LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 02/15

Bible Quotation For Today/You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste.
Matthew 05/13-17: "�You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. �You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. �Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil:".

Bible Quotation For Today/For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ
Letter to the Philippians 01/21-30.: "For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better;
but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again. Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God�s doing. For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. "

Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 01-02/15
Head to Head: Should Israel oppose Iran deal/Ben-Dror Yemini and Igal Sarna/Ynetnews/ March 01/15
The UN Envoy to Syria�s Disastrous Failure/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed /Asharq Al Awsat/March 01/15

Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 01-02/15
Pope Denounces 'Intolerable Brutality' in Iraq, Syria
Netanyahu lands in US ahead of Congress speech
ISIS releases 19 Christians, more than 200 still captive
U.S.-led coalition launches air strikes on ISIS
Kerry: US deserves 'benefit of the doubt' on Iran deal
Iran: We're open to negotiating Google entry
Netanyahu flies to U.S., ties fraying over his planned Iran speech
Zarif says Netanyahu trying to undermine talks
Israeli military holds surprise West Bank drill
King Salman, Sisi mull joint anti-terror force
Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker criticizes Obama's latest move.
Netanyahu at Western Wall: I respect Obama, but it's my duty to ensure Israel's security
Senior Fatah official calls for using 'force' against Israeli 'occupation'
Obama vows veto of new Senate legislation ensuring vote on Iran deal
'Jihadi John' relatives under watch in Kuwait: reports
Anbar: ISIS converging on Ain Al-Assad base
Syria rebels reject UN plan for Aleppo cease-fire
Syria Opposition Praises France's Anti-Assad Stance
Syria agrees to UN fact-finding mission in Aleppo
Gaza fears isolation as Egypt calls Hamas 'terrorist' group
Turkey's Kurdish rebels hail disarmament call
PKK leader calls on movement to take �historic� decision and end armed conflict with Turkey
Yemen, Iran sign civil aviation agreement: state news agency
Egypt court declares part of election law unconstitutional
Egypt Army: 172 Sinai Militants Killed in February

Jihad Watch Site Latest Reports
Report: Obama threatened to shoot down Israeli strike on Iran
New York: Muslim suing Costco for religious discrimination
UK department store bans �Christ� in flower messages, but �jihad� is OK
Australia: Threat to behead senator unless she helps introduce Sharia
UK Muslim cleric under fire for views on gays: �Views I hold have been held by Muslims for hundreds of years�

Al-Rahi: Presidential Vacuum Depleting State's Capabilities
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi lamented on Sunday the failure to elect a new president, blaming officials for the delay. He said during his Sunday sermon at Bkirki: �The officials are depleting the capabilities of the state through failing to stage the polls.��We appeal to them, directly or indirectly, to elect a head of state,� he added. �They are depleting the state, its constitutional institutions, and funds,� he remarked. Moreover, al-Rahi said that the delay is also leading to the �depletion of the people through increased immigration.� �The vacuum should not be exploited to create a substitute for the president,� he stressed in reference to the ongoing debate at cabinet over a government mechanism to tackle affairs in the absence of a head of state. The patriarch explained that the constitution is clear in stipulating how the government should function in light of the presidential vacancy. Lebanon has been without a president since May when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise presidential candidate have thwarted the polls.

Salam 'Committed to Constitution' in Resolving Govt. Mechanism Dispute
Naharnet /Prime Minister Tammam Salam stated that he is still continuing consultations with various political parties to reach an agreement over a new government mechanism, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday. He told the daily: �I am committed to the constitution and will not abandon it.� He noted that during the past seven months and since the end of President Michel Suleiman's term, state affairs have been obstructed, �and we hope that the political factions would realize the harms such practices.� �They should focus their attention on tackling state affairs, not in an ideal manner, but in an exceptional way, because the situation in Lebanon is not sound and we should take the extraordinary situation into consideration,� he explained as regards to the presidential vacuum. Suleiman's term ended in May without the election of a successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise presidential candidate have thwarted the presidential elections. The vacuum has led to controversy over the role of government and the necessary mechanism it should adopt given the absence of a head of state. The differences between cabinet ministers on the amendment of the mechanism prompted Salam to suspend sessions in the past two weeks until the ministers reach an agreement on the formula, which he wants it to be based on article 65 of the constitution. The current mechanism, which was adopted after the cabinet assumed the responsibilities of the president in accordance with the constitution, states that ministers should give unanimous support to the government's decisions.

Report: Lebanon to Commit to International Decision on Freezing IS Funding
Naharnet/Lebanon will be committed to United Nations Security Council resolution 2199 regarding the freezing of funding of the Islamic State, al-Nusra Front and other al-Qaida-related extremist groups, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Sunday. Diplomatic sources said that Lebanon is concerned with such a decision �even though it is not a main source of funding of the terrorist groups included in the resolution.��Lebanon is committed to all U.N. resolutions, especially those linked to confronting the IS,� they continued. �Lebanon is among the leading countries that have suffered from the ravages of terrorism,� they stressed. Resolution 2199 was approved in February to combat terrorism through asset freezes, barring the payment of ransom to such groups, and condemning the destruction of the cultural heritage of Iraq and Syria.

FPM: Those Rejecting Aoun's Election are to Blame for Vacuum
Naharnet/The Free Patriotic Movement has announced that a much-anticipated meeting between FPM chief MP Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea will be held when the two parties decide to start discussing the presidential crisis in their ongoing dialogue. �Dialogue with the LF has reached a political agreement through the document of principles and any coming session between the two parties will be limited to the issue of presidency,� MP Alain Aoun of the FPM announced in an interview with al-Liwaa newspaper to be published Monday. FPM MP Ibrahim Kanaan and LF media officer Melhem Riachi had recently started meetings away from the media spotlight at the behest of Aoun and Geagea. Both Geagea and Aoun have announced their candidacies for the presidency. Their rivalry, in addition to other issues, have left Baabda Palace vacant since President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure ended in May last year. The two parties are currently embarked on preparing a so-called declaration of intent paper consisting reportedly of 17 sections. This has been described as the first phase of dialogue. The meeting between the two Christian leaders will occur in the second phase and will discuss an agreement over the presidential crisis, MP Alain Aoun said. �This depends on the LF's stance and on the guarantees that will be offered by the FPM to dispel any concerns, and this is the roadmap for the second phase of dialogue,� Aoun added. He noted, however, that the FPM's leader �is not to blame for the obstruction of the presidential vote and the blame falls on those who are rejecting his election as president.� Turning to the issue of the cabinet crisis, Aoun declared that no one has the intention to paralyze the government. �The mechanism must be based on the approval of ministerial blocs, not individual ministers,� Aoun said, adding that �Article 65 of the Constitution deals with normal circumstances, not extraordinary circumstances.� Prime Minister Tammam Salam's 24-minister cabinet assumed presidential powers after Suleiman's departure but its meetings were suspended around two weeks ago due to a dispute over the signatures needed to issue decrees. Decrees were being passed with the signatures of all 24 ministers but some cabinet members complained that the mechanism allowed some colleagues to practice an arbitrary veto power. In this regard, Aoun noted that the government must try to be �productive� while taking into consideration that there is �an extraordinary situation resulting from the absence of a president.�

