Observers noted she appeared to be angling for Weinstein to say that Jews control Hollywood. Instead, Weinstein bluntly stated that his former production companies had been funded by investors in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
The admission left Owens visibly disappointed, her narrative collapsing in real time as the revelation pointed away from Jews and toward foreign ownership, namely Qatar!
Israel’s political Left — has long had a pattern stretching from the Mandate era to our turbulent present: when their ideological opponents succeed, when the Right gains ground, they slander, cheat, lie, suppress, and accuse. Ze’ev Jabotinsky saw it. Menachem Begin lived it. Benjamin Netanyahu is living it now.
The brutal campaign the Zionist Left once waged against Jabotinsky and the Revisionist movement was about ideological war — and that war never ended. Today, it simply wears different clothing: NGOs, media hit jobs, corrupt courts and academia, Diaspora boycotts, and cynical accusations of fascism and racism. What united the attacks then and now is one thing: a refusal to accept the legitimacy of Zionism that is unapologetically Jewish, strong, rooted in heritage, and grounded in the will of the Jewish people.
DIN: There is a growing chasm between certain Torah leaders and the broader community of Jews who are shomrei Torah u’mitzvos—those who live by the commandments and uphold the values of our tradition. This disconnect becomes painfully clear when we hear statements that defy logic and insult the sacrifices of those truly giving their lives for Klal Yisrael.
How can anyone say, with a straight face, that bochurim “gave their lives” by refusing to enlist in the army? What lives are they giving up? They sit in air-conditioned yeshivos, surrounded by refreshments, free to take smoke breaks and enjoy lunch outings. They close their Gemaras to go on tiyulim with their families while our soldiers—our sons and brothers—are on the front lines, risking everything to defend the only Jewish country in the world.
This is not mesiras nefesh. It’s a distortion of the term.
And then we’re told to have the government in mind when we recite Avinu Malkeinu, pleading for an end to plague, sword, and destruction upon bnei brisecha? That’s not just misguided—it’s a mockery of Torah.
Most shocking of all is the comparison made by the Gaavad between the Israeli government’s enlistment policies and the Spanish Inquisition. This is a gross misrepresentation of history and a dangerous rhetorical move.
Let’s be clear: the Inquisition persecuted Jews not because they were keeping Torah and mitzvos, but because they had converted to Christianity—often under duress—and were suspected of secretly maintaining Jewish practices. These conversos, or “New Christians,” were hunted down, tortured, and burned at the stake. That is not what’s happening to yeshiva students in Israel today.
No one is burning them. No one is torturing them. They are being asked to serve in the army of a Jewish state, to protect their fellow Jews from enemies who openly declare their intent to kill us.
To equate enlistment with the Inquisition is not only historically inaccurate—it’s an insult to the memory of those who truly suffered under religious persecution. It’s also a betrayal of the values of achdus, responsibility, and truth.
We must demand honesty from our leaders. We must insist that Torah not be used as a shield for political agendas or communal isolation. And we must stand with those who are truly sacrificing for Am Yisrael—not with those who distort reality to preserve their comfort.!
On Thursday night, the main Dushinsky Beis Medrash as hundreds of bnei torah gathered under the leadership of Admorim, Rabbanim, and members of the Badatz of the Eidah HaChareidis to hear the Shabbos Shuvah drasha from Harav Moshe Shternbuch shlit”a.
For nearly an hour, Rav Shternbuch spoke divrei halacha and aggadah .
Opening his words, the Gaavad spoke with heartfelt emotion about the plight of the bochurim who have been imprisoned in recent months due to the gezeiras hagiyus.
“Many bochurim are sitting now in detention, for the sole reason that they gave their lives not to go into their army. We must strengthen them—ashreichem that you were caught for the sake of Torah. Stand strong with mesirus nefesh against them.”
From there, he turned to the government, decrying its actions in extraordinarily sharp terms. He compared today’s decrees to the darkest periods in Jewish history.
“The heads of the government act worse than the nations, like the Inquisition in its time, which persecuted Jews only because they kept Torah and mitzvos. And woe to us that this is what has befallen us in our days, when they seek to disturb our avodas Hashem. The entire world must be shaken over this.”
In a voice choked with tears, he exclaimed:
“These days we say Avinu Malkeinu, kallei dever v’cherev v’shmad mei’al bnei brisecha. We must have kavana in these tefillos that Hashem should annul this gezeiras shmad! Their entire goal with drafting bnei Torah is to uproot shmiras haTorah, chas v’shalom.”
