Word: supporters
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...brutal 1991-2001 civil war. Prosecutors allege that Taylor targeted Sierra Leone so he could strip it of its vast mineral wealth, in particular its diamonds. Earlier in the trial, chief prosecutor Stephen Rapp insisted that Taylor was "an exceptional violator of human rights" who steadily provided weapons and support to the RUF in exchange for blood diamonds. Witnesses testified about arms smuggled from Liberia to Sierra Leone in sacks of rice and diamonds sent back in a mayonnaise jar. But Taylor rebutted the claims. "Never, ever did I receive - whether it is [in] mayonnaise or coffee or whatever...
Foxman was reportedly not convinced, and some others at the meeting expressed reservations afterward. Some, however, were reportedly more inclined to give Obama's approach a chance to work, and the President's approach was enthusiastically backed by J-Street, a new Jewish-American lobby group that ties support for Israel to the pursuit of peace. The presence of J-Street's Jeremy Ben-Ami at the White House meeting was one more change to digest for such stalwarts of the Jewish-American establishment as Foxman and Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American...
Whether or not Obama suffers any domestic political cost for putting pressure on Israel remains to be seen - he won three-quarters of the Jewish vote in last year's election, and he has good reason to believe he can retain most of that support even if he prods Israel on issues like settlements. After all, the settlements are not fundamental to Israel's security, to which Obama constantly reiterates his rock-solid commitment. (Watch a video about Israel's lonesome doves...
...intentions of Israel's leaders came under further question last week, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's father, the historian Ben-Zion Netanyahu, told an Israeli TV interviewer that he had been told by his son that he did not support the creation of a Palestinian state. Despite Benjamin Netanyahu's having accepted the goal in principle under pressure from Washington, his father said the Prime Minister had done so only on the basis of conditions that were impossible for the Palestinians to ever accept...
...little chance of success while Iran's leadership is in such disarray. But, in fact, for the first time it's quite clear exactly who is in charge in Iran: a relatively small number of hard-line politicians backed by Supreme Leader Ayatullah Khamenei and the security services that support them. They are the very people who have the power to deliver on a deal, because they are the ones in control of Iran's controversial policies, especially the nuclear program, and Iran's ongoing support for the anti-Israel militant groups Hamas and Hizballah. (See pictures of heartbreak...