J Street kicked to curb, Trump Chooses David Friedman a Pro-Settlement guy as Ambassador to Israel

President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will nominate attorney David Friedman as U.S. ambassador to Israel, selecting an envoy who supports Israeli settlements and other changes to U.S. policies in the region. 

Friedman said he looked forward to carrying out his duties from "the U.S. embassy in Israel's eternal capital, Jerusalem," even though the embassy is in Tel Aviv.

Trump, like some of his predecessors, has vowed to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, a politically charged act that would anger Palestinians who want east Jerusalem as part of their sovereign territory. The move would also distance the U.S. from most of the international community, including its closest allies in Western Europe and the Arab world.

The president-elect said Friedman would "maintain the special relationship" between the U.S. and Israel.

But the nomination sparked anger from liberal Jewish groups. Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, called Friedman's nomination "reckless," citing his support for settlements and his questioning of a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

The statement doesn't detail how Friedman could work in Jerusalem. However, Trump advisers have insisted in recent days that the president-elect will follow through on his call for moving the embassy.

"He has made that promise," Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told reporters Thursday. "I can guarantee you, just generally, he's a man who is going to accomplish many things very quickly."

One option Trump allies have discussed would involve Friedman, if confirmed by the Senate, working out of an existing U.S. consulate in Jerusalem. According to a person who has discussed the plan with Trump advisers, the administration would essentially deem the facility the American embassy by virtue of the ambassador working there.

It's unclear how far those discussions have gotten or whether Trump himself has been briefed on the proposal. Trump's transition team did not respond to questions about the matter.

Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush promised to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, but backed away from the idea once in office.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move that is not internationally recognized. It claims the entire city as its capital. The Palestinians seek east Jerusalem, home to key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, as the capital of their future state.

Virtually all embassies to Israel are located in or around Tel Aviv.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat told The Associated Press this week that he has been in touch with Trump's staff about the embassy issue. Barkat said his conversations have led him to believe that Trump is serious about making the move.

BREAKING: FBI Arrests Satmar Bloomingburg Developers Shalom Lamm and Volvy Smilowitz UPDATED

Federal agents this morning arrested Shalom Lamm, the developer behind a controversial project to build hundreds of homes for Hasidic Jews in an upstate New York village.
Allan Ripp, a spokesperson for Lamm’s attorney, confirmed Lamm’s arrest, but could provide no further details.

UPDATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chestnut Ridge developers Shalom Lamm and Kenneth Nakdimen were arrested on voting fraud charges Thursday morning.

An indictment unsealed Thursday charges Lamm, Nakdimen and businessman Volvy "Zev" Smilowitz with conspiracy to corrupt the electoral process for their efforts to bring in and pay people who did not live in the Village of Bloomingburg to vote in the 2014 election for mayor and trustee.

Lamm and Nakdimen established a presence in Bloomingburg when they began plans to build a 396-unit townhouse development called Chestnut Ridge, on land that was annexed from the Town of Mamakating into the Village of Bloomingburg. It became apparent in 2012 that the homes were designed to accommodate Hasidic families, which caused an uproar in the village of only a few hundred residents.

Vehement opposition to Chestnut Ridge grew, and a series of lawsuits and planning board decisions slowed construction of the project.

"When met with resistance, rather than seek to advance their real estate development project through legitimate means, the defendants instead decided to corrupt the electoral process in Bloomingburg by falsely registering voters and paying bribes for voters who would help elect public officials favorable to their project," the indictment said.

Lamm, Nakdimen and Smilowitz bribed non-local residents with money, subsidies and other items of value to vote in the 2014 village election, the indictment said. Lamm paid one person $500 per voter recruited, totaling more than $30,000 per month.

Lamm, owner of Black Creek Holdings LLC, was taken into custody by F.B.I. agents. Lamm is the son of Norman Lamm, the prominent Modern Orthodox rabbi and longtime leader of Yeshiva University.
Lamm has bought up hundreds of acres in Bloomingburg, a small village in Orange County. According to internal documents revealed in a lawsuit this year, Lamm planned to eventually build 5,000 units of housing around the village for Hasidic Jews. His plans have drawn deep opposition from some locals.
The Forward published a feature this morning on the fight for Bloomingburg. The feature was published before this newspaper was aware of Lamm’s arrest.

A spokesperson for the F.B.I. confirmed that three people were arrested this morning, but would provide no details. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said that a statement was forthcoming.
Lamm and his allies have been dogged with allegations of voter fraud for years. Residents claim that Hasidic non-residents were brought in to vote in village elections. Opponents challenged ballots in local elections. And the FBI raided Lamm’s offices in 2014.

Muslim forced his daughter to shave her head because she was dating a Christian in New York

Yasmin Seweid (r.) was allegedly forced by her parents to shave her head over the incident because they were upset she was dating a Christian. Pictured with Seweid is her father (l.)

A Muslim student who said she was harassed on the subway by drunken, hate-spewing white men shouting “Donald Trump!” lied to police because she broke her curfew, law enforcement sources said Wednesday.

