Knesset approves first phase of judicial reform

 

The Knesset plenum on Monday afternoon approved changes to the reasonableness standard, passing the bill with a majority of 64 Knesset members.

As the bill passed its second and third Knesset readings, opposition MKs yelled, "shame!" and "destruction!"

The reasonableness standard is an amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary, and allows the court to rule against the validity of elected official's decisions that in a justice's opinion are beyond the scope of what a reasonable authority would undertake. It passed its first Knesset reading earlier this month, and is now being prepared for its second and third Knesset readings.

Ministers Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) and Yoav Gallant (Likud) pushed for a last-minute compromise, despite the harsh opposition by ministers Yariv Levin (Likud) and Itamar Ben Gvir (Otzma Yehudit). The two also pushed to delay the legislation for judicial appointments for a period of more than six months.

The Prime Minister weighed the suggestion and even stepped out to discuss it with a number of ministers, in an attempt to soften the legislation. The President's Residence was also involved in the negotiations.

The attempts to reach a compromise between the coalition and the opposition continued until the last moment, but opposition leader MK Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) announced that negotiations had failed and blew up the talks.

In light of the opposition's position, it was decided to continue to advance the bill as originally planned.

Man Has Bail Set for $40,000 For Stealing Satmar Chickens!

 

Sullivan County resident Jimmy Pagan, age 58, of Swan Lake, a hamlet of Liberty, was busted on Friday, July 21 after police noticed he looked like a man wanted for the break-in. 

The incident took place around 4:30 a.m., Friday when the video security shows Pagan enter the building of the Satmar Boys Camp at the site of the former Stevensville Hotel on Briscoe Road in Swan Lake, said Sullivan County Undersheriff Eric Chaboty.

Police reviewing the video said Pagan can be seen taking the raw chicken which was thawing on a counter and then a set of keys and driving off in a 2020 Honda Odyssey, Chaboty said.

Later in the day, while on patrol on Birch Lane in Swan Lake, an officer spotted Pagan who matched the description of the early-morning burglary.

Chaboty said deputies found the Honda Odyssey in a field behind Pagan's home with the license plates removed and were even able to recover the box of chicken.

Pagan was charged with felony burglary and grand larceny and petit larceny. 

He was arraigned in the Town of Neversink court and sent to the Sullivan County Jail in lieu of $40,000 bail.

Why French, US) protests are so much more violent than Israel’s

 

Israel and France have both been flooded with mass protests in recent weeks, but the differences are striking, telling and important.

Demonstrations in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and throughout Israel against proposed judicial reforms have been peaceful and generally orderly.

Israeli lawmakers are expected to pass the first part of the plan to overhaul courts Monday, with a bill that would bar the Supreme Court from invalidating government decisions simply because judges find them “unreasonable.”

Despite the calls for civil disobedience by some former prime ministers and other protest leaders, there has been little to no violence.

Passions are high and tempers have flared, but no one has been seriously injured, and no buildings have been burned or destroyed.

This may change over time as extremists on both sides move further apart and eschew reasonable compromises Israeli President Isaac Herzog and other centrists offer.

At the moment, despite the anger and even hatred, the Israeli protests have been models of what our First Amendment guarantees: the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition government for a redress of grievances.

Demonstrations in Paris and other French cities, prompted by the police shooting of a young Arab man, quickly turned violent — with the desecration of a memorial to French Jews deported to their deaths during the Holocaust, burned buildings and cars, rioting and injuries.

Previous French protests over economic and social issues have also included violence, as have some American protests over police killings and other racial issues.

What are the possible explanations for these differences?

Tatti Saying Dvar Torah Friday Night After the Soup

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by SHIDCH App (@shidch.app)

Watch Jerusalem Train Station: Going up the escalator, are supporters of the judicial reform, going down are the opponents.

 They might be on opposite sides, but they shake hands and show only respect.

Notice: Only Kipas Going Up 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jewish Breaking News (@jewishbreakingnews)

Chassidim and Amish bond over beards cheese and hats

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tripping Kosher (@trippingkosher)

Big "Tzaddik" Comes to Town And Israel Ships Him Right Back

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jewish Breaking News (@jewishbreakingnews)

Hundreds of Thousands Arrive in Tel Aviv for PRO GOVERNMENT ‘The Million’ Pro-Reform Rally

 

Over 200 thousand supporters of the government's judicial reform legislation are gathering on Kaplan St. in Tel Aviv for a rally parallel to the expected passing of the bill to reduce the reasonableness standard in its second and third readings in the Knesset.

