“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

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

Kushner’s direct Hamas talks trigger alarm in Palestinian Authority

 

Palestinian Authority officials are increasingly alarmed after US envoy Jared Kushner met directly with senior Hamas leaders in Cairo, warning that Washington is sidelining Mahmoud Abbas while giving the terrorist group new political relevance.

The irony is that the talks focused on Hamas’s disarmament and removal from power — both long-standing PA demands. But Ramallah’s concern is who has a seat at the table: Kushner is talking to Hamas in Cairo and Israel in Jerusalem, while bypassing Abbas in Ramallah.

“It harms the PA’s representational status and gives Hamas new cards to play,” one Palestinian official warned, raising fears that direct US-Hamas diplomacy could further erode the PA’s already weakened standing.

INSANE: Spain Blocks Israeli Rescue Flight En Route to Quake-Shattered Colombia

 

Spain denied overflight permission to an Israeli rescue team en route to Colombia Saturday. The aircraft was forced to reroute through Moroccan airspace, taking a longer route to reach its destination.

Open-source intelligence and other reports have indicated that the Israeli military aircraft avoided Spanish airspace after Spain allegedly denied it passage.

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The Home Front Command and humanitarian delegation included 80 experts drawn from the reserves and active duty and arrived in Colombia Saturday to aid in rescue efforts following a devastating magnitude 7.4 earthquake last week. Despite Spain’s refusal of overflight permission, the team arrived in Colombia and immediately began assisting in rescue operations.

Spain had passed a comprehensive ban on Israeli military materials, and the aircraft that bore the delegation belonged to the Israeli military. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has also strictly forbidden any access to foreign aircraft that bear any connection to the conflict in Israel.

Spain has fiercely criticized Israel during the war in Gaza, and it has backed up its rhetoric with action, joining South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, implementing an arms embargo against Israel, recalling its ambassador from Tel Aviv, recognizing Palestinian statehood, and imposing strict restrictions on Israeli military and fuel shipments through its airspace.

Forty-four percent of American Jews view Mamdani favorably

 


Forty-four percent of American Jews view Zohran Mamdani favorably, according to an AP-NORC poll released in July 2026 - 1,022 Jewish adults nationwide, margin of error ±5 points. The mayor of New York City - a democratic socialist born in East Africa who ran on Palestinian Arab solidarity, endorsed by progressive Jewish organizations - helped gain office due to Jewish money.

We can reveal that money included funds from Spielberg's Righteous Persons Foundation, built with Schindler's List profits.

Between 2020 and 2024, the Righteous Persons Foundation directed $3,065,000 to progressive organizations that endorsed Mamdani's mayoral campaign, advocated for U.S. arms embargoes on Israel, opposed the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and organized protests against the Israeli military. During the same period, the foundation allocated $125,000 to Holocaust-related projects. For every dollar spent on Holocaust remembrance since 2020, it spent roughly $19 funding organizations that work against the Jewish state.

Fifty-nine percent of American Jews hold an unfavorable view of Netanyahu. Thirty percent believe the false accusation that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. Thirty-eight percent say the U.S. is too supportive of Israel. Just 42% support continued military operations in Gaza - even as 73% say Israel's initial response to October 7 was justified. These numbers were built - deliberately, over decades - by a progressive Jewish infrastructure funded by Diaspora liberal Jews, including Steven Spielberg and George Soros.

Steven Spielberg called the profits from Schindler's List - a film about the murder of six million Jews - "blood money." He put it into the Righteous Persons Foundation, established in 1994 with approximately $100 million from the film's earnings. The stated mission: support Holocaust education and Jewish life in America.

Thirty years later, the foundation's tax returns reveal that money funds the progressive Jewish infrastructure that endorsed Mamdani, mobilizes for Palestinian Arab rights, advocates to defund the police, and publicly defended Mahmoud Khalil - the Columbia University activist facing deportation.

