Porush Receives Authority Over Meron .. Forget about safety

 

It's all over folks, after this massive tragedy in Meron, you would think that the government would hand over all safety issues at Meron to someone responsible! The government that runs all of the safety issues at the Kotel, Kever Rachel, Mearas Ha'machpeilah does a fantastic job. Meron until the tragedy was tun by the different Chareidie factions and everyone warned them that this was a tragedy waiting to happen, and unfortunately they were all on the money. 

Now with this political hack running the show ($$$$$$$$$$$$) I advise people to stay home on Lag Be'omer or instead go up to the Har Habayis or at least to the Kotel! That's if you value your life!

Jerusalem and Heritage Minister Meir Porush on Sunday withdrew his resignation from his position as the minister responsible for the Meron event, less than a week after he announced he is resigning after it became clear that his authority over the event was being challenged by officials from the Religious Services Ministry and the Center for Holy Places.

The move came after the government’s weekly Cabinet meeting, at which Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s proposal to transfer all powers for the production of the Meron event to Porush was approved.

Following the meeting, a joint statement from Porush and Netanyahu stated: “Minister Porush informed Prime Minister Netanyahu that the letter of resignation from the responsibility of the Meron event 2023 that he submitted to the prime minister last week is revoked, and in light of receiving the necessary powers, he will continue to bear responsibility for the event in the coming year.”

Porush said: “I thank the prime minister for his quick intervention and significant activities in recent days in order to bring about an immediate solution to the crisis and work toward the success of the Lag B’Omer event at Meron.

“I revoke my resignation notice, and intend to continue what I already started with the project manager Yossi Deitch – to do the maximum to improve the event for the sake of preserving the tradition for hundreds of years, subject to the safety instructions.”

Netanyahu stated: “I want to commend Minister Porush for taking on the responsibility of carrying out a safe and happy Lag B’Omer event and the implementation of the recommendations of the state commission of inquiry into the Meron disaster.

“Porush’s success is a shared mission of the entire government and I am instructing the relevant parties to cooperate and assist him.”

Defense Minister Yoav Galant extends detentions of two Jews of being involved in an incident in Huwara, despite the court ordering their release.

 

Adi Keidar

We spoke with Atty. Adi Keidar from the Honenu legal advocacy group, who is representing the detainees, tells Israel National News that the incident is passing under the radar since "the media is completely enlisted to the (anti-judicial reform) protests."

Last week, after a Palestinian Arab murdered two young Jewish brothers in the Huwara, Jews descended on the town to protest the murder. During the ensuing confrontation, several vehicles and structures were set alight, and participants on both sides were injured.

Keidar states: "We received administrative orders for two young friends, one a minor, who allegedly where involved in the Huwara incidents, and there isn't a bit of evidence that can bring them to a criminal trial, the Defense Minister, based on info which we claim is false and biased, decided to administratively detain them for four months. Punishment and detention without trial and without any ability to defend themselves. That's what's happening with this unfortunate situation.s:

Regarding the claim that the information on which the arrest was based was false, Keidar says, "We know that our clients, even if there's proof that they were at the scene, there were hundreds of people there, and they were not connected to the severe events that they are being accused of. The one that needs to answer is the Shin-Bet, which admits that it doesn't have real concrete and criminal evidence but that the things are based on things said by those who collaborate with the Shin-Bet. These can be Huwara residents or others, but it's clear that the credibility of the info is close to nonexistent. If the info was public, they could look into it and see that it's false, or they would put them on criminal trial, and we could defend them. The current situation is both unbearable and not just under the circumstances. To give the Americans a treat at the expense of the detainees."

According to Keidar, at best, the detainees could have been sent to house arrest as a mitigated punishment, but the decision to send them to detention at a detention center, despite the court's decision to release them. "Their conditions are bad, they're cut off, and so on, its a complex and unnecessary situation," says Keidar, who adds that the district court, where a discussion was held on Sunday regarding the detainees, is authorized to approve the order and is set to make a decision on it on Monday.

"We questioned the Shin-Bet's expert to get information out of him, we expressed our opinion, and we hope the court will listen and rule that the order is unjust and cancel it or shorten it," concludes Keidar.

