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Wednesday, June 5, 2024

House approves bill to sanction ICC officials over arrest warrants for Israelis

 

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation that would sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) for requesting arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, The Associated Press reported.

The 247-155 vote amounts to Congress’ first legislative rebuke of the court since its decision last month to seek arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel and Hamas. The move was widely denounced in Washington.

While the House bill was expected to pass, it failed to attract significant Democratic support, dulling its chances in the Senate.

Both the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee acknowledged the bill in question is unlikely to become law and left the door open to further negotiation with the White House. They said it would be better for Congress to be united against the Hague-based court.

The Biden administration has denounced the ICC decision but has stated that it opposes sanctions against the court.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said in a briefing with reporters last week that sanctions were "not the right answer" to deal with the ICC arrest warrants, adding that the administration opposes that approach.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who spoke after Kirby, reiterated that message and said legislation against the ICC "is not something the administration is going to support."

"Sanctions on the ICC are not an effective or appropriate tool to address US concerns. We will work with Congress on other options to address the ICC overreach," she said.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday reiterated the administration’s opposition to the sanctions bill.

“We have made clear that while we oppose the decision taken by the prosecutor of the ICC, we don’t think it is appropriate, especially while there are ongoing investigations inside Israel looking at somebody’s very same questions, and we were willing to work with Congress on what a response might look like but we don’t support sanctions,” Miller said, according to AP.

Last week, a group of 19 pro-Israel House Democrats wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in which they pushed back on the White House's opposition to impose sanctions against the ICC.

Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Senior Chabad Figure, Passes Away at 74


  Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, a prominent rabbi who oversaw several thousand Chabad-Lubavitch educational institutions, passed away on Tuesday, just days before his 75th birthday.


Rabbi Kotlarsky’s bearded visage was well-known to everyone who attended or watched footage of the annual Kinus Hashluchim, proudly reading off the names of thousands of Chabad emissaries during the “roll call,” a highlight of the massive gathering. In addition to being the director of the Kinus Hashluchim, Rabbi Kotlarsky was the vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch. He traveled the world on behalf of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, pinpointing locations for Chabad sites and becoming known as the public face of Chabad in many foreign.

In 2023, Rabbi Kotlarsky was named to the Algemeiner’s list of top 100 people positively influencing Jewish life. Crown Heights resident Mendy Hershkop recalled Rabbi Kotlarsky for his big heart, his humility and the way he cared for every shaliach as if they were his own children.

“He was really a man who looked ahead,” Hershkop said. “Even in the present, he was able to constantly see the future, and see the future in the present.”

Tributes to Rabbi Kotlarsky poured in on social media.

“The world lost a giant today,” posted Shalom Goodman on X, who credited Rabbi Kotlarsky for having “a major part in building thousands of Jewish communities across the world as the unofficial leader of the Shluchim emissaries of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.”

“If you’ve heard of Chabad, it’s because of Rabbi Kotlarsky’s work,” tweeted journalist Yochonon Donn. “Whenever I called him he was always traveling – in an airport in Kenya, a bus in India, visiting a shaliach in Wisconsin. Truly a giant among men.”

The funeral for Rabbi Kotlarsky will take place tomorrow in Crown Heights. It is expected to pass by Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway at approximately 1 PM, with burial to follow at 2 PM at Old Montefiore Cemetery in Cambria Heights near the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Ohel.

Bus with Bais Yaakov Girls Crashes in NJ 2 Airlifted to Trauma Center


 

 A Monsey Tours bus filled with Bais Yaakov girls from Flatbush crashed into a tree this afternoon in northern New Jersey, with at least five transported to local hospitals.

The accident took place at approximately 3:30 this afternoon on East Shore Road, in West Milford. Hatzalah members from Rockland, New Square and Kiryas Joel both raced to the scene, located near Greenwood Lake. Sources said that two passenger were airlifted to a trauma center, with three more transported to area hospitals with less serious injuries.


