“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l
Friday, May 15, 2026
Fact vs. Modern Distortion: The Centrality of Jerusalem to the Jewish People
The effort to deny the Jewish connection to Jerusalem is not an academic dispute. It is part of the unrelenting political, ideological, and religious war against Israel. The Palestinian Authority has long accused the Jewish state of inventing a false Jewish history while “appropriating" Palestinian history, culture, and heritage. Palestinian Arab officials routinely describe Jewish historical presence in Jerusalem as “Judaization," as though the Jewish people are foreign intruders in their own ancient capital.
This language is not accidental. It is a strategy. If Jewish history in Jerusalem can be denied, then Jewish sovereignty in Jerusalem can be delegitimized. If the Temple Mount can be transformed from Har HaBayit-the holiest site in Judaism-into an exclusively Islamic space called only Al-Aqsa, then Jewish memory itself can be treated as an act of aggression.
MEMRI has documented how Islamic and Palestinian Arab narratives repeatedly challenge Jewish historical ties to the Temple Mount, often denying or minimizing the existence of the First and Second Temples. This is not merely a distortion of Jewish history. It is also a departure from classical Islamic sources, many of which acknowledged the ancient Jewish connection to the site.
Israel Suing New York Times for accusing Israel of using dogs to rape Palestinians
The Israeli government announced that it would file a lawsuit against the New York Times following the publication this week of a column by Nicholas Kristof accusing Israel of the mass rape of Arab prisoners, including by allegedly training dogs to rape prisoners.
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Yom Yerushalayim- marking 59 years since the liberation of Jerusalem ....
What was Jerusalem like under Jordanian rule?
— Rabbi Daniel Rowe (@rabbidanielrowe) May 14, 2026
Today is Yom Yerushalayim- marking 59 years since the liberation of Jerusalem
People say Jerusalem was "better before 1967." Let me tell you what it was actually like.
Under Jordanian rule, Jews were completely banned. Not less… pic.twitter.com/JoQrkg10Iy
What was Jerusalem like under Jordanian rule?
Today is Yom Yerushalayim- marking 59 years since the liberation of Jerusalem
People say Jerusalem was "better before 1967." Let me tell you what it was actually like.
Under Jordanian rule, Jews were completely banned. Not less access. Zero access. All 58 synagogues in the Jewish Quarter were systematically destroyed. Every single one. Mount of Olives gravestones were ripped up and used for roads and latrines. This wasn't apartheid, it was worse. At least under apartheid people could physically live in the country.
Christians weren't spared either. Church land ownership was restricted. Christian schools were controlled by the Jordanian government.
And this happened despite a signed armistice agreement guaranteeing freedom of access. Jordan simply ignored it.
Then came June 7th, 1967. Israeli paratroopers entered the Old City. Three words came over the radio that stopped a nation:
"The Temple Mount is in our hands."
Since that day, Muslims, Christians and Jews all worship freely here. All their populations have grown. The Waqf still administers the Temple Mount. Every church has remained open.
Today I'm standing where the last Jews were expelled in 1948. Elderly people sitting in the squares. Children playing in the streets. Exactly as Zechariah prophesied.
The city is alive. And it's open to everyone.
NYT Doubles Down on Blood Libel column alleging IDF train Dogs to rape Palestinian inmates
The New York Times repeatedly defended a column that alleged Israeli security forces rape Palestinian inmates, as Jewish groups announced they would protest outside the newspaper’s Manhattan offices on Thursday over the “libels.”
But the Times did not respond to a statement by former prime minister Ehud Olmert accusing columnist Nicholas Kristof of misrepresenting his words so that they appeared to validate the allegations in the Monday op-ed, “The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians.”
Israel had slammed the star journalist’s column, calling it “one of the worst blood libels” in modern media and assailing its use of a report from an NGO whose leaders have been photographed alongside top Hamas officials.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry also alleged that the Times deliberately published Kristof’s column ahead of an independent Israeli report that found Hamas had systematically used sexual violence in the onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza. The Foreign Ministry claimed the Times had been approached with the Israeli report “months ago.”
In a statement Wednesday, the Times said it “never passed on” the Israeli report “and wasn’t told about its completion or the timing of its release.”
“Once the report was made public, we covered its findings,” it said, adding that the Israeli report “has no bearing on Nicholas Kristof’s opinion column or its publication timing.”
