Birthright trips to resume next month

 Birthright Israel is resuming its trips after a month of cancellations over Israeli COVID-19 quarantine rules, the organization announced Thursday.

Participants who have been fully vaccinated in the past six months will not have to quarantine on arrival for the trips, which will likely resume Oct. 3. However, they will still be subject to PCR and serological tests upon arrival and wait for the PCR results before beginning the trip.

That contrasts with the current policy for US travelers to Israel, who must enter quarantine upon arrival.

Israel to partially drop ban on tourists later this month

 

After months of tightly restricted entry into the country for non-citizens, Israel is preparing to allow some tourists into the country.

As infection rates decline amid growing optimism Israel has seen the worst of the fourth wave of the COVID pandemic, the Israeli government is preparing to gradually reopen the country to tourism.

The first stage of the staggered reopening will begin on September 19th, after Yom Kippur and just ahead of the Sukkot festival.

In the pilot program for the reopening of the tourism industry, only tour groups will be allowed to return, with individual tourists still barred from entering the country.

Groups of five to 30 tourists will be permitted in under the program, with all tourists seeking entry required to be vaccinated against COVID.

The pilot program was originally launched prior to the fourth wave of the pandemic, back in May.

While the ban on individual tourists remained in place, some 2,000 tourists visited from May through July as part of tour groups, most of them from the US and Europe. The program was halted in August, however, following a spike in infection rates.

Not all tour groups will be permitted entry under the new program, with tourists from countries with the highest level of COVID infection rates – listed as “red” countries according to the Health Ministry’s guidelines – still being barred from entering the country. As of Monday, that list includes Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, and Bulgaria.

Tourists entering the country will be considered fully vaccinated if they have at least two doses of the vaccine and received their last dose no more than six months prior to entry. However, after six months from the second dose, those seeking entry will need a third dose.

Visitors will also need to have a COVID test less than three days before departure, and submit to a second test upon arrival in Israel.

IDF Preparing for Gaza Strip Escalation over Rosh Hashanah

 

The IDF is preparing for the possibility of an escalation in the Gaza Strip during Rosh Hashanah and the other Tishrei holidays and has imposed a limit on holiday furloughs.

 Defense apparatus officials have told the Israeli press on Sunday that every effort will be made to prevent the escalation, but “if there’s no choice, we will go to an escalation, including several days of fighting in Gaza.”

The forces at the Gaza border have been reinforced and are on high alert. The air defenses and the Iron Dome system are on alert. In addition, increased vigilance is maintained on the northern border and in Judea and Samaria.

On Saturday, the Safa Press Agency reported that Gaza is preparing to increase the flying of incendiary balloons towards Israeli settlements near the Strip in the coming days. Hamas said that during the coming week, the balloon units will be activated alongside the “nightly harassment” units along the border fence. The Hamas nightly harassment units have operated along the fence every evening for the past week.

Egypt and Qatar are exerting heavy pressure on Hamas to order terrorist organizations to stop operating along the border fence with Israel, in an attempt to calm the Gaza Strip so as not to jeopardize the easing of the closure on Gaza.

Senior Hamas official Hamad a-Rakeb said in a radio interview that Hamas had officially informed the Qatari that it won’t agree to the conditions Israel had set on Gazans’ eligibility to receive the Qatari grants. He said: “The hands of our organization are free and it will do what it wishes until Israel meets the organization’s conditions.”

Saturday night, Mohammed al-Emadi, the Qatari envoy to Gaza, returned to the Strip after discussions in Israel to resolve the dispute between the parties.

Deputy Minister Yair Golan told Reshet Bet radio Sunday morning: “There is no siege on Gaza. Gaza has a border with Egypt. Should Egypt want to, it can keep the Rafah crossing open 24 hours a day and everything could flow into the strip. Fortunately, they don’t want to. On the one hand, a humanitarian catastrophe must be avoided in Gaza, but on the other hand, only items that don’t serve Hamas’ goals should be allowed in.”

Global Jewish population numbers 15.2 million

 

Ahead of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, new statistics published by the Jewish Agency showed that there are 15.2 million Jews in the world, up from 15.1 million last year. 

