Is being an "anti-tzyoinie" an ovad Avodah Zarah????

 

FULL DISCLOSURE:

I did NOT write this letter or any part of it.
I do NOT know who wrote this letter.
I just copied it from www (dot) matzav (dot) com.

==============

Dear Matzav Inbox,

I have absolutely no problem with anyone holding a shitah that is anti-Tzioni.
I understand fully the perspective of those who oppose the medinah.

Every individual and kehillah is entitled to their views on this matter,
and we should not forget that there are many legitimate reasons
to question or oppose the modern state of Israel and its government.

This is a topic that has many layers.
We must be able to have these discussions, respectfully and thoughtfully.

However, what I cannot tolerate, and what I am calling out in this long overdue letter,
is when this anti-Zionist stance ceases to be a viewpoint or a political position,
and instead becomes the very foundation of someone’s Yiddishkeit.

There is a great difference between holding an opinion about the medinah 
and allowing that opinion to consume and define your entire avodas Hashem.

When opposition to the medinah and the Israeli government transforms
into the entire essence of one’s Yiddishkeit, something is terribly amiss.

Then it is no longer simply about politics or ideology.
It actually becomes a warped form of Avodah Zarah,
where the focus is no longer on serving Hashem,
but on serving an anti-Tzioni agenda.

Yes, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

And for those who have fallen into this trap, how is it that every drasha,
every event, and every conversation somehow
revolves around the same refrain of anti-Tzioni sentiment? 

Is that your whole avodas Hashem?
How is it that every shmuess, every message,
and every teaching is framed through the lens of opposition to the medinah?

When one’s Yiddishkeit is entirely defined by this opposition,
we must ask: Are you still serving Hashem?

Or are you now serving your anti-Tzioni views,
as if they were the central aspect of our Torah observance?

Let me be clear:
When the agenda of opposition to the medinah infiltrates every aspect
of avodas Hashem, one is in danger of losing sight of what is truly important.

When you are teaching 5-year-olds this type of stuff
on an equal footing with Torah and mitzvos,
you have gone off the plantation.

It is no longer about serving Hashem through the Torah and mitzvos,
but about serving an ideological position.

And once that happens, one is no longer engaging in avodas Hashem 
as the Torah teaches us, but is rather caught up in a false religion,
one that elevates these views above the true avodah of a Yid.

I implore my fellow Yidden to call this out for what it is and what it has become.

Never lose sight of the fact that our true identity as Yidden 
is not defined by one specific ideology,
but by our connection to Hashem, His Torah, and His mitzvos.

Sincerely,
A Yid Who Has Had Enough

SOURCE: Matzav Inbox: “When Being Anti-Tzioni Becomes Your Avodah Zarah”
2024 December 24 www (dot) matzav (dot) com

HORROR IN DC: Commercial Airliner Crashes Into Black Hawk Helicopter, Plunges Into Potomac River

 

🚨BREAKING: American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas has crashed into a helicopter while landing at Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC#potomac #PotomacRiver pic.twitter.com/Ddq1qwa25S

— AJ Huber (@Huberton) January 30, 2025

 A jet with 60 passengers and four crew members aboard collided Wednesday with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, prompting a large search-and-rescue operation in the nearby Potomac River.

There was no immediate word on casualties or the cause of the collision, but all takeoffs and landings from the airport near Washington were halted as helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in search of survivors. Inflatable rescue boats were launched into the Potomac River from a point near the airport along the George Washington Parkway, just north of the airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the midair crash occurred around 9 p.m. EST when a regional jet that had departed from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military Blackhawk helicopter while on approach to an airport runway. It occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles south of the White House and the Capitol.

Investigators will try to piece together the aircrafts’ final moments before their collision, including contact with air traffic controllers as well as a loss of altitude by the passenger jet.

American Airlines flight 5342 was inbound to Reagan National at an altitude of about 400 feet and a speed of about 140 miles per hour when it suffered a rapid loss of altitude over the Potomac River, according to data from its radio transponder. The Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet was manufactured in 2004 and can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers.

A few minutes before landing, air traffic controllers asked the arriving commercial jet if it could land on the shorter Runway 33 at Reagan National and the pilots said they were able. Controllers then cleared the plane to land on Runway 33. Flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.

Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asks the helicopter if it has the arriving plane in sight. The controller makes another radio call to the helicopter moments later: “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.” Seconds after that the two aircraft collide.

