Saturday, August 31, 2024

'Chaim Weizmann: A Biography': A revealing look at the life of Israel's first president


Born in 1874 in what he himself described as “one of the darkest and most forlorn corners of the Pale of Settlement,” Chaim Weizmann rose to become the confidant of world leaders and undisputed key figure in the long, complex, diplomatic struggle that led to the founding of the State of Israel. Indeed, on the day after the nation’s birth in May 1948, Weizmann, sick in bed in New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, received a telegram signed by some of the new leaders of Israel headed by David Ben-Gurion. 

“We congratulate you on the founding of the Hebrew state,” it read. “There is no one who contributed as you did to its creation.” It concluded: “We look forward to the day on which we will have the privilege of seeing you as head of state.”

That day did, indeed, arrive. Weizmann, chosen to occupy the position by the Provisional State Council two days after independence, was formally elected president by the Knesset after Israel’s first parliamentary elections in February 1949. He held the office until his death on November 9, 1952. 

Eliyahu Rips, mathematician who claimed to find hidden code in Bible, dies at 75





liyahu Rips, one of the scientists who claimed to find a secret code in the Bible, died July 19 at the age of 75, The New York Times reported on Friday.

Born on December 12, 1948, in Latvia to Holocaust survivors, Rips was a math prodigy who began studying mathematics at the University of Latvia at the age of 16.

Five years later, he was committed to a mental health institution after trying to self-immolate near the university in protest against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. He was saved by some passersby, but was badly burnt.

He was at the institution for two years, during which he debunked the significant dimension subgroup conjecture mathematical proof. He was released in 1971 following a petition from the mathematics community and moved to Israel a year later where he received his doctorate from Hebrew University in 1975.

In 1994, Rips published a paper in the journal Statistical Science along with Yoav Rosenberg and Doron Witztum in which they claimed to have found a secret code in the Biblical book of Genesis.

Using a method they dubbed equidistant letter sequences, the paper’s writers said they had found the names and birthdates of several Jewish scholars who had lived thousands of years after the Bible was written.

The method involved taking all the words from the Torah and compressing them into a single strand of 304,805 letters.

A computerized search program then hunted for letters set a predetermined distance apart, and used them to form names and phrases with significance.

The paper inspired a book by Michael Drosnin who claimed he had found predictions of significant events in Genesis and the other four books of the Torah using the method.

In the book, Drosnin wrote that he had predicted the assassination of late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin a year before it happened, and had flown to Israel to warn him.

He also said he found predictions for the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and the death of Princess Diana in 1997.

In 1997, Rips, Witztum, Rosenberg, and Drosnin won the Ig Nobel Prize which is awarded for unusual contributions that “make people laugh and then make them think.” The four were awarded the prize for the literature category.

When it was first published, Rips et al’s paper was met with both support and skepticism, but in 1999, a team of researchers led by Dr. Brendan McKay published a 45-page paper in Statistical Science debunking the method.

McKay also answered a challenge by Drosnin who said that when “my critics find a message about the assassination of a prime minister encrypted in Moby Dick, I’ll believe them.”

McKay subsequently published proof that he had used the same method to find references to the assassinations of Martin Luther King, JFK, Rabin, Abraham Lincoln, and the death of Princess Diana among others.

Over the years, Rips distanced himself from Drosnin’s book and subsequent works of Bible code-breakers who used the method, but continued to believe in his original work.

Rips was also known for his contribution to the geometric group theory and discovered the Rips Machine method that is used in the field.

Rips was survived by his wife, Dvorah, five children, and more than 30 grandchildren, according to The New York Times.

Tim Walz's brother Jeff Says that Walz "Not the type of character you want making decisions about your future"


 Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz is not the “type of character” who should make decisions about America’s future, his older brother warned in a series of damning Facebook comments this week.

“I’m 100% opposed to all his ideology,”  Jeff Walz declared Friday evening about the far-left Minnesota governor and running mate of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

And he has so little faith in his kid brother, Jeff Walz is now considering publicly endorsing former President Trump’s White House run, he told a Facebook poster who urged him to “Get on stage with President Trump and endorse him.”