Of those, 6.9 million Jews live in Israel, up by one hundred thousand from the previous year, with another 8.3 million living in the Jewish Diaspora around the world, meaning 45.3 percent of the world’s Jews live in the Jewish state, an increase of half a percent over the previous year.

The new data were provided by renowned Jewish demographer Professor Sergio Della Pergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and will be published in the American Jewish Year Book 2021.

Ahead of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, new statistics published by the Jewish Agency showed that there are 15.2 million Jews in the world, up from 15.1 million last year. 

Of those, 6.9 million Jews live in Israel, up by one hundred thousand from the previous year, with another 8.3 million living in the Jewish Diaspora around the world, meaning 45.3 percent of the world’s Jews live in the Jewish state, an increase of half a percent over the previous year.

The new data were provided by renowned Jewish demographer Professor Sergio Della Pergola of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and will be published in the American Jewish Year Book 2021.

Outside of Israel, the largest Jewish populations remain in the US with 6 million, followed by France with 446,000, Canada with 393,000, the UK with 292,000, Argentina with 175,000, Russia with 150,000, Germany with 118,000, and Australia also with 118,000. 

Countries with Jewish populations of 500 or fewer include United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jamaica, Cuba, Cyprus, Malta, Bosnia, Albania, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, South Korea, Congo, Madagascar, and Syria, among others. 

“The year 5781 was very challenging, living in the shadow of a global epidemic, yet more than anything, it taught us the true meaning of mutual responsibility among the Jewish people,” said Acting Jewish Agency Chairman of the Executive and Chairman of the World Zionist Organization Yaakov Hagoel.

“Tens of thousands of new immigrants came to Israel with the help of The Jewish Agency despite the extreme difficulties in international travel, and thousands of more young Jews came to Israel on Masa volunteer and career development programs. The Jewish Agency will continue to be a solid bridge of solidarity and mutual responsibility between each community and between the State of Israel and global Jewry.”

Dumb ADL apologizes for opposing Ground Zero Mosque

 

Eleven years ago, the Anti-Defamation League surprised many by opposing an Islamic center planned for Lower Manhattan, blocks from the World Trade Center site the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, even as its leader denounced anti-Muslim bigotry.

Now, the ADL’s CEO says the position, taken four years before he joined the civil rights organization, was a mistake.

“We were wrong, plain and simple,” Jonathan Greenblatt wrote in an op-ed published Saturday morning on CNN.

Greenblatt said the group had tried to offer a compromise by supporting the ideas behind Cordoba House, described by its leaders as a prayer space that would facilitate healing and cross-cultural understanding, but recommending that it not be located near Ground Zero. But that compromise hurt Muslims, he said, and ultimately contributed to the project yielding a condo building with little from the original proposal in place.

The apology comes days before the 20th anniversary of the 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania It also comes in the days before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, holidays that ask Jews to take stock of their misdeeds and commit to improved behavior.

Greenblatt noted the timing in his piece, which he said he wrote in a spirit of teshuvah, or repentance, and also linked it to what he said was a rising tide of Islamophobia in the United States.

We can’t change the past,” he wrote. “But we accept responsibility for our unwise stance on Cordoba House, apologize without caveat and commit to doing our utmost going forward to use our expertise to fight anti-Muslim bias as allies.”

Greenblatt’s apology is notable because he has largely refrained from undercutting his predecessor, longtime ADL chief Abraham Foxman. It is not the first time, though, that he has openly criticized a choice Foxman made: Earlier this year, he said he would not give an award to Rupert Murdoch, the media magnate who owns Fox News, because he said that network has given a platform to far-right ideas.

Greenblatt, who served as as Special Assistant to the President for US President Obama from 2011-2014, has been criticized for politicizing the ADL in recent years and pushing the organization to support left-wing causes.

Closure to be imposed in Judea and Samaria over High Holidays

 

In accordance with the security situation assessment and the guidance of the political echelon, a general closure will be imposed on the Judea and Samaria area and the crossings in the Gaza Strip will be closed during the High Holidays.

Rosh Hashanah: The closure will begin on Monday, September 6, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. The opening of the crossings and the end of the closure will take place on Wednesday, September 8, 2021 at midnight (on the night between Wednesday and Thursday), subject to an assessment of the security situation.