Tuesday, June 4, 2024

On the eve of Yom Yerushalayim...


HaRav Dov Lior, a renowned posekis former Rosh Yeshivat Kiriat Arba and Chief Rabbi of Hevron.

On the eve of Yom Yerushalayim, where from my terrace on the Mount of Olives I can see our eternal capital being rebuilt and expanding in all directions, upon all of the hillsides which surround her, I bid you shalom. You have the vital function of spreading Judaism in the lands of our wanderings, lands foreign to our culture and to our souls.

At present there is a great mitzvah to encourage our young people to make Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael and to learn in our yeshivot and universities. For those who seek to deepen and strengthen their Torah studies we have a plethora of outstanding yeshivot, including study programs in English and other languages.

HaRav Yaakov Moshe Harlap, an outstanding student and colleague of Rabbi Kook, taught regarding the verse in Ha’azinu, “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations, ask thy father and he will recount it to thee; ask the elders and they will tell thee,” that every generation has a unique calling and a special mitzvah that accompanies it.

HaRav Harlap also said that the most important mitzvah of the generation is the mitzvah which the nations of the world most oppose. Today, we are witness to the unpleasant reality that the nations most oppose our living in the Land of Israel.

College Idiot Gets History Lesson 101

 

Hysterical!!!! Spain Now Say They Will Not Open Embassy in Ramallah.. Staff Refuses to Live There ..LOL

 

Police Release Helmet-Cam Footage of Them Killing Arab Terrorist in Shechem

 

Israeli Police release helmet-cam footage from its counterterrorism raid in the Balata neighborhood of Nablus (Shechem) yesterday, during which a wanted Arab terrorist was killed and several others were shot.

Conservative Drag Queen educates Queers for Palestine activist

 

Daniel Denan, 65, is considered to be in significant danger after all contact with him was lost on June 2nd.


 A high-risk search is underway in the Afulah region, where a 65-year-old man has been missing since June 2nd.

Daniel Denan disappeared near Afula, and is considered to be in mortal danger due to the extreme heat that has pervaded Israel over the past few days.

The Israel Dog Unit, a nonprofit specializing in working dogs, is leading the search for him with their dogs and a variety of other equipment.

Anyone with information that could lead to his whereabouts is asked to urgently contact the IDU hotline at 0544876709.

Inspiring: Eli and Nava Wolbrom on their physical and spiritual journey back home to Eretz Yisroel.

 

Wake Up People! Nothing is going away if we sit back and relax!

 


"איך האב ציטיהן מיט די נערוין"

Loose Yiddish Translation
"I'm a Nervous Wreck"
(very difficult to translate this Yiddish expression) 

 

Mea culpa, Fetterman: I was wrong about Senator and his illness

 


It’s time for me to do something that pundits seldom do: Flat out admit I was wrong. 

This is a rarity in the commentating world. But boy, was I.

Here goes: I was wrong about Sen. John Fetterman

Writing in The Post on Valentine’s Day in 2023, I opined that Pennsylvania’s new US Senator lacked the mental and physical abilities needed to serve.

According to reports, he couldn’t understand voices, had trouble walking and generally wasn’t up to the job.

The mainstream press rallied to protect him (there was a D next to his name, after all), but even a New York Times puff piece admitted that to Fetterman, voices sounded like the adults in the “Peanuts” cartoons — indecipherable noise — and that his health problems had left him with “physical impairment and serious mental health challenges.”

But that was a rare concession. After NBC’s Dasha Burns interviewed him both live and on camera, she said Fetterman didn’t seem to be able to follow their conversation. 

That revelation got Burns dogpiled by lefty activists and fellow journalists (to the extent there’s a difference nowadays) amid charges of “ableism” and the like. She was denounced on the air by her own network’s Savannah Guthrie and in the pages of the Times.

From all this, I concluded that Fetterman was just going to be a party tool — shepherded around by his staff, told how to vote by handlers, an institutionally pliable vote for the Democratic Party and the leftist activists who control it. 

