Lady with a Kippa damages Sefer Torah

A Houston synagogue is shoring up its security practices after a woman who said she was motivated to vandalize it by Messianic beliefs entered without being detected.

 Ezra Law broke into Congregation Emanu El in the early hours of Jan. 14, causing damage to both the building and a sacred Torah. After spending six hours in the building — including drinking wine and spilling it on one of the sacred Torahs — she was discovered by security personnel before Shabbat services and subsequently arrested.

Law was soon released on bond, but instead of showing up at her court arraignment, she returned to Emanu El on Friday to disrupt a preschool class, harassing young children before fleeing. Law was arrested again later that day and was released for a second time on Sunday.

That night, she posted online that she had targeted the synagogue in retaliation for being turned away previously because of her belief in Jesus.

The incident, which unfolded on the one-year anniversary of a gunman taking four people hostage at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, has shaken the Houston Jewish community. It has also prompted a review of the lapses that twice allowed Law to enter the Emanu El building.

How Soros is slowly bringing down the USA

 

George Soros is the most dangerous man in America. The investor is intent on remaking the country to his liberal image, from our foreign policy priorities to undermining our criminal-justice system. This week, The Post takes a look at the reach of Soros’ billions. In this second essay, Matt Palumbo, author of “The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros,” examines Soros investments in liberal propaganda.

A new report from the Media Research Center has exposed connections between billionaire liberal financier George Soros and 54 prominent media figures. As documented by its authors Joseph Vazquez and Dan Schneider, these include reporters, anchors, columnists, editors, news executives, and journalists.

Among the highest profile media figures revealed to have connections to Soros, often due to them sitting on boards of organizations he funds, include:

• CNN’s Christiane Amanpour sits on the board of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative journalism group funded by Soros, that critics charge mainly targets Republican fundraisers.

• NBC’s Lester Holt, Washington Post’s Sally Buzbee, Associate Press Executive Editor Julie Pace, and Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni all sit on the board of the Member of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a Soros-funded organization that purports to defend the rights of journalists.

• CBS’ Margaret Brennan and CNN’s Fareed Zakaria serve on the board of the massively influential Council on Foreign Relations, a Soros-backed think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy.

• NBC’s Chairman Cesar Conde is on the Aspen Institute board, a Soros-backed think tank. In recent years they launched a left-leaning commission to combat so-called disinformation, and was implicated in the suppression of The New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story in the recently released Twitter Files.

• NPR’s President and CEO John Lansing is connected by the direct funding Soros gives his publication.

• PolitiFact Editor-in-Chief Angie Dronbic Holan serves on the board of the Soros-backed International Fact-Checking Network, which has openly pressed Facebook to censor what they consider to be misinformation (i.e. anything that goes against the liberal narrative), and serves as the “high body” for dozens of fact-checking organizations under its umbrella.

Cardiovascular benefits shown when wearing tefillin - study

 

The cardiovascular health of both men and women who wear tefillin (phylacteries) around their arms can improve, according to new research at the University of Cincinnati (UC). The study suggests those benefits are the result of ischemic, or reduced, blood-flow preconditioning that produces protection from the damage caused by heart attacks.

“Tefillin is used for morning prayers for Jewish men over the age of 13 on weekdays,” said clinical internal medicine Prof. Jack Rubinstein of the Division of Cardiovascular Health in UC’s College of Medicine.

“It is placed on the nondominant arm around the bicep and the forearm in a fairly tight manner,” he said. “It is never worn in a fashion as to occlude the blood flow. This is traditionally worn for about 30 minutes continuously during prayers, which involve sitting and standing, resulting in occasional retightening of the strap around your arm.”

The research was published in the peer-reviewed online journal PLOS ONE under the title “Tefillin use induces preconditioning associated changes in heart rate variability” and expands on similar research by Rubinstein from 2018 that enrolled only men in the study. This study included 14 men and 16 women.

