Judge Finds Moshe Taubenfeld Not Guilty Of Sexual Abuse

Following a multi-week, non-jury trial a Rockland County judge has found a well known rabbi from New Square “not guilty” of sexual assault charges on Thursday. 

Rabbi Moshe Taubenfeld was accused of sexually molesting a 9-year-old boy over a five-year period after the child came to him for counseling from September 2001 until May 2006.

Taubenfeld did not take the witness stand in his own defense.

The rabbi was facing seven years behind bars if convicted.

According to the Journal News, Court Judge Rolff Thorsen the non guilty verdict said it was based on the evidence, and had nothing to do with public opinion.

Well know Williamsburg activist Nachum Rosenberg who came to court Thursday to hear the verdict, called the decision political, saying the judge owed his election to New Square. He said as long as judges are subject to political influence, “there will be no peace for children.”

Frum Jewish Man Stabs Several People At Jerusalem Gay Parade, just released after sitting in Jail for stabbing gays in 2005

Police arrest Yishai Schlissel suspected of stabbing six people at the annual Jerusalem pride parade. Schlissel was just released from a 10 year jail term for stabbing three people at gay pride parade in 2005. July 30, 2015. Photo byFLASH90

An Orthodox Jewish assailant stabbed and wounded six participants in the annual Gay Pride march in Jerusalem on Thursday, police said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned “as a most serious incident” what was the worst attack in years on the event in Jerusalem, a city where the religious population is more prominent than in other parts of Israel.

Marchers numbering about 5,000 and waving banners were heading down an avenue when an ultra-Orthodox man jumped into the crowd and plunged a knife into some of them, witnesses said.

Police arrested the suspected perpetrator and were questioning him, police spokesman Assi Aharoni said.

The attacker was identified as Ishay Shiser, who according Israeli media reports stabbed three people at a parade 10 years ago.

Police and medics said the assailant had wounded six people. Two were taken to hospital in serious condition.

“I saw an ultra-Orthodox youth stabbing everyone in his way,” said Shai Aviyor, a witness interviewed on Israel’s Channel 2 television.

“We heard people screaming, everyone ran for cover, and there were bloodied people on the ground,” Aviyor said.

The march, which attracts thousands of participants, has long been a focus of tension between Israel’s predominantly secular majority and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish minority, who object to public displays of homosexuality.

While the event takes place annually in the more gay friendly business hub of Tel Aviv without incident, in Jerusalem, where the religious population is more prominent, violence has erupted in the past.

The march is held in the largely Jewish side of the divided city. Palestinians predominate in occupied East Jerusalem.

Oded Fried, the head of a leading gay rights group, said the attack would not deter the movement.

“Our struggle for equality only intensifies in the face of such events,” he said.

Netanyahu said in a statement: “This is a most serious incident. We will prosecute those responsible to the full extent of the law. Freedom of individual choice is a basic value in Israel.”

Anti-gay activists from the far-right Jewish group Lehava were protesting at the parade.

Lehava released a statement ahead of the pride parade, stating that it would not allow the event “to pass quietly.”

Ten years ago, an ultra-Orthodox man stabbed three marchers at the 2005 Jerusalem gay pride para

Ami defends its Editorial Condemning those who protest the Gay Marriage Law of The Supreme Court

Letter courtesy of the Nuchem Rosenberg blog

Franfurter's answer to an email asking why Ami condemns those who oppose  and protest the Supreme Court Decision vis vis Gay Marriage!

Ami Email: "The Supreme Court's ruling is not appealable and is the law of the land"

DIN:That's true and it's not true..... legislators can introduce new laws to circumvent the Gay Marriage laws once these Justices die off ... and  get normal thinking justices who have values and morals  ....

Ami E mail: " Protests are futile, and to try to ferment a revolution even if one was to do so is not only a crime but is one of the harshest of sins and something which G-d has forsworn us from doing when we went off to exile.

DIN: So why do you support the anti-Israel protests that the Satmar Hooligans do in lower Manhattan? Didn't "G-d  forsworn us from doing when we went off to exile?"
Why is it ok for Satmar to annex land in Golus and to protest when they hell they want, but it's not ok for a Jew to stand up for Torah even if it is a futile attempt...
aren't Jews supposed to spread Torah Values in the World?
 Didn't the Ari Hakodash quoting the Zohar say that, that is precisely why we are in Golus to spread light among the goyim?
Why does Ami have a double standard?
Why when Satmar protests, is Ami in the forefront of supporting them !
This Frankfurter keeps licking the lower orifices of the Satmar Gypsies even though Satmar keeps throwing his anti-Israel rag under the bus? Just last week in a letter to the Editor to Der Blatt a reader blasted Ami for some stupid idiotic reason!
But the Frank the Dunce, still slobbers over the uncivilized gypsies!

