Eli Ostreicher Killed in Motorcycle Accident in Thailand

 

Eli Ostreicher, a self-taught serial entrepreneur who hailed from London’s Hasidic community and lived in the Borough Park area for years, passed away in a motorcycle accident in Thailand at the age of 39.

Ostreicher was the owner of five different companies when his Borough Park based Regal Wings earned the number one spot on Inc. Magazine’s 500 List in the Travel and Hospitality category in 2013. A luxury and corporate services travel provider, Regal Wings was one of several travel-related companies that Ostreicher founded and its client roster included giants such as Walmart, Rolex, the United Nations and Berkshire Hathaway.

Ostreicher supplemented his Hasidic education with computer courses, combining that knowledge with his love of geography, his obsession with travel, his willingness to work long hours and his innate people skills to launch multiple profitable endeavors that employed several dozen employees in the United States and tens more overseas.

He maintained close ties with the Hasidic community, both in London and in Brooklyn, and in addition to having his door was open at the end of business each day to those soliciting donations.

A $500,000 donation to Bonei Olam as he and his business partner were honored at the organization’s 2013 dinner was initially intended to be given under the radar. A YouTube video of the dinner shows Bonei Olam founder Rabbi Schlomo Bochner explaining that he convinced Ostreicher to go public with his pledge, given in conjunction with Regal Wings, in order to inspire others to contribute as well.

Reading an email from Ostreicher aloud, Rabbi Bochner told the audience, “I decided to pledge $500,000 an amount that I am sure will put a smile on the faces of many couples who are living in pain.”

The circumstances of Ostreicher’s passing have yet to be confirmed and details regarding his levaya have not been set as of this writing.

Ostreicher was the nephew of Jacob Ostreicher, who was incarcerated in Bolivia for 30 months on bogus money laundering charges and was rescued from prison by actor Sean Penn after lobbying efforts by federal elected officials failed to secure his release.

The Associated Press reported that over a dozen government officials, including prosecutors and judges, were ultimately jailed for extorting the Brooklyn businessman.

Nadler the "Insane DemonRat" Outraged at Bill Requiring Medical Care for Babies Who Survive Abortion

 

 It is not satire, sadly. This is not from the Babylon Bee.

Democrat Congress members Jerry Nadler and Jan Schakowsky ranted against a GOP piece of legislation, the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act”, requiring medical care for babies who are lucky enough to survive an abortion.

Nadler on the bill to ban killing babies born alive: "The problem with this bill is that it endangers some infants [born alive] by stating that that infant must immediately be brought to the hospital." pic.twitter.com/1XysI40udv

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 11, 2023

Israeli Police Investigate "Jewish Scum" After Meeting With Terrorists

 

The faces of Pure Evil 

Police are investigating three members of the radical extremist Neturei Karta group who visited the village of Jenin earlier this week, a terrorist-hotbed, and met with Palestinian terror groups.

The men stayed in the home of Islamic Jihad leader Bassam al-Saadi and declared their support for the Palestinian Jihad. They also met with Fatah secretary general Ata Abu Ramila.

A member of the delegation said: “We are Palestinian Jews, we want to live under the Palestinian flag and not the Israeli flag, in one country which is the Palestinian state.”

He added, “Hundreds of years ago and before the occupation began, we lived together in the Old City of Jerusalem and there was no difference between Jews and Muslims. We all came from one father, Abraham, and we lived happily together. Later, the Zionists came and created pressure to separate us, but we rejected it. We want peace and not the racist Israeli law, which is a threat to the lives of Jews and Muslims…”

Some of the Palestinian residents nearby during the meeting referred to the men as “settlers” and called for them to be kidnapped.

In 2020, a Neturei Karta delegation attended the funeral of Iranian terror leader Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by President Trump.

And not just online, even calling to kidnap them live right in front of their faces
e.g. in the following clip pic.twitter.com/JRZQdoS5wB

— Adam Albilya - אדם אלביליה (@AdamAlbilya) January 9, 2023

Garland Named Special Counsel to Investigate Trump, when he knew full well Two Weeks Before that Biden Had Classified Docs in his home for years!

 

Attorney General Merrick Garland named a special counsel to investigate former President Donald Trump, not President Joe Biden, two weeks after Biden’s classified briefings and documents were discovered at the Penn Biden Center.

On November 18, Garland named former federal prosecutor Jack Smith special counsel for two probes by the Department of Justice of Trump. About two weeks prior, on November 2, Biden’s classified documents were reportedly unearthed at Biden’s so-called “think tank,” the Penn Biden Center, by the president’s attorney.