The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the river.

The tower immediately began diverting other aircraft from Reagan.

Video from an observation camera at the nearby Kennedy Center showed two sets of lights consistent with aircraft appearing to join in a fireball.

The crash is serving as a major test for two of the Trump administration’s newest agency leaders. Pete Hegseth, sworn in days ago as defense secretary, posted on social media that his department was “actively monitoring” the situation that involved an Army helicopter. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, just sworn in earlier this week, said in a social media post that he was “at the FAA HQ and closely monitoring the situation.”

Reagan National is located along the Potomac River, just southwest of the city. It’s a popular choice because it’s much closer than the larger Dulles International Airport, which is deeper in Virginia.

Depending on the runway being used, flights into Reagan can offer passengers spectacular views of landmarks like the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the National Mall and the U.S. Capitol. It’s a postcard-worthy welcome for tourists visiting the city.

In response to the tragedy, Ronald Reagan National Airport has suspended all takeoffs and landings, bringing air traffic in and out of the nation’s capital to a complete halt. Emergency boats, helicopters, and dive teams have swarmed the crash site, desperately searching for survivors amid the wreckage and freezing waters.

Justice Department Weighing Dropping Case Against Eric Adams

 

Senior Justice Department officials under President Trump have discussed with Manhattan prosecutors the possibility of dropping the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the NY times reports.

Adams, indicted in September on bribery and fraud charges, has pleaded not guilty and claims political persecution. His lawyer, Alex Spiro—who also represents Trump adviser Elon Musk—has been in talks with federal officials.

Amid legal troubles, Adams has warmed to Trump, attending his inauguration and speaking privately with him. Trump, who has hinted at a pardon, previously called Adams’ prosecution “pretty unfair.”

Smotrich Responds to Ex-Con Deri's threat to topple government over Haredi draft

 

Responding to the ultra-Orthodox Shas party’s threat to vote against the state budget and topple the government unless it passes a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich insists that he is “not willing to make concessions” on the issue.

“I really hope that we will succeed in bringing a good conscription law that will completely change the situation and that will conscript the Haredim into the army because they are needed. It is simply an existential national security necessity,” Smotrich declares from the Knesset rostrum.

Israel needs a “large, smart, aggressive [and] deadly army” and “we are not willing to make concessions here… We are presenting our Haredi partners and brothers with a real demand to change” and “take part in the great mitzvah and national, Zionist, Jewish, moral, and ethical duty” of military service, he says.

“I hope that we will find the balance and there will be a law and there will be a budget,” Smotrich continues, calling on the Haredim to at least pass the budget before dissolving the Knesset if an agreement cannot be reached.

“You cannot leave a country at war without a budget,” he says.

Speaking with ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Baramah yesterday, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri gave Prime Minister Benjamin two months to regulate the status of yeshiva students, warning that if “it’s not regulated, we’ll go to elections.”

Following Smotrich’s comments, sources in the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party tell the Ynet news site that “the government is on the verge of dissolution” and warn that it, too, will vote against the budget if it is brought to a vote without the prior passage of a conscription law.

RFK Jr.'s Billionaire Ex-Running Mate Threatens Senators Who Vote Against His Confirmation

 

Nicole Shanahan calls out several senators by name in a video shared to X, saying she'll make it her "personal mission" to oust them from Congress if they ignore her advice

Billionaire Nicole Shanahan is sending a stunning message to senators who feel skeptical about Robert F. Kennedy's nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

On Tuesday, Jan. 28, Kennedy's 2024 running mate posted a video message in which she promised that she will use her wealth to unseat lawmakers who vote against confirming him as the HHS secretary.

In the video, Shanahan, 39, calls Kennedy, 71, "proven, principled and prepared to lead," before sharing that he needs every vote he can get as his Senate confirmation looks uncertain.

"This hasn’t been widely reported, but in 2020 I cut large checks to [Democratic Senate Leader] Chuck Schumer to help Democrats flip two senate seats in Georgia from red to blue," she says in the video.

The Silicon Valley attorney continues: "The two candidates I helped elect, Sen. Raphael Warnock and Sen. Jon Ossoff, please know I will be watching your votes very closely. I will make it my personal mission that you lose your seats in the Senate if you vote against the future health of America’s children."

