Moshe Margaretten Charedi Jew is rescuing dozens of Afghan women

 

Zebulon Simantov, Afghanistan’s last Jew, has not left Kabul, despite the best efforts of some Jewish figures and organizations.

One of them was Moshe Margaretten, a haredi fixer whose passion is bringing Jews out of danger.

Margaretten paid Moti Kahana, an Israeli-American businessman who helped extract people from war-torn Syria, to be a middleman and get Simantov out — but Kahana told Margaretten what many others had heard: Simantov was not leaving because of his longstanding refusal to grant his Israeli wife a “get,” or decree of divorce. Simantov feared facing Israel’s legal system, which penalizes such a refusal.

But Kahana hatched another idea. The team he sent into Kabul to extract Simantov learned that there were plenty of women in danger of being targeted by the Taliban as they assumed total control of Afghanistan — among them members of the country’s national women’s soccer team, along with judges and prosecutors.

Was Margaretten interested in paying for their extraction?

“Absolutely,” Margaretten said. “Give me 10 hours.”

Within a day, Margaretten, who is based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, had drummed up $80,000 from his haredi community. He wired the funds to Kahana’s consultancy, GDC, and by Wednesday, Kahana was, from his New Jersey farm, coordinating the extraction of at least four soccer players, a judge, a prosecutor and their families, over land and by air. Kahana said they numbered 23 people. Margaretten said the money would also assist the refugees after their departure.

By Friday, Kahana said his team had extracted another 23 people.

Khalida Popal, the former captain of the national women’s soccer team who is now based in Denmark and is leading efforts to extract the players, thanked Margaretten’s nonprofit, Tzedek Association, on Twitter on Thursday afternoon, as the world was reeling from the news of a massive suicide bomb attack on Kabul’s airport.

“Thank you ⁦ @Tzedek_Assoc for your incredible help w/ this life-saving rescue effort, including coordination to the airport and other routes, and political connections,” she said. “Together we are saving lives!” (Margaretten said that some of the funds are being directed through Tzedek, and some are going directly to the project to assist the refugees.)

Popal did not add details and did not return requests for an interview, but her expression of relief came after days of tweets expressing anxiety and uncertainty.

“This is exactly where our players were last night,” she tweeted 90 minutes earlier, attaching a video of the carnage at Kabul airport. “I am worried and nervous and feel bad in my stomach. I don’t know if some of our players are here. I am worried.”

Israeli boy dies after being stung by jellyfish in Thailand

 

A nine-year-old Israeli boy was stung by a box jellyfish on a beach in the Thai city of Ko Phangan and died as a result shortly after, Thai authorities reported.

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been notified of the tragic case and the Israeli consulate in Thailand is handling the incident and is in constant contact with the boy's father.

According to reports, the child was stung by a jellyfish strain that is considered one of the most venomous in the world - and its venom causes various symptoms, the most extreme of which is death.

After being stung and beginning to suffer from a series of side effects he was taken to a hospital in Ko Phangan where doctors tried to save his life in various ways but were eventually forced to determine his death.

Insiders Say ..Not much is real about Julia Haart and ‘My Unorthodox Life’

 

On the buzzy Netflix reality series “My Unorthodox Life,” sexy, glamorous Julia Haart has quite a story to tell. It’s a fairy tale of how she fled her Orthodox Jewish community in Monsey, NY, to make her way in the fashion world: launching her own own shoe line, becoming creative director at the luxury fashion brand La Perla and, now, serving as the CEO of Elite World Group — a talent agency which includes Elite Model Management and represents the likes of Kendall Jenner, Iman and Helena Christensen.

But insiders say that she is painting an ugly, unfair picture of life in her former community — as uneducated and so restrictive it left her suicidal.

“Julia’s hanging on to this word ‘fundamentalism’ — and sensationalism sells,” said a former friend of Haart’s from Monsey. “She says she was held captive, but that’s not true.”