The 990 filings show Bend the Arc received $1.2 million across five years. T'ruah received $690,000. Jews United for Justice received $925,000. The Jewish Social Justice Roundtable received $250,000. The foundation's last donation to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum came in 2019. Its last grant to the USC Shoah Foundation - Spielberg's own creation - was $500,000 in 2015.

The Recipients of Spielberg's Money

Bend the Arc received $1.2 million. The largest progressive Jewish advocacy organization in the country. Its political arm - Bend the Arc Jewish Action - was co-founded by Alex Soros, who serves as founding chair. The Foundation to Promote Open Society has directed over $13 million to Bend the Arc's 501(c)(3) charitable arm. The (c)(3) and (c)(4) share the same CEO, address, and cost-sharing agreements for staff.

Bend the Arc endorsed Mamdani on September 26, 2025 - its first-ever mayoral endorsement. It ran paid media, canvassing, and Jewish voter outreach for the campaign. It demanded a U.S. arms embargo on Israel and defended campus protest movements. On Khalil, Bend the Arc launched a petition with nearly 5,000 signatures demanding his release, published an op-ed in Haaretz titled "Smokescreen Antisemitism," and co-led a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

T'ruah received $690,000 since 2021. A rabbinic organization (almost all of whose members are Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist with a few Open Orthodox) commanding over 2,300 rabbis and cantors - described by JNS as "the rabbis training clergy to oppose Zionism." T'ruah organized protests against Israel's military operations in Gaza, falsely accused Israel of deliberately starving civilians, and mobilized its clerical network against Israeli government policy.

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) received approximately $925,000. Opposed the IHRA antisemitism definition. Advocates to abolish the NYPD and ran the #DefundNYPD campaign.

Jewish Social Justice Roundtable received $250,000. A collective whose members include both Bend the Arc and T'ruah - meaning Spielberg's money flows to the same organizations through multiple channels.

A detailed investigation cross-referencing these IRS filings documents the year-by-year grant flow from the Righteous Persons Foundation to each of these organizations - and the political activities funded with Spielberg's money.

Decision Makers:

The board has included Margery Tabankin since 1995 - Executive Director and Senior Advisor for nearly three decades.

Tabankin's background: a former Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) member and anti-Vietnam War activist who studied community organizing under Saul Alinsky. Among the early American Jews advocating for Palestinian Arab statehood, she traveled to Ramallah in 1989 and met Yasser Arafat. Spielberg hired her in February 1995. A celebration party in New York was attended by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

The remainder of the board is Steven Spielberg as Chairman; wife Kate Capshaw Spielberg as Director; and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Spielberg's longtime film producer - she started as his assistant in 1998 and rose to produce Bridge of Spies, The Post, West Side Story, and The Fabelmans.

Day One with Zohran

On January 1, 2026 - inauguration day - Steven Spielberg officially became a New York resident. Days later, he hosted a private meeting with the new mayor at his apartment overlooking Central Park. They were joined by Kate Capshaw, their son Theo and his wife, and Morris Katz, Mamdani's senior Jewish adviser. The meeting did not appear on the mayor's public schedule. It was confirmed only after New York Times inquiries. Both sides described it as a "friendly introduction." There was "no particular agenda."

Munich: Spielberg and Palestinian Arab Terrorists

In "Munich" (2005), Mossad agent Avner - played by Eric Bana - hunts the Black September operatives who murdered eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics. The film is structured as a revenge thriller. Its argument runs the other direction.

In a safehouse scene, Avner encounters Ali, a PLO operative who does not know Avner is Israeli. What follows is the most sympathetic case for Palestinian Arab nationalism in a major American studio film. NPR called it "Spielberg's most provocative film."

"You don't know what it is not to have a home," Ali tells Avner. "Home is everything." He continues: "We have a lot of children. They'll have children. So we can wait forever... The world will see how they've made us into animals."

Spielberg lets Ali make this argument without interruption or narrative correction. Avner manages only: "You'll never get the land back." Ali is given the philosophy. Avner is given the gun. Avner's arc is a man destroyed by violence committed on behalf of a state whose moral authority he can no longer locate. By the film's end, Avner is paranoid, isolated, undone.

