Barcelona’s chief rabbi urges Jews to move to Israel as he warns Europe is 'lost'

Barcelona's chief rabbi Meir Bar-Hen told his congregation to move to Israel to flee terror

Barcelona's chief rabbi has urged Jews to move to Israel after warning that Europe has been 'lost' because of the threat from radical Islam.

At least 14 people were killed and some 130 others injured when attackers ploughed into pedestrians on a promenade in the tourist area on Thursday evening.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Barcelona outrage and another attack in Cambrils yesterday, which resulted in one person dying and seven people being injured after five men wearing fake suicide belts drove an Audi A3 into crowds on the seafront.

Western Europe has been a regular target for jihadists over the last few years. And Barcelona's chief rabbi Meir Bar-Hen told his congregation to move to Israel to flee terror.

In an interview with Jewish news agency JTA, he said: 'I tell my congregants: Don't think we're here for good, and I encourage them to buy property in Israel'

'This place is lost. Don't repeat the mistake of Algerian Jews, of Venezuelan Jews. Better (get out) early than late. Europe is lost.'

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain did not to share Bar-Hen's pessimistic outlook. The organization issued a statement Thursday, saying: 'Spanish Jews trust the State Security Corps that work daily to prevent radical fanatics and Islamists from sowing chaos and pain in our cities.'

The group also urged politicians to 'deal intelligently and determinedly with the struggle against fanaticism and in favor of freedom and democracy.'

The terrorists had originally planned to drive three vans packed with explosives into iconic parts of Barcelona including the Sagrada Familia cathedral, it has been reported.

Had their butane-filled gas containers not accidentally detonated the night before the atrocities on Thursday, the 12-person terror cell would have used them to maximise deaths in the tourist hotspots of the Spanish city, local media suggest.

They intended to explode one van in Las Ramblas, a second by the world-famous Sagrada Familia cathedral and the last in the port area of the city, El Espanol has claimed.

The cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the most visited attractions in Europe.

Architect Antonio Gaudi began construction in 1882 and, despite him dying in 1926, it is still officially incomplete.

In 2010 it was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI as a minor basilica. 

Cleveland Family Involved In Serious Crash; Children Listed In Critical

A Frum family returning home to Cleveland from the East Coast was involved in a very serious accident in Pennsylvania, late Thursday night, leaving children in critical condition.

According to PA State Police, the accident occurred around 2:29AM on I-80 near mile-marker 66.6

A tractor-trailer was disabled from a previous crash and was facing south. The truck was turned over on its passenger’s side, and the trailer was blocking both westbound lanes of I-80.

The family travelling were travelling in a minivan in the right lane when it came around a bend and was directly upon the tractor-trailer in the westbound lanes. The van hit the trailer, penetrating halfway into the unit causing multiple air bags to deploy, as well as severe damage to the front of the vehicle.

The van came to a final rest, still lodged inside the trailer.

All occupants of the van were transported to medical facilities, including Children’s Hospital.

Two children were airlifted from the scene by STAT MedEvac, and a third was later flown by STAT MedEvac from Clarion Hospital.

Everyone is asked to please daven for the children who are in very critical condition.

*Leah Hadassah bas Michal Chana (11-years-old)
*Chava bas Michal Chana (7-years-old)
*Yocheved Rivka bas Michal Chana (5-yeras-old)
*Gedalya Dovid Ben Michal 

$25,000 Reward In Mahwah Eruv Vandalism Offered By NJ Attorney General

New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino posted a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever vandalized a recently-erected eruv in Mahwah.

The mission of the Bias Crime Unit, within the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice, is "the statewide coordination of efforts to eliminate crimes motivated by prejudice against others based on race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability or ethnicity," Porrino wrote.

Porrino's announcement came after Mahwah Mayor Bill Laforet offered a $1,000 reward that was matched by Teaneck Councilman Mark Schwartz and a fellow Teaneck resident (The total: $27,000).

"This is the second crime of this nature," Laforet told Daily Voice Saturday morning. "This sends a very strong message to anyone involved in this crime: We are not a community of hate, and hate has no home in Mahwah."

Last week, township Police Chief James Batelli announced that anyone caught vandalizing the PVC piping along utility poles would be prosecuted under state bias crime statutes.