The show follows Haart, 50, her four kids and her second husband, Elite owner  Silvio Scaglia, and includes lots of scenes of her railing against her past life in an “extreme” community” — a characterization that another old friend, Roselyn Feinsod, disputes.
(Haart did not wish to comment.)

Meanwhile, style insiders say Haart’s role in the fashion world is also distorted on the series.

“The show is so misleading. It is a house of mirrors,” said an Elite source. “When she came in, it was all about her self-promotion … She is really good at making it seem like she is an agent of change and she is good at pretending to be all about empowerment. But it’s all publicity for her.”

Julia Haart freely admits that she changed both her name and her persona — more than once.

Born Julia Leibov, she moved as a child from Russia to Texas and, eventually, to Monsey, NY — a center for Orthodox Jews. That’s where Feinsod first met her, at  yeshiva.

HaRav Yitzchak Dovid Grossman And Wife of Migdal Ha’Emek Test Positive For COVID

 

The Rov of Migdal Ha’Emek and a member of the Chief Rabbi’s Council of Israel, HaRav Yitzchak Dovid Grossman and his wife have both tested positive for COVID.

According to a reports, Both Rav Grossman and his wife received the first two Covid-19 vaccines and were supposed to go and receive their third booster dose of the vaccine in the coming days, but tested positive yesterday with the virus.

Yossi Roush, an assistant to Rabbi Grossman told the media that “Ever since the virus hit Israel, the Rabbi and his family have strictly complied with all of the health regulations set forth by the Health Ministry. In the end, the virus got to them as well. We are all praying that both the Rabbi and his wife will recover fully and quickly.”

They are both at home.

Did President Biden Fall Asleep During Meeting With Prime Minister Bennett?

 

Did President Joe Biden fall asleep during his Oval Office meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday?

Biden met with the Israeli Prime Minister on Friday in his only public event for the day.

At one point during the meeting, Biden dropped his head down and appeared to be asleep as Bennett spoke about the friendship between the US and Israel.

Mazal Tov Chareidie Rabbi Officiates at Wedding of Lesbians

Elul Riots Continue in Ponovitz ..and Litvishe Roshei Yeshivos Refuse to Condemn Them

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Undermining the pro-Israel Community’s Efforts to Combat Antisemitism.

 

Greenblatt the stooge for leftist' Jew Haters

t’s enormously frustrating when the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) – which should be working with us―instead undermines the pro-Israel community’s efforts to combat antisemitism. Too often, ADL gives a “free pass” to Islamist, BLM, and other left wing antisemitism. ADL now appears ready to hand out “free passes” to radical Islamist antisemites on college campuses, during ADL’s new partnership with Hillel.

The partnership calls for ADL’s “experts” to determine what is antisemitic. Yet, absurdly, when describing how the ADL-Hillel partnership will operate, ADL’s “experts” announced that “a BDS resolution alone would not count as antisemitism,” but “might”―might (!)―count as antisemitism if Jewish students were excluded from the debate on the resolution.

It is deeply concerning that ADL’s “experts” are ignoring the fact that BDS resolutions are invariably antisemitic. These sinister BDS resolutions are propagated on college campuses by the antisemitic hate group Students for Justice in Palestine.

Head of Ben & Jerry’s board accused of Using Foundation to Fund Her Own Pro-Palestinian Tzedakka Fund

 

The head of the board of directors of Ben & Jerry’s is accused of alleged self-dealing, doling out tens of thousands in cash from the controversial ice cream company’s foundation to fund her own pro-Palestinian non-profit, according to a watchdog complaint to the IRS.

Anuradha Mittal, the chair of the ice cream maker’s board since 2008, organized the company’s recent, controversial boycott, refusing to sell ice cream to Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories.

She is also a vice president of the company’s non-profit foundation. Between 2017 and 2018, the foundation doled out more than $100,000 to the Oakland Institute, a progressive think tank that studies land reform around the world, where Mittal is executive director and the only salaried employee, according to IRS filings.

“It is our contention that this a possible violation of self-dealing as Mittal is considered a disqualified person under IRS rules,” reads a copy of the complaint prepared by the Virginia-based National Legal and Policy Center.

