“This Attack Could Have Been Avoided:” Bnei Brak Terrorist Entered Israel Via Breach In Security Fence

 

Yossi Dagan, head of the Shomron Regional Council, warned Deputy Defense Minister Alon Schuster about the breaches in the security fence.

A preliminary investigation showed that Bnei Brak terrorist Dia Hamarsha entered Israel through a breach in the security fence in the northern Shomron, through which thousands of illegal workers enter Israel every day, and continued to do so on Wednesday morning, hours after the attack.

Yossi Dagan, the head of the Shomron Regional Council, has been warning senior members of the defense establishment about the breaches in the security fence for years.

Just three months ago, during the shiva for Yehudah Dimentman, z’l, who was murdered by Palestinians in a shooting attack in the Shomron, Dagan met Deputy Defense Minister Alon Schuster near the separation fence to show him the breaches in the fence, warning him of the danger of illegal workers entering Israel.

Considering Schuster’s comments after the terror attack in Be’er Sheva that “we have to remember that the Bedouins have been discriminated against for years,” it’s no wonder that he didn’t take action.

Ynet reported that the day after the attack, footage from security cameras near Hamarsha’s hometown of Ya’bad shows illegal Palestinian workers on Wednesday morning continuing to enter Israel via breaches in the security fence.

“This terror attack could have been avoided,” said Dagan. “For years Israel has neglected the security fence and ignored the entrance of illegal workers into the country with the ‘humanitarian’ excuse, instead of conducting an organized entry for legal workers. Israel is turning a blind eye to an obvious and real threat.”

Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel said: “I demand that the security fence be enforced. The current situation allows free passage for Palestinians along the fence at different points that security forces are aware of.”

“This creates extensive criminal activity that for years has been causing suffering to local residents. It’s not a quick solution but we must make a decision, and invest a lot of money in it.”

Elazar Roth, a resident of the nearby yishuv of Tal Menashe, said: “Every morning, from pre-dawn hours until 7 a.m., dozens of vehicles pull up to pick up Palestinians that cross the security fence illegally.”

“What we see is a lack of governance, active abandonment. It’s not that the security forces don’t know and don’t see – they simply decided to leave it this way. We need to deal with this phenomenon.”

“Our hearts are with the people that paid with their lives. But that’s exactly the point – we need to abide by our own law. If we have a security fence, we can’t leave it [open] like this.”

Police officer murdered in attack prevented a heavier disaster - and paid with his life

 

One of the people murdered in Tuesday’s shooting attack in Bnei Brak was Sergeant Amir Khoury, 32, from Nof Hagalil, a police officer who was a member of the team who killed the terrorist.

Khoury was seriously wounded during the neutralization of the terrorist and was taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where he was pronounced dead.

Four other people were killed in Tuesday’s attack, two of them residents of Bnei Brak and two foreign citizens.

Khoury and his fellow team member were summoned to the scene of the attack and encountered the terrorist as they were riding their motorcycle in an alley in Bnei Brak. The terrorist managed to fire a bullet or two at them which hit Khoury.

The police said that "preliminary investigative findings indicate that an attacker armed with an assault rifle opened fire on civilians on HaShnayim Street in Bnei Brak and critically wounded several civilians, from there moved to Herzl Street, opened fire on civilians, before a police force neutralized him."

Following the attack, the Police Commissioner has raised the alert level to its highest for the first time since Operation Guardian of the Walls last May.

Bnei-Brak Murder Victims Identified

The terror attack in Bnei Brak ended with five murdered victims after a terrorist went on a shooting spree in the city.

The victims were identified as the avreich Reb Avishai Yechezkel, h’yd, a 29-year-old melameid in the Talmud Torah Ohr Dovid, murdered while taking his two-year-old son for a walk in a stroller to put him to sleep. He left behind his son, his wife, who is in her eighth month of pregnancy, parents, and siblings

Reb Yaakov Yisrael Shalom, h’yd, was a 36-year-old father of four who was murdered as he was driving his car on the streets of Bnei Brak near his home. He is the son of HaGaon HaRav Meir Shalom, z’tl, a prominent Rav of the Teimani community in Bnei Brak, who was niftar of COVID last year.