Scientists Know what Pharaoh the King that Talked to Moshe Rabbeinu Looked Like

Scientists were able to reconstruct a facial rendering of Rameses II, the Pharaoh responsible for enslaving the Jews in the Book of Exodus, based on his mummified remains. This reverse-age rendering was made possible by the UK-based Liverpool John Moores University Face Lab.

The Pharaoh Rameses II was believed to have died in his 90s, but his facial rendering shows him as he was projected to look in his 40s. Researchers were able to create a three-dimensional age regression to reverse signs of aging to depict him as in his 40s - just when he had reached the highest point of his reign of power.

According to radiology professionals involved with the research project from Cairo University, Rameses II was quite a handsome fellow. In a radiology magazine, professor Sahar Saleem said that "Bringing Rameses' face to life in his old age and as a young man reminds the world of his legendary status." He was in power for 66 years.

Middle-Aged White Suicide, Alcohol Abuse Linked to Loss of Religion

 

The rise in “deaths of despair” among middle-aged white Americans may be linked to the decline in religious practice, according to new research.

Such an increase in deaths has also been highlighted by the opioid crisis, but new research argues skyrocketing suicide and deaths from alcohol abuse might be rooted in the loss of religion.

The paper, circulated by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that the increase of “deaths of despair” among middle-aged white Americans starting in the early 1990s was the aftermath of a declining religiosity in the United States by the same group.

Authors Tyler Giles, Daniel Hungerman, and Tamar Oostrom “confirm that religious practice has significant effects on these mortality rates.”

“Our findings show that social factors such as organized religion can play an important role in understanding deaths of despair,” they write.

The group of economists looked at the impact of “blue laws” across the country, and how the increased repeal of such laws are quickly followed by a loss in church attendance and an increased secularization.

Although some have argued that blue laws — which restrict various kinds of commerce on Sabbath days (mostly Sundays in America) — get repealed following a secularization of a community, Giles, Hungerman, and Oostrom found that the trend is the reverse: secularization of a community actually follows the repeal of blue laws.

One of the more prominent blue laws is the sale of alcohol on Sabbath days, but the economists looked at blue laws not related to alcohol sales in order to get a full picture of their effects.

Since the blue law repeals and the aftermath starting in the 1990s, Giles and his colleagues found “the most religious states experienced the lowest mortality due to deaths of despair.”

By contrast, “states that had larger drops in religious attendance had larger increases in deaths of despair.”

When persons stop attending religious service, they are not only losing a connection to moral grounding or a relationship to God; they are also losing a sense of community.

In America, the church has always been the center of a community and civil society: friendships form; men and women meet, date, marry, and start families; and a sense of care and duty to your neighbor is cultivated.

As Breitbart News reported, religious practice is heavily linked to finding meaning in life, the happiest, most stable marriages, and personal and familial well-being.

In fact, studies show that individuals and families who practice religion both at home and in church achieve the highest levels of happiness and life satisfaction.

Breccan F. Thies is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter @BreccanFThies.

The Israeli Supreme Court's contempt for the public and its elected representatives

 

By

 Caroline B. Glick

Friday morning brought the first piece of good news from Israel’s Supreme Court in years. Yediot Ahronot’s top headline declared that Supreme Court President Esther Hayut intends to resign if the Knesset passes Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s judicial reform package. (DIN: The witch has since rescinded that statement)

Hayut’s stewardship of the court over the past six years has been disgraceful and destructive to both the court and the State of Israel. The Hayut court dropped even the pretense of judiciousness. Hayut cast the court on a course of ideological radicalism and politicization that has no parallel anywhere in the world.

Hayut’s radicalism was well known in the legal community. She wasn’t then-justice minister Ayelet Shaked’s first choice for the court’s top slot. But Shaked had no say in the matter. Israel’s current judicial selection process protects justices from accountability to the public and its elected representatives. Supreme Court justices have a veto over nominees to the court, so everyone who gets the nod from the Judicial Selection Committee, including ostensibly conservative jurists, must embrace the organizational culture and values of the sitting justices.

The Deri Fiasco and the Gedoiei Hador

 

Now that Aryeh Deri has been fired, it's important to not only know what actually transpired but to see what we can take away and learn from this story!

