Now that Reb Chaim is gone Rabbanim look to Annul his Psaks and Start with Banning Canabis

 Below is the Kol Korah signed by the "gedoilim" banning canabis, and below that see a video of Reb Chaim z"l smelling canabis. Below that is a psak from R' Zilberman, son-in-law of R' Chaim ruling that it is 100% permitted.

 A Kol Koreh has been released by multiple Charedi Rabbanim in Israel, banning medical marijuana in many situations.

The letter was published by two prominent Charedi Batei Din, the Bais Din of Rav Nissim Karelitz and Rav Shmuel Vosner.

In addition, it was signed by multiple other Israeli Rabbanim.

Here is a translation of the text:

Daas Torah Regarding Medical Cannabis

Because in recent times, there is a contingent of doctors who prescribe ‘medical marijuana’, including for mild illnesses, despite the fact that it is considered “samim” (a potent drug).

The Gedolei Yisrael have already paskened that using plants which are known as drugs is a Torah violation, regardless of the strength of the ingredients, whether light or heavy. Every type [of these drugs] is prohibited. Even using it occasionally, even one time, is completely prohibited. Using these drugs brings people to engage in more stringent sins of the Torah, and causes a person to lose his mind and abandon his Creator. In the end, it destroys one’s soul, Hashem yishm’renu.

Therefore we proclaim that even when doctors give patients “medical marijuana”, one is not permitted by halacha to take these drugs, unless it is at a minimum a safek pikuach nefesh (a possible life and death matter). One [who is in this situation] must ask a shaila from Rabbanim who have semicha from our communities, and not chalilah rely on doctors, because we are dealing with a Torah transgression.

Certainly, anyone who sells or deals [these drugs] to healthy people, is violating severe Torah prohibitions, and is considered “Machtiei Rabbim”.

Tammuz 3, the Rebbe's yahrzeit is just behind us, but his wisdom lights our way forward.

by Sivan Rahav-Meir

1. What's the most beautiful story you know about the Lubavitcher Rebbe? I was asked to answer this question when being interviewed this week in connection to the 28th anniversary of the Rebbe's passing, which was observed two days ago on the 3rd of Tammuz. It took some time for me to choose but I believe that the following story is the most beautiful one that I know.

Rabbi Moshe Feller, chief Chabad emissary to Minnesota, was asked to write an article for a newspaper on Judaism, Torah, and hassidism. He tried to explain in the article what Torah does for another person and wrote that when a person faints and loses consciousness, it is said you must get close to their ear and shout their name in order for them to wake up.

In the same way, he wrote, when a person is far from their Judaism, far from their identity and themselves, we need to shout their name and that they are a Jew in order for them to be reminded of who they are and wake up.

Rabbi Feller sent the article to the Lubavitcher Rebbe for his approval. Only one word was changed but with great significance. The Rebbe crossed out "shout" and wrote above it "whisper." Not to shout into the other's ear, but to whisper into it.

How do we awaken those who are spiritually unconscious, how do we address those who are cut off from their roots? The man who influenced millions recommends that we change our approach.

Don't shout at them that they are not okay, don't roar at them with your beliefs, but rather whisper. You are about to enter a delicate place -- the soul. Don't approach them with brutality. Approach them with confidence but also with love, with determination but with tenderness too.

It would appear that this approach could benefit us all, in every area of life.

Big Tzaddik Blows His Nose with Pages of a Siddur at a Bar Mitzvah at the Kotel

 

This was a huge Chillul Hasehm and this snot blower is going straight to hell!

Yes, I know that a Sefer Torah written by apikorsim should be burned, and their siddurim burned as well, but "burning" is one thing and blowing your nose with a page that had "Yud Kei Vuv Kei" printed on it, is a totally other thing!

I wonder how many teenage boys that attended this bar-mitzvah will now want to be frum?

I'll bet that this Bar-Mitzvah boy will eventually serve in the IDF protecting this vile disgusting creature and his family.

I have relatives who are serious learners in Bais Medrish and I know 100% that they would never do anything close to this. 

These acts will not only not bring anyone closer to Yiddishkeit, but will further distance those who need our love and understanding. 

I pity this "Snot" guy's kalleh! 

איך מדינת ישראל משלימה עם מצב בו סידורים נקרעים ומוכתמים בנזלת?