The timeline suggests Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate Biden’s 2024 presidential political opponent for allegedly mishandling classified documents while knowing Biden had allegedly committed the same violation. 

Garland knew about Biden’s mishandling of documents just six days before the midterm elections. Critics say Garland’s decision to not disclose to revelations before January was a political calculation to benefit Democrats in the midterms.

Israel-Hating "New Israel Fund " is Financing the Anti-Netanyahu Government Protests in an attempt to bring down the Government

 

The New Israel Fund, a U.S.-based NGO that provides financial support to progressive and anti-Israel groups, sent an email to supporters on Tuesday taking credit for recent protests against the government.

“The New Israel Fund assisted with a special grant to the many civil society organizations that took part in the production of the huge demonstration on Saturday night in Tel Aviv,” the email quoted by Channel 14 stated, referring to a protest in the city’s Habima Square attended by more than 10,000 persons.

“Shatil from the New Israel Fund took part in coordinating and synchronizing the various parties that participated in the show of force,” it continued.

Shatil is the operations arm of the New Israel Fund in Israel. According to Shatil’s website, “We support organizations and activists working to strengthen democratic society, offering cutting-edge capacity building, training, and guidance.”

Channel 14 described the admission email as “precedent-setting,” as the New Israel Fund generally keeps a low profile and “works behind the scenes.”

The New Israel Fund also took responsibility for helping the group that organized “the demonstration in front of the Knesset on the day the new government was sworn in and also for holding the LGBT demonstration that took place on that very day.”

The organization also announced an emergency grant to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) to conduct a digital campaign including the production of short films to explain the meaning of the policies the new Netanyahu-led government intends to institute.

PLO flags and Nazi symbols were seen among the protesters.

Bravo Smotrich: Illegal Arab Villa in Area C Coming Down

 

It appears that Finance Minister and Adjunct Minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria Bezalel Smotrich has hit the ground running in the new government’s first full week in office. Smotrich and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening (7:30 PM), will hold a press conference to present their plan for dealing with the rampant price increases. And under his other hat, Smotrich is bulldozing illegal Arab construction in Area C.

On December 12, 2022, on Hanukkah, a group calling itself Our Place IL posted the above picture, depicting an illegal villa that lit up the gloomy night. It was a magnificent sight, unless one considered the fact that this villa had been under a court-issued demolition order, and that it was being erected––practically finished––at the heart of a nature preserve.

Yiddish Makes a Comeback

 

Biden took secret documents for his book — doubling his hypocrisy

 

“How that could possibly happen, how anyone could be that irresponsible,” President Biden, struggling to find words to express his revulsion at the very idea of moving classified material to Mar-a-Lago in a “60 Minutes” interview.

“And I thought what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods.”

So how does Biden explain the roughly dozen documents found sitting in a closet at a private office supplied by the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement? For the moment, he is not saying anything at all. It is easy to understand why.

According to reports, the clearly marked classified documents include those at the highly classified “Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information” (TS/SCI) level. The documents reportedly include material related to Iran, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Kevin McCarthy boots House panel for Lying Schiff, Spy Sleeper Swalwell and Vicious Omar

 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirmed late Monday that he will make good on his pre-midterm pledge to remove three high-profile Democrats — Reps. Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell and Ilhan Omar — from their House committees.

McCarthy (R-Calif.) told the Associated Press that he would move to strip the trio of their assignments, following through on a vow of payback for Democrats ousting Reps. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) from their panels during the last Congress.

Schiff and Swalwell, both from California, would be removed from the House Intelligence Committee while Minnesota’s Omar would be kicked off the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

McCarthy vowed almost exactly a year ago that he would remove the three Democrats if Republicans won back the House in the 2022 midterm elections and repeated that promise last November after his prediction was realized.

“The Democrats have created a new thing where they’re picking and choosing who could be on committee,” McCarthy said last January. “Never in the history [of Congress] have you had the majority tell the minority who could be on committee, but this new standard, which these Democrats have voted for — if Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the private sector, there’s no reason why he should be given one to be on Intel or Homeland Security.”

McCarthy has said he fears that Swalwell may be compromised after reports emerged in 2020 that a suspected Chinese spy infiltrated his campaign and got close to the congressman.

