Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif posted a video to YouTube Thursday in which he addressed US President Donald Trump’s demand that the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal be “fixed” by saying, among other things, that “Iran will not renegotiate what was agreed years ago and has been implemented. Let me make it clear absolutely and once and for all: We will neither outsource our security, nor will we renegotiate or add on to a deal we have already implemented in good faith.”

The 101st Giro d’Italia, which along with the Tour de France and Vuelta a España in one of the three “Grand Tours” of professional cycling, got underway in Jerusalem on Friday, with top athletes from dozens of countries enjoying balmy spring weather and the backdrop of the Old City walls a short heat to open one of the most prestigious events in all of sports. The race will resume on Saturday with a 167 km heat between Haifa and Tel Aviv and then a 226 km heat between Beersheeba and Eilat on Sunday, before resuming in Italy on Tuesday.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was re-elected as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee on Friday, despite an international backlash against his recent speech which included anti-Semitic canards. He immediately began a process of packing the leadership of the PLO and other related organizations with loyalists who he apparently hopes will continue his legacy after he departs the scene.

The international effort to Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel suffered yet another defeat this week when two large Chinese bicycle sharing companies, Ofo and Mobike, announced that they are expanding their operations in the Jewish State. The new infrastructure and expanded fleets of bikes will soon be available for use at Ofo’s new Ramat Gan operation and at Mobike’s expanded operations in Rehovot and Tel Aviv. Both companies say they’re looking to further expand in other Israeli cities in the near future.

The governing coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is once again in question as Bayit Yehudi leader and Education Minister Naftali Bennett has refused to go along with efforts to delay a vote on a highly contentious piece of legislation aimed at limiting the power of the Supreme Court. Netanyahu has requested a delay of the vote on the bill, scheduled for Sunday, due to his need to concentrate on matters concerning Iran and the need to find a compromise on the legislations more divisive points, but Bennett is insisting the vote go forward on the bill as it is.

Iran has built an expeditionary military capability to project its regional power throughout the Levant and beyond, leveraging operational experience gained in Syria. Though recent Israeli action against Iranian targets may indicate U.S. intentions to burden share an Iran deterrence strategy with its partners, such actions must be incorporated into a broader strategy forged by the US and its allies and partners to manage miscalculation and inadvertent escalation.

In the darkest days of World War 2 Italy, record-breaking Italian cyclist Gino Bartali used his bicycle frame to smuggle forged documents, saving 800 Jews from death. His act of defiance against Nazi antisemitism made him a WW2 hero and inspired the Giro d’Italia 2018 to begin in Israel, the first time the race has opened outside Europe.

If an army cannot fight with honour and integrity, it loses the deeper underlying battle. This is why Yad Vashem so highly prioritises its moral contribution to military education. At the City of Bases, Yad Vashem has a small but innovative teaching space for Holocaust education. The ICEJ and the Christian Friends of Yad Vashem wholly support the project to expand and enhance Yad Vashem’s educational centre at the City of Bases.