ICC Rules that it has Jurisdiction over Judea and Samaria, Paving the Way for Probe of Alleged Israeli 'war crimes.'

 Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday responded to the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to investigate Israel for alleged "war crimes."

In a statement, Netanyahu said: "When the ICC investigates Israel for fake war crimes – this is pure anti-Semitism. The court established to prevent atrocities like the Nazi Holocaust against the Jewish people is now targeting the one state of the Jewish people."

"First, the ICC outrageously claims that when Jews live in our homeland, this is a war crime. Second, it claims that when democratic Israel defends itself against terrorists who murder our children and rocket our cities - we are committing another war crime.

"Yet the ICC refuses to investigate brutal dictatorships like Iran and Syria, who commit horrific atrocities almost daily.

"As Prime Minister of Israel, I can assure you this: We will fight this perversion of justice with all our might!" he concluded.

The US on Friday expressed concern over the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) ruling that it that it has jurisdiction over Judea, Samaria, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem, paving the way for a war crimes probe against Israel.

“We are reviewing the ICC decision on Palestine and we have concerns about the ICC taking steps against Israeli personnel,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.

“We share the goals of the ICC but we always believed its jurisdiction should only apply for countries who agree for it or as a result of a UN Security Council decision,” he added.

Earlier, a three-panel judge at the ICC ruled that Judea, Samaria, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem are within the jurisdiction of the court.

In a press release, the ICC said that the judges ruled that "the Court's territorial jurisdiction in the Situation in Palestine, a State party to the ICC Rome Statute, extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, announced in late 2019 that she intends to open a full investigation into alleged Israeli “war crimes”, but before opening a full probe, asked the ICC to rule on the territory over which it has jurisdiction because of the "unique and highly contested legal and factual issues attaching to this situation."

She subsequently ruled that “Palestine” is a state and the ICC has jurisdiction involving its cases.

The Trump administration slapped sanctions on ICC officials and had cited both their probe into US military personnel in Afghanistan as well as their efforts investigate Israel.

The Biden administration, however, has already announced plans to “thoroughly review” the sanctions that were imposed on the ICC by Trump.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

we get a small commission

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

Biden Kicks Republicans & BiPartisanship in the Ass and Pushes Thru 1.9 Trillion ‘relief’ bill

 

President Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are pressing ahead with their strictly partisan, $1.9 trillion “relief” bill — chasing Democrats’ agenda at the nation’s risk.

So far, it’s working: The Senate, with Veep Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote, passed a budget resolution early Friday morning that will allow the Biden bill to pass that chamber with a similar 51-50 majority, no filibuster allowed.

Moderate senators got a few near-meaningless amendments included: one to prevent imposing a nationwide $15 minimum wage as long as the pandemic continues; one expressing displeasure with the president’s killing of the Keystone XL pipeline; a (sigh) non-binding one to prevent $1,400 relief checks going to “upper-income taxpayers.”

But danger signs abound. Most notably, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has been caustically critical of Biden & Co.’s refusal to seek meaningful compromise. Coming from the least Biden-friendly state in the last election, he’s awfully hard to pressure, should he decide to oppose the actual relief bill.

And that measure is sure to include all manner of controversial stuff: That’s why Democrats are trying this gambit, after all.

All of which puts the widely supported parts of Biden’s plan at risk — that is, the roughly $600 billion that has plenty of Republican support. If the president proves to have overplayed his hand, and his bill ends up failing, that genuine relief will be at least delayed.

As important, the new president has signaled that his talk of “unity” simply means that he expects Republicans to bend to his will, which means swallowing the agenda of the hard left of the Democratic Party. Way to unify . . . the GOP, Joe.

Biden had a chance to truly change the tone in Washington. Shame on him for passing on it.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

we get a small commission

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

Matt Duss, who Publicized Nazi Propaganda and Was Adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders to Join the U.S. State Department.

Matt Duss, a former foreign-policy adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), is reportedly expected to join the U.S. State Department.

According to Politico, the move “will be viewed by many on the left as a victory for progressives.” It added that the position has not been finalized.

In December, a coalition of progressive groups, including several anti-Israel organizations, sent a list to the incoming Biden administration of 100 candidates for senior positions. Duss was recommended to serve as deputy national security adviser or special adviser to the secretary of state.

Duss has been accused of furthering anti-Semitic conspiracy theories during his tenure at the left-wing think-tank Center for American Progress.