My humble opinion is, that if when voting, the public knows the background of a candidate such as Deri and also knows that he was convicted twice and nevertheless they decide to vote for him, then he should serve in whatever capacity he is appointed. 

The Israeli Supreme Court whose justices were never elected but appointed by other Supreme Court Justices (not like the USA where the President appoints the justices) should stay out of this, since this is none of their business. 

The people have spoken and that's who they want. 

Having said this, I want to address the Gedoilim!

In 1999, Aryeh Deri was convicted of bribery, fraud and breach of trust!

He was given a three-year jail sentence and served 22 months. 

His followers claim that he was set up and was completely innocent (I'll get back to that later), despite Rav Ovadia Yosef calling him a thief, and a rasha! 

Channel 2 actually released video footage where one can clearly hear the Rav saying this.

When I say that he was convicted, I forgot to mention that Deri himself admitted to his crimes in gruesome detail.

When he got out of jail, Deri, continued brazenly, heading the Shas party, and was subsequently appointed Minister of the Economy and Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee. He continued serving as Minister, on various other ministerial positions! 

Only in Israel!

Then on November 20, 2018, police ended a criminal investigation into Deri with a recommendation to state prosecutors that he be indicted for "committing fraud, breach of trust, obstructing court proceedings, money laundering, and tax offenses."

In 2019, this recommendation was adopted in full by the state prosecutor, but in 2021 the AG Avichai Mandelblit dropped all the charges except the tax offenses in a plea deal!

In January 2022, Deri resigned from the Knesset as part of that plea deal. Deri in his plea deal, admitted in detail to underreporting the value of property sold to his brother to avoid land tax, failure to report income from the sales and evading taxes on NIS 534,000 of income, by funneling payments from Green Ocean investment fund to his brother.

Deri received a year's suspended sentence and was also ordered to pay a NIS 180,000 fine. This latest deal (dropping the theft and fraud charges and staying out of jail) was contingent on Deri agreeing not to join the next Knesset, which is the one we are in now!

In the last election, Shas put Deri second position on the list, thus being re-elected to the Knesset. 

Last Friday the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that Deri was not allowed to hold a position as a cabinet minister due to his conviction for tax offenses. 

Yesterday PM Netanyahu dismissed Deri from his official posts in the Israeli cabinet. 

Below I show all the property that the Deri family owns, worth millions, and maybe even billions....... all this, working all his life for the "klall" in the Knesset! 

But as I said before, if that's what the public wants, then "kol ha'koved" If the public are a bunch of masochists, then they deserve what they got!

I'm, though, very disappointed in the Gedoilim, both Sephardim and Ashkanizim who not only didn't say one word against a man that Rav Ovadia Yosef publicly called "a thief and a Rasha" but actually supported him. 

Here is a guy who has become a multi-multi-millionaire on the public's dime and admitted under oath that he took bribes and committed fraud, and not only that, but agreed not to join the Knesset, and didn't care to put the entire new government in jeopardy. If it was up to him, he would put the country thru another election, costing billions just so that he could be a minister!

But forget about him, what are the Gedoilim thinking? 

What message is this to our children? 

How do we explain to teenagers that the Gedoilim are supporting a thief and fraudster?

This is not about the Supreme Court getting involved in politics, and it's not even about Deri....It's about our "manhigim" our "gedoilim" who are supposed to teach by example. 

Now look at the ad asking women to light Shabbos candles 10 minutes earlier to help this thief and fraudster!

Moshiach better come soon, because if he doesn't come soon, he won't have to whom to come to!

See below Deri's properties! 

A search for the lives and memories of an entire Jewish village lost in the Holocaust. (Aired 1996)

 

Netanyahu fires Aryeh Deri 'with a heavy heart'

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Shas chairman Aryeh Deri as Interior and Health Minister Sunday afternoon, four days after Deri was disqualified from serving as a minister by the Supreme Court.

