'KUPAT HA'IR' What's the Story?

I would like to preface this post with the following caveat: I am all for giving Tzedakkah to Frum Mosdois ...... Having said that,  I keep getting these annoying inserts in my Jewish newspapers and magazines that "shout" that the only way to have a great year is to donate to "Kupat Ha'Ir" ..... and feel Jewish guilt tossing it into the re-cycling bin.

Recently I came across an interesting blog, called "Kotzk Blog"  authored by by Rabbi Gavin Michal,where he addresses this very issue, and I have to thank him because he just saved me a lot of time and has given me the opportunity to spend quality time with my children and grandchildren on Chol Ha"Moed not to mention saving a couple of dollars that I can give to my own shul that keeps harassing me for money and dues...

KUPAT HA’IR NOW OFFERS A WINDOW INTO HEAVEN:

Kupat Ha’ir is a Chareidi or Ultra-Orthodox charity which looks after twenty thousand impoverished Chareidim.

In my community, every few months a very fine, respected and mainstream magazine publishes a two-page advertisement which includes a ten-page pamphlet and an envelope – encouraging the readers to contribute to Kupat Ha’ir.

This is just a further example of how mainstream Judaism is leaning more and more to the right. The right knows this and takes advantage of it. And the mainstream is made to feel that they are inadequate and not as religious as the right and that the right holds the only keys to Judaism.

I will quote directly from the Kupat Ha’ir pamphlet in red – and add my commentary in black:

The Gedolei Hador will gather near the home of Maran Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky to pray on behalf of contributors to Kupat Ha’ir...Your name must be there.

The title ‘Gedolei Hador’ (religious leaders of this generation) is misleading because it implies that these twenty rabbis have been divinely ordained as the spiritual leaders of this generation. This is not the case. They are the leaders of the Chareidi community and do not necessarily represent all religious Jews. 

Many of these Gedolim do not allow their followers to work or study anything secular that could make them employable. See here. Many of them do not allow women to drive. See here, here and here. Many of them encourage separate buses for men and women and in some instances, men and women must walk on different sides of the street. R. Kanievsky, for example, believes that non-Jews have a different number of teeth than Jews. See here.

Conscious of the impending judgement erev Rosh Hashana finds us feeling anxious, frightened and desperate for zechuyos (merits). We wonder what we can still do in the short time remaining.

So the stage is set to frighten us into urgent monetary submission during the few remaining days before the Holy Days.

Here is the advice of the Gedolei Hador, penned by Maran Hagaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky:

“The very greatest zechus (merit) one can attain with his money in anticipation of Yom Hadin (The Day of Judgement) is Tzedakah to Kupat Ha’ir.”

We all run to the Gedolei Hador.

Who is the ‘we all’?

Who better than they can offer us guidance on how to overcome this hurdle?

Remember, it is also with their guidance that many tens of thousands of Chareidim are living well below the poverty line, because their leaders do not allow them to work. Their guidance created a humanitarian crisis where they have to give new guidance which includes a bad temporary solution of giving charity which cannot fix the problem but only exasperate it because they accustom their people to expect it!

Who better than they will be able to take us by the hand and lead us safely through Yom Hadin? They...can best advise us at this critical time how to emerge from Yom Hadin unscathed.

So, if we give them money to distribute, they will take us safely through the Day of Judgement.

It’s that easy.

They can’t feed their followers on earth but they can take us through the Gates of Heaven provided we donate.

Maharan (Kanievsky) shlit’a writes to us, in his trademark brief style, addressing those in search of answers during this period.

There are those who ask which zechus (merit) will rescue them during the upcoming Yemei Hadin (Days of Judgement)...He responds with his characteristic precision leaving no doubt as to the unequivocal nature of his reply:

So, with ‘characteristic precision’ R. Kanievsky gives us the answer to the age old mystery of ‘who will live and who will die’ as is determined on these Holy days.

His words are like a laser beam that cuts straight to the heart of the matter, his illuminating message, to which Maran Harav Steinman and Maran Harav Karelitz sign their names as well, is this:

Tzedakah to Kupat Ha’ir. Tzedakah to Kupat Ha’ir.

