Video shows reality in Jenin: Terrorists opened fire on IDF troops and immediately ran into a kindergarten filled with children to hide from the IDF.
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) September 28, 2022
Palestinian terrorists don't care about innocent lives — Israeli or Palestinian. pic.twitter.com/I4BKtwxqnq
President Biden asked for the late Rep. Jackie Walorski to identify herself at a Washington event Wednesday, forgetting that the Indiana Republican died in a car crash last month.
Biden made the embarrassing error while thanking bipartisan members of Congress at a nutrition event near the White House.
“I want to thank all of you here, including bipartisan elected officials like Representative [Jim] McGovern, Senator [Mike] Braun, Senator [Cory] Booker,
Representative Jackie — are you here? Where’s Jackie? — I think she was going to be here,” the president said.
Chair of a "human rights" NGO tweets antisemitism - and unapologetically deletes it https://t.co/qfpKmgWgGT
— Elder of Ziyon 🇮🇱 (@elderofziyon) September 28, 2022
Ramy Abdu is chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and has been a regular speaker at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The Foreign Ministry conducted its survey among American students after BDS was found to have reached more than half of the student body on U.S. campuses.
Climate change activist Izzy Cook tells everyone not to travel to places like Fiji by plane to save the planet and then is asked where she flew last… she flew to Fiji.
— ☢️🇺🇸 KC 3.0 🇺🇸☢️ (@KCPayTreeIt) September 27, 2022
Interviewer can’t stop laughing at her 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/cTZqvVgkFI
Are the Americans meddling in Israeli elections? According to a report in the Thursday edition of Israel Hayom, officials from within the Biden administration as well as Jewish organizations in the United States have expressed their concern at the possibility that the head of the right-wing Otzma Yehudit party, MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, will be appointed a minister in the next Israel government, if opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu succeeds in forming a coalition following elections to be held in early November.
Recent polls have suggested the distinct possibility that the largest Israeli political party, the Likud, will manage to cobble together a coalition with at least the requisite 61 Knesset members. "The administration is monitoring developments with concern," one senior American official is quoted as saying, "and is very anxious regarding the possibility that the head of Otzma Yehudit will be appointed a minister in a future Israeli government."
He added that, "Of course we are following what's happening over there, but at the present stage it's too early to comment. However, if we reach the point where such things are under discussion, there's no doubt that the administration will clarify its position, and for us, that would be an immense problem."
The unnamed official further noted that opposition leader Netanyahu is well aware of the "problematic" aspects of appointing Ben-Gvir as a minister. "Anyone who has any sense realizes how problematic this is. Just look at this man's past history, the things he's done, the statements he's made. This isn't someone we want to see in government. Netanyahu is a wise and seasoned politician and he understands the ramifications of such a development. This has yet to be discussed with him since, as I said, it's still early days. But there's no doubt that he's aware of this."
Still can't get over how the FBI literally robbed a bank here. "FBI Seized $86 Million In Raid On Innocent Americans’ Safe Boxes After Duping Judge For Warrant" https://t.co/2D87cQO81N
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) September 27, 2022
In his UN speech, Mahmoud Abbas said, "All glory to the righteous martyrs of the Palestinian people who enlightened the path of freedom and independence with their pure blood."
— Elder of Ziyon 🇮🇱 (@elderofziyon) September 25, 2022
He praised suicide bombers to the UN. And no one blinked an eye. pic.twitter.com/I4LaywGHgO
Sen. Klobuchar (D) implies that a Democrat majority would stop hurricanes.
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 27, 2022
"We've gotta win this as that hurricane bears down on Florida." pic.twitter.com/QVQeGtkAZo
King Abdullah of Jordan stood up last week at the United Nations and had the audacity to blast Israel.
In his rant, this little dictator, elected by no one, had the nerve to pretend that Christianity is under attack in Israel and that somehow, as head of the Hashemite Kingdom, he has the responsibility to be the custodian of Muslim and Christian Holy sites in Jerusalem. He says that he is committed to protecting the historical sites and the defender of rights and the city’s heritage.
Giorgia Meloni, the leader of Italy's Brothers of Italy party, is poised to become the country's prime minister after her party received 26 percent of the vote in the Italian parliamentary elections on Sunday.
Right wing and center-right parties won a majority in the elections, giving Meloni the task of forming a governing coalition.
The Brothers of Italy party is considered a far-right party and has drawn accusations of facism and semi-facism.
Meloni has attempted to position herself as a more pro-Israel candidate in the recent elections. Last week, she told the Israel Hayom newspaper that “Israel represents the only fully-fledged democracy in the broader Middle East, and we defend without any reservations its right to exist and live in security. I believe that the existence of the State of Israel is vital, and Fratelli d’Italia will make every effort to invest in greater cooperation between our countries.”
While the Israeli government has yet to comment on Meloni's victory, Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked congratulated her on her election.
"Congratulations to Giorgia Meloni on her victory. The right won in Italy and will win in Israel as well. Yes, women can do anything, even lead a country," Shaked wrote on Twitter.
Meretz chaiwoman Zehava Galon criticized Shaked for congratulating Meloni, responding that "women can also do facism."
#GiorgaMeloni, the new incoming Prime Minister of #Italy:
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) September 27, 2022
“One of the most common manifestations of #antisemitism today is anti-#Israel propaganda, which Jews in #Europe are most likely to encounter online.”
(@IsraelHayomEng interview just before election) pic.twitter.com/gaBcm6Qcvi
A Ukrainian news report said that Russian forces intentionally launched Iranian Shahad-136 kamikaze drones at Uman in an attempt to harm Jews gathered there for Rosh Hashanah.
According to the report, the Ukrainian armed forces shot down over ten drones in southern Ukraine, some of which were directed at Uman.
A member of the Ukrainian security services told a Ukrainian media outlet that “planned terrorist operations against Israeli citizens are one of the conditions for Iranʼs transfer of drones to Russia. As you know, this is not the first example of cooperation between the two terrorist states.”
The site that published the report is considered a reliable Ukrainian site and the information in the report is attributed to “sources in the Ukrainian security services.” The site specifically states that Ukraine has information according to which the Iranians set two conditions for Russia when selling the drones – one of them being attacking Uman. The second condition was not specified.
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.
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| 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.”
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 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.
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.
