This is important to know in case any of your personal (NOT professional) information gets posted publicly.
“I don’t speak because I have the power to speak; I speak because I don’t have the power to remain silent.” Rav Kook z"l
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| New York Times Anti-semitic Cartoon |
The New York Times has published an editor’s note correcting its false report that Gaza’s fishing industry is on the verge of collapse due to an Israeli blockade of the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave.
Using official Palestinian statistics, the media watchdog group Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) proved to the Times that the claim is false. CAMERA provided information indicating that the fishermen have more than doubled their annual catch in the last 15 years. In addition, the number of registered fishing boats has also more than doubled, according to Tamar Sternthal, director of CAMERA’s Israel’s office.
In a Nov. 27 article, “Amid Israeli Blockade on Gaza a Fishing Fleet Limps Along,” Times correspondent Raja Abdulrahim claimed the Israeli blockade has been “devastating for the Gaza Strip’s fishing industry.”
But CAMERA refuted the claim and provided the Times with research data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics disproving the false statement.
On Dec. 3, the Times printed the editor’s note acknowledging the article omitted important context, leaving the impression that the industry has been devastated. “The current catch is higher than that in the early years of the blockade,” the note reads.
“CAMERA staff are doing the basic research that Times staff should be doing themselves,” stated Andrea Levin, executive director and president of CAMERA. “Abdulrahim’s story claiming Gaza’s fishing industry is collapsing falls completely apart when you look at the facts. But the Times’ impulse to run with any storyline blaming Israel subverts ethical reporting norms and leads again and again to these blunders.”
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock on Tuesday beat Republican Herschel Walker by a margin of 51.3% to 48.7% in a runoff election, becoming the first full-term first Black senator from Georgia. Warnock, a Methodist pastor, and Medicaid activist, initially won his seat in a 2020 special election, defeating incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler. His win gave the Democrats 50 of the Senate seats, and they ruled the chamber with the help of Vice President Kamala Harris who is the president of the Senate.
The senior officers said it will take time because of the huge crowd to get through!
Why not focus on the actual issue of how FRUM leaders allowed this to happen to begin with?!?! They were warned of the potential disaster but, as usual, they knew better! They have blood on their hands!
In newly released recordings of police discussions which occurred during the hour prior to the Meron disaster in 2021, police can be heard warning their superiors of an impending catastrophe.
Israel’s Kan news revealed the jarring recordings from the half hour preceding the tragic disaster in which 45 people were trampled to death. Reporter Moshe Steinmetz says that the recording demonstrates that the Meron tragedy was not only the result of poor infrastructure and overcrowding, but was also a huge tactical failure on the part of police senior officials, who were warned by their subordinates that the situation was dangerous and they needed more backup forces but did not provide the necessary reinforcements to close the deadly bottleneck at the Dov bridge.
At 12:14 police officers at the bridge said that “its getting very crowded here, there are huge gatherings, people are jostling, come here now.” A similar warning was issued at 12:22, more than 20 minutes before the catastrophe. The warnings became more urgent as the catastrophe grew closer, and the local police headquarters queried what was going on. The police answered that they needed urgent backup, asking: Where are the sleeping officers?” Police further up at the Kohanim porch also noticed the unusual crush and asked for backup to close the porch and stop the masses from exiting the area.
One of the senior officers attempted to calm the juniors, stating “its because of the Hadlakah [Toldos Aharon] it will take at least another half an hour.” The police at the Kohanim porch succeeded belatedly in stopping people from descending but it was too late for the masses near the Dov bridge, who were already being crushed as they attempted to descend. The senior officers were still asking why reinforcements were needed while the juniors said that the entrances needed to be closed because “people are trampling one another.”
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett has filed a 1 million shekel lawsuit against a rabbi who falsely claimed that Bennett’s parents, Myrna and Jim, were not Jewish.
The defamation lawsuit alleges that the false claims and “appalling epithets and curses” were seen by hundreds of thousands of people. The rabbi has more than 150,000 followers on social media.
In “sermons” posted online, he falsely claimed that Bennett’s mother underwent a Reform conversion in the US, and that he is “worse than a dog,” who is at least loyal.
To illustrate how widespread the claim was, Bennett pointed out that Google users search for his mother are suggested by algorithm to add the words “Christian” or “convert .
Bennett said that his mother, Myrna — whose parents come from generations of Jews, some of whom “were murdered in the Holocaust for being Jewish” — received “many inquiries over the past year in regard to doubts about her Judaism,” which “brought her great pain and sadness.”
Bennett said that damages he receives from the lawsuit will be donated to organizations that assist the families of fallen IDF soldiers.
One million shekel is equal to over $292,000.
United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush has requested full responsibility over Mount Meron, a significant religious site in the Upper Galilee, including implementing recommendations made by a committee investigating the deadly disaster during Lag B’Omer festivities there last year, according to a Sunday report.
The Haredi party lawmaker made the request during coalition talks with the Likud party, the Walla news site reported.
Citing sources involved in the talks, the report said the ultra-Orthodox lawmaker wants responsibility over any changes to be made as a result of the findings of the government committee probing the tragic crush at the site in 2021 — which left 45 people dead and more than 150 injured.
Interesting!
So Chassidim are not happy with their own organizations and now want to take control of the Aguda as well.
Have you ever seen a Litvisher Gadol in the Eida Hachreidis?
And how come when the good Dr. Twersky mentioned all the Chassidic groups, he leaves out Chabad? I guess Chabad is only good when they need a hot lunch when they travel.
Dr Twersky is correct when he says that the Aguda will become irrelevant in two or three years but not because they don't have any Chassidim on the Moetzes Torah Hagdolah, they are irrelevant because they are out of touch with the "hamoin am"
If the Chassidim would join, you would no longer recognize the Aguda.
Dr Twersky is not being genuine, he knows that Bobov was never part of Agudah, Satmar hates any organization that they cannot control, same with Chabad. Satmar is also opposed to the Daf HaYoimie, a big Aguda program.
Dr. Twersky also knows it not practical to appoint Chassidishe Rebbes on the Moetzes. If you appointed Bobover 48, Bobov 45 would scream. Let's for argument's sake say that Satmar would join, so who would you appoint? R' Zalman Leib or R' Aron? His whole speech was a waste of time, and the listeners will never get those 20 minutes back.
Jaw-dropper: At @AgudahNews convention panel on antisemitism, Rabbi prof. Aaron Twersky reprimanded umbrella group for excluding Hasidic members & causing division, calling it “shameful.”
— Jacob Kornbluh (@jacobkornbluh) December 2, 2022
Twersky predicted “Agudath Israel will become irrelevant to Klal Yisroel” in a few years 💥 pic.twitter.com/SmA5VBMOIt
While appearing at a panel about antisemitism at the Agudah Convention Friday, Rabbi Dr. Ahron Twerski spoke out against the lack of Chassidic representation within the Agudah in recent years.
He said, “I used to come to Agudah conventions and feel comfortable…because there was a Chassidishe olam…for the last ten years we have been uninvited, not formally, but uninvited. The problem starts because Chassidim are not represented on the Moetzes Gedolei Torah.”
He called it “shameful” and said “there’s no excuse for it.”
Dr. Twersky predicted that “Agudath Israel will become irrelevant to Klal Yisroel” in a few years
The always gracious and even-tempered Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel responded. He first joked about how this proves that the Agudah carefully censors each speaker’s speech in advance. He then thanked Dr/ Twersky for raising the issue, and assured the audience that it is being addressed.