The laser beam cut twice.

In Kupat Ha’ir Daas Torah rules on all matters...Twenty thousand people are helped daily by Kupat Ha’ir. Twenty thousand!!!

Had they allowed people to work the number would have been a lot let less and there would have been no need to repeat themselves again. See here for a discussion on Daas Torah.

Is it any wonder that Kupat Ha’ir is the best place for a yeshuah (salvation)?...Twenty thousand of Hashem’s beloved children who have no way to support themselves...twenty thousand! Kupat Ha’ir merits incredible siyatta dishmaya (intercession from Heaven) in all of its varied activities which are innumerable.

This means that by giving money to this specific organization one doesn’t just perform a mitzvah,  but one can achieve a deep mystical ‘salvation’ and be advantaged by ‘divine intercession’. These are things that even the mystics of old could only dream of. Now they can be purchased.

Kupat Ha’ir is the only organization about which the Gedolei Hador write so clearly and unequivocally...the most mehudar (glorious) tzedakah with which to rip asunder an unfavourable decree – is tzedakah to Kupat Haír.

Your donation to this organization will ‘rip asunder an unfavourable decree’ because it pulls the magic strings that gets G-d to bend to our demands.

Does Kupat Ha’ir need us? It is we who need Kupat Ha’ir to tip the scales in our favour...We need to grasp the rope being tossed to us and hold on tight; we need to wrap it around ourselves, our children and our loved ones. We need to protect ourselves with the protective vest that is Kupat Ha’ir. We need to do so, because our lives depend on it.

With such amazing powers no wonder they can be so arrogant because they are doing us this great favour. Nay, they are saving our lives and the lives of our loved ones.

Twenty of the Gedolei Hador will gather in (or near) the home of R. Kanievsky to pray for you if you give money.

But there is yet another great miracle to come:

Despite their venerated status and full commitments and learning – they are willing to stop everything in order to attend this magnificent tefillah (prayer) event. Think about it: just fixing a time that works for all of them seems an impossible task. How can arrangements be made to bring twenty of our nation’s greatest leaders under one roof? It seems unfeasible - But when there’s a fire, you don’t make calculations; you pause and set aside even the holiest things. Lives are hanging in the balance! They are dropping everything and coming...Instead of waiting for us to come beg them to pray for a refuah (now it’s a ‘healing’, not just a ‘salvation’), they’re going to pray in advance that everything goes well.

Did you get that...in advance! And one would have thought that this great miracle of getting them to set aside their busy schedules would have lasted some time but the prayer meeting will only be for one hour. 

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur will determine an entire year of daily decrees regarding your health, your parnassah (sustenance), the nachas you will see from your children, your success, your job (you can have a job to pay for the recipients who and discouraged from getting jobs!) your emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing. Ensuring that an entire year’s worth of daily gezeiros (decrees) is favourable is no easy feat. For that you need the Gedolei Hador.

If they can heal us spiritually and physically every day, why don’t they just use their same powers and arrange for the unemployable recipients to receive money as their very own ‘salvations’?

All the Gedolim will be coming to one place – and you hesitate before contributing? They understand that your life is important – and you make light if it? (Chutzpat Ha'ir?)...With one contribution you set in motion a tefillah (prayer) on your behalf that will soar heavenward “arm in arm” with your contribution.

This is guaranteed.

This tefillah will stand like a wall in the face of any unfavourable decree, barring it from reaching you.

This too is guaranteed.

Which accusing angels stand a chance against twenty Gedolei Hador?

To be honest I can’t think of any. 

Now for the piece de resistance:

If we could see what goes on in Shamayim (Heaven), we would watch reams of gezeiros (bad decrees) being ripped apart.

We’d see mountains of problems shrinking, children growing up healthy and happy and, diseases being cured...Chuppas (marriage canopies) being erected, healthy babies being born, hearts being cleansed of heaviness and dread and bank accounts filling up.

These are some of the reasons why I could never subscribe to this mentality. These are just more examples of how these Gedolim and the system they have created, make a mockery of intellectual Judaism.

