The Disastrous Biden-Putin Summit Made the US Seem Weak

 

President Joe Biden refused a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin following their first summit on Wednesday to avoid a PR disaster. Yet the Moscow strongman still won the day.

Indeed, Biden actually got angrier with an American journalist than with the dictator, who used his opportunity to deny, deflect and deceive — raising his own standing at Biden’s expense.

Just a day before, off the Hawaiian coast, Russia’s Navy conducted military exercises on a scale not seen since the Cold War. The provocation cost Putin nothing: The summit ended with Biden calling the meeting’s tone “positive” and Putin declaring, “There has been no hostility.”

Yes, Biden claimed he took Putin to task for the attempted murder of critic Alexei Navalny and the imprisonment of two Americans. If Navalny dies in prison, said Biden, “I made it clear to him that the consequences of that will be devastating for Russia” — though he didn’t detail any consequences. And he said he chided Putin for letting hackers disrupt US oil supplies from Russian soil. Yet Biden insisted he’d made “no threats.”

He handed Putin a list of 16 critical infrastructure elements that should be off-limits to cyberattacks — does he then mean he’s fine with Russia or criminals operating from there striking anything else? Russia’s interference in other countries’ elections, Biden also told Putin, “diminishes” its standing. Yet Russia isn’t going to change its bad behavior in the hopes of being liked.

Putin, meanwhile, took questions for nearly an hour, turning them against America. When a US reporter asked about his ban on Navalny’s group, he pointed to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and said that “we don’t want that to happen on our territory.” Biden called that “a ridiculous comparison,” but Putin is playing to his own audience.

Biden had kicked off his chat with reporters by admitting his staff as usual “gave me a list of who I’m going to call on.” Later, he lashed out at CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when she called out, “Why are you so confident [Putin will] change his behavior?”

“I’m not confident he’ll change his behavior! What the hell? What do you do all of the time?” fumed Biden.

Let’s face it: The day was not a success for Biden or for America. Putin basically mocked his counterpart — and the United States — while Biden appeared weak and unfocused. America might’ve come out stronger if there’d been no summit at all.

Miranda Devine

  New York Post

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How Naftali Bennett’s Kippah Stays On His Bald Head

 

Israel’s new prime minister is probably the first one who has stuck a wad of chewing gum to his head right before a public event.

Naftali Bennett, who took office this week, is the first prime minister in the country’s history to regularly wear a kippah, or Jewish ritual head covering. Unlike his secular predecessors, he identifies as a religious Zionist and practices Modern Orthodox Judaism, which requires men to cover their heads.

He’s also bald. That makes it a challenge to keep the small crocheted disc on the back of his head, where it’s traditionally worn. The traditional methods of securing a kippah — bobby pins and metal hair clips — are of no use to Bennett.

Yet it stays on. No matter where Bennett is — in parliament, on the campaign trail, giving a news interview — the kippah is there, mounted on his scalp, or sometimes on the thin layer of buzzed hair that surrounds his bald spot. 

Appearing on a comedy talk show in 2013, when he was a freshman lawmaker, Bennett said that he uses a mixture of tape and gravity to keep the kippah on his head.

But once, he recalled, he had to give a speech outdoors in the wind and discovered that he was out of tape. So he took a piece of chewing gum (presumably ABC) and used it to glue the kippah to his head. 

“I had to improvise,” he said. “So we MacGyvered it.”

Bennett doesn’t use ordinary Scotch tape. His adhesive of choice is a product invented and sold beginning in 2013 by Haim Levin, a 65-year-old bus driver living in a largely Modern Orthodox suburb of Tel Aviv.

The product, called the Kipa Keeper, is made of reusable hypoallergenic double-sided medical tape, which allows the kippah to stick to heads with little to no hair. It’s sold in packs of 40 and costs 40 shekels, about $12.50, including delivery. Levin declined to say how many he sells each year.

“It was Yom Kippur, when everyone in synagogue bows down [to the ground] and prostrates themselves, and I saw that 20 to 30% of the worshippers had their kippah fall to the floor,” Levin, himself a bald kippah-wearer, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “I realized I had to come up with an idea for the kippah to stay on the head.”