He allegedly was part of an incident in 2012 where several staffers at the center’s ThinkProgress website were condemned for using anti-Semitic tropes of Jews dominating politics and money.

The staffers alleged “pro-Israel Jews and members of Congress of being ‘Israel firsters,’ a term implying that those who support the Jewish state have dual loyalties,” according to The Washington Free Beacon.

He also faced a backlash for publicizing Nazi-era propaganda posters in 2013.

In 2019, Duss also drew controversy for meeting with Hanan Ashrawi, a longtime aide to Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. The meeting took place after Ashrawi was denied a travel visa to the United States by the Trump administration.

More recently, Duss called the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh “terrorism.” He also criticized American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris for his comparison between Rep. Marjorie Greene Taylor (R-Ga.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) for their anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Senate Votes 97 - 3 To Keep Embassy In Jerusalem ...Bernie Sanders & Pocohantos Vote Against

 The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted to keep the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Friday.

It voted 97-3 on an amendment that sets aside funding to maintain the Jerusalem embassy, making it harder to reverse former President Donald Trump’s move of the embassy from Tel Aviv. Biden has said he does not intend to move the embassy back to Tel Aviv.

The amendment, co-sponsored by 21 Republicans led by James Inhofe of Oklahoma, was added to the massive $1.9 trillion budget bill the Senate passed as part of President Joe Biden’s relief package.

The amendment sets aside funding to maintain the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem making it harder to reverse former President Donald Trump’s move of the embassy from Tel Aviv. Biden had said he was not, in any case, going to move the embassy.

The three senators who voted against were all Democrats: Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tom Carper of Delaware.

“Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and I am proud to introduce legislation to protect the U.S. Embassy from relocation or being downgraded,” Inhofe said in a statement after the vote.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

we get a small commission

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

Zera Shimshon Parshas Yisro

 

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

we get a small commission

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

Mashgiach Screams and Curses Like a Raving Lunatic At A Bochur Who Hosted Dancing In Dormitory

 

This is who is in charge of our bochrim in Yeshiva dormitories. 

Were the guys watching TV? Nope!

Were they fooling around with girls? Nope! 

Did they serve liquor with schmaltz herring? Nope!

Were they stopping traffic so that ambulances shouldn't get thru? Nope!

They were passing the time with a dance when this maniac walked in, broke up the gathering and screamed and cursed for over 8 minutes in Yiddish...

He also broke the expensive speakers....

זו תורה וזו שכרה

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

Why are Democrats so scared of Donald Trump when they just defeated him?

 

Donald Trump is washed up. A has-been. Everyone hates him, and he has no future. That’s what the press is constantly telling us.

So why are the Democrats still afraid of him?

According to the press narrative, Trump suffered a crushing electoral defeat. Democrats are firmly in charge of the White House and Congress. America is returning to normalcy, with the reassuring (if sometimes a bit confused) face of President Biden beaming over all of us like a benevolent grandpa. We’re ready to move on.

That’s the story, but the Democrats’ actions give it the lie.

In a nation returning to “normalcy,” does Congress cower behind armed troops and 12-foot fences? Does a party securely in control try to enlist tech firms and media to snuff out voices of opposition?

In a normal America, does a defeated presidential incumbent pose such a threat to the party in power that he must be impeached after leaving office, to ensure he doesn’t win back the White House in four years?

That’s where we are. The Democrats aren’t acting like a party secure in its position; they’re acting nervous and insecure and lashing out at any perceived threat.  

The Republicans didn’t impeach LBJ or Jimmy Carter after they left office — although in LBJ’s case, at least, there were probably grounds. The Democrats didn’t try to make sure George H.W. Bush was ineligible for future office after he was beaten by Bill Clinton, even though Clinton failed to win a majority of the vote.

Yet Democrats have made quite plain that the purpose of this after-hours impeachment of a former president is to ensure Trump doesn’t rise from the political grave and run again in four years.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

Pelosi, Democrats eject Marjorie Taylor Greene from House committees but Keep Ilhan Omar & Tlaib Vicious Anti-Semites

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fellow House Democrats on Thursday voted to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from the Education and Budget committees to which she had been appointed by the Republican minority.

Nearly all Democrats and 11 Republicans voted 230-199 to sideline Greene over her adherence to an array of conspiracy theories. Two Democrats and one Republican did not vote.

Most Republicans voted against the purge, saying Greene’s controversial remarks predate her election and that Democrats are guilty of a double standard. They said the vote sets a worrying precedent for removing minority-party legislators from posts.