At the weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu read the dismissal letter: "As you know, I decided to appoint you as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and Health with the approval of the majority of Knesset members due to the fact that I see you as an anchor of experience, wisdom and responsibility that are important to the State of Israel at all times, and especially at this time."

"Yes, I thought it was important for you to serve the State of Israel as a member of the security-political cabinet in my government, where you could influence your many years of experience as a cabinet member in the governments of the late Prime Ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Yitzhak Rabin - you rich experience that contributes to the security and resilience of the State of Israel.

"Unfortunately, despite the above, on 18.1.23 the Supreme Court decided ... that I have an obligation to remove you from your position as Minister of the Interior and Health. This unfortunate decision ignores the will of the people, as reflected in the great trust that the public gave to the representatives of the people and their elected officials in my government, when it was clear to everyone that you would serve in the government as a senior minister.

Is Netanyahu seeking to bring Lapid, Gantz into government ?

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to bring either the Yesh Atid or National Unity parties into his government, a senior political official told Ynet.

According to the official, Netanyahu has not reined in the 'extremists' in his government in order to create the condition for Yair Lapid or Benny Gantz to join the government in the next few months to serve as a counterbalance to the far right.

According to the source, Netanyahu is expected to tell Lapid or Gantz to work with him to restore 'sanity' to the political scene.

The Religious Zionism party is threatening to boycott votes in the Knesset tomorrow in addition to the Cabinet meeting today in protest against the government's dismantling of an outpost erected in memory of Rabbi Chaim Druckman.

Reshet Bet reported that the party has accused Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is preventing the transfer of powers to Religious Zionism party chairman Bezalel Smotrich, including the establishment of the administration that is supposed to nationalize the Civil Administration.

Religious Zionism party officials even issued a threat to Likud members and stated that "if there is no progress in resolving the crisis, we will consider absenting ourselves from the Knesset votes on Monday."

This morning (Sunday) party ministers will be absent from the cabinet meeting in protest of what they called "the violation of the coalition agreement to evacuate the Or Haim outpost on Friday without coordination and contrary to Smotrich's directive to the civil administration."

Chareidie Jews in England Shout "Free Palestine" and "Down with the Terrorist State"

 

Wall Street Journal Says that Israel Needs Judicial Reform Says "Supreme Court the way its now Is ‘Threat To Democracy’ In answer to Thomas Friedman

 

After New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman called Tuesday for President Biden to intervene in Israel’s judicial reforms, claiming that they will negatively impact US regional security concerns, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial supporting exactly those reforms.

The article explained that “Israel’s Supreme Court has more power than America’s but without the democratic checks. Unbound by any constitution, and loosed from requirements of standing and justiciability, Israel’s court strikes down laws that it finds merely ‘unreasonable’ which can cover most anything. Israel’s court even has a veto on the appointment of new justices, in contrast to the U.S. where the President and Senate share the appointment power.”

The paper cited the example of the court’s revoking Deri’s appointment as minister, despite the fact that no law was cited to keep him out of the government. The tendentious claim that the appointment was “unreasonable in the extreme” was an attempt to deprive voters of their democratic rights. The article conceded that “the court may be making the sounder judgment on character, but in a democracy that decision is left to voters and the politicians they elect. By vetoing the appointment anyway, the court interferes with the power of the people to pick their leaders, via a legislature that makes the law and an executive who fills out the cabinet.”

The paper concluded that “with this action, the court has provided clear evidence of its overreach, making the best argument for the Israeli right’s judicial reforms.”

The article also cited the fear that the court “will next reject as unreasonable any reforms to the court itself,” and this could lead to a constitutional crisis in Israel but stressed that Israeli democracy is “resilient” and would know how to attenuate the court’s overweening power.

Camel'eh Harris Gives a lesson in Electricity ... Treats Adults like 3 year-olds

 

Kamala Harris explains electricity pic.twitter.com/3e3TL9ZqpH

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 20, 2023

The Song of Nedarim

 

Watch Al Gore Un-hinged ... To think that he almost made it to the Presidency

 

Is Al Gore okay? pic.twitter.com/qhSmzgMvz2

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 19, 2023

Zera Shimshon Parshas Ve'Eirah

 

The unhinged reaction to the new Israeli government

 

The unhinged reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government represents a crisis for the Jewish people both in Israel and in the Diaspora.