Who doesn’t want to be a part of this event?

There is nothing remotely comparable anywhere in the world.

Actually, there is:

Sadly we have fallen to this disingenuous and superstitious level of Judaism that is actually typical of many other systems to be found around the world.

How different are the promises of Kupat Ha'ir from others I saw from Dr P. Musa and Hajati Lucky from Central Africa, which even included testimonials from happy paying clients:

For ‘reasonable charges’ they will help you deal with (amongst other issues):

Financial Problems. Marriage Problems. Customer Attraction. Court Cases. Lotto (lottery), casino and Horse Racing. Remove Witches. Protect Homes, Business from Thieves. A permanent Change will Prevail. Life will Just become Better.

I got what I wanted in just 3 days. I received a call from work begging me to go back to work. I was compensated and promoted as well. My wife gave birth and she came back to me...So if you find yourself reading this message, don’t call it a chance but fate to guide your steps!!

...I paid...for consultation...They performed a special prayer, cleansed me from bad luck and gave me powerful love powder...to use at my work place.

[Cf. Kupat Ha’ir: With one contribution you set in motion a tefillah (prayer) on your behalf that will soar heavenward.]

You can be helped in just 3 Days. Bad Luck. Bewitched People. All known Body Diseases.

[Cf. Kupat Ha’ir: Conscious of the impending judgement erev Rosh Hashana finds us feeling anxious, frightened and desperate for zechuyos (merits). We wonder what we can still do in the short time remaining.]

Cleansing of Bad Spells.

[Cf. Kupat Ha’ir: the most mehudar (glorious) tzedakah with which to rip asunder an unfavourable decree – is tzedakah to Kupat Haír.]

Make your life better.

[Cf. Kupat Ha’ir: We need to grasp the rope being tossed to us and hold on tight.]

Work Problems...Love life and relationships...That’s why we are happily married.

[Cf. Kupat Ha’ir: regarding your health, your parnassah (sustenance), the nachas you will see from your children, your success, your job...]

They also made my enemies as well as my in-laws to come to me and confess all the things they had done to my family.

They performed a special prayer to bind me and my husband together. That’s why we are happily married.

You won’t regret or suffer again.

[Cf. Kupat Ha’ir: Ensuring that an entire year’s worth of daily gezeiros (decrees) is favourable...]

ANALYSIS:

In my view, the sincere but gullible mainstream Jewish masses are drawn to the right because they see them as custodians of pure Judaism.

Not many are aware of the fact that today the Chareidi numbers have overtaken the mainstream Modern Orthodox, which makes the Chareidi movement the most powerful of all the Jewish religious movements today. It has and will be setting the tone for future religious Judaism. Additionally, there is the unquestioning reverence the minority old mainstream has toward the Chareidim who have now become the new mainstream.

Orthodox Judaism has always had a minority religious left, a very strong religious centrist and a minority religious right - which together sustained a  healthy balance of religious components. Today the left has almost broken away and the right has overtaken the centrists in terms of numbers. This leaves the centrists weak with very little effective leadership and coupled to that they are tending to the right. 

This dynamic of weak centrists, creates instability in terms of the relationship between Judaism and the world, and also in terms of securing first principle theological Judaism as was practised in the past. It also creates radical rather than measured theology.

Additionally many of the values within Chareidi society are actually innovations and adaptations and in essence, could also be seen as a ‘reforming’ of Judaism. See Reforms of the Ultra-Orthodox.

With regard to Tzedakah, let me be clear: I steadfastly believe in helping people who try support themselves and their families but may have fallen on hard times. That is something very different from a self-created poverty system in the first instance which, by encouraging people not to work, is obviously going to unsustainable on every level.

These Gedolim could work their greatest miracle by going back to classical Jewish first principles by allowing their followers to interact with the world like so many of our Tanaim, Amorain, Savoraim Geonim, Rishonim and many Acharonim did. Torah may be the most important thing for a Jew but it is not the only thing. 

These Gedolim created a monster and instead of managing it they are they are feeding it.

And the gullible masses remain in awe of them and continue buying the food. 

