Mexican Police Raid Lev Tahor Compound, Arrest 26 Members

 

Mexican police raided a local immigration facility near the border with Guatemala on Friday and arrested 26 Lev Tahor members, Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated on Motzei Shabbos.

The raid, which took place in the city of Tapachula, was carried out by dozens of police officers and welfare officials. Two of the cult members, a Canadian citizen and an Israeli citizen, were arrested for alleged human trafficking and sexual offenses punishable by about 20 years in prison.

Yisrael Amir, who escaped the cult several years ago, and several of his relatives, participated in the raid in order to identify his four-year-old son. His son was found and transferred to his custody and the two flew to Israel together.

According to a Channel 12 News report, Amir has been working on a plan to bring his son to Israel since he escaped the cult three years ago. He reportedly worked with former Mossad agents to formulate a plan to save his son amid reports of the children in the cult being abused and neglected.

Amir told Channel 12 that his one dream from the moment he escaped the cult was to save his son from what he himself experienced there, what Amir called “a nightmare.”

“I couldn’t leave him there,” he said.

Ve'al Yedei Avadacha

 

The first Jew to escape Auschwitz helped save 200,000 lives — but few know his name

 

Rudolf Vrba with daughters Zuza (left) and Helena (center)

They didn’t know it, but it was the eve of the Passover seder. At 2:00 p.m. on April 7, 1944, 19-year-old Rudolf Vrba and 25-year-old Fred Wetzler began their epic and daring bid to bring the news of the horrors of Auschwitz to their fellow Jews and the wider world.

That bid began in a dark, cramped hole under a woodpile in the death camp. It ended with a report describing the Nazi machinery of slaughter which landed on desks in Allied capitals and, through a series of diplomatic maneuvers, helped to save the lives of up to 200,000 Jews in Budapest.

But, for more than seven decades, the story of Vrba and Wetzler’s astonishing escape — the first successful effort by Jewish prisoners to break out of Auschwitz — and their mission to sound the alarm and strip away the layers of deception under which the Final Solution was perpetrated has itself remained somewhat hidden. The recognition they rightly deserve has consequently been denied.

In his newly published book “The Escape Artist,” British writer and journalist Jonathan Freedland seeks to correct this historical injustice, painstakingly but grippingly reconstructing Vrba’s incredible life.

Freedland, a columnist for The Guardian newspaper and host of a popular BBC radio history program, tells The Times of Israel that his aim is to ensure that Vrba has, at last, “a place in the pantheon of heroes of the Holocaust.”

And, says Freedland, this is not simply a story about the past. Vrba’s belief about the potential power of shining a light onto Auschwitz’s dark secrets holds salutary lessons for our “post-truth age.”

Kushner's book reveals Netanyahu supported Palestinian state

 

A selection from Jared Kushner's new book claims that former Prime Minister Netanyahu had actually supported the idea of a Palestinian state:

"Bibi and I ran through the final version of the peace plan. As we finished, Bibi remarked that he could live with it."

"'You won't live with it. You'll thrive with it,' I shot back with a smile."

Kushner claims that Netanyahu had made a final decision not only to not oppose the plan, but would officially endorse the creation of a Palestinian State:

"This was typical of the veteran prime minister. We had spent two years haggling over every line, and we had created a thoughtful plan that Bibi believed could actually work. In twelve hours, the right wing prime minister, who had cam paigned for decades against giving the Palestinians a state, was going to endorse a plan calling for a two-state solution."

 According to Kushner, Netanyahu had decided the proposed plan did not pose a threat to national security:

"Bibi was careful to make sure that not a single word of the plan would put any Israeli at risk and was understandably nervous about how it could affect the upcoming election. To his credit, he recognized that the plan was reasonable, and the best compromise to solve the Israeli Palestinian conflict."

The segment was tweeted by Ynet journalist Attila Somfalvi in wake of controversy following PM Lapid's statements in favor of the two-state solution at the UN General Assembly.

