Terrorism Cause of Germanwings Plane Crash

It was a terrorist act, but no one wants to say the word, Terror. 

The co-pilot of the crashed Germanwings plane appears to have "intentionally" brought the plane down while his captain was locked out of the cockpit, prosecutors said Thursday.

First Officer Andreas Lubitz, 28, was alone at the controls of the Airbus A320 as it began its rapid descent, Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin told a news conference. Passengers' cries were heard on the plane's cockpit voice recorder in the moments just before the plane slammed into the French Alps, Brice said.

"Banging" sounds also were audible, he said, suggesting the captain was trying to force his way back into the cockpit. However, the reinforced cockpit door was locked from the inside and could not be overridden, even with a coded entry panel.

"If he had been able to open this door, the captain would have done it," Brice said.

Lubitz "didn't say a word" during the descent, according to Brice.

"There was no reason to put the plane into a descent, nor to not respond to… air traffic controllers," he told a press conference. "Was it suicide? I'm not using the word, I don't know. Given the information I have at this time … I can tell you that he deliberately made possible the loss of altitude of the aircraft."

The current interpretation, Brice added, is that the co-pilot had "a desire to destroy this plane" though there was nothing to indicate a terrorist connection.

Germanwings' parent company Lufthansa earlier said Lubitz joined Germanwings in September 2013, directly after training, and had flown 630 hours.

His captain was an "experienced" pilot, with more than 10 years' experience with the organization and more than 6,000 flight hours on the Airbus model.

Many airlines, especially U.S. carriers, have a flight attendant come into the flight deck if a pilot leaves, for example during a bathroom break.

While Lufthansa earlier Thursday would not comment on its cockpit security procedures, it said it followed rules set out by German authorities that allow temporary absence from the flight deck.

Former pilots and aviation experts told NBC News that most planes have coded entry door controls, but these can be overridden with a double lock — a practice implemented industry-wide after the 9/11 attacks.

"The cockpit has the ultimate control of the door," said former pilot Captain John Cox. "If it is placed in the override mode then no matter what is done with the code pad, the door will remain locked. The security people were very firm on the need for the flight deck to remain the ultimate authority."

"It's likely that an airline like Lufthansa will have fitted the highest specification of security technology," said David Gleave, an aviation safety investigator based at Loughborough University near Leicester, England.

"These reinforced doors are designed to be very strong — they can't be smashed open. That's the point of them."

Bergdahl Charged with Desertion, 5 of most dangerous Taliban were exchanged for his release

Obama is one crazy dangerous dude!
Remember when Obama said that Bergdahl "served with honor & distinction?"

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. soldier who was recovered in Afghanistan last spring after five years in captivity, faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, according to his lawyer.

Eugene Fidell, Bergdahl’s attorney, told The Washington Post that his client was handed a charge sheet on Tuesday. Army officials announced they will provide an update in his case at 3:30 p.m. at Fort Bragg, N.C., but declined to discuss new developments ahead of the news conference.

Bergdahl, 28, went missing from his base in Paktika province on June 30, 2009, and is believed to have grown disillusioned with the U.S. military’s mission in Afghanistan. He was held captive in Pakistan by the Haqqani network, an insurgent group allied with the Taliban, until a deal brokered through the government of Qatar was reached last year.

Does Obama want Israel to commit suicide?

by 

Cal Thomas

In 1982, during one of many visits to Israel, I had the opportunity to speak with Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who told me, "Israel needs friends." He added that in the end, his nation could not trust any nation with its fate and security. The protection of Israel, he said, was ultimately the responsibility of Israelis.

Begin's comment was prophetic given the petulance of our current president, who behaves like an enemy of Israel when he attempts to impose a Palestinian state on Israel and negotiate a deal with Iran that can only lead to new threats against the Jewish state and further destabilize the chaotic Middle East.

Suicide is not in Israel's interests, or that of the United States, but suicide is what President Obama seems to want Israel to commit by pressuring it to return to indefensible 1967 borders and accept a nuclear deal with Iran.