Ami E mail: "Harshest  of sins?" 

DIN:  Is telling the world that "gay marriage" is not ok with the Torah, a worse sin than raping innocent teenage girls?

It seems so,because the CLOWN FRANKFURTER supported the teenage rapist, Weberman! He, in fact, dedicated a whole issue to that effect.
I guess its a bigger "sin" for a lone rabbi to protest the Supreme Court than for Weberman to destroy countless lives!

How about supporting and protesting the Iran Deal, which is a direct threat to 6 1/2 million Jews in Israel .... is that a sin at all?
or is the sin of a lone rabbi protesting the Supreme Court a larger sin than standing in Times Square and SUPPORTING the Iran deal, like the cursed Neturei Karta did, holding Iranian flags ... 
By the way,  Neturei Karta is a group that is  supported by Satmar funds?

How about the march of 400 Rabbis on October 6,1943 in support of American and Allied action to stop the destruction of European Jewry, in Washington D.C. .... why didn't they just sit home and be ready to "suffer all the consequences?" 

Ami E mail: "We must suffer the consequences of the law of the land and be ready to suffer all the consequences including our well-being not to transgress even a single halacha"

DIN: ok ..... how about the law "of the land"that one is supposed to learn English, writing, reading, and math? Do you think we can suffer the "consequences" on that?

MK's Call to 'Bulldoze the Supreme Court' Raise Knesset Ire

Motti Yogev

It is my humble opinion, and I may be wrong, but I think that the Justices of the Israeli Supreme Court are from Satmar background!

This court tries to dismantle the State brick by brick, just like the Satmar Rebbes  ....there is absolutely no difference with the leftist Justices and the decisions made by the Satmar Rebbelich!
They are both against The State, they are both against building in the State, They are both pro-gay candidates....
What's the difference?

Satmar Shalosh Seedish rebbes

MK Motti Yogev finally said what everyone thinks!

MKs from both the government and opposition have lined up to slam Jewish Home lawmaker Motti Yogev, for comments he made earlier Wednesday calling for the Israeli Supreme Court building to be bulldozed.

Yogev was responding to the demolition this morning of two residential buildings in the Jewish town of Bet El in Samaria, north of Jerusalem, in what activists and local community leaders say was a needless, ideologically-driven order by the Supreme Court.

"Despite the valid zoning plan and the construction permit, the High Court ruled unjustly, in a way befitting charlatans,” an angry Yogev fired.

"A D9 [bulldozer] shovel should be used against the High Court,” he added, in a statement bound to arouse howls of anger in the Left. “We, as a legislative system, will make sure to rein in the legalistic rule in this country, and the tail that wags the dog.”

Jewish Home party leader Naftali Bennett sought to distance himself from the remarks, telling Israel Radio Yogev should not have made the remark, and saying he had reprimanded the MK in a private conversation.

Bezalel Smotrich

Jewish Home MK Bezalel Smotrich was indignant Wednesday after the High Court ordered the demolition of the Draynoff homes in Beit El, even though their zoning plan had already been approved. The homes were demolished soon afterward.






Smotrich said that he sees the decision as “delusional” and called it “another nail in the burial coffin of an arrogant Supreme Court that does not know its place. 

Woe to the court that has such judges/destroyers,” he added.


"The president of the Supreme Court insists on forcibly tearing the thin thread between the court and the political system and forcing the Knesset to place the court in its proper place through legislation,” he warned.


Before the demolition, Smotrich called on the prime minister not to carry out the order, which he said was illegal.


"A democratic state cannot accept a situation in which the prime ministerand the entire political system seeks to advance a certain policy, which is 100% within its authority, and the court prevents it from doing so because of considerations of honor, ego or control. 

This verdict has nothing to do with justice and law. Once the structures have been approved, there is no legal problem in not destroying them.”


Smotrich predicted that the day will be remembered as one on which “a healthy process began, of bringing back the power to the nation and its elected officials and of freeing the state from the radical dictatorship of the High Court.”

Israelis kill Child-Killer Samir Kuntar 'Killed in Syria Airstrike' ....

Samir Kuntar greeted by Hezbollah, Syrian officials upon his release

Reports are coming out that Israel targeted and killed the notorious child murderer Samir Kuntar today (Wednesday).