Mashnouq Orders Facilitating Entry of Assyrian Refugees from Syria to Lebanon
Naharnet /Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq revealed that he had ordered security agencies to facilitate the entry of Assyrian refugees from Syria, who are fleeing the persecution of Islamic State group extremists, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal Sunday. He told the daily that he had taken the decision following consultations with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Rashid Derbas. He explained that his order does not contradict the government's decision regarding halting the entry of Syrian refugees to Lebanon. The cabinet decision excludes humanitarian cases, which Mashnouq said the Assyrians fall under. MP Nabil de Freij meanwhile estimated to al-Mustaqbal that some 5,000 Assyrians could seek refuge in Lebanon. Earlier this week, IS extremists launched a new offensive in Syria and kidnapped 220 Assyrian Christians, raising fears of their persecution in the country. Before Syria's civil war erupted in 2011, there were 30,000 Assyrians in the country, among an estimated Christian population of about 1.2 million. IS is accused of multiple abuses against minorities in the areas under its control in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere.

Report: New Round of Mustaqbal-Hizbullah Dialogue to Address 'Facilitating' Presidential Polls
Naharnet /The Mustaqbal Movement and Hizbullah are scheduled to hold on Monday the eighth round of their dialogue that was kicked off between them in December, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday. Speaker Nabih Berri's sources told the daily that the talks will focus on the presidential elections �and how to help facilitate consensus over it in a manner that would fortify constitutional institutions.�Berri meanwhile expressed his optimism that April �would carry positive factors that would help stage the elections.�He based his optimism on �external factors that indicate a foreign will to push for serious efforts that would lead to an internal agreement that would fortify Lebanon's immunity against regional dangers,� reported An Nahar. Lebanon has been without a president since May when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise presidential candidate have thwarted the polls.

ISIS releases 19 Christians, more than 200 still captive - activists
Reuters/Mar. 01, 2015/BEIRUT: ISIS released 19 Assyrian Christian captives in Syria on Sunday after processing them through a sharia court, a monitoring group which tracks the conflict said. More than 200 Assyrians remain in Islamic State hands, said the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, captives from an Islamic State advance last month that overran more than a dozen villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority near Hasaka, a northeastern city mainly held by the Kurds. Islamic State has not claimed any of the abductions. The Observatory tracks the conflict using a network of sources on all sides of the civil war which spiralled as security forces used violence to suppress protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule in 2011. It said 17 men and two women were released. Islamic State has killed members of religious minorities and Sunni Muslims who do not swear allegiance to its self-declared "caliphate". The group last month released a video showing its members beheading 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya.

Update From Walid Phares DC:
March 01/15/Some Syrian Christians fled their ISIS invaded village to free areas...According to the "Council of Syriac Organizations" CSO source, twenty one Assyrians, mostly elderly, from the captured village of Tal Goran in North East Syria have been able to flee to Al-Hasaka region. According to the source, "they are now located in the Assyrian Church of Al-Hasaka." The source said; "It is still not confirmed if these Syriac-Assyrians have been released by ISIS or if they have been able to flee on their own. At the moment nobody is allowed to talk to them. Only the bishop of the Assyrian Church, Afram Athanael is communicating with them." What was not clear in the CSO information is where did these elderly come from? Did they escape ISIS or were they released against ISIS hostages. No further explanation was released by the CSO so far. A source from MECHRIC, a federation of Middle East Christian NGOs said "we need to see a direct involvement of US and allies resources to follow up on these kidnapping and more importantly in arming and training the minorities in north east Syria. For arming and training the Muslim Brotherhood linked militias in Turkey to clash with ISIS, is not the solution, or the best solution at this time."

Lebanon opens border to Assyrians fleeing ISIS
The Daily Star/Mar. 01, 2015
BEIRUT: Assyrian Christians fleeing ISIS are welcome to take refuge in Lebanon because their humanitarian case is exceptional, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said. Al-Mustaqbal reported Sunday that Machnouk, after discussing the matter with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas, gave the order to allow the inflow of Assyrian refugees from Syria. Machnouk told the daily that the case of the Assyrians fleeing massacres meets the �extreme humanitarian cases� exempted from the recent government policy to stop allowing refugees in. Al-Mustaqbal also reported that State Minister Nabil De Freij had been making efforts to faciliate the entry of Assyrian refugees. De Freij visited Machnouk and General Security chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim, accompanied by the leader of the Assyrian community in Lebanon Bishop Yatron Guliano. The minister told the paper that border control was notified of the decision, saying around 5,000 Assyrians are expected to flee to Lebanon, and they will stay with relatives or in homes provided by the church.
Around 220 Assyrians were abducted from their homes by ISIS in northeastern Syria last week. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Assyrians were kidnapped from 11 villages in the Hassakeh province, and that thousands more have fled their homes to avoid capture. The activist group said 29 of the kidnapped were released, while others are to be tried by ISIS' Sharia court. On Saturday, hundreds of Assyrians marched in Downtown Beirut in solidarity with their brethren.
The marchers chanted slogans in their native language and carried signs that read: "Assyrians are the indigenous people of Mesopotamia", "We demand action from the United Nations" and "Save the Christians in the Middle East." The protesters began their afternoon march at Martyr's Square and headed towards the U.N.'s nearby ESCWA building, calling on the U.N. to take immediate action and protect their communities.