Yasmin Seweid, 18, joined a growing list of local and national alleged hate-crime victims when she told cops she was taunted Dec. 1 on the No. 6 train by three men who called her a terrorist and tried to snatch her hijab off her head while straphangers did nothing.

But Seweid finally broke down Wednesday and was arrested after she admitted to detectives that it was all a big lie.

“Nothing happened, and there was no victim,” a police source said.

Police sources say Seweid made up the story because she didn’t want to get in trouble for breaking her curfew after being out late drinking with friends.

Her strict, Muslim parents allegedly forced Seweid to shave her head over the incident and were upset that she was dating a Christian, sources said.

The bareheaded Baruch College student, not wearing her hijab, was charged with filing a false report and released after her arraignment early Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court. A relative covered Seweid’s face with a black down jacket as she was escorted into a waiting SUV following her brief court appearance.

Moshe Moskowitz 13 Killed In Crash; Mother In Critical Condition

The Baltimore Jewish Community is in mourning on Wednesday, as word spread about a tragic accident that left 13-year-old Moshe Moskowitz Z”L dead, and his mother in critical condition. 

Authorities say the crash happened at around 9:15PM on the northbound lanes of I-95 near the Intercounty Connector in Maryland. Highway officials say at least four vehicles, including a tractor trailer, were involved in the crash.

Investigators believe a black Honda Pilot became disabled in the roadway resulting in a collision with a Dodge Caravan and a tractor-trailer. A white Volkswagen was also involved.

Moshe Z”L, who was a passenger in the Dodge, was flown to Children’s Hospital where he R”L succumbed to his injuries. The driver of the Dodge, his mother – 45-year-old Tamara Moskowitz, was transported to Medstar in Washington, D.C. with life threatening injuries.

The driver and passenger of the Honda were both transported to Prince George’s Hospital Center with non-life threatening injuries.

The driver of the Volkswagen was not injured in the collision.

I-95 was closed for approximately five hours, with some closures extending in to the early morning hours Wednesday.

The cause of the accident is still being investigated at this time.

Misaskim was working with the Medical Examiner in Washington D.C. to ensure that the Niftar was being released in a timely fasion and working to ensure proper Kavod Haniftar.

Moshe Moskowitz Z”L is the son of Rabbi and Mrs. Doniel Moskowitz. Moshe was an 8th grader in Talmudic Academy in Baltimore – Where his father is a Rebbi.

He was the youngest rider in Bike4Chai this past summer. He biked the very difficult 170 mile bike ride along with his brother Naftali – raising more than $12,000 for the children of Camp SImcha.

Please be Mispallel for Tamar Adina bas Kayna Shulamis, who is in critical condition.

Levaya details will be published when they become available.

Levayah will take place tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 15, at Sol Levinson’s at 11AM.

Kevurah will be at the Agudah Cemetery in Rosedale.

Shiva will be observed at 7006 Wallis Ave, Baltimore, MD 21215

Chanukah Donuts

Democrats will stick to denial even if means burning down the Republic

Democrats from the White House on down have now gone all-in on an absurd effort to use Russian hacking to delegitimize the Trump presidency.

“You didn’t need a security clearance to figure out who benefited from malicious Russian cyberactivity,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest, claiming Trump “called on Russia to hack” Hillary Clinton.

Yeah — in a joke aimed at Cinton’s national-security-endangering e-mail abuses.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid — the most free-ranging liar Washington’s seen in decades — flat-out charged the president-elect “was in on” Russian hacking of top Democrats’ e-mail.

Imagine: We now have Democrats hailing the CIA’s intelligence-gathering (which they’ve ridiculed for decades) and darkly accusing Moscow of infiltrating top US political circles and threatening the very fabric of American democracy. This is exactly what liberals used to call McCarthyism.

Never mind that, in the runup to the 2014 elections, Team Obama withheld news that Russia had hacked into both State Department and White House computers — then pooh-poohed any threat after it was disclosed.

The fact is, Russia has been cyberattacking US government agencies for years. It’s been public knowledge all along — as it was when hacking aimed at US politics was first disclosed in 2015. That the White House has only now gone into hyperdrive over this “dangerous” threat is the ultimate hypocrisy.

Did Moscow meddle in US politics this year? Probably (though it’d be nice to see public proof). Even President Obama admitted it’s been doing that “since the days of the Soviet Union.” Did that meddling toss the election to Trump? Of course not. Try to find anyone who was moved by the internal chatter at the Democratic National Committee to vote against Clinton.

No, the real story here is about a party in denial about the causes of its devastating defeat — which apparently would rather burn down the Republic than accept the truth.

Rav Mutzafi: One Shouldn’t Buy Tefilin From A Sofer Whose Wife Wears A Sheitel

HaGaon HaRav Bentzion Mutzafi Shlita in a Shu’t released which addresses one wearing a sheitel (פאה נכרית), the prominent Sephardi posek rules that one should not buy tefilin from a sofer whose wife wears a sheitel for in his view, it is tantamount to the wife being without a hair covering. The ruling is published in ‘גביע הכסף’, where a number of halachic questions are addressed.

