Kidnapper Snatches Boy off the Street in Broad Daylight in "Criminal" NYC

 

The apparently deranged stranger who snatched a boy off a Queens sidewalk and threw him into a car — only to have the child’s quick-thinking and faster-moving mom grab him back — handled the kid “like he was a bag of garbage,” the victim’s big brother told The Post.

Dolores Diaz Lopez, 45, was walking along Hillside Avenue in Richmond Hill Thursday night, taking her three kids to see their mechanic dad, Benjamin Diaz, at work, when a man she didn’t know leapt from a nearby maroon sedan.

Jacob had just let go of her hand, running a little bit in front of her on the wide and fairly empty sidewalk. She said she was watching him.

The next thing she knew a man sprinted out of a car, grabbed Jacob and ran back to the vehicle with him.

“Then I saw the man coming out of the car. He ran towards Jacob,” Lopez told The Post. “I was scared. I screamed, ‘Oh my God, he is taking my kid!”

“He picked him up like he was a bag of garbage,” said Jacob’s 9-year-old brother, Benny. “The car was close by. He opened the passenger door in the back and threw my brother in the car. He shut the door and locked it.”

James McGonagle, 24, has been charged with attempted kidnapping in the bizarre, shocking incident. 

Diaz Lopez, Benny and 8-year-old daughter Zuriely sprang into action like a trio from an action movie — and rescued a stunned Jacob.

“I ran around the other side of the car and tried to open the door,” Zuriley told The Post. “I pulled it but it didn’t open. The man locked the door with my brother inside the car.”

Benny recalled McGonagle’s passenger in the sedan ask the apparently crazed kidnapper, “What are you doing?”

“He was sitting in the passenger seat in the front,” Benny said of the man who police sourced identified Saturday as McGonagle’s father. “The man who took Jacob said, ‘We are kidnapping the kid.’”

It was up to Mom to finally save the day.

“Jacob stood up in the back seat and I pulled him out through the front passenger window,” she said as she gestured out both arms, made fists and pulled her arms in, showing how she grabbed her son out of the car.

She grabbed Jacob through the front window because the windows in the back were locked.

“Give me that stupid kid back!” McGonagle yelled. But by then a crowd had gathered and the men took off.

“He didn’t want to get caught,” said Benny. 

Lopez said she was beyond relieved when Jacob was back in her arms.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Devarim

 

Eda Chareidis Lunatics Holds Tikkun Chatzos With Sackcloth At Disputed Site Of New Light Rail Route

Read comments after the article 

During the course of the past few months there have been weekly and almost daily protests on Bar Ilan street in northern Jerusalem against the building of a new line of the Jerusalem light rail which will be traversing the street in a short while. The demonstrators claim that the planned route of the new line -from the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus to the Givat Ram university campus – will bring hundreds of secular students and staff through the predominantly chareidi neighborhood, changing the atmosphere and negatively influencing local children.

At present the street – a vital thoroughfare which connects the northern entrance to Jerusalem with its main western entrance – is clogged with numerous buses with both internal and intercity routes passing through and creating significant congestion. The planned train would reduce local public transport and ease the congestion but at the same time change the character of the neighborhood. Trains are more frequent than the buses and this would lead to more people getting off trains to make purchases in the area, leading to a drop in modesty standards.

Eda Chareidis leaders say that just as another planned line crossing Meah Shearim is to be placed under the streets of Strauss and Yehezkel, the Bar Ilan line should also be placed underground in order to “prevent spiritual harm to residents of the neighborhood.”

The demonstrations have also turned violent on some occasions, with extreme elements destroying equipment and setting fires in an attempt to halt the ongoing construction. Police have used water cannon, arrests and other measures in attempts to disperse the demonstrations but protesters continue the daily vigils, which have also disrupted traffic in the area on numerous occasions.

During the nine days the Eda Chareidis decided not to initiate demonstrations but rather to make a prayer vigil near the site, where Tikkun Chatzos was recited by the elders of the community, according to a report by B’Chadrei Chareidim and Kikar Hashabbos

No machlokes

 10 hours ago

“demonstrations have also turned violent on some occasions, with extreme elements destroying equipment and setting fires in an attempt to halt the ongoing construction.” Children aren’t negatively influenced by this behavior? Destroying equipment is stealing, an issue d’oraiysa.

Judith

 5 hours ago

Arrogant souls think they own the whole country . Secular people don’t fret when Haredim walk through their neighborhoods, buy homes and move in , usually because of housing shortages in orthodox neighborhoods .