The demonstrators' message to the coalition members in the Knesset: "The nation is with you, complete the legislation. 64 seats are not second-class citizens."

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich addressed the crowd at the right-wing rally in Tel Aviv, stating, "I want to address our brothers and sisters who gathered in Kaplan for many weeks and some of whom are now in Jerusalem - those who oppose the reform - and those pilots and soldiers who called for not reporting for reserve service. At this moment, it is important for me to say to you: I know how you feel.

There are a lot of important things that need to be done, but I know that such complex moves need to be done slowly and with negotiation, so we were also willing to give up and compromise on some of the steps in our reform," he added.

"I am telling you even now about the future so that we can continue to live together here in the State of Israel, we will be ready for real dialogue with an open heart and a willing mind with a willingness to make concessions and compromises on all sides, so that in the end we can calm the spirits, continue the Zionist enterprise and together protect our country that we all love and care for so much," Smotritz concluded.

Tony Bennett Who liberated Dachau Concentration Camp while serving in WWII Dies at 96

 

Before Tony Bennett launched his seven decades-long career in show business, the late legendary jazz singer served his country in the European theater during the last stages of World War II.

Bennett, who died on Friday at the age of 96, was drafted into the U.S. Army at the age of 18 in 1944 and began his service a year later when he was sent to fight on the front lines following heavy casualties suffered by the Allied Forces at the Battle of the Bulge.

The 20-time Grammy Award winner later recounted his harrowing wartime experiences in his 1998 autobiography "The Good Life," in which he described how serving in WWII had shaped the rest of his life.

"The main thing I got out of my military experience was the realization that I am completely opposed to war," Bennett wrote, per Military.com. "Although I understand why this war was fought, it was a terrifying, demoralizing experience for me... life can never be the same once you've been through combat."

After being drafted in November 1944, Bennett — born Anthony Dominick Benedetto — was sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey where he completed his basic training. Bennett became an infantry rifleman at Fort Robinson, Arkansas before he was shipped to Le Havre, France at the end of 1944.

The future crooner was assigned to 255th Infantry Regiment, 63rd Infantry Division, which was known as the "Blood and Fire" division. He was a part of replacement troops who were sent to refill the ranks of units who perished during the Battle of the Bulge.

Marc Myers, a contributor for the Wall Street Journal and author of the book "Anatomy of a Song," interviewed Bennett five times about his life, including his time in the military. He told Fox News Digital, "Tony was certain he was going to die."

Myers continued, "He was certain when he got that draft notice in '44, he was certain he was going to die. He just knew it. He just felt it. And he went."

In "The Good Life," Bennett recalled that many of the troops had little or no training prior to being sent to the front lines.

"Snow covered the ground and the front was a front-row seat in hell," Bennett wrote, per Military.com. "It was an absolutely terrifying spectacle."

Democrats whine about Con Ed hikes caused by their own dumb policies

 Better sit down before you open your next Con Ed bill: Rates are set to soar, starting next month — and double over the next two years.

If you’re a progressive, you can’t complain. What did you think would happen, based on your anti-fossil-fuel, big-spending, anti-business agenda?

On Thursday, the state’s Public Service Commission OK’d hikes of 9.1% for electricity and 8.4% for gas, starting in August, along with additional jumps though 2025. At that point, typical bills will have doubled, from about $70 a month to $140 — or an extra $840 a year.  

A whining letter from the City Council demanded that Gov. Kathy Hochul use her executive powers to stop the pain. 

The letter called out an “already dire affordability crisis” and included specious worries about poor New Yorkers. 

That “affordability crisis,” notably, is also of the left’s own making, thanks to its anti-housing, inflation-fueling polices. 

Why is Con Ed hiking rates? 

Zera Shimshon Parshas Devarim

 

Alex Popivker from Cleveland Sentenced to 10 Days in Jail for Stealing University Group’s Palestinian Banner

 

An Orthodox rabbi in the Cleveland area was sentenced to 10 days in jail and 18 months of probation for stealing a pro-Palestinian banner from a student group at a local university.

The sentence, delivered on Wednesday, caps a charged saga in which students had alleged that the rabbi and pro-Israel activist, Alexander Popivker, had harassed them.

Popivker, a handyman and resident of the suburb of Cleveland Heights, was charged with theft in January for taking the banner from Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, a student group at Cleveland State University.