Basically, a Senate voting machine programmed by the apparatchiks.

Again: Boy, was I wrong.

Fetterman’s health has improved more and faster than expected, and in what may not be a coincidence, the more his brain damage recedes the less he agrees with lefty activists and the Democratic Party’s functionaries.

Speaking at Yeshiva University’s commencement, Fetterman dramatically stripped off his Harvard hood and announced he was “profoundly disappointed” at his alma mater’s refusal to address the antisemitism rampant on its campus, a discontent he extended to the entire antisemitism-enabling Ivy League.

Quoth Fetterman: “As an alum of Harvard — look, I graduated 25 years ago, and of course, it was always a little pinko. But now, I don’t recognize it.”

“The Jewish community everywhere deserves our support,” he added. “And I promise you will always have mine.”

That’s not all. When pro-Palestinian protesters showed up at the senator’s house (no dogpiling in his defense from lefty activists over this) and told him he had “nowhere to hide,” Fetterman defiantly got on his roof with an Israeli flag.

Nor is his off-script behavior limited to Israel. When an environmental activist buttonholed him in a Senate corridor to harangue him about his support for pipeline construction, he pulled out his phone and recorded video of himself mocking her. 

“I’ve talked to Republicans who were more friendly than that,” the activist sniffed afterward.

Fetterman has also broken with the Biden administration’s open-borders policy, taking a strong stand against illegal immigration.  

He’s also disagreed with the White House on energy policy, expressing support for pipelines and liquid natural gas exports.

He’s called Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey a “sleazeball.”

And he’s undercut the Democrats’ lawfare attack on Donald Trump by saying that even as a senator, “I’m not even exactly sure what his trials are about.”

Overall, the progressive press complains, he’s adopted a newly caustic style that doesn’t spare the sacred cows of the left.

This isn’t playing well with Democrats. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose verbal attacks on Republicans are famous, now calls Fetterman a “bully.” 

Fetterman seems unfazed. For the moment he’s still caucusing with the Democrats in the Senate, but there’s nothing to stop him from caucusing with the GOP if Democrats irritate him enough. 

With the Senate divided 51-49, that has to give Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) heartburn.

Is it just a coincidence that Fetterman’s views have shifted to the right as his brain has repaired itself?

I’m going to go out on a limb and say no.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a professor of law at the University of Tennessee and founder of the InstaPundit.com blog.

JUST DAY AFTER! After Israel Asked Clan To Rule Gaza, Hamas Beheaded Its Leader


A secret Israeli plan to persuade a Gazan clan to rule the Gaza Strip after the war abruptly ended after Hamas beheaded its leader, the UK’s Telegraph reported, based on an Israeli intelligence source.

The same source related a similar incident that occurred two months ago when Israel encouraged the Doghmush clan to assist Israel in distributing humanitarian aid. Hamas terrorists promptly entered the clan’s compound and beheaded its leader. The next day, all clans in Gaza made a joint statement announcing their support for Hamas.

The incidents prove the fact that contrary to the pressure exerted by the US on Israel, it’s impossible for the war cabinet to make decisions for the “day after” before Hamas is eliminated.

Bezalel Smotrich Asking His Rabbanim if He Should Leave Netanyahu’s Govt.

 


According to Israeli media reports, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has consulted with rabbis, to discuss whether he should withdraw from PM Netanyahu’s coalition. Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported Monday that over the last day, Smotrich held discussions with several rabbis linked to his Religious Zionism party to discuss the party’s future in Netanyahu’s Likud-led government, if the controversial hostage deal announced by President Biden actually comes to fruition.

On Motzei Shabbos, Smotrich said he informed Netanyahu that he would resign, should the proposal be accepted. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir issued a similar warning, threatening to “dismantle the government”.

Kan News reported that Smotrich is considering withdrawing even before the deal is finalized if he feels that things are progressing toward such a deal.