Current mechanism to govern Cabinet session: Berri
Mar. 02, 2015/Hussein Dakroub/Hasan Lakkis/the Daily Star
BEIRUT: The Cabinet will meet this week under the current decision-making system, Speaker Nabih Berri said Sunday, as Prime Minister Tammam Salam scrambled to resolve a widening row over the controversial mechanism that has thrown the government into paralysis.
Meanwhile, the Future Movement and Hezbollah will begin Monday discussing a mechanism to facilitate the election of a new president, as the presidential deadlock has entered its 10th month with no solution in sight.
�The presidential election issue is a main topic on the agenda of Monday�s dialogue session,� a member of the Future-Hezbollah dialogue team told The Daily Star, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Asked if officials from the two rival influential parties would also discuss other topics, including a joint national strategy to fight terrorism, he said: �The dialogue agenda is open to discuss any issue that might be brought up.�
Monday�s will be the seventh round of talks held by the Future Movement and Hezbollah since December, focusing mainly on defusing Sunni-Shiite tensions exacerbated by the 4-year-old war in Syria.
Berri, according to visitors at his Ain al-Tineh residence, said he expected the Cabinet to convene this week under �the mechanism used to make Cabinet decisions, coupled with a change in spirit and practice.�
�I personally prefer resorting to the Constitution, which calls for consensus in the first place in making decisions, but if this proves difficult to achieve, we will go to voting,� Berri was quoted by visitors as saying. He added that the ministers who do not like voting can object or withdraw from the session.
Berri said that the two ministers representing the Amal Movement in the Cabinet would register their reservations should the current decision-making mechanism, which requires unanimous support from all 24 ministers on the Cabinet decisions, continue to be utilized.
�But we will not obstruct the Cabinet�s work,� he said. The speaker said Salam, who is pushing for a change in the current mechanism, supports a consensus on Cabinet decisions that falls short of unanimity and avoids obstruction.
He accused the paralyzed Cabinet of hampering Parliament legislation �because it did not open an extraordinary session for Parliament.�
Salam stepped up his consultations with the Cabinet parties with the aim of reaching a new formula on the government�s decision-making that would clear the way for a Cabinet session Thursday, sources close to the premier said.�A Cabinet session this week is still up in the air. Prime Minister Salam is continuing his consultations to reach a formula based on consensus rather than on unanimous support from all the 24 ministers on the Cabinet decision,� a source told The Daily Star.
A meeting between Salam and Kataeb Party leader Amine Gemayel could be held in the next two days to explore a solution the crisis over the decision-making mechanism. Former President Michel Sleiman, who opposes changing the current mechanism, might attend the meeting. Salam last month suspended the Cabinet sessions following a heated debate between a number of ministers over a mechanism to govern the government�s decisions during the 9-month-old presidential vacuum.
Salam, backed by most ministers, is demanding a change in the current mechanism, which requires unanimous support from all 24 ministers on the Cabinet decisions. He argued that the mechanism has hindered the government�s productivity due to disagreement among ministers on decisions taken by the Cabinet.
But the three Kataeb ministers and three ministers loyal to Sleiman and Telecoms Minister Butros Harb oppose the change, saying the Cabinet should serve in a caretaker capacity until a new president is elected.
Salam stressed that addressing the crisis should be based on Article 65 in the Constitution which calls for consensus on Cabinet decisions. �This consensus is a priority in our National Pact [on power-sharing] and our Constitution is based on consensus,� he said.
Article 65 of the Constitution states that the Cabinet can only be activated if two-thirds of the ministers are present and that decisions must be made unanimously. However, in cases where a consensus cannot be reached, the Constitution requires that a simple majority vote be conducted. For his part, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai warned of attempts to devise a Cabinet mechanism to replace the presidency, renewing his call for a quick election of a president.
�We call for the election of a new president today before it is too late. The presidential vacuum is not a cause for devising an alternative to the presence of a president. The presidency is indispensable, even for one moment,� Rai said during his Sunday sermon in Bkirki, north of Beirut. �These two practices, an alternative mechanism and dispensing with [the [presidency], are a clear violation of the Constitution.�

Netanyahu flies to U.S., ties fraying over his planned Iran speech
March 01/15
WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Defying U.S. President Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington on Sunday to warn Congress about the risks of a possible nuclear deal with Iran in a speech that has imperiled ties between the two allies. Israel fears that Obama's Iran diplomacy, with an end-of-March deadline for a framework accord, will allow its arch foe to develop atomic weapons -- something Tehran denies seeking. But by accepting an invitation from the Republican party to address Congress on March 3, the Israeli leader infuriated the Obama administration, which said it was not told of the speech before plans were made public in an apparent breach of protocol. Earlier this week, Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, said the partisanship caused by Netanyahu's looming address was "destructive to the fabric of U.S.-Israeli ties". But Netanyahu, who is running for re-election in a March 17 ballot, has framed his visit as being above politics and he portrayed himself on Sunday as being a guardian for all Jews.
"I�m going to Washington on a fateful, even historic, mission," he said as he boarded his plane in Tel Aviv. "I feel that I am an emissary of all Israel's citizens, even those who do not agree with me, and of the entire Jewish people," he told reporters.
U.S. officials fear he is seeking to sabotage the Iran diplomacy, and critics have suggested his visit is an elaborate election stunt that will play well with voters back home. While White House and Israeli officials insist that key areas of cooperation from counter-terrorism to intelligence to cyber security will remain unaffected, the deepening divide over the Iran talks is shaping up as the worst in decades. Previously Israel has always been careful to navigate between the Republican and Democrat camps. The planned address, however, has driven a rare wedge between Netanyahu's government and some congressional Democrats. Some two dozen or more of them plan to boycott the speech, according to unofficial estimates.
Iranian accusation
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday the United States deserves "the benefit of the doubt" to see if a nuclear deal can be reached. Kerry, speaking on the ABC program "This Week", also said he hoped Netanyahu's speech to Congress did not turn into "some great political football". Speaking in Tehran on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused Netanyahu of trying to undermine the nuclear talks in order to distract from the Palestinians' unresolved bid for an independent state.
"Netanyahu is opposed to any sort of solution," Zarif said. Hard-line U.S. supporters of Israel say Netanyahu must take center-stage in Washington to sound the alarm over the potential Iran deal, even at the risk of offending long-time supporters.
But a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the "politicized" nature of his visit threatened "what undergirds the strength of the relationship". As one former U.S. official put it: "Sure, when Netanyahu calls the White House, Obama will answer. But how fast will he be about responding (to a crisis)?" Last month, U.S. officials accused the Israeli government of leaking information to the Israeli media to undermine the Iran negotiations and said it would limit further sharing of sensitive details about the talks.
Israelis are fretting over the possibility that Washington might not be as diligent as before about shielding Israel at the United Nations and other international organizations. One Israeli official said this was becoming more worrisome as the Palestinians are resorting increasingly to global forums like the International Criminal Court to press their grievances. Netanyahu is expected to use his speech to urge Congress to approve new sanctions against Iran despite Obama's pledge to veto such legislation because it would sabotage nuclear talks.
"What the prime minister is doing here is simply so egregious that it has a more lasting impact on that fundamental underlying relationship," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, head of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel lobbying group aligned with Obama�s Iran policy.
Netanyahu, who will address the influential pro-Israel lobby AIPAC on Monday, has remained defiant. Even so, he is expected to try to keep tensions from spiraling.
(Additional reporting By Patricia Zengerle and Mark Hosenball in Washington and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Editing by Jeffrey Heller, Raissa Kasolowsky and Crispian Balmer)