In his determination to strike a deal with Iran over its nuclear weapons program (which Iran has denied exists, so what is the U.S. negotiating?), President Obama has traded history, facts and reality for a potential deal with a regime that promotes terrorism around the world and is busy attaching Iraq to its vision of a greater Persian Empire.

Last Saturday, Iran's Supreme leader Ali Khamenei again called for "Death to America," just one day after President Obama appealed to Iranians in a video message to seize a "historic opportunity" for a nuclear deal and a better future. The leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, also continues to use inflammatory rhetoric about the ultimate destruction of Israel. What should this tell us?

The president is cozying up to a nation that oppresses women, has an apocalyptic view of the world and believes that if it starts a nuclear war the 12th Imam -- the Islamic messiah -- will emerge from a well and bring peace on Earth and good will, at least to Shia Muslim men. Women will remain subject to male domination and have only the few rights given to them by men.

Israel, which embraces Western values of free elections, religious tolerance and pluralism, a free press and equal rights for women is treated by President Obama and his administration as Iran should be treated. Do these people suffer from diplomatic dyslexia, or anti-Semitism?

The coming nuclear deal with Iran, if it occurs, will be a sham from the start. Agreements between nations require at least some trust, but Iran has as much credibility as a double-your-money promise from Bernie Madoff.

Why should Israel be forced to surrender more land to an enemy that has sworn to destroy it? A Palestinian state would likely be used as a launching pad for an attack. Gaza is a perfect example. It has been used by Hamas to attack Israel, which unilaterally and foolishly gave it up in hopes of promoting peace.

Suicide is not in Israel's interests, or that of the United States, but suicide is what President Obama seems to want Israel to commit by pressuring it to return to indefensible 1967 borders and accept a nuclear deal with Iran.

That two states is not what Israel's enemies want was made clear enough when President Clinton brought then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO leader Yasser Arafat to Camp David in 2000. Barak offered Arafat virtually everything he asked for -- 95 percent by some estimates -- and Arafat rejected the offer. Arafat, his contemporaries and those who have come after him, desire only one state headed by themselves with no Jewish state and no Jewish presence, as evidenced by the wars and terrorist attacks they have launched and continue to wage against Israel.

In Deuteronomy 17:7, God instructs the ancient Israelites: "You must purge the evil from among you."

In his dangerous pursuit of a problematic nuclear weapons deal with Iran and his attempt to marry a cancerous Palestinian state to the land of Israel, President Obama is not purging evil; he's inviting it to spread. History will judge him for this as it has every other nation that has harmed "the apple of His eye." (Zechariah 2:8)

Cal Thomas is America's most widely syndicated op-ed columnist. He joined Fox News Channel in 1997 as a political contributor. His latest book is "What Works: Common Sense Solutions for a Stronger America" is available in bookstores now. Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribune.com.

Jeb Bush Responds To Criticism Over His Anti-Israel Advisor James Baker YM"S

His excuses did little to reassure critics.

Likely Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush earned widespread criticism this week regarding a speech planned by his foreign policy adviser, former Secretary of State James Baker. 

As Baker geared up to deliver an address Monday evening before a gathering of the left-leaning lobbying organization J Street, a number of conservative sources skewered him for his perceived anti-Israel position.

Radio host Mark Levin, for one, cited a “well-documented” pattern of “antipathy toward Israel” regarding Baker, adding both he and Obama share similar hatred toward the Jewish nation.

“This is they guy,” Levin continued, “the leading adviser to Jeb Bush on foreign policy, who Jeb Bush asked to be his leading adviser, and now he’s the keynote speaker to this left-wing hate group J Street.”

Even before Baker’s speech, Bush spokesman Tim Miller attempted to distance the former Florida governor from the actions of his adviser.

Bush, Miller said, “firmly opposes lobbying groups whose actions undermine Israel’s efforts to defend itself.”

