Palestinans Ask for State Defying US

Abbas with letter asking for a State

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Defying U.S. and Israeli opposition, Palestinians asked the United Nations on Friday to accept them as a member state, sidestepping nearly two decades of failed negotiations in the hope this dramatic move on the world stage would reenergize their quest for an independent homeland.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was greeted by sustained applause and appreciative whistles as he approached the dais in the General Assembly hall to deliver a speech outlining his people's hopes and dreams of becoming a full member of the United Nations. Some members of the Israeli delegation, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Liebermann, left the hall as Abbas approached the podium.

Negotiations with Israel "will be meaningless" as long as it continues building on lands the Palestinians claim for that state, he declared, warning that his government could collapse if the construction persists. That would put 150,000 people out of work.

"This policy is responsible for the continued failure of the successive international attempts to salvage the peace process," said Abbas, who has refused to negotiate until the construction stops. "This settlement policy threatens to also undermine the structure of the Palestinian National Authority and even end its existence."

To another round of applause, he held up a copy of the formal membership application and said he had asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to expedite deliberation of his request to have the United Nations recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

Ban has to examine the application before referring it to the Security Council. Action on the membership request could take weeks, if not months.

Abbas' jubilant mood was matched by the exuberant celebration of thousands of Palestinians who thronged around outdoor screens in town squares across the West Bank on Friday to see their president submit his historic request for recognition of a state of Palestine to the United Nations.

"I am with the president," said Muayad Taha, a 36-year-old physician, who brought his two children, ages 7 and 10, to witness the moment. "After the failure of all other methods (to win independence) we reached a stage of desperation. This is a good attempt to put the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people on the map. Everyone is here to stand behind the leadership."

To be sure, Abbas' appeal to the U.N. to recognize an independent Palestine would not deliver any immediate changes on the ground: Israel would remain an occupying force in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and continue to severely restrict access to Gaza, ruled by Palestinian Hamas militants.

The strategy also put the Palestinians in direct confrontation with the U.S., which has threatened to veto their membership bid in the Council, reasoning, like Israel, that statehood can only be achieved through direct 
negotiations between the parties to end the long and bloody conflict.

Also hanging heavy in the air was the threat of renewed violence over frustrated Palestinian aspirations, in spite of Abbas' vow - perceived by Israeli security officials as genuine - to prevent Palestinian violence. The death on Friday of 35-year-old Issam Badram, in gunfire that erupted after rampaging Jewish settlers destroyed trees in a Palestinian grove, was the type of incident that both Palestinians and Israelis had feared would spark widespread violence.

Yet by seeking approval at a world forum overwhelmingly sympathetic to their quest, Palestinians hope to make it harder for Israel to resist already heavy global pressure to negotiate the borders of a future Palestine based on lines Israel held before capturing the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in 1967.

"We extend our hands to the Israeli government and the Israeli people for peacemaking," he said. "Let us build the bidges of diolague instead of checkpoints and walls of separation, and build cooperative relations based on parity and equity between two neighboring states - Palestine and Israel - instead of policies of occupation, settlement, war and eliminating the other," he said
.

It was not clear how serious Abbas was about his very public threat to dissolve his limited self-rule government, born of the landmark accords Israel and the Palestinians signed in the 1990s.

Palestinians say they turned to the U.N. in desperation over 18 failed years of peace talks. But Israelis say the Palestinians are to blame for their own predicament.

Palestinians, omitting mention of years of Palestinian violence against Israel and two spurned peace offers from Israel under previous governments, accuse the Israelis of not wanting to give up territory conquered in the 1967 war. And they refused to return to the negotiating table without a construction freeze in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, where half a million Israeli settlers live.

Netanyahu says he is prepared to sit down immediately to talk peace without conditions. But in practically the same breath, he puts forth two deal-breakers, insisting that a united Jerusalem will remain eternally under Israeli control and insisting on a long-term Israeli military presence on the western frontier of the West Bank even after a Palestinian state is established.