This crisis is not principally over the divisions that have obviously opened up within the Jewish world. It is over the fact that so many Israelis and Diaspora Jews have now shown that they have only the shallowest understanding of what being the Jewish people actually means.

The histrionics of this reaction defy belief. Words and phrases like “criminal,” “authoritarian,” “morally corrupt” and “fascist” are being bandied about to describe the new government, even though it has done nothing criminal, authoritarian, corrupt or fascist. Indeed, it has hardly done anything at all yet, since it only came into existence three weeks ago.

One of the most imbecilic poses being struck, by no less than former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, among others, is telling the public to overturn the government to save Israeli democracy. But the only people threatening democracy are those inciting civil war to overturn a government that has been democratically elected by the people.

Boruch Taub and Binyamin Chafetz both residents of Cleveland, tragically killed in plane crash near the Westchester County Airport

 

The Jewish community in Cleveland was plunged into mourning Thursday night as word spread of a horrific tragedy which took the lives of two of its well-known Baalei Chesed.

Boruch Taub Z”L and Binyamin Chafetz Z”L, both residents of Cleveland, were tragically killed in a plane crash near the Westchester County Airport

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, a Beechcraft A36 being piloted by Boruch Taub Z”L reported engine troubles at about 5:25pm local time when it was about one mile from the Westchester County Airport. A call was then made to report low oil pressure and an emergency was declared a few minutes later. A “MAYDAY” was heard over air traffic control minutes later, after which no contact was made with the aircraft.

The plane had departed from JFK Airport to Cuyahoga County Airport in Richmond Heights, Ohio and had diverted to Westchester County Airport to attempt an emergency landing, but sadly never made it there.

Search and rescue teams combed the area for hours, locating the wreckage just before 11:00pm. Sources say that the plane was found in the trees on a small island on a reservoir just near Westchester County Airport.

Misaskim and Rockland Chaveirim were on the scene around an hour after the incident, and are working closely with NTSB and other Federal, State and Local authorities to ensure proper Kavod Hames.

IDF Soldiers Throws Italian Activist "klavta" Over His soldier and Israel then deports her

 

 Israel deported an Italian activist to Italy after security forces detained her during a raid in the West Bank, Israeli authorities said Tuesday, accusing her of having links to a Palestinian militant group.

The Israeli military arrested Stefania Costantini during a pre-dawn incursion Monday into the the Dheisha refugee camp in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.

Footage shared on social media shows an Israeli soldier picking up Costantini and flipping her over his shoulders as she shrieks. A group of soldiers drag her out of the camp and shove her into a military vehicle, videos show.

Italian media described Costantini as an advocate for Palestinian rights. Israel’s Shin Bet security service said Costantini was arrested on suspicion of belonging to, and transferring funds to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The militant group, known as the PFLP, was involved in hijacking passenger planes in the 1960s and 1970s and later claimed responsibility for suicide attacks during the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising, in the early 2000s. It is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

The Shin Bet said Costantini arrived in Israel on May 2 last year on a tourist visa and was summoned for interrogation last September about her alleged involvement with the PFLP. Costantini did not report to authorities “and even continued her activities” for the militant group, the security agency said. Israel deported her on Monday afternoon, the Interior Ministry said.

The COBAS leftist labor union in Pisa, Italy, to which Costantini belongs, expressed “consternation” at the news of her arrest and deportation. The union said it was concerned for Costantini’s “health and safety.”

The group described Costantini as a specialist working with students with disabilities who has long sought to defend “those whose rights are denied.” Several months ago, the group said, Costantini left her life in Italy and moved to a Palestinian refugee camp. It made no mention of the Israeli security agency’s allegations.

The Italian consulate in Jerusalem did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Israeli and Italian foreign ministries also did not comment.