After suggesting that there were strings attached with her support of the Georgia Democrats, Shanahan begins listing additional senators on both sides of the aisle who have not revealed how they plan to vote, including Republicans Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, Thom Tillis and James Lankford; Democrats Cory Booker, John Fetterman and Catherine Cortez Masto; and independent Bernie Sanders.

"This is a bipartisan message and it comes directly from me," she adds in the video. "While Bobby may be willing to play nice, I won’t. If you vote against him, I will personally fund challengers to primary you in your next election. And I will enlist hundreds of thousands to join me."

The message concludes: "You’re either on the side of transparency and accountability or you are standing in the way. The choice is yours. Please choose wisely."

Dear U.S. Senators,

Bobby may play nice; I won’t. pic.twitter.com/G9SZjZhFYR

— Nicole Shanahan (@NicoleShanahan) January 29, 2025

Trump Moves to Deport Pro-Hamas Students with New Executive Order

 

President Trump is expected to sign an executive order Wednesday instructing all federal agencies to identify civil and criminal authorities available to combat antisemitism — including finding ways to deport anti-Jewish activists who violated laws, The Post has learned.

The order requires agency and department leaders to provide the White House with recommendations within 60 days and outlines plans for the Justice Department to investigate pro-Hamas graffiti and intimidation, including on college campuses, according to a document describing the order.

The executive order calls for the deportation of resident aliens — including students with visas — who broke laws as part of anti-Israel protests following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks that sparked the invasion of Gaza, the document reviewed by The Post says.

Six Republican-led House committees issued a report last month calling for the federal government to do more to address antisemitism, including by conditioning federal aid to colleges to force stricter policies against anti-Jewish bias.

That report focused heavily on Columbia University, the site of a large encampment that featured many documented instances of anti-Jewish remarks against both pro-Israel activists and Jewish students, and noted that allegedly permissive colleges took in $2.7 billion in federal funds in fiscal year 2023.

The State Department and Department of Homeland Security under President Joe Biden stonewalled records requests about the number of visa holders among those protesters, the House GOP report said.

Trump, as a candidate, called for deporting pro-Hamas students who are in the US on visas and last week signed a different executive order that seemed to hint at steps toward that goal.

That order contained a passage that called for the US to “ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States” do not “support designated foreign terrorists,” though the intended effect of the wording was not immediately clear.

College presidents summoned to Congress in December 2023 infamously refused to say if calling for the genocide of Jews constituted punishable conduct under grilling by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Trump’s nominee to serve as UN ambassador. They argued that free-speech protections were at play.

Hate speech generally is legal in the US, but the House GOP report released last month argues that federal law bars recipients of taxpayer funds from tolerating discrimination — allowing a way to force recipients to stiffen policies.

Federal courts also have found that non-citizens have fewer free speech rights.

The Supreme Court ruled in the landmark 1972 case Kleindienst v. Mandel that the government could refuse a visa to a Belgian Marxist — after prior court cases affirmed the deportation of anarchist and Communist non-citizens.

Some of the best-known instances of activism in support of Hamas, which massacred about 1,200 Jewish residents of southern Israel, occurred in Washington, DC, when multiple protesters carried banners supporting the group as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress in July.

Zaid Mohammed Mahdawi, the 26-year-old president of the Richmond, Va., chapter of American Muslims for Palestine, was arrested for allegedly climbing atop a monument near the Capitol and spray-painting “HAMAS IS COMIN.” 

Trump’s attempt to crack down on antisemitism — including likely by withholding federal funds — comes on the heels of his orders to temporarily freeze federal aid and the distribution of pending federal grants, the latter of which was paused Tuesday by a federal judge.

In his first term, Trump also used the threat of yanking federal funds in response to nationwide anti-police rioting following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd.

Trump ordered steps to defund New York City, Portland and Seattle for allegedly doing too little to quell the unrest. He left office before that threat was fulfilled, though the Justice Department certified the cities for the chopping block.

The Gaza casualty numbers are unraveling entirely.

by Joshua Hoffman

For months, the headlines have been saturated with harrowing casualty figures from Gaza.

A chorus of media outlets near and far have decried the “genocide” unfolding before their eyes, relying on casualty reports issued almost exclusively by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.

The numbers are shocking, the language incendiary, and the implications clear: Israel is the worst of all villains, and any context or nuance was irrelevant.