In a separate statement, the Times on Tuesday also denied journalist David Shuster’s claim on X that there were “already discussions, including up the masthead, about retracting” Kristof’s column over “issues with source credibility and lack of evidence.”
The Times responded that “there is no truth to this at all,” noting that Kristof was “a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has reported on sexual violence for decades.”
“He traveled to the region to report firsthand on the stories of Palestinians who suffered abuse, and his article collects accounts in the victims’ own words, backed by independent studies,” the Times said.
And in another statement late Wednesday, the outlet said Kristof’s piece “draws together on-the-record accounts and cites several analyses documenting the practice of sexual violence and abuse conducted by various parts of Israel’s security forces and settlers,” adding that the accounts were “corroborated with other witnesses, whenever possible, and with people the victims confided in,” that they were “extensively fact-checked,” and “further cross-referenced with news reporting, independent research from human-rights groups, surveys and in one case, with UN testimony.” It said “independent experts” were consulted throughout the process.
Kristof’s column alleged “a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women and even children — by soldiers, settlers, interrogators in the Shin Bet internal security agency and, above all, prison guards.”
It cited personal testimony from Palestinians, and included Olmert’s comments near the end, so that they appeared to confirm what came before.
“Olmert told me he didn’t know much about sexual violence against Palestinians but was not surprised by the accounts I had heard,” Kristof wrote, before quoting ex-Con,Olmert, as saying: “Do I believe it happens? Definitely… There are war crimes committed every day in the territories.”
Olmert, a convicted fraudster who sat in prison, interviews with foreign media often accuses the current Israeli government of war crimes, said in a statement cited by The Free Press on Tuesday that the placement of the quote was misleading and that he could not confirm the allegations in Kristof’s column.
“Mr. Kristof’s article includes claims of extraordinary gravity: that Israeli authorities have directed the rape of children, that dogs have been used as instruments of sexual assault, that systematic sexual torture is state policy. I did not validate these claims,” Olmert said in the statement.
“I have no knowledge supporting these claims as I said to Mr. Kristof. Therefore, the positioning of my quote after pages of such allegations misrepresents my views,” he said.
Meanwhile, pro-Israel Jewish groups EndJewHatred, Stop Antizionism, Hineni and the Movement Against Antizionism said they would hold a protest outside the Times’ Eighth Avenue headquarters on Thursday following Kristof’s column.
Other than EndJewHatred, the organizations behind the rally are relatively new, having been established following the October 7, 2023, onslaught and ensuing surge in anti-Jewish sentiment in the US. The rally marks an early foray into organized protests for the newer groups.
“Join us to rally and let NYT know they must stop the anti-Zionist libels! Enough is enough!” the organizers said.
The protest comes after anti-Zionist activists marched through a Jewish area of Brooklyn on Monday and scuffled with residents as a local Young Israel synagogue hosted an event by a real estate group that advertises listings in West Bank settlements.
Several anti-Zionist protesters at the Monday night rally accused Jewish counter-demonstrators and neighborhood residents of “raping people with dogs,” citing The Times report.
Turns Out that the ones responsible for the Wave of Arson in Nevei Yaakov & Pisgat Ze'ev are Chardeie Children
Jerusalem has recently been dealing with a wave of arson in the neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze'ev and Neve Yaakov, and it turns out to shame that those responsible for this are actually Charedie children, some of whom even harass firefighters who come and disgrace their lives
One of the commanders of the fire department, David Sror, writes in a letter to parents and children in an attempt to stop the dangerous wave that could cost lives: "One day," he writes, "God forbid, a firefighter will not return home - and you will know why"
A wave of arson has recently swept the city of Jerusalem, especially in the neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze'ev and Neve Yaakov, and shamefully, it turns out that those responsible for this are actually Charedie children.
And if that were not enough, at night they set fire to forests, in an arson that in a short moment can turn into a death trap, some of them harass the firefighters, the firefighters, who risk their lives to prevent the flames from spreading and fight to save lives.
Now, after a special meeting between the fire chiefs and the neighborhood's rabbis, one of the commanders, David Sror – the commander of the Jerusalem Fire Brigade – is issuing an emotional letter – published for the first time in Kikar HaShabbat, to parents and children, in an attempt to stop the dangerous wave, which could cost lives.