FPM co-founder launches new political party
The Daily Star/Mar. 01, 2015
BEIRUT: Former Free Patriotic Movement co-founder and retired general Issam Abu Jamra launched Thursday a new party called �The Independent Movement," and accused mainstream Lebanese political parties of affiliating themselves too deeply with foreign powers.
In a press conference held at the new party�s headquarters in Baabda, Abu Jamra accused his former party of becoming �dependent on a regional axis� when it was orginally created to fight against such dependences. The retired general said MP Michel Aoun�s party had also shifted from countering feudalism to becoming �the stronghold of feudalism,� centered around one political family. He invited all people who possess no affiliation with any of the mainstream political parties to join the new movement, saying "to all the free and the loyal in the country, we say: Come for the interest of all of Lebanon before freedom transforms into dependence, disrupting democracy becomes victory, money is lost to monopoly and politics becomes hereditary."Abu Jamra clarified that his party stands against �all illegitimate weapons� and any intervention in foreign countries, an indirect reference to the FPM�s ally Hezbollah. �No to religion in politics, no to weapons outside the framework of the state and a thousand yeses to coexistence and equality between men and women,� he said. �Lebanon is a nation for all its people without discrimination.� Abu Jamra�s speech also touched on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who has been in office since 1992. �Why don�t we forbid the re-election of the Parliament speaker the same way we do for the President?� he wondered, calling for constitutional and legal amendments. The 78-year-old retired general left FPM in 2010 after his calls for drastic reforms within the party clashed with some its leadership. Abu Jamra is a fierce critic of current Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, who is the son in law of Aoun. Abu Jamra accused Bassil of corruption in 2010 and said a �coup� against him should take place inside FPM.

Hundreds of Lebanese march in favor of civil marriage
The Daily Star/Mar. 01, 2015
BEIRUT: Hundreds of students and activists, many from the American University of Beirut, marched Sunday from the university campus to the Interior Ministry to demand that Lebanon institute civil marriage. Protesters held banners targeting Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, who had been fiercely criticized for refusing to approve civil marriage contracts performed in Lebanon. A big white banner carried at the head of the march read: �Release the civil marriage documents. Here.. Now.� Standing in front the Interior Ministry near the Sanayeh park, protesters shouted slogans calling for secularism and civil rights. The protest, which attracted activists from all ages and groups, was called for by several civil society organizations and two clubs at AUB, the Secular Club and the leftist Red Oak Club.
The Interior Ministry had issued a statement last month saying that the 1936 law that legalizes civil marriage also stipulates the need for an official process regulating the practice. This process must be decreed by the Cabinet before the law can be implemented, the statement said. However, activists claim that the law is enough for marriages to be issued, citing the already approved marriage of Nidal Darwish and Khouloud Succariyeh. Last year, the High Committee for Consultations in the Justice Ministry approved Darwish and Succariyeh�s civil marriage in the country, which took place after the couple removed their sects from their official documents. The move prompted a number of couples to follow suit and there are currently roughly 60 couples who have opted to perform their civil ceremonies in Lebanon, according to activists. Machnouk was also slammed Sunday for changing his position on civil marriage since 2013. He had announced his support for optional civil marriage in Lebanon in 2013 Facebook post, after Future Movement leader Saad Hariri had backed Darwish and Succariyeh�s move. However, in an interview with LBCI�s Marcel Ghanem in January, Machnouk said that �Cyprus is not far,� implying that couples insisting on civil marriage can visit the nearby island and have it done there. Generally, Lebanese couples wishing to have a civil marriage travel to places such as Cyprus or Turkey. While the Lebanese state fully recognizes civil unions preformed outside Lebanon, those done within Lebanon remain problematic. A protester in Sunday�s march carried a printed out Machnouk�s initial pro-civil marriage Facebook post on a sign, with writing under it asking: �Are you a hypocrite?� Several pro-civil marriage legal experts and former interior ministers have argued that Machnouk�s stand on the matter contradicts the law.

Army foils infiltration attempt near Arsal
Nidal al-Solh/The Daily Star/Mar. 01, 2015/BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army Sunday foiled an infiltration attempt by jihadi militants near the northeastern town of Arsal, a security source said. The security source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said heavy clashes erupted around 9:30 a.m. Sunday in the Wadi Hmeid area on the outskirts of Arsal, which resulted in death of several militants. Resident from the northern neighborhoods of the Arsal told The Daily Star that they heard the sounds of intense artillery fire by the Army for at least 30 minutes Sunday morning. Another security source explained that the Army�s recent victory against militants in Ras Baalbek and its repositioning in the eastern town has forced the jihadis to find other areas of safe haven. Last Thursday, an Army operation drove jihadi militants off of two strategic hilltop positions along the northeastern frontier with Syria, in a preemptive operation aimed at protecting residents of border villages from extremist groups.The Army said in a statement that its troops managed to �wrest full control� of the hilltop positions Sadr al-Jarash and Harf al-Jarash, northeast of Talet al-Hamra on the outskirts of the village of Ras Baalbek.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker criticizes Obama's latest move.
Corker slams Obama on veto threat of Iran oversight bill
WASHINGTON -- Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker (R-Tennessee), author of new legislation that would require congressional oversight and a vote of approval on any future nuclear deal with Iran, slammed US President Barack Obama on Saturday night for threatening to veto the bill. "It is disappointing that the president feels he is the only one who speaks for the citizens of our country," Corker said in a statement. "Congress put these sanctions in place and helped bring Iran to the table with the administration working against the effort the whole way. As a result, Congress should decide whether a final nuclear deal with Iran is appropriate enough to have the congressionally mandated sanctions removed."
Corker introduced the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 on Friday alongside Senators Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Tim Kaine (D-Virginia). If passed, the law would grant Congress the opportunity to approve, or disapprove, of a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by the Obama administration. Their move was immediately criticized by the White House. Obama will veto all legislation on Iran so long as negotiations are under way, one spokesman told the Post.
"The president has been clear that now is not the time for Congress to pass additional legislation on Iran," National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in an e-mail. "If this bill is sent to the president, he will veto it."
Under the pen for several months, the bill was published with a total of 12 cosponsors just five days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address the legislature. He is expected to express support for the role of in the diplomatic process.
Given the timing of its publication, the bill represents a nexus of tension among policymakers at the White House, the Israeli premier and US lawmakers over the role of Congress on Iran policy, the foreign policy powers of the president and the quality of a proposed nuclear agreement. The bill would require Obama submit to Congress the text of a final agreement as well as evidence of Iran's compliance to the deal, and prohibits him from "suspending, waiving or otherwise reducing" congressional sanctions for sixty days.
At that point in time, Congress would vote on a joint resolution of approval or disapproval of the deal. Should Congress vote against the agreement, and should the president veto that resolution, the legislature would vote a second time with the potential to override his veto with a two-thirds majority. Such a vote "would block the president from implementing congressional sanctions relief under the agreement," Corker's office says, effectively killing the deal.
"We are in the final weeks of an international negotiation," Meehan said, explaining the president's position. "We should give our negotiators the best chance of success, rather than complicating their efforts."