Popivker’s jail time will be suspended, which generally means he won’t have to serve it until after his probationary period is over, and may see it removed with good behavior. He is also required to attend anger management classes. The university has also barred him from campus for his behavior.

FBI Raids Lakewood Home

 

No Further info at this time.

Frieda Vizel Ex Satmar Lady Defends Chassidic Education

 

by FRIEDA VIZEL

The latest salvo in The New York Times’ ongoing exposé of the yeshiva system in New York focused on a new report issued by the New York City Department of Education that found 18 religious schools failing to meet secular education standards set by the government. The article raised some troubling questions but ignored one of the most important: Why do Hasidic parents continue to send their children to “failing schools?”

I am a former Hasid who makes a living as a tour guide and YouTuber exploring Hasidic Williamsburg, where many of these implicated Hasidic schools are located. Since I am in the neighborhood often, I have come to know the rhythm of the schools that are at the center of the ongoing controversy. Every day I watch hundreds of happy boys spill into the streets during recess and pile into buses at the end of the afternoon. I see children who are deeply cared for. I see a neighborhood with one of the lowest median ages in the country, where life revolves around raising the young. Furthermore, I see parents who pay private school tuition to send their children to these schools. So why, if they are failing, do the schools continue to burst at the seams?

Joe Zieglar is the IRS Whistleblower X He is Also a Gay Democrat ...

 

The previously unnamed Internal Revenue Service “Whistleblower X” revealed himself during public testimony before three GOP-led House committees Wednesday, saying he is a “gay Democrat married to a man” and wrongfully slandered as a partisan operative or a “traitor” to his party.

 “In coming forward, I am risking my career, my reputation, and my casework outside of this investigation,”

Joe Ziegler, with the IRS for 13 years, said in his opening statement.

 Ziegler testified with a 10-minute statement alongside his supervisor Greg Shapley, the second whistleblower, who previously came forward publicly. “I’m no more credible than this man sitting next to me due to my sexual orientation or my political beliefs,”

Ziegler continued.

“I was raised and have always strived to do what is right. “I have heard from some that I am a traitor to the Democratic Party and that I am causing more division in our society. I implore you, that if you were put in my position with the facts as I have stated them, that you would be doing the exact same thing.”

Ziegler and Shapley, career IRS criminal investigators, allege the Justice Department obstructed with their yearslong investigation into Hunter Biden. “In early August 2022, federal prosecutors from the Department of Justice Tax Division drafted a 99-page memorandum,” 

Ziegler continued in his opening statement.

“In so they were recommending for approval felony and misdemeanor charges for the 2017, ’18, and ’19 tax years. “That did not happen here, and I am not sure why. “And, as the special agent on this case, I thought the felony charges were well supported.”

Kosher meat prices in the US to skyrocket by up to 79%

 

Kosher meat prices in the US are expected to skyrocket beginning next week. One of the reasons for the price hike appears to be increasing cattle prices in the US. According to a Feeder Cattle price chart, the price per pound of cattle meat was just around $125 in 2005 and again in 2020 as opposed to the $248/pound selling today.

Springfield Wholesale Meat, the biggest kosher meat distributor in the northeastern US, is increasing its prices accordingly.

In a message addressed to kosher foods chains, the meat distributor wrote: “Regretably, we have been informed by Solomon’s of a drastic price increase on domestic beef that will be implemented beginning this week.”

This price increase is expected to go into effect on Monday, July 24.

Free transportation to the Kotel - at night

 

The Jerusalem Ministry will operate free transportation from central Jerusalem to the Kotel every night, Kikar Hashabbat reported.

The route will operate between 1:30a.m. and 4:30a.m. each night, from Saturday night until Friday, and it will be funded by the Jerusalem Ministry, through the Company for the Development of East Jerusalem.

Trips leaving from the Kotel will depart at 1:30a.m., 2:30a.m., and 3:30a.m., and the route will pass by Zachs, Eretz Hefetz/ Havivat Harel, Bar Ilan/Shmuel Hanavi, Yirmiyahu/Minhat Yitzhak, Sarei Israel/Torah Mizion, and Binyanei Ha'uma.

Trips leaving to the Kotel will depart at 2:00a.m., 3:00a.m., and 4:00a.m., and will leave from Binyanei Ha'uma, passing by the bus stops Sarei Israel/Hashmona'im, Yirmiyahu/Minhat Yitzhak, Bar Ilan/Zefania, Shmuel Hanavi/Fishel, and Zachs/Shmuel Hanavi, before arriving at the Western Wall.

