‘GROTESQUE ABSURDITY’: Macron makes shockingly ignorant Hamas claim at UN.... Ignores Netanel Shakron, a French citizen and father of six who was killed Sunday in a Hamas terrorist attack in Judea and Samaria.

 

Partial list of roughly 150 Hamas attacks carried out in Judea and Samaria, or inside Israel, by Hamas terrorists

Israeli leaders sharply rebuked French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday after he claimed from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly that Hamas had “never operated” in Judea and Samaria, despite the terrorist organization’s longstanding activity in the territory.

Macron made the assertion while delivering a speech heavily focused on Israel and the Palestinians, calling for full recognition of Palestinian rights and arguing that the establishment of a Palestinian state was also necessary for Israel’s security.

“What we need is respect for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, for their legitimate right to exist,” Macron said. “This is a necessary condition for the security of the people of Israel and for the very existence of their state, to which we are deeply committed.”

Turning to Judea and Samaria, Macron accused Israel of daily violations and argued that Israeli policies were making Palestinian statehood increasingly impossible.

“Look at what is happening in the West Bank, where every day violations are committed. In whose name?” Macron said. “Hamas has never operated in the West Bank!”

The claim prompted a furious response from Jerusalem, with Israeli officials pointing to Hamas’s established presence in Judea and Samaria and, in particular, a deadly terrorist attack carried out just two days earlier.

“The grotesque absurdity of Emmanuel Macron’s statement is staggering,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “I have never seen killing and destruction like Gaza in all my years as Secretary-General.”

 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “I have never seen killing and destruction like Gaza in all my years as Secretary-General.”

According to even the most critical reports, Guterres, 70,000 people were killed in the war in Gaza, a large proportion of them Hamas terrorists.

During your years as Secretary-General: more than 600,000 people were massacred or starved to death in Ethiopia. 

377,000 died in Yemen — that figure appears in reports issued by your own organization. 

150,000 were killed in Sudan and 12 million were displaced. 

Hundreds of thousands have been buried in Ukraine.

You didn’t see it? They died before your eyes. You simply looked the other way, because the Jews couldn’t be blamed.

The holy city of Tel Aviv

 

by Tzvi Fishman

This morning in Israel, the media is filled with Yom Kippur images of Tel Aviv’s busiest highways. Guess what? 

In video after video, the busy streets of Israel’s secular, high-tech metropolis are deserted of cars. Zero. Totally void of traffic. Not even one lone auto can be seen. Bicycle riders, yes. Car, buses, trucks, trains, and taxis, no. In the city that never sleeps! In Brooklyn or Monsey you might find a single street spanning two blocks where traffic is cut off in an Orthodox neighborhood on Yom kippur - but an entire major city? Voluntarily? No way.

How can it be?

Rabbi Kook provides the answer in his book “Orot." A Jew may appear non-religious on the outside, but in the depths of his soul the flame of Torah and the yearning for a full Israeli life blessed with the closeness to Hashem constantly burns:

“Within the inner heart, in its pure and holy chambers, the Israeli flame ever increases, demanding the strong, brave, constant connection of life to all of the commandments of Hashem. The inner soul seeks to pour the spirit of God, the full, all-encompassing spirit of Israel that fills all of the vaults of the soul, into all of its many unique vessels, to express the full Israeli expression in its complete practical and idealized form... in the heart of all of the Nation, it continues to burn from the days of yore, ‘A fire will constantly be burnt upon the altar - it shall not be extinguished.’

“And in the hearts of all of those seemingly empty of Torah, and in the hearts of all of the sinners of Israel, the fire burns and blazes in the most inward depths. And in the Nation in its entirety, all of the desire for freedom, and all of the yearning for life, all of the yearning for the life of the Clal and the individual, all of the hope for Redemption, only from the source of this inner spring of life do they flow in order to live Israeli life in its fullest, without contradiction or limitation.

“This is the yearning for the Land of Israel, the Land of Kedusha, the Land of Hashem, where all of the mitzvot are realized and expressed in their finished form.

“And this yearning to reveal the special quality of the spirit of God, of raising one's head in the spirit of God in its absolute greatness, this is what activates everyone's hearts, and all wish to unite with it, to taste the pleasantness of its life: ‘Therefore I loved your commandments more than gold and refined gold.’

“If it be a wonder in the eyes of all those who stand at a distance and ask, `How is it possible that there will beat the spirit of Torah life with its inner force in all of the souls who are apparently even far from possessing faith - not only to a general closeness to Hashem, but to the true Torah life of Israel, to the framework of the mitzvot in their outward expression, and in their idea, in song and in action?' - it will not be wondrous in the eyes of all those who are attached in the depths of their spirit to the depths of Knesset Yisrael and who know of its wondrous Segulot.

“This is the secret of the valor, the uplifting of life which will never cease. ‘You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, that a man shall do and live by them; I am the Lord.’ - As King David said, ‘To walk before the Lord in the Land of Life, in Eretz Yisrael.’"

So if you think that Israel is a secular country you are very mistaken.

Bibi Derangement Syndrome is, in fact, deranged

 

We are currently immersed in a season of heightened awareness. In the run up to Yom Kippur we focused on those aspects of ourselves that were in need of correction and represented our deviation from the path of goodness and righteousness.

Now as we prepare for Sukkot, our heightened awareness is increasingly focused on hakarat ha tov, an appreciation of the mIIany blessings in our individual lives.

I suggest that the two sides of awareness need to be invoked to look objectively at Israel’s homegrown phenomenon of BDS: not Boycott, Divest and Sanction, but Bibi Derangement Syndrome.

