“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
Saturday, February 24, 2024
British Chareidim Demand in Galut that the Goyim Not interfere in Jewish Education
The Jew Blinken Says Israeli Settlements in Eretz Yisrael Are Illegal
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israeli settlements are “inconsistent with international law,” putting new pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reversing a Trump-era argument that construction in Palestinian territory could go ahead.
Blinken’s remarks Friday at a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, marked a return to a 1978 finding by the State Department’s legal adviser that also found the settlements violate the Geneva Conventions. In 2019, former President Donald Trump’s secretary of state, Michael Pompeo, announced the US was abandoning the 1978 decision, saying it “hasn’t advanced the cause of peace.”
“Our administration maintains firm opposition to settlement expansion,” Blinken said Friday. “In our judgment, this only weakens, it doesn’t strengthen, Israel’s security.”
He added that new settlements are “inconsistent with international law,” language that’s drawn directly from the 1978 memo.
The conclusion marks a fresh break from Netanyahu for President Joe Biden’s administration, which has grown increasingly concerned about the high civilian death toll of Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip in the months since Hamas militants launched an attack on Oct 7. Biden has also sought to restrain settler violence in the West Bank.
“We are simply reaffirming the fundamental conclusion that these settlements are inconsistent with international law,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday. “This is a position that has been consistent over a range of Republican and Democratic administrations. If there’s an administration that is being inconsistent, it was the previous one.”
Biden has called on Netanyahu to hold off the next stage of military action in Gaza, aimed at the city of Rafah in south, until he can provide a clear plan to help civilians. Earlier this month, Biden signed an executive order allowing the US to impose sanctions on settlers and officials involved in violence against Palestinians.
Thousands of New Settlement Homes in Response to Ma’ale Adumim Terror Attack
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Thursday evening that a decision was made to build thousands of new homes in response to the murderous terror attack this morning outside of Ma’ale Adumim.
Smotrich called it “an appropriate Zionist response.”
In the discussion that took place tonight, with the participation of Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Finance and the Minister in the Ministry of Defense and the Minister for Strategic Affairs, it was decided to convene the Supreme Planning Council to approve thousands of housing units in the following communities in Judea and Samaria:
Maale Adumim about 2,350 units.
Kedar about 300 units.
Efrat 694 units.
Minister of Finance and Minister in the Ministry of Defense Bezalel Smotrich declared [translated], “Let every terrorist plotting to harm us know that any raising of a hand against the citizens of Israel will be met with a blow of death and destruction and the deepening of our eternal grip on the entire Land of Israel.”
Gush Etzion Regional Council Mayor, and Yesha Council Chairman, Shlomo Ne’eman said this about tonight’s government decision to fast-track the approval of thousands of new housing units in Judea and Samaria:
“We praise the decision to convene the Higher Planning Council in order to approve thousands of housing units in Ma’ale Adumim, Kedar, Gush Etzion, and Efrat, and thank the Prime Minister, Defense Minister, Finance Minister, and Minister of Strategic Affairs, on a Zionist response to this morning’s terrible terrorist attack. The development of Judea and Samaria is the appropriate response to anyone who tries to harm us or undermine our rights to the land. We hope that the rest of the housing units awaiting approval will be greenlighted as soon as possible. There is no need to wait for another deadly attack. Our enemies should know that we do not cower from acts of terrorism. We must continue to develop and establish our hold on all parts of the Land of Israel.”
Bibi to Biden "Ich kock dich uhn! ......"A pox on you"
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday night submitted to the political and security cabinet his proposal for the day after Hamas in Gaza. The document contains principles that reflect a broad public consensus of the goals of the war, including establishing a civilian alternative to the rule of the terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip.
The plan contradicts several key points in President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s ambitious plans for the same day after. Israel will carve out a wide swath of land along the Gaza border to establish a security zone, presumably to shoot any local Arab who dares to come near the fence. The Americans have insisted on several occasions that Israel is not to acquire any territory inside Gaza. Also: Israel will determine who does what in Gaza for the foreseeable future. Egypt, the US, the Arab states, and anyone else out there are welcome to lend a hand, but no one tells Israel what to do.
Refreshing.
UNWRA will be expelled from Gaza, no ifs and buts. Israel will seek better agencies to care for the civilian population, the kind that doesn’t encourage terrorism, there must be some of those left.
Finally: no unilateral declarations of a Palestinian State, and no forced two-state solutions.
So, here’s how it works:
Friday, February 23, 2024
‘House of horrors’ as Harav Ahron Ramati Shlitah takes cushy deal after pleading guilty to enslaving 30 women
A Jerusalem rabbi accused of enslaving 30 women in a cult-like home dubbed the “house of horrors” has pleaded guilty to lesser charges in return for a lax sentence of community service and cash compensation to his victims, according to reports.
Aharon Ramati had been charged with enslavement, minor assault and obstruction of justice among other charges, but reached a plea agreement for “holding people in conditions akin to slavery,” according to YNetNews.
The deal came with a cushy sentence of just nine months of community service and $34,000 in damages owed to his victims — and was reached after 11 of the women declined to testify against Ramati because they were too traumatized to face him.
The case grabbed headlines in Israel after Ramati’s 2020 arrest, with police labeling the rabbi a “cult leader” who used violence, intimidation and tales of eternal damnation to indoctrinate and control his victims.
“They had to ask him for permission for everything and consult him over every simple action,” police told the Times of Israel after his arrest.
Ramati began gathering women around him in 2008 by presenting himself as an enlightened religious leader who knew the “true path” to salvation, YNet reported.
He invited the women to live in his home, which he’d renamed the “Be’er Miriam Seminary,” where they lived on moldering mattresses spread throughout three bedrooms, had no hot water and faced constant leaks and decrepit conditions.
Ramati moved to a neighboring home as the ranks of his followers grew. At some points, more than 30 women were living within the cramped confines of the house, with some reports saying as many as 50 women along with children lived there, according to prosecutors.
The rabbi charged the women about $220 per month for a bed in the house, or about $170 per month to share a mattress with another resident, according to YNet.
While at the house, the women attended daily lessons where Ramati plied them with his teachings — which included renouncing all personal desires to focus their energies toward spirituality.
Ramati filled the void of personal responsibility for them, prosecutors argued, making all decisions for them and in turn taking large portions of their pay from jobs they worked outside of classes.
To control the women, prosecutors said Ramati frightened them by telling them they would face horrific harm at the hands of other-worldly forces if they disobeyed him, isolated them from their families and turned the women against one another to police each other.
One common punishment in the house was forcing the women to burn their fingers in fire to “simulate hell,” the Times of Israel reported, or making them eat hot peppers.
Rumors about Ramati’s conduct have surrounded him for years.
He was first arrested in 2015 but was released after several members of his group testified on his behalf.



