Scientific American retracts anti-Israel opinion piece after criticism

 

They’re in hot H2O.

Scientific American found itself taking heat this month after the scholarly, 176-year-old magazine published an opinion piece titled “Health Care Workers Call for Support of Palestinians.” 

The screechy diatribe accused Israel of “vaccine apartheid” and “war crimes” among other alleged abuses. The piece blasted “Israeli settler colonial rule” and called on US healthcare and academic institutions to condemn “long-standing oppression” against the Palestinians and adopt the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign against the country. 

The piece was written by Harvard University research fellows Osaid H. K. Alser and Asmaa Rimawi; Seattle Children’s Hospital Dr. Sabreen Akhter; Mayo Clinic Dr. Nusheen Ameenuddin, Harvard med students Anand Chukka and Qaali Hussein; Arizona trauma surgeon Ariän El-Taher; and Bryan Leyva, an “AfroLatinx Scholar-Activist from the “Dakota Territory.”

The opinionated screed was swiftly retracted after the magazine received a letter from three Nobel Prize winners and 100 other scientists calling out the article.

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Benny & Makie Weiss From Lakewood and Her Father Harry Rosenberg and Two Cohen Brothers, Doctors Missing

Benny & Malky Weiss

Harry Rosenberg 

Dr Gary Cohen 

Dr Brad Cohen 

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Florida yet to answer Israeli offer to send rescue team to collapsed building

(L-R) Israeli Consul General in Miami Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, Tallahassee Chabad Rabbi Schneur Oirechman and Florida Senator Rick Scott at the scene of a condo building collapse in Surfside, Florida on June 25, 2021. (Consulate of Israel in Miami)

Florida officials have yet to respond to an Israeli offer to send in a search and rescue team to aid efforts to locate survivors following the collapse of an oceanfront apartment building near Miami Beach.

But it appeared unlikely that the US would take up Israel’s offer to send the Israeli military’s search and rescue team, which has assisted in major disasters around the world in recent years, including in Mexico and Brazil.

“We do not have a resource problem, we have a luck problem,” said Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett on attempts to find survivors under the rubble.

Four people were confirmed dead and 159 unaccounted for Friday following the collapse, as rescue teams scoured a mountain of rubble in a desperate search for survivors.

As shock set in among the local community in Surfside, the state’s governor called for full light to be shed without delay on the causes of the freak disaster — which reduced one wing of a 12-story tower to a gigantic pile of debris.

Miami-Dade County’s first Jewish mayor Daniella Levine Cava said authorities were still without news of 159 people who may have been asleep in Champlain Tower South at the time of the collapse, fueling fears of a much higher death toll.

“We will continue search and rescue because we still have hope that we will find people alive,” she told a news conference — describing the dedication of dozens of rescuers on site.

“They are totally, totally motivated to find people. They have to be pulled off the shift.”

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Palestinians in Ramallah to Abbas, "take your 'dogs' and leave"

 

The alleged murder on Thursday of an outspoken critic of the Palestinian Authority, who was a candidate in parliamentary elections called off earlier this year, has sparked popular unrest in Judea and Samaria against PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his governing body.

Nizar Banat died after Palestinian security forces arrested him and beat him with batons on Thursday, his family said.

Following an autopsy, a Palestinian rights group said his wounds indicated "an unnatural death."

Banat had called on Western nations to cut off aid to the PA because of its authoritarianism and human rights violations. Earlier this week, another prominent activist was detained by the PA and held overnight after criticizing it on Facebook.

Hundreds took to the streets in Ramallah, where the PA parliament is located, in protest after word spread of Banat's death.

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Building inspector was on roof of Florida condo hours before collapse

 

The Surfside town building official was on the roof of the beachfront condo 14 hours before half of the building collapsed.

Jim McGuinness said during an emergency meeting that he was on the roof to inspect work of replacing roof anchors, used by window cleaners to attach their equipment, the Palm Beach Post reported.

Hours after his inspection of the roof at Champlain Towers South, at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, one leg of the L-shaped 12-story tower pancaked, killing at least four people and leaving at least 159 unaccounted for. Rescuers have had little luck combing through the pile for survivors, and no one has been found alive since Thursday morning.

“There was no inordinate amount of equipment or materials or anything on that roof that caught my building official’s eye that would make it alarming as to this place collapsing,” McGunniess said during the meeting Friday afternoon.

“I have two words for the cause of this: under investigation.”

The town commission also said during the meeting that it is looking into what may be done to ensure other high-rise buildings are safe. That likely means inspecting buildings, including the sister tower of the one that collapsed, which was also built in 1981.

“It would be imprudent not to take some types of steps to address that issue with the sister building,” Mayor Charles Burkett said during the meeting.