According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Israel Air Force struck a vehicle carrying five fighters loyal to dictator Bashar al-Assad. 

Three of the passengers were from the Syrian People's Committees, while Kuntar and the fifth person belonged to Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

Kuntar was born in Lebanon to a Druze family. In 1978 he and three other terrorists from the now-defunct Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) snuck into Israel by boat and attempted to kidnap the Haran family from their home in Nahariya. 

The wife managed to hide in a crawlspace with the two-year-old daughter, but the husband and four-year-old were taken.

Kuntar and his associates took their hostages to the nearby beach, where Israeli soldiers and police officers encountered them. According to the official account, Kuntar shot the father in the back, then beat the daughter to death.

Back at the house, the wife accidentally smothered the younger daughter to death while trying to prevent her from crying out and giving away their hiding spot.

At the time of the attack, current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was in charge of the PLF.

Kuntar served 29 years in prison before being released in exchange for the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in 2008.

After his release, Kuntar returned to a hero's welcome in Lebanon. The President, Prime Minister, and Speaker of the Parliament greeted him as he stepped off the plane. 

Several months later Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad presented Kuntar with the Syrian Order of Merit.
Kuntar has given a number of interviews since his release, and frequently spoke of his desire to kill more Israeli civilians.

Over 100 girls not accepted in School in Elad because the father works

The Chareidie world is getting sicker from day to day .... 
not accepting children that want to learn Torah because the father works! How sick and demented are they?
The way to end this craziness is for Americans to stop giving a penny to any Chareidie Moisad until all girls are placed! 

Many who remained silent while chareidi schools discriminated against Sephardi girls are now finding themselves in the discrimination boat in Elad, as some 100 girls, all from chareidi families, find themselves without a school for 5776 because their parents work.

There are basically two seminaries in Elad, 
Zluznik and Ladaas Chachma, 
and today, with about a month to the start of the new school year, over 100 girls have not been accepted, representing 50% of the girls tested to enter the school. 


 Adding to the absurdity of the situation is the fact that all of the girls rejected are graduates of the Beis Yaakov in the city as they are no less frum than the girls accepted to the schools but their parents work.

Parents are already reporting their daughters are home crying without an idea what to do in another four weeks. 

Parents explain “Their crime is that they completed 8th grade and wish to enter a new school for 9th grade and someone decided the transition from one number to another must be accompanied with pain and suffering”.

Some parents have decided to not just sit home and play victim. They have turned to attorney Rami Fergan to take their case on behalf of all of these girls. Attorney Fergen explains dozens of parents have approached him to take the case. Fergen explains that in the coming days he will contact Elad City Hall and the Ministry of Education and if the problem is not resolved on this level, he will not hesitate to take the case to the courts.

Parents are hoping that Meir Shimoni, the Ministry of Education district supervisor, will do the correct thing and end this injustice. Parents hope ministry officials cut off funding to both schools if that is what it takes to open the doors to their daughters.

Elad City Hall responded to the report stating “The city schools must follow the regulations set forth by the mayor last year. This will be the case this coming year as well and every student will be enrolled in an appropriate school”.

Obama Knows Iran will Use its Nukes on Israel

Mark Langfan

OP-ED by Mark Langfan

At first, Obama said we couldn’t talk about his Iranian Nuke Deal unless it was finalized.  Then, Obama said we couldn’t talk about his Iranian Nuke Deal unless we read it all - and simply didn’t disclose all of his side-deals.  Now, he says Mike Huckabee’s comparison of shipping the Jews of Israel to the new ovens of the Iranian Auschwitz-Nuke is “ridiculous.”

Perhaps Obama wants to wait until Iran nukes Israel for it to be politically correct to call Iran’s wiping Israel off the map a “Holocaust.”  But, make no mistake, Obama knows full well that Iran intends to wipe Israel off the map with its Obama-blessed Nukes.

Come on, does anyone (except the American left-wing cool-aid drinking Jews) really believe that Iran will abide by their “voluntary” protocols under the Vienna announcement?  Of course not!  Are Obama or any of the European Union leaders so rank stupid and naive that they think Iran won’t build a bomb just like North Korea?  Does anyone not know that one of Iran’s first targets will be to annihilate Israel?  

Of course Obama knows Iran will seek to annihilate Israel, so that must be what Obama wants.  