Former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg a Frum Jew Says that the murdered Yaniv Brothers are "nor My Brothers" His Sympathies Lie with Huwara!

 

Former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg said that he has more sympathy for the residents of the Arab village of Huwara than for the Jewish community of Har Bracha following the murder of two Har Bracha residents in Huwara a week ago and the subsequent riot in Huwara by a group of Jews.

"It is not wise to sympathize with the people on Har Bracha - it is wise to sympathize with the victims in Huwara," Burg told 103FM Radio. He added that "Har Bracha should be evacuated. It cannot be allowed to remain."

Burg was filmed confronting police on Friday when he attempted to enter Huwara to demonstrate his solidarity with the residents of the Arab village. He has not visited the family of Hallel and Yagel Yaniv, the Jewish brothers who were murdered in Huwara last Sunday.

While he said that he feels bad for the Yaniv family, which lost two sons and brothers, he asked: "Do I have to go therein person and express my grief? The answer is no."

"They are not my brothers, I don't have genetic brothers, I have brothers in terms of ideology," he claimed.

In a video posted on social media on Friday, Burg is seen attempting to advance toward Huwara, but he is blocked by the Border Police officers who push him to the ground.

The editor of the haredi newspaper Mishpacha, Yossi Elitov, said in response to Burg's actions: "As the sage Rashi says, when our people fall, try fall as low as possible."

The Border Police stated: "The forces acted properly and with the sensitivity required to carry out their complex mission, we expect cooperation and listening to the security forces [from the public and public officials] in every mission - especially during these days."

Burg served as Speaker of the Knesset for the Labor Party from 1999-2003. In 2011, he declared himself to be 'post-Zionist, and has compared the State of Israel to Nazi Germany, most notably is his book 'Defeating Hitler.'

YaYa Fink A Frum Jew Raises Half Million Dollars for Terrorists

 

The mother of two young brothers killed in a terror attack this week has criticized a crowdfunding campaign seeking donations for Huwara, the village where the shooting occurred, after rampaging settlers set fire to numerous cars and buildings in response.

Labor party member Yaya Fink launched the online crowdfunding campaign the morning after Sunday night’s riot in which a 37-year-old Palestinian man was killed, some 300 were wounded — four of them seriously — and dozens of buildings and vehicles were torched.

The riot came hours after the brothers, Hallel Yaniv, 21, and Yagel Yaniv, 19, were killed in a terror shooting in Huwara. Their killer has not yet been caught.

“I get up every morning looking out at the village of murderers Huwara, where the murderer of my sons is walking around,” Esti Yaniv said in a video posted online Thursday. “The village of murderers, where treats were handed out [to celebrate the murder].”

She said she was “horrified” by the crowdfunding effort, “a backward campaign for the people who handed out baklavas after the murder of my children.”

“Faced with this campaign of darkness, we’ve come with a campaign to bring light,” she added.

Fink said he was driven to act after seeing the “horrifying” footage from the rampage, which showed yarmulke-wearing Jewish perpetrators gathering for an evening prayer quorum in front of Huwara buildings engulfed in flames.

“As a religious Jew myself… I felt that I could not be silent under such circumstances,” Fink said. “They’re creating a warped new Judaism and bearing the name of the true one in vain.”

Asked how he planned to transfer the money to Huwara residents, Fink said he was getting in touch with community leaders in Huwara using former Israeli security officials as conduits and speculated that it would take roughly three weeks to identify the exact families whose homes and businesses were vandalized. Background checks will also be conducted to ensure that none of the money reaches Palestinians with a history of security offenses.

Hundreds of Israelis sent him threatening messages for launching the initiative, but Fink said the thousands who decided to donate offered “a bit of optimism amid a difficult period when the news is filled with extremists, the terrorists and the arsonists.”

The Left in Israel Calling "For Blood & Violence"

 

The publicist Yehonatan Geffen, who has been a columnist in Yediot Achranot for many years, shamelessly called for murderous violence against supporters of the current government, calling on opposition leader Yair Lapid to “take off his gloves.”