Ali accuses Jews of exploiting German guilt over the Holocaust to secure Western support for Israel. Spielberg - the filmmaker who built his reputation on Schindler's List - put this argument into the mouth of a character the audience is positioned to sympathize with. One side received the philosophy. The other received the doubt.

Progressive Jews: Enemies of the Jewish State

The "blood money" from Schindler's List - his term, not ours - now funds opposition to the Jewish state and the political movement that elevated Zohran Mamdani. The foundation, the film, the grants, and the meeting all tell the same story: Steven Spielberg took the profits from a movie about the murder of six million Jews and built a machine that works against the Jewish people and the Jewish state.

Forty-four percent of American Jews now view Mamdani favorably. That did not happen organically. It was engineered - by Bend the Arc, T'ruah, JFREJ, and the Jewish Social Justice Roundtable. Funded by the Righteous Persons Foundation and people like Steven Spielberg and George Soros.

These are not critics. These are not dissenters. These are Jews who fund, organize, and mobilize against the survival of the Jewish state - while claiming to speak for Jewish values. They endorsed a mayor who ran on Palestinian Arab solidarity. They defended an activist facing deportation for campus protests against Israel. They demand arms embargoes. They reject the internationally recognized definition of antisemitism. They call the IDF's operations war crimes.

The progressive Diaspora Jew has become an enemy to Zionism and Israeli Jews.

Steven Spielberg took the proceeds from a film about the murder of six million Jews and directed them to organizations that defend the enemies of the Jewish state. What can one say?

How Agudah Yisrael sought to sabotage Jewish rights to Eretz Yisrael, and How Harav Kook Triumphed and got the British Parliament to vote in favor of the Balfour Declaration.

 

In 1914, Rabbi Kook, then Rabbi of Jaffa, was invited to attend the Agudat Yisrael Congress which was to take place in Berlin. The Rabbi of Jaffa could not decide whether to travel there or not. On the one hand, he did not want to leave the Holy Land, even for a short official visit abroad. In addition to his marriage-like love for the Cherished Land, he was busy day and night with his many educational endeavors, Rabbinical duties, as well as his Halakhic and philosophical writings.

 On the other hand, the conference could influence the Zionist cause in a positive way, or, Heaven forbid, adversely, and conceivably damage the further settlement of Eretz Yisrael.

Many important Rabbis looked favorably upon the Zionist enterprise, while other influential Torah leaders viewed the efforts of the secular pioneers with skepticism and outright disdain. 

Rabbi Kook felt that his presence at the large assembly could encourage the Rabbis to support the resettlement of Israel, or at least persuade them not to discourage Diaspora Jewish communities from making Aliyah. In addition, he believed that by attending the convention, he could find people who could help him raise the funds needed to hire religious school teachers for the struggling moshavim in Eretz Yisrael which were supplying the fruits, vegetables, eggs, and poultry for the growing Jewish population.

In a letter to his son, Tzvi Yehuda, who was in Europe, studying at a yeshiva, Rabbi Kook wrote:

7-Year-Old Hillel Mordechai Dadon Z”L Murdered By Neighbor During Family Birthday Party; 4-Year-Old Cousin Wounded

 

 A horrifying stabbing attack in Beit Shemesh on Monday afternoon left 7-year-old Hillel Mordechai Dadon z”l dead and his 4-year-old cousin wounded, with police arresting a 25-year-old neighbor suspected of carrying out the attack.

The attack occurred at a home on Emek HaZeitim Street during a family birthday celebration. According to the initial investigation, the children were outside near an inflatable pool when the suspect, a neighbor of the family, entered the property and allegedly stabbed them.

A 15-year-old relative who had been watching the children was reportedly present and witnessed the attack. The father of one of the children later arrived and found the two boys wounded near the pool. The mother had reportedly gone out to purchase items for the birthday celebration.

Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah personnel rushed to the scene and treated both victims before transporting them to Hadassah Ein Kerem.

Hillel Mordechai was evacuated while undergoing resuscitation efforts and arrived at the hospital without signs of life. Doctors subsequently pronounced him dead.

His 4-year-old cousin arrived conscious and was taken into surgery. Hadassah said his condition was moderate.

Police apprehended the suspected attacker, a 25-year-old neighborhood resident, shortly after the stabbing. Investigators believe he fled after attacking the children.

Police are examining several possible motives, including whether a previous dispute existed between the suspect’s family and the victims’ family. Reports also indicated that the suspect has a history of mental health issues. His father was questioned at the scene as part of the investigation.

Jerusalem District Police Commander Avshalom Peled arrived at the scene and held a situation assessment with senior commanders. Forensic investigators collected evidence from the property, and the investigation has been assigned to the Jerusalem District Central Unit.

ZAKA identified the murdered child as Hillel Mordechai Dadon z”l and said its legal department was assisting the family with efforts to expedite his release for kevurah.

The murder came during an exceptionally tragic afternoon in Beit Shemesh. In an unrelated incident elsewhere in the city, Asher Anshel Fish z”l was killed after being struck by a vehicle in Ramat Beit Shemesh Daled.

Beit Shemesh Mayor Shmuel Greenberg said: “Beit Shemesh has experienced two difficult and painful incidents in the past hour, in each of which the life of a child was cut short. In the terrible incident on Emek HaZeitim Street, a child was killed, and in the traffic accident in Ramat Beit Shemesh Daled, another child was killed.”

“These are extremely difficult moments for the entire city,” Greenberg added. “Our hearts are with the families who lost what was most precious to them, and we daven for the welfare and recovery of the injured.”

Monday, August 17, 2026

Pope Leo Wants a Two-State Solution Instantly gets Shut Down by David Friedman

 

So Busy Stealing before even realizing whether it will fit in!

 

Charedie Reveals That they are really all a bunch of frauds and phonies

 


For a week, a Chasidic couple from one of the most extreme Chasidic groups in the Charedi world stayed at our guesthouse. I won’t write which one, to preserve their privacy — at their request.

When the husband discovered that I was the owner of the place, he asked to meet. I even offered to record the conversation with him, but he refused, afraid to be exposed even with blurred face and voice.

In the end, we sat in our living room over coffee and cake. The things he said were so sharp that I felt I had to share them — with his permission, of course.

It began when his wife told my wife that they hide from their parents the fact that he works, and that they use birth control — because in the Charedi world this is considered terrible.

And then the Chasid said to me:

“What is a Charedi? A Charedi isn’t trying to keep the Torah written in the Tanach, or even the Shulchan Aruch. A Charedi wants to keep whatever his ancestors did in the last few generations. That’s it. They may even do things that the Shulchan Aruch explicitly forbids — like among Chasidim, shaving a woman’s hair, which is prohibited because of lo yilbash; or the laws of washing hands for foods dipped in liquids, which no Charedi actually keeps. And the same goes for mitzvot like helping Israel against its enemies or settling the Land.”

The Hasid continued with a sentence I couldn’t believe I was hearing:

“A typical Religious Zionist is more religious than a typical Haredi!

The clothing and terminology are purely social codes, with no connection to spiritual level. The Chasidim of today would oppose the Baal Shem Tov — because he was a revolutionary and an innovator, and today we persecute people like that.”

When I asked him whether Neturei Karta and the Eida HaCharedit really don’t take money from the state, he answered:

“My father told me that for years he didn’t take anything — because it was ‘impure Zionist money.’ Until he discovered that he was the only naïve one, and everyone around him was taking child allowances and anything else possible. When he asked how they can oppose the state but enjoy its money, he received a formal halachic answer:

They take money from the state under the rule of ‘to save from them’ — a rule mentioned in the Gemara about doing business with idol-worshipping gentiles near their holidays, which is normally forbidden but permitted in order to ‘save from them’ the money of Jews…”

He finished with something very surprising:

“Between us, all the young people in our community want to go to the army. Mainly because it’s very cool and exciting. But they treat it like a forbidden dream, or like a craving for a very tasty food that isn’t kosher — something that simply will never happen.”