Newark Airport will no longer be considered part of NYC — which could mean higher fare prices

 

Newark Liberty International Airport will no longer be considered a New York City destination beginning next month — which may lead to passengers having to pay a penalty if they want to transfer to the Big Apple hubs.

The International Air Transport Association, the trade association made up of the world’s airlines, will remove the “NYC” city code from Newark Liberty beginning on Oct. 3.

Until now, Newark was grouped together with John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia as belonging to the “NYC” cluster of airports. Now the New Jersey airport will solely be referred to by the “EWR” code.

Once the change goes into effect, fliers who wish to alter their destination between the New York airports and Newark may have to pay a penalty — which can cost hundreds of dollars depending on the airline.

“Separate fares will be filed for EWR,” according to a Lufthansa Group memo that circulated on Twitter.

Shameless Self-promoter Shmuley Boteach throws his buddy Dr. Oz Under the Bus

 The enduring bond between Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Dr. Mehmet Oz, forged under the supervision of Oprah Winfrey, has long been known as a textbook example of the Winfrey doctrine that we can all get along.

But the friendship has fractured amid Oz’s bid for Senate in Pennsylvania, where he is running a campaign that Boteach says is “a tragedy for the Jewish people.” After enthusiastically welcoming Oz’s candidacy a year ago, Boteach says he is upset that his old friend, who has been endorsed by Donald Trump, appeared until recently to have endorsed the former president’s lie that he won the 2020 election.

Boteach also is upset that Oz’s campaign has made an issue of a stroke that the Democratic nominee, John Fetterman, had several months ago, and that Oz, a dual Turkish-American citizen will not call the 1915 Ottoman massacre of Armenians a “genocide,” as many scholars have concluded it was.

“The man running for Senate is not Dr. Oz. This person is unrecognizable to me,” Boteach told Rolling Stone. Oz, he said, has become an “election-denying, genocide-denying caricature of an extremist.”

Boteach made the comments to Rolling Stone in a story posted Tuesday that expands on critical comments the celebrity rabbi has previously outlined. Rolling Stone also published excerpts from private emails that Boteach sent to the Oz campaign imploring it to change course, to no avail.

Boteach, a Republican, will not endorse Oz’s opponent, Democrat John Fetterman, but was especially offended by the Oz campaign’s attacks on Fetterman for having had a stroke. Boteach’s father died of a stroke at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Anyone who has a modicum of self respect will condemn the actions of a campaign that mocks a stroke victim, especially when it’s the campaign of America’s most famous doctor,” Boteach wrote last month in an email to Oz and the campaign.

Oz, a physician who became famous through TV talk shows, met Boteach, an Orthodox rabbi who has advised multiple celebrities including Michael Jackson and Roseanne Barr.

“Dr. Oz and I became colleagues back in 2008 when we both worked for Oprah Winfrey on the Oprah and Friends Radio Network,” Boteach wrote in the Jerusalem Post in December, lauding Oz’s bid for the Senate. “There were so many special and legendary people on the network, from Oprah herself, to Maya Angelou, and to Gayle King. But the one I bonded with the most and the quickest was Dr. Oz.”

Boteach traveled to Israel with Oz, and to the Jewish settlement in Hebron, where they danced the hora with Israeli soldiers guarding the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

The Republican Jewish Coalition has enthusiastically embraced Oz, and has made a note of the fact that he is a Muslim who is close to Israel.

Boteach said Oz’s disinterest in condemning Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also a mark against the candidate because of Erdogan’s criticism of Israel. But in recent weeks, Israel and Turkey have warmed their relations, and Erdogan announced this week that he would visit Israel for the first time.

Oz is not the first friend and political candidate to fall out of Boteach’s favor: He was once close to New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, whom he mentored when Booker was Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, but broke with Booker after the senator voted for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which Boteach regards as an existential threat to Israel.

