“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
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Breaking: President Trump Reportedly Calls for Gaza to Be Wiped Out After Return of Bibas Bodies
Trump allegedly told advisors he wants Gaza “wiped out” with no buildings left, per Channel 14, after Hamas released the Bibas family’s remains amid ceasefire tensions.
2 NYC yeshivas are not meeting standards and must effectively close, state rules
The New York State Education Department is cutting off public funding to two Brooklyn yeshivas and ordering parents to find alternative educational arrangements for their children next year, citing the schools' failure to meet secular education standards.
It’s the most significant set of consequences faced by any school in the ongoing fight between education officials and Haredi institutions in New York over laws requiring that yeshivas, like all schools, meet standards in core subjects like English and math. After years of battles in court, the halls of government and the public square, this is the first time the state has effectively closed a Hasidic school.
The two yeshivas are in Williamsburg, the center of the city’s Satmar Hasidic community. They are Yeshiva Bnei Shimon Yisroel of Sopron, which runs schools in two locations for different age groups, and Talmud Torah of Kasho. They were notified of the enforcement decisions on February 11 after ignoring final warnings issued in December, according to the education department.
Trump signs executive order cutting all taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants
President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday night barring illegal immigrants from receiving federally-funded benefits.
“My Administration will uphold the rule of law, defend against the waste of hard-earned taxpayer resources, and protect benefits for American citizens in need, including individuals with disabilities and veterans,” read the text of Trump’s order.
The president noted that the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) ostensibly prohibits illegal immigrants from obtaining most taxpayer-funded benefits, but he argued that in the decades since its passage “numerous administrations have acted to undermine the principles and limitations directed by the Congress.”
Trump claimed that the Biden administration “repeatedly undercut the goals of that law, resulting in the improper expenditure of significant taxpayer resources.”
As a result, “taxpayer resources” have acted as a “magnet” for migrants, “fueling illegal immigration to the United States,” according to the president.
Trump’s order directs the head of every federal agency to “ identify all federally funded programs administered by the agency that currently permit illegal aliens to obtain any cash or non-cash public benefit” and “take all appropriate actions to align such programs” with PRWORA and other federal laws.
The commander-in-chief further ordered government officials to “ensure, consistent with applicable law, that Federal payments to States and localities do not, by design or effect, facilitate the subsidization or promotion of illegal immigration, or abet so-called ‘sanctuary’ policies that seek to shield illegal aliens from deportation.”
Trump’s executive order also asked federal agencies to “enhance eligibility verification systems, to the maximum extent possible” in an effort to exclude illegal immigrants from taxpayer-funded benefits.
The president tasked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk, with identifying “all other sources of Federal funding for illegal aliens” and recommending “additional agency actions to align Federal spending with the purposes of this order.”
The order demands that agencies refer any improper benefits going to illegal immigrants to the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security for “appropriate action.”
The move is part of the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, one of Trump’s key campaign promises.
The president has lauded Musk and DOGE for helping implement several of his executive orders that he argued would’ve been ignored by federal workers without the bureaucracy-cutting team in place.
IDF KNOW WHO KIDNAPPED BIBAS' BUT CANT DO ANYTHING BECAUSE THEY ARE "CIVILIANS"
Of all the images of Israelis being taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, the most heartbreaking is that of Shiri Bibas holding her two red-headed toddlers, her face contorted in horror, as if the camera had frozen the very instant when she realized that there is no human feeling in her barbaric captors to appeal to.
We now know who these barbarians are. The Israel Defense Forces positively identified the kidnappers of the Bibas family. They still live in Gaza.
And though Israel vowed to hunt down each and every one of the participants in the massacre, it is not targeting the Bibas abductors—because Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi has defined them as “citizens,” not combatants, and so has vetoed targeting them. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi accepted the dictum and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant acquiesced. And so the tormentors of Shiri Bibas and her children are alive and well. The matter was first exposed by Amit Segal on Channel 12 News earlier this year, but nothing has changed since then.
How did we arrive at this madness?
Delta CEO stuns Gayle King declining to blame Trump for plane crashes.