Some residents of the other building, Champlain Towers North, have asked officials if their building is safe, and the town is considering moving them out, even if it’s not convenient.

“But given we have no idea what caused this collapse — and listen, the chances of that happening again are like lightning striking — but I don’t know that there’s anybody in this room that would be willing to roll the dice with all those lives and say, let’s not worry about it for a while,” he said.

One commissioner at the meeting said the town needs to increase the requirements for its recertification process, which now includes a series of inspections every building must complete every 40 years. The collapsed tower was in the midst of that process.

McGuinness agreed. “Hurricane Andrew changed the Florida building codes forever,” he said, ABC News reported. “So this terrible tragedy, which is a national tragedy, is going to change the building codes as they relate to certification.”

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Chabad Couple Missing in Florida Building Collapse

 

Tzvi Doniel Ben Yehudis (far left) and Itta Bas Miriam (far right)

R' Tzvi and his wife Itty Ainswirth

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Zera Shimshon Parshas Balak

 

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Bennett-Lapid Gov’t Approve Construction In Yehuda, Shomron

Israel’s Civil Administration’s High Planning Subcommittee on Wednesday approved new construction in Yehuda and Shomron, a first for the Bennett-Lapid government.

A total of 31 building projects were approved, including a mall in Mishor Adumim, a school in Elkanah, shuls and schools in Karnei Shomron and Kfar Adumim, and housing units in Yitzhar.

Following the decision, the Yesha Council told the Defense Ministry that more approvals are needed in the near future.

“We’ve been waiting for half a year for the approval of homes and it still hasn’t happened,” the committee stated. “The building committee must immediately convene to approve the building of housing units throughout the region. We’ve waited long enough.”

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Collapsed Florida condo was sinking for decades, researcher says

 

Before and After 

The Florida apartment building that partially collapsed on Thursday had been reportedly sinking for decades — and was undergoing a structural inspection, according to officials and a research study.

The 12-story beachfront condo in Miami-Dade County was built in 1981 — and had been sinking into the ground since the 1990s, according to a 2020 study conducted by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor at Florida International University.

“I looked at it this morning and said, ‘Oh my god.’ We did detect that,” Wdowinski told USA Today on Thursday.

Wdowinski’s research focused on which parts of Miami were sinking, in an effort to determine what areas could be most impacted by sea-level rise and coastal flooding.

His team found that the Champlain Towers South in Surfside had been sinking at a rate of about 2 millimeters a year in the 1990s, the report said.

We saw this building had some kind of unusual movement,” Wdowinski told the outlet.However, the study focused on flooding hazards, not engineering concerns — and mention of the “12-story condominium” appeared in only one line, USA Today reported.

“We didn’t give it too much importance,” Wdowinski said, adding that he didn’t believe anybody in the city or state government would have been aware of the study.

Surfside town officials on Thursday said the high-rise had been undergoing a county-mandated 40-year recertification process, which involves electrical and structural inspections.

City Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer told Miami TV station WPLG that the process was believed to be proceeding without issues — and that a building inspector may have been on-site as recently as Wednesday.

“I want to know why this happened,” Salzhauer said. “That’s really the only question. … And can it happen again? Are any other of our buildings in town in jeopardy?”

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Awkward moment VP Harris reminds Biden about Florida condo collapse

 

Sure you don’t want to say anything else, Joe?

Vice President Kamala Harris appeared to remind President Biden to mention the deadly South Florida condo collapse before leaving a White House event Thursday. 

Biden had given remarks on infrastructure and taken questions from the press on that issue as well as voting rights. He then attempted to wrap up by telling reporters “I’ve got to get to a helicopter” before Harris approached.

The president and vice president exchanged a brief, whispered conversation that concluded with Harris saying, “Florida, yeah.”

“Oh, yes. I apologize,” Biden said, turning back to the microphone as Harris retreated out of camera view. “Yes, thank you, Madame Vice President.”

The president went on to say that he would send federal aid to the site if it was required, but he was waiting on a formal request from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“We are on top of it,” Biden said. “We are ready to move, from the federal resources, immediately — immediately, if in fact we’re asked for it … FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] is down there taking a look at what’s needed, including from, everything from — if the rest of those buildings have to be evacuated as well; finding housing for those people; making sure they have the capacity to both have a place to — to shelter, and food to eat, etc.”

“I made it clear that I say to the people of Florida: Whatever help you want that the federal government can provide, we’re waiting,” Biden concluded. “Just ask us; we’ll be there. We’ll be there.”

At least one person has died and 99 people were unaccounted for late Thursday after the collapse of the 12-story condo building in Surfside, just north of Miami Beach. Fire officials said at least 35 people had been rescued from the rubble.