למה מדינת היהודים מאפשרת מציאות בה אנשים חוששים לביטחונם בעת שהם סה"כ באים להתפלל כדרכם, ברחבה שהוקצתה בדיוק לתפילה כזו?

רק יישום מתווה הכותל, כפי שהתחייב בעבר ראש הממשלה הנכנס, ישים סוף לטירוף הזה
@yairlapid pic.twitter.com/JRg8AcdZfM

— התנועה המסורתית // The Masorti Movement (@MasortiMovement) June 30, 2022

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox extremists disrupted three bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies at the egalitarian plaza of the Western Wall on Thursday morning, shouting over the services, calling the worshipers “Nazis,” “Christians” and “animals,” blowing whistles and ripping up prayer books, according to eyewitnesses.

“It was all really, really ugly,” said Laura Ben-David, who was hired by one of the families to photograph the bar mitzvah.

In one case, a young ultra-Orthodox man was filmed ripping a page out of a prayer book, or siddur, and then wiping his nose with it while smirking. This was a particularly disrespectful act as books with God’s name in them, like the siddur, are meant treated with the utmost respect in the Jewish tradition, which even requires that they be buried when no longer in use instead of being thrown out or recycled.

“How can a nation of Jews allow a reality in which people fear for their security when they are just trying to pray in their own way in a plaza that was specifically designated for this type of prayer?” wrote the Masorti Movement, Israel’s equivalent to the American Conservative movement, in a tweet.

Rabbi Arie Hasit, who officiated one of the 

Another "chushever" Rav a Serial Molester Bites the Dust

 

by Frumfollies

I witnessed a miracle today. You know how hard it is to get the New York State bureaucracy to move, let alone move quickly. This is especially true on a weekend, and even more so on the Sunday of a July 4th Weekend.

Yet in less than a day after the rasha, serial child rapist Rabbi Baruch (Mordechai) Lebovits, died over shabbos, the NYS sex offender registry make a records change for him. They removed his listing as someone convicted of 8 felony counts of deviate sexual intercourse with a minor. The listing which I screenshot at noon today was gone by 3 pm.

So people, don’t ever accuse our askanim of being lazy or ineffective. Just understand that they are all in on protecting molesters, just not working for survivors.

For the sake of posterity, I am posting the screenshot here and saving it on the Internet Archive.

I have many other posts about Baruch Lebovits dating back over 12 years HERE. Inconveniently this website will display them in reverse chronological order.

US energy producers roast Biden over gas prices tweet they suggest written by WH ‘intern’

 

The U.S. Oil & Gas Association took a hit at President Biden after he tweeted on Saturday that “companies running gas stations” should simply “bring down the price you are charging at the pump,” telling him that he should “please make sure the WH intern who posted this tweet registers for Econ 101 for the fall semester.”

“Working on it Mr. President. In the meantime – have a Happy 4th and please make sure the WH intern who posted this tweet registers for Econ 101 for the fall semester…,” the tweeted. 

On Sunday, Biden tweeted that “companies running gas stations” should take note that “this is a time of war and global peril.”

Askanim & Rabbanim "Make the Pig Kosher" by Endorsing the pro-abortion, pro-perverted Hochul

 

Both feuding Satmar Brothers and most of all Chareidie "gedoilim" are endorsing this "klavta" ....$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Below see the "kapos" fighting about her! 

A Twitter showdown took place between several vocal members of the Charedi community.

The debate focused on whether frum Jews should be concerned about Governor Kathy Hochul, after her campaign stalled on repeated interview requests from the frum media, and ultimately failed to deliver.

Mishpacha editor Yochanon Donn rebuked the Hochul campaign for essentially ignoring the Charedi media. In response, Mordy Getz sharply rebuked Mr. Donn and his publication. He accused them of “shortsightedness” and said they “choose partisanship over truth”.

He also said Mr. Donn’s publication “incites the passions of impressionable and uneducated youth to further tweet in the same manner you do.”

And Mr. Getz claimed they “actively push away those who seek to be understanding of us while embracing people with views antagonistic to our minority community.”

Even Jake Turx got into the conversation, in defense of the Charedi media.

It all began last week when, after congratulating the Governor on her primary victory, Mr. Donn blasted her campaign.

