On Holocaust Remembrance Day, we honor the victims and survivors of one of the darkest periods in our history. But it’s not enough to remember — we also need to have the courage to speak out against acts of bigotry and hatred whenever we see them.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 27, 2022
This is absolutely absurd! Shame on this school board ⬇️ https://t.co/fqnphFQaOI
— (((Rep.Alma Hernandez,MPH)))💉😷 (@almaforarizona) January 27, 2022
The board cited the inclusion of the words “God Damn” and drawings of “naked pictures” in “Maus,” though the pictures are of mice.
A Tennessee school board barred schools from teaching a beloved graphic novel about the Holocaust in an unanimous vote the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The move to ban Art Spiegelman’s Maus, first reported by The Tennessee Holler [http://tnholler.com/2022/01/mcminn-county-bans-maus-pulitzer-prize-winning-holocaust-book], is the latest in a wave of book banning sweeping the country, particularly school districts in conservative areas.
The McMinn County school board’s 10 members voted to axe Maus from curricula and school libraries, citing its use of the phrase “God Damn” and its drawings of “naked pictures,” though those are cartoon mice.
School members said the ban was not related to the book’s depiction of the Holocaust as it tells the story of author Spiegelman’s father in German concentration camps, with Jews depicted as mice and Nazis as cats. Serialized over nearly a decade, it was collected in a book that in 1992 became the first, and so far the only, graphic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize.
Asked for comment on Wednesday evening, Spiegelman sent The Daily Beast a bookmark he designed for Banned Books Week a few years ago:
The multinational firm Unilever, which owns Ben & Jerry’s, announced on Tuesday that in the wake of severe losses, it will fire 1,500 workers around the world and split off its ice cream division from its food division.
The move follows Ben & Jerry’s decision to break its contract with its Israeli licensee, who refused to stop selling the company’s ice cream in Judea and Samaria.
The U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Colorado and Arizona have decided to remove investments from their pension funds in Unilever, because the company was found to violate anti-BDS laws that passed in those states.
“Unilever continues to run away from its responsibility as a parent company,” said Avi Zinger, director-general of Ben & Jerry’s Israel, the Israeli licensee. “Instead of taking responsibility and canceling the boycott, Unilever prefers to put its head in the sand and ignore the fact that it is solely in charge of all the companies it owns, including Ben & Jerry’s worldwide.”
Zinger said that Ben & Jerry’s Israel would continue to struggle against the banning of sales in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and will use all tools at its disposal to persuade Unilever to assume the necessary responsibility.
Last week, it was reported that Unilever’s stock plunged 20.7% in the six months since it informed Zinger that his contract was ending.
This amounts to a $26 billion loss, according to Channel 12 News, which first reported on the story. Losses were reportedly due to numerous factors, including a failure to reach profit targets.
Unilever is spinning off Ben and Jerry’s. The Unilever stock is down significantly since taking a pro-BDS position. This move is a clear signal that BDS aligned companies are more of liability than an asset. https://t.co/CXMlaUKwZE
— Yehuda Friedman (@YehudaJFriedman) January 25, 2022
Over the weekend, Kennedy appeared at an anti-vaccine mandate protest in Washington D.C. During his remarks, the son of late-Senator Robert F. Kennedy said of these fascist mandates, “Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did.”
Obviously, he was making the hyperbolic point that you could hide from the Nazis but not these mandates.
Anyway, Kennedy’s been a public figure since birth, so he could not have been surprised or traumatized by the fake media’s hypocritical reaction, and he did eventually issue an apology.
But what must he have thought when his own wife — his wife! — took to the Twitters to drop him in the grease?
“My husband’s reference to Anne Frank at a mandate rally in D.C. was reprehensible and insensitive,” Hines tweeted. “The atrocities that millions endured during the Holocaust should never be compared to anyone or anything. His opinions are not a reflection of my own.”
Beit HaRav Kook, the Rabbi Kook Museum, has published a newly unveiled photograph of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the first Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of pre-state Israel. The picture was taken during Rabbi Kook's meeting with the mayor of Chicago, William Emmett Dever, during his visit to the United States in 1924.
In early 1924, a delegation of rabbis arrived in the Port of New York, which included Rabbi Kook, Rabbi Avraham Dover Shapira, and Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein.