Palestinians say they turned to the U.N. in desperation over 18 failed years of peace talks. But Israelis say the Palestinians are to blame for their own predicament and have turned to the U.N. precisely to avoid negotiating.

In recent weeks, international mediators have been furiously trying to piece together a formula that would let the Palestinians abandon their plan to ask the Security Council for full U.N. membership, and instead make do with asking a sympathetic General Assembly to elevate their status from permanent observer to nonmember observer state. The other part of that formula would include the resumption of negotiations in short order.

The U.S. and Israel have been pressuring Council members to either vote against the plan or abstain when it comes up for a vote. The vote would require the support of nine of the Council's 15 members to pass, but even if the Palestinians could line up that backing, a U.S. veto is assured.

The resumption of talks seems an elusive goal, with both sides digging in to positions that have tripped up negotiations for years. Israel insists that negotiations go ahead without any preconditions. But Palestinians say they will not return to the bargaining table without assurances that Israel would halt settlement building and drop its opposition to basing negotiations on the borders it held before capturing the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza in 1967.

Israel has warned that the Palestinian appeal to the U.N. will have a disastrous effect on negotiations, which have been the cornerstone of international Mideast policy for the past two decades. Netanyahu, who is to address the General Assembly later Friday, shortly after Abbas makes his own address, opposes negotiations based on 1967 lines, saying a return to those frontiers would expose Israel's heartland to rocket fire from the West Bank.

He also fears that if that principle becomes the baseline for negotiations, then Palestinians won't settle for anything less, despite previous understandings between the Palestinians and previous Israeli governments to swap land where settlement blocs stand for Israeli territory.

Talks for all intents and purposes broke down nearly three years ago after Israel went to war in the Gaza Strip and prepared to hold national elections that ultimately propelled Netanyahu to power for a second time. A last round was launched a year ago, with the ambitious aim of producing a framework accord for a peace deal, but broke down just three weeks later after an Israeli settlement construction slowdown expired.

The U.N. recognition bid has won Abbas broad popular support at home, but it is opposed by his main political rival, the Islamic militant Hamas movement that violently wrested control of Gaza in 2007.

Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, accused Abbas on Friday of relinquishing Palestinian rights by seeking recognition for a state in the pre-1967 borders. Hamas' founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel and a state in all of the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, though some Hamas officials have suggested they would support a peace deal based on the 1967 lines.

"The Palestinian people do not beg the world for a state, and the state can't be created through decisions and initiatives," Haniyeh said. "States liberate their land first and then the political body can be established."

-----

AP correspondent Tarek el-Tablawy contributed to this report from the United Nations.

Obama a Star of David Backs Israel, riles Palestinians in UN speech

Under intense political pressure at home, President Obama yesterday delivered his strongest defense of Israel yet, rejecting a bid for statehood by Palestinian officials -- who were left holding their heads in anger during yesterday’s UN General Assembly.

“There are no shortcuts [to peace],” Obama said, of the Palestinian plan to formally apply for UN membership tomorrow.

“Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the United Nations. If it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now,” he said.

Obama took pains to demonstrate US support for Israel’s security, which he called “unshak-able,” and stressed the threats from across its borders. “Let’s be honest: Israel is surrounded by neighbors that have waged repeated wars against it.”

Almost immediately after his address, Obama got a strong endorsement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who signaled that the speech had repaired their frayed relations.

“I want to thank you, Mr. President, for standing with Israel and supporting peace,” he told Obama in a joint appearance that could have been a re-election campaign ad.

“This is a badge of honor, and I want to thank you for wearing that badge of honor.”

But Palestinian officials, including some who called the speech “a stab in the back,” were furious. One member of the Palestinian UN delegation could be seen shaking his head vigorously during Obama’s comments.

Obama gave the Palestinians some of what they wanted to hear, by deploring the stalled peace talks and citing the “new basis for negotiations” that he offered in May.

