We hope this video helps viewers understand the destruction and the causes of war.
Sometimes it’s easy to become numb because we keep hearing about the war in Israel, but it’s incredibly important to recognize the real damage it has caused._
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Horror Stories of How Ashkenazi Principals Treat Sfardie Girls
Testimonies came out this week regarding the deep discrimination faced by Sephardic-haredi girls seeking to enroll in high schools run by Ashkenazic haredim.
L., a 13-year-old student, described the difficulties she has experienced since being rejected from high school.
"I've been at home for six months, since around the exams; we're waiting for something to happen," she described to Channel 13 News.
L. also shared that during the application process, she was asked illegal questions about where her father prays and whether her brothers attend Ashkenazic or Sephardic yeshivas.
"The principal told me that I am 'a complete waste.' and that even if Rabbi Ovadia [Yosef] himself came, she would not accept me," she added. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef was a former Sephardic Chief Rabbi and a revered Torah scholar and authority on Jewish law. He passed away in 2013.
According to L., the educational institution even demanded that she change her family name, which she refused to do.
In another testimony, Michal, mother of a number of children, agreed to the institutions' demand and changed her family's name to something "that would sound more like one of ours and less Sephardic."
"I tried to change it for two children, and it was accepted," she said. "I think I did the right thing for them. They're doing well, they're accepted, they're happy."
At the same time, she expressed pain over the act, saying, "It hurts me that some of my children have one family name and some have another family name. We're the same family."
Yael, mother of two girls who have no school placements, described, "The worst thing I've gone through in my life is to see my daughter sitting at home and silent."
According to Yael, her older daughter was left without a school placement for half a year, which prevented her from being able to register her younger daughter for school.
"My daughter was accepted into four good schools in Jerusalem, but the Haredi Education Department decided to say no," she said. "For what and why would they leave a girl at home for six months? She's a girl who excels in her studies, she excels socially."
Criticizing the proposed separate solutions, she accused: "Why is [Shas chief] Aryeh Deri going to open a Sephardic Seminar Yashan? Whoever wants to create Ashkenazic schools that are for Ashkenazis only can open a private school. If you live off our taxes - schools should not be by ethnicity. The creation of Sephardic-only schools will not solve the problem. Our goal is not to perpetuate the discrimination."
Terrorist who bragged about murdering 10 Israelis to his mommy is eliminated
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| The face of evil |
The terrorist who bragged about murdering 10 Israelis during the October 7 massacre, Mahmoud Afana, was reportedly killed in an airstrike in Deir al-Balah on Thursday.
The chilling conversation in which he repeatedly boasted about the killings was revealed two and a half weeks after the massacre during a United Nations Security Council discussion.
Then-Foreign Minister Eli Cohen released a recording of Afana speaking with his parents: “I’m talking to you from a Jewish woman’s phone. I killed her and her husband; with my own hands, I killed 10,” he told his father. Afana had called from the phone of one of the victims, whose body was later recovered during searches in the Gaza envelope area.
In the recording, he continued: “Dad, 10 with my own hands. I’m inside Mefalsim, Dad, I killed 10. Their blood is on my hands. Give me Mom.” His mother replied: “Oh my son, may God protect you.” Afana insisted: “I swear, 10 with my own hands, I killed 10 with my own hands.” His mother said: “May God bring you back safely.” Afana added: “Dad, get back on WhatsApp, I want to do a live broadcast for you from Mefalsim.”
His mother encouraged him further: “I wish I were with you.” Afana replied: “Mom, your son is a hero.” At that point, his brother joined the conversation, asking: “You killed 10?” Afana confirmed: “Yes, I killed 10, I swear.”
The brother asked if he was in Zikim; Afana responded: “I’m in Mefalsim, not in Zikim. I’m the first to enter, under the protection and with help of Allah. Raise up your head, Dad.”
His brother urged him to return to Gaza, to which Afana replied: “Return? There’s no return. It’s either death or victory. How can I return? Open WhatsApp, see how many are dead. How I killed them with my own hands.”
New York Supreme Court, Citing New Legislation, Rules Yeshivos Can keep their Students to be dummies ..and Cannot Be Shut Down
A New York Supreme Court granted a decisive victory today to schools that had been deemed “nonequivalent.” This development in the decade-long substantial equivalency saga — predicated on legislation advocated for by Agudath Israel and others — allows parents in these schools to exhale once more, and can have broader positive implications for yeshivas long-term.
In May 2025, all parents of six schools received a foreboding letter from New York City stating that their child’s school:
“shall no longer be deemed a school which provides compulsory education… effective June 30th, 2025, all services at the school for your child will be discontinued, including special education and related services. Given that your child will no longer be able to attend this school, a decision must be made about what school your child will attend for the 2025-2026 school year and you must notify the New York City Department of Education of where your child will be enrolled by July 1st 2025.” [emphasis added]
The letter continues by describing how parents will proceed if their child attends public school in 2025-2026.
This legislative session, new language, fundamentally redefining how nonpublic schools can satisfy “substantial equivalency,” became law.