The backtracking continued Tuesday when another Bush spokesperson, Kristy Campbell, sent out a statement indicating that Bush “respects Secretary Baker” but “disagrees with the sentiments he expressed last night and opposes J Street’s advocacy.”

She went on to cite Bush’s “unwavering” support both for Israel and its presumptively reelected prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Bush camp’s attempts to assuage misgivings have apparently been insufficient, as evidenced by the comments left by several readers of a Politico article on the topic.

One commenter declared Bush a “political coward” while several asserted he is lying about his purported stance on Israel.

Bibi Netanyahu Apologizes for Nothing; Marie Harf Excuses Ayatollah Khamenei

Marie Barf

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT of Rush Limbaugh Show

RUSH: I got up today, I must at you tell you, I bopped out of bed today, one of the first things I do after becoming fully conscious is grab the phone and check to see if there's been any emergency breaking type news overnight during the four or five hours I was asleep.  And I see that Netanyahu apologized for his racist comments about the Arab vote. 

I have to tell you, my heart sank.  A little bit of it sank and I started shaking my head and I said, "Why are so many people afraid of this inexperienced man-child president?"  In the case of Israel, I decided it must be the money.  We give them a lot of money. We give them a lot of foreign aid.  And Obama's clearly somebody who would take it back if he could, slightest provocation.  So, whatever, some kind of diplomatic pressure, was brought to bear and Netanyahu thought that the best thing to do would be to apologize for something he has no reason to apologize for. 

He didn't do anything.  All he did -- I don't want to rehash this -- was respond.  In fact, we have learned more about the Obama political operation for Netanyahu -- if anybody needs to be apologizing to anybody here, it's the Obama campaign team. The Obama team needs to be apologizing to the people of Israel for coming in and gumming up the works of their election.  They were using all kinds of American tactics, push polling, any number of things.  And they were specifically trying to gin up the anti-Netanyahu vote among the Israeli Arab population. 

All Netanyahu did was realize it and tell people this was going on.  And that, all of a sudden, became racist, when it was Obama and his campaign team that were behaving according to the tenets of racism.  Netanyahu just responded.  But he had to apologize for some reason and I just hope it's not that meaningful in terms of Netanyahu's resolve.  It's like, did you see the Iranian supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei?  A lot of people noted that he gave a speech the other day and he was shouting, "Death to America!  Death to America!  Death to America!" 

Grab sound bite 18.  This is our old buddy Marie Harf, the valley girl impresario who's a spokesman at the State Department.  Wolf Blitzer spoke to her last night on CNN.  He said: "The Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, all of a sudden once again today, is declaring death to America. This is the guy who's in charge. He has to approve a deal," the Iranian nuke deal that we are negotiating. "But now he's telling a crowd over there 'Death to America! Death to America!' A lot of people are suggesting, members of Congress and others, how can we even negotiate with an Ayatollah who declares death to America?"

BARF:  Well, we've heard this kind of rhetoric for a long time.  This certainly isn't new.  What we're focused on is what's happening in the negotiating room.

BLITZER:  So the words have no meaning when he says, "Death to America," you don't take that seriously?

HARF:  It's not that they have no meaning.  Obviously it's incredibly offensive, I would say, to all of us here.  We've seen this kind of rhetoric before.

RUSH:  She goes on to say he's just saying that for domestic content.  Marie Harf said you have to understand who these people are, and the Ayatollah Khamenei was just saying that for his people.  He didn't really mean it about us.  He just has to say that to his people.  Now, tell that to a uniformed American military man or woman who has seen an Iranian-made IED blow up in their face in the Middle East in Iraq or Afghanistan. You ask a uniformed military personnel if the Ayatollah Khamenei only means it for domestic consumption, that he really doesn't mean it. 

So I guess he really doesn't mean, "Death to Israel!  Death to Israel!" when he says that.  And I guess Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he didn't really mean it when he said they wanted to frog march the Israelis into the Mediterranean.  Ah, he just had to say that for domestic consumption.  So conversely, does that mean, "Well, you know, Obama really doesn't mean all this stuff when he runs around and apologizes for America.  He's just saying that for international consumption."  What, nobody means anything?  Is that it? 

