Married or Blacklisted?

Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann and Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar have agreed on proposed legislation permitting non-Jewish citizens to marry in civil ceremonies, but may legalize the formation of a database of people the rabbinate suspects are barred from marrying under Jewish law. ... The draft prepared by the Justice Ministry and rabbinate, and approved by Friedmann and Amar, contains a clause which proposes "for reasons of efficiency, to legalize the preservation of information gathered at the rabbinical court regarding the non-Jewishness of a religionless person, and information regarding a person's eligibility for marrying in accordance with Jewish law, in a database."

Desweiteren: On the first day of her Middle East tour, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday signed a joint statement with Egypt, Jordan and six Persian Gulf states, endorsing the 2002 Arab peace initiative as one of the foundations for Middle East peace. [Vollständiger Rückzug auf die 67-Linie.] Und: The statement indirectly calls on Israel to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, saying it was important to make the treaty universal for all countries.

Und im Wahlkampf spricht sich der erste demokratische Bewerber gegen den Saudi-Waffendeal aus: John Edwards said the Bush administration's plan to sell $20 billion worth of weapons to friendly Arab states amounted to a foreign policy of convenience and he will take a tougher stance with Saudi Arabia if elected president. Edwards said the United States should require the Saudi government to shut down the movement of terrorists across its borders, help stabilize the Iraqi government and participate more seriously in regional security before they are offered arms.