But he made no mention of his call in May for negotiations to be based on the 1967 Israeli borders -- a change in White House policy that had outraged Netanyahu and led to a frigid cooling in US-Israel relations.

Palestinians also complained that Obama failed to mention the suffering of West Bank residents. On the other hand, he cited the Holocaust and the history of Arab terror attacks and violence.

Israel’s hard-line foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, was delighted by the remarks. “I am ready to sign on this speech with both hands,” he said.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/obama_star_of_david_1xAyvVg50y6FTSrWLgXStL#ixzz1YmFmfXVX

Bill Clinton: Netanyahu killed the peace process

Bill Clinton with his friend Yasser Arafat the murderer of little children

Who's to blame for the continued failure of the Middle East peace process? Former President Bill Clinton said today that it is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- whose government moved the goalposts upon taking power, and whose rise represents a key reason there has been no Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Clinton, in a roundtable with bloggers today on the sidelines of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, gave an extensive recounting of the deterioration in the Middle East peace process since he pressed both parties to agree to a final settlement at Camp David in 2000. He said there are two main reasons for the lack of a comprehensive peace today: the reluctance of the Netanyahu administration to accept the terms of the Camp David deal and a demographic shift in Israel that is making the Israeli public less amenable to peace.

"The two great tragedies in modern Middle Eastern politics, which make you wonder if God wants Middle East peace or not, were [Yitzhak] Rabin's assassination and [Ariel] Sharon's stroke," Clinton said.

Sharon had decided he needed to build a new centrist coalition, so he created the Kadima party and gained the support of leaders like Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert. He was working toward a consensus for a peace deal before he fell ill, Clinton said. But that effort was scuttled when the Likud party returned to power.

"The Israelis always wanted two things that once it turned out they had, it didn't seem so appealing to Mr. Netanyahu. They wanted to believe they had a partner for peace in a Palestinian government, and there's no question -- and the Netanyahu government has said -- that this is the finest Palestinian government they've ever had in the West Bank," Clinton said.

"[Palestinian leaders] have explicitly said on more than one occasion that if [Netanyahu] put up the deal that was offered to them before -- my deal -- that they would take it," Clinton said, referring to the 2000 Camp David deal that Yasser Arafat rejected.

But the Israeli government has drifted a long way from the Ehud Barak-led government that came so close to peace in 2000, Clinton said, and any new negotiations with the Netanyahu government are now on starkly different terms -- terms that the Palestinians are unlikely to accept.

"For reasons that even after all these years I still don't know for sure, Arafat turned down the deal I put together that Barak accepted," he said. "But they also had an Israeli government that was willing to give them East Jerusalem as the capital of the new state of Palestine."

Israel also wants a normalization of relations with its Arab neighbors to accompany a peace deal. Clinton said that the Saudi-inspired Arab Peace Initiative put forth in 2002 represented an answer to that Israeli demand.

"The King of Saudi Arabia started lining up all the Arab countries to say to the Israelis, ‘if you work it out with the Palestinians ... we will give you immediately not only recognition but a political, economic, and security partnership,'" Clinton said. "This is huge.... It's a heck of a deal."

The Netanyahu government has received all of the assurances previous Israeli governments said they wanted but now won't accept those terms to make peace, Clinton said.

"Now that they have those things, they don't seem so important to this current Israeli government, partly because it's a different country," said Clinton. "In the interim, you've had all these immigrants coming in from the former Soviet Union, and they have no history in Israel proper, so the traditional claims of the Palestinians have less weight with them."

Clinton then repeated his assertions made at last year's conference that Israeli society can be divided into demographic groups that have various levels of enthusiasm for making peace.

"The most pro-peace Israelis are the Arabs; second the Sabras, the Jewish Israelis that were born there; third, the Ashkenazi of long-standing, the European Jews who came there around the time of Israel's founding," Clinton said. "The most anti-peace are the ultra-religious, who believe they're supposed to keep Judea and Samaria, and the settler groups, and what you might call the territorialists, the people who just showed up lately and they're not encumbered by the historical record."