But now, as the fog of war begins to clear, the purported casualty statistics are unraveling entirely, exposing a web of deception that is as insidious as it is effective. Consider the brazen falsehoods embedded in these statistics:

• Adult men falsely counted as women

• “Dead women” named Mohammed

• Natural deaths misreported as war casualties

Mother of Daniella Gilboa made a powerful commitment to G-d when she discovered her daughter was kidnapped

 

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Rabbi Philip Lazowski, a Holocaust survivor, remembers the moment a woman saved his life in 1941 in the Zhetel Ghetto.

 

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Trump Releases Bulldozers that Biden Blocked!!

 

The bulldozers Israel purchased from the US blocked under Biden but released by Trump have already arrived in Israel.

And it’s only been a week!

Bald Faced Liars "New York" magazine cropped out black people from Trump party cover photo — claiming ‘almost everyone is white’

Critics slammed New York Magazine for cropping black people out of a photo of a pro-Trump party it ran on its cover this week — with the story inside claiming that the crowd was almost entirely white.

The magazine’s cover story this week, titled “The Cruel Kids’ Table” and penned by Brock Colyar, claims that “almost everyone” at the Trump inauguration party was “white” and failed to mention that the party’s host was black.

The cover image shows a room full of white revelers at a TikTok-sponsored party called the “Power 30 Awards” on the eve of the inauguration, but conservative commentator Christopher Barnard on X posted the full photo which accompanied the story inside the magazine and revealed a number of black attendees.

“Almost everyone is white,” Colyar wrote, followed by a descriptive flourish about the shindig. “The men look like Pete Hegseth, in bow ties and black suits, with clean-shaven faces. The women are almost all out of their league.”

“This is insane,” GOP Youth Advisory Council co-chair CJ Pearson shot back on X Monday. “I hosted this event and @NYMag intentionally left me out of their story because it would have undermined their narrative that MAGA is some racist cult.”

Pearson, who hosted the event and is black, pointed out that other black Republicans were also there, and posted a photo of him with another black attendee.

He added: “.@NYMag accused me of hosting a white-only inauguration rager. I guess none of these black people got the memo?”

Other black attendees included former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones, rapper Waka Flocka Flame and PragerU’s Xaviaer DuRousseau, among others.

Rob Smith, a black political commentator and consultant at Right Turn Strategies, chimed in: “I was at this party as were MANY other Conservative media influencers who are Black, Latino, Asian, etc.”

Smith continued: “@NYMag used a whites only photo to push the media narrative that diverse Republicans don’t exist and weren’t welcome. You don’t hate the media enough.”

Although the New York Magazine piece did quote DuRousseau, it didn’t declare his race, and only described him as a “28-year-old conservative influencer.”

Later in the story, Colyar goes to the All American Inaugural Ball, and describes it as a “more familiar scene of MAGA commoners.”

Colyar interviews an “older woman in an updo and a silver sequined gown,” who asks the journalist: “Have you noticed the entire room is white?”'”

A New York Magazine spokesperson told The Post: “The magazine’s most recent cover story explores the new class of conservatives taking Washington by storm, through the lens of inauguration weekend. The cover was cropped to the center of a picture that was published in full online, and we believe both the cover and story provide an accurate impression of the weekend.”

 

Fat rapper who calls herself a ‘BBW’ sues Lyft after driver said she couldn’t fit in his car

A plus-sized rapper who describes herself as a BBW — aka “big beautiful woman” — is suing Lyft after one of the company’s drivers allegedly told her she was too large to ride in his car.

Dank Demoss, who has previously disclosed that she weighs nearly 489 lbs., claims the rejection unfolded earlier this month in Detroit when the Lyft driver rolled up in his Mercedes-Benz sedan and immediately locked his doors.

“I can fit in this car,” the rapper, who also goes by Dajua Blanding, could be heard saying in a video she posted on social media on Jan. 19.

“Believe me, you can’t,” the driver shot back — adding later there was no room in the back and that his tires wouldn’t be able to handle the weight.

The driver, who identified himself as Ibrahim in the now-viral clip, was filmed apologizing to Demoss, but maintaining that he was canceling the ride and telling her she should order an XL vehicle.

“I’ve been in this situation before,” the driver said, before Demoss responded, “So every big person, you turn down because they can’t fit in your car?”

