Israel Made Britain ‘Wince,’ says Middle East Expert

 

A Middle East expert and former official from three Republican administrations said Israel succeeded in making Britain “wince.”

Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S. official in the Reagan, George W. Bush, and Trump administrations, said that Israel’s retaliatory measures were meant to make Britain “wince,” and he believed that Israel had succeeded.

After Britain imposed a ban on goods produced in Judea and Samaria to punish Israel for its planned construction in Section E1, Israel retaliated by giving the British government 30 days to close its consulate in Israel, ordering British officials at the U.S.-led International Gaza Support Center in Kiryat Gat to cease operations, and canceling the British Support Team that trains Palestinian Authority police in Ramallah.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Abrams said, “The British, like the French, think of themselves as a global power. Okay, not a superpower, but a country with a global role.”

He explained that Israel has now essentially told Britain, “You just lost your role here.” This will make it harder to exert influence in Ramallah or Gaza, which is important to the British.

He also said that despite 10 other European countries joining the sanctions, the majority of European countries did not join, showing that Israel’s actions did create deterrence. The strong Israeli reaction, he added, signaled to other countries that there is a cost to joining this movement.

Abrams said that Israel meted out the punishment particularly to Britain for taking the lead in getting other countries to join its initiative.

“It was the British who not only did it, but then went out and tried to convince others to join them,” he said. “And I think the Israelis particularly resent that.”

Abrams pointed to Norway as an example of a country that lost its influence when it lost its neutrality. Israel expelled the Dutch representatives, and Norway subsequently lost its influence as a mediator.

He took Norwegian diplomats to task over this. “What have you achieved?” he said he asked them. “Nothing for the Palestinians, and you diminished your own influence.”

Directing his words to London, Abrams said it risks the same thing: “What you did will not help one Palestinian, but it will diminish British influence.”

Houthis seize Yemen's Red Sea coast, Bab al-Mandab and three strategic islands, threatening a vital trade route

 

The Iran-backed Houthis on Friday took control of Yemen's entire Red Sea coastline and captured three strategic islands, dramatically expanding their control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a critical maritime passage connecting Europe and Asia, reported AFP.

The takeover followed a week-long offensive in which hundreds of people were killed and gives the Houthis control of the Yemeni side of the strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea and the route leading toward the Suez Canal. The development comes months after Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted shipping in the region.

A local official from Yemen's Saudi-backed government said Friday that the Houthis had "completed their takeover of the Bab al-Mandab area and Mayyun Island". A Yemeni military official subsequently said the group had also captured Greater and Lesser Hanish, the two remaining islands in the narrow waterway that had not been under Houthi control, along with the entire adjacent Red Sea coastline.

"Everything that was under our control on the western coast has fallen," the military official said, as quoted by AFP.

Mayyun Island, located in the center of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, is particularly significant because its capture strengthens the Houthis' ability to target Saudi tankers. The group has been attacking Saudi vessels since July.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has increasingly depended on the Red Sea for shipments after Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz restricted its traditional route through the Gulf.

Despite the takeover, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said maritime traffic through Bab al-Mandab would remain open, with an exception for Saudi vessels.

"Maritime navigation is safe for all companies except Saudi ships, which have already been banned," Saree said in a statement.

The latest territorial gains came one day after the Houthis captured the Red Sea port city of Mokha. Earlier in the week, the group also launched attacks against four cities in southern Saudi Arabia: Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran. The attacks wounded 73 civilians, including women and children.

The rapid Houthi advance has also prompted Saudi Arabia to seek greater US involvement. Axios reported that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called President Donald Trump twice on Thursday to request US strikes against the Iran-backed group.

Trump rejected the request, according to two US officials cited by Axios. MBS initially called Trump to update him on the deteriorating situation as Houthi forces advanced toward Mokha and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces retreated. Several hours later, he called again and urged the president to authorize American military action.

Trump refused Saudi Crown Prince’s request to strike Houthis

Washington again declined. Instead, a US official said the United States would provide Saudi Arabia with intelligence on Houthi positions and targeting information.

Around 200 US military personnel are already in Saudi Arabia providing non-kinetic support, according to the official, in line with an earlier CNN report.

The Saudi embassy in Washington and the White House declined to comment.

Zera Shimshon Rosh Hashana

 

Chasam Sofer Minhagim for Rosh Hashana

by EMAILIM BATORAH

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הנהגות ופסקי חתם סופר 

 for ראש השנה

1) The  חיוב of טהרה במקוה before YomTov (ר"ה ט"ז ע"ב) is 

 only for ערב שלש רגלים and not ערב ר"ה.