Clinton affirmed that the United States should veto the Palestinian resolution at the U.N. Security Council for member-state status, because the Israelis need security guarantees before agreeing to the creation of a Palestinian state. But the Netanyahu government has moved away from the consensus for peace, making a final status agreement more difficult, Clinton said.

"That's what happened. Every American needs to know this. That's how we got to where we are," Clinton said. "The real cynics believe that the Netanyahu's government's continued call for negotiations over borders and such means that he's just not going to give up the West Bank."

Arabs attack 20 month old Jewish baby .... Video ..these savages want their own state!

Arabs threw rocks Wednesday at an Israeli car between Migdalim and Tapuach Junction in Samaria. A 20 month old girl was injured in the face.

The baby girl received treatment from Samaria Regional Authority medics and evacuated to a hospital. The Authority Head Gershon Mesika said: "The 'men of peace' of the Palestinian murder authority provide yet more proof, to those who still need it, as to just whom we are facing. We face low life terrorists who try to murder babies."

"They hold an olive twig in their mouths and murder weapons in their hands. To these barbarian terrorists they want to give a state. The Nation of Israel is strong, the government needs to learn from it and be strengthened by its spirit – no to folding and surrendering, yes to construction and stamping out terrorism."

An Israeli citizen was lightly wounded from rocks hurled by Arabs as he drove near Halhoul. Three Arabs were arrested Wednesday afternoon in confrontations withsecurity forces near the Kalandiya checkpoint. Earlier, they threw rocks at IDF forces and burned tires.

Several dozen Arabs threw rocks at Border Policemen near Har Adar, not far from Jerusalem. No one was hurt. The policemen used riot dispersal gear to scatter the rioters.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/148149

Palin within 5 points of Obama

Obama's poll numbers are going down the drain faster than bad water.

Look out President Barack Obama. Even Sarah Palin's gaining on you.

A new McClatchy-Marist poll finds that Obama looks increasingly vulnerable in next year's election, with a majority of voters believing he'll lose to any Republican, a solid plurality saying they'll definitely vote against him and most potential Republican challengers gaining on him.

Even in potential matchups where he leads, Obama in most cases has lost ground to the Republican.

The biggest gain came for Palin, the former Alaska governor who hasn't yet announced whether she'll jump into the fast-changing race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

After trailing Obama by more than 20 percentage points in polls all year, the new national survey, taken Sept. 13-14, found Palin trailing the president by just 5 points, 49-44 percent. The key reason: She now leads Obama among independents, a sharp turnaround.

Overall, the gains among Republicans "speak to Obama's decline among independents generally, and how the middle is not his right now," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the national survey.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/20/v-fullstory/2417008/poll-finds-obama-losing-ground.html#ixzz1YadSW958

Frum Protest outside a Frum Religious School in Beit Shemesh, Spit on Lady Reporter

Its Chodesh Elul, days from the Yom Hadin, and in Bait Shemesh you would never know it. They are protesting the opening of a religious girls' school near the haredi neighborhood. Read the article reported by Ynet and ask yourselves if one secular jew will be influenced and become frum because of these violent protests. The haredim are opposed to the girls' school due to its location, facing the windows of a haredi neighborhood. Efforts to reach an understanding between the haredi residents and the national-religious parents before the start of the school year failed. 

Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox residents of Beit Shemesh staged a demonstration Tuesday evening outside a religious girls'school in the city, in protest of theEducation Ministry's decision to open the school near haredi neighborhoods.

Senior Beit Shemesh rabbis took part in the rally, in which participants called for "maintaining the purity of the haredi neighborhoods against strangers plotting to desecrate them, backed by the evil regime."
In spite of the organizers' hopes that the protest would be attended by all haredi factions in Beit Shemesh, the only ones  

who arrived were the "extremists" identified with the struggle, as well as dozens of haredi children.