CudahyKid

 8 hours ago

Unfortunately for the Jews that live in these neighborhoods, Israel a democracy, where citizens have the right to wear what they choose to wear.
The Orthodox just have to deal with that. The Orthodox do not have the right to impose their rules on everyone.

The sea is a mirror

 7 hours ago

>>> Trains are more frequent than the buses and this would lead to more people getting off trains to make purchases in the area, leading to a drop in modesty standards.

This is the entire issue? Residents don’t want more transit riders getting off the trains and making local purchases?

The solution is simple. Run an advertising campaign:

“Buy dati, not chareidi.”

Everyone should shop in their own neighborhoods, and support their own institutions.

Neutrogena & Aveeno Sunscreens Recalled Due To Cancer-Causing Chemical

 

Johnson & Johnson said Wednesday that it is recalling five of its sunscreen products after some samples were found to contain low levels of benzene, a chemical that can cause cancer with repeated exposure.

The affected products, packaged in aerosol cans, are Aveeno Protect + Refresh aerosol sunscreen, and four Neutrogena sunscreen versions: Beach Defense aerosol sunscreen, CoolDry Sport aerosol sunscreen, Invisible Daily Defense aerosol sunscreen and UltraSheer aerosol sunscreen.

The recall includes all can sizes and all levels of sun protection factor, or SPF. The products were distributed nationwide through retailers.

The health care giant said the benzene was found after testing by the company and an independent laboratory. It is investigating how the chemical got into the products.

J&J said it’s working to get all lots of the five products removed from store shelves. It urged consumers to stop using the sunscreens immediately and said customers can get a refund by calling J&J’s Consumer Care Center at 1-800-458-1673. More information is available at the websites for Neutrogena and Aveeno.

J&J said in a statement that “use of these products would not be expected to cause adverse health consequences” and that it voluntarily decided to recall them “out of an abundance of caution.” The statement added that people should use an alternate sunscreen to protect themselves from the skin cancer melanoma.

Benzene is a highly flammable, widely used chemical that’s present throughout the environment. It can cause cancer with repeated exposure at high enough levels. It also can damage the immune system and prevent cells from functioning properly, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The chemical’s effects vary by whether a person accidentally inhales or ingests it or gets it on skin and clothing. Symptoms range from dizziness and irregular heartbeat to convulsions and, at very high levels, death.

J&J, which is based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, said it has notified the Food and Drug Administration of the recall.

HaRav Yoel Kahan ZT”L, Chief “Choizer” Of The Lubavitcher Rebbe

 

We regret to  inform you of the Petira of Hagaon HaRav Yoel Kahan ZT”L, who served at the chief choizer (reviewer and teacher) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe ZT”L’s teachings and the Head Mashpia of the Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch. He was Niftar after suffering a massive heart attack on Thursday. He was 91.

Known as “Reb Yoel,” he was revered by generations of Chabad students and scholars for his brilliance and his ability to distill and communicate subtle, complex concepts of Chabad philosophy to a wide and diverse audience. He was also the editor-in-chief of the highly acclaimed encyclopedia of Chabad Chasidic thought, Sefer Ha-arachim.

Born in the Soviet Union in 1930, he emigrated with his family to Israel at the tender age of five, where he studied in Yeshiva Achei Temimim in Tel Aviv. He spent his teenage years studying with several prominent Chabad Chasidic scholars. In 1950 he boarded a ship to New York where he quickly became attached to the Lubavitcher Rebbe ZT”L, devoting all his energy to interpret and disseminate the Rebbe’s teachings.

Reb Yoel’s unique talent for memorization, along with his intellectual abilities, made him the official “reviewer” and the authoritative exponent of the oral discourses of the Rebbe. Often held on Shabbos, when writing was not possible, Reb Yoel led the effort to reconstruct the Rebbe’s talks, with a team of scholars under his tutelage.

In his role as the head mashpia of the Tomchei Temimim Yeshiva at 770, Reb Yoel guided thousands of students in the teachings of Chassidus. He also traveled far and wide to give shiurim in Chassidus and to farbreng. His audio recordings, and books, are used by many more around the world.

He is survived by his wife, Rebbetzin Leah Kahan.

The Levaya will be leaving Shomrei Hadas Chapels – 3803 14th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11218 on Friday 9:45 AM.

The procession will be passing Lubavitch World Headquarters – 770 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11213 on Friday 10:45 AM.

The Kevura will be at the Lubavitch section of Old Montefiore Cemetery – 226-20 Francis Lewis Blvd, Cambria Heights, NY 11411.