He tweeted: “Very disturbing that her campaign promised interviews with at least 3 frum media – Mishpacha, Hamodia and Ami – and it never materialized. Aside for Cuomo, no other candidate has refused to talk to our community thru its media. Me, as well as journalists from the others, have sent repeated requests for a sit-down with the governor. They weren’t ignored, just slow-walked until it was too late. The fact Gov. Hochul won the overwhelming majority of the Orthodox vote makes it more urgent that we be heard.”

Satmar & Neturei Karta Are Not the Only Ones Wishing Israel Away

A Palestinian man takes a police sign off a wall at the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque, known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, following clashes with Israeli security forces in Jerusalem’s Old City April 15, 2022. 

Arabs decided not to use the prediction of the Va"yoel Moshe, that predicted in 1956 and then again in 1967 that the State would disappear in 20 years, which would mean that it would have disappeared in 1976 or 1987, because those dates came and went and the State actually got stronger. They decided to use the Koran instead.
 

A disparate group of Islamist clerics has been busily predicting that the State of Israel will disappear in 2022, citing the Koran for support.

The prediction has been circulating in earnest since March, when Muslims around the world marked the holy month of Ramadan. According to an article on the pro-Hamas MEMO website by Mohammad Makram Balawi, a Palestinian writer living in Istanbul, the belief that Israel will be removed from the map at some point this year “is widely spread by some Muslim religious scholars, Palestinian and non-Palestinian.”

Balawi mentioned two clerics in this regard. One of them, Sheikh Bassam Jarrar, preaches at a mosque on the outskirts of Ramallah in the West Bank. The sheikh is apparently “97%” certain that Israel will vanish in 2022 due to calculations based on an ancient numerical system that assigns number values to the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet.

Chinese Reaction to Eating Heimishe Food at Gottlieb's

 

‘Con artist’ Julia Haart allegedly paid to meet her Italian billionaire ex

 

Julia Haart likes to say that she’s self-made.

But the star of the Netflix hit “My Unorthodox Life” allegedly created a persona to ensnare her estranged husband, Italian billionaire Silvio Scaglia — and insiders are now revealing the lengths that she went to meet him and marry him, including indirectly paying for an introduction in 2015.

Multiple sources told The Post that Haart, 51, presented herself as a successful and wealthy fashion entrepreneur while, in reality, her first business was losing money.

Documents seen by The Post show that Haart agreed to pay an acquaintance to be introduced to Louis Pong, one of Scaglia’s best friends and a co-investor in Elite World Group, Scaglia’s fashion company that includes brands such as La Perla.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Chukas

 

Jewish Israel Haters Ben & Jerry’s Slam Unilever’s Deal With Israel: “We Don’t Agree With It”

 

Watch these dopes answer questions about a year ago 

Car-crash interview by ⁦@benandjerrys⁩ founders showing why their Israel boycott is wrong-headed, unfair and yes - discriminatory. No wonder States and customers are dropping them. @unilever ought to act to reverse this - and quickly. pic.twitter.com/fCpJJfqtXa

— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) October 11, 2021

 The Ben & Jerry’s company slammed Unilever’s announcement on Wednesday that it reached a deal for its Israeli franchisee to continue selling ice cream in Yehudah and Shomron.

“While our parent company has taken this decision, we do not agree with it,” a company statement said. “We continue to believe it is inconsistent with Ben & Jerry’s values for our ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

The response is not surprising considering who serves as the chairwoman of Ben & Jerry’s board, a pro-terror anti-Israel activist who has been accused of financial improprieties.

For some reason, the Jewish owners of Ben & Jerry’s have not changed their view of the boycott, despite admitting that they’re unsure themselves why they chose to boycott the only Jewish state out of all the counties in the world.

As Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said at the time: “The ignorance and hypocrisy of Ben and his partner Jerry cries out to the heavens. Part of the definition of anti-Semitism is precisely to demand from Israel what isn’t demanded of any other country in the world, and Misters Ben and Jerry have no problem with their ice cream being sold to supporters of terrorism but they are boycotting Israel.”

In an absolutely absurd statement, Omar Shakir, the director of Human Rights Watch for Israel and the Palestinian territories, claimed that although Unilever undermined Ben & Jerry’s “principled decision,” the ice cream sold in Yehudah and Shomron won’t taste like real Ben & Jerry’s.

Dr. Zev Zelenko Niftar After Battle with Cancer

 

Dr. Zev Zelenko, the frum doctor whose “Zelenko Protocol” gained him national attention in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, has sadly passed away after a protracted battle with cancer. He was 49.