Female journalist assaulted 
A group of parents of girls studying in the school gathered nearby in support of the institution's activity. A clash erupted between the parents and several young haredi men, and a police force separated between them. 


A female journalist was assaulted by a small group of young protestors, who cursed and spat at her as well. Ushers on behalf of the rally's organizers and rabbis urged the young haredi men to maintain order and avoid clashes.
The protestors began the rally by reciting Psalms and Selichot prayers, followed by rabbis' calls for maintaining the city's identity.

2 arrested for throwing eggs 

The unrest over the school's activities has been going on for several weeks now, since the start of the school year. According to the students' parents, groups of radical haredim arrive at the schoolfrom time to time and swear at the girls.

Two haredi men were arrested this week on suspicion of throwing eggs and tomatoes at students. About two weeks ago, stones were hurled at a boys' school belonging to the same educational network, injuring a student in the leg.

The national-religious, on their part, have decided to intimidate the haredim using watchdogs. A police force stationed near the schoolordered the dog owners to clear the area.

Associated Press Calls Obama a Liar!

In an article today by Stephen Ohlemacher reporter for the  Associated Press, headlined "Fact Check: Are rich taxed less than secretaries?" Ohlemacher points out that Obama blatantly lied to the American people when he said that secretaries are taxed at higher rates than millionaires...
Read The Review

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says he wants to make sure millionaires are taxed  at higher rates than their secretaries. The data say they already are. "Warren Buffett's secretary shouldn't pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett. There is no  justification  for it," Obama said as he announced his deficit-reduction plan this week. "It is wrong that in the United States of America, a teacher or a nurse or a construction worker who earns $50,000 should  pay higher tax rates than somebody pulling in $50 million." On average, the wealthiest people in America pay a lot more taxes than the middle class or the poor,  according to private and government data. They pay at a higher rate, and as a group, they contribute a much larger share of the overall taxes collected by the federal government. The 10 percent of households with the highest incomes pay more than half of all federal taxes. They pay more than 70 percent of federal income taxes, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

About time that the liberal press calls out the President when he lies, he is no longer the sacred cow; the fun is just beginning!

Congress Investigating Obama on Solyndra....UPDATED

Rep Darrell Issa

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that his committee plans to investigate government loan programs to private corporations in light of allegations of improper dealings between the White House and failed energy company Solyndra and wireless start-up LightSquared.

"I want to see when the president and his cronies are picking winners and losers… it wasn't because there were large contributions given to them," the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Tuesday morning on C-SPAN.5 Issa said the committee was looking at whether it was improper for members of Congress or White House staff to select companies eligible for subsidized government loans when those companies could give campaign donations. Loan programs have been a popular tool to provide funding for popular industries — like tech, green energy, and American auto companies — at more favorable terms than could be secured privately.

The Obama administration has been defending itself against criticism by Republicans that it exerted improper influence to the aid of both companies.

Solyndra abruptly filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, surprising both employees and the administration, which had secured $535 million in low-interest loans for the company.

Read more: The Hill

Meanwhile a second witness said that the White House tried to steer testimony, this from a liberal blog

The Daily Beast

Anthony Russo

A second government official has come forward saying the White House tried to influence his testimony concerning a wireless broadband project backed by a Democratic donor that military officials fear might impair sensitive satellite navigation systems.

Anthony Russo, director of the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, told The Daily Beast he rejected “guidance” from the White House’s Office of Budget and Management suggesting he tell Congress that the government’s concerns about the project by the firm LightSquared could be resolved in 90 days, a timetable favorable to the company’s plans.
“They gave that to me and presumably the other witnesses,” Russo said. “There is one sentence I disagreed with, which said that I thought the testing could be resolved in 90 days. So I took it out.”

Russo said he objected to that language because “I have low confidence that we can complete all of the testing in 90 days.” He estimated that such testing would take at least six months. Russo called the White House efforts to alter his testimony “guidance rather than pressure.”