"Oh, he says this all the time, death to America.  But it's not that it has no meaning, obviously it's incredibly offensive, and I would say --"  It's offensive, it's 20,000 times more offensive and dangerous than Ted Cruz, but you're running around making excuses for the Ayatollah Khamenei, and you and your media buddies are out trying to destroy a United States citizen, who you don't give anywhere near the same benefit of the doubt. 

I have to take a break. 

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH:  So the Ayatollah Khamenei says, "Death to America!  Death to America!"  And the State Department says, "Eh, it's no big deal.  He just has to say that for domestic consumption."  But Benjamin Netanyahu is required to apologize for "racist" comments about Israeli Arabs.  Note that the White House didn't shrug off what Netanyahu said.  "Well, you know, he was just speaking for domestic consumption."  Isn't it interesting?

With this White House, nations and people we've always thought to be our enemies are given the best treatment, and the people we think are our friends are treated with great suspicion, derision. They're even insulted.  Speaking of the media, ladies and gentlemen, poll after poll...  Now, get this.  This is important.  In poll after poll, the American people say they are against amnesty.  In poll after poll, a vast majority of people hate Obamacare and disapprove of amnesty. 

A vast majority of the American people claim they want a smaller and less intrusive government.  They do not want more gun control.  Increasing, they say, they do not believe in global warming.  So here comes a candidate, Ted Cruz, who espouses those very same positions.  And the news media claim that he's a lunatic from the fringest of the fringe!  How can that be? 

The American people overwhelmingly oppose amnesty, overwhelmingly hate Obamacare, and by a majority want a smaller, less intrusive government.  They don't want more gun control.  They don't believe in global warming.  Here comes not just Cruz; a number of Republican candidates who espouse the exact same things, and the media accuses them of being stupid, dangerous, dumb.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Little pop quiz for you.  Who said the following:  Quote, "The beautiful cry of 'Death to America' unites our nation." Who said that?  If you guessed Hassan Rouhani, the current so-called moderate president of Iran, you would be right.  But he was just saying that for domestic consumption.  Yeah, yeah.  The Iranians, doesn't matter who, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Ayatollah Khamenei, Hassan Rouhani, "Death to America! Death to America!"  He's just saying it for his own people, Mr. Limbaugh.  Don't get so worked up about it.  

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here's Paul in Atlanta.  Great to have you on the program, sir.  Hello.

CALLER:  Hey, Rush, it's a privilege, creator-endowed dittos to you.

RUSH:  Thank you very much, sir.

CALLER:  Yes, sir.  When you opened your show, the thought that I had about the death to Americans and the reaction to those words was this:  If the response to that is, "That's mere rhetoric that we've heard before," that that's the response, and the reason for dismissing is, it's just to build a pathway to the negotiating table, here's my question.  Once we get to the negotiating table, will we continue to take the words of that man as mere rhetoric that we've heard before?  That's my question.

RUSH:  Well, it's an excellent question.  Since this happened in the previous hour, let's bring people who may not have been tuned in to that point up to speed.  The supreme leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei, made a speech recently in Iran to the people.  It was Happy New Year, Happy Nowruz, which Obama also celebrated, and he said "Death to America!  Death to America!"  And the crowd supposedly cheered and so forth. 

They asked Marie Harf at the State Department, "Wait a minute, now."  It was I think a CNN reporter, Costa was his name, somebody, the guy's saying "Death to America!"  We're negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran saying "Death to America!" and the State Department spokeswoman said (paraphrasing), "Well, words are words. He just meant that for domestic consumption."  What she meant was, he's just playing to his base, if we Americanize the sentiment.  He's just saying what his people wanted him to say.  They just wanted to hear "Death to America!"  He doesn't really mean it. 