“I’ve thought long and hard about doing something like that! I’m torn between that and just keeping my family out of it,” the 67-year-old Floridian wrote in a response which notched 449 likes.

“The stories I could tell. Not the type of character you want making decisions about your future,” he added.

Soros Sent His Son Alex to DemonRat Convention to let them know that He Owns Them!

Soros With Walz 
Alex Soros and his fiancee Huma Abedin 

 

Soros With Schumer


Soros with Clinton


A bevy of leading Democrats lined up party’s national convention to kiss the ring of left-wing megadonor Alex Soros, who showed his dominion over the pols by adding the photographs to his growing gallery on social media.

The snaps are a veritable who’s who of the party’s establishment powerbrokers — and those anointed as “rising stars.”

Many of the photos appear to have been taken from an airy skybox at the United Center in Chicago — where the party’s most elite donors paid up to $5 million to watch the action.  

“Who can blame a young upstart billionaire for showing off the collection of politicians he has in his pocket? He owns them and wants the world to know how well his pets treat him,” mocked Matt Wolking, a Republican strategist.

Also in tow with Soros was his new fiancee, former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s ex-wife Huma Abedin, who was Hillary Clinton’s longtime former aide.

Soros and Huma took a meeting — with iPhones are the ready — with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — the party’s vice presidential nominee.

“Walzified! Walzpilled! Great to meet with our future VP, coach Walz here in Chicago,” Soros enthused.

On the night President Biden spoke, Soros enjoyed the remarks with former President Clinton and former Secretary of State HIllary Clinton. Also on hand were Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.).

On night two, Soros caught up with former President Obama and the Democrats’ Eminence Gris, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Soros has donated more than $600,000 to Pelosi and her Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee since 2010, Federal Election Commission records show.

He also gave his stamp of approval to Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who he blessed as a “rising star” of the party.

Other guest pols pictured alongside Soros during the convention included Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Soros also hobnobbed with New York’s top leaders, including Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — a longtime friend. Soros has given Schumer’s Senate Majority PAC more than $5.5 million since 2016, FEC records show.

Soros and his father — hedge fund billionaire George Soros — are among the most prolific fundraisers in the Democratic Party. The 94-year-old patriarch gave more than $175 million to Democrats during the 2022 midterms, according to Federal Election Commission records. A nonprofit founded and funded by Papa Soros ponied up at least another $60 million for Democrats in 2024, records show.

Alex — his father’s successor — currently chairs the family’s Open Society Foundations, a $25 billion philanthropy that supports radical left-wing causes around the world.

More locally, Soros and his allies have invested heavily in races to install far-left district attorneys in major American cities who pursue priorities like “criminal justice reform” — instead of prosecuting. In the Big Apple, Alvin Bragg, a Soros acolyte, became Manhattan district attorney in 2022 and has allowed large swaths of criminal behavior to go unpunished.

Alex Soros contributed over $720,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020 — making him one of the fund’s top donors. No similarly-sized check from the Soros scion has been written for the 2024 campaign, but his presence at the convention suggests the wallets may be out, critics said.

“The new Democratic Party is the party for out-of-touch rich elites from all over the world, so it is no surprise the drooling that went on over Alex Soros last week,” Sen Roger Marshall, (R-Kansas) told The Post.

NY imam Wants Columbia students to ‘take out’ pro-Israel professor

Imam Tom Facchine (left) Shai DavidaI (right)

 An upstate imam urged student activists to “take out” an outspoken, pro-Israel Columbia University professor who’s returning to the embattled Ivy this fall after a year of antisemitic hate.

Vassar-educated, Utica-based imam Tom Facchine made the plea about business school professor Shai Davidai during an Aug. 20 webinar called “Islamic Political Activism” with various Columbia student groups that promoted and broadcast it.

“That Shai Davidai guy: How do we get him in trouble? How do we create a situation in which he’s in jeopardy?” Facchine, 35, asked. “If you’re able to take out somebody like that and make an example, that might shut up a hundred more.”