Russo’s comments come just days after four-star Air Force Gen. William Shelton, who heads U.S. Space Command, told Congress in a classified briefing that he felt pressured by the White House to change his testimony about the same project to make it more favorable to the company.

Just In:4:48 PM

Solyndra execs will decline to testify at hearing

Sept 20 (Reuters) - Solyndra LLC's chief executive and chief financial officer will invoke their Fifth Amendment rights and decline to answer any questions put to them at a Congressional hearing on Friday, according to letters from their attorneys obtained by Reuters.

In the letters sent to the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, attorneys for Solyndra CEO Brian Harrison and CFO W. G. Stover said they advised their clients not to provide testimony during the hearings.

The bankrupt company's $535 million federal loan guarantee is being investigated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

6.5 Ton NASA satellite will crash to Earth this week!

(Reuters) - A defunct NASA science satellite is expected to fall back to Earth on Friday, showering debris somewhere on the planet although scientists cannot predict exactly where, officials said.

The 6.5-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite, or UARS, was carried into orbit during a space shuttle mission in 1991. It operated for 14 years, collecting measurements of ozone and other chemicals in the atmosphere.

Since completing its mission in 2005, UARS has been slowly losing altitude, tugged by Earth's gravity. On Friday, the 35-foot-long, 15-foot diameter (10.6-metres long, 4.5-metres diameter) satellite is expected to plunge into the atmosphere, NASA reported on its website.

While most of the spacecraft will be incinerated, scientists expect up to 26 pieces, with a combined mass of about 1,100 pounds (500 kg) to survive the fiery re-entry and fall down somewhere on Earth.

NASA said the chance a piece of UARS debris will strike a person is about one in 3,200. The debris will mostly likely fall into an ocean or land in an uninhabited region of Earth.

Satellites as large as UARS re-enter Earth's atmosphere about once a year.

NASA said there have been no reports of any deaths or injuries to people from falling debris.

The largest chunk of wreckage from UARS is expected to be about 331 pounds (151 kg), says Nicholas Johnson, chief scientist of NASA's Orbital Debris Program office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

As of Sunday, UARS was in a 133-mile by 149-mile (215-km by 240-km) high orbit around Earth. Re-entry is expected some time on Friday, although it could happen as early as Thursday or as late as Saturday.

The agency is posting updates on its website, www.nasa.gov/uars.

Mother of 4 terrorist murderers chosen by the PA to launch statehood campaign

Latifa Abu Hmeid

The Palestinian Authority chose the mother of 4 terrorist murderers, one of whom killed seven Israeli civilians and attempted to killed twelve others, as the person to launch their statehood campaign with the UN. In a widely publicized event, the PA had Latifa Abu Hmeid lead the procession to the UN offices in Ramallah and to hand over a letter for the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

The official PA daily reported that she launched the UN campaign last week, and noted that she is the "mother of seven prisoners and of the Shahid (Martyr) Abd Al-Mun'im Abu Hmeid." However, the paper did not mention that 4 of her imprisoned sons are murderers.

Palestinian Media Watch reported last year that Abu Hmeid then had 4 sons in Israeli prisons who were each serving between two and seven life sentences, a total of 18 life sentences. At that time she was in the news because the PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa Karake, decided to honor her with an award, "the Plaque of Resoluteness and Giving... inscribed with the names of her four sons who are imprisoned."

The PA minister explained then why the mother of 4 murderers of Israelis deserves such honor:

"It is she who gave birth to the fighters, and she deserves that we bow to her in salute and in honor."

The four sons are serving a total of 18 life sentences for the following crimes:

Nasser Abu Hmeid - 7 life sentences + 50 years - commander in Fatah's military wing the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in Ramallah. Convicted of killing seven Israeli civilians and 12 attempted murders.