Obviously, Obama doesn’t care if he enables the murder of another 6 million Jews through a Palestinian State’s chemical Sarin-tipped Katyusha rockets, or an Iranian Nuke.  It’s simple: Obama wants Israel and its Jews offed.  What is so difficult to understand about that?  Every move Obama has made from the very first moment of his presidency has been to irreparably harm Israel and Saudi Arabia, and irrevocably empower Iran.  It doesn’t matter what Obama’s specific motivation is.  Obama may believe in Farrakhan’s and Rev. Wright’s virulent Chicago anti-Semitism; Obama may be merely steeped in anti-British anti-Colonialism; or both.  All that matters is Obama is acting in ways that will allow others to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. If Obama walks like a Jew-hater, arms Iran like a Jew-hater, and creates a PA "West Bank" State like a Jew-hater, he’s a Jew-hater.

But, now here come the American Leftist Jewish “Holocaust” speech-police like Debbie Wasserman-Schulz who say one isn’t allowed to invoke the “Holocaust” or “Auschwitz” into a political debate when it is Iran’s highest leaders who have repeatedly, openly, and notoriously injected into the political debate that they intend to wipe Israel off the map.  And, in plain sight, Obama is crowning Iran, the greatest openly Holocaust-threatening, terror-state in the world, the nuclear hegemon-state of the Middle East because Iran is “stable.” I guess Obama forgot he helped quash a popular uprising there  as his first foreign policy debacle.

And, let’s also not forget that Iran’s “stability” in Syria has murdered over 250,000 Syrian Sunnis. The Hiroshima “Little Boy” Uranium Gun-type Nuke killed about 150,000 Japanese, and the Nagasaki “Fat Man” Plutonium Implosion Nuke killed about 40,000 Japanese.  So, Iran has already killed 2 Hiroshima’s worth of Syrian Sunnis or 6 Nagasaki’s worth of Syrian Sunnis.  So, the 150 Billion Dollars Obama is giving Iran is actually a weapon of mass destruction in itself.  All of the additional hundreds of thousands of dead Sunnis spilt by Iran’s malign use of the 150 Billion dollars is on the hands of Obama, Susan Rice, John Kerry and Samantha Power.

What Is so loathsome, is that every word, every sentence Obama says  is a lie tainted with a patina of truth, Take for example Obama’s statement that Iran had enough enriched Uranium for 10 nukes, but it will be cut down under the supposed deal.  When exactly did Iran enrich 10 nukes worth of Uranium?  Iran enriched the uranium solely in the last 6 years because the CIA’s published declassified number had virtually zero enriched Uranium when Obama became President.  And, Iran’s method to cut down its enrichment is a chemical process that can easily be reversed by a chemical process.

And you have to love Obama’s “If Iran’s ‘stable’ give them nukes” foreign policy.  Under Obama’s “Stability” theory, Obama would have also armed Hitler with an arsenal of nukes because Hitler’s Nazi Germany was very stable.

In short, Obama knows full well that Iran is building an Auschwitz-Nuke that it wants to use to annihilate Israel; and, Obama is doing everything he can to ensure that it can do so.

Don’t let Jew-haters like Obama and Wasserman-Schultz turn “Never again,” into “Too Late.”

ZOA Agrees With Huckabee – Iran Deal Could Lead To Holocaust-Like Massacre of Jews

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has supported former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee remarking on the disastrous Iranian nuclear deal with Iran, that it would “take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven” 

The ZOA agrees with Governor Huckabee that this Iran deal could lead to a Holocaust-like massacre of the Jews. In such circumstances, when the Jewish state is threatened with nuclear annihilation, a Holocaust analogy such as Governor Huckabee used is acceptable and not out of place.

Indeed, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu observed earlier this year during an address at Yad Vashem that, “Democracies cannot turn their eyes away from the dictatorships of the world that seek to spread their influence… ahead of World War II, the world attempted to appease the Nazis. They wanted quiet at any price, and the terrible price did come… Just as the Nazis aspired to crush civilization and to establish a ‘master race’ as ruler of the world while annihilating the Jewish people, so too does Iran strive to gain control over the region and then spread further, with the explicit intent of obliterating the Jewish state.”

As a leading authority on radical Islamic movements, Steve Emerson, said at last week’s New York City rally against this nuclear deal, “If we don’t take out Iran, they will take out us … if you don’t your children will never forgive you — never forgive you for not protecting this country from a holocaust. For not protecting the state of Israel from a holocaust that will occur assuredly just as it did 70 years ago.”

This is also why the cry of ‘Never again’ and the buttons of ‘Never again is now’ have featured prominently in rallies opposed to the this nuclear deal. Clearly, there is broad appreciation of the fact that this Iran nuclear agreement can facilitate a Holocaust against the Jewish state.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “The ZOA has generally criticized Holocaust analogies, because they usually bear no relation to unique horrors of the Nazi era — the era in which European Jews were rendered defenseless and unaided prior to their slaughter in millions by the Nazis and their cohorts.

