"How Dare You" Iraqi Beauty Queen Scolds Mandela’s Grandson Over BDS

 

By Pesach Benson, United With Israel

Glitz and glamor are coming to Israel in December as Eilat hosts the 2021 Miss Universe pageant. Women from around the world will vie for the crown in a contest expected to draw 600 million viewers. It’s the first time the competition is being held in the Middle East.

Of course, no international event can happen in Israel without criticism from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. But a call from Nelson Mandela’s grandson to boycott the pageant was met with a fierce scolding from — of all people — a former Iraqi beauty queen. And Miss South Africa was curiously silent.

On October 19, Inkosi Zwelivelile “Mandla” Mandela, the 47-year-old grandson of Nelson Mandela, took to Instagram to urge countries to boycott the Israel-hosted pageant. Mandela inherited the position of tribal chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council and is a member of the South African parliament.

In a statement, he praised announcements by Miss Indonesia and Miss Malaysia to boycott the tournament and then denounced Israel as an “apartheid state.”

“Daily Apartheid Israel violates the fundamental human rights of the Palestinian people and commits crimes against humanity,” Mandela wrote.

“Israel is an apartheid State and persists in its heinous occupation and expansion of its illegal settlements in violation of international law. We must persist in isolating Apartheid Israel in the same way that we isolated Apartheid South Africa.”

While South Africans overwhelmingly support the Palestinians, some key activists, such as Kenneth Meshoe, bristle at the apartheid analogy. The comparison, they say, is dishonest and cheapens the suffering of blacks who lived under strict racial segregation.

According to South African media reports, organizers of the Miss South Africa tournament are distancing themselves from Mandela’s statement. A terse statement by the organizers said, “The Miss South Africa organisation is not getting involved in a political war of words and has no further comment to make.”

Reports also note that Lalela Mswane, who was crowned Miss South Africa last week, is facing heavy pressure not to attend. A 24-year-old former ballerina, Mswane has not indicated whether she plans to compete in Eilat. Her views on the Mideast conflict are not known.

Miss Iraq Speaks Out

Former Miss Iraq Sarah Idan called out Mandela in a video posted on Twitter. During the 2017 pageant, Idan made headlines by posting a selfie with her new friend, Miss Israel — Adar Gandelsman. For that, she was labelled a traitor by many Iraqis.

Idan has since visited Israel and spoken out at the United Nations about Jewish refugees from Arab countries. A musician, she also has U.S. citizenship and currently lives in Los Angeles.

“All I can say is, how dare you? How dare you as a man try to tell an organization for women and women empowerment what to do? This is an opportunity that millions of women dream of having — to go on world stage and represent their people, their nation, their culture. Not governments, not politics, and definitely not your political agenda,” Idan said in her rebuke to Mandela.

“The term you used to attack Israel, in calling it apartheid, is a term only being used by radical Islamists, terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, Taliban and the Iranian regime — all of them who hate women and women’s rights. Please allow Miss South Africa to go and experience Israel up close on the ground and let her be the judge for herself.”

“And I’m positive, just like me, she will be shocked to see that the Israeli government consists of Muslims, Jews, Arabs, Christians. And those people, not only they get to vote on policies to shape their future, but they’re also part of the Knesset and they also have political parties — and some of them are even Israeli ambassadors to the world.”

“Last but not least, I would like to congratulate the new Miss South Africa, and I hope that she will enjoy her trip and learn not only about Israel but about all these beautiful other countries. This is what the Miss Universe pageant is all about. And I hope to see you there soon.”

Idan’s video has more than 63,000 views.

Why Israel is Hosting the Pageant

This year’s competition comes on the heels of the 2020 pageant, which was delayed by COVID-19 restrictions and held instead in May 2021. That contest, held in Miami, was won by Andrea Meza of Mexico.

Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, told the Jerusalem Post that Israel’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was the main reason it was selected to host the event.

Crediting Israel’s vaccination campaign, Shugart said, “We decided if we were going to hold the competition outside of the US, it would be in a country that has handled the virus well.”