From Bais Yaakov to Becoming an Anaesthesiologist

 

A Post-Charedi Bais Yaakov Graduate Speaks Out 

Guest post by Dr. Efrat Bruck

I surreptitiously angled my test paper so that light would filter through and I would be able to see the question. I was in the 9th grade, and we were taking the NYS regents biology exam. A giant white sticker covered question #19. Luckily, it was a sunny day and faint rays of sunlight filtered through. I could just make out a diagram of male anatomy with an arrow pointing to the vas deferens. Funny how the topics our school avoided teaching us ended up seared into our minds. “The arrow is pointing to which structure?” I filled in the correct answer knowing it wouldn’t help. We would all automatically get that question “wrong”. That was my high school’s policy. 

It wasn’t surprising to us. After all, they tore out of our textbooks all the chapters covering evolution and reproduction. The former, perhaps is understandable, but the latter still baffles me; some of the students were literally 3 years away from getting married and starting families. I recall feeling anxious and angry. Somewhere, is some recess of my mind, I wanted to become a doctor. Would there be another five questions on reproduction or evolution causing my baseline score to tank? Would it affect my chances of going to college? My older sister had started the exam off with a 90% and I had even heard of one class that sunk to the 80’s. 

But I shouldn’t have been so worried. There were only two “bad” questions on our exam and we started off with a 99%. In addition, it would be a while till I would actually pursue medicine and by then, this particular score wouldn’t matter that much. What should have worried me more was how the philosophical underpinnings of my environment would affect me in the coming decade. For example, the time a seminary teacher spent an entire lesson telling us a story of a graduate from our school who went to Touro College in Brooklyn (a college that is set up to serve the frum community, with separate classes for men and women and professors staying clear of topics that would be considered inappropriate) and then went on to marry her non-Jewish professor and become irreligious. The teacher then paused, closed her eyes dramatically, and said: “Then she got cancer. May it be a kaparah for her.”

I’m writing this essay in a format addressing those who are part of the charedi leadership. I’ll be using “you” when referring to the charedi world/leadership and “we” collectively to address myself, as if I am part of the charedi world, simply because this makes for easier writing. If you are curious to know why an otherwise successful product of charedi chinuch chose not to continue in this path, read on. If you are a charedi leader, you probably care to know why people are “leaving”, and rest assured, they are. Some make a lot of noise or go OTD. Some just want to live their life peacefully and make a quiet, graceful (I hope!) exit, finding other branches of Orthodoxy. 

Rivka Morgenshtein 36 from Geula Section Missing

 

The last time she was reported seen was on  on June 6 in Tel Aviv. Police ask that you call them if you see her!

רבקה מורגנשטיין מירושלים, נעדרת כבר למעלה מחודש, והיום (חמישי) המשטרה מבקשת שוב את עזרת הציבור, לסייע לה בחיפושים אחריה.

רבקה מורגנשטיין היא בת 36, ומתגוררת בשכונת גאולה בירושלים - ברחוב נחום.

לדברי המשטרה, היא נוהגת להסתובב בתל אביב, שם היא נראתה בפעם האחרונה בתאריך 11.6.21.

תיאורה: גוון עורה בהיר ושיער כהה, מבנה גוף בינוני. לבשה חולצה שחורה עם פסים אפורים, חצאית שחורה ארוכה, כפכפי קרוקס ומטפחת ראש שחורה.

"כל היודע דבר על מקום הימצאה מתבקש לדווח למוקד 100 של המשטרה או לתחנת לב הבירה טל׳ 02-5391550", נמסר מהמשטרה.

Cuban Refugees Will Not be Allowed in the USA because they will Vote Republican

 

The new rule is that only refugees the Democrats presume will vote Republican will be turned away https://t.co/XzTA7L6QSm

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 14, 2021

Now listen to this interview! 

Peter Doocy asks why the U.S. is rejecting refugees from Cuba

"Do you think that people are leaving Cuba because they don't like communism?"@PressSec: "I think we've been pretty clear... they are opposed to the oppression to the mismanagement of the government in the country." pic.twitter.com/Tce23ykuDn

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 14, 2021

Lightning Now Considered "racist" because it destroyed a memorial of the criminal George Floyd

 

A George Floyd memorial was taken out by lightning... you know what that means... pic.twitter.com/2arGM5zTSb

— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) July 14, 2021

Someone Please Explain this.... Please please

 

The absolute state of our FBI pic.twitter.com/t0nx4x78rZ

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 14, 2021

Photos of the Chareidim That are Destroying the Photos of the Meron Victims in Meron

 

Solo Performance ... Memories of a Widow

 

Eichah yashavt badad … (Lamentations, 1)

How did you sit in seclusion, in your apartment, in your neighborhood, in your city Jerusalem. Eichah … How did you sit there widowed, a mother, grandmother, a great grandmother to dozens, sitting for over three months, lonely, although never alone.