Netanyahu at Western Wall: I respect Obama, but it's my duty to ensure Israel's security
By HERB KEINON/02/28/2015 /Menachem Begin as leaders who took action they felt was necessary, even though it ran contrary to strongly stated US policies. �When there is something that is connected to our very existence, what do they expect the prime minister to do, bow his head and accept something that is dangerous in order to have good relations?� he asked. �I think the relations are strong enough to overcome the disagreements, and that Iran with an atomic bomb is much more dangerous than one disagreement or another [with the US].�Government officials said that, as is Netanyahu�s custom, work on the speech to Congress will continue until it is delivered at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning. The officials said that Netanyahu genuinely believes this is an historic moment, and that in the best case scenario the speech could compel �policy makers to rethink concessions that they are willing to make to the Iranians.�Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive in Washington Sunday afternoon and deliver a speech to AIPAC�s annual policy conference Monday morning that will focus on the strength of the US-Israel relationship. He is to have lunch with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders on Tuesday afternoon after delivering his address to Congress, and then fly back to Israel, arriving a few hours before the onset of Purim. The prime minister noted the timing, saying that just as Jews on Purim remember the attempt in Persia in antiquity to destroy the Jews, �it is the same Persia with a regime that is waving the banner of destroying the state of the Jews. The means by which they intend on implementing this threat is with many atomic bombs.�
Netanyahu will be accompanied to Washington by Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer, who was in Jerusalem last week helping him prepare for the trip with his top advisers and his wife, Sara.

Senior Fatah official calls for using 'force' against Israeli 'occupation'
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH/03/01/2015
A senior Fatah official on Saturday called for using �force� to end Israeli �occupation.� Tawfik Tirawi, member of the Fatah Central Committee who previously served as head of the Palestinian Authority General Intelligence Service in the West Bank, said that the use of force was the only way to achieve a solution with Israel. �There is no solution with Israel without force,� he said. �Force does not necessarily mean shooting, but unity, building, cultivating the land and throwing stones.� Tirawi said that there was no need to �run after the mirage of negotiations and peace with criminals.�He added: �There is no Israeli partner who can give the minimum of Palestinian rights. All the concessions that were made came from us and not from the Israeli side, which hasn�t presented anything.�Tirawi said that the upcoming elections wouldn�t produce a government that wants peace with the Palestinians. He predicted that it would take 20 years to establish a Palestinian state �due to the absence of an Israeli partner.�

Obama vows veto of new Senate legislation ensuring vote on Iran deal
By MICHAEL WILNER/02/28/2015/J.Post/WASHINGTON -- Four senators have introduced a bill that would grant Congress the opportunity to approve, or disapprove, of a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by the Obama administration.
Under the pen for several months, the bill was published with a total of 12 cosponsors just five days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address the legislature. He is expected to express support for Congress' role in the diplomatic process.
Given the timing of its publication, the bill represents a nexus of tension among policymakers at the White House, the Israeli premier and US lawmakers over the role of Congress on Iran policy, the foreign policy powers of the president and the quality of a proposed nuclear agreement. The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 was introduced on Friday by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) and ranking member Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey), as well as Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Tim Kaine (D-Virginia). Their move was immediately criticized by the White House. US President Barack Obama will veto all legislation on Iran so long as negotiations are under way, one spokesman told The Jerusalem Post.
"The president has been clear that now is not the time for Congress to pass additional legislation on Iran," National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in an e-mail. "If this bill is sent to the president, he will veto it."
The bill would require Obama submit to Congress the text of a final agreement as well as evidence of Iran's compliance to the deal, and prohibits him from "suspending, waiving or otherwise reducing" congressional sanctions for sixty days.
At that point in time, Congress would vote on a joint resolution of approval or disapproval of the deal. Should Congress vote against the agreement, and should the president veto that resolution, the legislature would vote a second time with the potential to override his veto with a two-thirds majority. Such a vote "would block the president from implementing congressional sanctions relief under the agreement," Corker's office says, effectively killing the deal. "We are in the final weeks of an international negotiation," Meehan said, explaining the president's position. "We should give our negotiators the best chance of success, rather than complicating their efforts."The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is preparing to open its annual conference on Sunday and to host Netanyahu the following day, will fight for the bill, one official said. Previously, the president had expressed opposition to additional sanctions legislation on Iran during the talks, warning that such a bill would derail the prospects for a diplomatic solution to the decade-long conflict. The same logic now applies to Corker's oversight bill, the White House says.
"We support the legislation and will be lobbying for it," an AIPAC official told the Post.In a prepared statement to press, Corker said few issues are more important to US national security than the current deal under discussion in Switzerland. US Secretary of State John Kerry travels to Montreux on Monday to continue intensive negotiations with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. "Any agreement that seeks to do this must include Congress having a say on the front end," Corker said, highlighting bipartisan support for his bill.
Kaine, a vocal supporter of the president's efforts, suggested a vote from Congress might underscore American support for a prospective deal. "Iran is fully aware that its ultimate goal� elimination of statutory sanctions created by Congress� will require Congressional approval," Kaine said. "But long before Congress considers that repeal, a deal with Iran will involve up-front relief... I believe Congress should weigh in on the content of the deal given the centrality of the congressional sanctions to the entire negotiation and the significant security interests involved."Support from Kaine gave this new bill, written by Republicans, a vital bipartisan boost, just days after the Virginia senator announced his intention to skip Netanyahu's speech on Tuesday. Senators John McCain (R-Arizona), Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota), Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire), Bill Nelson (D-Florida), Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Angus King (I-Maine) cosponsored the legislation.
Aside from Kaine, who characterized Netanyahu's planned speech as "highly inappropriate," all authors and cosponsors of the bill are expected to attend. As of this writing, five Democratic senators and several congressmen announced plans to skip the speech, which has infuriated the White House. Netanyahu strongly opposes the deal currently under discussion, which is said to include a sunset clause of roughly ten years before restrictions on Iran's nuclear program begin to ease. Tehran would also be allowed to retain a substantial amount of its nuclear infrastructure, according to reports. "There are lots of voices saying lots of things, both about what�s happening in the negotiation� I find most of those stories amusing more than anything else� and what�s going to happen if you get one," Wendy Sherman, Obama's chief negotiator with Iran, told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Friday. Sherman said the US would be "fortunate" to reach agreement on the proposal, which is now before the Iranians. The Obama administration says its goal is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and will settle for nothing less than a verifiable deal that puts Iran at least a year away from acquiring the necessary fissile material. Israel publicly opposes any deal that allows Iran to retain a nuclear weapons capacity. At a press conference with his Italian counterpart in Tehran, Zarif dismissed Netanyahu's concerns as an "unfortunate" effort to distract the world from Israel's conflict with the Palestinians. "I believe this effort is fruitless and it should not be an impediment to an agreement," he said on Saturday, accusing Netanyahu of attempting to "utilize a fabricated crisis to cover up realities in the region."
Reuters contributed to this report.