“Eric Swalwell cannot get a security clearance in the public sector. Why would we ever give him a security clearance in the secrets to America? So, I will not allow him to be on Intel,” McCarthy told Fox News in November. “You have Adam Schiff, who had lied to the American public time and again. We will not allow him to be on the Intel Committee either.”

Schiff drew Republicans’ ire after he headed up the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump and was a member of the House select committee that examined Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. 

McCarthy has said he would boot Omar, a member of the progressive “Squad” along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), from the Foreign Affairs Committee because of her anti-Semitic remarks. 

“I promised you last year that as speaker she will no longer be on Foreign Affairs, and I’m keeping that promise,” he told a crowd at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s 2022 leadership meeting last November. 

Charlie Hebdo doubles down on Khamenei cartoons

 

French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo doubled down on its ridicule of Iran's religious rulers on Tuesday, with fresh cartoons of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei despite protests from Iran and its allies, AFP reported.

"The mullahs aren't happy. The caricatures of their supreme leader... do not seem to have made them laugh," the paper's editor, known as "Riss", writes in the latest edition, which officially hits newsstands on Wednesday.

"Laughing at themselves has never been a strong point of tyrants," he added.

The newspaper was criticized last week after it published caricatures of Khamenei, in support of the months-long protests in Iran, sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, following her arrest for allegedly violating the country's strict dress code.

Iran blasted France over the "insulting and indecent" cartoons, which appeared in a special edition to mark the anniversary of the deadly 2015 attack on the magazine's Paris offices.

Iran later shut down the Tehran-based French research institute in an act of protest against the cartoons.

The paper was also hit by a cyber attack after publishing cartoons of Khamenei in last week's special edition, which marked the anniversary of the 2015 attack on its Paris offices that left 12 dead.

On Sunday, dozens of Iranians gathered outside the French embassy in Tehran to protest against the cartoons.

The protesters set fire to French flags and chanted, "France, be ashamed!".

American rabbis boycotting Israeli ministers are from extremist left-wing groups

 

Morton Klein

During the holiday of Chanukkah, a little over 300 far-left American Jewish clergy who refuse to accept Israeli democracy trampled on the meaning of the holiday by signing a “call to action” pledging to ban, boycott and protest against the members and democratically-elected officials of Israel’s Religious Zionist parties.

The “call to action” signers also pledged to prevent Religious Zionists from speaking at or participating in events at their congregations and organizations, and to encourage others to also ban the democratically elected members of the Religious Zionists Party.

The “call to action” misstates Religious Zionist parties’ positions, in a misleading effort to portray Religious Zionists as extremists. For instance, the “call to action” falsely states that the Religious Zionist parties support “expelling Arab Israeli citizens who are seen as opposing the government, challenging the democratic Right to freedom of speech.” In fact, Religious Zionists merely supported expelling convicted murderer terrorists!

Murdering Jews is not “freedom of speech.”

Beit Shemesh Rabbanim Warn the residents against riding the Buses Without Paying

 

*Beit Shemesh News*

Guys, you get this?

For whom did the rabbanim of Beit Shemesh issue this psak?

Think about this for a moment!

Is this psak directed at the Arabs?

The Arabs by in large do not live in Beit Shemesh and Arab workers have their own transportation. And as a rule, Arabs do not read the Kol Koras of the gedoilim. 

Is this directed at the children and students that ride the buses to school?

Students taking public transportation pay "bubkis" to travel and are issued RavKavs!

The elderly that are 60 and over, pay half fare, so in Beit Shemesh a one-way trip anywhere locally would be about 4.50 shekels that on today's conversion rate, would be $1.30.  Anyone over 75 pays zero!

The Dati Leumi guys have cars and those that do take transportation, hardly use the "inter-city" buses, they use the buses going out of Beit Shemesh to other cities and there the buses have inspectors all the time.

No one reading this post really thinks that a "Dati-Leumi" is riding for free, not even the gedoilim that signed the Kol Korah, and the Dati-Leumi crowd wouldn't be found dead reading these Kol Koras! 

So again, to whom was this Kol Korah addressed to?

                                                                                

It was addressed to Shomrei Torah Umitzvois, who put on Rabbeinu Taam Tefillin and eat only from the Eida Hachreidis.... use the "mehadrin" eirav, who would not drink even a glass of water that has the Rabbanut Hashgacha, and would never eat "heter mechira" G-d forbid 

..... so, there you have it!

Yup, these are the guys that are stealing money multiple times a day! 