Zera Shimshon Parshas Nitzavim Rosh Hashana

 

Stacy Abrams Claims that Fetus Heartbeats are a Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy

 

Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams: "There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks. It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman's body."

REMINDER: Abrams supports NO LIMITS on abortion. pic.twitter.com/f7XxeqzfF6

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 22, 2022

  Woke Stacey Abrams, who claimed an election was stolen long before Trump ever made such assertions, has said something absolutely insane.

Speaking this week at a panel discussion, Abrams said, “There is no such thing as a heartbeat at six weeks. It is a manufactured sound designed to convince people that men have the right to take control of a woman’s body.”

Taken literally, Abrams is claiming that ultrasound machines, relied upon by millions of doctors, are intended to deceive patients and are prejudiced against women.

Yet somehow the same media which has a meltdown every time Trump makes fun of windmills, and labels Republicans “science deniers”, has no problem with Abrams’ complete ignorance of science.

Who translated The New York Times’ yeshiva report into Yiddish? It’s a closely guarded secret!

 

By Zach Golden September 16, 2022

“The last decree that was similar to this one in its evil was when the Communists came to power in Russia, and at once collapsed Jewish education within their newly formed Soviet Union,” lamented the Hasidic Yiddish-language bulletin on Yiddish24.

The “evil decree” in question is newly approved secular education regulations for New York’s private schools [https://forward.com/fast-forward/517567/new-york-orthodox-schools-regents-vote-p-12]. They come days after The New York Times revealed that most Hasidic students are not testing at grade-level in English or math. (The release of the report was likely timed to the vote.)

Hasidic leaders fear these new government-imposed rules will undermine their religious education system and ultimately destroy it [https://forward.com/fast-forward/517092/new-york-hasidic-yehivas-times-yeshivas-summary]. But even worse for them, the news of just how poorly Hasidic students are faring is circulating within the community — in Yiddish.

The NYT report has been translated into an extraordinarily high-quality Hasidic dialect of Yiddish. The online version has been widely read and shared on Hasidic online forums [https://forward.com/forverts-in-english/517577/why-the-new-york-times-translated-its-hasidic-yeshiva-investigation-into-yiddish]. A PDF version [https://twitter.com/katlekanye/status/1570173594444914695], created to circumvent the community’s strict internet filters, has also been making the rounds.  [DAK NOTE:  the pdf version referred to is attached]

A mystery translator

In the Hasidic community, even worse than people who reject their way of life are those perceived as betraying their own community. Known as moyserim, or informers, they can face harassment, excommunication or even extrajudicial violence [https://www.jta.org/2020/10/14/opinion/what-is-a-moser-the-ugly-complicated-history-of-judaisms-most-dangerous-accusation].

Is It Antisemitic to ask why Chassidic boys aren’t entitled to literacy

 

Eve Sacks of Nahamu, a think-tank lobbying on harms in the Charedi community, reflects on the impact of the New York Times' expose on how yeshivahs are funded and operated.

 I’ve lost count of the number of people who sent me a link to the New York Times expose on Chassidic yeshivahs [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/11/nyregion/hasidic-yeshivas-schools-new-york.html; https://groups.google.com/g/child-protect-18/c/5gb7ApQSA9I/m/Oyy1MwCtAAAJ]. 

It included material that had previously been reported including the lack of secular education and the use of corporal punishment. What was new was that yeshivahs in New York are claiming government funds allocated for disadvantaged students but are not providing the services that the funds were meant to support.

I have met dozens of young men who, often in broken English, have recounted their experiences. However, I was not aware of the New York yeshivah’s ability to access public funds. In the UK we are used to government funded faith schools, but these schools are carefully monitored; and one Ofsted “inadequate” rating puts the school into special measures with high levels of oversight. In the USA with the strict division of Church and State, I understood that all faith schools are privately funded.