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SCANDAL: Israel Student Visas Potentially in Jeopardy as “Wedding Fraud” Creates A Colossal Chillul Hashem

 

L-R Rabbi Zvi Gluck Amudim, Yisroel Nitzan Consul General Israel Consulate in NYC and Rabbi David Kushner, Amudim (1)

(By: Rabbi Zvi Gluck)

I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

Amudim has spent months working around the clock with various government agencies, to allow yeshiva and seminary students return to their studies in Israel. Baruch Hashem, the efforts were successful, but just like that, all that we have accomplished is potentially at risk.  As a result of the actions of the few who have created an unbelievable Chillul Hashem, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is strongly considering requiring all students to go through the standard process. This can take weeks, if not months, just to get a visa appointment. In case you think this isn’t a big deal, let me point out that there are over 14,000 yeshiva and seminary students and kollel couples learning in Israel each year. The current application process that gets them there is now in jeopardy.

How did this happen? Amudim has invested countless hours and resources to facilitate overseas travel in recent months. We have served as a liaison between private citizens and the Israel consulate, in addition to many other government agencies around the world. A group representing themselves as yeshiva students came to Amudim with all the required legal documentation, so we could help them apply for the student visas. David Kushner, Ushy Lieber, and I spent countless hours with them, reviewing more than 20 documents for each of the 30 plus student applicants. After thinking that everything was in proper order, we submitted the applications to the Israel consulate on Monday, June 14th.

We made it clear to these applicants that it can take up to a week to get the visas back. They were advised to not call or email the consulate because doing so would slow down the process. A red flag appeared on Tuesday morning, June 15th.  We received multiple frantic phone calls from some of the applicants. Additionally, the consulate advised us that they too were being besieged by many calls regarding the student visa status for the same school.

Here Is the Real Story: A high-profile wedding scheduled to take place in Israel next week was the reason for these applicants to find a way to enter Israel. Realizing that current travel restrictions make it extremely difficult for most people to get into Israel, some unethical individuals managed to get a yeshiva, which is approved by the Ministry of the Interior, and used it as a front to obtain student visas. The paperwork included documents signed by the head of the yeshiva confirming that the applicants would all be learning in that school for a minimum of one year. This is a blatant lie. Unbelievably, these individuals pulled every trick in the book to beat the system and attempt to get to Israel for this wedding.

 My personal message to each and every individual who participated in this fraud: In addition to tarnishing the reputation of Amudim and the Orthodox Jewish community, your reckless actions have caused immeasurable damage. We at Amudim are working tirelessly to ensure that this incident should not present additional obstacles for yeshiva and seminary students seeking to learn in Eretz Yisroel this coming year. We value and appreciate that the majority of those who seek our assistance do so in accordance with proper guidelines.

For information regarding approved reasons to go to Israel, and Instructions, click here: https://amudim.org/entrance-to-israel-advisory/

Amudim does not charge fees for any service we provide for the community. Should anyone claim that he/she was asked to pay for assistance, please email report@amudim.org right away, and let us know.

Zvi Gluck is the CEO of Amudim, an organization dedicated to helping abuse victims and those suffering with addiction, abuse, mental health matters, and other crisis-related issues, within the community, and has been heavily involved in crisis intervention and management for the past 21 years. Since the start of COVID, the Amudim team has also been involved in assisting thousands with various emergency travel needs, around the world, and mostly Israel-related.  For more information go to www.amudim.org.

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Arab MK Tibi Slams Gafni’s Removal: “The Best Finance Committee Chairman”

 

Joint Arab List MK Ahmad Tibi vehemently protested the removal of UTJ chairman Moshe Gafni from his position as chairman of the Finance Committee on Wednesday, saying that he is one of the best Finance Committee chairmen in the history of the Knesset.

Gafni was temporarily replaced by Yisrael Beiteinu Alex Kushnir, finalizing Avigdor Lieberman’s plan to wield complete control over governmental funds. Leiberman is serving as Finance Minister, Yisrael Beiteinu MK Hemed Amar is serving as a minister in the Finance Ministry and Kushnir is serving as the Finance Committee chairman.

“Replacing Gafni with Kushnir is removing one of the best MKs and one of the best committee chairmen the Finance Committee ever had,” Tibi said during the discussion in a meeting of the Knesset’s Arrangements Committee.

“This shouldn’t be done to him. For the honor of the Knesset, it’s fitting that Gafni continue in his position until a permanent replacement is elected, as is customary in the Knesset.”

Tibi’s comments about Gafni were met with a round of applause from members of the opposition.