MUSLIM ‘Professor’at UC Berkeley calls for an “intifada” (violent uprising) against Jews in America

"would it kill you to call?" Your Bubbie????

BROOKLYN ALERT: CONVICTED SERIAL ABUSER DAVID KRAMER RELEASED AND LIVING IN MIDWOOD

In July 2013, Kramer was sentenced by an Australian court to three years and four months in jail for sexually assaulting four students. The abuse happened against four boys aged between 10 and 11 at the Yeshivah College where Kramer served as a teacher from 1989 to 1992.

Kramer continued teaching at the school even after they received complains of abuse and the school  paid for Kramer to return to Israel, shortly afterwards.

Kramer later moved to the United States where in 2007 he was jailed for sodomizing a 12-year-old boy at a synagogue in St. Louis. After completing that sentence, Kramer was deported to Australia to stand trial for the earlier abuse.

There are also allegations that Kramer abused children in Israel.

"Min-Hameitzar" Fights Sexual Assault in Frum Society

Rivka Schwartz

Rivka Schwartz belongs to a community which treats the very word ‘sex’ as taboo, but after finding out at 16 that her best friend had been sexually abused, she vowed to help victims of the phenomenon

By Shany Littman Oct 04, 2017

Attorney Rivka Schwartz remembers vividly the first time she ever heard about sexual abuse within the family. She was 16 at the time, attending summer camp. She and one of her best friends – also a Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, girl from Bnei Brak – were having trouble falling asleep. They talked well into the night, and Schwartz’s friend revealed something that astounded her.

“She told me that a member of her family was forcing himself on her,” Schwartz recalls now, speaking with Haaretz at a café in Jerusalem. “I was stunned. I hardly knew anything about [sexual] relations then, and certainly I didn’t think anything like that – sexual abuse – existed. None of us had internet access, and it wasn’t something that people talked about. I was also shocked because I knew the man. I felt guilty for not having seen it sooner. I didn’t understand how I could have known her for so many years without having the least idea.”

Schwartz decided she had to help her friend. “I sat with my mother in the kitchen and told her the whole story. She said, ‘No way, it can’t be.’ ... She said that maybe my friend had dreamed it and that I should let it go.”

But Schwartz, who is today 36, did not let it go. “I thought I was being smart, and I persuaded my friend to tell her parents. Their reaction was to accuse her of being immodest. They said she had seduced the man. She was sent to a school abroad to keep her away from him. Finally, she left Israel [for good], and afterward also the religious way of life. She broke with her family – and with me, too, because from her perspective I was the one who had harmed her. I’d encouraged her to tell her parents, and the result was that she’d been punished and lost her family and her whole world.”

Schwartz was haunted by the realization that, instead of helping, she had only made matters worse. But the lesson was clear.

“I understood that there was no one to turn to in such cases,” she says. “I am not someone who accepts the idea that nothing can be done. I decided that one day I would do something about it, so other 16-year-old girls in similar situations would have someone to turn to.

“The second thing I understood was that talking and exposure exact a steep price, so you have to know how to go about it. You mustn’t remain silent, but you have to know how to not stay silent. I decided that in the future I’d find a way to help other girls.”

However, that future had to wait. As one of 11 siblings in a family affiliated with the Vizhnitz Hasidic sect, Schwartz was steered from childhood into attending a Haredi girls’ school and marrying.

She only departed from the path to the extent that she refused to marry someone within the Vizhnitz court. And even that was related to the assault she’d been told about as a teenager.

“I didn’t want to marry anyone from a community where such things happen,” she explains now, adding, “Until then, I had the naive notion that it didn’t happen in other communities.”

The matchmaker suggested Meni Gira Schwartz, then a 19-year-old yeshiva student from a different sect, a businessman and also editor of Behadrei Haredim – which bills itself as “the world’s biggest Haredi website.” The parents on both sides weren’t enthusiastic, but the couple insisted, and three weeks after their first meeting they became engaged.

Schwartz, who was 19 when she married, subsequently continued her studies to become a teacher, training at an ultra-Orthodox seminary. She had two daughters, and at age 26 chose to enroll in the law faculty at Ono Academic College, in Kiryat Ono, near Tel Aviv. It was the only law school that would admit her without a high school matriculation certificate. She’s the only one of her siblings to receive an academic degree.