List of 82 Democrats who called GOP election wins illegitimate or stolen

D emocrats and their media allies have sought to stigmatize Republicans concerned about 2020 voting irregularities as "election deniers," yet scores of leading Democrats have themselves raised concerns about elections won by Republicans since 2000, including claiming elections were stolen and attempting to change the outcome of presidential elections by objecting to the certification of state electoral college votes.

In the Senate race in Washington, for instance, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray's campaign recently slammed her GOP opponent Tiffany Smiley for her stance on election integrity, calling it "way out of line with the truth and way out of line with Washington voters."

"Tiffany Smiley is yet another MAGA Republican who is scrambling to hide her extreme views after the primary," Murray campaign spokesperson Naomi Savin told Axios.

Murray, however, put out a statement on Jan. 6, 2005 expressing her agreement with fellow Democrats who had "raised questions about voting irregularities" in the 2004 presidential election.

In a statement to the Washington Free Beacon, Smiley campaign spokeswoman Elisa Carlson said that Murray was "a hypocrite and has no business attacking anyone over protecting democracy."

"She questioned the integrity of a presidential election 18 years ago, supports Democrat efforts to boost election-denying candidates, and opposes common-sense laws like voter ID requirements," Carlson added.

Murray didn't respond to a request for comment.

Immediately below are 10 representative examples of election denial by leading Democrats, followed by a link to a more extensive list:

1. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has at least questioned, if not outright denied, the outcomes of the 2000, 2004, and 2016 presidential elections, as well as the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election. She said that the Supreme Court "took away a presidency," following the 2000 presidential election, in its ruling in Bush v. Gore. Clinton also repeatedly claimed that Trump was "an illegitimate president."
2. Then-President Bill Clinton said regarding the 2000 presidential election, "The only way [Republicans] could win the election was to stop the voting in Florida."
3. Former President Jimmy Carter said regarding the 2000 presidential election, "There is no doubt in my mind that Al Gore was elected president." Concerning the 2016 presidential election, he said: "I think a full investigation would show that Trump didn't actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf."
4. Former Vice President Al Gore said of the 2000 presidential election, "I believe that if everyone in Florida who tried to vote had had his or her vote counted properly, that I would have won."
5. President Joe Biden, when he was still vice president, said regarding Gore and the 2000 presidential election, "I think he won it, anyway." During the 2020 presidential race, in response to a supporter calling Trump "an illegitimate president," Biden asked if she'd be his vice presidential candidate and said he "absolutely agree[d]" with her.
6. When Vice President Kamala Harris was still a California senator, she said, "Let's say this loud and clear: Without voter suppression, Stacey Abrams would be the governor of Georgia; Andrew Gillum is the governor of Florida." 
7. When former President Barack Obama was an Illinois senator, he said that "not every vote was being counted" in the 2000 presidential election.
8. John Kerry, now Biden's special presidential envoy for climate, said following his defeat in the 2004 presidential election that "too many people were denied their right to vote; too many who tried to vote were intimidated."
9. Stacey Abrams, who is again running as the Democratic nominee for governor in Georgia, said she would "not concede" the 2018 gubernatorial election in her state and that she "did win my election."
10. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), now the House Financial Services Committee chair, said in 2001 that she was objecting "to the fraudulent Florida electoral votes" in the 2000 presidential election and that she didn't "care that [the objection] is not signed by a member of the Senate." Gore, who was presiding over the joint session of Congress as president of the Senate, responded that "the rules do care."

Below follows a longer (but not exhaustive) list of 82 examples of Democrat election denial: 

Satmar Very Upset that BIden has More cars in his Motorcade than they do!

 

Biden's motorcade arriving in London last night, these are the same people telling you about "climate change" pic.twitter.com/7FapV23sCl

— Ruthann (@TeaBoots) September 18, 2022

What's Really Behind the "Toe Shaitels?"

 

by Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll

I’ve shared many shocking things on social media — from female politicians being pixelated by Haredi media outlets, to girls replaced with dolls next to images of real boys, to pamphlets blaming women’s wig and skirt lengths for COVID-19 and other natural disasters…

But none has gotten such immediate and intense reactions as those elicited by the “fake toe” ad (above).