Biden said his new proposal would “bring all the hostages home, ensure Israel’s security, create a better day after in Gaza without Hamas in power, and set the stage for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” although he did not specify how Hamas would be removed from power.

According to reports, Netanyahu planned to meet with Ben Gvir Monday to present him with the blueprint of the deal, to disprove his accusation that the deal would end the war against Hamas.

Jack Lew's Cockamamie Statement "Two-State Solution Would be a Defeat for Hamas"

 


We must be living in an alternate universe. With friends like this "upgerissiner naar" "unmitigated fool," who needs enemies?

Jack Lew told a news outlet that a two state solution would be a defeat for Hamas. The US Ambassador to Israel, an orthodox Jew and former Obama Treasury Secretary and Chief-of-Staff, made the controversial and difficult-to-comprehend comments in an interview with the Jerusalem Post.

“I don’t think Hamas wants two states,” Lew said. “The only time they indicate they want two states is when they’re trying to put a little bit of a patina of legitimacy around their real strategy, which is the elimination of the State of Israel.”

Lew has been involved in intense negotiations, trying to broker an agreement that includes a Washington-Saudi defense pact, Israeli-Saudi normalization, and a pathway to Palestinian statehood.

On the flipside, PM Binyamin Netanyahu and his government believe Palestinian statehood rewards terrorism and legitimizes that brutal style of attack in which people were tortured burned alive.

Lew said he believed that the opposite is true, particularly if Palestinian statehood is achieved through the framework of a larger Saudi deal, which would place Israel within a regional alliance against Iran.

“I think it’s a defeat for Hamas to talk about a two-state solution, which is why I think even out of the pain of October 7, there is a way to have this conversation, but it takes leadership,” Lew said.

A Saudi deal “would be a strategic move that would be transformative in terms of isolating Iran, with its proxies on one side and Israel with the moderate Arab world and the Western world on the other side,” he explained.

While Lew is certainly correct that Hamas would prefer a one state solution that eliminates Israel, as is clear from their “From the river to the sea” doctrine, it is very difficult to comprehend that a two state solution would be a win for Hamas.

Prior to October 7, the notion of a two-state solution was virtually dead. President Trump had successfully defunded and marginalized the Palestinians, and Hamas had zero influence on policy.

However since October 7, the proposal has been heavily revived. As absurd and sickening as it seems, committing atrocities has given Hamas enormous leverage. As such, Lew is clearly incorrect, as a two state solution would be a massive win for Hamas. Lew is simply trying to push the Biden agenda, which seems to care more about winning Michigan than destroying Hamas.

These Ladies Sure Know How to Make the Kallah Happy!

 






Wow Now I understand the Difficult Sugye in the Daf about the Grape the Employee Ate

 







Meet the Bernie Sanders Whose voting for Trump

 

 It’s a Monday afternoon and Bernie Sanders just finished praying mincha, the afternoon service, at a synagogue in Beit Shemesh, a bedroom community in the Judean Hills between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

He returned the Hebrew prayer book to the shelf and walked into a study hall in the back of the sanctuary where he plopped down at a long folding table to talk politics.

“Obviously,” said Sanders, leaning back in a chair, his arms confidently resting on the table, “I’ll be voting for Trump.”

Before we go any further, I should point out this is not the Bernie Sanders. This Bernie Sanders is 73, nine years younger than his congressional counterpart, and spent his career working in New York’s garment industry. He moved to Israel in 2019 with his wife, Ruthie

About the only thing he has in common with the senator from Vermont, besides the name, is that they share a gruff “tell-it-like-it-is” attitude they both nurtured in their native Brooklyn.

“Whatever he goes for, I go the other way,” said the Sanders in front of me, dressed in a gray polo shirt and a black baseball hat framing his salt-and-pepper beard. “I’ve got more seichel than him,” he said using the Yiddish word for intelligence.

The senatorial Sanders, who spent several months in 1963 volunteering on a kibbutz, called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a war criminal” over the weekend. What does the Sanders in Beit Shemesh think of his famous namesake? “He’s an antisemite.”