Geffen dedicated his last column, published on Thursday, to Lapid: “We’ve been close friends for over 40 years. In our strong and long-standing friendship, we have an unwritten contract not to talk about politics.”

Referring to the protests against the judicial reform, he wrote: “Yair Lapid, as a professional boxer, I’m asking you, in these terrible days – please take off your gloves and hit them mercilessly, even below the belt. A back right, a blow to the chin, and a deadly knockout.”

“No more Mr. Nice Guy. Don’t be prime minister but be tough, even violent. Don’t be afraid, my friend Yair. I have no doubt that we will restore justice and democracy and defeat the forces of pervasive evil. Hate will be replaced by love.”

Israel Nobel Prize Winner: ‘I’m Deathly Scared Of Charedim, They’re Against Education And Work’

 

חתן פרס נובל לכימיה פרופ' דן שכטמן ל-@LiorKenan בשבתרבות באר-שבע: "ישראל בגלל הדמוגרפיה הולכת בכיוון לא טוב. הזרם האנושי שמתרבה במהירות הולכים ומתרבים ואלה אנשים שהם נגד חינוך, נגד השכלה ונגד עבודה ויושבים על העטינים וחולבים את מדינת ישראל" pic.twitter.com/lZsvRme7p0

— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) March 4, 2023

 During an interview at a cultural event on Shabbat in Beersheva, Professor Dan Shachtman, An Israeli nobel laureate in chemistry, blasted the chareidi public in Israel, using harsh language to describe them.

“They are sitting on the udders and milking the State of Israel,” Prof. Shachtman said. “I am deathly scared of the chareidim. Israel due to its demography is going in a negative direction.”

Speaking to journalist Lior Kenan, Shachtman said that he is not worried about Iran as he believes the Ayatollahs’ reign will end and the country will become a thriving democracy. However Israel has “one faction which is growing swiftly, “blessed with children thank G-d” [the professor stressed this scornfully] and continuously increasing. These are people who are against education, against enlightenment, against work.”

When asked by the interviewer whether he wasn’t making a sweeping generalization, Shachtman insisted that he was not generalizing.

He added that “we as a democracy will continue to deteriorate. In future it will be impossible to establish a coalition without the chareidim. Now it is still possible to rectify, I hope that the politicians sitting in Jerusalem will be able to overcome this problem.”

Responses to Shachtman stressed his “autoantisemitism”  as well as his distortion of the facts: Chareidi woman are almost all employed and over 50% of chareidi men work. Journalist Yishai Cohen simply brought a picture from Shachtman’s abortive attempt to stand for Israeli president (he received just one vote) when he visited chareidi rabbis to canvass support. Cohen wrote that “then he didn’t seem so scared of chareidim.”

US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides Threatens Smotrich with death stating that He Would “throw him out of the plane” to Washington

US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides slammed Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Friday in a fiery statement calling him “stupid” and threatened he would “throw him out of the plane” to Washington, according to a report Friday in the Hebrew-language edition of Israel Hayom, quoting a report by Israel’s Channel 12 News.

The condemnation came in response to words by the Finance Minister earlier this week in which he liked a tweet in which Davidi Ben Zion, deputy head of the Samaria regional council, said the terrorist hotbed town of Huwara “a village that should be wiped out.”

“To avoid all doubt: in my words I did not mean to wipe out the village of Huwara, but only to act in a targeted manner against the terrorists and supporters of terrorism within the town and to exact a heavy price from them in order to restore security to the residents of the area,” he wrote in a tweet.

The harsh words followed the execution-style murders of two Israeli brothers by a terrorist who shot them at point-blank range as their vehicle stood in traffic in the center of Huwara.

Dozens of local Jewish residents flooded into Huwara after the murders, and torched homes and local businesses.

It is not the first time Jews have been attacked in Huwara, which they are forced to drive through when traveling to and from Samaria, because there is no bypass road that allows them to avoid the town.

Smotrich called on Jewish residents in the region to to “let the government do its job” and not to take the law into their own hands.

Watch the lying Media insist COVID originating in Wuhan lab was ‘conspiracy theory’ >>> Trump Right Again!