A third victim was an Arab-Israeli, Amir Khoury, 32, from the town of Nof Hagalil in northern Israel. Khoury was a police officer, serving on the Bnei Brak motorcyclist responders team and was one of two officers who saved countless lives by shooting at the terrorist. Unfortunately, he was fatally wounded during the ensuing exchange of fire. He was rushed to the Beilinson Medical Center but his death was pronounced shortly afterward. In the past, Khoury saved an avreich from drowning.

The other two victims were Alexander and Dmitry, two workers from Ukraine.

The terrorist was identified as Dia Hamarsha, a 27-year-old Palestinian from a village near Jenin, who was in Israel illegally, working at a construction site in Bnei Brak. He had served a 6-month prison sentence in Israel in 2015 for ties to a terror group and illegal weapons offenses.

Armed with an M-16, he arrived in Bnei Brak on Tuesday night at 7:56 p.m. by car, and began shooting people, first murdering the two Ukrainian workers near a makolet on Bialik Street. He then noticed Reb Shalom, h’yd, passing by in his car and opened fire through the window. He then continued to Rechov Herzl, where he murdered Reb Yechezkel, h’yd, as he was leaning over his two-year-old to protect him from the gunfire.

It was on Rechov Herzl that Khoury and another police officer pulled up on motorcycles and fired at him. Hamarsha returned fire, hitting Khoury, but then was hit and killed by the second officer.

A second Arab was arrested in the area following the attack for suspected assistance to the shooter, and a third suspect was arrested later on Tuesday night on the outskirts of Bnei Brak.

Israel Police is now on the highest alert since Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021 in the wake of three terror attacks in a week which left 11 dead.

 

5 Dead in Bnei Brak Terrorist Shooting Attack..Shooter Shot Dead!

Breaking: yet another evil terror attack against Israelis - this time in Bnei Brak - terrorist opened fire on civilians - multiple injuries and reportedly fatalities. pic.twitter.com/PgdHRRKh3X

— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) March 29, 2022

 

According to United Hatzalah founder Eli Beer, five people are dead — but it is not clear if that figure includes one of the terrorists.

One of the victims in the shooting in Bnei Brak was a Haredi man who was shot on his own doorstep returning from Yeshiva.

The first attack took place on Bialik Street, where three people were shot. The attacker then continued to fire at people on the street, shooting two more people on Herzl Street, on the corner of Jabotinsky.

The terrorist, who was riding a motorcycle, was reportedly shot and killed on Megadim Street, in nearby Ramat Gan, by a police officer. According to the Rotter.net news outlet, the terrorist was a citizen of the Palestinian Authority.

Police helicopters were searching for additional armed terrorists. Hebrew-language media reported that one suspect has been arrested at the scene, although the reason is unclear.

United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Akiva Kauffman said he was riding his emergency e-bike when he heard the gunshots. “I rushed over to the scene and began treating one person in critical condition who was then taken to the hospital.”  

“Our Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit was active at the scene treating multiple people for emotional shock as a result of the shooting incidents,” said United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Avi Fishman added.

MDA EMT Menachem Englander who treated the victims of the terror attack, lives on Hashnayim Street, and was at home when the shooting started.

“I immediately went out to the street and saw a terrorist pointing a weapon at me. By a miracle his weapon jammed and he couldn’t shoot. I immediately went back in my house, locked my door and reported to the emergency dispatch center.

“Once the police arrived to the scene and cleared it I went back downstairs. Unfortunately, three men in their 30s were unresponsive and suffering from gunshot wounds, and after medical checks, we were forced to pronounce them deceased.”

Overall, four people were killed and one was reported in critical condition, as well as several others suffering from shock.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is slated to hold a security consultation at 10 pm with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi, Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai and others.