The bearded Sanders, who holds dual American-Israeli citizenship, said his primary source of news about the U.S. is Fox News, and thinks last month’s hush money trial, in which Trump became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a felony, was “a sham” and that taxpayers’ money spent on the prosecution would have been better used to help homeless veterans.

“I think Trump is good for America,” Sanders said, citing issues that are important to him: the economy, immigration and Israel.

Sanders’ views seem to echo those of other Orthodox Americans who made aliyah that I met during a visit last week to Israel. They believe Trump is a better choice for Jews and praise him for following through on his promise to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Sanders thinks America, where he has more than a dozen grandchildren and where he believes colleges are “basically brainwashing” students, is facing an existential crisis with President Joe Biden at the helm. “If there’s no change,” he opined, “I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel for America.”

Weekend at Bernie’s

Burlington, Vermont, and Beit Shemesh are around 5,500 miles apart, so there’s not much chance that the two Bernie Sanders will ever bump into each other, the old Jewish man equivalent of tinkering with the space-time continuum. Asked if he would like to meet the senator, the Sanders in the back of the synagogue said he has no interest.

“His views are completely different than mine,” Sanders said. “Look at Bernie Sanders’ records and what he’s for. And I’m exactly the opposite.” He called the politician’s policies “crazy ideas,” especially on issues like student loan forgiveness. “I don’t think it’s fair because what about all the people that had to go through college and are still paying through the nose for it?”

My conversation with Sanders winded around — about who Trump should pick for vice president (Nikki Haley), the war in Ukraine (“Why can they do whatever they want, even though it’s American arms and ammunitions?”) and Hunter Biden, whose trial in a federal gun case begins today. We eventually ended up talking about retired life in Israel, where Sanders said he enjoys better healthcare than he would have had in the U.S.

“So you like socialized medicine?” I asked.

“I’m very pleasantly surprised,” he said with a smile.

So the two Bernie Sanders do agree on something.

Monday, June 3, 2024

4 hostages murdered in captivity


 Today (Monday), IDF representatives informed the families of Haim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper, and Nadav Popplewell, who were brutally abducted to the Gaza Strip on October 7th, that they are no longer alive and that their bodies are held by the Hamas terrorist organization.

The decision to pronounce the four hostages dead was based on intelligence and was confirmed by a Ministry of Health expert committee, in coordination with the Ministry of Religious Services and the Chief Rabbi of Israel.

The circumstances of their death in Hamas captivity are still under examination by all the relevant professionals.

The IDF uses a wide variety of methods to gather information about the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip.

Amiram Cooper, 84, was one of the founders of Kibbutz Nirim. Amiram's wife, Nurit, was kidnapped along with him and was released on October 23 along with Yocheved Lifshitz.

Yoram Metzger, 80, was kidnapped along with his wife, Tamar (Tami) Metzger, who was released.

Haim Perry, 79, was an entrepreneur and peace activist. His wife, Osnat, said that he saved her life during the massacre.

Nadav Popplewell, 51, was kidnapped together with his mother, Channah Peri, 79. Channah was released on November 24 as part of the temporary hostage and ceasefire deal.

Nadav's brother Roi was murdered on October 7.

Satmar Singer Riki Rose Who Left Her Community Talks About Her Journey

 


**Riki Sings some songs on the Video, so for those that adhere to "KOL ISHA ERVA"" I'm posting the time stamp below
1. Yomtov Ehrlich's Song 'FRUNZER ESHALON' 15:08-18:07 English translation for the song: https://www.dinastorch.com/songtitle/... 2. Yossele Rosenblatt Ve'hu Rachum" : 45:23-48:35 3. Riki's original song "Woman": 1:32:15-1:35:40


Young Bochur On His way Back From the Mikvah Shabbos Morning Met by 4 Dogs in Beitar


 

Palestinian Authority frees terrorist who murdered two soldiers

 

The terrorist who murdered two IDF soldiers, Staff Sergeant Eliya Hilel and Staff Sergeant Diego Shvisha Harsaj, in a ramming attack in Shechem (Nablus) last week, was held by the Palestinian Authority and released, Galei Tzahal reported.