The Gedoilim of the city of Beit Shemesh wrote the following in a halachic ruling:  

"Warning against Not Paying the fare on public transportation"

A special halachic ruling from the  gedoilim and dayanim of Beit Shemesh warn the city's residents that not paying the fare on public transportation is theft! 

'Even though they made recent changes to public transportation, the ruling remains in effect. Know that there is a prohibition against stealing while traveling without payment,' 

*בית שמש חדשות*

*גדולי רבני העיר בית שמש בפסק הלכה: להזהיר מן הגזל בתחבורה הציבורית*

פסק הלכה מיוחד מבית מדרשם של גדולי רבני ופוסקי ההלכה בעיר שמש מתריע בפני תושבי העיר להיזהר מעוון גזל בנסיעה ללא תשלום בתחבורה הציבורית.

'גם לאחר כל השינויים שנעשו לאחרונה בתחבורה הציבורית לא נשתנה הדבר, שיש איסור גזל בנסיעה בלי תשלום' כותבים רבני העיר בית שמש במכתבם.

Will there be a "Pidyan Shvyum" Campaign for the two Chareidim that Shoved a Flaming Garbage Bin into a mother of 11?

 

The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office on Monday submitted an indictment against a 22-year-old Chareidie man and a Yeshiva Bochur of about 16 years old, residents of Elad and Jerusalem, for their alleged involvement in seriously injuring Mirel Duzlovosky, a mother of 11, at a protest, almost four weeks ago.

According to the indictment, the defendant and others decided to set fire to a garbage dumpster and block the street with it. After setting it on fire, they began pushing it in order to move from its place toward the center of the road.

However, the burning dumpster slipped from their grasp, rolled down the road and the corner of it struck Duzlovosky, who was passing by, on her chest with great force She collapsed on the sidewalk and the defendants fled the scene.

Duzlovoksy was evacuated to Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in serious condition and admitted to the intensive care unit, sedated and ventilated. She is still hospitalized but b’chasdei Hashem, she has been released from the ICU to a general ward.

The indictment charged the defendants with the crimes of causing serious injury under aggravating circumstances, arson, endangering roads and obstructing a police officer in the performance of his duties.

Classified Documents Found by Biden ... Are the DemonRats about to dump him?

 

I guess the the DemonRats don’t want Biden to run for a second term.
They are sacrificing him before he gets a chance to start..

The Justice Department is reviewing a batch of potentially classified documents found in the Washington office space of President Joe Biden’s former institute, the White House said Monday.

Special counsel to the president Richard Sauber said “a small number of documents with classified markings” were discovered as Biden’s personal attorneys were clearing out the offices of the Penn Biden Center, where the president kept an office after he left the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before he launched his 2020 presidential campaign in 2019. The documents were found on Nov. 2, 2022.

Sauber said the attorneys immediately alerted the White House Counsel’s office, who notified the National Archives and Records Administration — which took custody of the documents the next day.

“Since that discovery, the President’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives,” Sauber said.

A person who is familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly said Attorney General Merrick Garland asked U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch to review the matter after the Archives referred the issue to the department. John Lausch was appointed to his post by former President Donald Trump.

Why Alan Dershowitz the "Defender of Jeffrey Epstein" Is Unhappy

 

Alan Dershowitz with a Justice Minister he could appreciate Tzipi Livni

By

David Israel

Justice Minister Yariv Levin’s reform, which he announced last Thursday and threw about 40% of Israelis (give or take) into a panic, is now being broken down into detailed moves that, little by little, are designed to rearrange the powers of the Supreme Court, Amit Segal reported Sunday night on News 12.

Needless to say, Supreme Court President Esther Hayut is unhappy. And Prof. Alan Dershowitz, that great defender of Israel, is also irate. More on that after we do the numbers.

Let’s start with the most explosive item, for now, the selection of new judges:

• The committee for selecting judges will be increased from nine to 11 members
• It will have 3 ministers––one more than today, 2 coalition MKs, one opposition MK, 3 judges, and 2 representatives of the public, appointed by the government
• There will be no representation for the Lawyers’ guild
• The MKs will be the chairs of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committees (coalition), and the State Audit Committee (opposition)

Do the math: appointing a new justice of the Supreme Court will require 7 votes – exactly the number of votes controlled by the government: 5 elected officials and 2 government-picked representatives of the public.

The new process effectively removes the justices’ virtual veto power they enjoyed with the support of the lawyers’ association. It means the government should be able to choose its candidates – assuming that the public representatives would play along.