The Jersey-born Facchine left Christianity to become atheist, found Marx in college and converted to Islam in 2010.

Davidai alerted Columbia honchos about the imam’s screed and the university launched a probe using outside security experts who concluded that the rhetoric “did not create conditions that require enhanced security measures,” according to an email from VP of public safety Gerald Lewis to Davidai and shared with The Post.

Undaunted by the imam’s “direct threat,” the professor told The Post: “I will not be silenced – I know I’m speaking the truth.

“It feels like they put a target on my back – with the explicit goal to take me down, to get me fired, to make up complaints about me.”

Davidai gained notoriety last October for his viral video blasting the school for failing to protect its Jewish students against terror-supporting mobs and vowing that he would never send his daughter to Columbia.

The nontenured Israeli native and married father of two was barred from campus at the end of last semester and has been under investigation by Columbia’s Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office. He’ll be back this fall.

The machinations of “Imam Tom,” who enjoys espresso, hiking, and bird watching, according to his bio at the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, are indeed dangerous, the professor said.

“This is not some run-of-the-mill, uninformed individual [whipping] up students,” he added of the popular Muslim YouTube figure who serves as the resident scholar of the Utica Masjid mosque. “This is a radical extremist who knows exactly what he’s saying.”

Three days after the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7 that left more than 1,200 dead and 250 kidnapped, Facchine gushed that he supports the Palestinian “resistance” “100 percent – no ifs, ands or buts,” adding there are “no equivocations, no apologies, no condemnations.”

Any rebuke of the murder, rapes, dismemberment and decapitations are akin to “criticiz[ing] the table manners of a starving person,” he said.

He’s been shown filming outside of Columbia at the height of the tensions, encouraging the encampments that have engulfed the beleaguered school.

A Columbia spokesperson said, “Discrimination and harassment including hate language, calls for violence, and the targeting of any individuals or groups based on their beliefs, ancestry, religion, gender identity, or any other identity or affiliation have no place at Columbia.” Facchine did not return calls for comment.

Friday, August 30, 2024

'Train wreck for Harris': Kamala is ripped to shreds for 'word salad' CNN softball interview as ex-Obama strategist gives brutal verdict ahead of Trump debate showdown

 

Kamala Harris was last night ripped to shreds for her 'word salad' answers in a softball liberal media interview - her first since Joe Biden dropped out 40 days ago.

The Democratic nominee appeared beside her running mate Tim Walz for an hour-long broadcast - which in reality amounted to less than half an hour of actual questioning by Dana Bash.

The liberal commentariat claimed that she had succeeded by following the tenet of 'do no harm' during the pre-recorded broadcast from Savannah, Georgia.

But Harris' critics said she failed to address three issues that plague her campaign: the border crisis, red-hot inflation and the Biden health cover-up. 

David Axelrod, a former Obama strategist, gave a brutal verdict in CNN's post-game analysis, stating that Harris hadn't 'moved the ball forward that much.'

Scott Jennings, an ex-Bush advisor, issued the ominous warning that Donald Trump will be 'salivating' ahead of the presidential debate on September 10 - their first ever face-to-face meeting.

That sentiment was echoed by GOP polling guru Frank Luntz who tweeted: 'A lot of people think Kamala Harris has done well so far in this interview. I disagree – a good debater will find it easy to challenge her.'

He added: 'If tonight's interview is judged not on policy but on performance, Kamala Harris will be found lacking.' 

Bash, a CNN loyalist who has worked at the liberal network since graduating from college, was accused of failing to land any major blows. Harris HQ spun the interview as a great triumph. Donald Trump told his Truth Social followers it was 'BORING!!!'

Daily Mail columnist Andrew Neil said Harris was 'let off the hook on her part in the cover up of Biden's cognitive decline' and added that CNN gave a 'master class on how not to hold politicians to account'. 

Former Trump aide Steve Cortes called it a 'train wreck.'

Newsweek: Kamala Harris' Election Odds Deteriorated Noticeably With Bookmakers After CNN Interview

 

Kamala Harris's odds of winning the 2024 presidential election deteriorated noticeably after her CNN interview, which took place along with running mate Tim Walz, on Thursday evening, according to two leading bookmakers.