Nasr Abu Hmeid - 5 life sentences - Member of terror faction of Fatah, Tanzim, and convicted of involvement in two terror attacks and arms dealing.

Sharif Abu Hmeid - 4 life sentences - a member in one of the brothers' units carrying out terror attacks against civilians and soldiers. Accompanied a suicide bomber to his attack in March 2002.

Muhammad Abu Hmeid - 2 life sentences + 30 years - involvement in terror attacks.

A fifth son, Abd Al-Mun'im Muhammad Yusuf Naji Abu Hmeid, the one referred to as "Martyr," was a member of the military wing of Hamas, Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, and planned and carried out the ambush and murder of an Israeli intelligence officer.

PMW has not been able to determine for which crimes the rest of the sons are imprisoned.

"Yeshiva World " OP-ED Admonishes Dov Hikend on Women Joining Hatzalah!

Dov Hikend
Read the op-ed:

For years I have supported Dov Hikind. When others criticized, I defended him. What do I like most about Dov? His passion.

Unfortunately, in light of recent events I can no longer defend Dov much less support him. Let me explain. Dov Hikind has a weekly radio show. He usually tackles interesting issues like politics, kids at risk and controversial issues too. This past motzei shabbos Dov spent most of his show seemingly promoting a new radical feminist agenda: forcing women into Hatzolah.

As a long-time fan of Dov but even a longer Hatzolah member, I was sick to my stomach. Dov brought on several women who claim that tznius mandates that Hatzolah have women available for certain calls like a women giving birth. Dov proclaimed that this was a “no brainer.”

First, let’s be clear. Hatzolah is one of the oldest and most respected organizations in our community because everything that Hatzolah does is L’Shaim Shmayim. The reason Hatzolah was created was to ensure that even our injured community members would be treated with respect and al pi halacha. In fact, not only does Central Hatzolah ask shayhlas of the unquestioned gedolei hador, every local Hatzolah has their poskim as well.

Every single shayla from Hilchos Pikuach Nefes, to Hilchos Shabbos is dealt with at the highest level. The shayla of women joining Hatzolah was taken up by years ago by the likes of the Debertziner Rov ZATZAL, Rav Moshe Feinstein ZATZAL, and other major Poskim. Das Torah on this issue is unequivocal: for reasons of tznius women may not join Hatzolah. Think about it, co-mingling, yichud, taharas hamishpacha – the list goes on and on. The idea that Dov Hikind can question the psak of our gedolei hador is shocking to me.

Hatzolah has been around for decades, and responds to tens of thousands of calls each year. With all due respect to his track record, Dov Hikind is a NYS Assemblyman. Perhaps he forgot that. He is not a member of Hatzolah and surely not one of Hatzolah’s senior Poskim.

So Dov I ask of you, please publicly disavow your remarks or at least tell us who your Das Torah is that has authorized you to take on our Gedolei Hador. Unless you do that immediately, I am sorry to say you have lost a fan forever.

Now read some selected responses:

Spira says:

September 19, 2011 at 10:44 am

Baruch Hashem I merited being a co-founded of Washington Heights Hatzolah back in the 1970s, together with Rabbi Yehoshua Kaganoff. I was also the first NYC-EMS certified paramedic in the organization to the best of my knowledge, as well as the first frum paramedic in the NYC-EMS. I was working for the now-defunct NYC-EMS, which has since become FDNY-EMS.
Shortly after its inception, due to difficulties in providing daytime coverage, Rabbi Shimon Schwab ZT”L gave haskoma to permit married women to respond, under very well-defined conditions, during the daytime, as well for OB/GYN calls. The Rov took a considerable amount of heat, including from Hatzolah general, with leaders of the organization scoffing the Gadol HaDor for his decision.
I recall meeting with R’ Herschel Weber in Williamsburg in 1976 or 1977 seeking his assistance in launching our chapter and with the push from Rabbi Kaganoff and the brochos and support of Rav Schwab ZT”L, it became reality!
Therefore, there is a precedent and from a Gadol, and there was no compromise of tznius and the care for women was extraordinary, with the additional sensitivity and understanding that a male EMT or paramedic simply cannot give. To say otherwise would be not reflect reality in my opinion.
Rabbi Kaganoff at the time also published a kuntras on pertinent halachos which was also scoffed, and only years later did Hatzolah general catch on and do the same.
In short, the “Yekkes” were leaders in many ways and they did and perhaps continue to take heat and were the target of scoffing, but it was ignored in short. Jokes aside, Washington Heights Hatzolah is extremely modest and in my time, we were not in the social loop of the remaining chapters around NYC but we were doing what we signed up to do, I dare say without fanfare.
In short, whatever the case may be today, one cannot say this is “unprecedented” for that is simply not factual. The rabbonim today will have to decide but I hope someone looks at Washington Heights for an example, and possibly even contacts Rabbi Kaganoff for the Halachic background. The women were a major asset and anyone who argues simply is basing their comments on hearsay rather than factual data accumulated over many many years. The fact that Central Hatzalah decided to keep the female responders a secret for so long is another matter for another article perhaps.
After years working as an EMT and paramedic in NYC, NJ, EMS and Hatzalah, I can only speak for myself but I witnessed the difference of having a frum woman on the scene, which I have found contributes significantly to the refuah.
Perhaps [my opinion again], we are too quick to jump to conclusions and maybe we can accept that “new” or “different” is not always “wrong” or “bad”
At least record permit history to be presented as it occurred and not attempt to re-write it.
As for the skeptics, it is great and LONG overdue in citywide Hatzolah. Washington Heights proved this decades ago.
Yechiel Spira
EMT/P (retired)
Formally Y-15
Jerusalem

Health says:

September 19, 2011 at 10:56 am

I’m an outsider, not a member, so let me put out the view of the people whom are for this intiative. (Even though I might not personally agree with it.) They definitely have valid points. The Shaila that was brought forth years ago was about women in general joining Hatzolah. This was negated. The idea now is simply to have women respond in childbirth situations. As far as who his Rabbonim are, they are the Rabbonim of New Square. Right now New Square has a program where they allow women to take care of the childbirth patients. The woman is in the back and the man drives. I’m don’t know if they are called in emergent situations. I also don’t know the logistics and if it is feasable to implement all the time in the greater NYC area. But definitely it should be brought up to the Rabbonim who are right now in charge of Hatzolah in NYC!

Torahumada says:

September 19, 2011 at 11:18 am

Dear Op-Ed writer: I am not from NYC nor a member of Hatzalah. Nor did I hear what Hikind had to say. But why is it so bad to revisit the issue of women working in Hatzalah. 35 years ago when Hatzalah was forming, they asked shailos and got answers. Why is it that we are to assume that nothing has changed since that time?
Maybe allowing women would be beneficial. I am certain that there are situations where women would prefer if a woman was handling her medical care.

Dov Hikind is a politician, his job is to start discussions that lead to results. That is exactly what he has done. Started a discussion. Now it is up to Hatzalah to come up with an answer.

Also, not everything is done because of tzinius or a halachic reasoning. I know that some hatzolas when they are starting will only select certain types of people because they wish to ensure that they money they invest is not wasted.

Amazing Video of Spacecraft flying over earth!

You'll probably never get to visit the International Space Station, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the view it affords.

YouTube user "yesterday2221" compiled this stunning time-lapse simply using images taken from the ISS that are available online. All the images used in the video were found here, at NASA's "Gateway to Astronaut Photography Of Earth."

The breathtaking views largely cover North America, though the shots begin in the Pacific Ocean and move over Antarctica. The video has quickly gone viral, gaining almost a million views since it was posted on September 15.

As the view pans through you can see everything from thunderous storms to sprawling cities. Towards the end of the film you can see the unmistakable South American coastline of Chile and Peru becomes visible, just before the sun takes over.