Greene spoke in her own defense, saying she regrets believing in the QAnon conspiracy theory. But she defiantly accused the news media of being “just as guilty as QAnon” of spreading untruths.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

Doctor who treated Alexei Navalny after poisoning dead at 55

An undated photo of Sergey Maximishin, left, the Russian doctor who treated Alexei Navalny, right, after he was poisoned in 2020.

The Russian doctor who was in charge of treating Alexei Navalny after he was poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok has died suddenly at age 55, according to multiple reports.

Sergey Maximishin died of a heart attack after being taken to the hospital where he worked on Wednesday night due to a spike in his blood pressure, Life.ru reported, citing a Russian Health Ministry spokeswoman.

“The doctor actually died of a heart attack, because he had a really stressful job and he actually lost people who were close to him,” said spokeswoman Galina Nazarova.

“It’s just the human heart,” she told the outlet.

Maksimshin, who was the head of intensive care, died in the cardiology ER of his hospital in Omsk.

“He gave his local hospital 28 years, saved thousands of lives, and left many talented students who will carry on his legacy,” the Omsk Region Health Minister Alexander Murakhovsky said.

“Sergey Maximishin literally dragged out from “the other side” even the most critical, hopeless patients with his hands.”

About 1,400 people have been arrested, mostly in Moscow and St. Petersburg, during heated protests over the Jan. 17 arrest of Navalny, 44, a fierce Kremlin critic who was detained on his return to Russia from Germany, where his treatment for poisoning had been continued.

Navalny has been ordered to serve 3 1/2 years prison after authorities ruled that his trip to Germany violated his parole. 

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

OAC's Claim Of ‘Near-Death Experience’ At Capitol Riots ... Is A Lie

 

New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has made significant hype from the ordeal she suffered during the breaching of the Capitol building on January 6th. 

In a video viewed over 6 million times, Ocasio-Cortez describes her “near-death experience” as she hid in a bathroom after her legislative director Geraldo Bonilla-Chavez told her to “hide, hide, run and hide,” while rioters in a room nearby allegedly said “where is she?” Newsweek claimed that Ocasio-Cortez felt she was “about to be assassinated.”

Moreover when a policeman came to assist Ocasio-Cortez, she claimed in a separate clip that he “didn’t feel right” and that he was looking at her “in all of this anger and hostility.” Ocasio-Cortez claimed that the situation was “aggressive” and even her staffer thought he might have to fight the officer. She added that the officer said with urgency “go down and go to this building,” citing the name of the building.

However the facts are far from the melodramatic description of Ocasio-Cortez. It turns out that she was not even in the vicinity of the Capitol during the course of the assault on the building. She was actually in the nearby Cannon building which no insurgents ever reached and there was therefore no point at which Ocasio-Cortez was in physical danger.

Rep. Nancy Mace, (R-SC) who has an office adjacent to that of Ocasio-Cortez, says that the building had been briefly evacuated during the day while police where checking on a suspicious package nearby. 

Thus, Ocasio-Cortez’s “near-death experience” can be summed up as a fabrication

So upon seeing a Capitol police officer directing her to another building, the Longworth building, AOC, Instead of thanking the officer for doing his duty, she tries to paint him as someone to be afraid of. 

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

Stacey Abrams Has Been Nominated For The Nobel Peace Prize But No One Knows Why?

Stacey Abrams, the failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate who has since become a voting rights activist, has just been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Abrams’ nomination was revealed on Monday by Lars Haltbrekken, a Socialist Party member of Norway’s parliament, according to Reuters.

“Abrams’ work follows in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s footsteps in the fight for equality before the law and for civil rights,” Haltbrekken said. 

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

It’s Time For Conservatives To Take On Big Tech Tyrants. Here’s How

 In a passage in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, a character named Mike is asked how he went bankrupt. “Gradually,” he replies. “Then all at once.”

Such a framing could also describe the raw power of Big Tech, which has been evolving over the last two decades into what can accurately be described as an oligopoly (when a market is dominated entirely by a handful of firms). That power was fully unleashed last month. After playing footsie for the last decade with their massive market and narrative control over America, Big Tech finally shed any pretext of restraint or deference to the norms of speech, diversity of viewpoints, or pluralism.

First, they first banned the president of the United States from every conceivable platform. Then they came for everyone else – even their conservative competitors.