2) He made התרת נדרים on  ערב יו"כ and not on ערב ר"ה.

 3) He insisted the חזן say   נקדש, - נעריצך at the end  of the Piyut  דרי מעלה עם דרי  מטה  

 (Most מחזורים start with ככתוב​). To  be מקיים the מצוה דאורייתא  of  ונקדשתי the Chazzan needs to invite (נקדש) the ציבור to  be 

מקדש השם. 

4) For תשליך all he said was 3x the Pasuk מי אל כמוך

and  no  other תפילות

5) He was מקפיד   not to eat nuts only on Rosh Hashana

​ ​(not on the rest of  עשרת ימי תשובה)

SHAVE OFF YOUR BEARD ON ער"ה

 ​ The טור (O.Ch. 581) quotes the מדרש .

"The מנהג of the world is that when a person has a court case, he dresses in black, wraps himself in black, and grows his beard, etc.The בני ישראל are different. They dress in white; they wrap themselves in white and shave their beards. ומגלחין זקנם*

 גילוח = shaving not trimming

The words "באהבה וברצון" are added

to the שמונה עשרה and at קידוש when Yom Tov falls on Shabbos.

The מטה משה writes "Yomim Tovim were given on הר סיני.

and were originally accepted forcefully כפה עליהם הר כגיגית. 

Shabbos was given in מרה (before מתן תורה) and was

accepted באהבה וברצון with love & favor.

That is the reason why we add באהבה וברצון on Shabbos.

Charedi critics keep asking the New Charedie Party "where are your endorsements from the Gedolim?" Here is your answer!!

 

YOU’RE ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION

Since Hatzibbur HaCharedi entered the Israeli political arena, one question has come up again and again — where are your endorsements from senior Rabbonim? Where are the Gedolim?

It is a fair question, and it deserves a proper answer rather than a defensive one. To be clear, the party does have rabbinic endorsements, rabbinic leadership, and a Va’ad Rabbanim involved in every policy they adopt. Some have given their approval quietly, for reasons I will come to; others have been public.

But the assumption buried inside the question also deserves to be taken seriously. Charedi Judaism is built around deference to Torah authority, and we do not treat Da’as Torah as a decorative slogan to be wheeled out whenever it is convenient.

But there is also a second Torah concept, no less fundamental, which has a curious habit of going missing from these conversations at precisely the moment it becomes inconvenient. That concept is achrayut — responsibility.

Which is why, if we are going to be totally honest, the question is being asked in the wrong order. People have been trained to ask about the endorsement first, and everything else afterwards, if at all.

Mamzarani, the Temple Mount & the Hilltop Heroes

 

Charedie Violence is winning! Moshiach doesn't want to come, he has no one waiting for him!

 

 I drove through the tiny alleyways scanning my windshield for cracks as stones, garbage, and curses were hurled at my car. It was Shabbat afternoon and I was navigating through the maze-like streets of an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood surrounded by an enraged mob. Ironically I wasn’t afraid for my own safety. I was afraid for theirs.

The mob was made up of children. Teeny children.Their tiny bodies formed a human blockade in the street as they screamed, “Shabbos!” They threw rocks and assorted garbage while shaking their tiny fists in indignation.

Six minutes earlier, I had been resting at home when the call came in: Woman giving birth. Seven minutes away.

Leftist Media Completely Fabricated a Story about Netanyahu having a Conversation with a UAE Leader in an Effort to Topple BiBi

 

Former Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, speaking at the MEAD Conference in Washington, addressed a question about the alleged conversation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the President of the United Arab Emirates before October 7:

“Did such a conversation take place? No.

Had there been a conversation, I would have been part of it, because one of the tasks assigned to me was expanding the Abraham Accords and strengthening the partnership with the United Arab Emirates.

So in all the conversations between the prime minister and Mohammed bin Zayed, the UAE leader, I was either privy to the details or on the line during the conversation itself. This conversation did not take place.

And it’s not even a question of the content of the conversation; I don’t think there was a conversation at all. And that content certainly wasn’t discussed.

So I don’t know where they got this story from. I think the Emiratis have been clear that it didn’t happen. We’ve been clear that it didn’t happen. So it’s essentially a fabrication. Just a made-up story.”