During her studies, Schwartz volunteered at the college’s legal clinic, the Noga Center for Victims of Crime. There, for the first time, she discovered that the scale of sexual abuse, in society in general, far exceeded what she had imagined, and was hardly confined exclusively to ultra-Orthodox sects.

“Not many Haredi women contacted the aid center,” she recalls. “But I realized that in the same way a woman would better understand another woman, a Haredi woman will understand another Haredi woman better. It was clear that a Haredi who was victimized should be treated with Haredi ‘tools.’”

Schwartz also volunteered at an Israel Bar Association clinic that offers pro bono legal assistance to indigent persons.

The clinic often received ultra-Orthodox who had experienced sexual assault, and referred them to the relevant organizations. That experience only reinforced Schwartz’s belief that a Haredi facility – with an understanding of that community’s special needs and language – was needed to help in such cases.

After completing her studies, Schwartz clerked in the criminal department at the State Prosecutor’s Office in Jerusalem, which marked the first time she encountered incidents of sexual assault – including in Haredi society – that were considered serious criminal offenses.

She also discovered that in some cases, ultra-Orthodox assailants were simply ignorant of the law. She cites the case of a man from the Haredi town of Modi’in Ilit, who wanted to appeal a 13-year prison term to which he had been sentenced after being convicted of having sexual relations with a boy of 12.

“The man had a business, where the boy worked as a messenger, and the close working ties between them led to forbidden relations,” Schwartz relates. “Years after those relations ended, when the boy was 21, the man tried to hug him when the two met by chance on the street. The victim re-experienced the trauma and filed a complaint. The assailant had no idea why he was being investigated. He told the interrogator, ‘The boy didn’t resist, it didn’t hurt him, he wanted me. He even came to me on his own.’”

The man was aware he had violated Jewish law, having had relations with another male, but wasn’t familiar with the concept of statutory rape, when a minor is involved – and a crime even if consensual.

“For him, it was like someone turning on a light on Shabbat,” explains Schwartz. “He said it was between him and God. He didn’t know there’s no such thing as consensual relations in such a case. The ignorance stemmed from a lack of awareness. We live in a closed community, but I see that not as [a means of] silencing but as protection. The community wants to protect its members.”

On the condition that it’s really protection and doesn’t expose others to danger.

“Right. In the past, the community prevented exposure and wider publicity of these cases. The Haredi media didn’t report them. The Haredi public didn’t hear about them. When offenders were put on trial, I [as a member of the community] didn’t know about them.

“When I started to work in the State Prosecutor’s Office, I was shocked by the scale of the phenomenon. I realized that people who had suddenly disappeared from the landscape, and were said to be abroad, were actually in jail. The public wasn’t aware they’d been punished, so there was no deterrent effect.”

While clerking six years ago, during a tour of a Social Affairs Ministry center in Jerusalem that treats sexually abused children, Schwartz learned that 75 percent of the youngsters treated there came from ultra-Orthodox families. Though this was due in part to the high proportion of Haredim in the city, the information staggered her.

Schwartz: “I wrote about this in a Haredi Facebook forum, noting the high percentage of Haredi victims and the fact that people were in prison and we didn’t know the first thing about it. In response, people accused me of defaming the community. They said I was making things up. The forum’s manager told me we don’t wash our dirty linen in public, and deleted the post. I felt helpless. I wanted to fight the ignorance, so that potential offenders would know what lies in store for them from the legal standpoint, and preclude such cases.”

Chag Samaiach!!!

Reuven Shmerling Murdered by his own Arab employees

Scene of discovery (Photo: MDA)

Reuven Shmerling, 70, was found stabbed to death in the Arab town of Kafr Qasim, located in central Israel.

The victim's body was found by his son in a factory the victim owned in the Kafr Qasim industrial zone. Police and Magen David Adom first responders were called to the scene following the discovery.

The body showed signs of severe abuse.

MDA volunteers attempted to resuscitate the victim, but were forced to declare his death.