The piping creates a religious enclosure, known as an eruv, for Hassidics attending temple services across the state line in Rockland County.

Damage was found earlier this month and last month, amid a backlash from residents.

A Monsey-based group has sued the township in federal court, contending that its members' civil rights were being violated by officials and residents who are trying to have the eruv removed.

Rockland Utilities said the work was done legally after the proper documentation was filed and approved.

ANY TIPS on the Mahwah eruv vandalism should be reported either by phone at 1-800-277-BIAS or online atwww.nj.gov/oag/bias .

Jewish Authors Write Antisemitic Letter to Jews Who Support Trump

Stupid Self-Hating Jews Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman

Authors Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman have penned an open letter to fellow Jews, warning them that if they do not oppose President Donald Trump, they will be labeled as Nazi collaborators and traitors to their people.

Chabon and Waldman, who were earnest supporters of President Barack Obama, and said nothing when he abandoned Israel and elevated the antisemitic Iranian regime, published their letter on Medium on Thursday.

Using classic antisemitic tropes, they address Jews who may support Trump because of “private business deals” or other personal interests — “You entered into negotiations, cut deals, made contracts with him and his government” — and urge them to turn against him.

Addressing casino magnate Sheldon Adelson directly, they turn up the antisemitic rhetoric, accusing him of calculating “that money trumps hate, or that a million dollars’ worth of access can protect you from one boot heel at the door.”

Chabon and Waldman also resort to blatant lies: “You have counted carefully as each appointment to his administration of an avowed white supremacist, anti-Semite, neo-Nazi or crypto-fascist appeared to be counterbalanced by the appointment of a fellow Jew,” they say, providing no proof whatsoever that Trump has appointed anyone that matches any of those descriptions.

They single out White House adviser Steve Bannon as a “white supremacist godfather,” a complete slander that has no basis in reality.

They claim that President Trump “expressed admiration and sympathy for a group of white supremacist demonstrators who marched through the streets of Charlottesville,” when in fact he condemned “this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence” on Saturday, and explicitly condemned white supremacists on Monday and Tuesday.

Chabon and Waldman, who presumably understand the importance of words, seem to misconstrue Trump’s defense Tuesday of legitimate protesters — whose presence was confirmed by the New York Times, no less — as a defense of the extremists he repeatedly denounced.

They also claim, falsely and illogically, that if extremist groups say they support Trump, that means he supports them in return, despite his repeated disavowals.

Chabon and Waldman reserve their ugliest language for Trump’s Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner: “To Jared Kushner: You have one minute to do whatever it takes to keep the history of your people from looking back on you as among its greatest traitors, and greatest fools; that minute is nearly past.”

They condescend to Ivanka Trump, addressing her as an ignorant convert (original emphasis): “To Ivanka Trump: Allow us to teach you an ancient and venerable phrase, long employed by Jewish parents and children to one another at such moments of family crisis: I’ll sit shiva for you. Try it out on your father; see how it goes.”

“Sitting shiva” refers to the ritual of mourning, meaning that Chabon and Waldman are urging Ivanka Trump to threaten to declare her father dead to her as a way of intimidating him.

Finally, having declared the Trump administration a Nazi-like regime, Chabon and Waldman declare that Jews who support Trump are the equivalent of Nazi collaborators:

Any Jew, anywhere, who does not act to oppose President Donald Trump and his administration acts in favor of anti-Semitism; any Jew who does not condemn the President, directly and by name, for his racism, white supremacism, intolerance and Jew hatred, condones all of those things.

Chabon and Waldman’s letter, which can be read here in full, is being circulated by liberal Jews to their relatives and friends in an effort to pressure them into opposing Trump.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the “most influential” people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

The Great American Eclipse: Torah View .... Video

Jewish Girl Converts to Islam

Lakewood: Two Men Pick Up A Child And Lock Him In A Vehicle

A Lakewood child is lucky to be alive after two men allegedly picked him up and locked him in a vehicle. A second child is being credited for saving his life, TLS reports.

According to sources, while playing outside his home earlier this week, the 4-year-old was apparently alone for several moments when two men spotted him, picked him up and placed him inside a vehicle and locked the safety locks – trapping the young boy inside.