So far, 3.9 million Israelis have received three vaccinations against COVID-19 and another 5.7 million have received two. With the number of active cases down to 8,526, Health Ministry officials are cautiously optimistic.

Sixty countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Morocco, have already confirmed their participation. The UAE has never participated in the pageant, while Morocco will be competing for the first time in 43 years. Organizers expect women from 90 countries will participate.

Israel will be represented in the competition by Noa Cochva, a 22-year-old former IDF medics commander and aspiring pediatrician.

When a Monkey Shares

 

Lubavitcher Boy Tell Subway riders that "G-d is Homeless"

 

Lev Tahor leaders Will be Extradited to US from Guatemala

 

A court in Guatemala has approved the extradition to the US of two senior leaders of the Lev Tahor ultra-Orthodox cult – brothers Yaakov Weingarten and Shmuel “Shmiel” Weingarten – where they face child exploitation offenses.

The Third Criminal Sentencing Court in Guatemala authorized the extradition of the two men on Thursday and Friday, after they were charged in April this year by the US attorney for the Southern District of New York for the kidnap of a 14-year old girl and for smuggling her across the US-Mexico border to reunite her with her adult husband.

According to media in Guatemala where the Lev Tahor cult is currently located, the court has verified that there are currently no legal proceedings against the Weingarten brothers and that the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry is therefore authorized to begin extradition proceedings.

Suspect Turns State Witness: Major Development In Shuvu Banim Murder Cases – Berland To Be Questioned

 

A dramatic development in the cases of two murders that occurred in Jerusalem over 30 years ago occurred last week when one of the suspects signed a state witness agreement.

The agreement, according to which the suspect will incriminate the others involved in the case, is expected to significantly expedite the pace of the investigation.

The suspect who signed the agreement played a part in both murder cases.

At least two of the suspects detained by police are cooperating with the police and have volunteered details about the cases to investigators. Kan News reported that the female suspect who admitted her role in the murder plot of Nissim Shitrit was brought by the police to the apartment where she claimed she told Shitrit to go to prior to his disappearance.

The detention of five suspects arrested by the police in the past several weeks was extended again by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Thursday for another seven days.

Disgraced Shuvu Banim leader Rabbi Eliezer Berland, who is currently serving a prison sentence for fraud, exploitation, attempted intimidation, tax offenses, and money laundering, is expected to be questioned on the murder cases as well.

Zionists Create "Flight Simulator" to help children with Cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries and burns

 

Yaniv Wanda is studying law and he’s certified to teach guided meditation at the program he participates in, House of Wheels, in Herzliya, Israel. He calls House of Wheels his “second home”– he’s a regular, there almost every day.

The life skills center is a welcoming place for those who rely on their own wheels, as in wheelchairs – whether because of cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy or other physical disabilities. Participants master various abilities, but most importantly, they are taught “the maximum self-confidence and the tools of social interaction that can help them live their lives,” says Yonatan Karni, House of Wheels CEO.

That includes the recent addition of an adaptive cockpit that enables House of Wheels participants like Wanda to play “Microsoft Flight Simulator,” enjoyed worldwide by real-world pilots, flight enthusiasts and virtual travelers.

Three team members from the Microsoft Garage in Israel and five engineers from Microsoft Israel R&D Center created the cockpit. The goal for each creator: To make Microsoft Flight Simulator, which lets players simulate piloting a plane just about anywhere around the globe in real-time weather conditions, more accessible to everyone.

“The minute that we heard about the opportunity to receive the cockpit, we were thrilled,” says Karni. “But at the same time, we were afraid that our participants wouldn’t be able to enjoy it, or even worse, they would feel an experience of failure trying to fly.”

Staff from the Garage in Israel made sure that didn’t happen, giving occupational and physical therapists at House of Wheels a demonstration of the cockpit and teaching them how it works. (Two of the five Microsoft Israel R&D Center engineers who worked on the cockpit also are licensed commercial pilots.) The Garage also enlisted a volunteer group of commercial pilots to help guide participants during their flights.