MDA Adi Marciano said, "When we arrived at the scene we were led to a building where we found a man of about seventy lying unconscious. He was not breathing and had no heartbeat. We performed medical tests and he did not show any signs of life. We were forced to declare his death at the scene."

Police are investigating the murder, and suspect the Jew hired Arab workers from the area, and the workers beat him to death during an argument.

"The police investigation into the incident in the industrial area of Kafr Qasim is continuing," an Israel Police spokesperson said. "We have confirmed that the Israeli man was murdered and police units are searching for suspects who could have been in the area at the time of the incident."

The victim, a long-time resident of the town of Elkana in western Samaria, is survived by his wife, Hana, and the couple's four children.

A spokesperson for the Elkana Local Council said, "Elkana expresses sorrow and shock at the murder of our friend Reuven Shmerling, who was murdered by evil murderers two hours ago in Kafr Qasim. We share in the family's mourning. The Council and community's hearts are with the family during these difficult hours."

Funeral details have not yet been announced.

When Tom Petty hung out with an Orthodox rock band in Israel

 He came to Israel in the late 1980s; he and his Heartbreakers were backing a decidedly out-of-sorts Bob Dylan. 

A video clip that’s been dug up in the last few hours shows him, then-drummer Stan Lynch and other bandmates in listening mode near the Western Wall with a member of the Diaspora Yeshiva Band, getting a speedy tutorial on the holy places, Jerusalem’s Jewish and Muslim narratives, and the effectiveness of prayer.

As ever, Petty is hidden behind his shades and, though evidently interested, thoroughly understated. “That’s pretty wild, right,” he drawls to Lynch after the mini-lecture, as the two of them stroll off toward the Wall.

Eight Top Executives of Auertbach's fantatic Charedi newspaper to be indicted for blackmail

The followers of the fanatic R' Shmuel Auerbach, are basically evil sadistic people by nature, who enjoy tormenting others. 

They found a way to do it with the backing of Daas Torah!

By throwing rocks and beating up Chareidie Soldiers, they fulfill their sadistic craving of seeing others in pain..by having their naive sheep sit on highways, preventing innocent people from going to work, home and shul, with the approval of an old geezer that they call a "gadol," they are able to "elevate"  their miserable existence and call it a Mitzvah!

They have formed a Mafia to extort money from innocent business people .... but as the saying goes all "thieves are eventually caught."  

The Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office has decided to indict eight workers from the Hapeles newspaper for conspiracy to commit a crime, harassment, and blackmail.

Hapeles is the mouthpiece of the extremist Jerusalem Faction, which is connected with Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach and has been locked in a power struggle with the mainstream haredi community ever since the death of Torah Sage Rabbi Sholom Elyashiv in 2012. The Jerusalem Faction considers Bnei Brak-based Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman - the spiritual leader of the non-hasidic Lithuanian haredi community to be an illegitimate leader and has rejected his authority, splitting the hierarchical haredi world.

According to police, Hapeles CEO Natan Grossman and employees Shmuel Elyashiv, Avraham Trager, Chaim Yavrov, Netanel Shtapfer, Shabtai Fein, Yisrael Israel Tropper and Moshe Berliman embarked on a deliberate harassment campaign against haredi business owners after major haredi rabbis banned advertising with Hapeles, causing the publication's revenues to drop.

Police described how Hapeles pressured businesses into advertising with them by harassing and threatening company officials with ultimatums, warning that the failure to do so would be seen as an insult to a large segment of the haredi population and would have serious consequences. The harassment of the targeted officials reportedly occurred on a daily basis.

The indictments come a day after the Israeli Advertising Agency decided to yank all taxpayer-funded ads from Hapeles in light of its virulent opposition to haredi IDF soldiers.
The move was approved by the Justice, Defense, and Internal Security Ministers, who decided that the government should not be supporting Hapeles when it has been running virulent incitement against haredi IDF soldiers for years.

Video of Vegas Concert when shooting massacre started

Israeli Government yanks advertising from anti-Zionist Charedi newspaper

Very very interesting..... who would think that the fanatical anti-Zionists would be taking money from the government and then biting the hand that fed them ........