"To my brothers," the team commander writes in his letter, "I am writing these words after another fire. Another night of smoke in the forests around Jerusalem. Another call, another group of exhausted firefighters get on trucks as families sit down for dinner. Another danger that no one sees, because thank God, most nights we come home alive. And again they tell us that it was Charedie children."
Chardeie Civil War as Shas Does Not Share Rav Landau's Divisive Statement on Netanyahu and will remain in Government
Sources in Shas say: We do not share the tone of United Torah Judaism. We hope that Netanyahu will win the next elections as well, but contrary to settling for past promises, this time we will not join the government headed by him before the coalition passes a conscription law, similar to what Minister Ben-Gvir did on the eve of his appointment as minister of national security with the law to amend the Police Ordinance.
Split between Degel and Shas:
Sha'ar Darach tomorrow declares allegiance to the right-wing bloc: "Anyone who naively believes that a left-wing government will give us everything – lives in imaginations, the only common denominator of the collection of figures there – is hatred of the ultra-Orthodox. They will do everything to form a government without them."
If America Turns on Its Jews
| American Nazis march in NY City, October 30, 1938 |
By:Yori Yanover
It’s a deeply disturbing question: will something like the European Holocaust happen again – this time in America? It comes down to understanding the warning signs of genocide and mass persecution, most notably the rising antisemitism and political instability, which gnaw at the foundation of American democracy.
Historically, the 1939-1945 Holocaust followed a distinct pattern of escalating state fascism and militarism in German-influenced Europe, while Western democracies were in decline because of economic troubles. It’s reasonable to assume that if a Holocaust were to begin in the US, it would likely not start overnight, and it will look nothing like the 1930s in Europe. It would begin gradually, and through a process that would often appear like the opposite of the European model. For one thing, while in Europe it was a resolute, aggressive leadership that drove the excitable masses, in America and the rest of the Western world, it is the masses who aggressively push the leaders.
Lady Who Wrote Children's Book about processing grief ...Killed her Husband !
Utah mom Kouri Richins — who killed her husband and then wrote a children’s book for their sons about processing grief — was sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday after she made a deluded, saccharine speech to the judge about how she had been persecuted.
Judge Richard Mrazik threw the book at the 35-year-old mother after it was revealed her three young sons said they were terrified of her and wouldn’t feel safe unless she remained imprisoned for life.
Before the sentence, Richins gave a 30-minute address that was aimed mainly at her boys — who are now being care for by the sister of Eric Richins, the man she was convicted of killing.
Parents blast IDF over soldier’s punishment for wearing a "moshiach" Patch
Parents of soldiers serving in the Nahal Brigade responded to the sentence handed down to the soldier who was caught by the IDF Chief of Staff wearing a "Messiah" patch on his uniform.
In a strongly written letter addressed to Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Nahal Brigade Commander Colonel Arik Moyal, the parents demanded that the 30-day jail sentence, which they referred to as "draconian," be overturned.
In their letter, the parents stress that the soldier is a hero who just returned from the battlefields in Lebanon, and that punishing him for a symbol of Jewish faith is a critical blow to the fighting spirit and the foundations of the Jewish people's tradition.
"To see that the Chief of Staff is the one who chooses to send a soldier to prison for expressing basic Jewish faith is a slap in the face to thousands of soldiers," the letter reads.
The parents criticized what they called a focus on a “patch police" during wartime and claimed double standards. “It is puzzling how the chief of staff is photographed alongside figures who led the refusal to serve, yet chooses to show a heavy hand toward a soldier who sought to connect with his people’s tradition."
The letter, a copy of which was forwarded to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, ends with an unequivocal demand to overturn the sentences against the soldier and his commander.
As previously reported, the soldier's platoon commander was sentenced to 14 days' probation, the company commander received an official reprimand, and the battalion commander received a command citation.
The IDF claimed that the soldiers were briefed ahead of the Chief of Staff's expected visit, and despite this, "they behaved in a manner that was inconsistent with expectations and did not comply with rules of discipline."
The brigade commander who disciplined the soldier and his commanders wrote to his subordinates on Wednesday: “It is important that you know, as I told you in our conversation, that the full responsibility is mine, and I acted as I did because discipline is a fundamental value. It starts with us, the commanders, and extends through all our soldiers. Unfortunately, a lack of discipline confronts us both in operational incidents and in routine situations, sometimes resulting in loss of life. The issue is not the patch; the issue is the values by which we educate."