The team from the Garage also “stayed with us patiently the first times our participants tried it,” Karni says. “Yaniv had an amazing experience using it, learning something new and having success.”

The cockpit was created during the Microsoft Global Hackathon at the Israel Garage, one of 12 Microsoft Garage locations around the world where experimental projects are created that can make a difference in people’s lives. Among the Garage hacks that have come to life: the Xbox Adaptive Controller, Eye Control for Windows 10, and Seeing AI.

The adaptive cockpit includes a portable aluminum structure and three monitors that provide a 180-degree, panoramic viewing angle for the pilot. From their cockpit perch, they fly alongside birds over oceans, urban landscapes, forests carpeted with trees and golden deserts.

There is enough space for those who use motorized or regular wheelchairs to easily maneuver around, and there’s also room for a co-pilot to sit. Cables are hidden so they don’t get in anyone’s way. The cockpit doesn’t require using a keyboard, except for a sign in, which can be done by a staff member. Players use a hand-operated throttle and joystick to maneuver the plane. While that can be an issue for patients whose hands are not agile, the team modified the joystick’s sensitivity to allow for easier distance control. The next step in refinement is developing an alternative to the joystick.

The team wants to move the cockpit every three months to a new hospital or rehabilitation facility to not only help benefit those who are using it, but to also get feedback on how to improve it.

Before House of Wheels, the cockpit’s first home was the ALYN Hospital in Jerusalem, which specializes in pediatric rehabilitation for infants, children and adolescents with congenital and acquired physical disabilities including cerebral palsy, neuromuscular diseases, spinal cord injuries, brain injuries and burns. It is the only facility of its kind in Israel.

Earlier this year, 13-year-old Etai Rimel was one of the first patients at ALYN to try out the cockpit. Growing up, he enjoyed playing video games and sports, and watching basketball, baseball and football on TV.

On his 12th birthday, he and his father survived a car accident that took the lives of his mother and sister. Etai suffered head injuries and his left leg had to be amputated. Since then, he has been receiving care at ALYN Hospital.

He misses home, although it is not certain when or if he will return to it. But he flew over it recently with the help of a professional pilot who helped guide him over Etai’s house. The teen was thrilled.

“It was a once-in-a lifetime experience to be able to fly wherever I want,” he says.

“Etai enjoyed seeing the world from a bird’s eye-view,” says Hilla Boral, an occupational therapist who is also director of the hospital’s PELE Center for innovative technology solutions for disabled children. “For a long time now, Etai has been watching the world from his wheelchair, and everything has become ‘lower.’ Suddenly, with the adaptive cockpit, there is a sense of height, of levitation.”

“I really enjoyed controlling the machine,’” Etai says “For a whole hour, I was in a very different world from my everyday life, like a free bird, like escaping from reality.”

Etai’s rehabilitation is going to take time – and practice when it comes to trying new ways of doing things.

“We want every child, no matter what happened to him or her, to learn to be independent and to function with his or her peer group as normal as it can be,” says Boral. “Their whole life is ahead of them and if they learn, for example, from age 3 to serve themselves, to eat by themselves, to get dressed by themselves, even if they’re in a wheelchair, then they will grow up being able to do that. If they depend on everyone in their lives, it will be like that for the rest of their lives.”

At ALYN’s innovation center, volunteers with technology backgrounds work with children to develop “tailor-made solutions” for the kinds of things the children want to do, Boral says, which is why the adaptive cockpit was such an inspiring addition.

“The Microsoft cockpit is especially helpful since it involves hand-eye coordination,” says Dr. Maurit Beeri, director general of ALYN. “It’ll give the child an experience of occupational therapy, speech therapy, concentration, cognitive development – and most importantly, it’s fun.”

ALYN and the Garge in Israel are working together on other accessible technology projects, including one that uses a game-like approach to teach children in motorized wheelchairs how to operate them.