When I posted it, I did not know whether it was real or not. I have seen so much insanity and fake “tznius” (modesty) ads and declarations that, honestly, it could have gone either way.

The reactions poured in.

Outrage, shock, and mostly people begging me to reassure them that it was fake.

But I couldn’t! Until a good friend put me out of my misery and let me know that it was satire — and that she knew who had created it.

Wanting others not to suffer from the possibility that the ad was real, I posted on social media — on the various pages of the organization I cofounded to combat exactly this kind of thing when it’s real, Chochmat Nashim, and my own accounts as well, that it was satire.

Many people did not believe me, and they were justified in doubting, because the people who created the ad were so committed to it that they had included a phone number in the ad, and answered calls that continued the conversation as though the ad were real.

Now it is time to set the record straight, and I’m here to help them do so.

The people who made the ad want to keep their identities private, and, as much as I’m all about women having a voice and showing themselves in images, I believe that their message is important enough that I’m helping them spread the word (I promise, it’s not me behind the scenes. I’m just not that creative — and I have no poker face. And besides, if I’d done it, I’d be thrilled to let you know I pulled it off!)

What follows is their explanation.

‘Give the Palestinians State to Which They Are Entitled" .. Biden at the UN

 

President Joe Biden told world leaders on Wednesday that the US is committed to Israel’s security, “full stop” — but in his next breath advocated for citizens of the Palestinian Authority to be given “the state to which they are entitled.”

In his remarks to the United Nations General Assembly, Biden said, “We will continue to advocate for lasting, negotiated peace between the Jewish and democratic State of Israel and the Palestinian people.

“The United States is committed to Israel’s security, full stop.

“And a negotiated two-state solution remains in our view the best way to ensure Israel’s security and prosperity for the future and give the Palestinians the state to which they are entitled.

“Both sides to fully respect the equal rights of their citizens. Both people enjoying an equal measure of freedom and dignity.”

Biden waited until the final ten minutes of his 81-minute speech to drop that bombshell.

Israel’ Prime Minister Yair Lapid is expected to deliver a similar statement during his own remarks at the General Assembly scheduled for Thursday. An official close to the caretaker prime minister told reporters that he, too, is planning to issue an explicit call for a two state solution.

However, there is a caveat, the official said: “We will not do anything that will endanger the security of Israel and Israelis by even a centimeter, but separation from the Palestinians must be part of our diplomatic vision, part of the hope through strength worldview.”

And of course, a state along Israel’s borders in which not one Jew is allowed, and those who sell land to Jews are sentenced to life in prison at best, and death at the worst, would not endanger the security of Israel, right?

Biden followed up his call to create another Arab terrorist state along Israel’s borders by warning that a nuclear war simply cannot be won, “and must never be fought,” warning that Russia is “making irresponsible nuclear threats to use nuclear weapons,” and that China has conducted an “unprecedented, concerning nuclear buildup without any transparency” despite US diplomatic efforts.

On Iran, the president said “while the United States is prepared for a mutual return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the dead-in-the-water 2015 nuclear deal Iran signed with world powers) if Iran steps up to its obligations, the United States is clear: we will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”

The only problem is, Iran isn’t asking anyone, let alone seeking permission from the United States. And by the time the US gets serious about a military option — if in fact it does at all — Iran will have created an arsenal of atomic weapons.

Unless Israel makes good on its own threat to ensure Iran will never be able to do so.

First Digital Translation of Mishneh Torah Interconnected with Other Jewish Texts Goes Online

 

A complete English translation of the Mishneh Torah interconnected with other Jewish texts is being digitally offered for the first time ever by the nonprofit organization Sefaria, which digitizes and shares Jewish texts for free in Hebrew along with translations and commentaries.