But on Monday, the day of Costantini’s deportation, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen wrote on Twitter that he held a phone conversation with his Italian counterpart. The readout of the call focused on the countries’ joint efforts to “fight terrorism” and boost their “political cooperation.” It made no mention of Costantini’s case.

Israel has stepped up its fight in recent years against Palestinian activists and rights groups. Last summer, the Israeli military raided and shuttered the offices of Palestinian human rights organizations that it designated as terrorist groups over their alleged links to the PFLP. Nine European countries rejected Israel’s charges against the rights groups, citing a lack of evidence.

Rosh Yeshivas Son Puts on Tefillin After His Father's Response to a Lady Goes Viral

 

 Just last week we posted a video that went viral about a Rosh Yeshiva admitting that is own son wasn't wearing tefillin. Now his son put on tefilin in response1

A truly amazing story took place this past Shabbos in Cleveland, during a special community weekend of Chizuk spent with the Mir Yeshiva of Eretz Yisrael.

A local community member related the following story on a video which was posted to Twitter: On Shabbos, a certain Russian Baalas Teshuva whose son is currently studying in the Mir in Eretz Yisrael approached one of the Mirrer Roshei Yeshiva who was there for Shabbos, and expressed her gratitude about the fact that her son is the first person in her family to wear Tefillin in 150 years.

The Rosh Yeshiva replied, “Please give me a bracha, because my own son does not wear Tefillin, please give a bracha that he resumes wearing Tefillin.”

This story alone is truly inspiring, especially observing the humility and sincerity of the Rosh Yeshiva. However the story does not end there.

The son of the Rosh Yeshiva was informed about the story of the Russian mother, and was apparently so moved and inspired, he put on Tefillin and said Shema, and recorded it.

In a video, he said “For the woman in Cleveland, the story moved me, I’m the son of the Rosh Yeshiva and this is for you.”

A woman asked for a bracha from a major rabbi whose son started wearing tefillin.

Rabbi turned around and asked her for a bracha for *his* son that stopped wearing tefillin.

Now that Rabbi’s son shared his own video.

The original video That Rabbi’s Son pic.twitter.com/d0mObVXhMD

— David/Dovid Bashevkin (@DBashIdeas) January 18, 2023

Leah Hochhauser Chained for years to a man she considered abusive; her final wish was to dissolve the marital bond. She died trying.

 

by Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll 

Leah’s nightmare was to die an agunah, denied a Jewish bill of divorce, chained to the man who she said abused her for decades.

Leah was born to a Hasidic family in Stamford Hill, London. Of her upbringing, she said, “From when I was tiny, the only thing that was ever ingrained in me was that my goal in life was to get married and have children. So much so that when I wanted to study for an exam or do something that wasn’t compulsory, I was told, ‘You don’t need this to check Pampers.’”

Leah married, had six children, and lived for years with what she described as emotional manipulation and psychological abuse. “He never told me no, she said. But he would say things like, ‘The dress you made, it’s not even nice, I don’t know why you’re wearing it. Why are you going out with those weird ladies they’re not really your friends. Why do you listen to that horrid music?’ Slowly, slowly, he chipped away at my confidence. So you stop listening to the music, you stop buying the clothes, you stop going out…But if you ask him he’ll tell you, ‘I never told her she couldn’t…’”

Leah reached out for help. Her rebbe told her to give it another try. A rebbetzin she asked for help said she should “be glad he didn’t hit you.”

UN demands that Israel restore terror funds to PA

 

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan blasted Tuesday a letter signed by over 90 United Nations member states, demanding the "immediate" reversal of Israel's punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority.

The UN General Assembly late last month approved a resolution initiated by Ramallah calling on the ICJ to "render urgently an advisory opinion" on what it called was Israel's "prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of Palestinian territory."

The Israeli Diplomatic-Security Cabinet called the move ongoing "political and legal war" and decided, among other measures, to withhold taxes and tariffs collected on behalf of and transferred to the PA, in an amount equal to that which Ramallah paid to terrorists and their families in 2022 under its infamous "pay-for-slay" policy.