The vice president went from being the favorite to win with odds of 10/11 (52.4 percent) on Thursday to tied with Donald Trump on 19/20 (51.3 percent) each on Friday morning, according to the Star Sports betting company. Over the same period, Trump's odds of victory in November improved from 21/20 (48.8 percent) before the interview to 20/21 (51.2 percent), according to U.K. based bookmaker Betfair.

Thursday's interview with CNN's Dana Bash was the first time Harris faced unscripted questions in several weeks, a fact that had sparked intense criticism from Republican opponents. During the interview, Harris said she plans to "strengthen and support the middle class" if elected to the White House in November, adding the Biden administration had been required to "rescue the economy" after what she termed the "mismanagement" of the COVID-19 pandemic by Trump.

Speaking to Newsweek, Star Sports betting analyst William Kedjanyi said: "Vice President Harris is now tied at 19/20 with Republican candidate Donald Trump, drifting slightly from 10/11 yesterday. The Californian had been 5/6 in recent weeks but she has failed to surge ahead of Trump in the market.

"GOP supporters will hope Trump can now go on to tip the balance in his favor, before November's presidential election."

Betfair spokesperson Sam Rosbottom commented: "Before Kamala Harris' sit-down interview with CNN overnight, the Betfair Exchange market had more or less been neck and neck.

"While the lead in the betting has flip flopped throughout August, momentum is now with Trump and he has become the odds-on favorite again after being backed into 21/20."

Newsweek contacted the Kamala Harris and Donald Trump presidential election campaigns for comment on Friday by email outside of regular business hours.

During the CNN interview, Harris focused more on policy, vowing to "bring down the cost of everyday goods" by combating "price gouging" and to offer $25,000 tax credit for first time buyers. She also pledged to extend the child tax credit to $6,000 for families for the first year of their child's life.

Referring to the economy, Harris added: "We had to recover. I'm very proud of the work that we have done that has brought inflation down to less than 3 percent, the work that we have done to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for seniors.

"Donald Trump said that he was going to do a number of things, including allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Never happened. We did it."

Harris also paid an emotional tribute to President Joe Biden who she said "cares so deeply about the American people."

She added: "He is so smart and loyal to the American people... He has the intelligence, the commitment, and the judgment and disposition that I think the American people deserve in their president. By contrast, the former president has none of that."

When Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage, was asked to respond to Trump claim that she "happened to turn Black" for political gain she claimed the comment came from the "same old, tired playbook," adding: "Next question, please."

Media especially Chareidie Media Lying About Ben-Gvir's Ascension to Har Habyis!

 

Plot to attack Taylor Swift shows was intended to kill thousands ... CIA

 

The suspects in the foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna earlier this month sought to kill “tens of thousands” of fans before the CIA discovered intelligence that disrupted the planning, the agency’s deputy director said, according to The Associated Press.

The CIA alerted Austrian authorities about the plot, which was reportedly connected to the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization. This intelligence and the subsequent arrests led to the cancellation of three sold-out shows.

CIA Deputy Director David Cohen discussed the thwarted plot during the annual Intelligence and National Security Summit in Maryland this week.

“They were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans — and were quite advanced in this,” Cohen said, according to AP. “The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do.”

Austrian officials have identified the main suspect as a 19-year-old Austrian man, who was reportedly inspired by ISIS. He allegedly planned to target fans outside the stadium, where approximately 30,000 were expected to gather, using knives or homemade explosives. Inside the venue, an additional 65,000 fans were anticipated.

Three teenagers have been detained in connection with the investigation and are suspected of plotting a suicide attack.

Investigators found a stockpile of chemicals, explosive devices, detonators and €21,000 in counterfeit cash at the home of the main suspect, a 19-year-old ISIS sympathizer who had been radicalized online, authorities said.

Austria’s interior minister, Gerhard Karner, noted that assistance from other intelligence agencies was essential because Austrian investigators, unlike some foreign services, lack the legal authority to monitor text messages.