SED had argued that all schools can opt in to the new legislation, except for schools that had already been deemed nonequivalent prior to the legislation’s enactment. The court refuted SED’s claim, calling it “arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law.” The court further rejected SED’s argument that the schools cannot avail themselves of the new legislation because, by being non-equivalent, they are “non-schools,” and thus are ineligible to make a selection.
This case may have long-term implications if, in the future, any school is declared non-equivalent. Based on this ruling, a school can still choose to avail itself of a pathway. The “non-school” argument was soundly defeated.
The Agudah congratulated Steven Barshov, Esq., of Barshov Law PLLC, who represented the yeshivas and parents in this case.
Jewish Orgs Urge Shuls And Schools To Apply For Federal Security Funding – But Crazy Leftist Jews Are Boycotting The Program
Six of the country’s most influential Jewish organizations are urging shuls and other Jewish institutions to apply for $274 million in federal security grants. However, a growing number of progressive groups and congregations are vowing to boycott the program, citing conditions they say betray Jewish values.
The clash centers on the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), a Department of Homeland Security initiative long championed by Jewish leaders to help houses of worship and nonprofits harden defenses against rising antisemitic violence. But new terms under the Trump administration—requiring grantees to support federal immigration enforcement and avoid diversity-related programs—have prompted liberal Jews to say they don’t want to participate in the program.
In a rare joint statement issued Tuesday, the Jewish Federations of North America, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Anti-Defamation League, and three security-focused agencies—Secure Community Network, Community Security Initiative NY, and Community Security Service—urged all eligible institutions to apply.
“While we are aware that questions have arisen on the part of certain religious institutions regarding the current year’s program criteria, our organizations strongly urge all eligible institutions to apply for this critical resource,” the groups wrote. “We are in regular contact with government officials who have affirmed their continued commitment to protecting the safety of all faith-based institutions and the values they hold.”
The groups say that applying now keeps options open, noting that the conditions only take effect if funds are accepted, and that Trump administration messaging around enforcement rules has been inconsistent.
At the same time, dozens of progressive Jewish organizations—joined by pro-Palestinian advocacy groups and several synagogues—have publicly pledged to boycott the program.
“We are committed to upholding our communal values and will not comply with these repressive conditions,” reads an open letter signed by Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, IfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace, and others.
“Jewish safety requires inclusive democracy and inclusive democracy requires Jewish safety. We do not comply so we will not apply,” “Rabbi” Jill Maderer of Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia posted on Facebook.
Another “rabbi,” speaking anonymously, described the grant conditions as “money being given to us on condition that we violate a specific mitzvah”—welcoming the stranger. “I don’t see how we can possibly accept that money,” he said, citing fear for refugee members of his congregation.
Trump officials have made no effort to downplay the political nature of the changes. In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, DHS declared it would “no longer fund grant projects that don’t align with President Trump’s priorities,” explicitly rejecting “DEI agendas” and “illegal aliens in our country.”
Created in 2004 and dramatically expanded after the Tree of Life massacre in 2018, the NSGP is the primary federal vehicle for shoring up the security of religious institutions at risk of extremist violence. Funds cover cameras, fencing, barriers, guards, and other protective measures.
Justice Department Exploring Gun Restrictions for Transgender People as they Shoot Up America
Federal officials are considering whether to restrict firearm ownership for transgender individuals, according to the AP and people familiar with internal Justice Department discussions.
The talks come in the aftermath of last month’s Minneapolis Catholic school shooting, which investigators say was carried out by a transgender suspect. While no formal proposal has been made, senior officials have been weighing whether existing federal law — which bars people deemed mentally unfit from owning guns — could be applied to individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
The Justice Department said in a statement in response to questions about the firearms talks that the agency is “actively evaluating options to prevent the pattern of violence we have seen from individuals with specific mental health challenges and substance abuse disorders.” But, the department said: “No specific criminal justice proposals have been advanced at this time.”
Some conservative figures have coalesced around the idea of restricting guns for people diagnosed with gender dysphoria — the unease a person may have because their assigned gender and gender identity don’t match — through a federal law that bars people from possessing firearms if they are “adjudicated as a mental defective.”
Friday, September 5, 2025
What Chutzpah? AG Letitia James Asks Court To Reinstate President Trump’s Massive Civil Fraud Penalty While She Herself is under Criminal Investifgation
New York’s attorney general moved Thursday to have the state’s highest court reinstate President Donald Trump’s staggering civil fraud penalty, appealing a lower-court decision that slashed the potential half-billion-dollar fine to $0.
Attorney General Letitia James’ office filed a notice of appeal with the state’s Court of Appeals, seeking to reverse the mid-level Appellate Division’s ruling last month that the penalty violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban on excessive fines.
James, a Democrat, had previously said she would appeal.
Trump declared “TOTAL VICTORY” after the Appellate Division wiped away his fine, but the five-judge panel left other punishments in place and narrowly endorsed a trial court’s finding that he committed fraud by padding his wealth on financial paperwork given to banks and insurers.
Trump, a Republican, filed his own appeal last week, asking the Court of Appeals to throw out those other punishments, which include a multiyear ban on him and his two eldest sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., from holding corporate leadership positions in New York.