As Israel’s demographics continue to favor the right, it stands to reason that even within the current Netanyahu government the balance between activist- and conservative justices could be restored, and, come the next term, the court would be majority-conservative.

On its face, at least. Because Supreme Court judges are not one-dimensional individuals and could surprise us every once in a while.

Bet Shemesh Chareidim with Palestinian Flags Visit "Jenin" to give the Murderers of Jews "chizuk"

 

ו

*בית שמש חדשות*

*מלווים בדגלי הטרור אש"ף: קיצונים מרמת בית שמש ב' נסעו לבקר בג'נין*

משלחת מטעם הקנאים הקיצונים "נטורי קרתא" הגיעו הבוקר למחנה הפליטים ג'נין מלווים בדגלי אש"ף לאות הזדהות עם מחבלי הטרור הפלסטינים.

תושבים הופתעו לזהות את הקיצונים במשלחת כתושבי רמת בית שמש ב', שנסעו לבקר בג'נין.

*Beit Shemesh News*

Accompanied by PLO terror flags: Extremists from Ramat Beit Shemesh B went to visit Jenin

A delegation from the extreme fanatics "Naturi Karta" arrived at the Jenin refugee camp this morning accompanied by PLO flags as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinian terrorists.

Residents who saw the photos were surprised to recognize them as residents of Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet , who had gone to visit Jenin.

‘Disturbing and irresponsible’: Lapid enlisting US Jewish groups to sabotage Netanyahu

                                

Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid is planning to travel to the U.S. to enlist the help of Diaspora Jewish organizations to hamstring the new right-wing government, Hebrew language media outlets reported on Thursday.

Lapid, who has close ties to Democratic party veterans including former Rep. Ted Deutch, is reportedly gearing up to mobilize liberal Jewish groups to torpedo reforms to the judicial system and possible annexation of Judea and Samaria, which have been stated as priorities for the new government.

The outgoing premier has made a number of dramatic public statements about the new government, including apologizing to Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, while speaking at a commemoration for the late statesman.

During a blistering speech in late November at Ben-Gurion’s grave, Lapid charged that the incoming government would destroy the founding principles on which the state of Israel was built.

Lapid has made similar statements to international media outlets, claiming that Netanyahu is planning to destroy Israel’s constitutional basis and that Israeli democracy is teetering on the brink of being lost forever

Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli slammed Lapid on Thursday while speaking at a World Beitar Conference in Jerusalem, saying the former premier’s actions are “disturbing and irresponsible.”

Chikli said that the former premier’s comments about Netanyahu’s right-wing government besmirched Israel’s international reputation and that his behavior was strengthening the anti-Israel (BDS Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement.

Lapid “doesn’t understand that when he tells the whole world that Israel has a dark government, the world doesn’t differentiate between the government and the state. No former prime minister has ever acted this way,” Chikli was quoted as saying in a Jerusalem Post report.

Chikli is now a member of the Likud party, but in 2021 he was the sole member of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Yamina party who voted against the formation of the “change government” due to its partnership with the Islamist United Arab List (Ra’am).

Dershowitz is wrong’, says Israeli legal expert about famed attorney’s siding with anti-Netanyahu protesters

 

“It is sad that Dershowitz is choosing to weaponize these biased bodies to promote one side in a domestic Israeli legal argument.”

In an interview Sunday morning with Army Radio, world-renowned attorney Alan Dershowitz weighed in on the side of the opposition, saying that had he been in Israel Saturday night, he would have joined the protests against the new government’s planned judicial reforms, led by Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

Thousands on the far Left demonstrated Saturday night in Tel Aviv, claiming the reforms would bring an end to democracy.

Israel’s democracy is not in danger,” Dershowitz conceded, but the reforms are a threat to “civil liberties” and “minority rights.”

“Indeed, the reforms are designed to improve democracy: majority rule. What’s in danger are civil liberties, minority rights…

“There’s a direct conflict between pure democracy, where the Knesset rules because it represents the majority of people, and the rights of minorities and civil rights, which the [High Court of Justice] of Israel is designed to protect.”

According to the world-renowned attorney, known also for defending the Jewish state, it will be “much harder” to defend Israel in the public arena if the reforms are implemented.

Legal expert Eugene Kontorovich disagrees.

“Professor Dershowitz is wrong about the impact of Israel’s proposed judicial reforms on international investigations,” said Kontorovich, director of International Law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum, which has advocated judicial reform in Israel for a decade.