“Tragically, empowering with an eventual nuclear weapons capacity — as this deal does, and as President Barack Obama himself has admitted — an Iranian regime that has repeatedly spoken of wiping out the Jewish state of Israel does bear some relationship to the Nazi era and Governor Huckabee, therefore, did not speak out of place.

“Four days after this deal was signed, the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed a rally, at which people chanted ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Israel,’ and said, ‘You heard “Death to Israel”, “Death to the US” … The whole of the nation, you could hear, that was covered by this great movement. So we ask Almighty God to accept these prayers by the people of Iran.’

“It was of course also Khamenei who said just as plainly last year: ‘This barbaric, wolflike & infanticidal regime of Israel which spares no crime has no cure but to be annihilated.’ He also said that Israel is ‘doomed to extinction’ and that it is a ‘bastard, illegitimate regime.’

“The Iranian president, Hasan Rouhani, has said, ‘The Zionist regime is an enemy nation and I pledge we will find a way to achieve Ayatollah Khomeini’s long-term goal to ensure that Israel ceases to exist.’

“In July, former Iranian president Hashemi Rafsanjani said, “The presence of the Israeli regime is temporary … [it will be] will be wiped off the map.’

“Only in April, General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, the head of the Basij paramilitary forces, said said, ‘The destruction of Israel is non-negotiable.’

“The Khameni-related Iranian website Alef has published a Shia Islamic doctrinal statement, written by Khamenei’s strategy specialist, Alireza Forqani, which claims ‘jurisprudential justification’ to kill all Jews and annihilate Israel. Forqani has also written in detail about destroying Israel’s major population centers with missiles ‘until the final annihilation of the people of Israel.’

“The Iranian Chief of Staff, Major-General Hassan Firouzabadi, has said that ‘the Iranian nation is standing for its cause, which is the full annihilation of Israel.’

“An Iranian regime that believes in, works for, prioritizes — and, indeed, goes further than the Nazis in trumpeting publicly — its genocidal intentions will be tempted to act on them if it acquires nuclear weapons.

“This is, after all, a radical Shia regime which believes in the return of the Mahdi, the hidden Imam after a cataclysmic war. The Tehran regime has built highways to welcome the returning Mahdi. Iran holds massive war drills entitled, ‘Towards Jerusalem.’ The preamble to the Iranian Constitution, the constitutive document of his radical Shia regime, declares the hope that Iran witness the establishment of universal ‘holy’ government and the downfall of all others.

“It is only to be expected that President Obama and his minions will try and put the sunniest construction on the deal they have signed with the radical, terror-sponsoring Islamic Republic of Iran and try and shoot the messenger whenever someone points out publicly just how infamously bad this deal actually is, given how terrible this regime actually is.

“Yet there is no evading the fact that, at best, Iran will become a nuclear power in a little over a decade. Of course, if it cheats on this agreement — as is likely, given the history of its nuclear weapons program and given also the absence of disincentives, such as fictitious ‘snap-back’ sanctions — Iran could become a nuclear power even sooner.

“There is a bipartisan Israeli consensus on this. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Labor Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog, former left-wing Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, left-wing Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid have all spoken clearly in opposition to this deal, and with good reason: the deal makes all but certain a radical Islamic Iran, armed with the nuclear weapons, which has placed the destruction of Israel as one of its top priorities.

“Governor Huckabee is therefore speaking the truth, as have others who have described the danger for Israel as being existential. ”

“When Hitler spoke in January 1939 of ‘the end of the Jews’ of Europe, few believed that genocidal intentions lay behind these words. We see similar disbelief now, even though Iranian leaders are saying this explicitly — not once, but all the time.

“As a child of Holocaust survivors, born in a DP camp in Germany after the War, recent developments are the most chilling I have witnessed in my lifetime.

“Six million Jews were murdered by the Nazis during the Shoah. Six million Jews of Israel could be endangered in the near future by Iranian nuclear-tipped missiles. If Iran drops nuclear bombs on Israel, that will be another Shoah, G-d forbid.

“There is a sovereign Israel today and Israel can, and might be compelled to, act. But the danger it will be reacting to is existential.

“We wish it were true that Governor Huckabee is exaggerating the risk to Israel and the Jewish people. Unfortunately, he is not.”

Jon Stewart, Obama's Jewish Kapo Visited White House in Secret

Kapo? Did you say Kapo? 