Robert F. Kennedy’s Murderer Sirhan Sirhan granted parole

 

A grinning Sirhan Sirhan arrives for his parole hearing Friday.

The late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin was granted parole Friday after two of the slain political icon’s sons said they supported his release.

Douglas Kennedy, who was a toddler when his father was gunned down in 1968, said he was moved to tears by Sirhan Sirhan’s remorse during a parole hearing that prosecutors didn’t attend.

“I’m overwhelmed just by being able to view Mr. Sirhan face to face,” he said.

“I think I’ve lived my life both in fear of him and his name in one way or another. And I am grateful today to see him as a human being worthy of compassion and love.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has spoken in favor of Sirhan’s release in the past, also wrote in favor of paroling Sirhan.

Sirhan — who smiled as Kennedy spoke — told members of the California Parole Board that he’d learned to control his anger.

“I would never put myself in jeopardy again,” said Sirhan, 77.

“You have my pledge. I will always look to safety and peace and non-violence.”

Sirhan, 77, a Christian Palestinian from Jordan, has acknowledged he was angry at Kennedy for his support of Israel, and he broke down in tears when asked how he felt about the Middle East conflict today.

“The misery that those people are experiencing. It’s painful,” he said after composing himself.

Young Girl Burned By Shabbos Hot-Water Urn Three Weeks Ago, Is Niftar

 

Beilinson Hospital in Ashkelon announced that the seven-year-old Chareidi girl, Uriya Karni, who was seriously injured three weeks ago when a hot water urn spilled boiling water on her, was Niftar on Wednesday night.

Uriya A”H, was helping prepare her house in Ashkelon for Shabbos, when the urn spilled water all over her body. She suffered serious burns.

United Hatzalah volunteers rushed to her house and initiated emergency medical treatment. She was then rushed to the hospital in moderate condition.

Doctors spent the last three weeks fighting for her life. On Wednesday the fight was lost and young Uriyah was Niftar.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Ki Tavoi

 

The antisemitic uneducated Jew

 

by Rabbi Yaakov Menken

America has long been a welcoming home for minority religious groups, observant Jews being a notable example. In addition to synagogues, day schools and yeshivahs, growing demand is such that most sizable Jewish communities support at least one kosher grocery store with larger ones having multiple supermarkets carrying exclusively kosher foods.

Shoppers will find baked goods, produce, soda and so on, as they would in a Kroger or Publix supermarket, or Whole Foods Market, except that all items are kosher. But here's what they will no longer find: Ben & Jerry's. In response to the company's announcement last month that selling ice cream to Jews in Judea is "inconsistent" with its "values," there isn't a kosher supermarket or grocery store in the country willing to carry its products.

Driver flees after killing 20-year-old Chareidie near Modi'in

 

A 20-year-old Chareidie man was killed and two more injured Friday morning after he was hit by a car on Highway 6 in central Israel.

The incident occurred near the Daniel Junction on northbound Highway 6, northwest of the city of Modi’in, when the victim tried to cross the highway and was struck by a passing car.

Two other young men in their 20s who were crossing at the same time were also hit and injured in the accident. One was moderately injured, emergency responders said, while the third was treated for shock.

“On the side of the road a man roughly 20 years of age was lying unconscious, with serious head injuries,” MDA first responder Aryeh Mayers reported from the scene.

“He had no vital signs. We performed medical examinations on him, but were forced to declare his death shortly thereafter.”

The two other victims were evacuated to Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer, Ramat Gan.

Authorities say the driver of the car fled the scene shortly after the accident.

Local police have launched a search for the driver.

Black Cop that Killed an unarmed White Ashli Babbitt on Jan 6 Protests Says "I was Doing My Job"

 

Michael Byrd the Murderer

Ashli Babbitt the victim

The veteran US Capitol Police officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6 riot defended his actions Thursday, telling NBC News that “I was doing my job” and insisting that Babbitt was a threat to lawmakers and congressional staff on that fateful day.