Gafni’s fellow UTJ member, MK Yaakov Asher, also protested the move, saying: “It’s unprecedented that a chairman is replaced by a temporary committee when the permanent committee will be established shortly. What’s the urgency to replace Gafni, who even during the past two weeks, when he knew his term was ending, came here day in and day out in order to pass laws, not for Chareidim or right-wingers, but for everyone, including compensation for business owners. You were at these discussions. A little respect!”

Likud MK Keti Shitrit said: “I ask forgiveness from HaRav Gafni, whom everyone thought would worry only about Chareidim, but you proved that you worked, without any bias, for the entire state of Israel.”

Tibi added: “Gafni, it can be said about you that you were the right person at the right time. You worked for all the sectors.”

Likud MK Nir Barkat said: “Gafni was a role model in many spheres.”

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Biden Names Former Obama Official Tom Nides As "Court Jew" Ambassador To Israel

 

US President Joe Biden officially nominated Tom Nides, a deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration, as the US ambassador to Israel, the White House announced on Tuesday.

A banker by profession, Nides, 60, served as the deputy secretary of state from 2011–2013 and is the current vice-chairman of the Morgan Stanley investment banking company.

Nides, who is Jewish, has a close relationship with Joe Leiberman since running his vice-presidential campaign in 2000.

He is expected to adhere closely to Biden’s policies regarding Israel. Former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren wrote in his book Ally that Nides fervently opposed the efforts of Congress to defund the UNWRS and the UNESCO in 2011.

In 2012, Nides wrote a letter to the US Senate’s Committee on Appropriations opposing legislation against the perpetual “Palestinian refugee” myth, which strived to differentiate between the Palestinians displaced by Israel’s creation in 1948 – and their descendants. The legislation would have decreased the number of “refugees” from 5 million to 30,000.

Nides stated in the letter that the proposed legislation “will generate a very strong negative reaction from the Palestinians and our allies in the region, particularly Jordan.”

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Jews walking in Central Park West after Shabbat pelted with eggs

 

On Saturday night, a group of Jews walking down Central Park West in New York City were followed by a car and pelted with eggs.

The victims were visibly Jewish. The women were dressed in Shabbat clothes and the men had on kippahs, reported website I Love The Upper West Side.

The incident took place in the Upper West Side neighbourhood of Manhattan.

The woman who gave an interview to the website said that one of the eggs hit her in the head causing a concussion.

“It was just so clear and obvious as to why we were targeted. There were so many people around us, and they only targeted us. A doorman who saw what happened said that they were behind us and sought us out. So in my eyes, it’s clear,” she said.

She immediately called the police but they refused to take a report unless she called an ambulance. She was in shock and instead went home. She later began to feel unwell and went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a concussion.

At that point, she called police who opened an assault investigation.

“I understand how other people might not think that this could have been a hate crime, but in my head it’s just so beyond obvious and I feel like so many other people just don’t get it,” she said.

Other Jews living in the Upper West Side have reportedly experienced similar assaults and threats but are afraid to speak out publicly.

“I think it’s so important to speak out, because this time it was an egg, but if we don’t stop these people, what’s going to be next?” she said. “I don’t want to put someone else in danger. I feel like this was just simply a stepping stone to a bigger potential crime.”

In the last few months, New York City has experienced a surge in anti-Semitic attacks, including a May incident where a Jewish man was punched, kicked, pepper-sprayed and beaten with his crutches.

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Black Parents Fed-Up With NYC Schools ...Want Out

 A growing legion of black parents in Queens say the Department of Education has failed their kids through mismanagement and neglect — fuelling an exodus out of the public school system.

Fed-up families in District 29 — a primarily black area which includes Hollis, Rosedale, and Cambria Heights — said the DOE has long tolerated abysmal math and English proficiency rates, despite high per-student spending.

“There are a lot of black middle-class homeowners here,” said local activist Michael Duncan of the newly formed Students Improvement Association. “These are successful people, successful families. The results in our schools are not reflective of the community. Something is wrong here.”

Duncan said many families — including his own — have been forced to pay out of pocket for private schools in recent years due to DOE dysfunction.

Duncan and the grassroots SIA have begun collecting and analyzing district statistics and promoting awareness among local parents.

“I think a lot of parents knew that it was bad,” he said. “But they didn’t know it was this bad.”

Despite spending roughly $27,000 per student, PS 134 in Hollis saw only 6 percent of 5th graders pass their 2019 state math proficiency test and 17 percent hit that minimal mark in English.