'Jihadi John' relatives under watch in Kuwait: reports
Agence France Presse/Mar. 01, 2015
KUWAIT CITY: Kuwaiti authorities are closely monitoring several relatives of "Jihadi John" who live and work in the Gulf emirate where the ISIS executioner was born, press reports said Sunday. A number of relatives of Mohammed Emwazi, named as the militant who has beheaded at least five Western hostages, are working in Kuwait and like him hold British citizenship, Al-Qabas newspaper reported. "Security agencies have taken the necessary measures to monitor them round the clock," the paper said, citing an "informed source."
The daily did not say how many of Emwazi's relatives are in Kuwait. Authorities have remained silent on the issue. Al-Rai newspaper cited security sources as saying that Emwazi's father, Jassem Abdulkareem, also a British national, is currently in Kuwait and is expected to be summoned by authorities. Emwazi visited Kuwait several times, the last of them between January 18 and April 26, 2010, Al-Qabas said. He arrived from the United Arab Emirates using his British passport to obtain a Kuwaiti entry visa. A year later, he was denied entry to Kuwait after his name came up during investigations into attacks in Britain, the newspaper said. Emwazi's visits to Kuwait were largely of a social nature and he was briefly engaged to a stateless Kuwaiti resident, the paper added. The Gulf emirate has tens of thousands of stateless residents known as bidoons. Emwazi's family, who are of Iraqi origin, were among them. They applied for naturalization but their names were removed from the list of prospective citizens because of allegations that they collaborated with the Iraqi army during its seven-month occupation of Kuwait in 1990-1991, Al-Qabas said. Emwazi was born in Kuwait but moved to London in the early 1990s when he was a child and attended school and university in the British capital. The Daily Telegraph reported that he went to school with two other boys who went on to become militants - Choukri Ellekhlifi, who was killed fighting in Syria, and Mohammed Sakr, killed fighting in Somalia. It was also reported that Emwazi had contacts with the men responsible for failed attacks on London's public transport system in 2005, two weeks after suicide bombings killed 52 people in the British capital. The revelations add to the pressure on the security and intelligence agencies to explain why they did not act on their suspicions about Emwazi before he traveled to Syria.

The UN Envoy to Syria�s Disastrous Failure
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed /Asharq Al Awsat
Sunday, 1 Mar, 2015
The UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura has succeeded in achieving only one thing: arousing anger in most Syrians. He started his mission four months ago with a disappointing plan based on a ceasefire in Aleppo. But he is yet to accomplish anything. Although he focused his ambitions on a cessation of hostilities in only two neighborhoods in Aleppo, the proposal didn�t gain a significant response. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad agreed on the ceasefire in just one neighborhood, because he has no authority there. Meanwhile, the armed opposition didn�t concern itself with de Mistura�s plans. De Mistura�s mission was more like a smokescreen: he left the international coalition to fight on behalf of the regime in areas occupied by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and disregarded the daily systematic attacks perpetrated by Assad�s forces in civilian areas. The goal of Syria�s embattled president was and still is to expand the scope of the tragedy in order to force millions of Syrians to busy themselves with searching for food and shelter day after day.
Mistura�s four months were wasted�Syrians only saw him smiling with Assad, who has killed more than a quarter of a million people so far. Just like his predecessors, the UN envoy has just filled the diplomatic void. He has done what it takes to distract the various forces and the 20 million Syrians, who are mostly living without housing or basic needs. What does the international envoy want to achieve if he fulfills his plan to stop fighting in the two Aleppo neighborhoods for a whole six weeks? Perhaps providing food supplies? This was previously done through a rescue mission, without it being considered a political solution. Of course, de Mistura can throw the ball in our court now and ask: �What else can I do when I have neither the power nor the authorization to impose international sanctions?�
We know that de Mistura�s authority does not outdo that of Angelina Jolie�s, who is visiting the region in highly respected humanitarian missions. We know that he cannot do anything so dramatic as to do what the majority want and get rid of Assad and his regime. Nevertheless, he is expected to at least start from where the Geneva Conference ended, which stipulates the establishment of a new government formed using the remnants of Assad�s regime but without the Syrian president himself, in addition to the opposition forces and representatives of all Syrian society, including Alawites. To a certain extent, this is close to what some of the regime�s allies, such as the Russians, have been saying over and over for a while now: that they are not going to cling to Assad if an acceptable solution is found.
Forging ahead with an acceptable solution is going to be a difficult equation for de Mistura. He might be able to find an equation that can convince the parties to make concessions and gradually narrow the distances between them. But his mission has as time has gone on become more like swimming in the ocean: he spent four months in order to try to achieve a ceasefire in one or two neighborhoods in one city in a country that is being burnt and destroyed every day. I think his plan caused the dispersal of previous ideas and assured Assad and his regime, which were afraid of the international intervention under the pretext of fighting ISIS. The envoy and his mission prevented the exertion of further pressures on Assad, despite the fact that dozens of countries from around the world have their aircraft and troops wandering all over Syria. What de Mistura did was just grant Assad and his men the confidence that they can continue killing more than tens of thousands of civilians, and destroying cities with barrel bombs, rockets and mercenaries from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq.
What stirred the doubts of the Syrians in the envoy�s mission is that he launched it by saying that the future plan would be a regime approved by Assad. Practically, de Mistura�s misguided efforts have nullified all the huge international overtures carefully deployed previously and the Geneva peace accords. He lined up alongside Iran. His actions show that he is more like Walid Al-Mouallem or Faisal Mekdad; just another employee at the Syrian foreign ministry. We kept silent on his actions for four months, hoping that he would find a solution, but the situation has worsened further, tarnishing what remains of any respect countries in the region have toward the United Nations.
Due to the volume of public anger surrounding his post, maybe it would be better for de Mistura to pack his bags and just leave the region.