Yes, my friends, Stewart Leibowitz who now calls himself Jon Stewart is Obama's Kapo to beat the Jews!

Kapos were not necessarily used exclusively by the Nazis to physically beat Jews, Nazis used Jewish comedians to serenade and tell jokes to teenagers doomed to the ovens by the German murderers!
Obama as a student of history, learned that it would be a great idea to quiet Jewish opposition to the Iran disastrous deal by using a self-hating Jew to mock and make "choizik" of the Iran deal opposition!


President Obama summoned Jon Stewart to the White House at least twice for secret meetings, Politico reported Tuesday.

 Both meetings came before key moments: 
the first during the 2011 budget fight, 
the second during Russia’s 2014 intervention in Ukraine. 

Obama did not merely lobby Stewart, but occasionally it seems he changed policies after The Daily Show host spoke out. 

In 2009, the administration proposed removing veterans with private insurance from Veterans Affairs rolls. “That can’t be right,” Stewart said on air. A day later, the proposal was dead. 

IRAN DEAL FAILS 4 OF SCHUMER’S 5 DEMANDS MADE AT THE AGUDAH DINNER

Schumer at Agudah Dinner

New York 

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) 

the third-highest ranking member of the Senate Democratic caucus, is emerging as the key figure in the congressional battle over the Iran deal.

Schumer, who has maintained a tight silence since the nuclear deal was announced two weeks ago, was the most frequent target of last week’s rally against the deal in Times Square. Activists say a “no” vote from Schumer will not be enough; they want him to rally others to override President Barack Obama’s anticipated veto. Supporters of the deal are also lobbying him, hard.

Yet the deal, by Schumer’s own standards, is a failure. In May, at a dinner for Agudath Israel, an Orthodox Jewish group that lobbies for religious concerns, Schumer laid out “five things we have to be very, very careful about” in the emerging deal. The Iran deal fails four of five.

1. Inspections–The U.S. and others must be able to inspect “anywhere, anytime…unannounced.” The deal specifically excludes U.S. inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) teams. Schumer said that “anywhere, anytime” inspections should be required even at new and previously unknown nuclear sites. Yet the deal allows Iran a minimum 24-day delay at those sites.

2. Sanctions–Sanctions should end when Iran meets a checklist, not on the first day. Schumer reminded his audience that he had opposed the interim Iran deal in Nov. 2013 because it offered sanctions relief up front. Though some of the sanctions in the Iran deal are indeed tied to Iranian compliance, some do end up front, with unfrozen assets expected to flow to Iran by the end of the year (if not sooner). And Iran has already been relieved of restrictions on ballistic missile research and development, as Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) has noted.

3. Snap-back–Sanctions must automatically “snap-back” if Iran violates the deal. There is a snap-back provision in the deal. The problem is that it is both too weak and too strong: it is too weak, in that it allows new investments in Iran to be “grandfathered” at the time sanctions are re-introduced; it is too strong, in that it effectively cancels the deal altogether, meaning it will almost never be used.

4. Potential Military Dimensions (PMDs)–“We need to know.” The Wall Street Journal has just revealed that Iran will not need to provide information about its past violations or the possible military dimensions of its nuclear program, according to the secret “side deals” that the IAEA concluded with Iran. Not only does that violate the White House’s promises, but it also makes inspections basically worthless.

5. Disposal of 10,000 kg of enriched uranium. This is the one point on which the Iran deal meets Schumer’s demands. It reduces Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile to 300 kg. The problem: it only does so for 15 years. There is no telling what happens in the long run.

Schumer ought to oppose the Iran deal for one additional reason: President Obama went to the UN Security Council to approve it before Congress could review it. Schumer boasted to the dinner that he “was one of the lead supporters of the Corker amendment. And that will give Congress the ability to look at whatever agreement comes up for 30 days, and either disapprove it or allow it to happen.” But Congress has been denied the ability to review the deal in a meaningful way. For that reason alone, Schumer should rally votes against the Iran deal.

The relevant portion of Schumer’s remarks can be found at 8:44 to 14:16 in the video embedded below.

Rare Footage Depicting Jewish Life in the Shtetl Before the Holocaust

‘Modest’ Bathing Suits Make a Splash

 Models  Modeling Modest Swimsuits

When Deborah Nixon heads to her local pool in her swimsuit—a pair of long black leggings and a matching short-sleeved top like surfers wear—she gets compliments and admiring glances, at least from other women.

“It is the New Sexy,” says Ms. Nixon. The 58-year-old, who has abandoned her conventional one-piece bathing suit in favor of the more elaborate get-up, is convinced she looks and feels better with less of her showing.