Concluding his drasha, Harav Shternbuch issued a clear psak regarding yeshiva bochurim and the draft.
“I have said many times, and I repeat:
according to halacha it is absolutely forbidden to go into their army. This is not a chumra or a middas chassidus, but pure halacha. Bochurim who receive draft notices must discard them immediately. Do not argue with them, simply say clearly: we are following our Rabbanim, who have forbidden joining the army.”
Leah Harris, a mother of five IDF combat soldiers and mother-in-law to two reserve soldiers, is speaking out forcefully against what she calls government failures that put soldiers’ lives at risk in Gaza.
Harris, a spokesperson for Mothers of the IDF Combat Soldiers Organization, has addressed the Knesset multiple times, urging leaders to take harsher measures against Hamas and push for a decisive victory in Gaza. She argues that soldiers and their families are bearing unbearable sacrifices while the government lacks a clear plan to win the war.
“The lives of our soldiers must always take precedence over the lives of our enemies,” Harris told Alan Skorski in a recent interview.
Harris described how her family has been stretched thin since the war began. “Why is it ‘normal’ and acceptable that so many of my grandchildren need therapy now, because their fathers haven’t been home for much of the last two years?” she asked lawmakers earlier this month. She noted that one son completed 460 consecutive days of reserve duty, leaving behind his wife, children, and business.
Her son-in-law is currently serving in Gaza through the Jewish holiday season, and Harris said his frustration reflects that of many soldiers on the ground. “I’m willing to do this,” he told her, “but did I really leave my wife and children in order to provide security for those endless trucks going straight into the hands of Hamas, and putting me and my fellow soldiers in danger?”
She added that soldiers are often restricted in their ability to engage. “Even when we see the armed Hamas terrorists taking over the trucks, we’re not allowed to shoot them, unless we have written orders from above.”
Harris said her appeals have been welcomed by right-wing lawmakers, including members of Likud, but that she has faced hostility from others, particularly Yesh Atid MKs.
On the sensitive question of balancing military victory with hostage negotiations, Harris acknowledged divisions. Some hostage families, she said, believe defeating Hamas must come before anything else, while others insist the release of their loved ones should take priority.
Harris and her organization continue pressing the government to adopt a strategy that prioritizes victory, warning that anything less is a betrayal of the sacrifices being made daily by soldiers and their families.
R’ Shulem Shtisel, a well-known and respected figure in the Toldos Avraham Yitzchak chasidic sect, is the owner of the famous bookstore Sifrei HaYeshiva near the Mir Yeshiva. He is known as a cheerful and beloved person, even throughout many years of waiting for a child.
This morning, members of the Toldos Avraham Yitzchak chasidic community are sharing stories of great salvations surrounding childbirth and other recent births within the community, including a story that took place this past Hanukkah, when the Rebbe of Toldos Avraham Yitzchak fell to the ground. Upon getting up, the Rebbe said, “He will have salvation.” Since then, with Heaven’s mercy, one of the chasidim who had not had children previously for a long time had a child born on the eve of Rosh Hashana. Now, R’ Shulem Shtisel has also been blessed after 28 years of waiting, and three other chasidim who have been waiting a long time for children are expected to soon share good news as well.
The chasidim said that we have just entered the year 5786, which in Hebrew letters (תשפ”ו) can be seen as an acronym for: “May it be a year of fruitfulness and reproduction.” (פרו ורבו).
May all of those waiting for children merit to have children and may they grow up to Torah and Maasim Tovim.
German historian Jürgen Matthäus has identified the SS officer in the infamous 1941 photograph known as “The Last Jew in Vinnitsa.” The image, shown at Adolf Eichmann’s 1961 trial, depicts a kneeling Jewish man moments before execution beside a mass grave in Berdychiv, Ukraine.
Matthäus’ research confirms the shooter as Jakobus Oehnen, a German schoolteacher turned SS officer. The photo was taken on July 28, 1941, just weeks after the Nazi occupation, during mass killings of Jews prior to the establishment of the Berdychiv ghetto.
Oehnen, born in 1906, had joined the SS in the early 1930s and participated in mobile killing operations responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 civilians in Ukraine. He was killed in combat in 1943.
The photograph shows at least 20 German soldiers observing the execution. A Wehrmacht officer’s diary and a photo negative discovered in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum archives provided key evidence confirming the shooter’s identity.
The identity of the Jewish victim remains unknown.