Swift addressed the cancellations last week after her London shows concluded.

“The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows. But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives,” Swift wrote.

“I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London,” she continued. “My team and I worked hand in hand with stadium staff and British authorities every day in pursuit of that goal, and I want to thank them for everything they did for us.”

Rare Stone Seal Unearthed in Jerusalem From the First Bais Hamikdash Times!


  A rare and unique First Temple-era stone seal inscribed with a name in paleo-Hebrew script has been uncovered near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Thursday.


The ancient black stone seal, which was unearthed in an excavation by the Temple Mount’s southern wall, is believed to date back 2,700 years, and was used by a senior official in the Kingdom of Judah’s administration, the state-run archaeological body said.

“The seal, made of black stone, is one of the most beautiful ever discovered in excavations in ancient Jerusalem, and is executed at the highest artistic level,” said Yuval Baruch and Navot Rom, who directed the excavations with funding by the City of David Foundation.

The object—which is engraved with reverse script, served its owner both as an amulet and as a signature for legal documents and certificates, according to the IAA.

It has a hole drilled through its length so that it could be strung onto a chain and be worn around the neck.

The artifact is engraved with the words “LeYehoʼezer ben Hoshʼayahu”—“For Yeho’ezer son of Hosh’ayahu”—in paleo-Hebrew script.

Experts said that the seal is an extremely rare and unusual discovery.

“This is the first time that a winged ‘genie’—a protective magical figure—has been found in Israeli and regional archaeology,” said Filip Vukosavović, IAA archaeologist and assyriologist. “Figures of winged demons are known in the Neo-Assyrian art of the 9th-7th centuries BCE, and they were considered a kind of protective demon.”

The seal was apparently made by a local craftsman, “a Judahite, who produced the amulet at the owner’s request. It was prepared at a very high artistic level,” Vukosavović said.

The name Yehoʼezer appears in the Bible (Chron. I 12:7) in its abbreviated form, Yoʼezer, one of King David’s fighters. In the Book of Jeremiah (43:2), which depicts events thought to have occurred during the same period the seal was in use, the name “Azariah ben Hosh’aya” appears. “Hosh’aya” is the abbreviated form of Hoshʼayahu.

“This is further evidence of the reading and writing abilities that existed in this period,” said Baruch. “Contrary to what may be commonly thought, it seems that literacy in this period was not the realm only of society’s elite. People knew how to read and write—at least at the basic level, for the needs of commerce.”

When Hosh’ayahu died, his son Yeho’ezer inherited the seal, and he “added his name and his father’s name on either side of the demon,” in an effort to “directly appropriate to himself the beneficial qualities he believed the talisman embodied as a magical item,” the archaeologists believe.

The paleo-Hebrew inscription “was done in a sloppy manner,” unlike the “careful engraving of the demon,” indicating that it could have been “Yehoʼezer himself who engraved the names on the object,” said professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa, who took part in the research.

“The spectacular and unique find opens another window for us into the days of the Kingdom of Judah during the First Temple period, and attests to that administration’s international connections,” said Israeli Heritage Minister Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu. “In doing so, it demonstrates the importance and centrality of Jerusalem already 2,700 years ago. It is impossible not to be moved by such an unmediated and direct encounter with a chapter of our past, a time in which the First Temple stood in all its glory.”

Additional information about the seal is to be presented to the public next week at the annual “City of David Research Conference,” which takes place on Wednesday, Sept. 4 in Jerusalem.

Thursday, August 29, 2024

Biden imposes sanctions against Israeli volunteer organization

 

On Wednesday, the White House announced sanctions against volunteer security organization Hashomer Yosh and a Jewish settler on allegations of violence against Arabs.

The individual sanctioned is Yitzhar security coordinator Yitzhak Levi Filant.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, “Extremist settler violence in the West Bank causes intense human suffering, harms Israel’s security, and undermines the prospect for peace and stability in the region.”