You woke in the morning, showered and dressed, applied your make-up, ready for morning prayers, ready for telephone calls, ready for lessons and zoom meetings. And at the end of each week you readied for Shabbat.

Surely the angels are with you, invisible angels standing beside your chair, staring across at the portrait on the wall. Despite the harsh conspicuous wrinkles ingrained in the contours of his skin, his face radiates from the artists painting. Your husband seems happy in the world to come, listening to you sing Sholom Aleichem. You sing each stanza three times, exactly as he did. His balding forehead looks like you could play tic tac toe on the lines etched there, lines that developed on his handsome face, wrinkles that developed not only from age.

The empty armchair at the head of the table is where he once sat. He always seated himself after greeting the angels, and then chanted a page or two of text before Kiddush. You never knew what that text included, but now you know, and you chant as he did, prayers to “Adon HaShalom, King of the Universe for blessing to find peace and good life for you and your family, to find favor and wisdom in the eyes of the Almighty…that I merit to receive Shabbat with joy…and say a blessing at my table that is set.”

He stares at the table, set for his queen, and he doesn’t have to ask, “Who set the table?” Only you set the table, with two small challot positioned on your father’s silver challah tray, a silver knife, European china that you purchased as a young couple over half a century ago, Wallace sterling flatware, a wedding gift from your family sixty years ago, and fresh flowers arranged in a bowl that you buy every erev Shabbat, same as he did.

You fill his silver cup. The cup you purchased as a gift for his 26th birthday after you settled in Jerusalem. You fill it first with a little wine, and then grape juice to keep the drink mild, same as he did. He appears to be listening to your Kiddush, although your voice is not the pleasant voice of the Baal Tfilla; your voice is not his voice, and it never will be. Most disturbing is that you cannot remember his nussach, you cannot make the blessing as he did. You cannot remember his specific melodious kiddush tune. You can’t even be sure that he is still smiling. Your eyes are glued to the blessings in his little booklet. And then the memory of his kiddush suddenly gets stuck in your throat.

Lapid Will Have Last Laugh as Bennet Slowly Becomes a "Footnote" in Jewish History

 

In the leadup to the 9th of Av, Rabbi Nosson Slifkin recounted in his blog the Talmudic story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. 

In the story, Bar Kamtza had good reason to angry for his humiliation by the party host and the Rabbis who remained silent. But Bar Kamtza’s anger and hatred was so intense and unbridled (sinas chinam) that he pursued a course of action destructive to himself and the Jewish people – involving and inviting in the Romans which ultimately led to Jerusalem’s destruction.

The lesson is that hatred and anger, even if not baseless, should never drive us to pursue a course of action that harms ourselves and our people.

Rabbi Slifkin, a supporter of Naftali Bennett and Yamina, drew a parallel between Bar Kamtza and Bibi. Humiliated and outraged at being forced into opposition despite having secured the most seats, Bibi and Likud, he wrote, responded by withholding support for the Citizenship bill, thereby harming Israel. 

Though Rabbi Slifkin’s application of the Bar Kamtza lesson to Bibi and Likud seems fair and well taken, he would have done much better to apply that same lesson to Bennett and Saar. 

Bibi’s personality flaws and alleged untrustworthiness may well have given Bennett and Saar every reason in the world to hate and distrust him, and to want nothing to do with him. But politics compels you to make choices and compromises. Bennett and Saar’s hatred of Bibi was so intense and unbridled that rather than forming a right-wing government under Bibi and Likud, they decided to invite an anti-Zionist Arab party and the anti-Zionist leftto join in forming the ruling Israeli coalition.

The ramifications of that decision are enormous. Likud’s lack of support for the Citizenship bill is correctable – the bill can be re-tabled in the future, an alternative bill can be presented, etc. The same cannot be said for Bennett and Saar’s decision.

US Court Holds Iranian Banks Liable For Murder Of US Citizen

 

Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin, h'yd.

In the first decision of its kind, a federal court in Washington D.C. ruled that Iran, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, three Iranian banks, and Syria are liable for a terror attack perpetrated by Hamas in 2015.