King Salman, Sisi mull joint anti-terror force
Agencies/Mar. 02, 2015
RIYADH: Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi held talks in Riyadh Sunday, his visit to Saudi Arabia coinciding with that of his Turkish counterpart, whom Cairo accuses of backing the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Sisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose relations have been strained since Sisi ousted his Islamist predecessor Mohammad Morsi in July 2013, did not meet in the oil-rich Gulf state.
Salman broke official protocol to meet Sisi at the airport, a pointed mark of favor toward the Egyptian president at a time when media reports have questioned whether the close ties that existed between the two states under the late King Abdullah would continue.
The visit is the latest in an intense flurry of diplomacy in Riyadh, and follows talks between Salman and leaders of all Saudi Arabia�s Gulf Arab neighbors, as well as Jordan. Erdogan will meet him Monday.
The leaders discussed �bilateral cooperation ... and affirmed the deep strategic relations between the kingdom and Egypt, and their eagerness on strengthening them,� the official SPA news agency said.
King Salman and Sisi also held talks on �regional and international developments.�
A Saudi official told the Associated Press that the two leaders discussed Sisi�s proposal for a joint anti-terrorism force to tackle regional threats, particularly from Yemen, Libya and Syria.
In an interview with the Al-Arabiya news channel broadcast that was this weekend, Sisi said the force would not be used for attacking �but for defending the security of our countries.�
He said Jordan has expressed interest in creating such a force, which could include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are the primary financial backers of Sisi�s government, having pledged around $12 billion to Cairo since the former head of Egypt�s military came to power.Sisi spent roughly four hours in the kingdom.
It marks the first meeting for the two since audio was leaked in February of Sisi allegedly poking fun at the Gulf�s immense oil wealth and suggesting that Gulf monarchies have more money than they need and should give more to Egypt.
His visit came at the same time as Erdogan, who Saturday traveled to the holy city of Mecca to perform a pilgrimage, before leaving to Medina the next day.
Sisi said the timing of the visits was a �coincidence.�
But he also urged Turkey to �stop interfering in Egypt�s internal affairs,� in the interview with Al-Arabiya.
Cairo accuses Ankara, as well as Doha, of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement of Morsi, blacklisted by Saudi Arabia and the UAE as well as by Egypt.
Also Sunday, a bomb went off near a police station and mosque in the southern Egyptian city of Aswan, killing two civilians and wounding a soldier and four others, according to the police.
A security official said the crude bomb went off near an electrical transformer on a road that runs along the Nile River, severing the foot of the soldier, who was a conscript.
Last week, a series of blasts went off in Cairo, killing one person and wounding at least seven others in another series of attacks using homemade explosives that authorities blame on Islamist militants.
The government is ramping up security ahead of a planned investment conference in Sharm el-Sheikh this month it hopes will draw billions of dollars from abroad.

Netanyahu lands in US ahead of Congress speech
Itamar Eichner/Ynetnews/Published: 03.02.15/ Israel News
Netanyahu set to address AIPAC and then Congress on following day, as political tensions boil up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has landed in the US ahead of a speech he called "historic" before the US Congress. Netanyahu will address AIPAC on Monday and will then address Congress on Tuesday in a speech that has seen political tensions between Israel and the US reach a record high.
According to a source within Netanyahu's entourage, the prime minister will expose details of the looming deal with Iran, which will show the world powers have conceeded to much to Iran as part of the negotations.
Despite the comments, the US and Israel showed signs of seeking to defuse tensions on Sunday ahead of the speech in which he will warn against a possible nuclear deal with Iran.
Policy differences over the negotiations with Iran remained firm, however, as Netanyahu set off for the United States to deliver the speech, which has imperiled ties between the two allies.
There are no plans for Obama to meet with Netanyahu, with the White House officially citing its practice of not engaging with world leaders in close proximity to elections. Israel's elections are set for March 17. Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry will be traveling abroad on trips that were only announced after Netanyahu accepted lawmakers' invitation to speak to Congress.
More than a half-dozen House and Senate Democrats have said they will skip the speech, calling it an affront to Obama and the administration as they engage in high-level negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
Israel fears that US President Barack Obama's Iran diplomacy, with an end-of-March deadline for a framework accord, will allow its arch foe to develop atomic weapons - something Tehran denies seeking.
By accepting an invitation from the Republican party to address Congress on Tuesday, the Israeli leader infuriated the Obama administration, which said it was not told of the speech before plans were made public in an apparent breach of protocol.
Kerry reiterated Washington's determination to pursue negotiations with Iran, saying on Sunday the United States deserved "the benefit of the doubt" to see if a nuclear deal could be reached.
Last week, Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, said the partisanship caused by Netanyahu's looming address was "destructive to the fabric of US-Israeli ties".
Asked about this on the ABC program "This Week", Kerry said "the prime minister of Israel is welcome to speak in the United States, obviously. And we have a closer relationship with Israel right now in terms of security than at any time in history."
He said he had talked to Netanyahu on Saturday, adding, "we don't want to see this turned into some great political football." Israel and the United States agreed that the main goal was to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, he said.
In remarks on Saturday at Jerusalem's Western Wall, Netanyahu said: �I would like to take this opportunity to say that I respect US President Barack Obama.� He added that he believed in the strong bilateral ties and said, "that strength will prevail over differences of opinion, those in the past and those yet to come.�
Netanyahu did not repeat those remarks as he departed on Sunday. The Israeli prime minister, who is running for re-election in a March 17 ballot, has framed his visit as being above politics and he portrayed himself as being a guardian for all Jews. "I�m going to Washington on a fateful, even historic, mission," he said as he boarded his plane in Tel Aviv. "I feel that I am an emissary of all Israel's citizens, even those who do not agree with me, and of the entire Jewish people," he told reporters.
Netanyahu is expected to use his speech to urge Congress to approve new sanctions against Iran despite Obama's pledge to veto such legislation because it would jeopardize nuclear talks. US officials fear he is seeking to sabotage the Iran diplomacy, and critics have suggested his visit is an elaborate election stunt that will play well with voters back home.
With Obama past the mid-point of his final term, his aides see an Iran nuclear deal as a potential signature achievement for a foreign policy legacy notably short on major successes. While White House and Israeli officials insist that key areas of cooperation, from counter-terrorism to intelligence to cyber security, will remain unaffected, the divide over the Iran talks has shaped up as the worst in decades.
Previously Israel has always been careful to navigate between the Republican and Democratic camps. The planned address, however, has driven a rare wedge between Netanyahu's government and some congressional Democrats. Some two dozen or more of them plan to boycott the speech, according to unofficial estimates. Speaking in Tehran on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused Netanyahu of trying to undermine the nuclear talks in order to distract from the Palestinians' unresolved bid for an independent state.
"Netanyahu is opposed to any sort of solution," Zarif said. Hard-line US supporters of Israel say Netanyahu must take center-stage in Washington to sound the alarm over the potential Iran deal, even at the risk of offending long-time supporters. But a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the "politicized" nature of his visit threatened "what undergirds the strength of the relationship". As one former US official put it: "Sure, when Netanyahu calls the White House, Obama will answer. But how fast will he be about responding (to a crisis)?"Last month, US officials accused the Israeli government of leaking information to the Israeli media to undermine the Iran negotiations and said this would limit further sharing of sensitive details about the talks. "What the prime minister is doing here is simply so egregious that it has a more lasting impact on that fundamental underlying relationship," said Jeremy Ben-Ami, head of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel lobbying group aligned with Obama�s Iran policy. Netanyahu will address the influential pro-Israel lobby AIPAC on Monday. Even as he makes his hard-line case against Iran, he is expected to try to keep tensions from spiraling, mindful that Israelis are wary of becoming estranged from their superpower ally.
Reuters contributed to this report