The purpose of the delegation was to raise funds for yeshivas in Europe and Israel. In practice, the visit strengthened the connection of the young American Jewish communities in the United States and Canada with the longstanding Jewish communities from Europe and Israel. In addition to the donations collected, the rabbis' visit accelerated the trend of young people from America to travel and study in yeshivas in Israel and Europe.
The audience in the United States was particularly interested in Rabbi Kook, because he represented for them the Land of Israel and religious Zionism. The rabbinical delegation was received with great respect wherever they went. Mayors met with them, and receptions were held in their honor.
Rabbi Kook even met with then-US President Calvin Coolidge. In fact, Rabbi Kook was the first official Jewish representative to meet with the President of the United States.
Although he had already spoken to the mayor of New York in English, Rabbi Kook preferred to use an interpreter during his conversation with President Calvin Coolidge. Rabbi Kook opened the conversation with an apology for the inconvenience of holding the conversation through an interpreter instead of entirely in English. Later in the conversation, Rabbi Kook thanked the President for the support of the two houses of Congress for the Balfour Declaration, which meant the recognition of the right of the Jewish people to establish a state in the Land of Israel. The president promised that the United States would do everything in its power to help build the Land of Israel. At the end of the conversation, Rabbi Kook expressed to the President a hope that the United States would remain a power of idealism and freedom.
Two orthodox Jewish men were viciously attacked on Wednesday evening in front of a Stamford Hill bakery.
Video footage released by London Shomrim showse two men exiting the bakery, as a man passes by them. The man appears to address them as he passes, but it is difficult to ascertain as his mouth is covered by a scarf.
After he passes, both men turn around and seem to recoil defensively. After a moment, the man comes back into the camera view and starts pummeling both men.
As the men begin to back off, the attacker advances and violently punches one of them in the face, knocking him to the ground. As the second man looks down at his friend in concern, the attacker then begins punching him, repeatedly hitting him in the face area while following him down the sidewalk.
When the first victim finally musters up the strength to stand up and start escaping, the thug then leaves the second victim to go chase after the first victim again.
Shortly after that the attacker casually walks off.
The two victims were treated by Hatzolah, while the suspect was later apprehended by Shomrim and then arrested.
Israel is involved in trying to defuse growing tensions between the US and Russia over the latter’s build-up of troops on the Ukrainian border, Army Radio reported on Wednesday morning.
According to the report, the Biden administration requested that Israel serve as a mediator in an attempt to thwart a major crisis between the two world powers.
The report added that Israel is avoiding any public statements about the tension between Russia and Ukraine, both of which have large Jewish populations, out of fear that public support for either side could lead to a surge in anti-Semitism.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected an offer from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to mediate between him and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Prior to Bennett’s trip to meet Putin in Sochi, Russia in October 2021, Ukrainian senior officials requested that Bennett assist Kyiv in mediating with Moscow, even suggesting that a summit be held in Jerusalem.
The Ukrainian officials noted that “Israel has good relations with both Russia and Ukraine.”
Bennett did bring up the suggestion during his meeting with Putin but Putin not only turned him down but also expressed harsh criticism of Zelensky, Israeli officials later said.
About 165,800 Holocaust survivors currently live in Israel, most of them over 80 years of age, according to data published by the Holocaust Survivors’ Rights Authority ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will be observed today, Arutz Sheva reports.
The data show that 15,324 Holocaust survivors died the past year, an average of 42 per day.
Also included are animated representations of Dovid Hamelech’s palace and Chizkiyohu’s water tunnels.
Hebrew-language viewing is available gratis at www.tod.org.il/virtual/tour.html.
An ancient amulet made of lead and written in ancient Hebrew was found among the remains of the excavation carried out at the archeological site on Mount Ebal in Samaria, where the biblical-era altar of Joshua bin Nun is located.
The amulet is inscribed with the letter Alef and a mark reminiscent of a lotus flower.
The Book of Joshua describes how the Israelite General who commanded the conquest of Canaan, built an altar on Mount Ebal, acting on instructions from Moses after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River.
Haifa University archaeologist Adam Zertal, who passed away in 2015, identified the remains of an altar found at the site as the one described in the Bible, where Joshua distributed the land among the tribes.
The Belz Hassidut Education Committee met on Monday with the director-general of the Education Ministry and top education officials in an attempt to formulate a unique model for the Belz Talmud Torah institutions that would be fully budgeted by the state and include core curriculum subjects such as Math and English, Reshet Bet radio reported on Wednesday.
Guys remember when Ezra "Capo" Friedlander urged Holocaust survivors to back the Iran deal?