“Israel’s assertive judiciary did not stop the International Court of Justice from condemning it in a 2004 decision. The supposed international respect for the Supreme Court has done nothing to stop the International Criminal Court from illegally and absurdly recognizing a ‘State of Palestine/ in all of the West Bank [Judea and Samaria], including in Jerusalem.

“Nothing short of unilateral, complete Israeli withdraw from all these territories would ward off further hostile action from these hostile, politicized bodies,” he said.

“It is sad that Dershowitz is choosing to weaponize these biased bodies to promote one side in a domestic Israeli legal argument.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the opposition for leading demonstrations against the reforms, citing then-finance minister Yair Lapid and former justice minister Gideon Sa’ar, main instigators of the protests who already in 2014 had pushed for change in the judicial system.

Dershowitz is a friend of former Israeli Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, a leader in the fight to prevent the implementation of the new reforms.

“Barak is the Justice who effectively created judicial tyranny in Israel.  Current reform efforts to bring Israel’s democracy back into balance is in response to his years of judicial abuse,” tweeted American conservative radio host Mark Levin. Kontorovich shared the “important thread.”

1. Barak is the Justice who effectively created judicial tyranny in Israel. Current reform efforts to bring Israel's democracy back into balance is in response to his years of judicial abuse.

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) January 8, 2023

Stupid Biden Administration presents ancient artifact to Palestinians, To strengthen Their Lying false claims to land

 

This would be laughable if it weren't so tragic!

American and Palestinian officials gathered on Thursday at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Bethlehem for what was described as “the historic repatriation of a rare Palestinian cultural object.”

During the ceremony, the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative arm (Homeland Security Investigations) delivered a 2,700-year-old cosmetic spoon to the Palestinian Authority. The ancient tool is carved from ivory and has an etched winged figure into its front side. It was used to ladle incense onto fires and braziers at rites venerating the gods and the dead.

PA Minister of Tourism Rula Maayah welcomed the U.S. delegation.

“This artifact is important as it acquires its real scientific and archaeological value in its authentic location,” Maayah said. “The artifact that is being delivered today is a cosmetic tool that was used to pour incense and it dates to the Assyrian civilization 700-800 BC.”

Modern concepts of “Palestine” only began to emerge in the mid-19th century. It would not be until the mid-20th century—two decades after the birth of the State of Israel—that Arabs in the disputed territories would begin to show signs of a distinctive national identity.

The artifact was seized from Jewish-American billionaire Michael Steinhardt as part of a criminal probe in New York. As part of a deal to avoid prosecution, Steinhardt agreed in late 2021 to turn over $70 million worth of stolen antiquities that authorities claim were illegally acquired in Israel.

Officials say the cosmetic spoon first surfaced on the international art market in January 2003, when Steinhardt bought it from an Israeli antiques dealer who has been accused of dealing in illicit Israeli and Middle Eastern antiquities.

There is no indication as to what makes this object culturally Palestinian. Yet the head of the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs, George Noll, stated that his office “is proud to facilitate the return of this rare antiquity, an example of Palestinian cultural patrimony.”

“This is a historic moment between the American and Palestinian people and a demonstration of our belief in the power of cultural exchanges in building mutual understanding, respect, and partnership,” said Noll.

Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations in New York Ivan J. Arvelo said, “Antiquities trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar business with looters and smugglers turning a profit at the expense of cultural heritage. We are honored to join our partners today in the historic repatriation of this artifact to the Palestinian Authority.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg added, “We are proud to join our law enforcement and government partners in this historic moment.”

400 Items hidden by Jews in Lodz Yard Uncovered

 

About 400 items believed to have been hidden in the ground by their Jewish owners during World War II have been uncovered during house renovation work in a yard in Lodz in central Poland, media reports said Sunday.

History experts say that the objects include Hanukkah menorahs and items used in daily life, TVN 24 reported.

They are mostly silver-plated tableware, menorahs and glass containers for cosmetics, according to the regional office for the preservation of historic objects. The office’s experts said on Facebook last week that the objects will be handed over to the city’s Archaeology Museum.

The stash was found in December and two of the hanukkiahs were lighted Dec. 22 during Hannukah organized by the city’s Jewish community.

The address at 23 Polnocna Street, where the objects were found, was just outside the perimeter of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto that the occupying Nazi Germans established in Lodz in February 1940 and until August 1944 held about 200,000 Jews from across Europe. Most of the inmates died there or in concentration camps.