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Nearly all US COVID deaths now among unvaccinated people

 Nearly all recent COVID-19 deaths in the US were of people who had not been vaccinated, a new analysis found.

The examination by the Associated Press of data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was released as about 63 percent of all eligible American adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine — and 53 percent are fully vaccinated.

The AP found that only 150 of the more than 18,000 coronavirus deaths in May were of people who were fully vaccinated.

In the same month, more than 853,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19. Less than 1,200 of them, or roughly 0.1 percent, were fully vaccinated.

On Tuesday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky spoke of the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Nearly every death, especially among adults, due to COVID-19, is, at this point, entirely preventable,” Walensky said.

AP’s findings come as COVID-19 deaths per day in the nation have dropped dramatically — from a daily high of about 3,400 in mid-January to currently under 300.

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Israeli Health Ministry reimposes mask mandate Friday at noon

 

Just a week and a half after Israel terminated its mask mandate in almost all areas, the Health Ministry announced it is reimposing the requirement to wear face masks in indoor public areas, starting at noon today.

As with the previous mask mandate, the requirement will apply to everyone over the age of seven, unless they suffer from a verified medical condition or have a disability which prevents them from wearing a mask.

Masks will also not be required during indoor exercise activity, when a person is alone indoors, or when two workers are regularly assigned to work alone in a single room.

Along with the requirement to wear masks indoors, the Health Ministry has advised that people attending mass-gatherings also wear masks, even if the gathering is outdoors.

The new mask mandate comes following a series of outbreaks of the coronavirus across Israel, including hundreds of cases of the ‘Delta’ or Indian variant of the virus.

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Tragedy in Beit Shemesh: 14-year-old drowns during school trip

 

Nechemye Ahroine

A 14-year-old boy from Beit Shemesh, Nechemia Ahroinie, with whom contact was lost during a school trip, was pulled from a water reservoir after hours of searching on Thursday night.

The boy was last seen shortly after 4:00 p.m. on Thursday in the woods during the hike.

Forces from the Israel Police, the Border Police and volunteers from the Etzion-Yehuda rescue had been searching from hours in the woods near the Beit Jamal Monastery.

The teen did not have a cell phone. A helicopter from the Israel Police Air Unit was also called to the scene to assist the forces on the ground with aerial scans.

After the boy was pulled from the water, Magen David Adom paramedics pronounced him dead.

MDA paramedic Nissim Salem said: "When we arrived at the scene we noticed a reservoir of water from which the boy was being pulled. He was unconscious, with no pulse and not breathing. We performed medical tests but he was without signs of life and we had no choice but to pronounce him dead."

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'Blow to Israel:' Biden Admin. walks back recognition of Golan Heights

 

The Biden Administration is quietly walking back the US recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, according to a report by the Washington Free Beacon.

A State Department official refused to tell the Beacon that the administration still recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel, which the Trump Administration recognized in 2019, calling Israel's control of the strategic territory a "practical matter."

"As long as [Bashar al-Assad] is in power in Syria, as long as Iran is present in Syria, militia groups backed by Iran, the Assad regime itself—all of these pose a significant security threat to Israel, and as a practical matter, the control of the Golan remains of real importance to Israel's security," the official said.

The Beacon called the policy shift a "significant blow" to Israel.

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the current administration's policies regarding the Golan Heights, telling the Beacon that "The Golan Heights are not occupied by Israel, they are a part of it. The Israelis have a right to it as sovereign land."

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, when Syrian and Egyptian forces massed on Israel's borders and threatened to destroy the Jewish State. In 1981, former Prime Minister Menachem Begin formally annexed the strategically-vital territory, which Israel has long maintained is vital as it represents a high ground overlooking much of northern Israel and serves as a buffer against military aggression from Syrian territory.

The Israeli government considered withdrawing from the Golan Heights as part of a potential peace deal with Syria in the 1990s. 

Following the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011 and the subsequent massacre of over 500,000 Syrians as well as the spread of the ISIS terrorist organization in Syria, a growing consensus has been that Israel must maintain control over the Golan Heights.

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25 of 99 missing people in Miami condo collapse may be Jewish

A significant number of unaccounted for residents of a collapsed Miami, Florida condo building may be Jewish.

A huge rescue effort by emergency specialists is desperately searching for survivors of the collapsed 12-story tower, part of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, near Miami.

The complex was built in 1981 and had 135 units.

Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman told the media that 51 people are still unaccounted for as of Thursday morning. That number was later updated to 99.

Hatzalah of South Florida has been at the site of the disaster helping Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Command.

Chesed Shel Emes and Police Chaplain Rabbi Mark Rosenberg have been working with emergency services to locate missing victims,

Rescue efforts, as of 12:30 p.m. EST, had been put on pause due to a serious thunderstorm in the area, according to CNN.