“It is with immense sorrow that we announce the passing of our founder Dr. Vladimir “Zev” Zelenko,” Zelenko Labs said in a statement. “Dr. Zelenko was a physician, scientist, and activist for medical rights who touched the lives of millions of people. Some were saved as his role as a doctor, and even more were inspired by his words. His “Zelenko Protocol” saved millions and earned him a Nobel Prize nomination and the admiration of a U.S. President among other prominent world leaders.”

The obituary written by Zelenko Labs reads as follows:

Chassidishe Boro-Park Politicians Eating Each Other Alive! And Vote for Ringel De'Blassio's LapDog

 

David Schwartz was the District Leader for the 48th Assembly District representing Boro-Park and parts of Midwood. When he was elected he was just 22, and was the youngest-elected leader in the history of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.  

But for some reason the rabbanim and askanim wanted him out so they went looking for the biggest "Tuchis-Lekker" in Boro-Park, and bingo, it wasn't very difficult to find a guy who lekked the fat tuchis of the German De-Blassio who had just announced that he was running for congress and will advocate that the Arab murderers have a state 3 miles from Beit Shemesh! 

In the article below, the writer states that Ringel  (who never saw a goyishe tuchis he wouldn't lekk") "stood out as a loyal and trusted advisor to the former mayor and served as the community’s representative in City Hall"

The only thing the writer left out was that Ringel was totally ineffective because  DeBlassio the German made sure to follow frum Jews and harass them with huge fines  when Covid hit ,but at the same time he allowed the LGBT to congregate in close proximity to each other, and Ringel'ele couldn't do a damn thing except to pat DeBlassio's behind! 

This is also the very first time Chassidishe politicians ran against each other.And the Goyim watched on the sidelines as Jew eats Jew!

Mazal Tov!

UPDATE:

Turns out that this was a battle between Bobov 48 that backed Schwartz and Bobov 45 that backed  Pinny "lapdog" Ringel!

Bobov 45 won the eating contest! 

PS Heshy Tishler also ran in this election.

Longtime community askan Pinny Ringel, an ex-City Hall staffer, has defeated incumbent David Schwartz, in the race for District Leader of the 48th Assembly District in Tuesday’s primary., which covers swaths of Borough Park, Mapleton and Midwood.

In the article below, the write states that Ringel " who never saw a tuchis he wouldn't lekk" " stood out as a loyal and trusted advisors to the former mayor and served as the community’s representative in City Hall"

The only thing the writer left out was that Ringel was totally ineffective because  DeBlassio the German made sure to follow frum Jews and harass them with huge fines  when Covid hit ,but at the same time allowed the LGBT to congregate in close proximity to each other. 

 In 2009, Ringel was hired by Bill de Blasio as his Jewish outreach director in the Office of Public Advocate and joined him when he became mayor.

Ringel stood out as a loyal and trusted advisors to the former mayor and served as the community’s representative in City Hall in one of the most challenging times for frum Jews in the city. He always had an open door and effectively used his position – first at the Administration for Children’s Services and later on as Assistant Commissioner of the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit – to assist every individual who reached out for help and worked tirelessly to protect the community’s rights and advocate for its needs.

Testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson collapses Just hours after Tuesday’s show trial

 

J6 Clown Committee has the Receipts!!! Oh ohhh 😮 pic.twitter.com/yadOFFfbn0

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 29, 2022

House Democrats ginned up another round of blockbuster anticipation Monday night when the Select Committee on Jan. 6 announced a last-minute hearing with a surprise witness.

On Tuesday, the nine-member panel brought forward a key aide to former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, who supposedly possessed intimate knowledge of the administration’s conduct on Jan. 6. The topic of the afternoon hearing remained under seal until Hutchinson took the stand to offer new bombshell evidence allegedly incriminating the former Republican president.

“Up until now, our hearings have each been organized to address specific elements of President Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 election,” Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said at the onset of the panel’s latest show trial. “Today we are departing somewhat from that model because Ms. Hutchinson’s testimony touches on several important and cross-cutting topics, topics that are relevant to each of our future hearings.”

According to Cheney, Hutchinson “handled a vast number of sensitive issues” working “steps down the hall from the Oval Office” and “worked on a daily basis with members of the Secret Service who were posted in the White House.”

“In short, Ms. Hutchinson was in a position to know a great deal about the happenings in the Trump White House,” Cheney said.