Okay, now, I don't know that it was a pathway to negotiations.  I think it was their Happy New Year celebration, and it was "Death to America!  Death to America!"  So your question is, if we're not gonna take their words seriously now, then why would we take their words seriously at the negotiation table?  In other words, when they say something at the negotiation table, are we gonna say, "Oh, he really doesn't mean that. He's just saying that for --"

CALLER:  Right. Yeah.  Exactly.  If we don't think words mean anything -- if we pick and choose when words mean something, then it's a joke.

RUSH:  Here's the question, then.  Marie Harf, State Department, has to be speaking for John Kerry, okay?  And Kerry has to be acting on behalf of Obama.  So when the State Department spokeswoman speaking for Kerry says "'Death to America!' he doesn't really mean it." Do they really say that or are they just saying that at the State Department for their own domestic consumption, and if they don't think that the Ayatollah Khamenei really means it, then how dangerous are we in terms of being exposed here? 

If the people responsible for making a deal with these people in Iran on nuclear weapons think that all of this incendiary language is just meaningless, then just how competent are the people negotiating on our behalf at this thing?  The thing that bothers me about this is that not long ago something like that would serve to cancel the negotiations.  A President Reagan, and I dare say maybe President Bush 41, might threaten to postpone the talks rather than conduct them with that kind of rhetoric out there. 

Now, we might have to go back and research some of the things Soviet leaders were saying during the time Gorbachev and Reagan were having their summits, and there might be some allowance for this stuff that's said public stage for domestic content; I don't know.  The real question for me is, does the State Department, does John Kerry, does Barack Obama, do they really think that the Ayatollah Khamenei doesn't mean it?  Because if they think he doesn't mean it, then we are at a dangerous place here, because he does mean it. 

The people of Iran don't care, or don't matter.  The Ayatollah Khamenei does not run for election, so this idea that he's saying this for domestic consumption is purely bogus.  He's a dictator!  The Ayatollah Khamenei is a tyrant!  The elections they have over there for president, he picks who the president is and that guy wins the election.  And they got a little bit tired of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because he was a little bit too open and up front and honest about Iran's intentions.  He didn't leave anything to doubt.  Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left no doubt that his intentions were to destroy Israel and any friend of Israel.  And the Ayatollah Khamenei said, "Well, it's a little bit too much, giving me too many problems." 

But the idea that the Ayatollah Khamenei has to say things to placate his people, BS.  It's the other way around.  His people have to not say things and not do things in order to placate him so they don't end up in jail.  Marie Harf, I swear, folks, this is another example I think of just dangerous folly and ignorance, because there is no similarity in the Iranian system and ours.  This idea, projecting -- she's telling us more about Obama than she is about the Ayatollah Khamenei, and she doesn't know that.  When Marie Harf says of the Ayatollah Khamenei, "He just has to say that for domestic consumption," she's giving away the thinking of this administration. 

So when Obama praises the military, he just has to say that for domestic consumption.  Or when Obama acts like he's really upset with Hamas or Palestinians, he has to say that for public perception, but he's really not.  There is no dictator in the world who cares a whit what his people think or say unless they're thinking of revolution, and if he finds out about it, they go to jail.  That's what's absolutely irresponsibly incorrect and wrong about Marie Harf analyzing the Ayatollah Khamenei.  He doesn't have to say anything for domestic consumption because domestic consumption is irrelevant to him.  Public opinion is irrelevant to him.  He doesn't run for election.  I appreciate the call nevertheless. 

David, Evansville, Indiana, great to have you on the EIB Network.  Hello.

CALLER:  Hi, Rush.  Good to talk to you.

RUSH:  Thank you, sir.

CALLER:  After all these years.  It's a pleasure.  I guess I can check this off my bucket list.

RUSH:  Well.

CALLER:  As you were talking about Marie Harf's comments on CNN -- of course since I don't watch CNN, I didn't see that -- I was thinking about the inconsistency between what she was saying and the fact that Netanyahu is responsible for his words.  They say, in his case, words matter.  In the Ayatollah's case, well, no big deal.  But as I thought more about that I began to realize that there's actually a pretty consistent thread here.  The Palestinians have "Death to America" written in their charter, so to speak, because -- not "Death to America", but "Death to Israel."  Same thing.  It's the same attitude. 