That’s most of what he said. There’s another part — in a field that really shocked me — but I won’t share it at this stage…



שבוע התארחו אצלנו בצימר זוג חסידים מאחת החסידויות הקיצוניות ביותר בעולם החרדי. לא אכתוב איזו, כדי לשמור על הדיסקרטיות שלהם. לבקשתם.
כשגילה שאני הבעל בית של הצימר ביקש להיפגש. הצעתי כבר לצלם איתו שיחה, הוא סירב מפחד להיחשף אפילו עם טשטוש פנים וקול. בסוף ישבנו אצלנו בסלון על קפה ועוגה. המשפטים שהוא אמר לי היו כל כך חדים, שרציתי פשוט לשתף. ברשותו כמובן.
זה התחיל בזה שאשתו סיפרה לאשתי שהם מסתירים מההורים שלהם את העובדה שהוא עובד ושהם משתמשים באמצעי מניעה, כי בעולם החרדי זה נחשב לכישלון גמור.

וכך אמר לי החסיד:
״מה זה חרדי? חרדי לא מחפש לשמור את התורה הכתובה בתנך ואפילו לא את השולחן ערוך. חרדי רוצה לשמור את מה שאבותיו בדורות האחרונים עשו. זהו. יתכן אפילו לעשות דברים שהשולחן ערוך אוסר במפורש, כמו אצל החסידים גילוח שיער האשה שנאסר משום לא ילבש, או הלכות נטילת ידיים על דבר שטיבולו במשקה שאף חרדי לא מקפיד עליהן. וכך גם בנוגע למצוות כמו עזרת ישראל מיד צר וישוב הארץ.״

החסיד המשיך במשפט שלא האמנתי שאני שומע:
״דתי לאומי ממוצע יותר דתי מחרדי ממוצע!
הלבוש והטרמינולוגיה הם נטו קודים חברתיים ללא שום קשר למדרגה הרוחנית. החסידים של היום היו מתנגדים לבעל שם טוב כי הוא היה מהפכן וחדשן, ואנחנו היום רודפים אנשים כאלו.״
כששאלתי אותו האם נטורי קרתא והעדה החרדית באמת לא לוקחים תקציבים מהמדינה? ענה:
״ אבא סיפר לי ששנים הוא לא לקח ! כי זה כסף ציוני טמא. עד שגילה שהוא התמים היחיד ומסביבו כולם לוקחים קצבאות ילדים וכל מה שאפשר . לתמיהתו איך מתנגדים למדינה אך נהנים מכספה?
הוא קיבל תשובה הלכתית פורמלית: לוקחים כסף מהמדינה מדין ׳להציל מידם׳ דין שנאמר בגמרא על עשיית מסחר עם גויים סמוך לימי חגם האלילי, מה שאסור בד״כ אבל הותר כדי ״להציל מידם״ את הכסף של היהודים..״

סיים בעוד דבר מפתיע מאוד: ״ביננו, כל הצעירים אצלנו רוצים ללכת לצבא. בעיקר כי זה מגניב מאוד ואקשן ואבל מתייחסים לזה כמו אל חלום אסור או תאווה למאכל טעים מאוד אבל לא כשר – משהו שפשוט לא יקרה״
עד כאן רוב דבריו. יש עוד חלק שאני די מזועזע ממנו (נחשו באיזו תחום) ולא אשתף בשלב זה…
****
אשמח לאישור הדברים או הסתייגויות מהם מעוקביי החרדים היקרים. כמובן בשפה מכבדת

Only in Israel will a lifeguard on a beach remind the bathers that it is Elul and Time for Teshuvah

 

Shabbat in Madagascar