A second child, approximately the same age, saw the boy in the car and immediately notified the boy’s parent. Luckily, the boy was removed from the sweltering vehicle within minutes.

An immediate search of the area for the suspects turned out with negative results.

“This is why children need to be watched every second,” an LCSW coordinator told TLS.

An investigation is underway.

From tears of departure to joy of arrival

Poland Spring Water a ‘colossal fraud,’ selling groundwater

 A group of bottled water drinkers has brought a class action lawsuit against the company behind Poland Spring, alleging that the Maine business has long deceived consumers by mislabeling common groundwater.

The lawsuit was filed in a Connecticut federal court on Tuesday and accuses Nestle Waters North America Inc. of a “colossal fraud perpetrated against American consumers.”

The civil suit was brought by 11 people from the Northeast who collectively spent thousands of dollars on Poland Spring brand water in recent years. It is seeking millions of dollars in damages for a nationwide class and appears to hinge on whether the sources of Poland Spring water meet the Food and Drug Administration’s definition of a spring.

The suit comes as the company, a subsidiary of the Swiss food giant Nestle, is looking to expand its operations in Maine.

In a statement, a Nestle Waters spokesperson said that its water meets all relevant federal and state regulations on the classification and collection of spring water and that the suit is “an obvious attempt to manipulate the legal system for personal gain.”

But the 325-page lawsuit, which was filed by lawyers from four firms, claims that none of the company’s Maine water sources meets the federal definition for spring water and that the company has “politically compromised” state regulators. Rather than spring water, Nestle Waters is actually purifying and bottling groundwater, some of which comes from sites near waste and garbage dumps, the suit claims.

For instance, the suit claims that the company’s wells in Poland, Maine, have never been scientifically proven to be connected to a spring and draw in surface water, which cannot legally be called spring water. It further alleges that the company has put water from some of these wells through a purification process that disqualifies it as spring water under federal regulations.

The suit makes similar claims about Poland Spring water sources in Hollis, Fryeburg, Denmark, Dallas Plantation, Pierce Pond Township and Kingfield.

“The claims made in the lawsuit are without merit,” said a spokesperson for Nestle Waters. “Poland Spring is 100 [percent] spring water.”

This is not the first time that Nestle Waters has faced such allegations. In 2003, it settled a class action lawsuit alleging that Poland Spring water doesn’t come from a spring. In that case, the company did not admit the allegation but reportedly agreed to pay about $10 million in discounts to consumers and charity contributions.

Poland Spring has gotten away with this deception, the suit claims, by co-opting state regulators and interweaving its interests with those of state government.

Since 1998 the company has generated millions of dollars for Maine through licensing agreements, and since 2003 it has had an executive on the governor-appointed body that oversees the state drinking-water regulation enforcement agency, the suit states.

The court complaint further says that the Maine Drinking Water Program scientist who approved many of the company’s spring water permits spent a decade working with this executive at a private engineering firm and that the agency failed to get independent proof of the springs’ existence.

The Maine Drinking Water Program did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Falsely labeling its product as pure spring water has allowed Nestle Waters to sell Poland Spring water at a premium, the suit states.

The 11 consumers who brought the legal action are seeking at least $5 million in monetary damages for a national class and several state subclasses. They requested a jury trial.

The lawyers who filed the suit did not respond to requests for comment.

Judge Judy Solves ownership of a dog "Shlomo Hamelech" Style

A 2012 clip from the Judge Judy show features two parties who claim to own the same dog named Baby Boy.

Judge Judy decides that the best way to determine the real owner is to bring the white poodle into the courtroom and let him loose so that he can choose his companion.

The defendant is a woman who says she bought the dog off of the street.

The plaintiff argues that the dog actually belonged to him.

The defendant tries to argue that the dog doesn't belong to the other man because a vet told her that the dog is a different age than the man says.

When the dog is brought into the courtroom Judge Judy says: 'Madame, listen to me carefully: Put the dog down! Put the dog down'.

When the dog is placed on the floor he immediately sprints over to the plaintiff. 

The defendant tries to justify it by saying that the dog 'does that with everyone' but the judge rules that Baby Boy has picked his parent.