The rav adds that if a Sephardi girl attends seminary in England and she is asked to wear a sheitel for a shidduch, she should not accept the shidduch. The rav was also asked regarding the psak of HaGaon Chacham Bentzion Abba Shaul ZT”L, Rosh Yeshivat Porat Yosef, who is matir the sheitel in his sefer Ohr L’Tzion. Rav Mutzafi stated Rav Abba Shaul was never matir a shteitel and he never wrote such a psak in his sefer.

Israel celebrating end of 'hostile' Obama regime

Fake News Becomes the Narrative: "Russia Hacked the Election"

I want to ask some questions about Vladimir Putin and his competence, because the Democrats and the Media are claiming that Putin involved himself in our election illegally. He interceded and his desire was for Trump to win. He wanted Trump and he wanted Hillary to lose.  

So I have some questions about some things from the WikiLeaks dump about Democrat meddling, Robert Creamer previously explained hiring -- at $1500 per person -- people to disrupt Trump rallies and cause violence.

Donna Brazile was giving the questions to Hillary in a series of debates.  But I have questions about this.  Did Vladimir Putin secretly persuade Hillary Clinton to take off most of August? 

Did Vladimir Putin tell Hillary, "You don't need to go to Wisconsin! You got it in the bag. You don't need to go to these Blue Wall states. You own them, Hillary! Don't waste your time. In fact, Hillary, you don't even need to campaign.  Just sit there and recuperate.  You don't need to even leave your house, Hillary." 

Did Vladimir Putin drug Hillary Clinton causing her to collapse into a van and have a seizure on 9/11?  Did Putin secretly tell Trump where to go and do his campaign right in the middle of the urban core?  Did Putin tell Trump to make a pitch for votes based on an economic message of jobs, jobs, jobs, and Make America Great Again?  Did Putin do all that?  Did Putin come up with Trump's campaign slogan?  Did Putin secretly cut a deal with that babe on Saturday Night Live to portray Hillary Clinton to Millennials as an unlikable, power-hungry, humorless, robot politician? 

Did Putin tell Trump, "Go out there and spend all kinds of money and hold all these rallies! You do all these rallies and just get thousands of people showing up at these rallies. You just keep shouting 'Make America Great Again! Make America Safe Again!'" 

 Did Putin secretly fund Robert Creamer?  Did he make Obama meet with Creamer and Black Lives Matter all those times in the White House?  Did Putin run out there and tell Democrat Party to base their election on transgender bathrooms and gay marriage and Black Lives Matter and the cops deserve to be shot and all the other things the Democrat Party stood for? 

Did Putin do that? 

Was Putin responsible for the campaign strategy of the Democrat Party?  

Was Vladimir Putin responsible for Donald Trump's campaign strategy?  

Did Putin secretly influence this election so Donald Trump would put a bunch of warrior generals in positions of high responsibility in the U.S. military?  

You're telling me that Vladimir Putin wants a bunch of George Patton-type people in our cabinet?  You're telling me that's what Vladimir Putin wanted and he cheated this election so that that's what Trump would do? 

Versus a woman who would continue the disarmament policies of her predecessor, Barack Hussein Obama, who thinks that the nuclear arsenal of the United States poses the greatest threat to freedom in the world and so we had to downsize?  

You think Putin wants a Trump and all these great military guys, or would he have preferred to have Hillary who was going to disarm the United States anyway?  

This Putin? I tell you, folks, he's one sneaky, ingenious SOB the way he pulled all this off!  He had to be a brilliant guy for the Clinton campaign to be so special kind of stupid the way they lost this election.

 Did Vladimir Putin tell Hillary Clinton to pile up all those votes in California and New York instead of focusing on electoral battleground states? 

When did Vladimir Putin tell Hillary Clinton to call half the country deplorables?  

Man, oh, man, oh, man.  What power Putin has!

Pastor heckles kids at TX mall: ‘There is no Santa!’

Christian children will now find out what Jewish Children knew all along!

Pastor Dave Grisham filmed himself Saturday standing in an Amarillo, Texas mall and heckling children as they waited in line to meet Santa.

He walked up to the line of families waiting to meet Santa and announced, “Kids, I want to tell you today that there is no such thing as Santa Claus. Santa Claus does not exist.”

The pastor, who said he was with “Last Frontier Evangelism,” then turned his focus to the parents.

“Parents, y’all need to stop lying to your children and telling them that Santa Claus is real, when in fact, he’s not.

“Don’t lie to your children and tell them there’s such thing as Santa, when you know in reality that there are no flying reindeer, there is no workshop of the North Pole, there is no elves making toys, that you buy all gifts and put them under tree. That’s all the truth!”

Grisham continued to walk back-and-forth near the line of families, as few turned to look at him — and even fewer were likely converted to his cause.

“That’s enough!” one person shouted.

Another parent eventually confronted him, repeatedly asking him to “Stop.”

But Grisham was relentless.

“Kids, there is no Santa! Santa’s not real!” he continued as other parents confronted him. He then walked away and stopped his recording.