So when Netanyahu says what he says about the Palestinian state, the Obamaites have to react strongly because their orthodoxy says "Death to America."  Okay, yeah, they don't say "Death to America", they wouldn't exactly go along with those words, but they're sympathetic to the sentiment, both of the Ayatollah and of the Palestinians.  And so it's actually very consistent.  There's no contradiction here at all.  And that's actually scarier --

RUSH:  Now, wait just a second here.  I just want to make sure that I understand you here, David.  When Marie Harf says of the Ayatollah Khamenei's "Death to America!", "Hey, hey, hey, he's just speaking for domestic consumption," are you saying that she and Obama don't have a disagreement with him about that?

CALLER:  Okay, it's not "Death to America!", but they are certainly sympathetic to the sentiment, because it's part of the left orthodoxy to hate America.  And while they don't say "Death to America" themselves, they understand where that thinking comes from.

RUSH:  I don't want to nitpick here.  I'm not so sure -- people disagree with me -- I'm not sure that they have a hatred for America in the sense that you mean it.  I think they believe that America is on the wrong side of everything and that they can perfect it, that they can make America actually what it should be.  They hate America the way it was before them. But I don't think they hate America in the sense they want to destroy America as though it would be nuked like the Iranians do, but they clearly have a profound disagreement with the American way of life, rooted in capitalism, belief in God, Judeo-Christian ethic. All of that scares and intimidates the heck out of them and angers them. 

I may be nitpicking here, but it's the only way that you can, I think, safely say that they share the same Iranian sentiment in the "Death to America!"  Obama's trying to perfect it.  In his perverted, distorted way of seeing this country's sins, he thinks this country has been wrong, this country has been biased, racist, sexist, bigoted, whatever the left vernacular is since the days of its founding.  It's illegitimate, it's unjust.  You know, don't doubt me on this.  Obama, where was he, the 50th anniversary of Selma, "We are the slaves that built the White House."  That was part of his speech, "We're the slaves that built the White House." 

Now, what does that tell you?  It tells you volumes, if you ask me.  It tells you there's a deep resentment for the way this country was founded and built, and the people who really did it have been getting the shaft from the get-go.  And now it's time to give the shaft to the people who were giving it all those years. It's time they got the shaft.  And that's what Obama's about.  

END TRANSCRIPT

Jewish Man Shot Dead in Brooklyn

A 29-year-old Russian Jew was shot twice in the chest on Tuesday morning and died of his wounds shortly thereafter, in an attack on Ocean Parkway in the Midwood area of Brooklyn, New York.

Police told JPUpdates that the shooting occurred in front of 1663 Ocean Parkway, and that they received an emergency 911 call at around 7 a.m. on Tuesday from a passerby who found the man on the ground.

He was rushed to Coney Island Hospital where the medical staff was forced to pronounce his death.

Police are currently investigating the murder, and it has not been clarified whether the motive was simply criminal, or whether it was a hate crime.

A bullet shell casing was reportedly found at the scene, although a gun was not found, indicating the attacker fled the scene with the weapon.

The Jewish community of Brooklyn is already reeling from another tragedy, after seven young children of the Sassoon family in Flatbush were killed in a fire caused by a Shabbat hot plate malfunction.

'Wall Street Journal' Lies .... that Israel spied on US Nuclear talk with Iran

The Liars 

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday that he was "shocked" and "baffled" by a Wall Street Journal report published Tuesday morning that claimed Israel had spied on US nuclear talks with Iran, collecting information that was used to lobby him and his colleagues in Congress to drum up opposition to an emerging nuclear deal.

According to the Journal, Israel spied on the talks as part of the Netanyahu administration's campaign to publicly build a case against the deal.

"I'm not sure what the information was, but I'm baffled by it," Boehner told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.  

The White House was critical of Boehner for inviting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress earlier this month. Boehner will visit Israel during Congress' recess in late March.

