland statement read.
Read more

A lot of the bread in the US will no longer be kosher

-
The largest baking company in the United States will be removing kosher certification from nearly all of its bread and rolls. Bimbo Bakeries USA confirmed to JTA that it will be removing the certification. The company produces brands including Arnold, Sara Lee, Stroehmann, Freihofer’s and others. Two of its major brands, Entenmann’s and Thomas, will remain certified kosher. So, kosher eaters, your crumb doughnuts and English muffins are still safe. A couple of rye breads also will retain their certifications. “Removing the kosher certification from some of our products was strictly a business-process decision to enable more efficient operations, and it was one we did not make lightly,” Bimbo said in a statement. “Thomas’ and Entenmann’s products as well as Arnold’s and Levy’s Rye Breads will remain kosher-certified. It is important to note that we have heard our consumers’ concerns and are working with kosher certification organizations and discussing alternative solutions.” The c
Read more