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Watch How Bais Yisrael Residents Welcome the Mayor of Yerushlayim Moshe Leon

 

Moshe Leon the mayor of Yerushalyim went to visit a Bais Yaakov in the Bais Yisrael neighborhood, this was his Kabolos Panim from the residents of Yerushalyim, these aren't the crazed "Aarelich" with the striped bathrobes, these are the regular residents....some with long white beards...and this wasn't a small group of "extremists,"  this was a mob ....screaming "Rasha" at him!

I don't get it ... they learn Torah, they learn mussar, they are seeking to figure out why we are having so many tragedies, why so many innocent lives were lost in the last year, and yet this is how they treat another Jew!

What did he do to them? He went to visit a Bais Yaakov? Is that now a crime?

He is a Shomer Torah Umitzvos, was endorsed by all the Gedoilim and this is how they treat him?

Is this what the Ribono Shel Oilim wants? 

You ...Yes I'm asking you!

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Frum Girls Attacked by Meah Shearim residents While Passing Through

 

קבוצה של בנות דתיות שבדרכן לריקודגלים מותקפות ע"י קיצוני מאה שערים
צילום @yedidya_epshtei pic.twitter.com/7TgCT4KR9P

— נעם | نوعام (@NoamRos1) June 15, 2021

We all suffered thru covid, we  suffered thru 4,000 rockets from our enemies, we suffered as arabs attacked us in Yerusalyim and in Lod ,we all mourned together when the Meron tragedy happened

Now frum girls walk in fear in the streets of Yerushlayim , not from arabs but from "frum" Jews...

I say tear down the entire neighborhood and build Hi-Rise buildings, let them move to the neighborhood of "Bnei Gad, Bnei Reuvein  and part Bnei Menashe, on the other side of the Jordan ....

How are they different than the Arabs throwing rocks at Jews?

Because they wear "shluf" kappelich? That's it, they are holy because they wear "shluf" kappelich!

How did they know where the girls were heading? 

Oh! They were going to the "flag parade" ....is it their business, where the girls were going to?

 Not one girl carried a flag, and all were dressed "tzeeneesdik"and even if they were carrying flags... 

 Are Meah Shearim residents Shvartzes and Puerto Ricans from The Bronx, that  no one they like can walk thru their neighborhoods? 

So smartphones are assur, but throwing and pelting Jewish girls is ok!

A group of religious girls were attacked by extremists while walking through the Meah Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem on their way to the flag parade on Tuesday. 

The girls were pelted with water bags and catcalled by the extremist elements, who called the police.  When they arrived, police attempted to create a buffer between the protesters and the girls.

A bus carrying about 30 girls got stuck in the narrow streets of the neighborhood and the girls alighted in order to walk to the flag parade. However the extremists surrounded the bus and protested against the girls attire. They also complained about the flag parade, claiming that it was “provocation against the gentiles.” 

מהומות בירושלים: ערבים יידו אבנים לעבר שוטרי מג"ב, פרש אחד נפל מסוס pic.twitter.com/x7TjUJECBN

— מעריב אונליין (@MaarivOnline) June 15, 2021

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White House in Damage Control After Chaotic Start at Biden-Putin Summit ... Biden had no clue what was going on

 

President Biden on Wednesday called Russia a “great power” and appeared to nod when asked if he trusts Russian President Vladimir Putin, sending the White House into damage control amid an awkward introduction to the leaders’ first meeting of Biden’s presidency.

The summit got off to a chaotic start Wednesday inside the stately Villa de la Grange in Geneva, Switzerland, as reporters and security got into a shoving match that drowned out most of Biden’s opening remarks and at some points appeared to confuse the 46th president.

The US president seemed to put Russia on equal footing with the US, saying in remarks that were not initially audible to TV audiences, “We’re two great powers” — before nodding after a reporter asked if he trusts the Russian leader.

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield promptly tweeted a cleanup: “It was a chaotic scrum with reporters shouting over each other. [Biden] was very clearly not responding to any one question, but nodding in acknowledgment to the press generally. He said just two days ago in his presser: ‘verify, then trust.'”

Professing to trust Putin would draw poor headlines for Biden on the heels of provocative Russian war games near Hawaii just hours before the two leaders shook hands, and crippling Russia-based cyberattacks on US industries in recent weeks.

Biden’s introductory remarks were interrupted by a loud squabble among reporters and security, according to reporters in the room.

A pool report from Anita Kumar of Politico said that when reporters were allowed in, “we were pushed and shoved by security officials and Russian media. Poolers tripped over cords.”

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