Hashomer Yosh is an NGO funded by the Israeli government and is affiliated with parties led by government ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

The Yesha council is concerned about the growing number of settlers an organizations serving Jews in Judea and Samaria that are getting sanctioned by the US government.

Hashomer Yosh is focused on protection of settler outposts against terrorist violence and is established to safeguard farms in Judea and Samaria.

The NGO receives support from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of the Environment.

Miller listed the allegations that led to the sanctions, “After all 250 Palestinian residents of Khirbet Zanuta were forced to leave in late January, Hashomer Yosh volunteers fenced off the village to prevent the residents from returning.”

The statement continued, “The volunteers also provided support by grazing the herds and purporting to “guard” the outposts of U.S.-designated individuals,” he said.

“The United States will continue to take action to promote accountability for those who commit and support extremist violence, “ Miller concluded.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office in statement said “Israel is seriously concerned about the imposition of sanctions on Israeli citizens. The issue is under intense discussion with the United States.”

This is the newest in a series of sanctions the US has impose against individuals and organizations in Judea and Samaria.

In March, the US sanctioned three Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria, accusing them of “undermining peace, security, and stability in the West Bank.”

The State Department alleges their farms and properties are serving as bases from which the accused are perpetrating “violence against Palestinians.”

What the Frum Silent Majority Thinks of Going Up to the Har habayis

 

I have taken a sample of comments from different blogs!

Intellectual conversation or bust
 1 day ago

Dear amoratzim: stop screaming, wipe the foam from your mouth, go learn some mishnayos before getting involved in adults’ conversation. No, it’s completely irrelevant from the halachik point of view what someone allegedly said, unless he put out a well articulated tshuva where his reasoning can be examined. The undisputed halacha is that there are different areas on Har Habais, some of which are MUTAR to enter. If you want to dispute the above, bring up the halachik sources and well articulated tshuvos, not the cult-of-personality apikorsus.


Pravda
 1 day ago

Yated is the AP of chareidis. What are they afraid of ? Why not publish opposing halachik views ?


Learn mishnayos before screaming!
 1 day ago
 Reply to  shmendrick

Rav Elyashiv did NOT issue a Har Habais psak halacha that can be applied to entire Am Yisroel. If your rabbi tells YOU not to enter, his reasoning could be because he knows that YOU are an am hooretz and YOU can’t be trusted not to step out of the permitted area; as such, your rabbi’s statement is NOT a psak halacha for everyone else, but exclusively for you.
The HALACHA is undisputed: there are different areas of Har Habais, some of which are mutar to enter; obviously one has to know the relevant halachos to enter! Not a single posek argues on this.

Wipe foam off your mouth!
 1 day ago
 Reply to  shmendrick

Learn the inyan: there exist areas of Har Habais that are mutar bli sofeik. Not a single posek argues on this. If a rav prohibits YOU something that’s normally mutar, that’s a chesoron on you, not a psak halacha for the entire Am Yisroel.

No politics in halacha
 12 hours ago
 Reply to  shmendrick

No buddy, it’s you who doesn’t understand the concept. You and people like you have been screaming “absolutely issur koreis” blanket statements. Now finally you concede that the basic halacha states that there are different areas. Good. Welcome aboard. As far as lemaisa, what the exact gedorim are, that is to be treated just like any other halacha: no politics, researching the inyan and doing our best to figure out the emes. So, maybe you learn the inyan one way and the other posek learns it differently; you have no right to call the other guy a sheigetz!


aakov S
 1 day ago
 Reply to  He is not well

Oh, HE’S the provocateur, not the murderous Muslim drek. They could have it all but not us Jews. Sure, let them stomp all over us and our once holiest site, by building an edifice seen for miles and in practically every photo of the kosel. How nauseating. It should make every Jew sick.

Rabbis are NOT idols!
 1 day ago
 Reply to  shmendrick

Bring real halachik sources to prove that the entire Har Habais is osur or sofeik osur. The acceptable sources are: gemoras, rishonim, acharonim, well articulated tshuvos from contemporary poskim. Screaming names is NOT a proof! You are the one deviating from the acceptable halacha, hence the burden of proof is on you.