 

Darius inscription shard isn’t authentic ..."Venehepach Hu"

 

The Israel Antiquities Authority said Friday that an ancient shard bearing the name of the Persian king Darius the Great that was announced this week to much fanfare was “not authentic.”

In the Wednesday announcement, the authority said the fragment found by a hiker in Israel’s Judean lowlands region was the first discovery of an inscription bearing the name of Darius I anywhere in Israel.

Darius was the father of King Ahaseurus, widely considered the biblical Achashverosh from the story of Purim, which Jews will celebrate next week. Archeological groups in Israel have a habit of announcing finds connected to Jewish festivals close to the dates of the celebrations.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said Friday that an ancient shard bearing the name of the Persian king Darius the Great that was announced this week to much fanfare was “not authentic.”

In the Wednesday announcement, the authority said the fragment found by a hiker in Israel’s Judean lowlands region was the first discovery of an inscription bearing the name of Darius I anywhere in Israel.

Darius was the father of King Ahaseurus, widely considered the biblical Achashverosh from the story of Purim, which Jews will celebrate next week. Archeological groups in Israel have a habit of announcing finds connected to Jewish festivals close to the dates of the celebrations.

The site of the find, the ancient city of Lachish, was a prosperous city and a major administrative hub 2,500 years ago. The inscription was believed to be a receipt for goods received or shipped.

The ostracon, a potsherd that was used as a writing surface, bears an Aramaic inscription that reads “Year 24 of Darius,” which would have dated it to 498 BCE.

However, on Friday, the IAA said that following the publication of the find they were approached by an expert who participated in an excavation expedition last August, who informed the authority that she had created the inscription “while demonstrating to a group of students the manner in which sherds were inscribed in ancient times.”

“She then left the sherd on the site, which led to the erroneous identification. She was questioned and said this was done unintentionally and without malice,” the statement said.

“The IAA takes full responsibility for the unfortunate event,” said Prof. Gideon Avni, the antiquities authority’s chief scientist, who noted the piece had been examined by two leading researchers.

“As an institution that strives for the scientific truth, we are committed to correcting the mistake that was made and making it known to the public,” he said.

“In terms of ethical and scientific practices, we see this as a very severe occurrence. Leaving the newly inscribed sherd on the site was careless, and led to the mistake done by the researchers and distorted the scientific truth,” Avni said.

“This once again proves that only finds discovered in controlled archaeological excavations should be considered 100% authentic. All other finds should raise questions regarding their authenticity,” he said.

Avni said the incident highlighted the problem of identifying new inscriptions on ancient finds and said the incident “will refresh proper procedures and policies with all foreign expeditions working in the country.”

Darius I reigned from 522–486 BCE, during which time the Persian Achaemenid Empire grew rapidly to encompass a large swath of the ancient world. But no written evidence of Darius’ reign has ever been found in Israel.

The hiker who found the shard, Eylon Levy, international media adviser to President Isaac Herzog, was strolling in Tel Lachish in central Israel last December when he picked up a stone that seemed to have strange markings on it. When he looked closer, he saw that it was a piece of pottery with scratches that could be writing.

Levy found the ostracon in the remains of the Persian royal administration building at Tel Lachish, which was first excavated in 1930 and has hosted hundreds of archaeologists through the decades.

“Funnily enough, [the potsherd] was right there, directly next to the wooden pergola that had been built for the visitors,” Levy told The Times of Israel last week after being informed by the IAA that it was authentic. “It was right there, right under everyone’s noses this whole time.”

Tel Lachish hosts tens of thousands of visitors each year, and a new visitor’s center is expected to open in the coming months.

Melanie Lidman contributed to this report

Before the internet and before Leiby Kletzky there was a MURDER in 1986. The largest cover-up perpetrated by frum jews in the 20th century. The murderer is still free. WHY?

 

I have been in touch with Chaim's classmates in the last 24 hours, and if we keep up this momentum, we will be able to finally resolve this atrocity! (See side bar on the case)

The classmates have formed a chat and are anxious to get to the bottom of this. 

We need anyone who knows anything even if you think it is "nothing" to come forward, it might actually be part of a puzzle. 

We are also looking for Chaim's fellow summer campers, some believe that his last camp experience may very well be crucial to the case.