A whole lot less.

Ms. Nixon, a former nurse and retired captain in the U.S. Public Health Service, is a fan of so-called modest swimsuits. This increasingly popular style of beachwear is a far cry—and for some women a welcome relief—from the skimpy bikinis and bare-all Brazilian bottoms that have dominated beach fashions.
“When you get older, you don’t want that much exposed,” says Ms. Nixon, who says she also likes the sun protection her swim outfit provides.

She purchased her suit from HydroChic, one of several online purveyors of modest swimwear that have sprung up in recent years in a competitive cottage industry. Like several others in the business, HydroChic, based in New Rochelle, N.Y., was started by Orthodox Jewish women looking for suitable beachwear in a community where women follow strict dress codes.

Orthodox women typically cover their arms and legs, presenting a conundrum for a trip to the beach.

 Sara Wolf, HydroChic’s co-founder, said she got the idea for the swim line at the Jersey Shore, where she spotted Orthodox women walking in the sand in ankle-length jean skirts. She found herself thinking about how her own friends wore oversize T-shirts and baggy men’s shorts to the beach.
“There really wasn’t much out there,” Ms. Wolf says.
With no formal fashion training, she and a friend decided to create a line of modest swimwear with a sportier look, akin to what joggers, surfers and divers wear. “You want to look normal, not like you fell out of the sky,” she says. 

While Ms. Wolf and others set out to cater to a niche market, many are finding a much broader customer base. Women of other faiths who also prefer modesty, along with older and plus-size women who don’t like how they look in a traditional bathing suit, are fans of the new beach wear. Younger women worried about sun exposure have also become clients.

In turn, some companies have broadened their offerings, venturing into the less modest, even slightly risqué realm.
Rachel Tabbouche, her sister and her mother started Undercover Waterwear to cater to religious Jewish women. But as the Brooklyn-based company has flourished, there has been a growing desire to capture a wider market, and some generational tension about how far to go.

The mother, Susan Esses, 66, is all for pushing the envelope to broaden the brand’s appeal.
Her daughters are more hesitant.
Last year, Ms. Esses’ latest creation, the Bandeau, triggered a family crisis. Ms. Esses arrived at a Miami swimwear show with a sample she hadn’t shown her daughters: a strapless bikini top made of a shiny, clingy fabric in a green reptile print, with a matching mini swim skirt.
Ms. Tabbouche says she and her sister Melissa Chehebar, 44, were livid. “It looked like a unibra. We were like, ‘you have got to be kidding.’ ” The offending item was yanked off the rack. The Bandeau was dead.
To this day, Ms. Esses insists it was “adorable.” Ms. Tabbouche, 32, says, “my mom and I have a different idea of what is adorable.”
Still, the firm has been dipping its toes into slightly more daring waters, with short sleeves and mini swim skirts.

These were on display at Town Shop, a lingerie and swimwear stalwart in Manhattan, a couple of feet from hot-selling Brazilian string bikinis.
 On a recent day, Ms. Tabbouche arrived at the store lugging a suitcase stuffed with the latest collection. Her mother at her side, she unveiled a “maxi” swim dress that went past the ankle and swimming skirts that graze the knee. Then, she showed off a short-sleeved swim top with a zipper in the front.
“But is it kosher?” Town Shop owner Danny Koch deadpanned.
Mr. Koch, a fourth-generation owner, was an early fan. He says the suits fill a void in the swimwear market.
They do for Danta Bolin, who readily admits, “I don’t have the prettiest thighs in the world.” For years, Ms. Bolin, who is in her early 50s, searched for adequate bathing suits. Finally, she ventured out to her favorite Texas water park in a HydroChic outfit: Bermuda-length swim shorts and a three-quarter sleeve top.
Ms. Bolin said she still remembers admiring comments from lifeguards who loved her surfer look: “They thought I was the coolest.” She has never looked back.
Now transplanted to upstate New York, Ms. Bolin has a new set of fans: devout Christian women living nearby, who regularly ask her where she found her swim gear. She says her preferred get-up has nothing to do with religion: “It doesn’t expose parts of me that don’t need to be exposed.”
Regine Tessone, a Brooklyn resident who started a firm called Aqua Modesta, used her training at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology to design her line, which she bills as “the original Kosher swimwear.” They go beyond one or two pieces into the realm of four and even five—including a long skirt with a set of capri pants sewn in, a top with sleeves that cover the elbows, a swim bra, and an optional matching swim cap.
Ms. Tessone says she is sticking to her core market, Orthodox women, and that means nothing sleeveless or even with short sleeves.
HydroChic’s Ms. Wolf has a different perspective. Her website has been urging women to “take a walk on the wild side”—at least by wearing prints. She is already offering tank tops and a “skort”—shorts hidden beneath a skirt. “I am not the modesty police,” she says.
As for Ms. Nixon, she is already eyeing her next purchase: A jaunty, and deeply modest, swim skirt with leggings. That is fine with her husband, Max. Even covered up, he says, “her curves are beautiful" 