Lt. Michael Byrd came forward days after he was exonerated from any wrongdoing in Babbitt’s death by an internal use-of-force probe.

The 28-year veteran shot Babbitt, an Air Force veteran and devotee of the QAnon conspiracy theory, as she attempted to enter the Speaker’s Lobby via a broken door. The officer told NBC News’ Lester Holt that seconds before he fired his weapon, he had been screaming at Babbitt and her fellow rioters to “please stop” and “get back.”

“You’re ultimately hoping that your commands will be complied with,” Byrd said, “and unfortunately, they were not.”

When Holt asked Byrd what he thought Babbitt was doing when he shot her, the officer responded bluntly: “She was posing a threat to the House of Representatives.”

Byrd also shed more light on the chaos of the day.

At one point, he recalled, an incorrect report that gunshots had been fired into the House chamber came over his radio.

“I was very afraid,” Byrd said. “I’m hearing about the breaches of different barricaded areas, officers being overrun, officers being down.”

Despite the hours-long rampage — which included running battles between police and rioters — Babbitt was the only person who was killed on Jan. 6.

Three other Trump supporters died after suffering medical emergencies. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died the day after the riot following a pair of strokes and at least four other law enforcement officers who responded to the Capitol that day have taken their own lives in the months since.

“I’m sure it was a terrifying situation,” Byrd told Holt when asked why no other officers shot at the rioters that day. “I can only control my reaction, my training, my level of expertise. That would be upon them to speak for themselves.”

Trump earlier this month said that Babbitt was “murdered at the hands of someone who should never have pulled the trigger of his gun” and called for “justice.”

On Thursday, Byrd called that statement “disheartening,” but added that if he had been responsible for the former president’s protection, “I was prepared to do the same thing for him and his family … because it’s my job.”

Babbitt’s widower, Aaron, told Fox News Thursday evening that he was “pissed off” by Byrd’s statements in the interview. 

“I don’t even want to hear him talk about how he’s getting death threats and he’s scared,” Babbitt told “Tucker Carlson Tonight”. “I’ve been getting death threats since January 7th. Two, three, five, ten a day, you know? And all I did on January 6th was become a widower, so you’re gonna have to suck it up, bud, and take it.”

Attorney Terry Roberts, who represents the Babbitt family, recently called her death an “ambush” and says the family is preparing to file a $10 million lawsuit against both Byrd and the Capitol Police.

Insane! Biden admits That He Gave Taliban ‘kill list’ of Afghans who aided US

 

A potentially deadly blunder by President Joe Biden’s administration effectively handed the Taliban a “kill list” to target Afghans who aided the US, according to a report Thursday — and admitted it may have happened when asked later at a White House briefing.

Following the Taliban takeover of Kabul, US officials there gave the Islamic extremist group the names of American citizens, green card holders and Afghan allies so they could be allowed to enter the Taliban-controlled perimeter around the Hamid Karzai International Airport, according to Politico.

The decision was reportedly made despite the Taliban’s notorious reputation for brutally executing Afghans who helped the US military and other Western forces during the war and occupation that followed the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

“Basically, they just put all those Afghans on a kill list,” a US defense official told Politico. “It’s just appalling and shocking and makes you feel unclean.”

During a news conference about Thursday’s deadly terror attack at the Kabul airport, Biden acknowledged unspecified “occasions” on which the US military had contacted the Taliban to say, “for example, this bus is coming through with ‘X’ number of people on it, made up of the following people.”

“And to the best of my knowledge, in those cases, the bulk of that has occurred. They’ve been let through,” he said.

“But I can’t tell you with any certitude that there’s actually been a list of names. There may have been, but I know of no circumstance.”

Biden added: “That doesn’t mean it’s not — it didn’t exist. That, ‘Here’s the names of 12 people. They’re coming. Let them through.’ It could very well have happened.”

The shocking revelation came just days after it was revealed that Taliban death squads have been going “door-to-door” to hunt down suspected Afghan “collaborators,” with tens of thousands of American allies potentially at risk.