How much $$$$$ Will Gafni receive from the Zionists who he fought all the years he served

 Knesset member Moshe Gafni, who was removed from the Degel HaTorah list for the Knesset, is expected to receive a budget pension of 70% of his salary as a Knesset member. According to the current salary, the pension is estimated at about NIS 36,500 per month, about NIS 438,000 a year.

n addition, Gafni is expected to receive a one-time adjustment grant of NIS 312,000 from the Knesset

Uproar within Charedim at Rav Dov Landau's throwing Away Gafni and Maklev "like dogs"

 

Rabbi Rafael Wolf, who was a close associate, confidant, and right‑hand man of Maran Rabbi Elazar Menachem Man Shach zt”l — and a partner in the historic moments surrounding the founding of Degel HaTorah — delivered sharp criticism over the ousting of veteran Knesset members Moshe Gafni and Uri Maklev.

In an interview with Natan Mashi and Avi Gadolovitz on the program “One in the Afternoon” on Kol Barama, Rabbi Wolf said he is “shocked” by the move, especially by the attempt to justify it as a need to “refresh” the ranks.

“Can you explain to me why they were dismissed?

What does ‘refreshing’ mean?

Where is there a new mitzvah in the Torah about refreshing?” he wondered.

“Do roshei yeshiva send people out in order to refresh the yeshiva?

Do rabbis send people out to refresh the rabbinate? This is a new mitzvah. Such a thing never existed in Judaism at all.”

Political Context Behind Rabbi Rafael Wolf’s Criticism

1. Degel HaTorah’s Internal Shake‑Up

Degel HaTorah — the Lithuanian faction within the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) alliance — recently removed two of its most senior and long‑serving MKs: Moshe Gafni and Uri Maklev. Both have been central figures for decades:Gafni chaired the Knesset Finance Committee for many years. Maklev was a key parliamentary operator and coalition negotiator. Their removal represents a major generational and strategic shift inside the party.

 2. Why This Is Causing Turmoil

In the Lithuanian Charedi world, political leadership is traditionally stable and guided by senior rabbinic authorities. Sudden changes — especially involving veteran figures — are rare and often interpreted as signs of deeper ideological or leadership struggles.

Rabbi Wolf’s comments reflect: Shock at the break from tradition, Suspicion toward the justification of “refreshing the ranks”, and concern that the move lacks precedent in Torah‑guided leadership norms

His rhetorical question — “Where is there a mitzvah of refreshing?” — expresses the belief that political decisions should be rooted in continuity and rabbinic guidance, not managerial language.

 3. The Broader Power Struggle

The shake‑up appears connected to: Internal rabbinic disagreements within the Lithuanian leadership Younger political figures seeking influence, Pressure to modernize party structures and finally Tensions between Degel HaTorah and Agudas Yisrael (its Hasidic partner in UTJ)

These dynamics have been building for years, especially as:The older generation of gedolim has passed on, New rabbinic authorities are asserting different priorities and Younger activists want more representation

 4. Why Gafni and Maklev’s Removal Is Symbolic

Their ousting signals:A shift away from the old guard, A possible redefinition of Degel HaTorah’s identity,A struggle over who speaks for the Lithuanian community, and A move that could reshape UTJ’s future coalition behavior

For many in the Charedi world, this is not just political — it’s a question of continuity of Torah leadership, which is why Rabbi Wolf frames it in religious terms.

 5. What Happens Next

Without predicting outcomes: Degel HaTorah may be entering a new era of leadership, UTJ’s internal balance could shift, The party’s negotiating style in future coalitions may change, Veteran voters may feel unsettled, while younger voters may welcome change

רב רפאל וולף, מי שהיה מקורבו, נאמנו ויד ימינו של מרן הגרא"מ שך זצ"ל ושותף לרגעים ההיסטוריים של הקמת דגל התורה, מותח ביקורת חריפה על הטלטלה במפלגה ועל הדחתם של חברי הכנסת הוותיקים משה גפני ואורי מקלב.

בריאיון לנתן משי ואבי גדלוביץ' בתוכנית "אחת בצהריים" ב"קול ברמה", אמר הרב וולף כי הוא "המום" מהמהלך, ובעיקר מהניסיון להסביר אותו בצורך ב"רענון" השורות.

"אתה יכול להסביר לי למה הדיחו אותם? מה זה רענון? איפה יש מצווה חדשה בתורה של רענון?", תהה. "ראשי ישיבות שולחים אותם כדי לרענן את הישיבה? רבנים שולחים אותם כדי לרענן את הרבנות? זו מצווה חדשה. לא היה בכלל ביהדות כזה דבר".