He added that the Nahal Brigade “will serve as an example and model in this field as well; this is our duty."
The commander continued: “Once, a senior commander told me he had left the home of a bereaved family, where the mother asked him: ‘Why did you let him go up to the roof... and because of that he was hurt.’ I will never forget that. Anything is preferable to a soldier being killed because of a lack of discipline. I believe in this path, and therefore, the background noise around it is part of the process. Do yourselves a favor, ignore it and keep hitting hard the way only you know how," he concluded.
The Charedi journalist who visited Baghdad undercover
Journalist and researcher Yitzhak Horwitz described an extraordinary visit to Iraq in the middle of the war and revealed a complex reality of a heavy Iranian presence and the remains of a small Jewish community that maintains its historic sites.
Only in a Crazy World.....UN blasts Israeli law establishing special tribunal for Oct. 7 terrorists
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, issued a formal demand on Wednesday calling for Israel to abolish the newly passed legislation to prosecute terrorists who took part in the Hamas led massacres of October 7, 2023.
The legislation, which was approved by a 93-MK majority, establishes a new military tribunal specifically established to prosecute October 7 terrorists. The legislation sets the maximum penalty at death.
Furthermore, a dramatic reservation proposed by MKs Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionist Party) and Yulia Malinovsky (Yisrael Beytenu) was approved, stipulating that terrorists tried under this framework will never be released from prison, even as part of future exchange deals.
Commissioner Turk claimed that while accountability for the October 7 atrocities is necessary, the proposed legal mechanism fails to meet global judicial requirements.
"There must be full accountability for these horrific attacks, but this cannot be achieved through trials that fall short of international standards," Turk stated, as quoted by the AFP news agency. "This law must be overturned. This law will inevitably institutionalize one-sided justice and discrimination against Palestinians, which cannot be in anyone's interest and runs counter to international human rights law."
In a sharp rebuttal, Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva dismissed the High Commissioner's concerns.
In a statement provided to AFP, the mission suggested that Turk’s office should focus its efforts on officially designating Hamas as a terrorist organization rather than criticizing Israel's judicial process.
The mission urged the UN to "cease blaming Israel for seeking justice for victims."
Israeli officials clarified that the decision to utilize a military court was a direct result of the unprecedented scale of the crimes and the massive volume of evidence involved. The mission further emphasized that the new law remains within established legal boundaries.
“The law does not alter substantive criminal law, create new offences or penalties, establish retroactive criminal liability, or impose a mandatory death sentence", the mission noted.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Unbelievable! Satmar "Shventz" Honor their "Girlfriend" Kathy Hochul on Jewish American Heritage Month!
For more than 250 years, the Jewish community has been an essential part of the fabric of the United States
— Rabbi Moishe Indig (@MoishIndig) May 12, 2026
Honored to join Governor Kathy Hochul’s Jewish American Heritage Month celebration, recognizing a legacy of resilience, service, and standing against hate in all its forms pic.twitter.com/mtBuCC1j8m
Ungrateful Charedie newspapers launch coordinated attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Following a Tuesday decision by leading Lithuanian-haredi rabbis that the Charedi MKs should work to dissolve the Knesset, Charedi newspapers blasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declaring their lack of faith in him.
Yated Ne’eman quoted Lithuanian-haredi leader Rabbi Dov Lando as saying that
"there is no longer any trust in Netanyahu and that the Knesset should be dissolved."
The Hamodia newspaper, identified with the Gur Chasidic movement, whose representative MK Yitzhak Goldknopf has effectively acted as part of the opposition for about a year, used even sharper language in its headline, hinting that Netanyahu has no political future with the Charedim by stating that there is no chance the Likud will succeed in passing a Draft Law.
Meanwhile, Hamevaser chose to emphasize the political crisis itself, highlighting in its headline the achievement of a majority for dissolving the Knesset.
On Tuesday afternoon, Rabbi Lando instructed Degel Hatorah’s Knesset members to work toward dissolving the Knesset as quickly as possible, declaring that "there is no more trust in Netanyahu."
The directive was issued during a meeting in which party MKs reviewed the current political situation and Netanyahu’s clarification that he would have difficulty passing the proposed Draft Law at this time.
"From now on, we will do only what is good for Haredi Judaism and the yeshiva world," Rabbi Lando’s office stated, adding that "the concept of a [political] ‘bloc’ no longer exists for us."