The decision marks the first time that an Iranian bank has been held liable for the death of a US citizen.

Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin, h’yd, were killed on Chol Hamoed Sukkos while driving to their home in the Shomron by five Hamas terrorists, who brutally gunned them down in front of their four children in the back seat. The children, ranging in age from 10 months to nine years, survived the attack.

Rabbi Henkin was a US citizen, and his relatives, in the name of the children and the estate of their parents, filed a lawsuit to a US court under the terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

The plaintiffs claimed that Hamas was funded, trained, and equipped with weapons by Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Syria. Additionally, they placed blame on three Iranian banks, all already sanctioned by the US for financing terror, for funneling funds to Hamas.

None of the defendants responded to the lawsuits.

“Financing is the oxygen needed for terrorism,” said Gavriel Mairone, one of the plaintiffs’  lawyers said. “Bank Markazi serves as both the Central Bank of Iran and the Central Bank for financing international terrorism directed against Americans and our allies. The Treasury Department has sanctioned Melli and Saderat as facilitators and financiers of international terrorists such as Hamas and Hezbollah.”

The court has yet to determine damages.

Shmuel Weinberger 6 Killed by car in Chicago

 

Tragedy hit the Chicago community on Wednesday afternoon, when word spread of a young child struck and R”L killed by a vehicle.

Sources say that Shmuel Hershel Weinberger Z”L (9-years-old) was riding his bicycle when he was R”L struck by a vehicle on N. Sacramento Ave and W. Chase Ave on Wednesday afternoon at around 8:00PM. Chicago Hatzolah rushed to the scene, and was transported to the hospital but unfortunately he was Niftar.

Police are investigating the incident.

He is the son of R’ Shamai and Mrs. Sara Leah of West Rogers Park, Chicago. They are Lubavitcher Chassidim.

Part of Jerusalem's city wall, encountered by Babylonians on eve of First Bais Hamikdash's destruction 2,600 years ago, uncovered near Old City.

 

Archaeological excavations in the City of David National Park have uncovered the remains of the city wall, which was built during the Iron Age - the days of the First Temple in the Kingdom of Judah, to protect Jerusalem from the east.

The excavations are conducted at the City of David National Park on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in collaboration with the City of David Foundation, as part of the development of the National Park.

According to the directors of the excavation, Dr. Filip Vukosavović of the Ancient Jerusalem Research Center and Dr. Joe Uziel and Ortal Chalaf on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority: "The city wall protected Jerusalem from a number of attacks during the reign of the kings of Judah, until the arrival of the Babylonians who managed to break through itand conquer the city. The remains of the ruins can be seen in the archaeological excavations. However, not everything was destroyed, and parts of the walls, which stood and protected the city for decades and more, remain standing to this day. "

The new section that was exposed connects two sections that were previously excavated on the eastern slope. In the 1960s, British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon uncovered a section of the wall in the northern part of the slope and dated it to the days of the Kingdom of Judah.

About a decade later, archaeologist Yigal Shiloh uncovered a long section of the wall, in excavations in the southern part of the slope.

Over the years, claims have been made that despite the impressive nature of the remains, these remnant stone structures should not be seen as wall remains. However, with the uncovering of this new section that connects with these past discoveries, it seems that the debate has been settled, and that this was unequivocally the eastern wall of ancient Jerusalem.

Reconstruction of the sections that were dismantled during previous excavations in the early 20th century, makes it possible to trace almost another 30 meters of the surviving wall to a height of 2.5 meters and a width of up to 5 meters.

In the book of 2 Kings, 25:10, there is a description of the conquest of the city by the Babylonians: “The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.”

However it looks like the Babylonians did not destroy the eastern wall, possibly due to the sharp steepness of the eastern slope of the City of David, which slopes towards the Kidron Valley at over 30-degree angle.

The findings of the destruction can be seen in the building that stood next to the wall and were exposed during the previous excavations: inside the building, rows of storage jars were discovered, which were smashed when the building burned and collapsed.

The jars bear "rosette" stamped handles, in the shape of a rose, associated with the final years of the Kingdom of Judah.

Near the wall, a Babylonian stamp seal made of stone was unveiled, depicting a figure standing in front of symbols of the two Babylonian gods Marduk and Nabu.

Not far from there a bulla (a stamp seal impression made in clay) was found bearing a Judaean personal name "Tsafan".

The findings of the excavation will be presented this coming October at the Israel Antiquities Authority's conference "New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Region".