At House of Wheels, Wanda, 28, and Netanel Gvili, 26, were among the first participants to try out the adaptive cockpit. The two men, born with cerebral palsy, are friends and have been coming to House of Wheels for years.

“If I am not at home with my family, I prefer to be here because here I have a second family,” says Wanda, who also attends classes at Bar Ilan University as part of a program supported by the House of Wheels Day Center. “I have my place, which no one can take from me. I feel good here.”

“I saw the way Yaniv entered the room where the adaptive cockpit is, and the way he left it – he was like a gladiator,” says Karni. “He came to fire up his skills, and he was very, very proud of himself.”

Gvili was excited to use technology that allows him to feel like he is piloting a plane. A longtime video game player, he counts car racing games among his favorites. He’s also a music enthusiast who likes to produce his friends’ music on Cubase, a digital audio workstation for music recording, arranging and editing.

“Independence” was the feeling Gvili says described his experience with the adaptive cockpit and Microsoft Flight Simulator. “I can choose where to fly. How to fly. It really simulates a flight. Computer games are not new to me, but all of the additional connected devices with the adaptive cockpit are really cool.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland's Mess

 

Satmar Very Upset that Biden had an 85-Car Motorcade While the Satmar Rebbe only has 40 cars

Biden tours Rome with 85-car motorcade ahead of 'climate' summit https://t.co/lXzuSHcnWn pic.twitter.com/Ze2QVdm6Wz

— New York Post (@nypost) October 29, 2021

President Joe Biden on Friday drove through Rome accompanied by an approximately 85-vehicle motorcade.

The move received criticism prior to the global warming summit scheduled for Glasgow, Scotland, according to the New York Post.

“Not exactly carbon friendly,” one social media user commented.

“Ridiculous, no man needs that much of an entourage,” another replied.

Biden has routinely stated there is a “climate crisis” due to fossil fuels. However, it was unclear how many of the motorcade cars were electric or hybrid, and they appeared to be typical limos, SUVs, and vans.

Washington Post reporter Seung Min King said in a White House pool report “we are told it is 85 vehicles” in the motorcade, according to the New York Post article.

“The president’s domestic motorcade usually features only a couple dozen vehicles, not including those used to block off traffic,” the outlet said

Florida Maintains Status with Lowest Coronavirus Cases Per Capita in U.S.

 

The Sunshine State is maintaining its status as having the lowest average of daily coronavirus cases per capita in the United States — a feat achieved without intrusive mandates.

According to the New York Times’ daily coronavirus tracker and case count last updated Saturday, Florida has the lowest number of daily cases per 100,000 in the nation — eight. Hawaii, which Florida tied with this week, is maintaining its average at nine, tying with Louisiana and Connecticut. Florida’s daily average of cases as of Friday sat at 1,736 — a decrease of 35 percent over the past two weeks. 

Meanwhile, blue states, many of which embraced stringent lockdown orders and mandates throughout the pandemic, are not faring as well as the Sunshine State. 

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) Michigan, for example, is reporting 40 cases per capita, and the daily average of cases sits at 4,006. Pennsylvania, under the leadership of Gov. Tom Wolf (D), who earned the nickname “Commie Tommy” during the pandemic and extended shutdowns last year, is reporting an average of 30 cases per capita, while the daily average of cases sits at 3,879. Similarly, New York, once the U.S. epicenter of the virus under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) leadership, is reporting 19 cases per capita — a 3,744 per day average. 

California, which had major cities such as San Francisco reimplement mask mandates, is currently experiencing a surge, reporting 17 cases per capita, with the daily average sitting at 6,878. That reflects a 25 percent increase in cases over the last 14 days. 

“Without mandates or lockdowns, COVID-19 cases in Florida have decreased 90 percent since August,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said in a statement this week, celebrating Florida reaching the lowest case rate in the nation.

“In addition to cases, hospitalizations have plummeted in our state. This has been accomplished by making monoclonal antibody treatments and vaccines widely available throughout our state while protecting Floridians from government overreach,” he added.