The White House’s major miscalculation surfaced during a classified, Capitol Hill briefing earlier this week, Politico said.

The closed-door meeting reportedly grew heated when top administration officials tried to defend coordinating with the Taliban, claiming it was the best way to prevent a shooting war between US troops and Taliban fighters from breaking out at the airport.

The Biden administration has been relying on the Taliban to provide security outside the airport, and Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, and Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, head of US forces on the ground in Afghanistan, have referred to the Taliban in both written and verbal communications as “our Afghan partners,” two defense officials told Politico.

Following the fall of Kabul on Aug. 15, the joint US military and diplomatic team at the airport began giving the Taliban lists of people the US was seeking to evacuate, Politico said.

“They had to do that because of the security situation the White House created by allowing the Taliban to control everything outside the airport,” one US official said.

But after thousands of visa applicants started arriving at the airport, the State Department reportedly told those people to stay away until they were cleared for entry and the lists given to the Taliban no longer included the names of any Afghans.

As of Wednesday, only people with US passports and green cards were being admitted to the airport and processed for evacuation, the defense official told Politico.

A spokesperson for US Central Command declined to comment, Politico said.

Girls Now "Talking in Learning" With Their Dates ... and He doesn't Like it One Bit

Published in FJJ (Ask the Shadchan)

 DEAR MRS. ROSE, 

Our son just went out with his first girl. Naturally, we did our homework and everything checked out to our satisfaction. We would be delighted if this would be his “bashert.” So, what’s the issue? Here goes… He went out on a second date after a very promising first date. The girl spent most of the date questioning him about his learning. What he is learning, where, (what sugya), why he is learning that particular inyan etc. It was obvious from the questions she asked that she did not have any understanding, not even elementary knowledge about “learning”. My son felt that there was no point in him being grilled by someone who doesn’t really “chap the inyan” It’s almost insulting! Even if she would have “chapped the inyan”, isn’t she overstepping her boundaries? It was only a second date, our son didn’t grill her about her schooling (not to say that he would have even begun to know what to ask her about her OT, PT, special ed choices). We have heard from other parents of boys in shidduchim that they have encountered similar scenarios. Are they being taught to ask these questions in Seminary? Do you think this makes any sense? 

Confused Mother of an Up and Coming Star Learner just Looking for a Wife

DIN: The mother comments that her son would not even "have begun to know what to ask her about her OT, PT, special ed choices"

Really? Are Yeshiva boys so ignorant that don't have a clue what OT, PT and Special Ed, are all about?  Is this guy living in a cave? And let's say, he didn't know, he can't ask her some questions about her vocation? Isn't she going to bring the "parnassah" home? This "Up and coming Star Learner" has no interest in anything she does which would effect him in every way? 

He is upset that she is "talking in learning" and questioning him?

She is going to support this guy and have children with him and she wants to know, if he is a serious learner. But he thinks there is no "point in him being grilled by someone (the one that he might marry) who doesn't really "chap" the inyan"... but it's ok for her son "not to chap the inyan" when it comes to OT, PT etc.!

Message to the girl: Run ..Run ..far away from this arrogant guy who suddenly becomes defensive when someone questions him on something he is supposedly dedicated his entire life to. Run from his mother...do you need a mother-in-law who finds your questioning "insulting"? Who thinks you "overstepped your boundaries?" You are better off marrying a guy who is working and learns at night and who won't mind "talking in learning" with you! This guy is an immature brat spoiled by a clueless mother who wants to know if those "questions are being taught in seminary" .. she wants to marry off her "star learner" to someone who she thinks cannot think for herself but was coached by her seminary teachers. Run..he will make a very bad husband! Too many red flags!

Message to the boy: You will be lucky to have her!