Yom Kippur: The closure will begin on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. The opening of the crossings and the end of the closure will take place on Thursday, September 16, 2021 at midnight (on the night between Thursday and Friday), subject to an assessment of the security situation.

Sukkot: The closure will begin on Monday, September 20, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. The crossings will be opened and the closure will be lifted on Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at midnight (on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday), subject to an assessment of the security situation.

Simchat Torah: The closure will begin on Monday, September 27, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. The opening of the crossings and the end of the closure will take place on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at midnight (on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday), subject to an assessment of the security situation.

During the closure, the passage of goods will be prohibited, but passage for humanitarian, medical and exceptional cases will be allowed, subject to the approval of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).

Zera Shimshon Parshas Netzavim Rosh Hashana

 

R' Shmuel Weissmandel Dies in Car Swamped by Tropical Storm Ida on Tappan Zee Bridge

 

Tropical Storm Ida claimed another victim Wednesday night on the New York State Thruway near the Tappan Zee Bridge.

Rabbi Shmuel Weissmandel, 69, of Kiryat Nitra was trapped by flood waters near the bridge while driving from Monsey to Mount Kisco, where he lived.

MTA Suspends Subway Service, Newark Airport Flooded, as Ida Barrels into NYC Area

The rabbi passed away in his vehicle before anyone could rescue him.

The rabbi was the son of Rabbi Michoel Ber Weissmandel, who served as the Rosh Yeshiva of Nitra.

It is not clear whether the rabbi drowned, or passed away from a heart attack, officials said.

At least 14 people died in the New York-New Jersey area due to Ida’s fury. Most of them were victims of the flash floods caused by the remnants of what had begun as a Category 4 Hurricane Ida when the storm made landfall in Louisiana earlier in the week.

Lost Tribe of Bnei Menashe Sample their First Gefilte Fish

 

Five hundred and twenty-five Bnei Menashe olim from India who claim they are the descendants of a lost tribe of Israel are gearing up for their first Rosh Hashanah in the Jewish state. The olim, some of whom reside in Shavei Israel’s absorption center in Achziv, moved to Israel from Manipur, India, thanks to the efforts of Pnina Tamano Shata, Minister of Aliyah and Integration, the Jerusalem-based nonprofit Shavei Israel, and the Jewish Agency.

Part of the Bnei Menashe’s preparations for the High Holidays included a Gefilte Fish tasting – a traditional dish associated with the Jewish New Year. Shavei Israel, which has lobbied for the Aliyah of the Bnei Menashe community for the past 20 years, presented the dish to the community members for the first time. Some loved the dish, while others politely declared it to be “an acquired taste.”

Nancy Pelosi Blocks House from Reading Names of 13 Killed U.S. Servicemembers

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Tuesday blocked the House from publicly reading the names of the 13 killed U.S. service members in Afghanistan, House Republicans said.

Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) told the Floridan that Pelosi ignored the Republicans’ request to read the names, instead she “just closed the House down.”

“We gaveled in, had a prayer, said the Pledge of Allegiance, took a moment of silence with pretty much all Republican veterans, then asked to be recognized to read names and bring up Afghanistan legislation,” Mast told the Floridian. “They did not acknowledge us, and just closed the House down.”

Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (R-FL) tweeted a rhetorical question of whether Pelosi is attempting “to cover up” the Afghan debacle by not allowing the names to be read publicly on the floor.

“How badly do Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats want to cover up this Afghanistan debacle?” Gimenez asked. “They just blocked Members of Congress from reading the names of the service members who sacrificed their lives in Afghanistan last week. Don’t you think our military deserves better?”

The denied Republican request comes as nearly 40 Republicans have called for president Biden to resign for stranding Americans and abandoning U.S. gear in Afghanistan.

When House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) attempted a House vote to “require” Biden to recover the military gear and Americans, Democrats blocked the vote. “Democrats just blocked a vote to require a plan from President Biden to bring Americans home and to account for all the military equipment he left behind,” McCarthy tweeted. “Republicans will not stop until every American is home safely.”

But that did not stop House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member James Comer (R-KY) from requesting a briefing on the deadly evacuation from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).