Remember when the Satmar "Chucem" R' Aaron Teitelbaum urged his naive fools to write letters to congressmen to stop the then Prime Minister Natanyahu from addressing both houses of congress how dangerous a deal would be?
Remember when Mr. Labin the Satmar stooge wrote an op-ed telling Holocaust survivors that the Iran Deal is a good thing!
So where are they now?
Even the US negotiators are quitting because as they say it's a very bad and dangerous deal!
At least three members of the US team negotiating with Iran over restoring the 2015 nuclear deal have quit due to the Biden administration’s soft stance, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
According to the report, US officials confirmed over the weekend that Richard Nephew, the deputy special envoy for Iran, has quit the team. Nephew hasn’t been part of the team since early December after he left due to his frustration over the Biden administration’s failure to maintain a harder negotiating stance. Two other members of the team left for the same reason.
There are no deadlines set for the talks, which leaves Western diplomats doubting that the Biden administration would let anything get in their way of forging an agreement.
Officials familiar with the negotiations told the WSJ that conflicting opinions have divided the US negotiation team, headed by State Department veteran Robert Malley, since the summer. Additionally, some members of the team wanted to leave the talks in early December after Iran’s new negotiation team under the “Butcher of Iran,” President Ebrahim Raisi, returned to Vienna and reversed most of the concessions the previous government made. The Biden administration chose to continue talks despite Iran’s reversals.
There were also conflicting opinions among the US team about whether to demand that the International Atomic Energy Agency board censure Iran last year for preventing inspectors from monitoring its nuclear activities. The Biden administration chose not to take action on the issue after Tehran said it would torpedo talks.
The report follows an earlier report on Monday that the US State Department said it is ready to hold direct talks with Iran following a statement from Tehran that it would consider the option.
“We are prepared to meet directly,” a State Department spokesperson said, quoted by France24.
“We have long held the position that it would be more productive to engage with Iran directly, on both JCPOA negotiations and other issues,” the spokesperson added.
The former owner of a national nursing home chain that collapsed amid widespread allegations of neglect and mismanagement revealed in an NBC News investigation now faces 22 federal charges of labor violations and failure to pay federal taxes.
Joseph Schwartz was arrested at his home in Rockland County, N.Y., say two law enforcement officials, and appeared at a hearing in Newark, N.J., on Thursday afternoon. Schwartz’s lawyer Robert Fedor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The indictment that was sought by the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger, charges that Schwartz, former owner of Skyline Healthcare, failed to pay employment and unemployment taxes for the 15,000 employees he had at 95 facilities across 11 states.
Schwartz already faces 10 state felony charges in Arkansas for tax and Medicaid fraud and civil suits in Nebraska and other states.
Sheldon Silver, the Democratic powerhouse who ruled Albany with an iron fist until he was busted and later convicted on federal corruption charges in a stunning fall from grace, died Monday in prison. He was 77.
The disgraced politician died at the Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Massachusetts, while serving out a six-and-half-year sentence at a nearby prison after he was convicted for accepting nearly $4 million in bribes while in office, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed.
His official cause of death will be determined by a medical examiner but the longtime kingmaker had a history of chronic kidney disease and cancer.
President Joe Biden responded to a question about inflation on Monday by calling a Fox News reporter a vulgarity.
The president was in the East Room of the White House for a meeting of his Competition Council, which is focused on changing regulations and enforcing laws to help consumers deal with high prices. Reporters in the room shouted a number of questions after Biden’s remarks.
Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Biden about inflation, which is at a nearly 40-year high and has hurt the president’s public approval.
Doocy called out, “Do you think inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms?”
Biden responded with sarcasm, “It’s a great asset — more inflation.” Then he shook his head and added, “What a stupid son of a bitch.”
His comments were captured on video and by the microphone in front of him. Doocy laughed it off in a subsequent appearance on his network, joking, “Nobody has fact-checked him yet and said it’s not true.”
The White House did not immediately responded to a request for comment.
The White House has insisted repeatedly that it is focused on curbing inflation, with Biden reorienting his entire economic agenda around the issue. But the president has also shown a willingness to challenge a media that he deems to be too critical, especially Fox News and Doocy.
At his news conference last week, Biden said to Doocy with sarcasm, “You always ask me the nicest questions.”
“I have a whole binder full,” the reporter answered.
“I know you do,” Biden said. “None of them make a lot of sense to me. Fire away.