While the platforms hide behind the excuse of Trump, it’s clear these bans are not solely about him. After all, Trump has left office. Rather, it is a sincere effort by Big Tech and woke corporations to punish, de-platform, delegitimize, marginalize, and silence the millions of Americans who hold viewpoints and beliefs that differ from the alliance of corporate media, the establishment Democratic party, and the lords of Silicon Valley.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

Eliyahu Militzsky 24 of Bnei Brak Dies Suddenly

 Reb Eliyahu Militzsky, z”l,  collapsed in his home in the Ohr Hachaim neighborhood in Beni Brak due to a heart episode. He was 24 years old.

Reb Eliyahu leaves a young daughter and his wife who is expecting a child.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

When the Rabbi Said Kaddish in Poland and the Trees Actually Answered "Amein"

 

Rabbi Frankel Holding the bones of murdered Jews in Treblenka

By Ruth Lichtenstein, Publisher Hamodia

A few days ago I received a copy of the picture of one of our readers*, and I realized that the distinguished Yid in the image was Harav Yitzchak Yedidya Frankel, zt”l, a greatly respected Rav from a previous generation, who served as a Rav in Tel Aviv, one whom I had the privilege to know as a close friend of our family. Harav Frankel was the father-in-law of, ybl”c, Harav Yisrael Meir Lau.

It was the caption — which indicated that the photo had been taken in Treblinka in 1953 — that struck me. Eager to learn the story behind it, I sent the image to his grandson, Harav Moshe Chaim Lau, a Rav in Netanya, and a contributor to Inyan magazine. Within hours, I received a detailed reply.

“This extremely emotional photo was actually taken in 1963,” Harav Lau informed me. “The Polish government invited my grandfather, who had served as Rav before the war in the Polish city of Rypin, to take part in an event marking the twentieth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. My grandfather related to me that the Bobover Rebbe, Harav Shlomo Halberstam, zy”a, had also been invited, but decided not to join. After receiving a brachah from the Gerrer Rebbe, the Beis Yisrael, zy”a, who told him, “Travel l’shalom; and I hope that you will also return l’shalom,” he set out a few days after Pesach to Poland.

“Indeed, all my grandfather’s friends later said that the trip dramatically changed him,” Harav Lau continued.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

‘What Planet Are You From?’ — Rand Paul Slams Biden’s Education Secretary Nominee Over Transgender Athletes

 Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul slammed President Joe Biden’s nominee for Education Secretary Miguel Cardona during his hearing with the Senate education committee Wednesday.

During Paul’s time to question Cardona, the Kentucky Republican focused on Cardona and the Biden administration’s stance on transgender athletes playing school sports. Paul pressed Cardona on his view of transgender athletes, asking him specifically if he thinks a boy should be able to compete against a girl on the same level.

“If you’re confirmed, will you enforce that Office of Civil Rights opinion?” Paul asked.

“I understand that there are a lot of concerns about that. If confirmed, it’s my responsibility and my privilege to make sure that we’re following civil rights of all students, and that includes activities that they may engage in high school or athletics,” Cardona responded.

“What do you think in general of boys running in girls’ track meets like they’ve been doing in Connecticut?” — “Do you worry about having boys run in girls’ track meets?,” Paul pressed.

“I think it’s appropriate – I think it’s the legal responsibility for schools to provide opportunities for students to participate in activities and this includes students who are transgender,” Cardona replied.

“So you don’t have a problem then, of boys running in the girls’ track meets, swimming meets, you name it, you’re ok then with boys competing with girls?,” Paul continued to ask. “Respectfully, senator, I believe I answered the question,” Cardona replied. “I think the fact that you seem to be afraid to answer the question, or you basically do answer the question by saying it’s ok without saying it’s ok, really is a statement to real problem we have and a disconnect between middle America and what most Americans actually believe,” Paul said.

“Who are these people that think it’s okay? From what planet are you from?,” Paul said to Cardona.

Biden has pledged a number of times to sign the Equality Act, which would make public schools allow biological males who identify as transgender girls to play sports with females.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

Egyptian archeologists discover golden-tongued mummies

 

Crafted out of gold foil, the tongue-shaped amulet was likely placed in the deceased's mouth to ensure they'd be able to speak in the afterlife. 

An Egyptian-Dominican archaeological mission has discovered mummies with golden tongues near Alexandria, dating back around 2,000 years, Egyptian authorities said on Wednesday.