State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo said it is crucial for Florida officials to “continue focusing on data and evidence to make public health decisions and not allow such decisions to be politicized” as they move forward — something DeSantis has continued to demonstrate throughout the pandemic in the wake of constant criticisms from the establishment media.

Rabbi Goldschmidt Defends Himself against the "Alte Kockers" of Park East Synagogue

 

Rabbi Goldschmidt and his family 

 In his first public comments since being fired from Park East Synagogue two weeks ago, Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt defended himself against charges of an “insurrection” and illegal activity and raised concerns about his former congregation’s future.

Goldschmidt was abruptly fired from Park East, the wealthy Orthodox synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, by the congregation’s senior rabbi, Arthur Schneier. Schneier’s allies accused Goldschmidt of inappropriately sharing synagogue members’ email addresses and of orchestrating a coup to replace Schneier, 91, who has led the synagogue for nearly 60 years.

Goldschmidt, 34, had been at the synagogue for a decade.

In an email to Park East members sent Friday afternoon, shortly before the onset of Shabbat, Goldschmidt rebuffed the accusations against him. Claims that he acted inappropriately by giving members the email list, he wrote, were false. Nor did he seek to depose Schneier, he wrote.

He referred to an email sent by four synagogue members to the congregation on Oct. 8. The signatories had written, “we are concerned about the state of our beloved synagogue and what the future holds.”

Goldschmidt wrote in his letter Friday that that email “was not designed to hurt Rabbi Schneier; it was merely a jumping-off point to discuss the future of Park East.”

“Given these public attacks, I feel that I have no choice but to defend not just my reputation, but also the reputations of the signatories of the October 8th email,” Goldschmidt wrote. “The charge leveled against me that I led an ‘insurrection’ to remove Rabbi Schneier is completely unfounded, and personally hurtful given my ten years of loyal service to the Rabbi and the Synagogue.”

Goldschmidt also denied a previously unreported accusation, which he dubbed a “wild conspiracy theory,” that younger members of the synagogue planned to sell the synagogue’s real estate. And he shot back at allegations that the signatories to the email weren’t heavily involved in the synagogue.

“Each one of those signatories is a blessing in his own right for our community; they are role models and leaders, committed to community, Torah, and continuity,” he wrote. “Their only motive was to help build a growing, thriving, vibrant, and young community.”

Goldschmidt also echoed concerns about the future of the synagogue in his Friday email, though like the signatories of the Oct. 8 email, he didn’t elaborate.

“For a while, there has been concern over a lack of engagement with young people, the synagogue’s financial situation, and an absence of transparency between leadership and membership,” he wrote. “To begin to rectify the situation, some members took it upon themselves to communicate and start a conversation.”

Hank Sheinkopf, a veteran political consultant who has acted as a spokesperson for the Schneier family, rejected Goldschmidt’s narrative.

“This is his attempt to explain away his insubordination and the use of confidential synagogue information to support himself and the disruption and insurrection he created,” Sheinkopf told JTA Friday afternoon, adding that the email was “dropped right before Shabbat so no one can respond, which shows you that this is an orchestrated, well-thought-through public relations campaign to support his efforts.”

Goldschmidt wrote that the man who fired him “deserves every accolade and commendation.” But later, he wrote that his ultimate responsibility is not to Schneier.

“One important thing I have learned from my dear parents and my years in the Rabbinate is that a rabbi works for the members of his shul,” Goldschmidt wrote. “He does not merely work for a senior rabbi, the synagogue president, or the board. It is you, the membership, that I serve and have tried my best for ten years.”

Goldschmidt did not detail any future plans beyond vowing to continue working in New York City. But he called on his readers to remain at Park East.

“I hope to continue serving our beloved Jewish community in New York City one way or another,” he wrote. “More importantly, I care a great deal about the future of Park East. I hope that you — its members — will remain engaged with the shul to ensure it is a place that is warm and welcoming, one that understands your spiritual needs as Jews and your desires to have your concerns heard and acted upon.”