Shapiro: US opposes preconditions to peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
(Analysis) September 27, 2011 - 12:00am

Washington does not agree that a settlement building freeze should be a precondition to the renewal of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, United States Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said Tuesday morning in an interview with Army Radio. He said that "the US has had the same policy for the past 40 years - against building settlements in the West Bank." However, he stressed that the US believes that direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, without preconditions, are the only way to resolve the conflict.

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U.S. hopes to not use veto to aid Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Ben Birnbaum - (Analysis) September 27, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinians have yet to lock down a nine-vote majority in the U.N. Security Council for their statehood bid, raising U.S. hopes that it could be spared the embarrassment of using its veto power in defense of an increasingly isolated Israel. Amid indications that Colombia and the Security Council’s four EU member states will abstain from any vote, attention has focused on Nigeria, Gabon and Bosnia, which have offered few signals about how they will vote.

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Koch on board with Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
September 27, 2011 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Ed Koch says he's now on the "Obama Reelection Express." The former New York mayor told supporters in an e-mail Monday that he is backing the president in the wake of his pro-Israel speech last week at the United Nations, among other factors. Koch credited his role in the Democrats' loss of this month's special congressional election in a heavily Jewish Democratic stronghold in New York City. Koch had urged voters to back the Republican candidate to send a message to President Obama, whom he accused of distancing himself from Israel.

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.House G.O.P. Tightens Its Bond With Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Steven Lee Myers - September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON — When the Obama administration wanted to be certain that Congress would not block $50 million in new aid to the Palestinian Authority last month, it turned to a singularly influential lobbyist: Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Obama and Israel: why 'leading from behind' won't work
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) September 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Last week, Susan Rice, America's ambassador to the UN, met with Jewish pro-Israel groups to update them on the extensive range of initiatives this Democratic administration is undertaking to block Palestinian aspirations at the United Nations. Two senior US envoys were in the Middle East with the same purpose (leaving America's post Arab Awakening efforts to constructively reset relations with the region in further free-fall).

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Sacramento food co-op becomes battleground over Israeli products
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Shane Goldmacher - (Analysis) September 9, 2011 - 12:00am

Reporting from Sacramento -- Its aisles brimming with a rainbow of ripe organic produce, bins of grains and refrigerators stocked with soy everything, the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op has long been an oasis of civility in this combative city. Democrats and Republicans may quarrel at the Capitol a few miles away, but here they break gluten-free bread, munch on kale chips and sip acai juice in blissful bipartisan harmony: "Peace, love and granola," said Republican strategist Donna Lucas, a proud co-op member. But now politics has intruded on their sanctuary.

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Analysis: Gates’s negative comments on Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - (Analysis) September 7, 2011 - 12:00am

Anyone who has paid any attention to Israel-US ties since the start of the “Obibi” era in early 2009, when US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took power in their respective countries, knows well that this relationship has been anything but a honeymoon. Anyone who has paid any attention knows there are wide gaps in the way the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government view the world and the swiftly changing region.

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Robert Gates Says Israel Is an Ungrateful Ally: Jeffrey Goldberg
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) September 5, 2011 - 12:00am

It was an extraordinary scene: President Barack Obama, sitting impassively in the Oval Office in May as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lectured him, at considerable length and at times condescendingly, on Jewish history, Arab perfidy and the existential challenges facing his country. What was extraordinary wasn’t the message -- it was not an untypical Netanyahu sermon. What was notable was that Netanyahu was lecturing the president live on television, during a photo opportunity staged so that the two leaders could issue platitudes about the enduring bonds between their nations.

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High-tech worker pleads guilty to spying for Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
August 31, 2011 - 12:00am

(JTA) -- A former employee of a Boston-area high-tech company pleaded guilty to handing over trade secrets to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer. Elliot Doxer, 43, who formerly worked for Akamai Technologies Inc., pleaded guilty to one count of foreign economic espionage Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Akamai provides technology for delivering content over the Internet using remote or cloud services.

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Israel's Image Won't Improve Without Policy Changes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Gary Wexler - August 29, 2011 - 12:00am

The thousands of scantily clothed bikers, skateboarders, walkers, hawkers, gawkers and performers were simply taking advantage of another breezy, crystal clear Southern California day. They had fought their way valiantly through relentless freeway traffic to participate in the year-round weekend ritual of parading down Los Angeles’ bohemian thoroughfare, the Venice Beach boardwalk.

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