"No information [was] revealed to me whatsoever," he added.

While Israel and the US are close allies, they have been known to spy on one another, the most notorious instance being the imprisonment of US Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard.

According to The Wall Street Journal, US spy agencies intercepted communications between Israeli officials who were sharing details that the Americans say could only have been learned from the secret negotiations with Iran.

Israel, for its part, denied that it spied on American negotiators, insisting that their efforts were aimed at Iranian officials.

Both Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon strongly denied that Israel spied on its ally following the report.

Yehuda Avner author of "Prime Ministers" Passes Away BD"E

Yehuda Avner z"l

Yehuda Avner Shaking hands with Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Begin in center

Adviser to 5 Israeli prime ministers, 3-time ambassador and author of 'The Prime Ministers' passed away at age 87 Tuesday.

Yehuda Avner, who served as Israel's Ambassador to three English-speaking countries and as adviser to five Israeli prime ministers, passed away last night at the age of 87. Father of four, he will be buried in Jerusalem this afternoon.

Mourned by Yeshiva University as a "true Ohev Yisrael (lover of Israel)," Avner's biography largely tells the story of the history of the State of Israel.

He was born Yehuda Haffner in England in 1928. Having experienced anti-Semitism there and being involved in the religious-Zionist Bnei Akiva youth movement, he moved to Jerusalem at age 19. He fought for the city during the War of Independence, and in 1949, he was amongst the founders of Kibbutz Lavi, a religious kibbutz in the Galilee.

Avner traveled to Britain to head the Bnei Akiva movement there, then returned to Israel in 1954, joined the Israeli Foreign Service, and ended up in the Prime Minister's Bureau. He wrote speeches and advised Prime Ministers Levi Eshkolo, Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, Yitzchak Rabin and Shimon Peres.

Among other functions, Avner served as the liaison between the variousprime ministers he worked with and the Lubavitcher Rebbe. This was especially so with Menachem Begin during the negotiations for the 1982 Israel-Egypt peace treaty.

He was appointed Ambassador to Britain and Non-resident Ambassador to Ireland in 1983, serving for six years. From 1992 to 1995, he was Israel's Ambassador to Australia.

Among other writings, Avner authored The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership, a dramatic and historic inside look at the workings of the top echelons of Israel's government. In 1995, the Yehuda Avner Chair in Religion and Politics was established at Bar-Ilan University.

​The funeral will take place today, Tuesday March 24, (4th of Nisan) at Bet HaHesped in Givat Shaul at 4:30 p.m.

Shiva will be held at Diskin 13, Villa 116, Jerusalem, until Monday morning March 30.

Click here to read a fascinating lecture Yehuda Avner delivered in 2008

Israel Bashing J Street Features Rep Schakowsky bashing "Orthodox Jew"

Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), speaking on Monday at the 2015 J Street convention, praised the far left “Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace?” organization for backing her 2010 re-election campaign against Joel Pollak, Breitbart News’s Senior Editor-at-Large and Breitbart California Editor.

Schakowsky begins by thanking J Street for its backing of her positions when it comes to Israel.

“I’d like to begin with just a great thank you for J Street. I have to tell you that the courage to take positions that I’ve been able to take are [sic] really because of the space that, in a very short time, J Street had opened for members of Congress to expand political discussion about the State of Israel and our relationship to it.”

In the video—which was provided by Paul Miller, who served as a senior policy adviser for Pollak’s campaign and is now the executive director of the Salomon Center—the Democratic Rep. from Illinois rips into the Breitbart editor.

“In 2010, I had an election… an election within our community. That is, I ran against a Jewish-Orthodox, Tea Party Republican who made it very clear that actually Jan Schakowsky was anti-Israel because of the positions that she took,” the Congresswoman said of Pollak.

“J Street came to my rescue,” she added. “Not just with money, but with the kind of moral support that was able to assure a substantial victory in that election.”