The letter was signed by representatives of the Arab and Islamic countries, including Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, along with Western and other nations such as Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Cyprus, Japan, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.

"Regardless of each country's position on the resolution, we reject punitive measures in response to a request for an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, and more broadly in response to a General Assembly resolution, and call for their immediate reversal," the letter states.

In parallel, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he "notes with deep concern the recent Israeli measures against the Palestinian Authority," adding that there should "be no retaliation… in relation to the International Court of Justice."

In line with the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet decision, Jerusalem last week transferred 138.8 million shekels ($39.5 million) of revenues collected for the PA to Israeli victims of terrorism and their families.

At a press conference, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, "We promised to fix this, and today we are correcting an injustice. This is an important day for morality, for justice and for the fight against terrorism. There is no greater justice than offsetting the funds of the Authority, which acts to support terrorism, and transferring them to the families of the victims of terrorism."

For his part, PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said the punitive measures would "promptly lead to [the PA's] collapse." In an interview with Haaretz, Shtayyeh described the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet decision as "another nail in the Palestinian Authority's coffin, unless there is immediate intervention by the international community, namely the [Biden] administration in Washington and Arab countries."

He added, "Previous Israeli governments worked to eliminate the two-state solution, and the current government is fighting the Palestinian Authority itself."

US State Department spokesman Ned Price described the step aimed at curbing and punishing Palestinian terrorism as a "unilateral move" that "exacerbates tensions."

The PA pays monthly stipends to Palestinians, and/or their families, for carrying out terrorist attacks against Israel. In 2021, the PA paid out an estimated 512 million shekels ($157 million) as part of this "pay for slay" policy.

Watch How Arabs Use Chareidim in Their War Against Israel

 

QUNTS love these Jews. Not only do they burn the ‘Israel’ flag and talk of its destruction, but they also share our thoughts on Zionist media control and haram-osexuality. Plus they look like proper Jews from cartoons, which makes them more useful to us. pic.twitter.com/MLWRVwjqDu

— Qunts News Network (@QuntsNews) January 17, 2023

Supreme Court rules against Deri – will Netanyahu gov’t fall?

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would remove Interior Minister Aryeh Deri from his position should the Supreme Court rule that he cannot serve in the role due to his recent criminal conviction, Israel Hayom reported Wednesday.

At 4 p.m. Wednesday, the court issued its bombshell ruling – against Deri.

Deri has publicly said that he would not comply with a ruling ordering him to step down, and would refuse to resign from his position should the court say he cannot continue as a minister.

Netanyahu must now decide whether to remove Deri from his cabinet or act in direct contravention to the Supreme Court.

“The Prime Minister will express his opposition, but in the end will fire Deri,” a source close to Netanyahu told Israel Hayom.

The source added that the premier will use the ruling as an example of judicial overreach, presumably to strengthen Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s proposed overhaul of the legal system.

“We are in the midst of a major struggle, and here is an opportunity to show people who still don’t think that we need the… reforms how wrong they are,” the source said.

In a defiant interview hours after the Israel Hayom report, Shas MK Yaakov Mergi said that Deri’s removal from power could spark a major coalition crisis and the possible collapse of the government.

“If Deri is not a minister in the government, there is no government,” Mergi told radio station Kan Reshet Bet.

Mergi added that Shas’ council of rabbinical sages, which shapes the ultra-Orthodox party’s policies and agenda, would order that Shas quit the coalition if Deri cannot serve in a ministerial position.

On Tuesday, Shas MK Avraham Bezalel said that Supreme Court justices would be “shooting themselves in the head” should they rule against Deri.

In 2000, Deri was convicted of accepting some $155,000 in bribes while serving as Interior Minister. He was imprisoned for nearly two years.

In January 2022, Deri was given a one-year suspended prison sentence and a $53,000 fine in exchange for accepting a plea bargain for criminal tax evasion charges.

As part of the deal, Deri agreed to resign from the Knesset. At the time, he was serving as an MK in the Opposition.