The attack comes one day before the so-called “Land Day” commemoration by Arabs in the Palestinian Authority and Gaza, marking the Israeli government expropriation of land in the Galilee on March 30, 1976. Massive riots broke out, leading to the deaths of six Arab citizens by Israeli forces.

Arabs use Land Day to protest not only the government’s expropriation of Galilee land, but also to express their rage and hate for the United Nations’ designation of land to recreate the Jewish State of Israel. According to the Qatar-based Aljazeera news outlet, “Land Day presents an opportunity not only to mark a past event, but also to think about creative and resilient ways to further resist Israeli land theft.”

The Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins April 2 this year, is an annual trigger for terrorist violence against the Jewish State.

The Murderer 

Better not ask your Rabbi if you can eat "Kitneyois" on Pesach...

 

Going around whatsapp pic.twitter.com/45ZBp37kSq

— ay (@aimhumor) March 29, 2022

Blinken Attacks ‘Settler Violence,’ But Doesn't Mention the Arab Murderers in Chadera & Be'er Sheva

 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday at a joint briefing with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that he and the prime minister discussed ways to “prevent actions on all sides that could raise tensions.”

The statement came just a few hours before two Arab terrorists killed two Israeli police officers and critically wounded four more in a shooting attack that took place Sunday evening in Hadera, and 5 days after the terror attack in Be’er Sheva that left 4 Israelis dead and 2 more wounded.

“Israelis and Palestinians deserve to enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, opportunity, and dignity,” Blinken told reporters in Jerusalem, adding that’s “one of the principal reasons we support a negotiated two-state solution.”

The Secretary’s definition of actions to be “prevented” that “raise tensions,” included a list of no no’s mostly for Israel, with two items tossed in for action by the Palestinian Authority, probably to maintain the guise of moral equivalency.

Neither of those two items for the Palestinian Authority, however, was discussed or even mentioned publicly following Blinken’s late-day meeting in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. In fact, Blinken issued no statement at all after leaving Ramallah, nor did he address reporters at a joint news conference.

US Action List for Israel
The action list handed to Bennett by Blinken, largely an attack on Israelis living in Judea and Samaria, came while the two men discussed “ways to foster a peaceful Passover, Ramadan and Easter across Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, particularly in Jerusalem,” the Secretary said.

That, he said, “means working to prevent actions on all sides that could raise tensions, including:

• settlement expansion,
• settler violence,
• incitement to violence,
• demolitions,
• payments to individuals convicted of terrorism,
• evictions of families from homes they’ve lived in for decades.

Let’s take the list item by item.

Ukraine Soldiers Abuse and Shoot Russian POWs ..Is anyone surprised?

 

Ukraine has vowed to investigate after graphic videos emerged purporting to show the horrific abuse of Russian prisoners of war, including some who were shot in the legs. 

“The government is taking this very seriously, and there will be an immediate investigation,” senior presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Sunday, the Washington Examiner reported. “We are a European army, and we do not mock our prisoners. If this turns out to be real, this is absolutely unacceptable behavior,” President Volodymyr Zelensky’s adviser added. 

One clip shows what appear to be Ukrainian troops removing three Russian soldiers from a van seconds before the detainees are shot in the legs. 

In another video, the faces of injured and bloodied Russians are seen after hoods are removed from their heads. The authenticity of the harrowing footage has not been independently verified, and exactly where the videos were shot was unclear. “I would like to remind all our military, civilian and defense forces once again that the abuse of prisoners is a war crime that has no amnesty under military law and has no statute of limitations,” Arestovych said. 

Meanwhile, Ukrainian military commander Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi accused Russia of “staging” the videos and warned the public to only trust “official sources.” “In order to discredit the Ukrainian defense forces, the enemy is filming and distributing staging videos with inhumane attitude of ‘Ukrainian military’ to ‘Russian prisoners,’” Zaluzhnyi said in a statement. “I urge you to take into account the realities of the information and psychological war and trust only official sources,” he added, claiming that “the enemy produces and shares with the inhuman treatment of alleged ‘Russian prisoners’ by ‘Ukrainian soldiers’ in order to discredit Ukrainian Defense Forces.”