Kikar Hashabbat quoted Jerusalem Minister Meir Porush (United Torah Judaism) as saying, "The Kotel, the remnant of our Holy Temple, is a focal point for visits during all hours of the day, and it is a merit for us to allow the public to comfortably visit the site even at night. This is another blessed activity of the Jerusalem and Israel Traditions Ministry, as part of the plan to bolster the area of the Old City."

The Ministry added that the plan is currently being piloted, and if demand increases, the Ministry plans to expand operations in order to meet demand.

Lakewood Ponzi Schemer Eli Weinstein Who Got Clemency Charged in New Fraud

 

A New Jersey man who was twice convicted of defrauding investors out of $230 million and whose lengthy prison sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump is once again facing fraud charges, federal prosecutors in New Jersey announced Wednesday.

Eliyahu “Eli” Weinstein, 48, of Lakewood, who is also known as Mike Konig, is among five men accused of defrauding dozens of investors out of $35 million, according to an arrest complaint unsealed in federal court in Trenton. The five are charged with wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct justice, and each could face up to 25 years in prison.

Philip Sellinger, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, said Weinstein used a fake name and falsely promised access to deals involving scarce medical supplies, baby formula and first-aid kits supposedly destined for wartime Ukraine.

“These were brazen and sophisticated crimes that involved multiple conspirators and drew right from Weinstein’s playbook of fraud,” Sellinger said.

Biden’s Bibi hatred endangers national security

 

The 75th anniversary of the strong, historically unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel is being celebrated this year.

Unfortunately, the occasion is marred by President Joe Biden’s personal animus towards Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which is weakening our relationship with the only democracy in the Middle East.

Biden snubbed Netanyahu by instead inviting President Isaac Herzog, Israel’s head of state, who lacks executive power, to an official state visit.

Almost invariably in the modern era, state visits are held with the head of government, not the head of state.

The last time the exception happened was 2007, when President George W. Bush hosted Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

Unlike in 2007, this decision was not out of reverence but politics. 

Biden despises Israel’s conservative government.

Meirav Hajaj Bereaved mother of slain IDF soldier prosecuted for protest

 

The bereaved mother of an IDF soldier killed in the line of duty expressed outrage that she is currently being prosecuted for pasting stickers on a building, while not a single indictment has been filed against anti-judicial reform protesters who have illegally blocked Ayalon Highway and engaged in massive demonstrations that have crippled the country.

Meirav Hajaj’s daughter Shir was murdered in a 2017 Jerusalem terror attack, at the age of 22.

Since the slaying, Hajaj has been an outspoken advocate against international aid to Palestinian terror groups and critical of the Israeli government’s policies around fighting terror.

In 2020, Hajaj participated in a protest against the European Union’s funding of Palestinian NGOs that serve as fronts for terror. As part of the demonstration, she glued stickers expressing opposition to the financing onto the EU’s consulate in Tel Aviv.

Hajaj was immediately arrested and has been subject to a criminal trial that’s now stretched more than three years, according to a Channel 14 report.

Speaking to the news outlet, Hajaj compared the vigor of the prosecution targeting her with what she described as the state’s soft touch towards left-wing protesters.

“I see the damage they’re doing to Ayalon, to Kaplan [Street in Tel Aviv] and it’s simply crazy,” Hajaj told Channel 14. “They’re damaging every place where they’re demonstrating. But there’s no prosecutions against anyone.

“Meanwhile, I’ve already been to court dozens of times… the judge asked me to prove that there wasn’t irreparable damage done to the EU building. I feel like now I shouldn’t have to prove anything, since the anarchists are free to create chaos in the streets for weeks on end.”

Hajaj acknowledged that during the protest in which she participated, one demonstrator did graffiti the words “German money kills Jews” on the building.

Notably, in recent months, the Brothers in Arms organization has repeatedly engaged in vandalism such as damaging the offices of the Kohelet Forum, using barbed wire, sandbags, and stickers to deface the space.

Additionally, left-wing protests have seen tires set aflame and fires started outside on Ayalon Highway, in major intersections and outside government buildings and lawmakers’ homes.

“They’re intentionally dragging out the trial, when the damage to the EU building was estimated at 200 shekels ($55) to repair. On the other hand, we’re talking about damages to the Kohelet Forum and Ayalon that are just insane. But nobody is prosecuting them, nobody is taking them to court, there’s no indictments. Nothing,” Hajaj said.