"The mission made the discovery of sixteen tombs cut in rock... in the temple of Taposiris Magna, west of Alexandria," in the north of Egypt, Cairo's Antiquities Ministry explained in a press release, specifying that the technique used was widespread in Greek and Roman times.

These tombs contained several mummies "in poor condition" but comprising "amulets wrapped in gold leaf in the shape of a tongue," it said.

Crafted out of gold foil, the tongue-shaped amulet was likely placed in the deceased's mouth to ensure they'd be able to speak in the afterlife, the ministry said.

Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm daily said that researchers at the Alexandria National Museum are now studying the find, as well as eight golden flakes representing the leaves of a wreath.

Mission director Kathleen Martinez was cited by French news agency AFP as sayign the two mummies have in particular caught the attention of scientists. The first mummy has "preserved strips and parts of the cardboard - layers of glued, stuccoed and painted linen fabric which envelop the mummy - adorned with gilding with the effigy of Osiris", the god of the dead.

And the second wore a "crown adorned with horns and a cobra on the forehead as well as a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a falcon's head", representing the pharaonic god Horus, son of Isis and Osiris.

According to AFP, the mission unearthed a female funeral mask, a gold diadem, eight marble masks with sculpted details, Khaled Abu al-Hamd, director of Antiquities of Alexandria, siad in a statement.

The mission has been excavating for several years west of Alexandria in an attempt to find the tomb of the legendary Queen Cleopatra.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

How the Comedian Danny Thomas a Catholic paid for Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski's Medical Education

 

Rabbi Twerski with Danny Thomas on His Graduation 

Several years into his studies at Marquette University’s medical school, Abraham J. Twerski could no longer afford the tuition. His assistance would come from a most unlikely source, as he would later describe in an interview with the Pittsburgh Quarterly:

By that time, I had several children, so my dad and some members of the congregation helped me to pay for school. I applied for a scholarship through a foundation, but it didn’t come through, so in my third year, I fell two trimesters behind on tuition. One day, I called my wife at lunch as always, and she asked, “What would you do if you had $4,000?” I said, “I’m too busy to talk about fantasies.” She said, “But you really do have $4,000!” I said, “From where?” She said, “From Danny Thomas.” “Who’s Danny Thomas?” She said, “The TV star.” Then she read me an article from The Chicago Sun. Local officials had told Mr. Thomas about a young rabbi who was struggling to get through medical school. Thomas asked, “How much does your rabbi need?” They said, “Four thousand dollars.” He said, “Tell your rabbi he’s got it.” So, I did my internship in general medicine, went to the University of Pittsburgh Psychiatric Institute for three years, and then worked two more years for a state hospital.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

Psaki "Well..I don't Have Anything for you"

 

LOL! pic.twitter.com/nxpihqRR0c

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 3, 2021

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ 

Yeshiva Opens Smack in the Middle of Anti-Natanyahu Protest Site on Balfour

Some wise guy came up with a great idea, to open a Yeshiva on Balfour the site of the anti-Natanyahu protests ...

now the Police must leave them alone as they are "protesting"

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ

 

Chabad Anti-Vaxxer Rabbi Fired By Synagogue Over Social Media Posts

 

A longtime Chabad emissary in Massachusetts was fired after months of social media posts in which he railed against pandemic-related lockdowns and mask mandates.

In more recent weeks Rabbi Michoel Green, the Hasidic movement’s envoy in Westborough for 20 years, encouraged his followers not to be vaccinated with the new COVID vaccines.

“It’s NOT immunization. It’s pathogenic priming & mass sterilization,” he wrote last week, according to Haaretz.

Anti-vaxxers constitute a small minority in Orthodox communities. In 2019, anti-vaxxers contributed to an outbreak of measles in Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Rockland County, New York, that was resolved through vaccination campaigns by government and community groups, as well as barring unvaccinated children from schools.

During the COVID pandemic, in which some Orthodox communities have seen little compliance with mask wearing and social distancing, misinformation about the new vaccines has been spreading for months. Green apparently had been promoting his anti-vaccine views since the 2019 measles crisis, but the posts intensified during the pandemic.

Rabbi Mendel Fogelman, director of the Central Massachusetts Chabad, told Haaretz that Green’s social media posts were “contrary to the organization’s mission and a direct conflict with the sacred task for which he was appointed.”

“It became clear that dismissal was our only choice,” Fogelman said.

Green was dismissed on Jan. 27.

KINDLY SUPPORT OUR BLOG BY BROWSING THE ADS

THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