Also on Tuesday, Kikar Hashabbat quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying that senior figures in United Torah Judaism's (UTJ) Degel Hatorah faction, including its leader MK Moshe Gafni, alongside representatives of UTJ's Agudat Yisrael faction, held discreet talks approximately two years ago with senior officials from Israel’s center-left bloc. During those discussions, the haredi representatives were allegedly offered a political arrangement in which, if they aligned with the center-left in elections, they would receive backing for a more favorable draft exemption law than what is currently being negotiated.
Despite the proposal, Charedi leaders reportedly rejected it outright, declaring their commitment to Netanyahu as unwavering.
Shas, for its part, is said to have indicated at the time that it would follow Degel Hatorah’s political decisions.
Meanwhile, sources in the coalition have warned that dissolving the Knesset serves the interests of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who has worked consistently to block any government moves which do not align with her political interests, including proposed Draft Law bills, and who has ordered a series of sanctions against the haredi community due to the lack of progress on legislating a Draft Law.
“Living In Palestinian Territory:” Belgium Refuses To Renew Passport Of Auschwitz Survivor’s Daughter
For the first time, the Belgian Consulate-General in Jerusalem has refused to issue a new passport to a Belgian-Israeli citizen living in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev, claiming the area is “not recognized under international law,” Ynet reported.
The woman who was denied the renewal of her passport is Annabel Herziger-Tanzer, the daughter of Auschwitz survivor Sam Herziger, a Belgian citizen and well-known artist whose works are displayed in museums around the world, including in Antwerp.
When Annabel’s passport expired about a month ago, she did what she’s always done in the past, contacting the Belgian Consulate in Jerusalem and requesting an appointment to renew her passport. To her utter shock, she received an email stating that the consulate is refusing to do so.
“Madame Herziger, after reviewing our population records, we found that you settled in a colony that is not recognized under international law, to which Belgium is bound,” the email stated. “Therefore, you could not be registered at this address in the consular population records of the Consulate General of Belgium in Jerusalem.”
Speaking to Ynet, Annabel said: “I felt as if they had spat in my face, as if I were a second-class person. I am a member of the Israel-Belgium Friendship Association, but I am no longer proud to be Belgian. It brings up trauma for me as the second generation of Holocaust survivors. I always felt like a resident of Israel and Belgium, with my first love for my first homeland. Had my last name been Awad and had I lived in Pisgat Ze’ev, I would not have been treated this way.”
Her husband, social activist Alex Tanzer, who is also the child of Holocaust survivors, sent an urgent letter to Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar: “Where is the State of Israel? The Foreign Ministry must immediately summon the Belgian ambassador for a reprimand. This is the only country in the world that practices selection between Jews and non-Jews.”
The policy shift stems from a decision by authorities in Brussels not to provide consular services to Israelis living in settlements in the wake of a Belgian government commitment in late 2025 to recognize a Palestinian state.
New York Times Refused to Print New Evidence of Oct 7 Atrocities Instead Printed That "IDF Trained Dogs to Rape Palestinians on Front Page "
This New York Times "article" about Israel is such a journalistic atrocity that I actually feel stupid reading it out loud.
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) May 12, 2026
If everyone at the NYT who is responsible for this is not fired, then the publication will lose whatever shred of credibility it has left. pic.twitter.com/nhXSl5AW1D
Zionist technology can destroy tumors by freezing them, without surgery or radiation.
This Israeli technology can destroy tumors by freezing them, without surgery or radiation.
IceCure Medical’s ProSense system uses cryoablation. A tiny probe delivers extreme cold (liquid nitrogen) to precisely freeze and kill cancerous tumors in the breast, kidney, lung, liver, and bone.
The procedure takes minutes under local anesthesia, and many patients go home the same day.
Already FDA-cleared and used worldwide, it offers a minimally invasive option with faster recovery and fewer side effects.
This isn’t science fiction anymore. It’s Israeli innovation giving cancer patients a gentler, more precise path forward.
Israel defeating cancer, again.
— Mor Edge Insight (@MorEdge_Insight) May 12, 2026
This Israeli technology can destroy tumors by freezing them, without surgery or radiation.
IceCure Medical’s ProSense system uses cryoablation. A tiny probe delivers extreme cold (liquid nitrogen) to precisely freeze and kill cancerous tumors in… pic.twitter.com/MCEacMKEXv