“We are so excited for learners to dive into this rich text and share their reflections with each other and the world,” said Sara Wolkenfeld, Sefaria’s chief learning officer. “For the Jewish people, our texts are our collective inheritance. They belong to everyone and we want them to be available to everyone, in the public domain or with creative commons licenses.”

The Mishneh Torah, authored by the medieval Torah scholar Maimonides, commonly known as the Rambam, between 1170 and 1180, while he lived in Egypt, consists of 14 books and is a major code of Jewish religious law. Users can access it on Sefaria’s website and through the Sefaria app.

The translation provided by Sefaria was completed between 1986 and 2007 by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger. The text on the Sefaria website comes with Hebrew commentaries; interlinking to other religious texts, to help readers understand the work; and topic tagging so they can research related ideas that interest them.

The Sefaria website also allows users to create shareable source sheets that incorporate religious texts from Sefaria’s catalogue with their own commentary.

Sefaria is used by more than 500,000 people each month, including students, educators and scholars.

"Ushamnu Me'kol Am" from the composer Cantor Gershon Sirota

 

What;s With the "Fish-Head" on Rosh Hashana?

 

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A post shared by Zᴇʜᴀᴠɪᴛ Rᴏꜱᴇɴʙʟᴏᴏᴍ Vᴀᴋɴɪɴ (@zeya_comedy)

AG Barr Calls Letitia James’ Lawsuit ‘Political Hit Job’ and ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’

 

Bill Barr tells Fox that NYAG Letitia James "grossly overreaches when she tries to drag the children into this" because Eric, Don Jr., and Ivanka, are not "expected in the real world to due their own due diligence." pic.twitter.com/dIyFhe9XrO

— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) September 21, 2022

 Far-left Laetitia James has filed a massive lawsuit against the Trump family, accusing them of civil fraud.

This is another example of Trump-haters on the left weaponizing the justice system against the former President.

Even Bill Barr, who has been critical of President Trump recently, called this a “political hit job” and said this is an “example of…Trump derangement syndrome.”

This lawsuit by the Democrat NY Attorney General, who relishes the spotlight, is the latest in a series of political witch-hunts.

Donald Trump has been exonerated more times than Joe Biden has said “Come on man!”, yet they continue to find new things to investigate.

Former Attorney General William Barr said on Fox News that the suit is a “political hit job” and James is guilty of “gross overreach” for dragging Trump’s children in.

“It’s hard for me not to conclude it’s a political hit job,” Barr said. “I’m not even sure if she has a good case against Trump himself. But what ultimately persuades me that this is a political hit job is she grossly overreaches when she tries to drag the children into this.”

“Yes, they had roles in the business,” he continued. “But this was his personal financial statement. It was prepared by the CFO, accounting firms were involved in it. Listen, the children aren’t going to know the details of that … nor are they expected in the real world to do their own due diligence.”

James announced the $250 million civil lawsuit against Trump, in addition to Don Jr, Ivanka, and Eric. In the massive 200 page lawsuit, she accused the Trumps of manipulating asset value, and is seeking to ban them from being “an officer or director in any corporation” or similar entity in New York.

Both Eric and Donald Jr. have tweeted clips of James’s past remarks, in which she pledged to make life difficult for President Trump.

“I think [it] is gonna end up backfiring on them because I think it will make people sympathetic for Trump. This is another example of people piling on because of a Trump derangement syndrome,” Barr added.

Barr famously had a falling out with Trump at the end of his tenure, over Barr’s refusal to agree that the 2020 election was stolen.

Nadler Insulted Because Tlaib Said That "you cannot be "progressive" and support Israel at the same time."

 

Rep. Jerry Nadler ripped into Rep. Rashida Tlaib after the latter said that one cannot be a progressive Democrat while also supporting Israel.

“I want you all to know that among progressives, it becomes clear that you cannot claim to hold progressive values, yet back Israel’s apartheid government,” Tlaib declared in an online event on Tuesday.