Demoss, who describes herself on Instagram as a “PAID PHAT QUEEN” and declared in one post last year that she weighed 554 pounds, slapped Lyft with the lawsuit this week. She later updated fans that she weighs 489 lbs.

“I’ve been in cars smaller than that,” she told FOX2 after the suit was filed. “I just want them to know that it hurt my feelings.”

Meanwhile, her video of the exchange had racked up more than 340,000 views on TikTok as of Tuesday.

A Lyft spokesperson told The Post that the company couldn’t comment on specific incidents caught up in litigation but they condemned discrimination.

“Lyft unequivocally condemns all forms of discrimination — we believe in a community where everyone is treated with equal respect and mutual kindness,” the spokesperson said.

“Our community guidelines and terms of service explicitly prohibit harassment or discrimination.”

 

Insanity!! Biden's State Dept Had millions in funding allocated for ‘condoms in Gaza,’

 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s decision to freeze foreign aid over the weekend included pulling millions of dollars-worth of US funding for “condoms in Gaza,” a White House official told Fox News Digital. 

The revelation came as the official explained that a separate memo from the Office of Management and Budget will temporarily pause grants, loans and federal assistance programs pending a review into whether the funding coincides with President Donald Trump’s executive orders, such as those related to ending diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the Green New Deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) “that undermine the national interest.” 

“If the activity is not in conflict with the President’s priorities, it will continue with no issues,” the White House official told Fox News Digital. “This is similar to how HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] stopped the flow of grant money to the WHO [World Health Organization] after President Trump announced the US withdrawal from the organization. Or how the State Department halted several million dollars going to condoms in Gaza this past weekend.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department on Tuesday seeking additional information. 

Demented pols like Brad Lander and Tish James scream in fury as ICE raids make New York City safer

ICE’s initial Trump-era deportation raids are targeting only the worst of the worst — gang kingpins, accused double-murderers and so on — yet locals pols are still erupting in panic and fury after the feds moved in to protect New Yorkers.

City Comptroller Brad Lander called the arrests “heartbreaking,” slamming City Hall for “not standing up for our people” by . . . what, trying to stop completely lawful federal action?

“This mass deportation agenda is targeting our loved ones,” gaslighted Rep. Nydia Velazquez.

It’s not “mass deportation”; ICE only went after about 30 perps.

And they’re not “our people,” let alone “our loved ones.”

The throngs of officers are rounding up violent illegal immigrants, including murderers, extortioners, kidnappers, burglars.

China's "DeepSeek" AI collects, stores US user data in China –

DeepSeek, the Chinese app that sparked a $1 trillion US market meltdown this week, is storing its fast-growing troves of US user data in China – posing many of the same national security risks that led Congress to crack down on TikTok.

The artificial intelligence chatbot topped the charts in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store on Tuesday. DeepSeek has been downloaded more than 2 million times since its debut on Jan. 15, with most coming in the last three days, according to AppMagic.

While rival chatbots including ChatGPT collect vast quantities of user data, the use of China-based servers by DeepSeek — created by math geek hedge-fund investor Liang Wenfeng — are a key difference and a glaring privacy risk for Americans, experts told The Post.

“What sets this context apart is that DeepSeek is a Chinese company based in China,” said Angela Zhang, a law professor at the University of Southern California focused on Chinese tech regulations.

“This raises the question of whether the collection of data such as IP addresses and keystroke patterns could pose a national security threat,” Zhang added.

DeepSeek’s terms of service disclose that user data is stored “in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China.” The company also says it automatically collects data on personal information such as “device model, operating system, keystroke patterns or rhythms, IP address, and system language.”

All China-based companies are subject to the Chinese Communist Party’s cybersecurity laws, which mandate that it share data with the government upon request.  

The security risks posed by DeepSeek’s ties to Beijing pushed the U.S. Navy to order members to avoid using the chatbot, CNBC reported Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the Navy confirmed the military branch sent an email to “shipmates” and said it was in reference to the Department of the Navy’s Chief Information Officer’s generative AI policy, according to the outlet.

The Chinese chatbot has also displayed signs of censorship and bias – including refusing to answer prompts about China’s leader Xi Jinping, the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, whether Taiwan is a country and if China has committed human rights abuses against Uighurs in Xinjiang.

In some cases, DeepSeek begins generating a response — only to stop itself mid-sentence and write that such prompts are “beyond [its] current scope.”