The IDF is furious over the PA's conduct and is hunting for the terrorist.

The terrorist, a 40-year-old resident of Shechem, turned himself into the PA police a short time after the attack. Sources in the PA security apparatus said he claimed it was an accident and not a nationalist attack.

The report stated further that the PA held the terrorist for just over a day. At that time, the PA security apparatus offered the Shin Bet to create a joint investigation board to investigate the incident while the terrorist remained in PA custody.

The Israelis refused the offer and made it clear that as far as they were concerned the incident was not an accident, but rather a terror attack, and the PA must turn the terrorist into them.

The PA security apparatus, which feared that the IDF would raid the PA police station in Shechem where the terrorist was being held, released him on Friday morning and he fled the area.

The IDF and Shin Bet commented: "The security forces are working at all times to arrest terrorists, including the terrorist who allegedly murdered the two soldiers."

Chucky Schumer Booed While Speaking at Israel Parade in NYC

Videos shared on social media on Sunday show Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer being booed by crowd at a parade for Israel in New York City.

Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States, has become increasingly critical of Israeli leadership as the Middle Eastern nation's war with Hamas.

In March, the stooge for the DemonRats called for new elections in Israel and described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an "obstacle to peace." Netanyahu dismissed Schumer's criticism, calling the remarks "ridiculous."

Despite scrutinizing the Israeli leader, Cryi'n Schumer reportedly plans to join Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in inviting Netanyahu to address Congress.

As the senator was being introduced to speak during a parade for Israel in New York City on Sunday afternoon, boos could be heard erupting from the crowd, videos show.

Videos shared to X, formerly Twitter, show the booing continue as Schumer chants, "Bring them home" in reference to the remaining hostages still being held in Gaza. About half of the Israeli hostages were freed during a temporary ceasefire in November.

An independent photographer, who goes by Viral News NYC on X, shared a 25-second clip of the incident on the social media platform, igniting swift backlash for the Democratic senator.boos can be heard in the video.

"The Israeli Day Parade. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer was met with boos while delivering a speech," Viral News NYC wrote on X.

Newsweek reached out via email on Sunday to Schumer's representatives for comment.

The Jewish Claudia Sheinbaum Elected as first Female Mexico President

 

Mexicans have voted for a new president in an election that marks a major milestone.

For the first time in the country's history, the race came down to two female candidates: Claudia Sheinbaum (above), of the ruling Morena party, and Xochitl Galvez, of the opposition alliance.

Claudia Sheinbaum, candidate of the left-wing populist Morena party, emerged as the clear favorite after early exit polls were released. The granddaughter of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania, Sheinbaum is an experienced politician, having served as mayor of Mexico City. Support for her party has grown significantly over the past years, and Morena currently holds around two-thirds of Mexico's 32 mayorships.

Sheinbaum also has the backing of the current Mexican president and Morena party leader, Andres Lopez Obrador, who remains widely popular. He is not eligible to run, however, as the constitution limits a president to one six-year term.

Sheinbaum has campaigned on a platform of continuity, specifically of the reforms begun by Lopez Obrador, whose ongoing popularity — his current approval rating tops 60% — is likely due in part to the state social programs he initiated. However, some political observers question how sustainable these programs may be.

June 2 was the largest election in Mexican history, with some 100 million eligible voters: Ballots were also cast for Congress, nine state governments and more than 20,000 public offices.

Blomeier believes the future congressional makeup will be decisive for the political direction of the world's largest Spanish-speaking country. "With respect to democracy, one hopes that along with a clear mandate for the new government, voters will also ensure there is meaningful democratic opposition in Congress, so the democratic and legal steps backward taken by the current administration will not be topped by the next administration through a constitutional majority."



Israel Day on New York’s Fifth Avenue 2024