An Aqua Modesta suit

Ms. Nixon, a former nurse and retired captain in the U.S. Public Health Service, is a fan of so-called modest swimsuits. This increasingly popular style of beachwear is a far cry—and for some women a welcome relief—from the skimpy bikinis and bare-all Brazilian bottoms that have dominated beach fashions.
“When you get older, you don’t want that much exposed,” says Ms. Nixon, who says she also likes the sun protection her swim outfit provides.
She purchased her suit from HydroChic, one of several online purveyors of modest swimwear that have sprung up in recent years in a competitive cottage industry. Like several others in the business, HydroChic, based in New Rochelle, N.Y., was started by Orthodox Jewish women looking for suitable beachwear in a community where women follow strict dress codes.
Orthodox women typically cover their arms and legs, presenting a conundrum for a trip to the beach. Sara Wolf, HydroChic’s co-founder, said she got the idea for the swim line at the Jersey Shore, where she spotted Orthodox women walking in the sand in ankle-length jean skirts. She found herself thinking about how her own friends wore oversize T-shirts and baggy men’s shorts to the beach.
“There really wasn’t much out there,” Ms. Wolf says.

With no formal fashion training, she and a friend decided to create a line of modest swimwear with a sportier look, akin to what joggers, surfers and divers wear. “You want to look normal, not like you fell out of the sky,” she says. 

Israel - Poll: Half of Israel's Jews Fear Another Tisha B'Av

Jews in Israel and around the world are observing the Fast of the Ninth of Av Sunday, the date on which the destruction of the two ancient Temples in Jerusalem took place and on which the other great calamities of Jewish history are also marked.

The day is designated as a fast to mourn the destruction of the First and Second Temples, and the Jewish exile from the Land of Israel after the Bar Kokhba revolt against Roman rule in Judea was put down in 135CE.

In the shadow of the international agreement between Iran and leading world powers that was reached earlier this month on the Iranian nuclear program, a poll conducted for the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem by the TNS research group found that 42 percent of Israelis are concerned that the State of Israel may be destroyed and that the biggest perceived threat was an Iranian attack with a nuclear weapon.

The poll was conducted on a sample of 500 Hebrew speakers between the ages of 18 and 65.

Out of those surveyed, 41.5% of respondents said they were worried about the possible destruction of the state of Israel compared to 58.5 who said they were not concerned about such an eventuality.

When asked what is currently the greatest threat to the State of Israel, 27.8% of those polled said an Iranian nuclear attack, while 22.3% said internal discord within the Jewish people was the clearest danger to the state. Another 19.2% said corruption among decision-makers and the political class was the greatest threat, 14.8 percent said war with one of Israel’s neighboring countries, 10.9% said an international boycott of the State of Israel and 4.9% said none of the the above or were unsure.

Notably, some 43% of those defining themselves as religious said that the greatest threat was baseless hatred, meaning internal strife among the Jewish people, while 46% of haredi respondents said the same thing.

The rabbis of the Talmud stated that the Second Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred among the Jewish people at the time of the destruction in 70 CE, and this concept is frequently referenced by religious leaders during the three week period leading up to the Fast of Tisha B’Av as an admonition against repeating such mistakes in the modern State of Israel.

Some 24% of those defining themselves as religiously traditional said that internal baseless hatred was the biggest threat to Israel along with 12.3% of secular people.

The Iranian nuclear threat was the biggest concern for religiously traditional people, with 36.8% citing this danger as the most problematic, while the greatest danger perceived by secular people was corruption among political decision-makers, with 27.6% of secular respondents citing this concern as the gravest problem facing the country. 

The survey also found that almost one third of Israelis fast on Tisha B’Av, with 27.5% percent of respondents saying they fast for religious reasons and another 4.2% saying they fast for personal or societal reasons.  Another 3.9% fast partially and 64.3% of those surveyed said they do not fast at all.

Some 44% of respondents said correctly that Tisha B’Av marks the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, while just under 50% said it marked the destruction of one of the ancient Jewish temples.

Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post