Ron Kampeas, the JTA Washington bureau chief, wrote on Twitter that Schakowsky “ickily” noted Pollak’s Orthodox observance of his faith:

The Democratic representative was one of the fringe leftist members of the House who decided to boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s March speech to a joint session of the U.S. Congress.

Pundits have noted that Schakowsky has consistently taken controversial positions when it comes to Israel. Others have expressed doubt that J Street itself is in fact a pro-Israel organization.

“She has walked lockstep with the most anti-Israel administration in the history of US-Israeli relations,” Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick said of Schakowsky in February.”

Famed Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz said of J Street in April 2014, “How can you be a ‘pro-Israel’ organization and never express any pro-Israel views? It is absolutely shocking to me. Every press release seemed to have a negative about Israel.”

“I just have to shake my head when these [J Street members] ask me to believe in Iran,” former Rep. Allen West said of the group in 2010.

J Street has consistently opposed any new sanctions against the Iranian regime and has pushed for further pressure against the Jewish state at the United Nations. Its Washington D.C. policy conference, which is rife with controversial figures, ends Tuesday.

Senators Call For Defunding The United Nations If Obama Goes To The UN Against Israel

The Obama administration made a lot of noise over the weekend about its displeasure at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments over the future of Palestinian statehood. 

Even though Netanyahu walked back his comments in an olive branch to the administration, the White House’s negative, threatening rhetoric towards the Jewish State has not diminished; in fact, it has increased.

What concerns many lawmakers in the House and the Senate are the administration’s threats to possibly change the level of support that America gives Israel in the United Nations. 

\Historically, the United States has been the nation that prevents adverse action against Israel such as the United Nations proclaiming Palestinian statehood. Some senators over the weekend fired a shot across the administration’s bow on this issue.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

The US Congress should reconsider funding for the United Nations if the Security Council approves a resolution on Palestinian statehood, Republican Senator John McCain said on Sunday.

McCain, in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” show, said President Barack Obama should not even be considering such a resolution.

Breitbart also reported:

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) threatened to cut off funding to the United Nations if President Obama uses it to bypass Congress on Iran sanctions on Thursday’s “On the Record” on the Fox News Channel.

“Here’s what the president needs to understand. If you go to the UN Security Council and you try to bypass the Congress to get this deal approved by the UN Security Council, but not come to your own Congress, then you’re going to risk Congress cutting off money to the United Nations” he stated.

The rubber is hitting the road here at the tail end of the disastrous Obama presidency. This is a very dangerous time for our nation. Our Congressional leaders are going to have to step up and defend the American way of life and our allies in the face of threats to injure them from our treasonous White House.

This may be the last opportunity for an old warrior like John McCain to rise to the occasion when his country needs him.

The Red Cross and the Islamic University in Gaza plan to hold a joint conference on Sharia law.

The faculty of Sharia (Islamic law) at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University in Gaza is preparing to hold an international conference in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross on the subject of international humanitarian law in light of Islamic Sharia

.

The conference is scheduled to take place on October 13 and 14 this year, according to a joint ad of the Red Cross and the Islamic University, which appeared in the Hamas-affiliated Palestine newspaper on Sunday.

According to the ad, the first session of the conference will deal with humanitarian issues. 

The second session will discuss the basic principles in the management of armed conflicts, the third session will deal with victims’ rights and measures for their protection during armed conflict, and the fourth session will deal with guarantees for the implementation of the principles of the management of armed conflict and modern challenges.

All the sessions will examine these issues according to Sharia law and international humanitarian law, the ad states.

The cooperation with the Red Cross is puzzling given that the Islamic University is considered a stronghold of Hamas and, according to Israeli intelligence, Hamas uses it to develop its rocket arsenal.

In January of 2009, the Israeli Air Force attacked a target at the Islamic University which served as a laboratory for developing weapons.

During a visit to Gaza in 2012, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal spoke at the Islamic University, and called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to retire from politics. In the speech, Mashaal also praised Hamas’s targeting of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with rockets during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense which preceded his visit to Gaza.