Ladies.... Crossing your legs when buying shoes for your children

How perverted is this? 

IDF Notice a Car With a Chasan inside..Decide to Make him Happy

 

Despite rulings of Bais Dins..Feldheim Bookstores in Yerushalyim and Beit Shemesh Continue to Sell Walder Books

 

Israeli study: 4th shots were key to saving lives among over-60s in Omicron wave

 

New Israeli research indicates fourth shots of the Pfizer–BioNTech coronavirus vaccine significantly curtailed deaths in Israel’s older population during the Omicron wave.

It also raises the question of how many lives may have been lost due to the world’s slow adoption of fourth shots.

Israelis who topped up their triple-vaccine protection with a fourth shot of the vaccine reduced their chances of death by 78 percent, according to Clalit Health Services and Sapir College.

This was calculated by studying death rates among Israelis aged 60-plus who were four months after their third vaccine, over a 40-day period during the Omicron wave. For every five deaths among those who didn’t get a fourth shot, there was just one death among those who did.

One-year-old Avraham Saadia drowns in bucket of paint

 Avraham Saadia, 15 months old, drowned Monday evening in a bucket of paint in the yard of his Netivot home.

Magen David Adom (MDA) paramedics attempted to resuscitate the infant, but were forced to declare his death.

MDA paramedics Maoz Wiberman and Osher Assuliin, who arrived at the scene on MDA motorcycles, said, "When we entered the courtyard of the building we saw the infant unconscious and covered in paint. We immediately began providing medical treatment, including [chest] massages and assisted respiration, while drawing out the paint which had entered his lungs, using special medical equipment."

"We continued the resuscitation, together with staff from the mobile ICU, but in the end we were forced to declare his death."

The Saadia family had been painting its home and yard ahead of the upcoming Passover holiday. The infant walked out the back door as his family painted the house, and entered the bucket, where his sister Hilda found him. He is survived by his parents and seven siblings.

Nachum Segal plans to rebuild after fire destroys studio

 

The Lower East Side studio of Jewish radio personality Nachum Segal was destroyed in a fire on Sunday.

The studio, at 551 Grand Street in Manhattan, was the headquarters for the Nachum Segal Network since 2002, where Segal hosted his popular radio show, “Jewish Moments in the Morning.” Also known as “JM in the AM,” the show was broadcast on WFMU in Jersey City until 2016, and now streams on Segal’s own platforms.

Segal said that fire marshals believe the blaze was an electrical fire, which ended up consuming almost all of the studio. “That destruction is difficult to deal with,” he told the New York Jewish Week.

Numerous photographs had adorned the walls of the studio, which included leading rabbis, Jewish politicians, major league sports stars and more. All were destroyed. “The walls, just themselves, were a tremendous loss,” Segal said.

He added that a 20-volume scrapbook showcasing his career and the network’s growth over the years was salvaged in the fire. “We lost mostly everything,” he said. “All the equipment is destroyed and a lot of the memorabilia is going to be missed, but that multi-volume scrapbook is really important to me and I’m glad it survived.”

Segal said there has been an outpouring of support from his listeners, with many calling and texting to comfort him. “It’s a tremendous feeling of hope and resilience and rebuilding — that’s what we want to focus on today,” he said.

The network launched an online fundraising campaign to help offset the costs of the damage. The campaign, which launched on Sunday, has raised more than $70,000 as of this writing.

“I never expected this kind of outpouring,” Segal said. “It’s hard to believe how much my audience always comes through. There is a tremendous amount of appreciation for what we do.”

Segal will do the show remotely for the time being, though he plans to put money from the campaign toward a new broadcasting space. “I look forward to using the funds to build and rebuild a really beautiful, state of the art studio,” he said. “One that is befitting the mission that we’re on, one that we can take great pride in.”

The show, streaming for three hours each weekday, includes a mix of Jewish music, interviews and rabbinical and political commentary. It is most popular in religious homes; Segal has occasionally done remote feeds from Modern Orthodox redoubts like Teaneck and Tenafly, New Jersey.