The ensuing testimony was “devastating,” according to National Review’s resident Cheney-cheerleader Andrew McCarthy in a post published even after the committee’s new narrative fell apart.

Listen to the vast difference of how Justice Sotomayer and Hillay Clinton describe Justice Thomas

 

What Justice Sotomayor said about Clarence Thomas should have been trending all day instead of what Hillary Clinton said about him. Watch this: pic.twitter.com/JMd1bnCU7T

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 29, 2022

The obsessed and racial focus on Justice Thomas by Hillary Clinton and her pro-abortion allies is worth noting. https://t.co/1wH8t2IEzH

— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) June 28, 2022

David Weiss Halivni former" Sigheter" who received his Smicha at 15 dies at 94

 

Rabbi David Weiss Halivni, a theologian, beloved teacher and pioneering and sometimes controversial scholar of Talmud, died Wednesday at age 94 in Israel.

A Holocaust survivor, Halivni earned his doctorate and taught for many years at the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, until leaving the institution in 1983 over its decision to ordain women rabbis. He later became dean of the rabbinical school of the Union for Traditional Judaism, a movement created by rabbis and scholars who similarly broke with the Conservative movement.

He is perhaps best known as a champion of the “source-critical approach” to studying Talmud, treating the vast compendium of Jewish law and lore not as a seamless, unassailable work but as a tradition layered with variant readings and textual strata altered in transmission.

R' Shlomo Z. Perlstein & R' Mordechai Goldstein ..Beit Shemesh Rabbis Cause Huge Chillul Hashem in Ramat Beit Shemesh

 

  

The city of Beit Shemesh invited parents with children to the Yarmuth Park located in Ramat Alef. 

The purpose for this gathering was to teach children safety, how to contact the different EMS services, and give kids a chance to learn about the different emergency services and what they do, in a fun and positive environment. This was an opportunity to experience the "Yom Kehilla," and to learn some vital  CPR techniques. 

But it turned into hell on earth. 

Some of the Rabbanim of Beit Shemesh issued a Kol Korah that prohibited all residents from partaking in this event! 

Two of the Beit Shemesh Rabbis that cater to the extremists and who signed this document are Anglos.

ובני קרח לא מתו

Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Perlstein of Rechov Nachal Ramot 5/13 and Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein of Rechov Nachal Sorek 9/23. 

Remember:    במקום חילול השם אין חולקין כבוד להרב

But it didn't stop there. The extremists hired buses packed with these hooligans who came as far as from Yerushlayim but most from the ערי מקלט of  Beit Shemesh, Beit Shemesh Bet, to disrupt the entire event! 

And disrupt they did! 

They were screaming and shouting and scaring the living daylights out of the innocent children,  the toddlers not knowing what was happening started crying hysterically;  mothers couldn't calm the children. 

After some courageous people started arguing with them, they doubled down and  became more disruptive and called more hooligans, who soon arrived in buses with megaphones and started fighting with the police, calling them "nazis." 

The hooligans peppered the entire park with this outrageous Kol Korah and were shouting that these Anglo "rabbanim"  signed this fatwa and therefore it is a "mitzvah" to disrupt the gathering that was teaching children potential lifesaving techniques. 

I tried talking and  explaining to them that these so called "rabbis" weren't our rabbis and were not our poiskim, and therefore their kol kora was meaningless to 99.9% of the residents. They shouted back to me that the entire Beit Shemesh belongs to them and they won't allow anything that they don't approve. 

The majority of Beit Shemesh residents are normal people trying to live their lives in peace, and they, the extremists are a minority of a minority led by a bunch of clueless rabbanim who cave in like a bunch of cowards and who are eager and look forward to have their dummy followers disrupt events, events that are actually a blessing for the community. They encourage these hooligans because there is nothing for these avreichim to do Bein Hazmanim. The Roshei Yeshiva are in quandary and at a loss as what to do to keep them busy. They don't learn and they don't swim or ride bikes or play ball, so to keep them busy these "rabbanim" send them out to disrupt the lives of their brothers and sisters. 

These disruptions continued for three hours straight until the police somehow managed to throw them out and restored order.

Askanim are interested in forming a group that would immediately respond in the event there is another catastrophe like this. A WhatsApp group should  be formed and all who participate would be notified of an impending  extremist "protest". Any extremist caught displaying a Palestinian flag or desecrating our holy city with "tznees" graffiti will be held to give an account. We will also sue them for any damage to property. 