We are looking for people who can pressure Rabbi Avraham Cooper, who lives in Lakewood, to talk about his last private conversation with Chaim z"l, even though Cooper is elderly, he must talk and talk now. Asking people from Lakewood to give us info where Creepy Cooper davens. 

To my women readers: 

You are all, hopefully, mothers, and I'm asking you to find it in your hearts to help your sister, also a mother, who had her son brutally murdered. As mothers you can break this wall of silence. If your husband learned in Long Beach and is in his 50s, he may know something. If he went to camp with Chaim, Chaim may have confided with him some of his fears. 

This week will be Parshas Zachor! 

We must also remember that a Jewish child whose name means "life" was never given the chance to be a father. Was never given the opportunity to be a star amongst his Jewish brothers and sisters, but instead his neshama was mercilessly snuffed out by a murderer who is still enjoying his life!

For those familiar with the case, just know, the polish janitor has been ruled out of the equation. Also ruled out is the theory that it was an antisemitic incident! Also ruled out was robbery. 

All now agree that it was an inside job, perpetrated by a fellow classmate or a staff member. 

Meaning that this was done by a "Shomer Torah Umitzvois!. 

He must face justice, no matter his age, how big his beard is, or how big of a family he has or how long ago this happened! 

Please email dusiznies@aol.com 

Zera Shimshon Parshas Tezaveh

 

Councilman Ari Kagan who ditched Democrats punished by NYC Council speaker

 

The Democratic leader of the City Council is punishing Brooklyn Councilman Ari Kagan for switching to the Republican Party — stripping him of his committee chairmanship and relegating him to a smaller office, The Post has learned.

Kagan said Council Speaker Adrienne Adams was behind the decision to remove him as chair of the panel on resiliency and waterfront after he announced in December he’d ditched the Democrats over their far left, soft-on-crime policies despised by many of his pro-law and order constituents in southern Brooklyn.

“It shows pettiness! Nothing is happening in the New York City Council without permission from the Speaker. It’s the Speaker’s decision of course,” Kagan told The Post.

Kagan said he was also removed from the committees on land use, finance, housing and buildings — and that a resiliency and waterfront panel he headed was disbanded and merged with the environmental protection committee.

He was reassigned to other committees: fire prevention & management, technology and veterans affairs. 

Frum Father, 2 Young Sons Killed in Phoenix Home Fire

 

A frum father and two of his sons were tragically taken from us in a late-night residential home fire near 35th and Northern avenues in Phoenix on Wednesday night.

The victims were identified as Shimon Boyer z”l, 7-year-old Dov Ber z”l, and 8-year-old Nachman z”l.

Firefighters arrived at the scene to find the townhome filled with smoke and flames emanating from the windows. After extinguishing the fire, they discovered Shimon and four children during their search of the condo.

Shimon z”l was declared deceased at the scene, and three boys and one girl found by firefighters were rushed to a nearby children’s hospital in critical condition. Sadly, Dov Ber and Nachman passed away at the hospital, while the other two remain in critical condition, aged between 5 and 12.

Firefighters found no indication that the fire was intentionally set, and the Phoenix Police Department has taken over the investigation.

Please daven for Tamar Tzadika bas Yael Miriam and Shevach Tzion Yisroel ben Yael Miriam b’soch she’ar cholei Yisroel.

Listen to the Eulogy by parents of the murdered Elan Ganeles

 

🕯Funeral of #Elan Ganeles.🕯
The world lost a beautiful soul this week to a senseless act of #Palestinian #terrorism.

May Elan's memory forever be a blessing.🕯 pic.twitter.com/FRg1TISghx

— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) March 2, 2023

The demonstrators are a minority, even if they bring their children with them.You lost the election, come to terms with it

 

Curiouser and curiouser. The vocal media is concentrating on photos of the losing side of the election in Tel Aviv. Such a display is similar to that in Washington when Trump lost, and how they marched on the elected symbol of power.

But this is Israel. We don’t see the northern and southern cities and towns turned upside down in protest as in America. In fact they are the ones who voted the current government in. They have years of frustration to settle and settle it they did – in the ballot box.