Two residents of the building have been rescued so far.

Officially, one person has been listed as dead and 10 others as injured.

According to the Associated Press, the death toll is likely to rise. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett warned that the building manager relayed to him the building was very full at the time of its collapse, which was approximately 1:30 a.m. The exact number of people in the building at the time is unknown.

“The building is literally pancaked,” Burkett said. “That is heartbreaking because it doesn’t mean, to me, that we are going to be as successful as we wanted to be in finding people alive.”

City officials have not speculated on what may have led to the building’s collapse.

Burkett said that work was being done of the building’s roof but he does not think that had anything to do with the disaster.

Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine Cava spoke with President Joe Biden at noon. The president offered the full support of the federal government to help the community.

“(President Biden) offered the full support of the federal gov. to help our community during this difficult time. We continue to work with local, state, & federal agencies as we respond to this tragedy and do everything we can to support the impacted families,” tweeted Levine Cava.

Emergency services are urging people with unaccounted for relatives to call 305-614-1819.

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Will Soros Somehow Make Sure that Adams Loses? Will this be like the 2020 Presidential Elections?

 

Let me remind you. #RankedChoiceVoting is uncharted territory. Mystical magical mysterious. As long as George Soros and Democratic ballot razzmatazz coexist you are to count on nothing. Expect everything. Anything. https://t.co/kMGSgX87cy

— 🇺🇸Lionel🇺🇸 (@LionelMedia) June 23, 2021

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Portland Where there are Riots 24/7 Wants You to Visit

 

Travel Portland buys huge NYT ad to lure visitors to city plagued by unrest https://t.co/kvTwrYOmTN pic.twitter.com/EoOXKlSxhG

— New York Post (@nypost) June 22, 2021

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For Sure..this guy passed his road test

 

Me, trying to be diligent but not annoying…

(via Insta/meredithrosengallery) pic.twitter.com/WKLDvk26xa

— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) June 22, 2021

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Israeli TV Channel 11 Interviews Judge Rachel Freier

 

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‘Exhume Christian missionary from Jewish plot,’ chief rabbi says

 Chief Rabbi David Lau has said that “every effort” should be made to exhume and rebury a Christian woman and covert missionary who was recently buried in a Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem.

The woman in question was buried in a multistory burial chamber above a Jewish woman since she was believed to be Jewish at the time.

Jewish law however prohibits Jews to be buried alongside non-Jews, and since the woman’s husband refuses to allow her to be exhumed and reburied, questions have arisen as to how to handle the situation.

Amanda Elk  was the wife of covert missionary and Messianic Christian Michael Elk, who together posed as ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Jerusalem neighborhood of French Hill for at least five years.

Michael Elk obtained an online rabbinic ordination, and pretended to be a rabbi while also serving as a scribe and mohel, and providing these religious services to members of his community.

His wife Amanda died in February this year, and an incident with his daughter who attended an ultra-Orthodox school eventually led to both Michael Elk’s exposure as a missionary and a non-Jew, and the fact that Amanda was also not Jewish.

Since Elk was at the time of Amanda’s death still feigning to be Jewish he had his wife buried in a Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem.

She was buried in a multistory burial plot in which several rows of burial chambers are built one on top of the other.
In one of the rows below Amanda Elk is buried a Jewish woman.

But Jewish law forbids burying non-Jews in the same plot as Jews, which has given rise to questions as to how to deal with the current situation.

In a letter published to the head of the burial society which operates in the cemetery, Lau said that the ideal solution would be to remove Amanda Elk’s body from the cemetery and rebury her in a non-Jewish cemetery.

“This is a non-Jewish woman who pretended to be an ultra-Orthodox woman, and was a missionary, and even tried to convert people away from Judaism,” wrote Lau.

“Out of respect to the Jews who bought a burial plot in order to be interred in a Jewish plot and were buried in accordance with these wishes, every effort should be made to remove her [Elk] to a non-Jewish plot,” said the chief rabbi.

Lau said that if this were not possible a fence should be erected between Elk’s burial place and those of Jews interred at the same place.

It is not clear however how that would be possible given the multistory burial plot in which both women were interred.

In a similar situation several years ago in Rishon Lezion, the High Court of Justice refused to allow a Christian to be exhumed from their grave.

Lau’s comments come following an exhaustive ruling published at the beginning of June by Rabbi Shlomo Shraga, head of the Baruch She’amar yeshiva and son of the noted rabbinical judge Rabbi Baruch Shraga, who also ruled that it would be preferable to exhume Elk and move her to a non-Jewish plot.

Shraga ruled that since the High Court has made it clear that it is not possible in such cases to exhume the non-Jew, the Jewish person buried in the same plot should be exhumed and reburied instead.

Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef endorsed Shraga’s ruling.

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