DEAR CONFUSED MOTHER…., 

Whoa! What an experience your son must have had! Usually, the zooming- in question is about “Hashkafos”. Usually discussed at about date three to four, usually initiated by the boy. This is a new one on me. I really think you’ve picked out a one and a million girl. Clearly, dating is about gradually getting to know a person’s qualities, strengths, direction in life etc. It should be a pleasant experience, not an interview and certainly not an interrogation. When people are put on the spot they tend to shut down and feel overwhelmed and negative feelings surface. Our seminaries teach respect for learning, love of learning, kovod habrios. They are not preparing our girls to be “chavrusas”. Most boys are looking for a wife, not a chavrusa and certainly not a “mashgiach”. This doesn’t make any sense to me, but given that the first date seemed to be great, there is potential here. I would love to be a fly on the wall and be able to see what REALLY transpired on the date. Certainly, do not drop the girl based on that scenario, (unless he didn’t pass her interrogation, and she needs something else, and therefore she’ll say no). Keep me posted, would love to hear how this plays itself out. At the end of the day, Bashert will prevail!

 Chana Rose

Pope Francis Says That "The Torah is Obsolete"

Actually there are a lot of Jews who believe that too. 

But let's talk about "Francis Botchie" 

He holds on to a cross that symbolizes a god that he worships," that was tortured and killed for "mankind's sins". "

This god was human born to a virgin mother who had no father. And to top it all off, he was a Jew.

I cannot imagine a Jew, even one who urinates on the "egalitarian" section of the Kotel, worshipping an Italian.

And preaches that the "Torah is Obsolete," then this "chuchim fun de ma'nishtana" adds with a straight face:

Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ."

He is talking to those Jews who are observant....he wants them to drop the "Living Torah" and look to the promise of a dead Jewish bastard (this fact, is be'feirish in the New Testament in Matthew, which relates that when Joseph who was betrothed to Mary found out she was with child, and he knew he wasn't the father, "he accused her of adultery.")

Israel's top Jewish religious authorities have told the Vatican they are concerned about comments that Pope Francis made about their books of sacred law and have asked for a clarification.

In a letter seen by Reuters, Rabbi Rasson Arousi, chair of the Commission of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel for Dialogue with the Holy See, said the comments appeared to suggest Jewish law was obsolete.

Vatican authorities said they were studying the letter and were considering a response.

Rabbi Arousi wrote a day after the pope spoke about the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, during a general audience on Aug. 11.

The Torah contains hundreds of commandments, or mitzvot, for Jews to follow in their everyday lives. The measure of adherence to the wide array of guidelines differs between Orthodox Jews and Reform Jews.

At the audience, the pope, who was reflecting on what St. Paul said about the Torah in the New Testament, said: "The law (Torah) however does not give life.

"It does not offer the fulfillment of the promise because it is not capable of being able to fulfill it ... Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ."

Rabbi Arousi sent the letter on behalf of the Chief Rabbinate - the supreme rabbinic authority for Judaism in Israel - to Cardinal Kurt Koch, whose Vatican department includes a commission for religious relations with Jews.

"In his homily, the pope presents the Christian faith as not just superseding the Torah; but asserts that the latter no longer gives life, implying that Jewish religious practice in the present era is rendered obsolete," Arousi said in the letter.

"This is in effect part and parcel of the 'teaching of contempt' towards Jews and Judaism that we had thought had been fully repudiated by the Church," he said.

Relations between Catholics and Jews were revolutionized in 1965, when the Second Vatican Council repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus and began decades of inter-religious dialogue. Francis and his two predecessors visited synagogues.

Two leading Catholic scholars of religious relations with Jews agreed that the pope's remarks could be seen as a troublesome setback and needed clarification.

"To say that this fundamental tenet of Judaism does not give life is to denigrate the basic religious outlook of Jews and Judaism. It could have been written before the Council," said Father John Pawlikowski, former director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

"I think it's a problem for Jewish ears, especially because the pope's remarks were addressed to a Catholic audience," said Professor Philip Cunningham, director of the Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

"It could be understood as devaluing Jewish observance of the Torah today," Cunningham said.

Arousi and Pawlikowski said it was possible that a least part of the pope's teaching homily, known as a catechesis, was written by aides and that the phrase was not properly vetted.