So what if a few hundred thousand demonstrate and keep on clogging up the streets in Tel Aviv, then bus to Jerusalem to continue their protest. The statistics show that millions, not hundreds of thousands voted right.

The demonstrators are a minority, even if they bring their children with them.

A young man was asked what he was doing in the middle of the demonstration as he obviously belonged to what is called the Second Israel (you know, those religious and the Sephardic Jews, second rate all). “Selling them bagels” was his reply. Good for him!

The past has gone, that past wherein people in power in the highest echelons of the army, the top judiciary, the academia, media, public service and wherever one needed to get anywhere : these people gave preferential treatment to their own. They are the ones standing up and leading the mob who are in the streets.

The disenfranchised, three generations after being disadvantaged now are well-educated, financially stable, have representation in the Knesset and do not live in tents or huts as they did in the old days when they were treated badly. They are equals in a democracy, voting as is their right and now, even with all of the big words and the allegations that this is not going to be a democracy, they can and will change the face of the nation to be a fairer and more Jewish nation.

What is the real fear of the Left? It is called demographics. The numbers are stacked up against them.

Whoever is not Leftist belongs to the future majority of Israel. Mothers who have six children together with mothers who have three or four are either religious of some stripe or Mizrachi. The Leftists were more interested in other pursuits, ending up with less children per family. To put it simply, the Left (generally) does not aspire to the values of the Right. That Right, secular or religious, respects Judaism, Shabbat observance, study of Torah, belief in G-d, ownership of the Land of Israel and a lot more.

The Leftists are terrified that in the near future their numbers will never be able to be represented as a majority in the Knesset. That is what all of this noise is all about.

Leonie Ben-Simon

What Happened With the "Re-Opened Case" of the Murdered Chaim Weiss ?

 

The above video, reporting the re-opening of the case was 10 years ago!

Within the last 48 hours I have been in touch with people who have some knowledge with this case. And they believe that it was an inside job. 

Many suspect that the killer was known to Chaim a"h  and may be living in Israel. He should be in his 50s. Some suggested that the killer has since married and divorced. If that is in fact true then he has an ex-wife, who may know something. So if there is divorced lady out there that was married to a Long Beach alumnus that is in his 50s please contact us.  If he did move to Israel and made Aliyah, then he could have changed his name at that time, making it harder to track him down, but his ex would have his updated information.

The people who got in touch with me actually named an individual that they suspect is the killer, who was a student there at the time. This individual in fact did marry and did get divorced and did move to Israel.

I am asking former classmates, especially former campers or staff members to contact me at 

dusiznies@aol.com

The parents are getting older and need closure.

I also need more information on the principal Rabbi Avram Cooper who moved to Lakewood, and is retired, he for sure knows a lot but refused to talk to a reporter in 2017.

Here is a link for more interesting tidbits about this tragic case:

 

Exclusive: Dad of 15-year-old killed in LI Yeshiva dorm haunted by mysterious events leading up to 1986 murder | PIX11

Someone did blog about the case, read the very hair-raising comments on that post 

33 years ago, Chaim Weiss was found murdered in his dormitory bedroom. : UnresolvedMysteries (reddit.com)

Below find video explaining why the killer must have been a frum Jew and maybe even a student. 

 

Just in Time for Purim 2,500-year-old potshard bearing name of King Ahasuerus' father found in central Israel.

 

In December 2022, Eylon Levy, international media advisor to the President of the State of Israel Isaac Herzog, and his friend Yakov Ashkenazi, visited the Tel Lachish National Park and chanced on a small potsherd with some inscribed letters.

When they reported it to the Israel Antiquities Authority, the ostracon was examined in the advanced Analytical Laboratory and studied by Saar Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Dr. Haggai Misgav of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

To their astonishment, it turned out to be a rare find furnishing evidence for the Persian royal administration at Lachish in the Achaemenid period, at the turn of the fifth century BCE.

The Aramaic inscription on the fired potsherd reads “Year 24 of Darius,” dating it to 498 BCE. The short text thus records the name of the Persian king Darius the Great (Darius I), the father of Ahasuerus—also known as the biblical Achashverosh from the Book of Esther, which is read annually on the Jewish festival of Purim.