Segal, who got his start on Yeshiva University’s radio station, said that the network is “unabashadley pro-Israel,” but also includes Torah study and other religious themes. “Someone said to me that there is so much Torah that emanates from your studio that today’s fire is reminiscent of the destruction of the temple,” Segal said. “They don’t mean literally, but people view it as an important hub of Jewish activity, Jewish education and Jewish themes.”

Segal added that he was “thankful to the Almighty” that nothing worse happened from the fire.

“It could have, God forbid, taken someone’s life,” he said. “It could have been so much more devastating. We get to be in a position to continue, and hopefully continue stronger.”

Watch the Moment When President Trump Is Told That Ruth Bader Ginsburg Died

 

In An Ironic Twist ...Holocaust survivors flee from Ukraine to Germany for Safety

 

When the bombs started falling on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, last month, Tatyana Zhuravliova had a horrible deja vu: the 83-year-old Ukrainian Jew felt the same panic she suffered as a little girl when the Nazis were flying air attacks on her hometown of Odesa.

“My whole body was shaking, and those fears crept up again through my entire body — fears which I didn’t even know were still hidden inside me,” Zhuravliova said.

Her eyes welled up with tears as she remembered how she hid under the table from the bombs during World War II, and eventually fled with her mother to Kazakhstan when the Nazis and their henchmen started massacring ten of thousands of Jews in Odesa.

“Now I’m too old to run to the bunker. So I just stayed inside my apartment and prayed that the bombs would not kill me,” Zhuravliova, a retired doctor, told The Associated Press on Sunday.

But as Russia’s military attacks on Ukraine become even more brutal and demolished residential apartment blocks, she realized that she had to flee again if she didn’t want to die. So Zhuravliova accepted an offer from a Jewish organization to bring her out of Ukraine to safety.

In an unexpected twist of history, some of the 10,000 Holocaust survivors who had been living in Ukraine have now been taken to safety in Germany — the country that unleashed World War II and organized the murder of 6 million Jews across Europe.

Zhuravliova was part of the first group of four Jewish Holocaust survivors evacuated from Ukraine by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference. The group represents the world’s Jews in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs, and provides welfare for Holocaust survivors around the globe.

A second group of 14 Holocaust survivors, many of them ill and bed-ridden, were brought out of Ukraine on Sunday. The Claims Conference is working with its partners, among them the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, or JDC, to get as many Holocaust survivors out of Ukraine as possible.

Around 500 Holocaust survivors in Ukraine are especially in need of help because of their ailing health — their evacuation is a top priority, says the JDC.

It’s a highly difficult and complex operation to transport such frail people out of Ukraine, where constant shelling and artillery fire make any evacuation very dangerous. It involves finding medical staff and ambulances in numerous war zones, crossing international borders and even convincing survivors, who are ill and unable to leave their homes without help, to flee into uncertainty again, this time without the vigor of youth.

Kew Gardens Neighbors Fighting Hatzala's New Building

 

Rendering of a proposed Hatzolah depot on 68th Road in Kew Gardens Hills.

 The Kew Garden Hills block is something out of a bygone era, with many of its mostly Jewish residents living on the same street for half a century, treating each other like family.

But some of the Queens homeowners say they are now living in fear of the “800-pound gorilla” haunting the community — a proposed Hatzolah ambulance depot on their block.

Opposition to the project on 68th Road at Main Street has brought alleged threats and other forms of intimidation, with protesters noting that a key opponent was left in a burn ICU after a mysterious fire started in his car.

“We [are being] blackmailed into being silenced,” said a resident, too afraid to publicly share his name, to the Post.

Locals opposed to the plans by the Queens Hatzolah — a local Jewish ambulance service that aims to provide more culturally sensitive services — have formed a block association to fight the project. The proposed depot would have five ambulance garages and be taller than the houses on the block.