Koch's office said on Wednesday he had received the letter, was "considering it seriously and reflecting on a response."

Francis has had a very good relationship with Jews. While still archbishop in native Buenos Aires, he co-wrote a book with one of the city's rabbis, Abraham Skorka, and has maintained a lasting friendship with him.

In his letter to Cardinal Koch, Arousi asked him to "convey our distress to Pope Francis" and asked for a clarification from the pope to "ensure that any derogatory conclusions drawn from this homily are clearly repudiated."

Footage shows people urinating regularly at the Kotel's egalitarian section

 

The "egalitarian" section is the place where  the Reform and Conservatives daven.

Who knew that they were "pishers?" All this time we thought they were only "kockers"? 

Security video footage from the egalitarian section of the Western Wall at the southern end of the holy site has shown two people urinating inside the site, ostensibly due to a lack of facilities in the area.

Both incidents, involving a man and a woman, happened over the last two months at the same area of the site, at the bottom of a flight of steps from the main entrance to the egalitarian section but out of sight of the actual prayer platform.

It is unclear if those seen in the video footage urinating at the site were worshipers or had simply been passing and looked for a discreet spot to relieve themselves.

According to a spokesman for the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel, which frequently uses the site for prayer services and religious celebrations, these are not isolated incidents but a relatively regular phenomenon.

There are no public toilets at the current egalitarian section and it has not been possible to obtain permits to install any type of facilities there.

The spokesman said that the lack of facilities at the egalitarian section or in the vicinity means that people are often hard-pressed to find a toilet when needed.

The nearest toilets are inside the central Western Wall complex and visitors must go through a security check before being able to reach them.

Director of the Masorti Movement in Israel Rakefet Ginsburg said the problem should be redressed by the construction of appropriate facilities within the framework of the Western Wall agreement to turn the current egalitarian section into a government-recognized holy site, which was indefinitely suspended by the previous government in 2017.

“The growing number of worshipers and visitors who are coming to the site needs proper basic conditions, and the State of Israel must pay attention to this and provide these facilities within the framework of the suspended Western Wall agreement,” said Director of the Masorti Movement in Israel Rakefet Ginsberg.

“There is not even a milligram of doubt that such a degrading phenomenon would not occur in any other religious site in the country without treatment and solution.

“We call on the Israeli government to act quickly to prevent a recurrence of such incidents, which harm one of the sacred symbols of Judaism and the State of Israel, to install toilet cubicles near the “Ezrat Yisrael” [egalitarian section] and to preserve the site’s respect as a family prayer plaza.”

Ancient gold coins looted from archaeological sites found in Bnei Brak home

 

So what does the gemmarrah say in Avoda Zara 7a? 

" רוב גנבי ישראל נינהו"

Hundreds of ancient coins looted from archaeological sites were found in a house in Bnei Brak, the Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Monday.

The artifacts were uncovered during an operation by the IAA’s Robbery Prevention Unit.

Among the coins found were some gold coins from the Byzantine and the Islamic periods, dozens of Hasmonean coins and hundreds of Roman coins.

The suspect worked as an illegal antique dealer trading in artifacts acquired in the legal and illegal markets, as well as smuggled in from abroad.

“Illegal trade in coins and antiquities creates an income opportunity for antiquities looters, and it encourages antiquities robbery and fatal and irreversible damage to sites around the country,” said IAA Trading National Inspector Ilan Hadad.

“The looters, who dig at archaeological sites and destroy them for the sake of greed, cut off the antiquities from their archaeological context and erase entire chapters from the history of the Land of Israel – stories that will never be told again,” he added.

In the past few years, the IAA has been conducting a rescue operation to examine all caves near the shores of the Dead Sea, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The caves have been targeted by looters for decades.

Among others, the archaeologists uncovered some new biblical fragments and a 10,000-year-old woven basket. They found evidence that antiquities looters had probably arrived some 10 cm. from the artifact, but stopped excavating just before reaching it.