This is the first discovery of an inscription bearing Darius the Great's name anywhere in the Land of Israel.

The "Healthy Jew" Opens Whatsapp group

 

The Healthy Jew has opened a Whastapp group! See below for more info and the links

You Are How Much You Eat

In his code of Jewish law and thought, Maimonides devoted an entire chapter of The Laws of Character Traits to healthy lifestyle instructions. Choosing health, he began, “is from the ways of God - because when one is sick it’s impossible to understand or know anything about the Creator.” “The ways of God” isn’t a generic Maimonidean stamp of approval; the term refers to the biblical commandment to balance every character trait according to the mind’s guidance. In The Healthy Jew’s debut column, we learned how entering humanity requires employing the mind to guide the body toward health - so healthy choices obviously play a critical role in emulating God’s ways. This central principle deserves careful contemplation. (I’m currently working on a deep-dive series on the topic. Stay tuned.) Today, however, I want to jump straight into Maimonides’ instructions. Let’s be Walkers, not just Talkers. This is Maimonides’ first principle of healthy living: A person should never eat unless he’s hungry and shouldn’t drink unless he’s thirsty. Several lines later, he begins advising on diet in detail: A person shouldn’t eat until his stomach is filled but should withhold at around a quarter from fullness. Later on, concluding his advice on nutrition and exercise: Another principle of physical health: if a person exerts himself a lot and isn’t satiated and his bowels are loose, sickness won’t fall on him and his strength will increase, even if he eats bad foods. After adding that overeating is “like poison and is the primary source of all disease,” Maimonides concludes by expounding on Proverbs (21:23): Solomon said in his wisdom, “One who guards his mouth and tongue has guarded himself from troubles.” This refers to guarding his mouth from eating bad foods or satiation, and his tongue from talking more than necessary. Food quantity, Maimonides tells us, is a critical component of healthy living - even more than food quality. (Important caveat: eating disorders like anorexia are possibly far more prevalent today than in the Middle Ages. So it’s particularly vital to take this advice with balance.)

So Trump Was Right Once Again: FBI director accuses China of trying to 'thwart and obfuscate' Covid origin probe

 

FBI Director Chris Wray said Tuesday that Beijing has stymied efforts by the U.S. and others to investigate the origins of the coronavirus.

In an interview with Fox News, Wray said the FBI believes that Covid probably originated from a "potential lab incident" in Wuhan but that the Chinese government has essentially interfered with its ongoing probe.

"The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray told Fox News host Bret Baier.

“I will just make the observation that the Chinese government, it seems to me, has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that we’re doing, the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing, and that's unfortunate for everybody,” he added.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Energy Department has concluded with “low confidence” that the Covid pandemic “likely” originated from a laboratory leak in Wuhan, according to a classified report delivered to key lawmakers on the House and Senate Intelligence committees.

The lawmakers were briefed on the report last month by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, two sources said Sunday. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Baier noted that the Energy Department had cited the FBI's earlier findings in its report.

A report on the origins of Covid, commissioned by President Joe Biden and released by the National Intelligence Director’s Office in August 2021, showed that one U.S. intelligence agency had assessed with moderate confidence that the virus infected humans after a lab-associated incident; four other agencies assessed with low confidence that the virus emerged naturally. The report did not name the agencies, but intelligence officials have said the FBI was the agency with moderate confidence.

Sources have said the CIA is one of two intelligence agencies that are undecided about the virus's origins.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said earlier Tuesday that China has “always been open and transparent” about Covid.

Mao previously criticized the Energy Department assessment, pointing to a 2021 report by a World Health Organization mission to Wuhan that found it “extremely unlikely” that the virus originated in a lab. The U.S. and other countries have criticized the report, saying China withheld data.

Wray touted the work of FBI investigators in the Fox News interview, noting that they include virologists and microbiologists.

Something good may come out of the rioting after all, and it is not deterring terrorists.

 

There is nothing unexpected in the shocking murder of the two brothers, our so dearly beloved Hillel and Yagel Yaniv. The handwriting was on the wall, written in black letters on the Arab homes in the hornet's nest of Huwara, the hostile Arab village through which thousands of Israelis drivers are forced to travel every single day on their way to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and back again to their homes in Samaria.