Bunch of hypocrites ..... telling everyone not to take money from the government and was first in line to take Satmar blood money for their mosdos .... and now we find out, that they were on the take all this time.....

Israel's Government Advertising Agency has decided to yank all government advertising from the Charedi Hapeles publication in wake of the newspaper's extremist stance against Charedi IDF soldiers.

The move was approved by the Justice, Defense, and Internal Security Ministers, who decided that the government should not be supporting Hapeles when it has been running virulent incitement against Charedi IDF soldiers for years.

Hapeles is the mouthpiece of the extremist Jerusalem Faction, which is connected with Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach and has been locked in a power struggle with the mainstream haredi community ever since the death of Torah Sage Rabbi Sholom Elyashiv in 2012. 

The Jerusalem Faction considers Bnei Brak-based Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman to be an illegitimate leader, and has revolted against his authority, splitting the hierarchical Charedi world.

In May, police arrested senior members of Hapeles over blackmail allegations. 

According to authorities, Hapeles pressured businesses into advertising with them by harassing and threatening company officials with ultimatums, warning that the failure to do so would be seen as an insult to a large segment of the Charedi population and would have serious consequences. The harassment of the targeted officials reportedly occurred on a daily basis.

MK Oded Forer (Yisrael Beytenu) had appealed to the Government Advertising Agency in February to cease advertising in Hapeles, writing that "the newspaper is one of the central mediums inciting against IDF enlistment and encouraging rioting".

Face of Evil: Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada

DEADLIEST IN US HISTORY: 

More Than 58 Dead, 515 Wounded In Massacre At Vegas Music Festival

The shooter has been identified as Stephen Paddock, 64, from Mesquite Nevada. He opened fire from 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay Hotel during a Jason Aldean concert that has thus far led to the deaths of over 58 people and 500 injuries. He is believed to have been an accountant with no criminal record. He had a private pilot license and it also appears that he was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against another Las Vegas hotel.

A federal law enforcement official said a cache of weapons was found inside the hotel room where Paddock died, and investigators believe the suspect used the vantage point to fire on the crowd below gathered for an outdoor country music concert.

Police blocked off the road to the suspect’s home in Mesquite, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Records show that Paddock resided at 1372 Babbling Brook Court in a house he purchased in 2015.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department obtained a search warrant and officers are en route to search Paddock’s home, said Quinn Barrett, public information officer for the Mesquite Police Department. He said the department had secured the home and the perimeter around it but is playing only a supportive role in the investigation.

Paddock was not known to the federal authorities, but was known to local law enforcement, NBC News reported. Paddock had no known connection to terrorism.

'Spain backs statehood for Palestine - but not Catalonia?'

Dep. Defense Minister blasts Spanish hypocrisy, treatment of Catalonia voters, notes Spain's decades-long support for Palestinian statehood.

Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan (Jewish Home) blasted the Spanish government’s crackdown against a regional referendum in the province of Catalonia Sunday, which left nearly 500 people injured, most of them pro-independence demonstrators.

Spanish security forces blocked polling stations across Catalonia, including the regional capital of Barcelona. Police broke into 319 voting stations, local authorities said, and clashed with crowds of voters at other stations.

Catalonia, a semi-autonomous region within the Kingdom of Spain, held the referendum vote Sunday, despite protests by the central Spanish government in Madrid, which declared the plebiscite illegal.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, who supports a Catalan separation from Spain, said earlier that if the referendum saw a majority of “yes” votes, he would declare an independent Catalonia within 48 hours.

The Spanish government, however, has declared the referendum illegal and ordered security forces to bar voters from entering polling stations.

“There has not been a referendum or anything remotely similar,” Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría said.

Deputy Minister Ben-Dahan slammed Madrid’s crackdown on the referendum, noting Spain’s decades-long support for Palestinian statehood.

“For many years, Spain lectured us about how we need to give [national] rights to the Palestinian Arabs,” wrote Ben-Dahan on Twitter. “Today we see their hypocrisy, as [Spain] doesn’t even allow the Catalans to hold a referendum on independence.”