This form of BDS allows many Israelis to paint a monochromatic picture of dark grey, if not black, in looking at the leadership of our Prime Minister. In that picture, he is the cause of innumerable problems and mistakes. But for him, Israel’s prospects at home and certainly abroad would be rescued.

An important aspect of this syndrome is to focus on the longevity of the PM’s tenure, but not the content of that tenure. While there is certainly a case to be made for term limits, and the required limitation of a prime minister’s tenure, there is no such requirement in Israel.

An all-time high: 2 million people visited the Kotel during the month of Elul Ignoring Satmar Rebbe's Fatwa

 

Rav Yoel Teitelbaum z"l had issued a "Fatwah" against going to the Kotel, because the Zionists captured it, yet over 2 million Jews, in an all-time high, visited and davened at the Kotel.

A very close friend of mine who lives near me, went to Uman this year and he asked me if it was a Satmar "thing" to go to Uman for Rosh Hashana? 

So I naively answered that I'm only aware , that as a Chassidus, only Breslov goes, he and his married son who also went, laughted at me and said, "that besides Breslov, the largest group is definitely Satmar! "

Makes you think! 

The Temple Mount Debate: A False Narrative

 What if the debate surrounding Har Habayit is based on assumptions, misinformation, and a narrative that doesn’t match the facts on the ground?

In this video, we take a closer look at the Temple Mount, examine the claims and assumptions that shape the conversation, and compare them with what is actually happening on the ground. This isn’t about taking someone’s word for it. Look at the facts. Look at the reality. See for yourself.

And if our understanding of Har Habayit is being shaped by misinformation or a distorted narrative, what does that mean for us—and for the Geulah?,

We take a closer look at the Temple Mount, examine the claims and assumptions that shape the conversation, and compare them with what is actually happening on the ground. This isn’t about taking someone’s word for it. Look at the facts. Look at the reality. See for yourself. And if our understanding of Har Habayit is being shaped by misinformation or a distorted narrative, what does that mean for us—and for the Geulah?

Hundreds of chickens believed to have been used for Kaporos, were found abandoned in Williamsburg

 

Hundreds of chickens believed to have been used for Kaporos, were found abandoned in two U-Haul trucks in Williamsburg, with many dead and others still alive. 

About 200 chickens were discovered Friday in crates inside a U-Haul on Winthrop Avenue, with activists saying only about 80 were alive. 

More chickens were later found in another abandoned U-Haul on St. John’s Place. Animal-rights activists condemned the conditions, while police are investigating the discovery.

OTD Father Blesses his Charedie Son Erev Yom Kippur

 

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Latest Charedie Candidate for Shas is a Thief!

 

Millions of shekels in public funding awarded to a nonprofit founded by Shas Knesset candidate Dror Amos to assist bereaved families were instead used primarily to fund stipends for married yeshiva students, according to a Channel 12 investigation on Saturday.

The report added that relatives and associates of Shas officials benefited from jobs and contracts linked to the organization, called “Kindness, Life and Truth.”

Amos, a reserve IDF major who heads the Haifa Religious Council, was recently given the No. 6 spot on the ultra-Orthodox party’s Knesset slate ahead of the upcoming election.

The nonprofit received NIS 4.8 million ($1.45 million) in 2024, ostensibly to assist bereaved families in the wake of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, the report said. Yet numerous bereaved families and affected communities told Channel 12 they had never heard of the organization. The outlet reported that instead, more than NIS 2.5 million ($760,000) was spent on stipends for yeshiva students.

The investigation also found indications that the nonprofit was receiving funding for the same services from the Religious Services Ministry and from multiple public bodies — mainly Shas-linked local authorities and religious councils. It also alleged that the nonprofit and private family companies shared an address and at least one employee.

Amos reportedly left the nonprofit over conflict-of-interest concerns after becoming head of the Haifa Religious Council in May 2025, and was replaced by his brother.

Shas denounced the report as a “false investigation” intended to harm the party, while the Religious Services Ministry said Amos’s conflict-of-interest concern “was duly approved in accordance with the law” and that “nothing was concealed.”

Religious rights group ITIM said it would ask Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to open a criminal investigation into the allegations.

ITIM earlier this week petitioned the Central Elections Committee to disqualify Amos from the election, arguing that he illegally remained in his public post as head of the Haifa Religious Council after joining Shas’s slate rather than resigning by the required deadline. Under Israeli law, public officials who run for office are required to resign their public posts at least 100 days before election day.

Amos was a notable addition to the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party, allowing Shas to prominently feature an IDF reservist on its slate despite staunchly opposing efforts by the outgoing government to draft Haredi men. The party has since tried to moderate its image on the issue.

Shas has long been dogged by corruption allegations, most prominently involving party chairman Aryeh Deri, who served 22 months in prison after being convicted in 1999 of taking bribes as interior minister in the 1990s. He was convicted again of tax offenses in 2022 but returned to the Knesset later that year, and remains Shas’s leader.

The party has also faced longstanding accusations of cronyism, with critics alleging that it uses the Religious Services Ministry and local religious councils as a patronage network, directing appointments, contracts and public funding to party members, associates and supporters.

Recently, Shas MK Haim Biton was questioned by police for a second time on suspicion that, while heading the party’s school network, he diverted public education funds to finance the children’s supplement of Shas’s HaDerech newspaper. He has reportedly been investigated on suspicion of fraud, breach of trust, falsifying corporate documents and money laundering.

Only in Israel does an Entire Country Shut Down for Yom Kippur

 

Earlier today, normally packed streets and highways across Israel were almost completely empty.

No planes, trains or automobiles were seen. For Yom Kippur, much of the country simply stopped.

For roughly 25 hours, the usual traffic and noise disappeared as people walked through the streets and children rode bicycles on roads normally filled with vehicles.