אם החרש תחרישי בעת הזאת רוח והצלה יעמוד ליהודים ממקום אחר ואת ובית אביך תאבדו, ומי יודע אם לעת כזאת הגעת למלכות

See some of the faces of the unadulterated "rishis"

In a blow to BDS Ben and Jerry’s to Remain in West Bank Settlements

 

In a major blow to the BDS movement, Unilever has reversed course, and Ben and Jerry’s will continue to operate in the West Bank settlements.

The company made a special arrangement which will keep the brand fully operational in West Bank settlements. Unilever has sold its Ben & Jerry’s business interests in Israel to Avi Zinger, current operator of the company in Israel.

The new arrangement means Ben & Jerry’s ice cream will be sold throughout Israel and Judea and Samaria.

The decision comes following a Unilever review of Ben & Jerry’s in Israel after last year’s announcement that the brand would cease operations in Judea and Samaria. 

Last year’s announcement that the company would no longer operate in West Bank settlements cost the company $26 billion. 

The company issued the following statement:

“Unilever has used the opportunity of the past year to listen to perspectives on this complex and sensitive matter and believes this is the best outcome for Ben & Jerry’s in Israel. The review included extensive consultation over several months, including with the Israeli Government. Unilever rejects completely and repudiates unequivocally any form of discrimination or intolerance. Antisemitism has no place in any society. We have never expressed any support for the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement and have no intention of changing that position. Unilever is very proud of our business in Israel which supplies everyday household products to people across the country. Today, Unilever Israel employs around 2,000 people of diverse backgrounds, has four local manufacturing plants, and works with a network of around 2,000 local suppliers and service providers – helping to support the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Israelis across its value chain”.

Under the terms of Unilever’s acquisition of Ben & Jerry’s in 2000, Ben & Jerry’s retained the rights to decisions about its “social mission” but Unilever reserved its authority over financial and operational decisions and therefore is allowed to enter this new arrangement.

Massive Explosion Erupts in Iranian Factory After Cyber Attack

 

On Monday, one of Iran’s largest steel companies announced that a cyberattack had forced it to suspend operations. This appears to be one of the largest cyberattacks against the nation’s vital industrial sector.

Iran generally blames Israel for such attacks, but a group by the name Gonjeshke Darande claimed responsibility for the incident and posted a statement along with a video of the attack online.

The organization claims that Iran’s Basij (volunteer) forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) are connected to the industry.

Hamas Ridiculed by Gazans & Palestinians because the "Hostage" is a Muslim Arab

 

There are a lot of reactions and discussions on social media following the release of the clip of Hamas’s hostage Hisham al-Sayed lying on a bed using a respirator, even among Palestinians and especially Gazans.

I must point out that the reactions are surprising in part. Many Palestinians were shocked (or disappointed) to learn that the “Israeli soldier” is actually a Bedouin Muslim, after expecting him to be Jewish.

Most of the comments online are mocking Hamas. Some address the “real” value of Hisham al-Sayed, while others criticize the poor timing of Hamas’ announcement. All in all, one can say that most Palestinians didn’t show their support for Hamas and its announcement on social media and that it even backfired on the organization.

Attached are a few translated examples of such comments I happened to stumble upon while browsing various social media platforms:

1. Turns out that all this time he was an Arab? And even a Muslim?

2. So he’s one of us? Not one of them?

3. Indumie (a popular instant noodle brand similar to ramen, which was served to Gilad Shalit) is bad for you…

4. I think it’s just Covid.

5. Poor Hisham, came to Gaza during a difficult financial situation. Gilad Shalit had BBQs and watermelons. The situation is complicated now…

6. Let’s start a social media campaign هشام لازم يتعلج – We need to make sure Hisham receives the proper medical treatment (an analogy to the Palestinian social media campaigns for sick Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons).

7. What happened? Did he start a hunger strike? When are there prisoner visits?

8. Hamas missed the timing of the announcement – Israel has a transitional government right now.

9. No one seems to be looking for him.

10. This is what happens when you eat too many chicken wings.

11. They made us look like fools…

12. Israelis on social media are probably making fun of Hamas’ announcement as much as we are.

13. As long as his name is Hisham a-Sayed (as in an Arabic name – Abu Ali) if we’ll manage to get a bicycle in exchange for him this will be considered an achievement.