When Harav Ovadia Yosef Made Fun of "Stinky" Ashkanizim Who Don't Shower in 9 Days

 

Biden’s petty, foolish push to undermine the Abraham Accords

 

Team Biden seems determined to dismantle all its predecessor’s policies — even those that promised to transform the dysfunctional Middle East for the better.

The White House “suspended the Abraham Fund indefinitely,” Israeli financial paper Globes reported last week, citing US and Israeli sources. The public-private partnership was established last year after Israel signed the US-brokered Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, the first peace deals between the Jewish state and Arab nations in decades. 

The Trump administration called the Abraham Fund “an integral part” of the peace deals; it would “mobilize more than $3 billion in private-sector-led investment” to demonstrate “the benefits of peace by improving the lives of the region’s peoples.” It was opened to Morocco and Sudan when they joined the accords too.

It was smart diplomacy: The fund would nurture more peace deals as it showed how Arab-Israeli cooperation brought prosperity all over the Middle East.

Fund officials had approved more than a dozen projects in the energy, financial and food-technology sectors and were reviewing hundreds of others when President Donald Trump left office. But the day President Joe Biden succeeded him, the fund’s head, Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, stepped down, and Biden never replaced him. Worse, administration officials made it clear to the Israelis that he had no interest in continuing the fund’s work.

Why? Team Biden says it wants to keep the cash to spend in this country. Funny: This has to be the only area (besides wall construction) where the new administration is pinching pennies. 

Then again, Biden quickly started moving to undermine the accords themselves. He froze for months, for example, a weapons deal with the UAE as an incentive to bring it on board.

It seems the administration won’t even permit use of the name “Abraham Accords.” In April, State Department spokesman Ned Price went through contortions as he tried not to use the term, instead calling them simply “normalization agreements.” An ex-Trump official tells The Post a friend in the Energy Department was told to avoid the term.

Yet the Abraham Accords enjoy wide bipartisan support: Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced a bill, cosponsored by more than half the Senate, to “build on the success of the Abraham Accords.”

It’s pretty low for the White House to choose petty politics at the expense of the most positive Middle East development in decades.

Brooklyn Journalist Was targeted by Iran in Twisted Kidnapping Plot

 

Four Iranian intelligence operatives schemed to kidnap a Brooklyn-based journalist and smuggle her to Iran in a bid to silence her criticism of human-rights abuses in the Islamic republic, federal authorities said Tuesday.

In an interview with The Post, writer and activist Masih Alinejad acknowledged she was the target, and she did the same in a series of tweets.

Mahmoud Khazein and Alireza Shahvarohi Farahani were charged in the alleged plot.

Kiya Sadeghi and Omid Noori were also charged.

A source familiar with the matter also confirmed Alinejad was the target.

Manhattan US Attorney Audrey Strauss, who didn’t identify Alinejad by name, said she would have faced a fate that’s “uncertain at best” if the plan hadn’t been foiled by the FBI.

On Monday night, Alinejad told The Post that she was approached 8 months ago by about a dozen FBI agents who alerted her to the plot and later put her family up in three safe houses across New York. 

“‘You are not safe here,’” Alinejad said the feds told her in their initial meeting.

FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. said, “This is not some far-fetched movie plot.”

“We allege a group, backed by the Iranian government, conspired to kidnap a US-based journalist here on our soil and forcibly return her to Iran. Not on our watch,” he said.

The ring, led by Iranian intelligence official Alireza Shavaroghi Farahani, allegedly began conspiring to kidnap Alinejad inside the US since as least as early as June 2020.

Second Jewish Player Drafted In Two Days Elie Kligman Drafted To MLB Will Not Play On Shabbos

 

For decades, Jewish baseball fans have looked to Sandy Koufax as a role model for refusing to pitch in game one of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur. While that stood out as an example for Jews everywhere, one Nevada teen is hoping to take it a step further and become the first Shomer Shabbos, kosher-food-eating professional baseball player.

In the final round of the MLB draft, the Washington Nationals selected Elie Kligman, from Nevada, who has said he won’t play on Shabbos.

On Monday, Jacob Steinmetz was drafted to the Arizona Diamondbacks. As DIN reported, Steinmetz recently told the New York Post he keeps Shabbos and eats only Kosher food, but plays during the Shabbos and on Jewish holidays – although he walks to games rather than taking transportation.

Guiding him in his life and career has been his father, Marc Kligman, an attorney and professional sports agent who has coached Elie and younger brother Ari in the finer points of baseball over the years. He has also worked hard to provide his boys with opportunities to compete at a high level.