“We will continue to push back and not accept this idea that you are progressive, except for ‘Philistine,’ any longer,” she added.

Nadler forcefully objected to Tlaib’s assertion.

“I fundamentally reject the notion that one cannot support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state and be a progressive,” Nadler wrote on Twitter.

“I proudly embrace both of these political positions and identities, even as I have criticized some of the policies and actions of democratically-elected Israeli governments over time,” he continued.

“I would happily put my progressive record and credentials up against anyone’s. It is both wrong and self-defeating for progressive leaders to abide such an offensive litmus test.”

US lawmakers dissatisfied with IDF probe of Al Jazeera journalist's death despite the other 55 Journalists murdered this year

 

What sheer chutzpah? 55 Journalists were murdered in 2021 alone, this according to the UN, but US is going after Israel. Israel should make an official announcement they will allow the US to investigate once they tell us how many journalists American troops murdered.

Key US lawmakers remain dissatisfied with the IDF’s investigation into the circumstances of the killing of Palestinian Arab-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh and are demanding the Biden administration take further action on the subject, Haaretz reported on Sunday.

The IDF’s report, released earlier this month, found that it was not possible to unequivocally determine the source of the gunfire from which Abu Aqleh was hit and killed. The report said that there is a high possibility Abu Aqleh was accidentally hit by IDF gunfire, but it is also possible that she was hit by gunfire from Palestinian Arab terrorists.

Not satisfied with the conclusion, Democratic Senators Chris Van Hollen and Patrick Leahy are attempting to require an independent State Department investigation into the matter, according to Haaretz.

The two have introduced an amendment, along with Senators Dick Durbin, Chris Murphy, Jeanne Shaheen and Jeff Merkley, which includes unprecedented language calling on the U.S. to see “whether section 620M of the FAA applies” to Abu Aqleh’s case within 180 days. This is separate from the amendment passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week that would require the State Department to provide senators with the July report overseen by the United States Security Coordinator.

The language in Leahy and Van Hollen's amendment refers to the so-called “Leahy Law,” which prohibits military assistance to foreign security forces that violate human rights, noted Haaretz. The law is named after the veteran Vermont Senator, who has stated that “an independent, credible investigation – meaning not by the IDF and not by the Palestinian Authority – but with their full cooperation, must be conducted and the findings made public. Whether her killing was intentional, reckless, or a tragic mistake, there must be accountability. And if it was intentional, and if no one is held accountable, then the Leahy Law must be applied.”

If a legally mandated and credible State Department investigation found that Israel committed an extrajudicial killing in violation of Leahy Law, according to US law, then the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor would get involved and essentially sanction the IDF unit in question from US military assistance. It is unclear, however, how the Leahy Law would operate in practice given how foreign military financing to Israel is legally stipulated.

The chances this amendment will eventually pass Congress as part of an end-of-year omnibus package are slim, noted the Haaretz report.

Abu Aqleh, an American-Palestinian Arab, was shot dead on May 11 while covering clashes between IDF soldiers and terrorists in Jenin for Al Jazeera.

The PA initially refused Israel’s request to launch a joint probe to investigate the incident, and instead released the findings of its investigation, claiming that she was shot by IDF forces.

Eventually, the PA finally agreed to a forensic investigation by the US of the bullet that they claim killed Abu Aqleh.

Members of Abu Aqleh’s family recently met Secretary of State Antony Blinken to demand justice for her death. Lina Abu Aqleh, Shireen Abu Aqleh's niece, posted on Twitter after that meeting that family members wanted to meet President Joe Biden himself and that anything short of a US investigation that led to accountability was unacceptable.

Blinken later spoke with Defense Minister Benny Gantz and raised the issue of Abu Aqleh in the conversation.

“Secretary Blinken reiterated the administration’s belief that Israelis and Palestinians deserve to enjoy equal measures of security, freedom, and democracy. The Secretary also raised the tragic killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the need for accountability,” Price said at the time.