Head to Head: Should Israel oppose Iran deal?
Ben-Dror Yemini and Igal Sarna/Ynetnews
Published: 03.01.15/Israel Opinion
Two veteran journalists present different position on the agreement with Iran being drafted by world powers, led by the United States.
Neville Chamberlain was neither anti-European nor anti-Semitic. He signed the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler firmly believing that it was the best thing for Europe. Barack Obama isn't Chamberlain. He also isn't anti-Israeli and he certainly isn't anti-Semitic.
But from the outset, he has chosen a path of appeasement in the face of radical Islam, Sunni and Shia alike. His fawning address in Cairo, early on in his presidency, didn't help. At the height of the recent crisis in Gaza, when we witnessed the emergence of two axes � the Turkey-Qatar pro-Hamas axis, and the slightly more moderate Egypt-Saudi Arabia axis � the US administration chose the pro-Hamas one. John Kerry was almost kicked out of Cairo at the time.
The situation is no different when it comes to the regime of the ayatollahs in Iran. Iran is in control, to some degree or other, of four Arab states - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and, more recently, Yemen. The flag of the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen includes the words "Death to America" � and "Death to Israel" too of course. And anti-US demonstrations with chants of "Death to America" have continued in Iran this part year. Yet Obama refuses to get the message.
The US has suffered repeated failures in the Middle East in recent years. Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are either furious with or despise Washington, and not for the same reasons. Only Qatar, which has become a base for radical Jihadism over the past few years, gets along well with the American administration. And when this same administration prohibits its officials from voicing the words, "Islamic terror," then I guess there's no such thing as Shia radicalism either.
There's no need to push the US into a war or conflict. On the contrary. Because the sanctions have helped. The sanctions have caused Iran to make concessions. But as soon as it emerged that Obama is opposed to the continuation of the sanctions, Tehran dug its feet in more firmly. The result is an agreement that is an absolute disgrace and nothing more than capitulation.
The problem isn't the bomb that will be dropped on Israel. The problem is that Iran will become a regional power. Following the Munich Agreement, Winston Churchill said that England "has chosen shame, and will get war." The US has chosen shame. One can only hope and pray that it won't lead to war.
Iran is not Iraq
Igal Sarna
A year or so ago, one of the most honest individuals ever to have served in the Likud said to me: "This squabbling with America is insane. We don't have and never will have an ally like the United States. The government is handling things atrociously."
Mordechai Zippori, who served as deputy defense minister under Ezer Weizman and Menachem Begin, spoke about Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct vis-�-vis Iran long before anyone even dreamed of a scenario like the one we are facing now with the address to Congress. I also spoke to him, as the man who was responsible for the defense establishment under Begin at the time of the attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor, about the option of an air strike on Iran.
"What was right for Iraq isn't at all right for Iran," Zippori said. "Its expanse, Iran's strength, its depth, won't allow Israel to wipe out its nuclear capabilities in an attack." He reminded, too, of what no one is talking about � Israel's role in the development of Iran's initial nuclear and missile capabilities under the shah. A nuclear framework agreement with Iran is now just around the corner. The agreement talks of 10-15 years of strict supervision over the centrifuges, a word spoke in terror today in every Israeli kindergarten. The country has never before been as frightened and shaky as now, in the days on Netanyahu. "We've been spared a war with Iran," Zippori said to me with relief, adding that he hopes "we will again become full partners with the country we helped with everything." And by everything, he meant really everything. I'm all for the way of the honest Likudnik, Zippori. The threat of the Iranian bomb has been hanging over us as the reason not to run this country properly for some 30 years now. In fact, we've already experienced the fallout from the bomb during the days of Netanyahu. Just look around at the destruction of the health system, public housing and moral values.
The 15 years of supervision offered by the agreement carry us safely through to 2030 � in a world as surprising as ever, when Iranian passenger planes will land at the rate of four a day in Israel, which will be a religious state like Iran, or perhaps Iran will become Westernized. Whichever comes first.

Congress uninformed on Iran deal while Israel already 'knows a lot,' official says
By HERB KEINON/03/02/2015/J.Post
WASHINGTON DC � There is incomplete knowledge among many members of congress regarding the emerging deal with Iran, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu � due to speak to congress on Tuesday � will try to fill in the blanks, a senior official in the prime minister's entourage said Sunday. Netanyahu arrived in Washington Sunday afternoon for a two-day visit which will climax in his speech Tuesday to congress.
Disputing comments made recently by US Secretary of State John Kerry, the official said that Israel has a great deal of information about what is in the agreement. He would not elaborate on how it has the details of the deal still in progress, beyond saying "We know what we know, and we know a lot."The official repeated Israel's position that the emerging deal is a bad one and it is dangerous to Israel, saying it will keep in Iran's hand the capability to produce "a nuclear bomb."
The official said that Netanyahu spoke with Kerry by phone on Saturday, and the official insisted the timing of the controversial speech to congress is linked to the approaching March 24 deadline for a framework nuclear agreement, and not to the Israeli elections.
The official said the purpose of the speech was not to politically harm US President Barack Obama but rather to warn from the most prominent venue available about the dangers of the impending deal. "Coming up to the deadline, we want to warn about making concessions, and there are some not good concessions being made." The official also said that any deal worked out would not be called a treaty or an agreement, but rather a joint comprehensive plan of action, or something similar. The reason would be to avoid having to bring to congress a ratification.