The residents say they are worried about the quality-of-life ramifications to their idyllic block if an outpost of Hatzolah, which responds to 7,000 emergency calls a year, is located there. And that’s not to mention the effect it might have on their home values.

Avi Koenigsberg, president of the 68th Road Block Association, said he used to volunteer for Hatzolah and knows how valuable the service can be to the Jewish community.

The elder Koenigsberg said the plan was made with “no consideration for the neighborhood” and that he and many other residents were never asked for their thoughts.

“People are generally in favor of the operation of this Hatzolah group  because they are helpful to the community,’’ Mordecai said.

“We said it may be true that you are doing a lot of valuable things for the community, but there has to be some oversight,” he recalled of conversations with backers of the plans.

Then the threats came, he and other project opponents said.

Backers of the plan reportedly told those who oppose the building that the protests could make volunteers not as willing to help those in the area, Mordecai Koenigsberg said.

“That’s a nasty thing to say,” Mordecai said.

The block is home to many religious Jews .

A supporter of the project allegedly “goes over to a neighbor and says, ‘You have a daughter that’s 21 or 22. If you fight us, your daughter will not get married,’ ” said another block resident, who asked not to be named. “A widow was approached and told, ‘What do you care if your house goes down in value? You will leave it to your children.’

“Our quality of life is being destroyed,” the neighbor said. “I don’t need to live where people are intimidating me, intimidating my children.”

These sentiments were felt even before fire broke out at Avi Koenigsberg’s house in the early morning on March 3. The blaze started in his car, which had been turned off about four hours earlier when he got home and parked it in the driveway.

The smoke traveled upward from the car to the garage and then to Avi’s room above. Firefighters pulled him out of the house unconscious.

“If I had been upstairs for even a few more minutes, I wouldn’t be here anymore,” Avi said.

His insurance company and city fire marshals are still investigating how the fire started, he said. It appears the fire started in the trunk or in his backseat, Avi said, adding that there is no proof it was arson but it also hasn’t been ruled out. The FDNY did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.

Some residents noted that the fire happened at the address to which the block association is registered and said they were worried an overzealous supporter of the depot is out there.

There is no indication Hatzolah was involved in the blaze. 

Hatzolah did not respond to multiple requests for comments from The Post.

While the block association is trying to stop them in court, it is likely the depot will be built, foes said.

“The irony of this is that nobody [at the top] at Hatzolah — the coordinators, the president — would even think or allow this to happen to their block,” a homeowner said. 

Another resident who spoke on condition of anonymity added, “We have the best neighborhood anyone could ask for.

“They put a pall over the block.”

MK Barkat to gun owners: Bring your gun with you - and shoot terrorists

 

MK Nir Barkat (Likud) called on Israeli gun owners to carry their firearms with them at all times, and to be prepared to gun down terrorists should they be present at the scene of an attack.

Barkat, the former Mayor of Jerusalem, tweeted Sunday night following the deadly shooting attack in Hadera, urged licensed gun owners to remain armed at all times.

“The scenes from the deadly attack in Hadera are disturbing,” tweeted Barkat. “I offer my condolences to the families of the murdered, and I join the whole country in praying for the wounded victims’ recovery.”

“I call on citizens who are licensed to carry [guns] to keep their weapons on their person, and to be prepared to confront and neutralize any terrorist immediately. The police on their own cannot handle the many threats, therefore it is incumbent on citizens to carry the burden of self-defense.”

Barkat also called on the government to loosen gun ownership laws, making it easier for ex-soldiers leaving the army to purchase firearms.

“The government must change its policies and instead of preventing [gun ownership], it must allow demobilized soldiers from combat units to immediately be able to receive a gun license and to own a gun in order to neutralize terrorists as quickly as possible. Every disgusting terrorist who tries to murder Jews should know that his blood will be on his own head.”

Father of Murdered IDF Soldier Relates His Conversation with R' Chaim Kanievski

 

Biden's Speechwriter?

 

This is the funniest thing on the internet today

pic.twitter.com/Sm1kHfQXpX

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) March 23, 2022

Zera Shimshon Parshas Shemini