Those measures have been on hold during the appellate process and the Appellate Division judges said Trump can seek a court order to extend the pause pending further appeals.
James’ appeal is the latest twist in a lawsuit she filed against Trump in 2022, which alleged that he inflated his net worth by billions of dollars on his financial statements and habitually misled banks and others about the value of prized assets, including golf courses, hotels, Trump Tower, and his Mar-a-Lago estate.
After a trial that saw a sometimes testy Trump take the witness stand, Judge Arthur Engoron ruled last year that James had proven he engaged in a yearslong conspiracy with executives at his company to deceive banks and insurers about his wealth and assets.
Engoron ordered Trump to pay $355 million — payback of what the judge deemed “ill-gotten gains” from his puffed-up financial statements. That amount soared to more than $515 million, including interest, by the time the Appellate Division ruled.
The five-judge Appellate Division panel was sharply divided on many issues in Trump’s appeal, but a majority said the monetary penalty was “excessive.”
“While harm certainly occurred, it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half billion-dollar award,” two of the judges wrote.
Daughter of Nazi Officer Who Stole ‘Portrait of a Lady’ and Her Husband Charged With Cover-up
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| Patricia Kadgien, right, one of the daughters of fugitive Nazi official Friedrich Kadgien, and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, left, attend a court hearing in the case of the theft of the 18th-century Italian "Portrait of a Lady," which was taken from a Jewish collector during World War II, in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. |
Prosecutors in Argentina on Thursday charged the daughter of a fugitive Nazi official with trying to hide an 18th-century painting from authorities following revelations that it had been stolen from a Jewish art dealer during World War II.
The federal prosecutor in charge of the case announced the cover-up charge a day after Patricia Kadgien, one of the daughters of high-level Nazi officer Friedrich Kadgien, handed “Portrait of a Lady” by Italian artist Giuseppe Ghislandi to the Argentine judiciary eight decades after it was stolen. The fate of the work remains unclear, pending a decision in the case. The heir of Jacques Goudstikker — the Dutch-Jewish art collector who owned the painting before Nazis confiscated his world-famous inventory — has made a legal claim to get the painting back, her lawyers have said. Goudstikker died in a shipwreck in 1940 while fleeing the Netherlands as German troops advanced. He sold his collection, which included Rembrandts and Vermeers, under duress and far below market price. At least 1,100 stolen works from his gallery remain missing. The Argentine court has asked that the painting be displayed at the Holocaust Museum in Buenos Aires ahead of any further transfer abroad. The museum did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Patricia Kadgien, 59, and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, 62, have been under house arrest on suspicion of concealing the painting since police raided their home on Monday for the second time in as many weeks without finding “Portrait of a Lady.” Kadgien, with disheveled dirty-blond hair and sunglasses on her head, wore a look that mixed concern and puzzlement as she listened to Prosecutor Carlos Martínez in a jam-packed courtroom. Martínez said that Kadgien’s and her husband’s efforts to hide the painting over several days following its sudden appearance in a real estate listing amounted to obstruction of justice. Cortegoso gazed straight ahead, his arms crossed and a stern expression on his face. After the hearing the couple was released from house arrest but barred from traveling abroad and required to notify the court whenever they leave their registered address. Photos of the painting hanging in Kadgien’s living room in Mar del Plata surfaced last month for the first time in eight decades in an online real estate advertisement. Dutch journalists investigating Kadgien’s past in Argentina – where he took refuge after the collapse of the Third Reich – spotted “Portrait of a Lady” hanging above a green velvet couch in the living room during a 3D tour of the house for sale. After recognizing it as the same portrait listed as missing in international archives of Nazi-looted art, the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad published an exposé on Aug. 25 that grabbed headlines around the world. Alerted by international police agency Interpol, Argentine authorities raided the house and other properties belonging to Patricia Kadgien and her sister Alicia, seizing a rifle, a .32-caliber revolver and several paintings from the 19th-century that they suspect may have been similarly stolen during WWII. But police couldn’t find “Portrait of a Lady.” They found scuff marks and a pastoral tapestry on Patricia Kadgien’s living room wall where the portrait had been photographed. The real estate ad, first posted in February, was swiftly taken down. Prosecutors on Thursday said that security footage showed people removing the “for sale” sign from Kadgien’s front yard as media scrutiny intensified last week. In presenting the charges, Martínez told the court that the couple was “aware that the artwork was being sought by the criminal justice system and international authorities” but nevertheless went to lengths to hide it. “It was only after several police raids that they turned it in,” he said. With the defendants under house arrest on Monday, their lawyer, Carlos Murias, filed a petition with a civil court in Mar del Plata asking that Kadgien be allowed to auction the painting. The court rejected the request, arguing that it lacked jurisdiction given the painting’s provenance. Prosecutor Martínez told reporters on Thursday that his office was informed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Marei von Saher, the heir to art dealer Goudstikker, lodged a legal claim to “Portrait of a Lady” at the bureau’s New York office. The FBI declined to comment. |
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