Delta CEO stuns Gayle King when he declined to blame Trump for plane crashes.
"The Trump administration has committed to investing deeply in terms of improving air traffic control systems."
Rabbi Abergel: Draft haredim who are not studying Torah ..
Rabbi Haim Yosef David Abergel, head of a large community based in the southern city of Netivot, has spoken out against Shas party rabbis, calling on haredim who are not seriously studying Torah full-time to enlist in the IDF's new Hashmonaim unit, which he called "a place which is protected."
Kan News quoted Rabbi Abergel as saying: "I seek my brother - not to make any quarrels, G-d forbid, no jealousy, no hatred. To spread the Name of Heaven, even within the army, with G-d's help. To remember the difficult, horrific, terrible day that we had on Simchat Torah (October 7 -ed.). Then, out of this great pain, all of us were united. Now [let us unite], not out of pain - with joy."
"Hear the words of Rabbi Shach, of Rabbi Yissachar Meir. My righteous rabbis, whoever learns - will learn. Whoever is not learning should enlist in a haredi place, a protected place, a good place. There is the Hashmonaim Brigade, a more protected space than the protected spaces."
He added,"No one who is learning Torah, obviously, will leave his books, but the people who are anyways going out to work will be in a place that allows Torah learners to continue learning and will also truly protect all of Israel."
He also praised the enormous efforts invested in creating haredi frameworks, including tens of millions of NIS invested in creating a haredi brigade.
Chareidie Gangsters from Meah Shearim Cause Riot while being "mevazeh" the Stoliner Rebbe Because He is all for Enlisting
Jerusalem witnessed a despicable Chutzpah on Wednesday when violent extremists attacked the vehicle of the Karlin-Stoliner Rebbe with teargas as he departed from a Sheva Brachos for his granddaughter. People should not remain silent when violent thugs attack one of the leading Admorim in Klal Yisroel.
The confrontation occurred in the Mea Shearim neighborhood, where a group of extremists blocked the Rebbe’s vehicle on Ezra Street. They shouted insults at him, accusing him of encouraging Charedi enlistment in the IDF. This enraged members of the Karlin community, including overseas guests, leading to a violent brawl.
“It was a shocking scene,” an eyewitness reported. “A group of extremists just blocked the Rebbe and began to spray teargas at the car. The Chassidim didn’t stand by.”
The tensions have been escalating for some time. Extremists have been targeting the Rebbe, disrupting his gatherings and events. Last Chanukah, they attempted to interfere with a Tish on Avinoam Yellin Street.
On the previous Shabbos, as the Rebbe celebrated Sheva Brachos for his granddaughter, extremists protested outside his home on Ezra Street. At Wednesday’s final Sheva Brachot in the Karlin-Stolin study hall, tensions flared when extremists blocked the Rebbe’s vehicle and hurled insults. This provoked Chassidim who tried to push them away, leading to a violent altercation that shocked onlookers.
One Chosid described the incident:
“For over an hour and a half, they stood outside yelling insults and curses at the Rebbe, calling him by name in loud voices. Everyone ignored them. But when the Rebbe left, they escalated, shoving and lying down in front of the car to prevent him from leaving. That’s when some of our people decided to remove them by force.”
The Hamas Baby Killers and a Broken Global Moral Compass
As much as anything else, two little red-haired boys and their mother symbolized the barbaric cruelty of the Hamas assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The video of a terrified Shiri Bibas, 32, clutching and comforting her two children—Ariel, 4, and Kfir, just 9 months old at the time—as they were being pushed away by Hamas terrorists into captivity in Gaza should haunt the conscience of humanity in much the same way as some of the most iconic images of the Holocaust.
But it did not. Or at least, it didn’t do so sufficiently to prevent a sizable portion of the international community from thinking of their captors as the good guys in the war that the Palestinians started on Oct. 7. Now, 500 days after that infamous and tragic date, as their fate has been revealed, we are also being forced to come to terms with the extent of the moral failure of the world to respond appropriately to this brazen act of genocidal terrorism.
Congestion Pricing Dead!! Long Live the King!! Hochol Going Crazy in a rant!