US Ambassador Nidescrap takes swipe at Minister Chikli: "An Israeli official that I don’t know"

 

Hey Nides'crap if you don't know the Israeli official, you shouldn't be the ambassador!

US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nidescrap on Tuesday took a swipe at Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, who recently said that Nidescrap should stay out of Israel’s affairs when it comes to the judicial reform being promoted by the government.

“An Israeli official that I don’t know said I should stay out of Israel’s business. I think most Israelis don’t want the US to stay out of Israel’s business,” Nidescrap retorted in comments at the INSS conference.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he added. “We stand with Israel, and we work with Israel. The country is a beautiful democracy and it will continue to be this way.”

Nidesctap’ comments are a response to comments Chikli made in a recent radio interview, after the US Ambassador called on Israeli leaders to “pump the brakes” on the judicial reform.

“I say to the American ambassador, put on the brakes yourself and mind your own business,” Chikli said. “You aren’t sovereign here, to get involved in the matter of judicial reform. We will be happy to discuss foreign and security matters with you. But respect our democracy.”

US President Joe Biden recently weighed in on the judicial reform, in a statement he sent to Thomas Friedman of The New York Times.

“The genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances, on an independent judiciary,” Biden wrote.

“Building consensus for fundamental changes is really important to ensure that the people buy into them so they can be sustained,” the President added.

Vice President Kamala Harris later commented on the judicial reform as well, telling Politico, “As the president has said, an independent judiciary is foundational for a democracy. And I think that there is no question that we need to make sure that that is supported in terms of what we talk about [and] in terms of our values.”

Riots in Huwara condemned by the USA WHY Didn't Israel demand that the US prosecute rioters in Portland in 2021.

 

No doubt, the riots in Huwara must be (and have been) condemned by the Israeli government. But I don’t recall Israel demanding that the US prosecute rioters in, say, Portland in 2021. Not helpful to interfere.https://t.co/UkjS6U24CF via @timesofisrael

— David M Friedman (@DavidM_Friedman) February 28, 2023

  David Friedman, former US Ambassador to Israel under Trump, took a jab at the Biden administration over its insistence that Israel prosecute Jewish settlers who rioted in response to a horrific terror attack.

Friedman, an orthodox Jew and staunch supporter of Israel, tweeted about the administration’s unfair treatment of Israel by demanding it prosecute Jewish protesters. The former Trump official suggested it is an internal matter which Biden should not be involved in, compared it to BLM riots, and said it’s “not helpful to interfere”.

He wrote, “No doubt, the riots in Huwara must be (and have been) condemned by the Israeli government. But I don’t recall Israel demanding that the US prosecute rioters in, say, Portland in 2021. Not helpful to interfere.”

 David Friedman, former US Ambassador to Israel under Trump, took a jab at the Biden administration over its insistence that Israel prosecute Jewish settlers who rioted in response to a horrific terror attack.

Friedman was responding to a statement by the Biden administration that it expects Israel to prosecute those involved in the settler rampage in a Palestinian town and provide compensation to Palestinians whose homes and property were destroyed or damaged.

“We expect the Israeli government to ensure full accountability and legal prosecution of those responsible for these attacks in addition to compensation for the loss of homes and property,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a press briefing, calling the Sunday night protests in the northern West Bank town of Huwara “completely unacceptable.”

The violent protests were in response to a horrific terror attack in which two Israeli brothers HY”D were shot dead while driving through Huwara, the latest in a wave of many deadly and violent Arab terror attacks.

One vocal Jewish community member took a swipe at Friedman’s comments, while appearing to agree with the overall message.

Joel Petlin tweeted, “Former Ambassador @DavidM_Friedman raises an important point about American interference in the internal affairs of a democratic country. The same could also be said about the inappropriate official statements coming from @USAmbIsrael on Israel’s judicial reform legislation.

Petlin did not specify which statements he was referring to, however Friedman has been vocal in recent weeks about Israeli judicial reform, and even penned an op-ed piece about the subject in Israeli media.